VODKA O’CLOCK 1516

JOSH NEFF

AMBER LOVE 13-APR-2015 Now you can sponsor Vodka O’Clock and AmberUnmasked.com through PATREON. Just go to Patreon.com/amberunmasked to pledge as little as $1.00 per creation which could mean per Vodka O’Clock episode or through written content. Returning to the show is JOSH NEFF to completely nerd out about cats, supernatural monsters and creatures, and super powers.

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CATS VS DOGS VS HOOMINS

Sure, Josh and I spend a considerable amount of time talking about our cats, because that accurately reflects our real lives. Caico and Oberon were near both of us while recording. You may even hear Oberon shove things off a table. Sensitive bookish people have cats – it’s why we also make great super villains.

• Would understanding cats’ thoughts be great or terrible?
• If you could shapeshift, would you choose to be a canine or feline?

SUPERNATURAL AND SPECULATIVE FICTION

Around the 12:00 mark. Josh and I discussed the various creatures are the most popular: Vampires, Werewolves, and Witches. This made me question why there’s not so much with feline creatures other than witches’ familiars.

“If the X-FILES had been on when I was a kid, I desperately would’ve wanted to be Fox Mulder when I grew up.” ~Josh Neff

Josh brought up a great point that the trend to fetishize “lumbersexual” men (bearded wearing flannel) should create an uptick in the werewolf fiction with high sexuality context. Yet, popular werewolf characters seem devoid of chest hair even if they rock handsome facial scruff.

Witches! Tara Maclay and Samantha Stevens, characters who brought out different approaches to women with magical powers persevere as icons in pop culture witchcraft lore. Pretty witches compared to the eastern European “hag” type of characters like Baba Yaga show dominance now. Evil witches/queens used to be portrayed as unattractive and only owning any sexuality in their transformed, prettier states.

Zombies! IZOMBIE vs THE WALKING DEAD – hot and sexy undead characters like Liv Moore doesn’t even resemble the monsters who are written as unthinking beasts like TWD.

Josh and I even talked about the immersion capabilities of video games, which people play for hundreds of hours, compared to sitting through a two-hour movie.

Where are all the elves? Apparently DRAGON AGE and J.R.R. Tolkien movies are the only places to find elves.

WHAT ARE THE KIDS INTO THESE DAYS?

Josh shared the titles his daughter enjoys. Other than TEEN WOLF, I never heard of any of them. He said the newer generation is consuming media from the internet that Hollywood is totally blind towards.

“Let’s face it – you wouldn’t really want to date Dean Winchester.” ~Josh Neff

WHAT’S HEALTHY OR UNHEALTHY ABOUT FANTASY?

“I think it definitely helps encourage imagination, and in fandom, it encourages friendships.” ~Josh Neff

Is there a dark side to being a fan of fantasy? Josh says there’s so much rooted in a northern European model and he sees it as a hindrance. The way female characters often lack agency and story lines of their own coupled with a lack of ethnic diversity in things being so Anglo-Saxon, is an obvious oversight where creators could make worlds which are more robust.

There’s also the confusion that seems to happen where people confuse fantasy with historical fiction because actions and wardrobes are set with the Medieval and Renaissance eras.

READING RECOMMENDATIONS

Josh recommended the FAIRYLAND series by Catherynne M. Valente. Another to add to your TBR pile are novels by Amber Benson including her DEATH’S DAUGHTER series and THE WITCHES OF ECHO PARK.

LINKS:

Josh’s writing blog – goblin-cartoons.com
@JoshuaMNeff

And if you need a sweet D&D monster reference wikia, I found this: http://www.d20srd.org/indexes/monsters.htm

Founder and Editor-in-Chief of AmberUnmasked.com and Vodka O'Clock Podcast. Author of The Farrah Wethers Mysteries, comic book short stories, prose, and non-fiction. Cosplayer and figure model.