Episode 100: The Battle Of Leila The Dog by Rick Kennett
The Dunesteef Audio Fiction Magazine marks one hundred over-long episodes with “The Battle of Leila the Dog” by Rick Kennett.
Cy De Gerch is being pestered by the sound of a whining dog…only dogs aren’t allowed on the bridge of a fighting space vessel in a war zone. What is going on?
Afterward, Big and Rish talk about . . . oh no, not about dogs again. Ghost dogs! “Where the Red Fern Grows!” Corporal Liam Tasker! This can only end badly. And it looks like Rish Outfield has opened his big mouth one time too many.
outtakes
Special thanks R.E. Chambliss, Rich Girardi, and Josh Roseman for lending their voices to today’s episode.
Here’s that Dunesteef Flyer that Big mentioned in the episode:
Feel free to hand them out to anyone you know, and also anyone you don’t know.
Right click HERE to download the episode, select Save Link As, and save the file to your hard drive.
http://traffic.libsyn.com/dunesteef/Dunesteef_100_The_Battle_Of_Leila_The_Dog_by_Rick_Kennett.mp3%20Related Links:
The Trial Of Rish Outfield
Rick Kennett’s Site
R.E. Chambliss site
Rich Girardi’s site
Josh Roseman’s site
Photo by Tayrtahn
Some sound effects were provided by freesound.org.
Music was La Colere Des Partisans, and Aurores Boreales by Jean-Pierre Saussac, and Omnipresence by Dereleech.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License
The Dunesteef Audio Fiction Magazine 
April 25, 2011 at 12:44 pm
Good Boys!
April 25, 2011 at 10:05 pm
I second what Wendy said, and would like to add “Who’s a good boy? Huh? Who’s a good boy?! That’s right! You are! Such a good boy. And good boys get biscuits!” ;)
Seriously though, congrats on reaching 100, you guys. You do an amazing job and your work is much appreciated. I enjoy the hell out of the show. Here’s to at least 100 more!
April 26, 2011 at 2:41 am
Aww man, I feel kind of bad now. I didn’t know Rish was going to be banished to the Phantom Zone. He’ll be like a 2 dimensional dude with 70’s era facial hair floating through space without even a hot alien chick to keep him company. But you know…something had to be done.
Story-wise this was another good one from Mr. Kennett. I like Cy De Gerch and the rest of the crew, more so than Ernie Pine. I’d love to hear more.
I too am a dog person. I’d sugest a couple other dog movies. the first is one I am sure you are aware of, which is “Marley and Me”. Also ends sadly, but a great dog movie. The next one, Hachi: A Dog’s Tale, was not so widely released, but well worth a watch. It’s a tribute to the loyalty of a dog.
Anyway, great episode, a great 100 episodes. May many more come to our way. Hey, Big, are you looking for a new co-host? ;)
April 26, 2011 at 6:35 am
We could banish a hot alien chick to be with Phantom Zone Rish…
April 26, 2011 at 6:39 am
Phantom Zone Rish: Any particular requests? Leia doesn’t count as an alien, and I can only promise that the number of tentacles will be between zero and three, but beyond that…
April 26, 2011 at 4:20 pm
Next week: Episode 101 – The Search For Rish
April 26, 2011 at 6:38 am
The story was fun, but I honestly was more moved by the Jonathan Coulton song (which has always been one of my favorites of his. That one and “I Crush Everything.” I like it when he’s being both silly and wistful at the same time.)
Congrats on a hundred episodes! The ending bits achieved nearly Drabblecastian proportions; I LOLed several times. I don’t know how much work it was (it sounded like a lot of editing) but I think it was worth it.
April 26, 2011 at 8:31 am
Kinda sad I didn’t get to say Rish is guilty, so for the record:
Rish, you are guilty as all hell.
April 26, 2011 at 10:15 am
First, a disclaimer: I listened to the episode this morning on my ride in to work, and the beginning of the post-show chat, but I still have 35 minutes to go, so I guess I haven’t gotten to the “Bad Rish! Bad!” part yet. I guess I’ll find out the rest on my ride home tonight.
I liked this one a lot, as well as the Jonathan Coulton song (which I’ve heard before). Being a dog person, it brought a tear to my eye just like the first time I heard it. It reminded me of a web comic I saw a while back, which was written by Ryan North of Dinosaur Comics. That comic is here. WARNING: you may require tissues.
April 27, 2011 at 6:48 am
The story with week was okay for me, but I preferred the song. That is no surprise considering that I’m one of those cat people. The dog interrupting the soldiers just as they needed to focus instead of during the long drawn out wait seemed more aggressive than man’s best friend should be.
I have to say that Rish’s first anti-cat person outburst was PERFECT! It had just the right amount of disdain and negativity. As a dedicated cat person, it gave me a warm glowy feeling just like interacting with my cat. The later ones seemed more forced and had much less frisson.
You DO realize the real reason why we cat people don’t fear the eventual rise of our robot overlords, right?
April 27, 2011 at 7:29 am
Because you’ve been living under the thumb of what amounts to an evil overlord already? Ever since you got a cat…
April 27, 2011 at 8:19 pm
See, that’s just it. We *like* that about our cats. Where’s the fun in a pet that doesn’t fight back?
April 27, 2011 at 9:38 pm
No fair beating me to the punchline! AS the kids on the internets say, ” THIS!”
April 27, 2011 at 9:39 am
I’m a dedicated cat person but I got all misty-eyed listening to this story, even more than the reaction I had when I first read it. A worthy choice for the 100th episode.
I have to disagree that if it had been a cat in the satellite the ship would have been destroyed. If it was a cat, Cy De Gerch would have played with the enemy ship for a while before getting bored and then cut its head off and scooped out the crew.
I wish everyone would stop saying “that’s a good boy” and “who’s a good boy” to Rish and Big. I keep thinking of the South Park Red Rocket episode. I’d rather not describe it here but if you do a Google search for
South Park Red Rocket you’ll see what I mean.
April 27, 2011 at 12:43 pm
I enjoyed the episode — especially that Peters guy. I really only had two problems with it: 1, that the ghost story stuff kept distracting me from the great space opera and the interesting world that was created; and 2, that there seemed to be very little dialogue at places where I might expect there to be more. Like, for example, when Cy takes over from Peters, she asks for permission to relieve him (isn’t she his superior, as the first mate?), but he doesn’t verbally respond? The last action sequence just felt… thin, I guess… because of the missing dialogue.
I am both a dog AND cat person. I grew up around dogs, but I now have cats — one of whom actually does what I tell her to, within reason.
And I enjoyed the Phantom Zone sequence at the end.
April 27, 2011 at 3:44 pm
Cy asked permission of Mr Peters as a matter pf military courtesy. That’s my excuse anyway and I’m sticking to it. Besides, Peters was there by orders of the captain and Cy was not supposed to be there at all. So she couldn’t just barge in.
In another story in this series where Cy is a little older, she and Mr Peters get more … up close and personal. Whether that one ever appears on Dunesteef is in the lap of the gods and/or Rish & Big, which in this case amounts to the same thing.
April 28, 2011 at 2:29 pm
Congrats on your 100th episode!
It’s interesting, but when I read the story, I was so caught up in the space opera parts–as well as the challenge of trying to play Cy so that she’d sound simultaneously like a teenager and a genetically superior officer–that I didn’t really think about what a sad story it is. Can you imagine how the people who launched Leila (or Lyca) into space felt? Either they were total a-holes who didn’t give a thought for the dog’s experience, or, more likely, they were completely torn up about it, but did it anyway because they wanted to make human space-travel possible. That could be a good story…
Anyway, congratulations again! I hope you’ve taken some time to bask in your accomplishment. You’ve shared 100 stories with people. That’s awesome!!
April 30, 2011 at 12:44 am
Congrats on 100. You guys bring a personality no other podcast can match.
May 4, 2011 at 12:28 pm
I started listening to this podcast at episode 97, and then went through the entire archive of shows. I laughed hysterically at Good Day by Saul Lemerond. I was moved by both Revolving Door by Pete Tzinski and Book Scouts of the Galactic Rim *rim, rim, rim* by Jason Sanford. I was disturbed for days afterward when I listened to Kingdom of Flies by Merril Page, and I was absolutely scared shnideless after hearing Tattletale by Christopher Fisher. I love how polished each reading is. All of the voices and sound effects and musics pull me right into the stories. In addition, I always enjoy your back-and-forth after the show, especially when you discuss writing and the creative process. Thanks for the one hundred times you’ve enhanced my life, and thanks for all the other stories to come.
And if anyone would like to read another great dog in space story, here’s one (it’s kind of strange.) http://www.jerseydevilpress.com/?page_id=1181
September 24, 2012 at 11:53 am
This story made me teary, as I fully anticipated a joyful meetup between long-lost doggie and human. But the song made me weep, as JoCo music often does.