Like everybody else, Anthro’s subscribers get the excellent anthropomorphic stories and art the zine has become known for—but in addition, there’s one thing only they can have: Brothers Under the Skin, an original song by Tom Smith. Those of you who are familiar with the filking community will recognize that name; as for the rest of you, a few words of introduction might be in order.
   The term ‘filk’ refers to a style of music that’s been defined as ‘what happens when science-fiction fans get their hands on instruments’, and Tom Smith is one of the best-known—correction: best, period—filksingers around. His tunes can be disturbing (as: Hellraiser, a song inspired by the works of Clive Barker), silly (as: 307 Ale, an ode to a beer that’s 153¹/₂% alcohol), heartwrenching (as: A Boy and His Frog, a eulogy for Jim Henson), or pretty much anything else… but the one thing Smith’s music always is, is good.
   Thus, we approached Smith to compose a song especially for our subscribers—Brothers Under the Skin. We think it’s definitely up to Smith’s customary high standard, but you don’t need to take our word for it; not when you can click on the ‘play’ button below, listen to the first verse, and judge for yourself! And if you do choose to subscribe, we’ll send you the complete song on a mini-CD—whose label you can see in the upper right corner of this page.
   So: Subscribe to Anthro. You get a darned good song, in addition to all the anthropomorphic goodness you’ve come to know and love; in return, we get a continuing flow of money with which to support the people who actually create that anthropomorphic goodness. It’s a ‘win-win’ scenario!