Anthropomorphic Dreams Publishing

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.

The Drabblecast, the strange-fiction podcast, had a wonderful theme for March. They celebrated Women’s History month with stories by women authors and featuring female characters, plus they threw in aliens,  because aliens are cool.

It’s not a simple gimic though. It’s a wonderful collection of fiction covering both our world and those so very different. There are alien worlds ans cultures awash in issues of politics and families and battles big and small fought as worlds collide. House cats fight off tiny invaders and a woman struggles to read the Tarot for a reptilian overlord in order to save her life. Those and other stories are linked below.

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Drabblecast, the podcast of strange fiction for strange listeners, brings three odd and interesting tales.  Trifecta XI’s theme is anthropomorphic animals, and includes the following stories:

The Existential Lizard by Alasdair Stuart

Cod Philosophy by Stephanie Campisi

Monkeys Imitating Humans Imitating Monkeys by Nancy Stebbins

Besides Variant Frequencies story Heart of Clay: A Saint Darwin’s Spiritual there are two other podcast stories which use golem characters.

These are from the more canonical sense, building on Jewish Mysticism and the dark historic setting of World War II. Both have some wonderfully moving character drama as well. They are:

Niels Bohr and the Sleeping Dane by Jonathon Sullivan on Escape Pod.

Brothers by J. C. Hay on Pseudopod.

Here’s a couple of music videos which make use of anthropomorphic animals and also show the genre as artform is still alive.

Ramona Falls – “I Say Fever” is trippy with some nice stylish animation and makes an interesting metaphor for exposing people’s baser animal behaviors. Plus, a gun that shoots birds is just cool.

Menomena – “Evil Bee” is an older video which is attributed to the same director and is another wonderful piece It’s a dystopian world and a view on life, relationships and the birds and the bees that’s darkly beautiful.