Q: What is Furlisophical?
A: Furlisophical is my home on the World-Wide-Web, and my particular place for thrusting my creative works onto others. As with my stories, Furlisophical is a work in progress that I don’t ever really imagine finishing. As I learn new web design tricks or attempt new ideas, Furlisophical becomes the platform upon which I release those efforts to the visitor’s experience. Also, I use this site as a way of founding my own personal views on what it is to be Furry-oriented, and my association with that stuff.

Q: What is a “Furry”?
A: The term “Furry” is both extremely broad and at the same time very narrow in definition. Typically, the term Furry refers to anthropomorphic characters, either those written in a story or used as avatars or even personas. More so, it refers to the fuzzy anthropomorphic characters you no-doubt have seen already, such as the wolf on the main page of this very site. They don’t always have to be animals, though, to be part of the “Furry” association. Many people have created characters from birds to dragons, lizards to fish, and even some insects as well. Things that are anthropomorphic but not Furry, would be talking rocks, humans, aliens, and plants.

An-thro-po-mor-ph (n): The ascribing of human motivation, characteristics, or behavior to inanimate objects, animals, or natural phenomena. --an'thro-po-mor'phic (adj.)

Q: Is Furlisophical part of the Furry Fandom?
A: Yes, and at the same time a huge resounding No. If such a thing could be said, I would be just a human in the Furry Fandom, but that’s far too simple a description. I believe the Fandom has its uses and potential, and I believe it has done good for the online community. However, at the same time I also don't fully meld with the Fandom. Personally, I know others are happy with it, and I am happy with my involvement, so that's that. Furlisophical contains many things which pertain to the Furry Fandom, such as the Anthros in ThorHammer, but I feel my association with the Fandom because of my material choices is a side-effect (a good one, for the most part). My own disagreances with the Fandom are my own.

Furlisophical is NOT a site meant to convert others to my way of thinking. I wish the Fandom no ill-will or harm in any fashion. I create my universe and Anthros (ie Anthropomorphic creations) by my own intentions. Any similarities or associations, unless otherwise specified, are purely coinsidence. Anyone who feels that my works conflict with their beliefs/views on Anthros is reminded that they are not required to visit and/or read this site's content.

Q: How many people are associated with Furlisophical?
A: Right now, as always, just one. Me. I do all the web work, the writing, editing, graphics, programming, and so on. It’s a one man show...(I need a serious hug here...)

Q: Do I have to be a Furry to come here?
A: Heavens no! You do not have to be Furry, like the Furry Fandom, or even like anthropomorphic characters at all! Though, it would help if you did. Still, my site does not cater only to Furry folk, and I welcome anyone who happens to come across this virtual doorstep.

Q: How long has Furlisophical been around?
A: Furlisophical was originally a local file base located on my personal computer, and was used merely as a place to keep all my creative facets organized. Later, after finding others with sites on the web and realizing I could do the same, I brought Furlisophical to the web on a free server, opening Furlisophical to the virtual public sometime during the later half of 1997. Since then, Furlisophical has seen four servers, recieves about 20-thousand visitors a year, and continues to serve up ThorHammer stories to those who wish to read. ThorHammer is now in its fourth season, and has no plans of stopping anytime soon.

Q: What is ThorHammer?
A: Good question. ThorHammer is the title of my main anthropomorphic sci-fi story, and it is an ongoing work in progress. I started it as a way to vent my creativity, several years before I opened the Furlisophical website. Generally, the story is about a bounty-hunter who finds himself forced into taking on a crew of mixed individuals, and over time he finds them to be his best friends. As the characters travel aboard the starship ThorHammer, they are on a ride that takes them from street fighting, to interstellar war, fascinating places and equally fascinating characters. Since this is a work in progress, I admit the first chapters are rather poorly written, though I’m told things get better as chapters go by and my skill at writing improves. (You assess them for yourself. There's got to be some reason why people say those things, I suppose...Though it may just be madness) I don’t claim to be the greatest science-fiction writer, or that my stories are even good. Instead, I invite readers to come along for the imagery and interesting stuff that happens along my journey through this realm I’ve created. I do not have an end in sight for the overall story, nor do I know really what is going to happen chapter to chapter. There are minor ends to sections, usually one or two within a season, but overall there isn't something like a final page I'm heading towards.

Q: Is ThorHammer your only work?
A: No, although it does suck up tons of my writing time, and so gets the most attention. It is, however, the only epic-style story I have written. I have written a handful of short stories, some related to the ThorHammer universe (as either side-stories or in the same style). These don't come out very often (because of the above reason) but they do.

Q: What rating is ThorHammer?
A: ThorHammer is conservatively rated as PG-13. My personal rules for writing include avoiding extreme language, numerous and detailed sex scenes, and so forth. So far, I have yet to say the F-word once, which is probably an achievement for a story that involves fighting and scum. Also, though I in no way intend to make people think sex is not commonplace in the story, I try to avoid sexual instances, and so far I have succeeded...well, mostly succeeded. The future is definately more "yiffy" than in the present, with plenty of petting and snuggling, but it's not dirty. I do try to keep things open enough for all ages (who could understand this sort of story) to be able to read without fear of coming across something dirty, but I also must keep in mind that this is a story mainly written for readers around my age group and older (teens through death), and thus sex and language can, will, and are present. I say PG-13, but I do not believe it is as bad as the R-rated movies out today. Since I have little to no faith in the rating system (or the people who assign those ratings), I will simply say that you should use your own intelligence. If you read something you don’t like, feel free to leave. If you wish, you can email me about it. I’m a really nice person. I can't garrantee anything will be done, but it is always nice to experience different viewpoints.

Q: Can I help?
A: Since I am the only one who knows ThorHammer well enough to write it, I’m afraid I don’t ask for help with either writing or editing the chapters. If you really want to help Furlisophical and ThorHammer, you can do so by simply enjoying the story, posting your comments on the forum, and telling others about Furlisophical. Like any other artist and writer, I enjoy having fans and hearing what they have to say.

That said, there actually is one thing vistors can do. I am always grateful for proof-readers and testers. It is impossible, especially given the number of tasks I do, for me to check that I spelled every "here" as "here" and not "hear" and that I've got the same font in the same places, etc. I can't test links all the time, or notice other formatting errors. While reading the stories, or browsing the site, or forum, if you notice something wrong (or even something you think is wrong but aren't sure) go ahead and email me about it. I'm always happy to recieve emails about typos and such.

Q: Can I submit my own writings?
A: I do not accept submissions from others for ThorHammer, (see above FAQ). I do not post writing from others on the site. The only exception for sending me stuff would be if you wrote something about one of my characters, or had a short story you wanted me to read.

Q: Can I submit artwork/drawings?
A: YES! Artwork is a different matter. I would be more than happy to post artwork and drawings you’ve done, relating to the ThorHammer universe! Send them in, I love to get that sort of thing! I greatly enjoy seeing what other people create!

Q: I have a suggestion, what should I do?
A: Send it in! Drop me an email to ischue_AT_cox.net, or find me on ICQ (#74929754)! Suggest away!

Q: How can I read ThorHammer?
A: ThorHammer is provided in PDF format for smaller file size, faithful reproduction of fonts and formatting, and ease of distribution to my readers. You can either click on the chapter links to open the PDF in your browser for viewing, or you can right click on the chapter link and download the PDF to your local machine for offline reading (or for those with slow connections/machines that can't handle large PDFs in their browsers). File sizes range from 150K to 1MB in size. (If you're having problems downloading chapters, head on over to the forum for help. Or, you can contact me by email and I'll see what can be done.)

Q: Can I print ThorHammer out on my printer?
A: Sure. There’s just one restriction: ThorHammer is a copyrighted work, and so you may not print the chapters for public presentation or publication (without my expressed permission first). You cannot sell the printed chapters, and you may not post the chapters, in whole or in part, anywhere (without my expressed permission first). Feel free to share the stories with friends, but make sure they understand the rules as well, and more importantly where the story came from. All stories include the basic copyright information at the bottom, and it is not legal to print the document without the included copyrights attached.

Q: Want to trade links?
A: Absolutely. But you have to do me the same favor.

Q: What software do you create with?
A: For writing the stories I use Microsoft’s Office-XP. For authoring the website I use Macromedia’s all-powerful Dreamweaver-MX. For graphics I use Corel-Draw Studio 12.0, Macromedia Fireworks-MX, and Macromedia Flash-MX. For coding the CGI scripts and such, I use Dreamweaver’s internal text-editing capability, which is a fancy way of saying I use notepad with colors.