Dogpatch Press

Fluff Pieces Every Week
January 13, 2015

Cast Away on the Letter A – book review by Fred Patten.

by Patch O'Furr

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

Cast Away on the Letter A, by Fred. [Translated by Richard Kutner.]download (2)

NYC, Candlewick Press/TOON Books, September 2014, hardcover $16.95 (45 [+ 1] pages).

I have been waiting for over forty years for this book! In the 1960s and early ‘70s, before I concentrated upon Japanese comics and furry literature, I was an obsessive fan of French-language cartoon albums; bandes dessinées. I did not only buy those that came to Los Angeles; I mail-ordered them from Paris and from Brussels. I also got the three major weekly magazines; Spirou, Tintin, and Pilote.

In 1965, Pilote began serializing the work of a new cartoonist: Fred. There was nothing quite like it, but it was in the same surrealistic, psychedelic league as Little Nemo in Slumberland by Winsor McCay, The Kin-der Kids by Lyonel Feininger, and Krazy Kat by George Herriman. Fred became an instant star among the creators of French-language comics. His greatest work was the Philémon series, 15 volumes from 1972 to 1987. Other memorable works, short series or single albums, were (titles translated) The Little Circus; The Bottom of the Air is Fresh; Timoléon (three volumes); Okay, I’m Coming; Hmm; and The Story of the Crow in Tennis Shoes.

Read the rest of this entry »

2 comments
January 12, 2015

FURRY GOOD IDEAS: Fursuit of the Year award and fashion show, and more.

by Patch O'Furr

One of the few search results for "fursuit fashion show."

One of the few search results for “fursuit fashion show.”

Read to bottom for Fred Patten’s informative comment that inspired this.  

In 2014, fun hobby blogging exposed me to many new ideas that could use more development.  This blog is for underexposed, underrated topics.  That’s subculture, and it’s about fan love.  I love sharing it!

Looking back at some articles about new ideas and opportunities, I think they could use a feature.  FURRY GOOD IDEAS joins previous special features here.  

I was going to call this “What Furry needs”.  But nobody really NEEDS these. This isn’t preaching what’s best for you.   It’s just observation from one enthusiastic fan, inspired by other fans.  It comes from a thriving subculture that ‘s expanding with a convention every weekend, somewhere in the world.  That makes a lot of room for ambitious proposals.  This is an attempt to highlight ideas with popular demand, appeal, or opportunity to make real.  Share yours too!

Read the rest of this entry »

10 comments
January 9, 2015

The Guardian Herd: Starfire, by Jennifer Lynn Alvarez – Fred Patten’s book review.

by Patch O'Furr

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

The Guardian Herd: Starfire, by Jennifer Lynn Alvarez. Illustrated by David McClellan; map.
NYC, HarperCollinsPublishers/Harper, September 2014, hardcover $16.99 (245 [+ 4] pages), Kindle $8.89.download

This is blurbed as, “The first book in a gripping new tween fantasy series about winged horses—perfect for fans of the Warriors, Survivors, and Guardians of Ga’Hoole series.” It reminds me more of older fantasies about magical horses, not officially but pretty obviously intended for horse-obsessed adolescent girls: The June 1988 The Heavenly Horse from the Outermost West by Mary Stanton, and its May 1989 sequel, Piper at the Gate; or Meredith Ann Pierce’s Firebringer trilogy (Birth of the Firebringer, November 1985; Dark Moon, May 1992; The Son of Summer Stars, May 1996; and the collection The Firebringer Trilogy, June 2003). Now there is Jennifer Lynn Alvarez’s The Guardian Herd series. Amazon.com is already advertising the second book in the series, The Guardian Herd: Stormbound, to be published in April 2015.

The Guardian Herd: Starfire’s first obvious similarity is in having a large equine cast; in this case, of pegasi rather than unicorns or regular horses (called land horses here). The dramatis personae (this is too serious for just cast) lists 32 winged horses divided into five herds, led off by the newborn Starfire of the Sun Herd. This does not include Stormbound, the protagonist of the second book. There are over-stallions, lead mares, captains, medicine mares (a herd’s doctor), mated mares, single or widowed mares, yearlings, and foals; each individually named and described. If Alvarez intends to write a novel about each, she could go on forever.

Read the rest of this entry »

Leave a comment
January 8, 2015

ROAR vol. 5 – book review by Fred Patten.

by Patch O'Furr

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

roar ROAR vol. 5, edited by Buck C. Turner

Dallas, TX, Bad Dog Books/FurPlanet Productions, July 2014, trade paperback $19.95 (325 pages). 

ROAR vol. 5, the approximately-annual anthology of “literary” (non-erotic) anthropomorphic short fiction under the Bad Dog Books imprint, contains stories on the theme of Secrecy. Editor Buck C. Turner says in his Foreword:

“This volume features stories based around secrets, a theme which brought out amazing plot twists and tense revelations. Keeping secrets brings an inevitable tension to life, one which no one fully escapes. […] Secrets can give their holders power and pain as they must wrestle with the decisions on how – or if – to utilize the information they possess. This is the task these fourteen authors, the largest number I’ve accepted to a ROAR volume, have undertaken.” (p. 10)

Warning: this is a long review, to cover fourteen stories.

Read the rest of this entry »

Leave a comment
January 7, 2015

Happy Furry New Year! A look back and what’s coming soon from Patch and Fred Patten.

by Patch O'Furr

Furry New Year from Spottacus, Majik, Maczyn, Dakota, Bakr, Cassie, Stormy, Relaxing Dragon, Cyclone, Scoob, Chairo, Trail Horse, Zarafa, Kalu, Patch, and all the Bay Area Furries. (Pic by Amenophis.)  At the San Francisco Bay Bridge, the crowd was super excited to hang out with us before the fireworks.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

 

It was a great year, and it’s a huge honor to host Fred Patten’s articles.

 

The blog got active in May 2014. It’s had around 3 posts and a few thousand views per week.  (All relative to focus of topics, for a small niche of fans.)

The top article of 2014 was about November’s “Wild Things” party (NSFW), with 7,000 views.  The second was about John Waters and furries. Third was about a photo art gallery show.  It’s interesting that these three involved local, live events in San Francisco.  Fourth top article was Talking with the directors of College Humor’s “Furry Force” – associated with a many-millions-viewed Youtube animation that I submitted to the Ursa Majors recommended anthropomorphics list.

Read the rest of this entry »

1 comment
January 6, 2015

Paved with good intentions – Furry Newsdump (1/5/15)

by Patch O'Furr

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

_____________________________

In the Media

_____________________________

You Can’t Get Inside – a profile of the furry community from within. furries

Michael Arthur writes at The Hooded Utilitarian.  “Profiles written in good faith by outsiders are thin on the ground.  Accurate ones do not exist.  Do not feel discouraged.  If you really “got it” like we get it, you’d be one of us.”

The article doesn’t just verbalize getting it, it IS that.  Great essay!  (When I read it, I was glad it supports criticism I’d already written about the Buzzfeed article, below.)

Arthur writes about being “Zapped with that funny feeling” that is Furry… it reminds me of something from a while back, in the same post where I mentioned that President Obama hung out with a furry.  “The furriest thing ever”. Here’s being zapped:

Photos, Furries, and Photos of Furries.

Flavorwire makes a small notice that positively shares the below article.

Read the rest of this entry »

Leave a comment
January 5, 2015

Edmonton Oil Kings hockey hosts fursuiter race. “It’s looking hairy at ice level!”

by Patch O'Furr

On video: “Louis the Lion battles for racing supremacy in the first ever Frantic Furry 500!”

Sometimes I joke about my low interest in sports. (Sorry, Canadians!) I’d love it if the teams were all mascots, while one sports guy runs around for laughs.

I imagine mascots worry about being upstaged by fursuiters. But the furries showed they’re good sports to Louis.

Read the rest of this entry »

1 comment
December 31, 2014

Responses to fursuit auction story confirm $17,500 top price.

by Patch O'Furr

January 2018 update: Here’s a note that record top auctions just rose from $11,575 to $13,500.

wolf 08-03-2014 005 smaller

Last week’s article about fursuits and top prices had very nice feedback.

Andreus wrote to mention that he owns Vex:

…a realistic MixedCandy-made werewolf fursuit that cost roughly $4,500 US / £2,600 GBP at the time of purchase. It’s got body-shaping padding such as digitigrade legs and large muscles for the proper muscular werewolf look. It’s also got a moving jaw.

Read the rest of this entry »

10 comments
December 30, 2014

Moth and Rust, by Eddie Drueding – Fred Patten’s book review.

by Patch O'Furr

sbibb-marcoverblogSubmitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.

Moth and Rust, by Eddie Drueding.
White Bear Lake, MN, Melange Books, August 2014, trade paperback $13.95 ([4] + 190 [+ 5] pages).

This is Arraborough Book 3, following the 2012 Book 1, The Unimaginable Road and the 2013 Book 2, The Darkness. It will be followed by Book 4, Revelation.

Eddie Drueding’s Arraborough series, featuring his idealistic anthropomorphized animal community and the mysterious and ominous forces that oppose it, moves on to its third annual volume. If you have read the first two, get it! If you haven’t, try The Unimaginable Road first. Arraborough is not for everyone.

The comments that I made on Book 2 are even more true for Book 3. There is a two-page “The Story So Far …” that is so brief as to be more confusing than enlightening. It is assumed that the reader is familiar with all the large cast. Drueding’s habit of writing in the present tense (the story begins abruptly, “Pimlico bends down, gathers Dovan’s dead body in his arms, and rises. They remain in that position for a long moment, the cat simply too stunned to move, stunned not least of all by the very weight of Dovan in his arms, a lightness he can only feel unfitting to being the only remaining testimony to all that Dovan had been in life.”) is offputting at first. The reader may still be caught in a “Wait a minute; WHAT!?” moment from the discovery of the ancient spaceship at the climax of Book 2. Even readers familiar with the story may want to  refresh their memories- it’s been a year since Book 2 was published. What animals, again, are Tust and Fespin?

Read the rest of this entry »

Leave a comment
December 29, 2014

$3 million sale raises furry auction topic. Now that’s an expensive fursuit!

by Patch O'Furr

WWXX3eM

1D274907295233-today-cowardly-lion-141125-03.blocks_desktop_mediumWearing big rugs for animal role-playing takes a lot of devotion and money.annex-lahr-bert-wizard-of-oz-the_02Bert-Lahr

In the above Anthrocon 2014 photo, 1,326 fursuiters broke the world record “Largest parade of people in fur suits,” set at Anthrocon in 2013.

For each fursuit in the photo, allow a generous but in-the-ballpark worth of $2,320.51.  It makes the whole crowd worth exactly what someone paid for The Cowardly Lion costume from the 1939 movie The Wizard of Oz, worn by Burt Lahr.  On 11/25/14, the original Cowardly Lion sold for $3,077,000.

Read the rest of this entry »

9 comments