Edwin@Work Anthology Submission Page

That is all folks!Submissions are closed.

This brings an end to part one of the anthology building process. For those who submitted short stories, decisions will be sent to you by August 31st, 2023 via email.Stay tuned, more details to be posted here.Cheers,
Edwin, Anthology Editor.

Mid-Project Review

Click here if new

Below was taken from a Discord chat. Join the Discord server already if you have not done so!📣: The close date for submitting short stories to the anthology has been moved to August 1st. Why, because I purchased advertising on Fur Affinity and, long story short, it will run out on July 25th. That will give FA folks a week to submit something.📣: A general observation about the submissions thus far. One of the goals of this anthology has been to include a range of everything. That everything includes gender, species of the furry characters, and type of story. I would like to throw out some observations to those of you still writing so you have an idea of what has been collected thus far.Gender: There has been a fair mix of males/females, but very few non-binary characters (they/them). I am not expecting to have a notable percentage of non-binary, but just wanted to point out that there are few examples right now.Species: I am proud to say there are few wolf/dogs/fox characters as of right now. Great work on representing Mammalia, keep it up!
There has been some reptiles, but only one bird & insect. Zero amphibians or fish.
Try to throw them a bone, if you would.Type of story: Overwhelmingly slice-of-life. This is understandable given some of the more abstract prompts, but the Anthology would benefit from a sprinkling of other genres.
I would challenge folks to write some humor pieces. I am open to others as well including: drama, thriller, horror, or even sports. The goal is to add variety.
I am not saying that those of you who have submitted slice-of-life pieces are at a disadvantage for selection. I am simply just encouraging folks. Just make sure that the story keeps in line with the prompt and "setting and other details" section.Lastly, there are only two submissions thus far that include some element of eroticism within them. While the intent is to keep the anthology SFW, please do add a pinch of spice where appropriate.
Let us be honest, the furry fandom has a connection with, or foundation in, eroticism (the degree of which depends on who you are talking to). I think a notable something would be missing from this furry anthology if eroticism was completely avoided. Not saying it needs to be present everywhere, and it would not make sense to include it everywhere, but a peppering would be nice.Thank you all for your submissions thus far. It has been a blast interacting with you and seeing what you come up with!Cheers,
Edwin, Anthology Editor.

Call for Submissions

Attention authors! Edwin@Work is planning to publish a ~~slice-of-life~~ multi-genre anthology about furries searching for jobs and wants you to submit short stories for inclusion in this book.Edwin@Work has generated over a year’s worth of tips to help fellow furries find a job. Instead of writing a regular self-help book, the plan is to build an anthology of short stories of a furry character in some part of the hiring process to illustrate useful job searching tips to the reader.Ideally, story submissions should be in the 800 – 1,200 word range. If you would like to submit a shorter or longer story, please inquire first. Accepted submissions will pay out 0.5¢/word on publication.Each story must connect to a specific job search tip. Only one submission will be selected for each tip, so it is advisable to submit to a variety of tips. Information on the job search tips is at the end of this page. Specific job search tips have been selected for this anthology. Stories written on tips not per-selected for this anthology will not be accepted.Multiple submissions are allowed so long as the number of submissions is kept reasonable—like one per prompt, please, not two. Send in your best, not everything you’ve ever produced.There are three key factors that will be looked for in a successful submission:
1) Relevance to a specific job search tip.
2) Entertaining to read.
3) Contributes to the unique variety of characters, species, and situations throughout the anthology.The setting of these short stories is present times in a place like the USA. This world is inhabited by a diverse set of characters who are related to everyday animals. Humans, closed species, exotic hybrids, homebrew, mythical (e.g., mermaids), fantasy (e.g., dragons), and futuristic (e.g., protogens) characters are not present within the setting.The tone for your story should be lighthearted, especially because job searching is usually demoralizing. All submitted story themes and tones will be considered, but keep in mind that this anthology is intended to be uplifting.The anthology will be targeted at an adult audience, so light-mature themes and situations are welcome, but it will not include any erotica, porn, fetish material, or generally objectionable content. Your characters may suffer during the course of your story, for example, but if the writing seems to be targeted for the enjoyment of sadists, it will be rejected.Crossing over existing characters from other universes is acceptable if you have rights to use the character and if the character's species is compatible with what has been detailed above, but you must treat the character as if it were a new character. If your writing presumes that the reader already knows your character's history or backstory, your submission will get rejected.You may submit reprints (or older stories/art that have been retooled to fit in the anthology), however your submission must not be available in its entirety from the submission date through one year after the book's publication (presuming it is accepted). In other words, if your story is currently available in a print-on-demand book, then it is not eligible for submission. If it is available in a story archive or online gallery, then you will need to take it down before submission and not put it back up until you are either rejected or this anthology has been in print for a year. If accepted, you will be able post teasers of your submission to help us build interest in the anthology, but the schedule for when and how much will be hammered out later.Each contributor will receive one contributor copy. Producing a physical copy of the anthology is still under consideration. There will be discussion about physical promotion copies for those with accepted submissions once the details are worked out.There are 18 prompts in total. ~~Prompts will be released weekly in batches of six. Each batch will include a variety of topics, so if you do not see one that is interesting check back next week.~~ We will only accept five or six submissions per prompt. Make sure to check the prompt page for if the prompt is still available.A Discord server has been created for this project https://discord.gg/Rm6nsayZjh. Look there for announcements, Q&A, prompt status tracking, and general conversation regarding the project.Must be 18 years old at the time of story submission.All prompt submission are due ~~July 17 2023~~ August 1st 2023 unless they have been closed sooner. Acceptances/rejections should be out by August 31 2023 and the goal is to have the book published by Q2 2024.

Setting and Other Details

Things to consider when writing your story:

The world is intended to mirror our current times in a USA setting. Characters have access to smartphones, computers, the internet, and all other modern conveniences.Do not reference the names of job search or social media platforms. Either refer to them broadly (ex: they searched the job board) or make a placeholder. We want to make the universe consistent across stories so we may add in fictitious names for these platforms.Avoid focusing on situations outside of the character’s control (e.g., economic recession, poor job market, government oversight/regulation). These topics may be mentioned but they should not be emphasized.Variety is critical across the anthology. We will be looking for a diverse set of species (not just wolves, canines, and foxes), genders (including non-binary), jobs, and hiring situations. Your submission may be accepted with editorial notes (e.g., change the gender of the main character) to balance out the subject matter within the anthology.Avoid themes related to discrimination unless it is the topic of the job search tip.Consider leaning into stereotypes that are attached to some animals. Examples include foxes are sly, dogs are loyal, cats are sneaky, spiders are shy, squirrels are fidgety, etc.

Example Short Stories

Example 1: A slice-of-life piece.
Time Off for TorporExample 2: A comedy piece with light-mature content [heavy innuendo].
Interview 1

Job Search Tips

The link below will send you to a master list of the job search tips to be covered within the anthology. Your submission should be directly and clearly relevant to the job tip of interest. Check this list for a current list of which prompt submissions are opened or closed.

Current Prompt List

Submission Information

Submit your story in .docx, .rtf, or .odf file format.
Please include the tip number at the top of your submission.
Submission Form: >>>CLICK HERE<<<
Join the project Discord Server: https://discord.gg/Rm6nsayZjh
Prompt Tracking Board: Google Sheets LinkInquiries Only: [email protected]Interested in the Job Search Tip of the week? Check out Fur Affinity for more details: Tip Gallery

Time Off for Torpor
By Frances Pauli

“Well, Mrs. Reno,” I think we can agree on that. Provided it works for you?” The tigress leaned forward, reaching out with one paw to seal the deal.Louise wanted to take that paw, but she knew better than to get excited over the proposed salary. She liked the idea of it, of the job and the fancy office and the interviewer, Mrs. Hale, who assured her the company was a delightful place to work. She liked it but hesitated long enough to erase her potential employer’s grin.“Is there something else?”“The salary is more than acceptable,” Louise said, leaning back in the office chair and enjoying how wide it was, how comfortably her bear bottom fit into the seat. “But there is something.”“The benefits,” Hale nodded. “Our health plan is rated highest in the industry.”“I’m sure it’s more than adequate,” Louise agreed. She’d examined the benefits package carefully, and only had one concern, one issue that required further negotiation.“Overtime.” The tigress ticked off the company benefits with one striped paw, “Rotating weekends, and we accrue sick days at double the minimum rate.”“Yes,” Louise said. “That’s all fine.”“You’ll get two weeks paid time off the first year,” Hale said, hitting the point of contention at last.“I require a little more than that,” Louise said, easing into the topic. “For torpor.”“Torpor.” Mrs. Hale frowned, her muzzle scrunching in thought as she tried to puzzle out the unfamiliar term.”“It’s a bear thing,” Louise said. “Like a holiday.”“Oh, of course. Torpor.” The tigress sat up tall again, brightening. “We’re more than happy to negotiate species specific holidays. We have several bunnies in our employ who take off a few days every spring to… Well, to do what bunnies do in the spring.”Louise felt her shoulders lower. She’d been concerned about torpor, and so excited about this job, and worried her request would be seen as unreasonable.“So, when does torpor usually take place?”“December through February,” Louise said.“That shouldn’t be a problem.” The tigress turned to her computer, pausing to straighten her nameplate and the folder which contained Louise’s application. Then she tapped at her keys while squinting at the screen. “That’s our slow season. Which days would you require exactly?”Louise sat up tall and spoke clearly and proudly. “December through February.”Mrs. Hale began to type, then paused, fuzzy digits hovering over her keyboard. She turned back toward Louise, and her round ears drooped to the sides. “You don’t mean?”“All of them,” Louise said. “Please.”In truth, she could manage her torpor by sleeping for two months, but she understood enough about negotiation to begin by asking for more than her minimum requirements. She knew some bears, working for bear-run corporations, took as many as six months off.“December through February,” Hale repeated.“For torpor,” Louise said, beaming.The tigress stared at her for a long moment, still as the picture on her wall calendar but for the gentle twitching of one whisker. Louise continued to smile, fully expecting the other animal to provide some form of counteroffer. Instead, Mrs. Hale shook herself and sat up suddenly.“I think,” she dragged the words out, “that I should give HR a ring.”“Of course,” Louise said. She sat back, closed her eyes, and waited.Mrs. Hale swiveled her chair so that she was facing the window behind her desk. She spoke in a soft voice, but Louise was able to pick out a few words. Mainly: torpor, three months, and holiday. Something in the tone worried her. Perhaps she’d been too demanding. She really could make it through the winter on two months’ sleep. What would she do if the tigress didn’t counteroffer? If she’d blown her shot at an excellent job?“Mrs. Reno?”Louise jerked to attention. While she’d been panicking, the phone call had ended. The tigress now regarded her across the desk, ears forward and eyes wide.“I’m sorry, yes?”“I’d like to officially welcome you aboard,” Hale said. “We have no problem meeting your… specific holiday needs.”Louise brightened, a victory shiver racing from her stubby tail to her round ears. She sat as tall as she could and smiled as widely as possible. “I accept,” she said. “When do I start?”“We’ll need to schedule you for training first thing.” The tigress turned to look at the calendar, then went very still.Louise followed her gaze, reading the day’s date printed in bold black lettering: Friday, November 30th.“Oh,” she said.“Oh.” Her new employer scrunched her striped muzzle and tapped rhythmically against the desktop. “Well.”“Well,” Louise repeated.The room hushed but for the soft rapping of claws against wood. Louise sat back in the chair and yawned. The weight of a long year settled over her broad shoulders, and she slumped deeper into her seat.Mrs. Hale took one look at her, stared straight into the next yawn, and said, “How about March first?”

Interview 1
By Gre7g Luterman

“I really appreciate you seeing me today,” he explained. “I’ve scheduled two interviews for this afternoon, and I really didn’t want to take off two different days to get them both in.”“I’m glad you could fit us in, too. This is my office here,” said Shelly with a flip of her paw. “Come on in and have a seat.”But instead of sitting, the young fox took a moment to look about and admire how she had decorated her space. “Was this a marathon?” he asked, tapping a claw against a framed photo of the lynx crossing a finish line. “Do you run marathons?”“Oh, heh, perhaps someday,” said Shelly, mildly embarrassed. “The company sponsors a five-k for breast cancer research every year. It’s a lot of fun and we encourage everyone to try it at least once.”“That’s fantastic,” said Marcus. Then, gesturing to a photo on her desk, “Your kids?”“Grandkids, actually,” she admitted.“No!” He grinned wide, playfully.She stood a moment longer, assessing him. “You’re quite the unusual candidate,” she said at last. “Most programmers—”His green eyes sparkled, and he interrupted, “How do you spot the extroverted engineer?”She laughed, and they both said in unison, “He’s the one staring at your shoes instead of his own.” She gestured to the seat and took her own. “Old joke.”“Yeah, well, it tends to be true more often than it’s not.” He took a seat and pulled it closer. “But I fell in love with drama club in high school, lots of theater extracurriculars in college, and acting is a hobby now. I considered majoring in theater arts, but my first love has always been design.”Shelly nodded, taking a moment to look over his resume once more. “Most impressive for someone so young,” she said, idly wondering if he’d padded his experience like so many younger applicants do.“That bottom section is all open-source projects I’ve contributed to,” he explained. “So many of them are good, solid tools with terrible interfaces. I love swooping in, bringing their UI up a few notches, and leaving the project in a better state than I found it.”She nodded, and he took a moment, fishing in the pocket of his charcoal-grey sports jacket. “Of course, lots of programmers contribute to each one, so unless you go through my pull requests in the git repos, it’s hard to appreciate what my contributions were.” He held up a silver USB stick. “But these are examples of things I’ve designed—mostly mock-ups, not complete products—screenshots and screencasts.”He handed her the drive, and Shelly stuck it into her laptop.“It’s set up as a slideshow, but you can navigate through them with the mouse if you want.” Marcus gestured to the clean whiteboard on the office’s back wall. “You mind?”“No, go right ahead,” she said, turning back to the small computer’s screen.Sketching on the board with a blue marker that was really ready to be retired, he explained, “I’m especially proud of the pizza ordering mock-up.”On the screen, video began with Marcus in a pizza-delivery outfit. Shelly perked an ear in surprise and glanced back over at the fox’s resume, but all the jobs included were professional positions. Despite the name on his hat, “Pizza Palace” wasn’t listed.“In the mock-up, you’ll see that I allow users to click toppings or drag-and-drop them.” He glanced over his shoulder for a moment and gave her a smile. “I animated topping sprinkling mostly because I found some free animations on the web. But watch how you can not only add a pizza to your order, but you re-open a pizza once added and edit your choices. Most ordering websites make you delete a pizza and then re-create it rather than letting you modify one after it’s in your cart.”She stared in silence. In the video, the door opened on a female wolf dressed in skimpy lingerie. She ignored the pizza, staring hungrily at the delivery boy instead. Shelly glanced up and then back down. No, that was definitely Marcus, standing there, holding a pizza box.Even though she kept the laptop’s sound muted, Live Caption still picked up the audio and slapped, “I’m afraid I don’t have any money for my order,” across the bottom of the screen. “How else can I pay you?”Shelly’s eyes opened wider. She covered her open muzzle with both paws and stared. Marcus wore the delivery driver’s hat—though nothing else—as he and the she-wolf proceeded to work off the bill.At the whiteboard, Marcus explained, “I’ve got a real love of responsive design. In the video, you’ll see that at tighter window sizes, these topping choices give up the descriptive text and calorie estimates. And at even narrower widths, the pizza graphic drops down below the topping buttons since the user’s primary focus is on designing their pizza, not being entertained by sprinkling ingredients.”On the screen, Markus was now sandwiched between two very muscular guys—an otter and a tiger. Live Caption was trying its hardest to make words of the sounds, but failing in a spectacular fashion.Marcus turned from the board. “Is that the sort of design you’d like to see here?”Shelly wanted to respond. She wanted to ignore the video on her laptop screen, but Marcus was bursting from a cake wearing only a bowtie and a tiny Speedo. Live caption spooled the words to “Happy Birthday” underneath.A silence hung over the office, air conditioning blowing in from the overhead vent was the only sound.“What?” asked the fox from the far side of the office. Then, his eyes went wide and he dug frantically in his pocket before producing a second USB stick.His voice dropped almost to a whisper, “Please say I didn’t give you the drive for the wrong interview.”