Escape Artists

PseudoPod => Episode Comments => Topic started by: Bdoomed on July 15, 2018, 04:20:11 PM

Title: PseudoPod 603: Beyond the Dead Reef
Post by: Bdoomed on July 15, 2018, 04:20:11 PM: PseudoPod 603: Beyond the Dead Reef (http://pseudopod.org/2018/07/13/pseudopod-603-beyond-the-dead-reef/)

by James Tiptree Jr. (http://pseudopod.org/people/james-tiptree-jr/)
Narrated by Amy H. Sturgis (http://pseudopod.org/people/amy-h-sturgis/)
Hosted by Lisa Yaszek (http://pseudopod.org/people/lisa-yaszek/)

Beyond the Dead Reef originally appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, January 1983

My informant was, of course, spectacularly unreliable.

The only character reference I have for him comes from the intangible nuances of a small restaurant-owner’s remarks, and the only confirmation of his tale lies in the fact that an illiterate fishing-guide appears to believe it. If I were to recount all the reasons why no sane mind should take it seriously, we could never begin. So I will only report the fact that today I found myself shuddering with terror when a perfectly innocent sheet of seaworn plastic came slithering over my snorkeling-reef, as dozens have done for years—and get on with the story.

I met him one evening this December at the Cozumel Buzo, on my first annual supply trip. As usual, the Buzo’s outer rooms were jammed with tourist divers and their retinues and gear. That’s standard. El Buzo means, roughly, The Diving, and the Buzo is their place. Marcial’s big sign in the window reads “DIVVERS UELCOME! BRING YR FISH WE COK WITH CAR. FIRST DRINK FREE!”

Listen to this week's PseudoPod. (http://traffic.libsyn.com/pseudopod/Pseudo603_BeyondTheDeadReef.mp3)
Title: Re: PseudoPod 603: Beyond the Dead Reef
Post by: PodBroad on July 24, 2018, 12:11:30 PM: I can't say enough about this story.
Excellently written, full of the "right messages" (though I am wary of agenda-driven fiction or poetry), and very scary. I will be returning to it for sure.
I urge and implore Pseudopod to carry more such blasts from the past. Some real gems out there that we wouldn't otherwise encounter.
Thank you for this and the other classics!
Title: Re: PseudoPod 603: Beyond the Dead Reef
Post by: adrianh on July 24, 2018, 05:15:03 PM: Super story. Excellently read. ++good.
Title: Re: PseudoPod 603: Beyond the Dead Reef
Post by: julkaz on July 25, 2018, 12:15:33 AM: I read this story as a teenager and it freaked me the hell out. Now, I find it rather comforting. If only nature really did have such a force to defend itself from our grossness.
Title: Re: PseudoPod 603: Beyond the Dead Reef
Post by: Scuba Man on July 31, 2018, 03:12:26 PM: This story reminded me of an Alphabet story (published by EA). :)
Oh, plastics... I have a love-affair with you.
That's going to bite me in the butt.
Title: Re: PseudoPod 603: Beyond the Dead Reef
Post by: Katzentatzen on September 27, 2018, 03:18:06 AM: Love my girl JTJR! This story was very satisfying.