Dogpatch Press

Fluff Pieces Every Week

Month: February, 2018

Legends of Heraldale, by Brian McNatt – book review by Fredd Patten

by Patch O'Furr

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

Legends of Heraldale, by Brian McNatt
Chickasha, OK, The author, January 2017, trade paperback, $13.95 (243 pages), e-book $3.95.

Legends of Heraldale is very much a stereotypical Young Adult fantasy. Its appeal will be to those who want to see a world where all the most familiar animals of mythology – gryphons (griffins), unicorns, hippogryphs, dragons, cockatrices, wyverns, sphinxs, minotaurs, salamanders, and mermaids – live, including some that I have never heard of like a rockodile and zakarians. But there are many curious aspects to it.

A Prologue tells of the last battle of the First Expansion War between the unicorns and the gryphons:

“For a moment, night turned to day, illuminating the two clashing forces. Through the woods to the canyon’s west massed the unicorns of the Avalon Empire, hooves beating the earth and snow as they galloped among the trees. From their horns streaked bolts of red magic at the many-towered fortress across the canyon, blasting chunks of stone from the high walls and tearing through the gryphon defenders.

From the fortress walls and towers the gryphons rained down flocks of arrows and crossbow bolts in return, each weapon striking true.” (p. 1)

Gryphons are usually thought of as quadrupedal. I have a hard time envisioning them shooting bows & arrows, and firing crossbows.

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Prepping for a Furry Convention – guest post by Rune.

by Rune AngelDragon

Rune’s Furry Blog showcases “people within the Furry Community… their characters, life, thoughts, and beliefs”. It also covers furry issues and media. Welcome Rune! – Patch

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This week I will be attending Texas Furry Fiesta 2018. This is my 3rd convention that I have been to, and while I wrote about going to the conventions, fursuiting, and things to do at a convention (etc), I never got around to talking about the ‘prepping’.

Going to a convention takes a lot of planning and preparation. It’s crazy how much time gets dedicated to planning what panels you want to attend, figuring out the stuff you need to bring, and how much money you will need to survive for 4 days. And because I have found myself in several situations that were not exactly ‘ideal’, I figured this is the best time to reflect on the things I have learned so that others might better prepare for their Furry Conventions.

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  • A Furry Convention is NOT a necessity! 

I hate that this is something that needs to be said, but it’s best to get it out of the way first. A Furry Convention is a fun break from our day-to-day lives where we can feel free to express ourselves. It’s full of hugs, fun, friends, and fur (literally everywhere), but it’s not a necessity. Things like food, a water bill, a car payment… all of those things come before a Furry Convention. So please be responsible! Do not let the ‘want’ of going to a Furry Convention hurt other areas of your life. We all need to be adults sometimes and that can mean missing out on something fun. But remember… there is another Furry Convention the next year (and maybe another local one later the same year). Save your money, budget, and go to one that you can comfortably afford later. You will have a lot more fun if you don’t have to worry about the consequences of bad spending the minute you get home!

  • Figure out where you are staying & reserve your rooms.

Hotel rooms where the convention is being held go FAST! They are usually sold out within the first week or sooner. So, once you find out about a convention, you need to start researching where you are going to stay. Start planning who you are going with, how many beds you would need… and if the con-hotel is too expensive, then browse hotels within the area. Remember to take into account the distance from the con hotel, the way in which you will get in-between the two, and possible parking costs. Reserve your rooms ASAP!

Remember that some hotels make you pay a small ‘holding’ cost upfront, and also that some hotels do not take out payment until AFTER your stay! So make sure you are budgeting your money accordingly so that you do not get over-drafted. If a friend has reserved the room, make sure that your name gets put somewhere on that room. This way you can not be kicked from the room and/or you avoid any issues if your friend failed to mention more people staying in the room than what is allowed. Telling the person behind the counter that you only have 2 people in your room and then having 2 other people sleeping on an air mattress is a legal issue and an overall safety risk/hazard! So please do not do it.

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The War for the Planet of the Apes Novels – Book Review by Fred Patten

by Pup Matthias

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

The War for the Planet of the Apes novels.

War for the Planet of the Apes: Revelations, by Greg Keyes.
London, Titan Books, June 2017, paperback, $7.99 (336 pages), Kindle $7.99.

War for the Planet of the Apes: The Official Movie Novelization, by Greg Cox.
London, Titan Books, July 2017, paperback, 7.99 (318 pages), Kindle $7.99.

Both novels are “Based on the screenplay written by Mark Bomback & Matt Reeves; based on characters created by Rick Jaffa & Amanda Silver”. Revelations is advertised as “The Official Movie Prequel”. They were marketed to be released one month before, and upon the release of the movie on July 14, 2017.

It may seem pointless to review two movie tie-in novels months after the movie has come and gone, but the lasting value of literature is whether the novel is still worth reading after its movie is gone. These two War for the Planet of the Apes novels hold up well.

War for the Planet of the Apes: Revelations is a bridge between the 2014 Dawn of the Planet of the Apes movie and the 2017 War for the Planet of the Apes movie – or between their novelizations.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: The Official Movie Novelization, ended ten years after the Simian Flu has killed almost all humans. The Ape Village of intelligent chimpanzees, orangutans, bonobos, and gorillas that had escaped from San Francisco, under the leadership of Caesar, the chimp, is starting to expand just as the few human survivors in San Francisco are also starting to expand. Their discovery of each other leads to a tense confrontation. Both Caesar and Dreyfus, the human leader, want peace, but they are sabotaged by Carver, a human hothead, and betrayed by Koba, Caesar’s chimp lieutenant who hates all humans. Dawn ends with Dreyfus dead and Caesar barely surviving his fight-to-the-almost-death with Koba, while the Apes are trying to establish a new village while facing a new group of human soldiers coming from a military base with advanced weapons.

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A deep dive into the Altfurry mission to “redpill” fandom with hate – Part 2

by Patch O'Furr

In their own words.

Part 1 gives background about how the Altfurry hate group works. Now here’s the screenshots.

The source is “Altfurry Mead Hall,” a Discord server that grew after the neo-nazi march at Charlottesville.  It documents months of chat from late 2017, specifically from their private channel for trusted staff. That filters out memes and filler and shows what they’re really about. The server is run by Casey Hoerth/”Len Gilbert”, AKA “The Furred Reich”. These chat logs add to a long mission of hate shown by previous leaks from his Altfurry Discord group.

Screenshots are duplicated in imgur galleries for another reading option. One user named Kilton had their ID blanked when this leaked.

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A deep dive into the Altfurry mission to “redpill” fandom with hate – Part 1

by Patch O'Furr

Background of a hate group.

Fandom is about imagination, but it’s made of people with a real community. Having a healthy community means discussing issues in it like grown-ups, from politics to risks. That includes happenings in the wider culture that affect a subculture full of loveable college-aged oddballs. These stories connect to “Altfurry”:

The alt-right is a racist fringe group that defines itself in opposition to others (like the mainstream, minorities, and people who aren’t racist). It can’t exist on its own, so they try to creep in, recruit and manipulate for power. Like two-faced chameleons, they wear an outer face to hide a disturbing inner narrative. They sugarcoat it, but the end goal is hateful bigotry. You can see through it when you know what “cryptofascism” is and how it works.

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Furry Fashion (part 2): Interview with the Furry Fashion Collective.

by Patch O'Furr

Cyan:
Hi Patch. We invited a few members of the F/F Collective board into this chat. Thanks for considering our project newsworthy.

Patch:
Totally cool. I got the impression there’s a physical book happening with it?

Sol:
Yessir!

Patch:
I dig it – is it about furries-who-like-fashion, or fashion-for-furries? Like clothes + furries, or more specifically anthro costuming?

Steezy:
Furries who like fashion. Sometimes fursuit fashion.

Yazoo:
It’s an amalgam of both the fashion savvy and those interested in fashion, whether it’s fandom inspired or otherwise.  So there’s a very nice intersection of people looking for fashion who are in the fandom and creators that provide for the fandom.

Sol:
Its also about giving insight for furries who might want to get into fashion.

Patch:
Oh yay, inspiration. Honestly that would even help me, I love making cool outfits but know nothing about the kind of stuff that people who go to school for the design know.

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Furry Fashion (part 1): Youth, Fursuiting, and Magic for Everyone.

by Patch O'Furr

From my closet.

Freaky Deaky Looks

Dancers, club kids, ravers, even Burning Man freaks – they all have standout looks that mingle with fandom sometimes. It’s a great place to celebrate creative expression in all of it’s forms.

Wherever furries meet, they wear their art. In costume or not, even their regular outfits are likely to be colorful with cartoony graphic appeal.  The interest crosses over with many aspects of a subculture full of young creative people.

Furs who love fashion recently started a collective to make projects together. I did a chat with the Furry Fashion Collective – that’s coming in Part 2. But first, this topic can’t overlook fursuiting, the fandom’s signature visual statement. It’s the silly side of things, but that’s not all there is to it.

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Made Fur You sews up a fandom record with a $13,500 fursuit auction at The Dealer’s Den.

by Patch O'Furr

Some highest fursuit auction records: 

Those are public auctions, but I also confirmed a private $17,500 commission and a $25,000 one that would involve special electronics. Other prices for personal builds and commissions may not be known. The Dealer’s Den told me:

With 82 total bids, the $13,500.00 Made Fur You auction that ended yesterday is our new record winner, beating out our previous record of $10,100.00 on a Mishka Silver Fox fursuit auction by Howl Yeah with 37 bids back on 9/08/16.

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Dogworld: Operation Stray Cat, by John Woods – Book Review by Fred Patten

by Pup Matthias

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

Dogworld: Operation Stray Cat, by John Woods. Illustrated by Miro Dimitrov.
Los Angeles, CA, Out of the Woods Publishing, July 2015, trade paperback, $10.99 (358 pages).

This is a military novel with dog and cat soldiers, or Canoids and Feloids, emphasizing the species’ senses:

“Enemy detection in the field was the job of big-nosed bloodhounds, stubby-legged Basset Hounds in a pinch, or even those spastic little beagles the suits in the Capitol somehow deemed fit for military service. Sure, there were better scent hounds in the ranks, and if he really needed one, he’d get one, but what he was looking for in this cornfield even a flat-nosed pug with a head cold should be able to sniff out,” (p. 3)

The setting is a planet with two suns and three moons, where civilization is represented by the Canoids and Feloids. The enormous homids are dumb beasts, only good for their dung for fertilizer.

That’s assuming the Feloids can be considered civilized. Lieutenant Colonel Angus Rex, a Canoid commander (Rottweiler), doubts it.

“As far as the colonel and most of his people were concerned, cats, as Feloids were more commonly called, had no place in modern society. The self-serving and savage Feloids seemed only to exist to foul the land his people toiled to cultivate, more importantly, to civilize. Destiny favored the technologically and intellectually advanced dogs. Everyone knew that. Everyone but the yellow-eyed devil cats themselves and the remnants of their army now gathered somewhere out there beyond the corn.” (p. 4)

The war has been going on for ten years.

“The colonel lowered his binoculars and looked back at his army. A thousand pairs of eyes looked to him and awaited his order to begin the final push of the decade-long fight the country’s newspapers were starting to call The Great Cat War. The Rottie huffed at this exaggeration and wondered if future historians would indeed label a ten-year mission of unapologetic, organized slaughter an actual war when every major battle fought was a near-total rout. Some would argue putting fifty-caliber canon [sic.] fire against simple bow and arrow could not possibly be considered an actual war, but the motive-spinning nose-breathers in charge deemed it a war, so the colonel long ago reasoned what he was doing was just. Besides, he rationalized, his duty was not to argue the political, philosophical, or even moral aspects of the mission; but to simply follow orders and get the job done. And, like most of his people, he was obedient; he would do whatever was necessary to complete the objective.” (pgs. 5-6)

The protagonist of Dogworld is “Corporal Cooper Bigby, a likeable young beagle-sheltie mix” (p. 9). He is in awe of the final battlefield. “Bigby imagined the grand concrete and steel memorial certain to be built, probably exactly where he now stood.” (p. 10)

If Bigby had been a wolf, he would be an omega. As a puppy, when he and his friends played Cats & Dogs, “he always ended up being picked to play one of the Feloids, never a triumphant Canoid. […] Having only been assigned to his first combat unit just days earlier, Bigby had never experienced battle, never fired a single shot in anger, and figured he likely never would. He had qualified at the range, but just barely. The army required proficient marksmanship of all its soldiers, and he had made the cut by the narrowest of margins, but with his small frame and short arms, it was difficult to steady an assault rifle obviously designed for a much larger Canoid.” (pgs. 11-12)

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