Godless Dinosaur Sodomites

November 27, 2013 11:41 AM

"Now, I don't write many short stories these days, but I'm a sucker for the right kind of charity approach. And besides, I had a hypothesis I wanted to test: that every short story can be improved by adding dinosaurs and sodomy." SF author Charles Stross (metafilter's own) shares a short shaggy dog story he wrote back in 2011 containing sex, waterfowl, and reverse-engineering evolution: "A Bird In Hand."
posted by The Whelk (35 comments total)

'dinosaurs and sodomy' sounds like a great idea for a web comic.
posted by quonsar II: smock fishpants and the temple of foon at 11:49 AM on November 27, 2013 [1 favorite]

'dinosaurs and sodomy' sounds like a great idea for a web comic Tuesday.
posted by louche mustachio at 12:07 PM on November 27, 2013 [6 favorites]

This is the second time in two days that I've used this clip, but:

...of course, I could see how he got in, what with those faggy little hands of his...
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 12:19 PM on November 27, 2013 [1 favorite]

dinosaurs, sodomy, and the knights templar. next up on the history channel.
posted by ennui.bz at 1:05 PM on November 27, 2013 [2 favorites]

Don't think i'd like to be on either end of the receiving line though.
posted by CouchPotatoReview at 1:05 PM on November 27, 2013

Metafilter: can be improved by adding dinosaurs and sodomy
posted by Hairy Lobster at 1:14 PM on November 27, 2013 [1 favorite]

That comes straight from science fiction writer Michael Swanwick, who has asserted that the secret of good storytelling involves finding the right content balance between dinosaurs and sodomy. No, I don't know what he meant by it, but it's a famous Clarion (writers' bootcamp) tale.
posted by Harvey Kilobit at 1:17 PM on November 27, 2013

Rum, Sodomy, and the Duck.
posted by mrbill at 1:34 PM on November 27, 2013 [2 favorites]

Ow. That pun. Ow.
posted by figurant at 1:43 PM on November 27, 2013

Welp, that was disturbing.
posted by jenfullmoon at 1:45 PM on November 27, 2013

"For sale: baby shoes, never worn, used to sodomize a dinosaur."

Nope. Premise disproven.
posted by IAmBroom at 1:50 PM on November 27, 2013 [4 favorites]

*that part of a Charles Stross thread where I suggest Charles Stross write a full-length A Colder War* kthxbye
posted by turbid dahlia at 1:50 PM on November 27, 2013 [8 favorites]

Also: I wanted to groan and applaud at the same time.
posted by mrbill at 1:51 PM on November 27, 2013

It works okay for songs:

"Open the door
Get on the floor
Everybody bum the dinosaur"
posted by turbid dahlia at 1:51 PM on November 27, 2013 [3 favorites]

Wow. That's ... that's atrocious. Also, excellent. But did I mention the atrociously groan-worthiness? Yeah, that.
posted by rmd1023 at 1:55 PM on November 27, 2013

Welcome ....to Jurassic Pork.
posted by The Whelk at 1:58 PM on November 27, 2013 [4 favorites]

Well zombies didn't help Pride & Prejudice, I don't see how a few sexually adventurous dinos are going to make things any better.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 2:12 PM on November 27, 2013

Definitely some weapons grade puns there yessirree.
posted by leslies at 2:37 PM on November 27, 2013 [1 favorite]

Pegasaurus?
posted by dudemanlives at 2:47 PM on November 27, 2013 [2 favorites]

I dunno...

"SHE sat at the window watching the evening invade the avenue. Her head
was leaned against the window curtains and in her nostrils was the odour
of dusty cretonne. She was slightly sore from being sodomized let week by dinosaurs. She was tired."
posted by thelonius at 2:52 PM on November 27, 2013

*that part of a Charles Stross thread where I suggest Charles Stross write a full-length A Colder War* kthxbye

I do believe you're looking for his Atrocity Archives series. Cold War spy fiction meets Cthulhu.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 3:42 PM on November 27, 2013

Goldilocks, The Three Bears and A Dinosaur: Violating The Porridge
posted by tommasz at 4:03 PM on November 27, 2013

If they had a problem with the T-Rex cloaca why don't they with normal cloacas on God-created existing animals?
posted by basicchannel at 4:21 PM on November 27, 2013

Never mind, my question was dumb and irrelevant.
posted by basicchannel at 4:25 PM on November 27, 2013

Tricerobottoms.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 4:28 PM on November 27, 2013 [6 favorites]

Thelonius, that was lovely but I think perhaps fits better in this thread.
posted by fings at 4:43 PM on November 27, 2013 [1 favorite]

I do believe you're looking for his Atrocity Archives series. Cold War spy fiction meets Cthulhu.

Read 'em. Not horrifically depressing enough.
posted by turbid dahlia at 5:49 PM on November 27, 2013

They're depressing if you'd like the story to not always build to the point of highest tension then
posted by bleep-blop at 5:59 PM on November 27, 2013

Days later I sat there, trying to think about my comment. What had I written? I couldn't remember.
posted by bleep-blop at 5:59 PM on November 27, 2013 [1 favorite]

Read 'em. Not horrifically depressing enough.

Yet.

(Charlie has been hinting on his blog that the Laundry series will get much more horriffic and depressing and I, for one, await future installments eagerly. #5 The Rhesus Chart is coming out next July)
posted by chimaera at 7:46 PM on November 27, 2013

I reread The Atrocity Archives today. It's actually kind of surprising how different the voice in TAA and The Jennifer Morgue than the later two books, even given that both are pastiches (of Deighton and Fleming, respectively).
posted by Pope Guilty at 8:12 PM on November 27, 2013

Yeah The Apocalypse Codex is way more straight up spy thriller with an actual feelings of peril than goofy riffs. Things are starting to get serious.
posted by The Whelk at 8:34 PM on November 27, 2013

OK. I promise to read everything linked. But. A Colder War is everything The Laundry isn't. To make you feel better, Accelerando is what my much younger, hyperintelligent wife reluctantly acknowledges as her generations's William Gibson... No, sorry, it's Ted. Can't even complete that lie. You can't even hate there, either, admit it...
posted by Slap*Happy at 9:07 PM on November 27, 2013

I have the feeling that mefi's own cstross has been spending too much time on reddit.
posted by Doroteo Arango II at 3:06 PM on November 28, 2013

Speaking of unlikely combinations, Charles Stross combined my love for H. P. Lovecraft and My Little Pony admirably well in Equoid. Laundry meets unicorns, calamity unfolds.
posted by bouvin at 6:49 AM on November 29, 2013