Anthropomorphic Dreams Publishing

It’s a hard life for a lone griffin, trying to feed and care for her remaining chick after her mate was killed in a raid. When Sophaaru discovers abandoned dragon hatchlings will she leave them to the wilderness or take them in care for them as one of her own?

“The Sons of Air and Fire” by Xeans

Read by Kemmy

Download or listen to the album here.

The Ursa Major Awards are open for nominations. For those who aren’t familiar with them, they are the analog to the Hugos, fan-voted awards, for the furry fandom.

As nominations are open to any and all works, we would would like to nominate the Athro Dreams Podcast for the Magazine category, and the  Different Worlds, Different Skins anthology for the Other Literary Work category.

Regardless of what you vote for though, if you’re in the fandom and interested in the awards, just vote for the projects you like, to help give them visibility.

PodCastle, the fantasy fiction podcast, has a new story with anthropomorphic characters, and two older ones which are also of interest.

Marsh Gods by Ann Leckie is in the same world as The Nalendar. Both tales deal with gods, usually in the form of animals or nature spirits, living amongst men, sometimes helping them, and always vying for their devotion. The world and the gods which inhabit them are fascinating, as our the rules governing the gods interactions with people. The stories are slightly mature due to some violence, but not more than would be seen on broadcast television.

I’ll Give In by Meghan McCarron is interesting tale of a woman meeting the new neighbor, a minotaur, and being tempted by the mythical stranger. It’s metaphor in the shape of a moving relationship drama with a fantasy twist. This story is more adult for including non-explicit sex.

Escape Pod, the science-fiction podcast magazine has two new episodes with anthropomorphic characters in them.

His Master’s Voice is an interesting look at genetic engineering and uplifted animals.

And Littleblossom Makes a Deal With the Devil is a war drama, complete with AI battle tanks and intelligent missiles.

The second part of the story jumps into the action and delivers a nice emotional plot. Holly decides to do what is right and try and give Caitlin a happy Christmas, but does she really want to go against Santa’s wishes and is she up to the task ahead of her?

“Holly’s Jolly Christmas” part 2 by Renee Carter Hall

Read by Chris Hvidsten of the Outcast Podcast novel

Intro musical cues by Infinity Squared

Story music provided from the Podsafe Music Network

“Dream of a Princess” by Yuzzy
“Welcome Home” by Doug Astrop
“Awakening” by Ax
“Joy Bounce” by Charlie Crowe
“Love” by Brian Turner

Outro music is Auld Lang Syne by Ghostwalker

Sound effects from the FreeSound Project

Download or listen to the episode here.

Holly the reindeer has always wanted to be part of the team pulling Santa’s sleigh, but the same eight bucks are chosen every year. Is it possible she might get a chance at it this Christmas?

“Holly’s Jolly Christmas” part 1 by Renee Carter Hall

Read by Chris Hvidsten of the Outcast Podcast novel.

Intro Music by Infinity Squared.

Additional story music from the Podsafe Music Network:

“The First Light” by Anthony Burbidge
“Finlandiabe Still My Soul” by Brian Turner
“The Moment is Now” by Antiqcool

Sound effects from the FreeSound Project.

Download or listen to the episode here.

We have a couple of Christmas stories planned for the podcast, but to get the holiday mood started, here’s a link from a Christmas story last year. It’s also the episode which kicked off the podcast.

AD 000 – The Reluctant Reindeer

Different Worlds, Different Skins
Humanity’s Encounters with Other Races

Print Book, $17.95, available from Amazon and Lulu.
PDF Download, $5.95, available from Lulu.

What if humanity shared Earth with other sentient species? What would first contact with an alien race be like? What wonders or horrors could be wrought by our experiments to create new life-forms, both biologic and mechanical?

This anthology is rated general interest. There are a few stories which cover concepts of romantic love and sex, violence and death, however nothing explicit is shown “on screen.” The ratings of the stories range from G to PG-13.

This anthology examines these ideas, showing humanity’s interaction with the Other, in the form of anthropomorphic animals. The stories cover diverse genres, from science fiction and fantasy, to historical fiction and contemporary fables, exploring themes of race and culture and the endless possibilities of the human condition.

Featuring Stories by Michael Bard, Austen Crowder, Bernard Doove, Seth Drake, William Eakins, Lanny Fields, Phil Geusz, Jason Gillespie, Chris Goodwin, Searska Grey Raven, Renee Carter Hall, Stefan Kaiser, James R. Lane, Alan Loewen, Paul Lucas, Eric Luhman, Brian Miller, Ken Pick, J. Scott Rogers, Will A. Sanborn, Kris Schnee, Sean Silva, Tim Susman and Wookie.

Cover artwork by Sara “Caribou” Palmer.

Avatar was a fun movie. Plot wise there were lots of familiar and predictable tropes so there weren’t many surprises. It got heavy handed with the themes of the evil imperialists against the magic natives at several times though. There were some sympathetic characters and the interplay between the scientists and the marines butting heads was entertaining.

The biggest fault of the movie was it didn’t fully set up the reason for strip-mining the planet. I believe one of the trailers mentioned something about saving Earth, but that wasn’t in the film, save for a throw-away line near the end about a dying world. Otherwise it was just that the fantastic mineral unobtanium (which was a perfect name for this film) was worth a lot of money and it was all for a greedy corporation. Aside from that, the film did have some characters you could care about and there was some good drama to it. Plus there was plenty of epic action, so while it’s not going to win any Oscars it was definitely engaging and fully entertaining.

The movie’s strengths of course were its visuals, which is to be expected. It was a huge spectacle of modern CGI wizardry, but it also had soul to it. The world they created was in equal turns breathtakingly beautiful, definitely alien and absolutely dangerous. The designs of the flora and fauna were amazing and showed a lot of care went into their design. Every scene immersed you in this wonderful alien landscape and it was a beautiful ride. The first night scenes with a forest aglow with bioluminsecence was very emotionally evocative.

Then of course there are the exotic Na’vi. They were beautiful to look at and there were several shots of fan service appreciating their alien beauty. Beyond that though, the character design was well thought out and intriguing. The size difference between the humans and 8-foot giants was an interesting twist and their slender and elongated forms played well into the design of the lower-gravity world.

Story wise Avatar is much better than Ferngully but not as good as Dances With Wolves, both films it shares plot themes with.

For ratings,
Story: 3/5 stars
Visuals: 5/5 stars
Overall 4/5 stars