Mech suits, an aristocrat, talking dinosaurs who race motocross

November 18, 2021 5:22 AM

Two science fiction stories that use over-the-top characters and situations, plus crankiness, to get laughs -- and both available in audio and in text. "Let Us Now Praise Awesome Dinosaurs" by Leonard Richardson (audio, illustrated): "Why would a dinosaur need a gun?" asked the shop owner. "Self-defense." "Texts from the Ghost War" by Alex Yuschik: While I realize driving that mech likely takes all of your limited resources, please take care not to step on the roses. (Audio uses a cool trick to sound right in stereo!)

Am linking to my spouse Leonard Richardson's work per the revised rule on friend-linking.

Another story in the same universe as "Texts from the Ghost War": “The Girl With All The Ghosts”, available as audio and text.

posted by brainwane (8 comments total)

Those dinosaurs did nothing wrong.
Well... They were bad at lots of things, but I think that's different.
posted by Acari at 8:17 AM on November 18, 2021

To moonmilk's question: "Awesome Dinosaurs" has a deleted scene available.
posted by brainwane at 8:35 AM on November 18, 2021 [1 favorite]

I liked how "Let Us Now Praise Awesome Dinosaurs" got to the message of humanity being the real monster through the use of monster trucks and dirt bikes, and only a little bit of people being eaten. It's a nice change from zombie films, which usually go much heavier on the last element.
posted by nubs at 9:17 AM on November 18, 2021

I loved Awesome Dinosaurs. Hope Cass recovers. (I agree with the editor and author about the deleted scene - it just did not work)

Couldn’t make any headway on Ghost War. Awful formatting and I don’t do audiobooks.
posted by JustSayNoDawg at 2:22 PM on November 18, 2021

Hell yes, Awesome Dinosaurs. That was one of my favorites at the Drabblecast.
posted by Scattercat at 2:40 PM on November 18, 2021 [1 favorite]

Dinosaurs is very fun and just enough sad to bite. I love the bird watchers idea. The Ghost Wars is a sweet story with a lot of technique - epistolary stories and texting with the back and forth interruptions - hard to pull off well with character and world building in such a narrow scope and it was executed flawlessly.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 2:58 PM on November 18, 2021 [1 favorite]

Couldn’t make any headway on Ghost War. Awful formatting and I don’t do audiobooks.

It is weirdly formatted. I bounced of it at first, the moment of realization for me was prompted by the title. Its meant to simulate a text conversation. Apparently "you" are reviewing the messages on someone's phone. One texter's messages are right justified with a ragged left edge. The other texter's words are left justified with a ragged right edge.
posted by otherchaz at 6:44 PM on November 18, 2021 [1 favorite]

Awesome Dinosaurs previously on the blue.
posted by brainwane at 3:28 AM on December 11, 2021