July 2, 2015

Last of the SandWalkers, by Jay Hosler – book review by Fred Patten.

by Patch O'Furr

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

Last of the SandWalkers, by Jay Hosler. Illustrated by the author.
NYC, First Second, April 2015, trade paperback $16.99 ([5 +] 312 pages), Kindle $9.99.

Biologist/entomologist/cartoonist Dr. Jay Hosler has been creating comic books and cartoon-art books since the 1990s. He may be best-known for his award-winning Clan Apis, a dramatic adventure featuring honeybees that was also (allowing for the anthropomorphization) entomologically accurate; first published as a five-issue comic book in 1998 and still in print as a graphic novel today. Now Hosler has written & drawn Last of the SandWalkers, a science-fiction comedy-drama for readers 10 and up, featuring beetles, for First Second, a subsidiary of publishing giant Macmillan.

The main characters are a scientific expedition of five beetles, all different: Lucy (shown on the cover), a sassy, rule-breaking junior member and a water-capturing tenebrionid beetle from the Southern African desert; Professor Bombardier, the motherly stable team member, a bombardier beetle; Mossy, a giant but unassuming Hercules rhinoceros beetle; Raef, a not-very-bright (mentally) firefly; and grumpy Professor Owen, a small but nasty Cape stag beetle. They are from New Coleopolis, a beetle city under a palm tree in an isolated desert oasis. New Coleopolis was founded a little over a thousand years ago, after old Coleopolis was destroyed by cocoanuts falling on it from the palm tree. It was assumed at the time by religious leaders that the god Scarabus had caused the falling cocoanuts due to displeasure at Coleopolis’ scientific community’s iconoclastic spirit, and since then the new theocratic city has outlawed research. This expedition is the first in a thousand years.

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July 1, 2015

It’s the “Idea Channel” for furries – Culturally F’d on Youtube.

by Patch O'Furr

Sometimes the Dogpatch Press tip account gets extra cool messages. Here’s what new friend Arrkay sent:

We here love what you guys post online and what your content does for the fandom, so we hope you’ll take some time to check out what we’re doing!

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?

Arrkay got me excited to know more. The show summaries are gold… (everything I’d love to expose here.) Let him explain it in his words:

An all new Furry YouTube show has come on the scene: Culturally F’d.

Culturally F’d explores the furries of the past and present, climbing the ladder of history through mass media in all the different ways humans have blended the properties of man and animal, and why. From Cave Paintings to Comic Books, and everything in between. Culturally F’d is an exploration of what makes everyone just a little bit furry, and what makes furries especially furry.

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June 30, 2015

Furry fan among 500 injured by Taiwan explosion – medical funding needed.

by Patch O'Furr

Colored powder being sprayed over a festival stage was ignited by surprise, causing a mid-air explosion over festival goers. The accident happened at Formosa Fun Coast, a water park in Taiwan. Roughly 500 are reported injured, including over 200 in critical condition. Photos show chaos and graphic injuries, especially to feet and legs of the victims who were unable to escape. The horror of the scenes stand in sharp contrast to the park’s colorful inflated inner tubes that were pressed into service as emergency stretchers to carry victims to safety. The sad scenes should be avoided by sensitive viewers.

Alex H., the victim that the furry community is asked to help, is said to be an enthusiastic artist who was teaching overseas. His Twitter account, a few appeals from furry friends, and a donation from Uncle Kage are community connections I can see as the story is just spreading.

To help with emergency medical expenses, please visit this GoFundMe page.

From Twitter

Our fandom member @Yo_Nv was also caught in the explosion in Taiwan http://t.co/i5wVr6UVxm can use your help please https://t.co/q29XjufYsq
— Kofu in the triangle NC (@kofukitty) June 29, 2015

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June 29, 2015

Exclusive: Nordguard game and Windfall novel coming out at Anthrocon, from Tempe O’Kun.

by Patch O'Furr

In November 2014, I shared news about the very active Furry author Tempe O’kun. Public Radio interviewed him about his writing – and they treated Furry writing as just a genre, not a “weird news” item. Even the romance kind! That was refreshing, and I thought he did a great job representing it. So do other furries, it seems, because he’s been honored as an award winning Furry Writers’ Guild member and a convention guest of honor.

Tempe got in touch to share exclusive news about upcoming projects. His novel Windfall sounds like a unique genre-mixing delight, with cute furry romance and paranormal horror. There’s also art from the Nordguard card game below. They’re coming out at Anthrocon 2015. If you can’t wait to see them in person on July 9-13, here’s a taste. I asked Tempe to round out his news with personal chat about how his year has been – and if he had stories about making projects happen. I asked: “Are you excited for Anthrocon, and what else do you plan to do there?”

Tempe responds: unnamed

My year has been great thus far! I was guest of honor at Camp Feral 2014, and I have been invited to GoH another con in the spring.

ThinkTank Games and I started work on what would become Nordguard: Tribes of the White Land expansion before the game’s core set even came out. Originally, we’d planned it as a series of smaller expansions (about the size of Magic booster packs), but eventually took the most interesting elements from each set and combined them into a 36-card pack. It shuffles directly into the main set and, just like the original, it’s a boxed set—no buying multiple packs to get the cards you want, like in a CCG. The highlights include two canon characters (Iyoto and Manny) who were mentioned in the first book, but haven’t been seen yet. It also has Team Fortress 2-style side-grades for every character. BlackTeagan also developed an entire new tribe—the Nituuyik, arctic lynxes—for the expansion, who will later appear in the books. So this is the first time the card game will have a direct influence on the graphic novels!

We’re also reprinting the core set. We’ve gotten some great feedback over the last two years and we’re pretty confident about the streamlining we’ve done for the second edition.

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June 27, 2015

The Wild Piano, by Fred – book review by Fred Patten.

by Patch O'Furr

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

The Wild Piano, by Fred. [Translated by Richard Kutner.]
NYC, Candlewick Press/TOON Books, May 2015, hardcover $16.95 (45 [+ 1] pages).

The Wild Piano (Le Piano Sauvage) is Book 2 in the Philémon series by Fred (Frédéric Othon Théodore Aristidès, 1931-2013), serialized in the classic French comics magazine Pilote. The weekly strip was collected into 15 books between 1972 and 1987. Fred retired leaving Philémon’s adventures uncompleted, until he wrote/drew a 16^th volume to finish the series just before his death.

Book 1, Cast Away on the Letter A, was reviewed here in January. I won’t repeat the gushing praise that I lavished upon it, but briefly: Philémon was/is a surrealistic cartoon strip in the tradition of Winsor McCay’s Little Nemo in Slumberland and George Herriman’s Krazy Kat. Philémon is a teenage farmboy in the French countryside of the 1960s-‘70s who falls down a well and has psychedelic adventures on the literal letters ATLANTIC of the Atlantic Ocean of a parallel world. Philémon, and Fred’s other works, were instant hits in France, reprinted so often that Fred was able to retire and live off his royalties. It is a sad commentary on the lack of interest in non-American cartoon art in America that the Philémon books are only now being published here after 40+ years. A Philémon live-action movie full of VFX, French-produced but in English, was announced as in pre-production in 2013.

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June 26, 2015

Animation Show of Shows – Yiff vs. Murr – History of faux fur – Newsdump (6/25/15)

by Patch O'Furr

Headlines, links and little stories to make your tail wag. Tips are always welcome.

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Media and Fandom News

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The Animation Show of Shows: There’s no better source for artistic animation, and they need support.

This touring show presents the best of the best in the world of short films, by the most talented directors. It’s ordinarily only seen by invite at top movie studios (your Pixars and so forth), and at colleges, with special public access to those who hear through word of mouth. You may not have heard of it, because it’s been a personal project funded by one amazing guy, Ron. (He also runs Acme Filmworks, who directed a good couch gag for The Simpsons.)

Now, The Animation Show of Shows is appealing for support for their amazing art cause.

I don’t ordinarily post crowd funding (too much to cover!) Leave that to awesome Furry journalist Corbeau at Furstarter. (We need more “furry news” specialists.) This is just an exceptional cause. If you like animation, don’t miss it.

Through this show, I discovered the hilarious short, Flamingo Pride. It shows what happens to the only heterosexual flamingo at the birds celebration. It’s almost as fabulous as the San Francisco Bay Furries will be this weekend, in the SF Pride parade.

Knoxville, TN has furries in their Pride parade. Draconis, Chair of Fangcon, reports: Read the rest of this entry »

5 comments

June 25, 2015

The Guardian Herd: Stormbound, by Jennifer Lynn Alvarez – book review by Fred Patten.

by Patch O'Furr

Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer, submits this review:

The Guardian Herd: Stormbound, by Jennifer Lynn Alvarez. Illustrated by David McClellan; map.
NYC, HarperCollinsPublishers/Harper, April 2015, hardcover $16.99 ([xiii +] 299 [+ 1] pages), Kindle $8.89.

Well, this is a big surprise! The Guardian Herd: Starfire, the first book in this series, listed 32 flying and talking horses in five herds. Others were mentioned during the adventure of the colt Starfire’s maturing to the over-stallion of his own herd. The obvious assumption was that this first sequel in a promised long series would switch to another pegasus named Stormbound. Instead, The Guardian Herd: Stormbound continues directly from where the previous novel ended. Stormbound isn’t the name of a pegasus; it’s the title of the second adventure.

The Guardian Herd: Starfire ended with Starfire (a.k.a. Star), the first all-black (except for the white star on his forehead) stallion in four hundred years, reaching his first birthday without being killed, coming into his power from the Hundred Year Star; and leading his followers – mostly yearlings like himself, plus older pegasi dissatisfied with the leaderships of the existing herds – into a new River Herd. As The Guardian Herd: Stormbound opens a month later, Star is still looking for a permanent territory for his new herd, away from the five hostile older herds. He has declined to become an over-stallion and has entrusted the River Herd to the guidance of a council of six more experienced pegasi; although the council consider themselves more as advisors under his leadership.

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June 24, 2015

Pride brings excitement for Bay Area Furries, with 50% rise in attendance.

by Patch O'Furr

Following this week’s “Pride in Furry Mecca” item –

It was an incredible rush to march with dozens of fursuiters in the 2014 San Francisco Pride parade. It was a good cause, but besides any message, the parade was full of music and cheering that made it pure fun. On ordinary days, it was a main route of the city full of buses and cars, but that day it was blocked off to make a stage a mile and a half long, with crowds on BOTH sides. It’s rare to get such audience (over a million) for jumping around and being furry. The hot sun made me ease up to shady parts of the barrier, and ask watchers if they could spare a dog bowl of beer.

2014 was the first time the Bay Area Furries returned to march since 2005. Excitement is building for the 2015 parade, on June 28. There are 50% more RSVP’s than last year. Friends and lurkers will probably increase it too, with likely attendance of over 70. Everyone is expecting another amazing event.

A valued regular commenter gave skepticism about the idea of “furry pride”, because it’s just liking something, not an achievement. I responded that it’s just one of many social groups supporting Pride (capital P), not a parade representing furries.

Here’s more info courtesy of the group organizers. It’s script info that goes to TV announcers, to help them figure out what they’re looking at. The parade requests one from every group.

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June 23, 2015

Spirit of the Wolves, by Dorothy Hearst – book review by Fred Patten.

by Patch O'Furr

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

Spirit of the Wolves, by Dorothy Hearst
NYC, Simon & Schuster, December 2014, hardcover $26.00 (356 pages), Kindle $13.99.

Spirit of the Wolves is a.k.a. The Wolf Chronicles, Book Three, following Promise of the Wolves (2008) and Secrets of the Wolves (2011).

“I crouched at the edge of Fallen Tree Gathering Place, a freshly caught rabbit warm and limp in my jaws, my haunches trembling. The Swift River wolves were preparing for a morning hunt, touching noses and speaking quietly to one another. Dawn light filtered through the branches of two tall oaks that stood guard at the clearing’s edge, dappling the Fallen Spruce that divided my pack’s largest gathering place.” (p. 1)

Fourteen thousand years ago, primitive humans lived with animals as part of nature. That was about when mankind began to consider itself separate from, and better than, the other animals, and began to live apart. But according to the Prologue in Promise of the Wolves, set 40,000 years ago, the wolves had already been sent the “Promise of the Wolf”. “What is the promise of the wolf? Never consort with humans. Never kill a human unprovoked. Never allow a mixed-blood wolf to live.”

The Wolf Chronicles is the first-person story of Kaala Smallteeth, a female cub born into the Swift River wolf pack of the Wide Valley; a rich land of several wolf packs, many prey animals, and tribes of men. At this time there are also huge Greatwolves (dire wolves?) who act as guardians – and guards – of the regular wolves, making sure that the wolves obey the Promise and never consort with humans, lest they start becoming mysteriously subservient to man (which presumably means evolving into domesticated dogs).

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June 22, 2015

Pride in Furry Mecca – Viral views for Zootopia – Crushing on foxes – Newsdump (6/22/15)

by Patch O'Furr

Headlines, links and little stories to make your tail wag. Tips are always welcome.

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Media and Fandom News

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From 2014, via chrisastro.com

On June 28, San Francisco Pride is going to be awesome for furries!

The Bay Area Furries are all ready to march in the parade. Pride is the height of street fair season in “Furry Mecca”. It’s one of the most loved activities for an active section of the community. 2014 was the first Furry appearance in the parade since 2005. They had attendance of 50+, and TV coverage with a million-strong audience. RSVP’s are 25% stronger than last year, with days left to grow. Two leaders got the event organized, despite unavailability of an important third from last year.

Califur visited by television naturalist Figgy Dobbs.

An Inside Look at the Furries in Their Natural Habitat!

Buzzfeed podcast covers furries (via earthfurst).

BuzzFeed’s Internet Explorer does “A Deep Dive Into Furries”. It starts at 6:45. I missed this in April. It calls furries “the greatest mystery of the internet”. As usual, Buzzfeed is a dubious source – it mentions FurryMate but overlooks their bots. I won’t forgive them for spreading lies about the NJ FurBQ Hoax.

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