Anthropomorphic Dreams Publishing

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:

This music video is a few years old, but still worth mentioning for an interesting concept and some dark comedy.

Moby’s Beautiful is a wonderfully twisted skewering of the party crowd, done at a key party with a bunch of people in animal mascot suits. It’s like a furpile on the set of Boogie Nights. The poor rabbit guy is reminiscent of William H. Macey’s character in that film.

There were cries of “fursecution” when it came out, how everyone thought he was making fun of furries. In truth it looks pretty obvious that it doesn’t have anything to do with the fandom. Instead it’s using the suits to create a cartoonish scene and an interesting take on anthropomorphism. They used the costumes to good effect here, playing on the lack of good facial expressions, to heighten the surreal drama.

Artificial and cybernetic constructs make for interesting characters because they offer the ability to glimpse into a non-human intelligence. Oded the Merciless by Tina Starr is a good albeit dark example of that.

While it doesn’t have any animal characters in it, the story makes good use of anthropomorphism. The computer AI is an intriguing and disturbing character which allows atrocities to be carried out first by passive limitations of  its programming and then actively with dark experimentation on the nature of the human condition.

Warning: Pseudopod is a horror podcast and the story has strong horror elements of the visceral and psychological, and is for fans of the genre and not for the faint of heart.

While it doesn’t have any animal characters, this Variant Frequencies podcast story has an interesting flavor of anthropomorphism to it. Heart of Clay: A Saint Darwin’s Spiritual by D.K. Thompson is a nice noir fantasy steampunk crime story.

Ever since Saint Darwin returned with harvested seeds from an Egyptian bush that wouldn’t burn, golem constables have worked alongside human and ghost inspectors. They patrol England’s cobblestone streets together, keeping them safe from the monsters the patron saint of scientists exposed to the world. But when inanimate golems are being trafficked by a shadowy group of businessmen dressed up in wicked smiles and sharp teeth, it’s up to the Paranormal Patrol’s newest created member – Constable Lump – to go undercover in the gaslit night and learn where his missing brethren have vanished to, without sacrificing his newfound life getting the answers.