Escape Artists

PodCastle => Episode Comments => Topic started by: Ocicat on September 04, 2018, 07:02:15 PM

Title: PC538: Itself at the Heart of Things
Post by: Ocicat on September 04, 2018, 07:02:15 PM: PodCastle 538: Itself at the Heart of Things (http://podcastle.org/2018/09/04/podcastle-538-itself-at-the-heart-of-things/)

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DmP9AOGXcAICePC.jpg)

Rated PG-13

Originally published in Shimmer.

(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/PC538_ItselfAtTheHeartOfThings.mp3)
Title: Re: PC538: Itself at the Heart of Things
Post by: Kaa on September 06, 2018, 03:54:13 AM: I'mma say it: I could not be more confused. I listened, thought maybe I just hadn't paid enough attention, so I read the text on the Podcastle site...and I still have no idea what I just read/listened to.

I guess I'm not the audience for this type of story. I feel like there was something there I should have gotten, but...I did not.
Title: Re: PC538: Itself at the Heart of Things
Post by: cvaughan on September 06, 2018, 01:56:00 PM: Quote from: Kaa on September 06, 2018, 03:54:13 AM
I still have no idea what I just read/listened to.

Same. I also read the text online just in case I had been distracted or something when listening... alas, I am still uncertain what exactly happened. this story feels like and excerpt from a larger tale where everything is explained. I always felt like I had started in the middle, missing key information.

the world seems like it might be interesting if I actually understood it.
Title: Re: PC538: Itself at the Heart of Things
Post by: Scuba Man on September 09, 2018, 06:22:27 PM: I was meditatively using a whet stone on a bushcraft knife while I listened to this wonderfully odd tale.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Was the character’s disassembly literal? If so, it’s a bizarre steampunk/dieselpunk love story. The aliens or invaders were Nazi Invaders in WW2 Paris, right?

I’m pleased I listened to it after The Threadbare Magician (and that was all good antivenom after watching that cringeworthy Marvel movie, Avengers, infinity War.)
Title: Re: PC538: Itself at the Heart of Things
Post by: Moritz on September 13, 2018, 10:09:37 AM: I also didn't quite get it and regarded it as a metaphor of nazi occupation of France and the fate of minorities.
Title: Re: PC538: Itself at the Heart of Things
Post by: Katzentatzen on September 27, 2018, 06:46:44 PM: I agree with ScubaMan And Moritz. Even if it was obtuse, the prose was beautiful.
Title: Re: PC538: Itself at the Heart of Things
Post by: Ichneumon on December 11, 2018, 12:03:04 AM: This one was too abstract for me as well. The most meaningful part for me was when the protagonist said that everything would be the same after the invasion, but they would be like ghosts. The societies didn't differ too greatly from each other, but who was allowed to contribute and benefit from them changed.