Dogpatch Press

Fluff Pieces Every Week

Category: Personalities

February 22, 2024

Remembering Mark Merlino (1952-2024), a founder and soul of furry fandom

by Patch O'Furr

Mark (left) and Rod holding their Lifetime Achievement Award — from the 2022 Good Furry Awards

They had a shared vision

Mark Merlino was a founder of both the furry fandom and the North American anime fandom. In 1971, meeting fellow hobbyists at science fiction conventions led to the 1977 formation of the Cartoon/Fantasy Organization (C/FO), using the clubhouse of the Los Angeles Science Fiction Society (LASFS). They would screen rare videos of imported Japanese animation for lucky members to see before anyone else, and movies like Animalympics that were first called funny-animal and later furry. In 1989 Mark and his partner Rod O’Riley co-founded the first furry convention, Confurence.

Their vision stood apart from major influences like Star Trek or Star Wars. They would gather fans without elitism or ambitions of an exclusive club, with no central property, brand or owner. It was a vision of collaboration, expressed with sketchbook sharing, convention room parties, and direct fan-to-fan creativity. That’s how love for animal characters turned into being original role-play fursonas. It was shaded by counterculture of 1960’s underground comix, and lit by the sparks of pre-internet fandom circulated by VHS tapes and mail ‘zines.

The flame was tended from Mark’s Southern California house, The Prancing Skiltaire, established in 1980. It was named after a mink-like alien species he created and also a reference to the Prancing Pony Inn in Lord of the Rings. Mark shared the house with Rod and a rotating cast of fellow creative oddballs and luminaries. In the mid-1980’s he created his fursona Sylys Sable and Rod created Vinson Mink with a similar back-story. They supported regular monthly furmeets, con staff meets, furry BBS and MUCK activity and an ISP, animation screenings and mingling with California industry talent, and development of independent zine/APA publishing, animation, games, and costuming. They were at the forefront of an explosion of nearly 200 conventions and worldwide subculture that serves millions today.

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February 19, 2024

Author Jess E. Owen: Soaring to crossover success in fantasy and mainstream YA fiction

by Patch O'Furr

Welcome to Jess E. Owen, author of noblebright fantasy, and optimistic contemporary Young Adult writing (as Jessica Kara), whose book A Furry Faux Paw caught the notice of Dogpatch Press with a 2022 Ursa Major Award for Best Novel. It’s the story of a teen girl artist with a hoarder mom, facing isolation and family complication with the promise of a forbidden trip to a furry con. It stood out for reaching outside a typical insider science fiction/fantasy audience, with gateway appeal by using fandom as a setting for character building. It stood out even more as a furry teen story in the face of conservative backlash at books. A Furry Faux Paw was seen on a mainstream channel, before it was obvious that she was a furry insider — that’s well-rounded exposure! In fact, she laughed about her pen name maybe being too successful at separation from her best known fantasy series starring gryfon characters, The Summer King Chronicles. Here’s a creator worth interviewing about how her work gets around, one you might see soon at Anthrocon 2024.

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September 5, 2023

Peter S. Beagle warns fans not to trust The Last Unicorn movie page on Facebook

by Patch O'Furr

Peter S. Beagle created The Last Unicorn, made millions of fans happy, then got dragged through elder abuse and had to go to court to stop it.

In his 70’s, Peter was supposed to be making his magic and enjoying the golden years. Instead he had to spend years of battling his former manager, Connor Cochran, who was found liable for financial elder abuse, fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, and defamation.

Before his disgrace, Cochran would sue critics for saying what he was doing, and wanted to shut me up that way. He failed when I sued him before Peter did. Peter issued a support statement during my legal battle for vindication, and I prevailed in 2019 with a judgement in my favor for $32,000. Peter sent me a signed Last Unicorn hardcover with a hand-written thank you for helping him.

Now Peter is back in control of his career. His official Beagleverse site has an FAQ about his battle with the court judgement showing the black-and-white truth.

But the Beagleverse site warns: “Unfortunately, there are still several websites controlled by Peter’s former manager. Beagleverse® is the best source for all things Peter S. Beagle.”

Peter doesn’t control a Last Unicorn Facebook page with an official check mark. It was made in 2008 before Peter sued Cochran, and is now being used to manipulate 182,000 followers.

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June 7, 2023

Fursuit maker Sudoku gets costume adopted by Twenty One Pilots.

by Patch O'Furr

Sudoku has been a fursuit maker since 2015, and was sole proprietor of Strut Your Fluff Ltd. in 2020-2022. That led to something amazing:

“I got my start in costumes in the furry fandom (stumbling across Matrices’ website in 2014!) That foundation helped me to reach my long-term goal of performing as an official mascot. I am Bruiser the Bulldog, NAIA-division, for Concordia University, NE.”

In 2019, Twenty One Pilots made a video featuring a fuzzy creature named “Ned”. As a fan, Sudoku built a mascot costume of him. It was made and worn for personal satisfaction, but as life went on, Sudoku wanted to retire as owner. Recently Twenty One Pilots accepted her gift offer of the Ned costume, so it’s becoming the official property of band members Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun.

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March 20, 2023

Fandom conventions targeted by pedophile activist Mark “Didaskalos” Miner

by Dogpatch Press Staff

Mark Miner’s pre-2005 teacher photo, and screens from his more recent posts on social media.

Infiltration at VancouFur

Few places want to let a vocal pedophile feel at home, and that’s why Evil Unveiled made a page about Mark “Didaskalos” Miner and his endless quest for acceptance of pedophilia/pederasty/Boy Love. He’s been at it for decades, on places like the Boychat pedophile forum (where he posts as ScotusBaby). It gets tiny recognition like a category on a site to publicize “those who don’t demonize” pederasty.

Hopeless causes have their die-hards, and Miner is now trying to run panels at libraries and anime and fandom conventions, where he might reach supple young audiences that have their guard down. As a former teacher, he uses poetry and classic theater as a cover of legitimacy to harken back to his idea of a golden age — when men were men, boys were boys, and abuse between them wasn’t illegal yet.

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August 22, 2022

Interview with NIIC the Singing Dog – New album on the way!

by Dogpatch Press Staff

Guest Doppelfoxx writes fiction and nonfiction, and last submitted a story about NFTs affecting the culture. This interview with NIIC was dual-submitted to Flayrah. NIIC the Singing Dog is a well known furry musician from Philadelphia, with 5 albums of howling electro-pop and over 7 million views across Youtube, Spotify and other platforms. Fun fact: Patch O’Furr jumped around with his live show at Anthrocon and shared funny reactions from his videos. After a period of low activity, NIIC has new music on the way.

(Doppelfoxx): Welcome and thank you for interviewing with us! Who are you and what do you do? Describe yourself in a few sentences.

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June 21, 2022

Rhythm Bastard and his music: Support your local swole punk rock furry!

by Patch O'Furr

What is Rhythm Bastard? Hardcore Nerdcore Punk Rock. Alternative Laptop Punk. A DIY one-man-band with a furry Florida Man.

“Rhythm Bastard takes the stage armed only with his voice, his guitar and his bandmate, a laptop, playing a mix of punk and garage rock, with music inspired by every thing from video games, anime, comics and everything in between.” – Bio

His newest music is coming on July 1, so let’s hear about it from the Bastard.

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June 10, 2022

Cassidy Civet was the furry On Canada’s Got Talent

by Patch O'Furr

A singing furry was on a TV reality show! First the story, then some questions…

The Got Talent franchise started with America’s Got Talent in 2006, which spun off over 69 versions in other countries. Nice. Canada’s Got Talent first aired in 2012. It only just came back with a 2nd season for 2022 featuring Cassidy Civet, the first furry in any of the franchises. The show format has been used for more than singing, including dance, comedy, acrobats, novelty acts, and animal acts. Now I’m confused about Cassidy’s category… let’s just call her awesome.

You can browse some of Cassidy’s talents below, and look out for her upcoming video about appearing on Eurovision.

Here’s the video, and then Cassidy tells more.

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March 9, 2022

The fascist fringe of furry fans: the Eastern Orthodox connection.

by Dogpatch Press Staff

Here’s a community access guest post with anonymity to protect sources. New readers will benefit from background in the Altfurry tag, which documents a loose fringe of pests who include terrorists like Portland mass shooter Benjamin Smith. The guest author says: “they’re a nasty bunch… this is a great way to get all this info out. There’s so much information most furries don’t know or have context for. I appreciate that you’re willing to go up against these people.” It’s hosted with opinions belonging to the guest. – Editor 

PART 1 / 2 – Notable names and their ties and tells.

This report is meant to shed light on a particular strain of furry fascist that is far more ideological and militant than Altfurry ever was, with most people involved orbiting Reagan Lodge, a die-hard fascist and furry artist who has been in the fandom for 2 decades but was not exposed until 2020. The common pattern between all of them is an obsession for drawing furries and military imagery, often themed around historical conflicts and authoritarian regimes. (Their obscure ideologies/dogwhistles get a look in the second half.)

Reagan Lodge AKA Sulacoyote

The Kevin Bacon of the twitter far-right. Reagan Lodge, aka Sulacoyote, has been in the furry fandom for years, drawing art of furries in Nazi uniforms or the armor from Jin-Roh (an anime beloved by online Nazis). He somehow got quite the following despite drawing like this; (red labeled by editor.)

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February 11, 2022

The Buck Ups play fun classic songs with a two buck show.

by Patch O'Furr

Don’t miss your chance to nominate for the Ursa Major Awards – nominations close on Feb 12!

There are furry music labels, furry DJ’s for furry dances, and furry bands. Here’s one with a good look. Many of them are like musicians in fursuits… but this is a band with a fursona. A deer duo, acoustic and rustic, and playing with hooves; that’s neat. OK, maybe the hooves are imaginary, but this would go well with furry camping. Here’s what they say about music and fawndom.

From Stagger Lee and Bucket:

Born out of a very chance twitter friendship, the Buck Ups have been making music together now for just over two years. It wasn’t until late of 2021 that the duo began their own twitter page – @Buck_ups. Posting for a year prior under both Stagger and Bucket’s own accounts, the two decided it was time to put forth the effort to centralize their sound. Here you’ll find our love for primarily 60s and 70s feel good music, with some surprises thrown in – as well as our favorite comedic gold unscripted moments and why we’re aptly called, “the Buck Ups.”

In 2018 Stagger Lee had started posting drumming videos to some classic rock songs, when he did a mashup of four Led Zeppelin tunes, and Bucket hesitantly posted his first guitar comment video with the tagline “Hey, wanna start a band?” The two still find it fate, as Bucket noted many times how he debated for a long time about actually posting a response like that. A fast friendship ensued. Bucket has been playing guitar for over 16 years, and Stagger a relatively new comer to the instrument just over 2 years. The two deer have been sharing ideas and songs they find near and deer to their heart for their twitter audience.

We’re probably a-typical of your furry music scene which primarily focuses on electronic music. Never afraid to be different, the two bucks love to share their quick less-than-2-minute snap shots of fun classic songs. It’s about having fun, and not taking ourselves seriously. We get tangled up in our antlers, we forget lyrics constantly, and chords are often made up on the spot. The banter is raw and real, the takes are often many – but we can’t wait to share more music. It’s about keeping music alive and breathing new life into these songs you forgot about.

Like what you hear? Want more? Give them a follow or bring them to a con. They won’t get frozen in the spotlights with stag fright if they have this much fun.

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