Anthropomorphic Dreams Publishing

It’s been awhile and there have been a few stories on other podcasts that I wanted to post about, so here’s catching up with several links of interest.

First Drabblecast, the podcast of weird fiction, had a neat two-parter story that was darkly thrilling. “Boojum” by Elizabeth Bear and Sarah Monette is a science-fiction story featuring space pirates, sentient organic ships and brain-stealing aliens. It’s a good ride. Listen to part one and part two here.

Escape Pod, the science-fiction audio magazine ran the fun piece awhile ago. Rejiggering the Thingamajig by Eric James Stone features an anthropomorphic Buddhist-practicing T-Rex sent on a quest with a talking gun.

For a more serious and mediative story on Zen Philosophy, there is the wonderful Friction by Will McIntosh.

And finally, there’s  Squonk the Dragon by P. M. Butler, which is a wonderful silly and absurdly amusing fantasy story. It features a lovable dragon who is being raised by a fiesty blue bird, and who constantly bothers a curmudgeonly wizard who just wants to be left alone.

The series started on Escape Pod but then moved to the fantasy podcast Pod Castle. The stories in the series so far are: Squonk the Dragon, Squonk the Apprentice and Squonk and the Horde of Apprentices.

Escape Pod, the science-fiction audio-magazine has a couple of stories, one recent and one from a couple of years ago, dealing with uplifted canine characters working on the police force. Both stories give an interesting look into the minds of the characters who bridge the gap between animal and human. They also capture the essence of dogs’ personalities quite perfectly and are a treat to listen to, especially for dog lovers. The stories are:

The Drabblecast, the podcast of strange-fiction has a nice tribute for H. P. Lovecraft’s birthday again this year.

The Outsider does not have animal characters, but it is another wonderful use of anthropomorphism and dealing with The Other. It’s a nice bit of dramatic and sympathetic horror and Norm Sherman does a wonderful job narrating the tale.

PodCastle, the fantasy podcast ran an interesting story with a different kind of anthropomorphism.

While it doesn’t have any animals in it, Remembrance is Something Like a House by Will Ludwigsen is a wonderfully inventive idea. In it a long vacant house, haunted by a dark memory of the past, goes in search for the family who used to live within it.

Early on when PodCastle, the fantasy podcast, started up they ran two stories, back to back, which have heroines going up against both menacing dragons and social conventions and norms.

These stories were Fear of Dragons and Run of the Fiery Horse. The stories get a little political, and the first one is a bit heavy handed, while the second is more balanced. Both of them had neat takes on Easter and Western tales of dragons (or serpents) and they had wonderful  mythology of them, especially the Fiery Horse one.