Bernard Doove

I am a denizen of the suburbs of Melbourne, Australia, where I was born in 1957. I had an unexceptional childhood, but I brought from it an enduring love of animation and fantasy creatures. I have always been fascinated by anthropomorphic characters - animals and objects given human qualities - and would devour almost anything of that nature that I could find. For a long time, that was mostly paperback novels, which I read voraciously, or comic books. It was the latter that gave me my first contact with what would become my major hobby - the "furry" fandom.

At first my participation in the fandom was mostly based on art, and I let out a lot of my creative expression that way. However, I'm a mediocre artist at best, but it did lead me to create a new type of character, a species that needed some in-depth exposition, and rather than just settle for a dry treatise on them, I wrote a story to illustrate in words what they were like. Then I wrote another, then another... I haven't stopped writing since that first story, and so far I have compiled those into six paperback books, with another on the way. My first, "Life's Dream", won the Ursa Major Award for the Best Anthropomorphic Novel for 2007.

In creating a whole universe of characters and worlds to play in, I started getting involved in more of the furry fandom, and went overseas for the first time to participate in a science-fiction convention in Wellington, New Zealand where Australian and NZ furry fans were gathering. Then my next big step was travelling to America expressly for the purpose of participating in ConFurence - a convention specifically for furry fans. That was a real eye-opener, and led me to meet with the first of many people who have become friends for life. I have been travelling to American conventions every year since then, although I have spent a significant amount of time seeing what else the country has to offer, especially of the natural kind. The fandom in Australia has grown too, and we have our own convention now called MiDFur, with which I am involved as part of the board.

Over the years, I began attracting fans of my work. Some of them began submitting fan art and stories which I added to my website. This has grown hugely to the point where it's a significant part of the fandom. Because of my art, writing, publishing of a long-running fanzine, writing novels, and participating in various conventions and other fan activities, I was inducted into the Furry Hall of Fame in 2008. I still feel that I need to do more though.