Dogpatch Press

Fluff Pieces Every Week

Month: November, 2015

Far-Seer, Fossil Hunter, and Foreigner, by Robert J. Sawyer – Book reviews by Fred Patten.

by Patch O'Furr

Here’s one for the scalies! Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.  Originally written for Quentin Long’s Anthro Magazine.

Far-Seer, by Robert J. Sawyer. Map by Dave Dow.
NYC, Ace Books, June 1992, paperback 0-441-22551-9 $4.99 ([6 +] 257 [+ 1] pages).FRSR1992

Fossil Hunter, by Robert J. Sawyer. Map by Dave Dow.
NYC, Ace Books, May 1993, paperback 0-441-24884-5 $4.99 ([6 +] 290 [+ 1] pages).

Foreigner, by Robert J. Sawyer. Map by Dave Dow.
NYC, Ace Books, March 1994, paperback 0-441-00017-7 $4.99 ([8 +] 285 [+ 1] pages).

Science fiction novels about talking dinosaurs are rare. Robert J. Sawyer’s Quintaglio Ascension trilogy is unique in making the dinosaurs the intelligent evolved descendants of Earth’s tyrannosaurs on an extra-solar planet where they have created their own civilization, which is about to end if they do not discover space flight soon and leave their doomed world.

Unlike other series that consist of a popular original novel followed by its sequels, Sawyer planned his Quintaglio novels as a series from the start. They may be considered as a single novel in three parts, then.

The Quintaglio Ascension was very popular. Far-Seer and Fossil Hunter won the HOMer Award in 1992 and 1993, on the Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature Forum on the CompuServe Information Service. All three were agreed in s-f discussion groups as deserving further awards, and Far-Seer was reprinted in hard covers by the Science Fiction Book Club. The Canadian Sawyer was invited as a Guest of Honor at ConFurence 8 in 1997 because of them (one of the themes of ConFurence 8 was “Reptiles”), and all three were reissued by Tor Books in 2004-’05.

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New episodes from Culturally F’d reveal wicked cryptids and fab vocab.

by Patch O'Furr

If you’re not reading Dogpatch Press, you should be watching Culturally F’d!  It’s the Furry youtube series that asks:

Where does the love of anthropomorphics come from? How far back can we dig in history and mass media to really get to the bottom of it? Why does every culture across the face of the earth have a fascination with animal-people?

title_card

Series host Arrkay sent these new episode updates:

Furry Lingo: Part 1

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Guardian Cats and the Lost Books of Alexandria, by Rahma Krambo – Book Review By Fred Patten.

by Patch O'Furr

Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.

519eO6qQBPLGuardian Cats and the Lost Books of Alexandria, by Rahma Krambo
Yuba City, CA, Reflected Light Books, July 2011, trade paperback $6.99 (261 pages), Kindle $2.99.

This is an attractive and easily-read fantasy for Young Adult and adult cat lovers, announced as the first in a series. It emphasizes “magical realism” rather than any s-f or fantasy nature. The animals can just talk, that’s all.

Marco is a pampered young housecat who learns to read when his human, young Lucy, leaves books out where he can get at them at night. Soon he is lost in what Lucy likes to read, which is Young Adult adventure and fantasy. The reader will recognize The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and The Three Musketeers. “In the wee hours of the night, Marco became a warrior, a wizard, a wanderer, but he was always the hero. When Marco read, he forgot he was a cat.” (p. 2) An emergency – the reader will recognize Lucy’s grandmother being rushed to a hospital – empties the house of humans. After a couple of days alone, Marco ventures outside.

Marco does not fare well as an urban feral cat. His wandering takes him to an old library full of so many wonderful books that he almost forgets his search for food. He is shy, and he avoids anyone until he comes to one room:

“Marco moved into the doorway. On a long table sat a cat. Not the same as the one in the window. This one, larger and silver-spotted, was hunched over a book. All around him were stacks of books, and he seemed not to notice anything except what he was reading. His tail, laid out to the side, quivered in annoyance.” (p. 18)

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The Great Fursplosion of 2016 is getting near. NEWSDUMP (11/10/15)

by Patch O'Furr

Headlines, links and little stories to make your tail wag.  Guest posts welcome. Tips: patch.ofurr@gmail.com

unnamedNPR interviews Tempe O’Kun, furry favorite author (again.)

Hear the interview on the radio site. Talk to Tempe on his FA post about it.

About a year ago, NPR station Prairie Public’s “Main Street” show interviewed Tempe about cuddly Furry romance writing.  Lucky dog!  It was 23 minutes of super respectful attention.  My notice about it brought Tempe here, to share an exclusive peek at his novel Windfall and work for the Nordguard card game. Thanks Tempe, and keep it coming.

A Zootopia animator “publicly and positively acknowledged furries.” (Tip: Crossaffliction on Flayrah.)

The tweet is taken down.  VERY CURIOUS.  I wonder if Disney is controlling marketing strategy for something they want strictly behind the scenes, to tease but not come right out about it.   This subculture is tiny, but buzz can be mighty.

I sent an interview request to the animator, and told him: “You may be aware that we’re all going NUTS about this movie. Some active areas already have meets organized to wear costumes out to the theater (and I think that’s going to happen everywhere.)”

Some furries have always known that Tony the Tiger is a stud.  Trashy news blogs discovered our crush and went nuts. (They’re late to the party.)

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The Stolen Guardian, by R. A. Meenan – Book Review By Fred Patten

by Patch O'Furr

Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.

The Stolen Guardian, by R. A. Meenan.zyearth
Los Angeles, CA, Starcrest Fox Press, October 2015, trade paperback $10.99 (430 pages), Kindle $1.99.

“Ouranos crept through the dense green forest, following an overgrown path leading toward the sea. He scratched the black fur under the short quills that topped his head and bent a catlike ear back with a frown, his bare, clawed feet padding noiselessly on the dirt. His simple red clothes, while appropriate for his royal status, made him feel too conspicuous against the green of the trees. He chanced a glance behind him.” (p. 9)

Ouranos is a quilar from the planet Zyearth. This first paragraph shows that The Stolen Guardian, Book One of The Zyearth Chronicles, isn’t set on Earth, and that the lead characters are furry but not based on any Earth-evolved animals.

With Chapter 2, though, we get a space patrol team, still not on Earth; the Zyearth Defenders (whose top agents are the Golden Guardians), and they are just funny animals in spiffy uniforms.

“A tall gray stag with silver antlers in velvet stood in front of Matt with a manic look on his face and a pistol aimed at Matt’s snout.” (p. 38)  – “A white wolf with thin glasses and dark yellow eyes appeared in the hologram. His face looked worried at first, but immediately relaxed with relief. Matt allowed himself a smile. Lance Tox, Master Guardian of the Defenders. He’d normally never make personal calls, but Matt could tell he had been concerned.” (p. 67)

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It was so much fun to be in an outrageous Rap CD and a live comedy show!

by Patch O'Furr

You never know what Halloween will bring in San Francisco.  You can tour an Erotic Haunted House based on “Dante’s Inferno”, at a landmark castle (used as a BDSM porn studio), full of circus performers ready to give an amazing show.  That’s Hell In The Armory.  It’s the only place around that has great job opportunities for evil masturbating clowns.  I guess it’s a living in a dog-eat-dog economy, where workplaces are literally Hell.

It’s part of San Francisco’s lively scene of subcultural circus theater, avant-cabaret, and burlesque, that crosses over with comedy and music.  If you’re bold enough to get a taste – soon you might be throwing your own ingredients into this strange, sexy mix of alternative media and shows.

That’s how I ended up in this rap video, wearing bling and drinking from the potty like a happy puppy dog.  There’s no excuse, it just tasted so refreshing… Mmm!  Here’s the story of MC Crumbsnatcher and his Nerdcore comedy rap with furries. (The naughty potty part is at 3:09). NSFW:

Now I’m inside the CD.  Thanks, Crumby for this super classy opportunity.

It's actually a guy in a toilet suit - a Pottysona.

Actually a guy dancing in a potty suit – a Toiletsona.

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Wild Dog City, by Lydia West – Book Review By Fred Patten

by Pup Matthias

Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.

wild dog cityWild Dog City, by Lydia West
Raleigh, NC, Lulu.com, September 2014, hardcover $35.99 (iii + 264 pages), trade paperback $17.99, Kindle $5.99.

The opening of Wild Dog City is deliberately confusing.

“It was utterly dark, the cold air sinking in the high concrete tunnel with a dull rushing sound, like the long sigh of an invisible giant. The blackness was really absolute; the platforms and the blandly tiled walls and the trench lined with a metal track were all blanketed in that whispering emptiness. The electric lights that had once lit the subway had long since sputtered out.

But there was a sound, under the humming of air; claws softly scratching concrete.

‘Mother!’

The voice was high and strange, the word sharp in the blackness. It came again.

‘Mother! Mother, are you here?’” (p. 1) Read the rest of this entry »

Furry Halloween treats, McGruff Goes To Jail – NEWSDUMP (11/4/15)

by Patch O'Furr

Headlines, links and little stories to make your tail wag.  Guest posts welcome. Tips: patch.ofurr@gmail.com

12189827_1150763194953018_5433177237520487821_nHalloween treats:  Popularity for Rocket Raccoon, and some looks at the culture of costuming.

Mom’s costume creation goes viral, ‘wins’ Halloween 2015.  A very lucky kid in Michigan got to be an accurately-diminutive Rocket Raccoon, complete with moving jaw.  It got shared on Facebook by the director of Guardians of The Galaxy.  This isn’t claimed to be overtly “furry”, but when Mom makes cosplay outfits for Comic Con… it makes you wonder what research helped to build it from scratch.

UPDATE: The maker confirmed to me that Furry tutorials helped build it. I asked her opinion of furries, and she says:

It’s some tough work everyone does and all of you should be proud. I made so many mistakes because there aren’t a lot of tutorials for doing stuff like this. I honestly didn’t know too much about furries until I was trying to research how to make a movable mouth for my son.

In Huntsville Alabama, inside the business of Fig Leaf Costumes: “it looks like a dressing room for furries in here.” Read between the lines, and the article might involve us, maybe indirectly. There’s this thoughtful tidbit:

So why does he still enjoy playing dress up at age 35? “I love how people react. If you dressed up as a character they love they come over and give you a hug. It’s just a good feeling,” says Harrison, who along with his girlfriend plans to dress up in a couples costume for Halloween this year: “Lady and The Tramp.” Burkholder thinks the trend of adults continuing to dress in costumes, for Halloween and otherwise, is due to “Gen X feels a little bit lost so what we’re doing is claiming a little bit of a community for ourselves, especially with cosplay. And also with modernity people move away from so they want to form a sense of community, so whether it’s videogames or cosplay it’s people coming together. And I like that.

Milford Schools Criticized Nationally Over ‘Halloween Ban’.” A smaller city in Connecticut planned to stop costuming at some public schools.  That quickly changed after everyone growled about political correctness.  It reminds me of a similar-sized city in Vermont banning fursuiters.  Are they just too uptight in New England?  Are some people afraid of self-expression?

16 year sentence for McGruff the Crime Dog.

“The actor who played the crime-fighting cartoon character McGruff the Crime Dog, was sentenced to 16 years in prison stemming from a 2011 arrest in which police seized 1,000 marijuana plants, 27 weapons – including a grenade launcher – and 9,000 rounds of ammunition from his home…”

mcgruff-grenade-launcher

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Eludoran: The Legend of Lorelei in a Geste of Grave Misconceptions, by Jonathan Goh – Book Review By Fred Patten

by Pup Matthias

Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.

eludoran coverEludoran: The Legend of Lorelei in a Geste of Grave Misconceptions, by Jonathan Goh. Illustrated, map, by Anya Ewing.
Singapore, Partridge Publishing, December 2014, hardcover $48.38 (877 pages); Bloomington, IN, Xlibris, February 2015, trade paperback $32.25 (868 [+ 1] pages), Kindle $3.99.

(As far as I can tell from the fine print, Eludoran was published in hardcover by Partridge Publishing in Singapore in December 2014, then in an almost but not quite identical trade paperback edition by Xlibris, which is headquartered in Bloomington, Indiana but has offices all around the world. Its edition of Eludoran comes from Xlibris’ office in Gordon, NSW, a suburb of Sydney. Does anyone besides me care about this trivia?)

Eludoran is furry epic poetry in alliterative verse, inspired by J. R. R. Tolkien. It begins with a quote from Tolkien’s The Lay of Leithian, and is “In memory of John Ronald Reuel Tolkien”. It is presented in three Acts; the first two of 16 Cants (cantos) each, and the third of 12 Cants. Each Act opens with a detailed map or a full-page illustration. Read the rest of this entry »

Fred Patten’s “What the Well-Read Furry Should Read”: October Update.

by Patch O'Furr

Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.

Fred’s list covers an exhaustive variety of decades worth of Furry fiction, including classics from long ago.  (It occurs to me that Watership Down has an undeniably deserved place at the top of the list, but The Wind In The Willows is overlooked!  Maybe it should be reviewed?)

See the original list, including Fred’s Top Ten Classics.  After a while, all updates will be added there for completion.  But for now, find the newest items here.

The list is organized in three sections: First by author, Second by title, each linked to Fred’s reviews, and Third Fred’s other articles he has written about the fandom.  Enjoy and I hope you find your next Furry classic.

(Thanks to the Furry Writer’s Guild for granting Associate Membership because of this list and more. Thanks to Poppa Bookworm for help with formatting. – Patch)

BY AUTHOR

The Guardian HerdAkins, Gary  Who Killed Kathleen Gingers?  http://dogpatch.press/2015/06/11/who-killed-kathleen-gingers/#more-14415
Alvarez, Jennifer Lynn  The Guardian Herd: Stormbound
http://dogpatch.press/2015/06/25/guardian-herd-stormbound/#more-14862
Ayroles, Alain & Masbou, Jean-Luc  De Cape et De Crocs, t. 11
http://dogpatch.press/2015/06/13/de-cape-et-de-crocs-2/#more-14404

Blasingame, Ted R.  Blue Horizon: Book 2  http://dogpatch.press/2015/06/05/blue-horizon-book-2/#more-14402
Blasingame, Ted R.  Second Chance: Furmankind II
http://dogpatch.press/2015/09/10/second-chance-furmankind-ii/#more-18097
Blasingame, Ted R.  Sunset of Furmankind (expanded ed.)
http://dogpatch.press/2015/08/21/sunset-of-furmankind/#more-17139

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