Escape Artists
PseudoPod => Episode Comments => Topic started by: Bdoomed on May 27, 2017, 06:48:31 PM
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PseudoPod 544: Under the Rubble (http://pseudopod.org/2017/05/26/pseudopod-544-under-the-rubble/)
by John Wiswell (http://johnwiswell.blogspot.com/).
“Under the Rubble” is a Pseudopod Original. “This story is dedicated to Takeo Murata, Ishiro Honda, and Rod Serling.”
JOHN WISWELL (http://johnwiswell.blogspot.com/) is a writer who lives where New York keeps all its trees. His stories have appeared at Podcastle, Fireside Fiction, and Flash Fiction Online. He is chronically ill, and was inspired to write this story during a period of being bedridden alone. He believes that Horror always keeps you company. He can be found on Twitter at @WISWELL (https://twitter.com/Wiswell) and on his blog, johnwiswell.blogspot.com (http://johnwiswell.blogspot.com).
The horror of an earthquake is something you’d never wish on anyone. In 2015, in the span of three weeks, two severe earthquakes struck the nation of Nepal. The damage was so great that much still hasn’t been rebuilt. If you’re moved by this story, please consider a donation to relief efforts. More can be found at https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/nepal-earthquake-relief-fund/ (https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/nepal-earthquake-relief-fund/)
This week’s reader – Marguerite Kenner is a native Californian who has forsaken sunny paradise to be with her true love and live in Merrye Olde England. She frequently wears so many hats that she needs two heads. When she’s not grappling with legal conundrums as a trainee solicitor or editing Cast of Wonders (http://www.castofwonders.org/), she can be found narrating audio fiction, studying popular culture (i.e. going to movies and playing video games) with her partner Alasdair Stuart, or curling up with a really good book. You can follow her at her personal blog, Project Valkyrie (http://margueritekenner.com/), or on Twitter via @LegalValkyrie (https://twitter.com/LegalValkyrie).
Shawn Garrett composed the soundbed for this episode, which he dedicates to master Godzilla composer Akira Ifukube and the german industrial band Einstürzende Neubauten. A list of links to sounds used from Freesound.org (https://www.freesound.org/) appears at the bottom of this post.
Go check out A River of Teeth by Sarah Gailey (http://www.sarahgailey.com/) and Greedy Pigs by Matt fn Wallace (http://www.matt-wallace.com/).
Info on Anders Manga’s album (they do our theme music!) can be found here (http://www.napalmrecordsamerica.com/store/bloodyhammers).
The world trembled until Samantha opened her eyes. She groaned, then coughed and spat dust. Every hitch of her chest made breathing harder, and there was something on top of her, crushing her left breast. She looked at it, but the air was too dark to see anything, so she tried pushing it away and found her arms could barely move. It felt like a metal bar pinning across her chest and biceps, digging into her skin, so she braced her elbows against the floor and heaved. The bar budged just an inch, but the inch was all it took for her to take the deepest breath of her life.
Soundbed Sources
Ambulance Siren (https://www.freesound.org/people/LanDub/sounds/184623/)
13GVomackovaK_ambulance.wav (https://www.freesound.org/people/kristynavom98/sounds/380664/)
FIRE ENGINE long approach and drive away (https://www.freesound.org/people/logancircle2/sounds/342182/)
firetruck.wav (https://www.freesound.org/people/allanh15/sounds/353179/)
Fire_engine_siren.wav (https://www.freesound.org/people/CGEffex/sounds/121900/)
Metal Sounds » Door_Metal_Groans_Ext.wav (https://www.freesound.org/people/Cell31_Sound_Productions/sounds/264014/)
Towson EMF 366»creakingmetalchair.wav (https://www.freesound.org/people/Terrmaster/sounds/108913/)
Heatpress squeaking and creaking.wav (https://www.freesound.org/people/lolamadeus/sounds/161222/)
Drones » Metal Creaks_Groans.wav (https://www.freesound.org/people/Cell31_Sound_Productions/sounds/380403/)
remix of 108732__klankbeeld__creaking_metal_spokes_of_the_bicycle_wheel_06.flac (https://www.freesound.org/people/Timbre/sounds/124122/)
furnace creaks.wav (https://www.freesound.org/people/sforsman/sounds/383126/)
Creaking attic door. » Attic door creaking 2 (https://www.freesound.org/people/jymdavis/sounds/210106/)
Ambiance and Background » Creaking Metal Soundscape 2 (https://www.freesound.org/people/Speedenza/sounds/203925/)
Cracking Earthquake (cracking soil, cracking stone) (https://www.freesound.org/people/uagadugu/sounds/222521/)
Disaster » Earthquake_Interior_MetalRattling_2.wav (https://www.freesound.org/people/Cell31_Sound_Productions/sounds/198095/)
Large Earthquake (https://www.freesound.org/people/LoafDV/sounds/148002/)
Earthquake » Quake1.wav (https://www.freesound.org/people/TheMinkman/sounds/199801/)
Rumble Bass 2.wav (https://www.freesound.org/people/DanielsonIII/sounds/68394/)
Rumble Bass.wav (https://www.freesound.org/people/DanielsonIII/sounds/68396/)
TEC Machine/Complex Sounds » Low Rumble.wav (https://www.freesound.org/people/tec%20studios/sounds/386556/)
Cinematic Deep Bass Rumble (https://www.freesound.org/people/mmasonghi/sounds/321812/)
SUBSONIC RUMBLE.wav (https://www.freesound.org/people/sandyrb/sounds/84347/)
Staircase metal rumble.wav (https://www.freesound.org/people/risto_alcinov/sounds/371262/)
Monster Pack » Monster Low Rumble 1.wav (https://www.freesound.org/people/ecfike/sounds/132872/)
Rumbling (https://www.freesound.org/people/Hourofmidnight/sounds/325645/)
Rumble » Rumble · fade in 10s (https://www.freesound.org/people/unfa/sounds/258341/)
(http://pseudopod.org/wp-content/plugins/podpress/images/audio_mp3_button.png)
Listen to this week's Pseudopod. (http://traffic.libsyn.com/pseudopod/Pseudo544_UnderTheRubble.mp3)
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I thought the story was okay BUT then it turned into a Kaiju tale. I almost cheered. The boy in the card section was a nice touch. It is hard to know that you miss something so large but it is still there and can destroy the world around you. Kind of like a Godzilla ln the room.
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Love the soundscape on this one, kudos on the stunning audio work.
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Thanks! The story seemed to demand it. That was about 5 hours of work!
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I thought the story was okay BUT then it turned into a Kaiju tale. I almost cheered. The boy in the card section was a nice touch. It is hard to know that you miss something so large but it is still there and can destroy the world around you. Kind of like a Godzilla ln the room.
...and now I'm humming that ol' chess-nut of a song from Blue Oyster Cult...
Ooohhhhhhh no.
There goes Tokyo.
Oh Oh. GODZILLA.
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Oh hell yes. So many stories have the protagonist at the center of the action, I love when it's someone off to the side with a trauma of their own.
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I listened to the final product the other night. The soundbed and the narration were perfect. Raised the hair on my arms at one point. Also bonus points for including emergency sirens, but not loud enough such that the listener would think they need to turn off the podcast to look for the external emergency. I have a lot of hate for radio commercials that use sirens, but the balance was just right.
I had also forgotten that we put Daikaiju after the episode. The guitar started up and I threw me some devil horns. Didn't matter, even though I had known somewhere deep down that that was going to happen.
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I had also forgotten that we put Daikaiju after the episode. The guitar started up and I threw me some devil horns. Didn't matter, even though I had known somewhere deep down that that was going to happen.
Same here! Except I was a good 20 seconds into enjoying it when I realized I was listening to PseudoPod and got confused, then realized how fitting it was.
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I remembered reading in school about a woman trapped under collapsed buildings in the book Hiroshima. I knew Godzilla was inspired by the trauma of the atomic bombs, but this story made the connection more real to me.
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Oh wow!! I LOVED this story!! Audio and narration were ON POINT and it was extremely well written! That ending had me literally on the edge of my seat with all my hairs standing on point! This is a great example of PseudoPod at it's finest! GREAT JOB!