Anthropomorphic Dreams Publishing

District 9 is quite a compelling movie. The film is like Alien Nation with a more interesting, realistic and gritty plot. The fact that the disabled space ship came to rest over Johannesburg, South Africa is no accident.

The film is a study of race and the mistreatment of refugees. The social critiques are obvious but deftly handled, starting out with dark humor and building into a mounting dread. There is a fair amount of violence and gore, but it feels organic to the plot as it mounts to its conclusion.

The creature effects are wonderful. They created a race of aliens which are truly alien. The bipedal shrimp-like “Prawns” are both pathetic and unnerving as they eke out their existence in the settlement camp. It’s only later when we get to spend time with them as characters do we get to identify with them more.

The plot is brilliantly economic with the back-story, not answering all the questions, but showing enough to relate to the drama of the situation. It all adds up to a very impressive and moving film.

One of the goals behind the anthology Alone in the Dark was not only to have dramatic horror, but to feature sympathetic monsters in some of the stories. The dramatic stories in Pseudopod, the horror podcast, provided inspiration for the project.

Among Their Bright Eyes and Brothers are two examples of these types of stories.

Variant Frequencies’ Under the Bed is another story which is both disturbing and emotionally affecting.

All these stories are rated mature for violence.

Alex Kovas has posted several videos on YouTube which have some impressive animal-themed body-painting. The masks used are nicely designed too.

The posing is mostly showing off the work on the human canvas, but some of the moves are suggestive,  and could be considered rated mature.  The male model is wearing posing underwear, so there is nothing explicit.

PodCastle has a few other shorts which are non-furry but wonderful examples of anthropomorphism.

The Orange (general audeience) is a neat story that feels like a modern fable.

Loose Drawers (mature content) brings the dynamics of sexual and relationship politics to the auto garage.

The Desires of Houses (mature content) lives up to its title and is a wonderfully fun and creatively-bizarre idea.

PodCastle’s story Captain Fantasy and the Secret Masters is a wonderful piece. It’s non-furry, but a great story and I think people in the fandom would appreciate it. It’s a fantasy piece with super heroes and special abilities that’s equal parts actiion and adventure, alternative history and character drama and it’s a wonderfully human story. There are bits of it which make it slightly mature, but nothing explicit nor really shocking and I appreciated the way those elements were used.

It reminds me of the Union Dues stories in Escape Pod, which also have mutant superheroes, living in a world awash in shades of gray and dealing with politics and corporate restrictions as much as super villans.