Escape Artists
PodCastle => Episode Comments => Topic started by: Ocicat on April 10, 2018, 10:30:17 PM
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PodCastle 517: A Fine Balance (http://podcastle.org/2018/04/10/podcastle-517-a-fine-balance/)
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Rated PG-13 for honorable duelists and some less honorable warfare.
A PodCastle original!
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Charlotte Ashley is a writer and bookseller living in Toronto, Canada. Her short fiction appears in a number of anthologies and magazines, including the Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2017 (ed. Rich Horton). She has been nominated for both the Aurora and Sunburst Awards and once performed a story from the equipment of a CrossFit gym. You can find more about her at www.once-and-future.com (http://www.once-and-future.com) or on Twitter @CharlotteAshley
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Tatiana Grey is a critically acclaimed actress of stage, screen, and the audio booth. You can hear her voice on commercials, radio, audiobooks and countless podcasts. She lives in Brooklyn, NY. See more about Tatiana at www.tatianagrey.com (http://www.tatianagrey.com).
(http://escapepod.org/wp-images/podcast-mini4.gif) Listen to this week’s PodCastle! (http://media.rawvoice.com/podcastle/s/media.libsyn.com/media/podcastle/PC517_AFineBalance.mp3)
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Wow.
At first, I had contempt for the funny rules they use to legitimize killing in their little fight club. But I was somehow pulled into the drama that I shouldn't have cared about.
How did that happen?
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Wow.
At first, I had contempt for the funny rules they use to legitimize killing in their little fight club. But I was somehow pulled into the drama that I shouldn't have cared about.
How did that happen?
Tatiana read it, that's how. She portrays the enthusiasm, despondence, and bewilderment of the main character so forcefully, yet never seeming like she's overdoing anything, that you can't help but to believe her, and care about what she's reading.
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I liked the story but was a little bit confused about the use of Turkish and Albanian names. Did those cultures play a role in the story? Did the meanings of the names (Yıldırım = thunderstorm) have a significance? Did they look like people I know with those names? ;)
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I liked the story but was a little bit confused about the use of Turkish and Albanian names. Did those cultures play a role in the story?
I can’t speak for the author, but a lot of writers use real languages for their fantasy worlds without necessarily using the culture that goes with the language. Brent Weeks uses Latin in his Lightbringer series, and the Chromeria certainly isn’t much like Ancient Rome. Tolkien also had the Rohirrim speaking Old English in the Lord of the Rings.
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I wasn't a big fan of this one. The Kavalye system didn't make sense to me and I don't see how it would actually work in practice. Also, I don't know Turkish, but I do know the pronunciation of the word Yildirim... it's a small gripe but the wrong pronunciation dragged me out of the story every single time.
What saved this was the excellent narration. I don't think I've listened to Tatiana Grey before, but she managed to portray Emin beautifully and really made me feel like I was listening to a teenager. Two thumbs up!
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Excellent pick! Thoroughly enjoyable all the way through.
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I don't know what I think about the peace keeping system in this universe, but I think that this story had some of the best written action/fight sequences I've heard/read. The mental pictures they evoked were clear, dynamic, and interesting; not just a blurry flurry of blades or fists.