Escape Artists
Escape Pod => Episode Comments => Topic started by: Russell Nash on February 01, 2008, 01:10:34 PM
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EP143: Flaming Marshmallow and Other Deaths (http://escapepod.org/2008/02/01/ep143-flaming-marshmallow-and-other-deaths/)
By Camille Alexa (http://camillealexa.wordpress.com/).
Read by Dani Cutler (of Truth Seekers (http://audioaddict.libsyn.com/) and The Audio Addicts (http://societyfans.blogspot.com/)).
Will appear in Machine of Death (http://www.machineofdeath.net/) (TBA).
I look at the calendar hanging on the wall above my bed. I reach up, lift it off its nail with one hand and snuggle back under the covers, taking the calendar with me and running a finger over all the red Xs marked over all the days leading up to this one. It’s a little cold out, and the last thing in the universe I want to do is catch an effing cold the week of my birthday, so I snuggle down into the warmth of my flannel sheets even more. I know there’s going to be parties this weekend, and I’m going to want to go.
This is what I’ve been waiting for all these months. All these years, I guess, though before my friends started getting theirs, it didn’t seem like such a big deal. We were all No-Knows then.
Tomorrow, I’m finally going to feel like I belong.
Tomorrow, I’m going to find out how I die.
Rated PG. Contains allusions to profanity and some sexual implication.
Referenced Sites:
Metamor City Podcast (http://www.metamorcity.com/)
(http://escapepod.org/wp-images/podcast-mini4.gif)
Listen to this week’s Escape Pod! (http://media.libsyn.com/media/escapepod/EP143_FlamingMarshmallow.mp3)
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I liked this story. The main idea of knowing your cause of death was interesting. I have a 16 y/o so I could really relate to the whole father/daughter relationship dynamic and I thought that was well done, especially the part at the end where the dad was thrilled and the daughter was devastated. Another good light sci-fi story for my easy listening pleasure.
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I've definitely enjoyed this new wave of lighter SF and this week was no exception. I thought the relationship between the daughter and father was touching, and I thought it was hilarious and bizarre to see the father celebrating over his daughter's form of death. I'll probably listen to it again relatively soon.
I love the idea of SF for young adults. I haven't read Westerfield's Uglies series, but I was under the impression it was SF (not fantasy) the same way I'd consider Lois Lowry's the Giver SF. I'm hoping Cory Doctorow's new book puts a collective jolt into kids reading SF. I've heard really good things about Little Brother.
Question: do kids really say "effing" or "what the ef?" Not too many high schoolers I know do, they usually just say it. I was okay with it once but when it happened three times, I thought it was funny. Still, that's a pretty minor complaint :)
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I liked this one. I found it very believable that the kids would break into groups according to cause of death.
Since I see it coming a mile away, I put up a thread asking if you would want to know the details of your death (http://forum.escapeartists.info/index.php?topic=1329.0).
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FMaOD was wonderful, despite my best efforts to ruin my listening experience. This morning, I was catching up on some Escape Pod episodes from previous weeks and so my listening to Flaming Marshmellow came right on the heels of EP142 Artifice and Intelligence. Despite Dani Cutler's excellent characterization and reading energy, I found myself daydreaming and blending the two stories together. The AaI idea that an artifical intelligence could master sciences which no human could understand melted into the death prediction concept from FMaOD. I got caught up in imagining how AaI's Saraswati might be quietly entertaining herself by apply some superhuman temporal science to provide her pet humans with accurate death predictions. Thankfully, I have a very long drive to work, so after I was done daydreaming, I hit rewind and got to hear FMaOD in all its stand-alone glory.
Thanks as always!
Peace, Colt
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Great story, and while I was initially worried at the reading, I settled down into it as soon as I realized that she was supposed to be annoying.
Although hearing this and thinking of MoD again left me kicking myself, because of course I thought of ten story ideas better than the crap I submitted to the contest last winter. >_<
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Excellent episode, Steve and Dani and of course, Camille.
This was a perfect marriage of story and reader. Commute? What commute? I didn't so much drive to work as I 'storied' there. Fun stuff.
I, too, was touched by the relationship between father and daughter. After the bizarreness of the high school death cliques, the father provided a strong tie to the world I could relate to. The family of protesters was handled really well, making the point without taking over the story.
Suicides as quiet kids in black. lol So many interesting ideas in such a short story. Great writing.
Love me some EP!
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Liked the story. The notion of the cliques was simply brilliant.
And where does she sit at lunchtime tomorrow?
(personally hoping mine is "heat death of the universe" ;D which I actually first misheard the girl's as.)
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Teenagers vs. causality. Which will win? ;D
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interesting story
I could not relate personally to the whole HS thing cause I was home schooled for my whole life but sounds like some of the people that I work with lol
I did not really see the sci fi connection in the story
the only option for sci fi in the story was the machine and that was not really even a plausible one ( sci fi does not have to be plausible to be good but something so far out as that would not be possible as far as I can tell from intro to physics in college, Heisenberg,)
so ya well written story but not really sci fi to me
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I did not really see the sci fi connection in the story
the only option for sci fi in the story was the machine and that was not really even a plausible one ( sci fi does not have to be plausible to be good but something so far out as that would not be possible as far as I can tell from intro to physics in college, Heisenberg,)
so ya well written story but not really sci fi to me
It's actually similar to the story "Lifeline" by Robert A. Heinlein, which is generally considered sci-fi ... that story was about a machine that could read the exact moment that a person would die (though not the cause of death.)
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I think that this is one of my favorite EP stories.
I thought that the characterization of the girl and the cliques was dead on. As one example of many, I particularly liked how she tried to sound grown-up by constantly saying "effing" and "freaking," and yet was not so grown up that she could get by without euphemisms.
I also *really* liked that the story didn't give us too much background information - sf often suffers from "explanation-itis," where the author has the characters explain the background for every development in the story. But most people just live in the world without giving a lot of thought to its scientific/social/cultural underpinnings, and I don't see that changing in the future. For whatever reason, everyone in this future can know their MoD - and they make decisions based on that fact, but don't really give much thought to how this came about - because that's not really important to how they live their everyday life. I found that this made the story much more engaging.
(My personal belief is that they live in the "Chiron Beta Prime" universe, where their robot overlords...I mean protectors...select the manner of death. YMMV.)
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Oh my god, seriously,that story was like, so eff'ing awesome, I could die.
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I did not really see the sci fi connection in the story
the only option for sci fi in the story was the machine and that was not really even a plausible one ( sci fi does not have to be plausible to be good but something so far out as that would not be possible as far as I can tell from intro to physics in college, Heisenberg,)
so ya well written story but not really sci fi to me
It's actually similar to the story "Lifeline" by Robert A. Heinlein, which is generally considered sci-fi ... that story was about a machine that could read the exact moment that a person would die (though not the cause of death.)
I have not read that one yet but ya that does not change it in my opinion
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It was a "what would the effect of" story - Speculative Fiction, not really Science Fiction. Certainly a far cry from hard SF.
But that's not a bad thing. Sure, the device operated, for all intents and purposes, by magic. That doesn't change that the story took that one element and tried to envision how it would change the world. And it used that as a mirror for our world in general. That's classic SF right there. And it was a good, fun story. I really liked the father/daughter dynamic as well, showing very clearly how both of them are concerned about very, very different things.
The moral of the story: Even if you could show them the future, teenagers are only concerned with the now.
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Oh my god, seriously,that story was like, so eff'ing awesome, I could die.
Ah, but you will...you will. [ insert hollow laughter here ]
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Parents usually tell their kids, "If all your friends jumped off a cliff..."
However, I didn't hear a "cliff-jumper" clique. Maybe they sat at the Suicide table.
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Loved it. The idea that teens would actually want to know their cause of (eventual) death and turn it into a status symbol is totally believable. After all, you need to have lived a little to be scared of death...
The reading was great too. I was actually irritated by the voice acting, untill I realised that it was part of the story. And then it really sounded like an average teen: whiny, self centered but also capable of truly profound emotion.
The only slight gripe I have is with the actual predicted cause of death: what on earth is 'millenium space atrofy' ???? I mean, I get what it meant in the context of the story, but what is it?
And my final comment: I like the lighter SF (especially when it's done right, like this story), but I'm kinda yearning for some more gritty stuff as well. Any chance some of that coming up soon?
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I very much liked it. It felt plausible in a very lighthearted "if this happens" kind of way. The relationship between father and daughter shifted, but not so abruptly or dramatically as to give it a "movie of the week" feel, and even the use of things like "effing" to avoid actual profanity worked for me. Had the narrator used the actual word it would have given her voice a much harder edge that I don't think would have fit the story.
Has anyone read this March's F&SF yet? There's a story called "Exit Strategy" by K.D. Wentworth that touched on some of the same ideas of teenage mortality and family relationships. It makes an interesting companion piece to this one.
And to answer ColONeil
I did not really see the sci fi connection in the story
the only option for sci fi in the story was the machine and that was not really even a plausible one ( sci fi does not have to be plausible to be good but something so far out as that would not be possible as far as I can tell from intro to physics in college, Heisenberg,)
so ya well written story but not really sci fi to me
I hear where you're coming from, but I think we've called a truce on the SF/NotSF debate. The official EscapePod definition is that Science Fiction is whatever Steve Eley says that it is. Otherwise we get into a semantics debate that's even less productive than discussing theology, science, politics, or criminal justice with Mr. Tweedy.
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That was a good fun story. Most of all i loved that we never found out what "Death by Flaming Marshmallow" actually involved. Something to let our twisted imaginations run wild.
I have to admit, i had my doubts about the whole "Machine of Death" concept when i first heard of the contest a year or so ago and wondered if it would produce any good stories. But after hearing that, i'll definitely be checking it out.
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Yeah, the death-prediction machine was completely implausible. It's a measure of how well everything in the story worked that I didn't mind a bit -- and that sort of thing normally bothers me.
The character of the narrator was perfectly believable, and the voice acting was perfect for the part. The sucker-punch at the beginning -- making you think it's going to be a driver's license, hinting that it's not, then suddenly popping out with the truth -- was just the first of several great set-ups and executions.
To all involved: "Nice job..."
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I hear where you're coming from, but I think we've called a truce on the SF/NotSF debate. The official EscapePod definition is that Science Fiction is whatever Steve Eley says that it is. Otherwise we get into a semantics debate that's even less productive than discussing theology, science, politics, or criminal justice with Mr. Tweedy.
ok thanks for the heads up
as I am kinda new to this ( less than 2 weeks ) I had not gotten far enough to realize that the truce had been called or w/e the term is lol
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I have to admit, i had my doubts about the whole "Machine of Death" concept when i first heard of the contest a year or so ago and wondered if it would produce any good stories. But after hearing that, i'll definitely be checking it out.
eh?? whatchyoo talkin bout willus?
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Funny story! Having some experience in raising teenaged girls, I think the author really nailed the characterization. Well done.
The technology didn't bother me at all. That "What If" element is at the heart of all 'weird' fiction, I think. Let's not forget the old saw about sufficiently advanced technology being indistinguishable from magic. Who's to say it's more implausible than an FTL star drive?
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Not being American i am not really familiar with how cliques work in schools but i found the story pretty interesting and it was a nice unique idea.
My only complain was that the dialogue made me feel like an old man, do kids really talk like that?
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My only complain was that the dialogue made me feel like an old man, do kids really talk like that?
Yeah. DKT asked the same question a while back. Boys are more inclined to just say the F-word while girls tend to say "effin" - at least thats what I hear. But, every 10 minutes a new "cool" word comes along and that's all you hear for a while.
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My only complain was that the dialogue made me feel like an old man, do kids really talk like that?
Yeah. DKT asked the same question a while back. Boys are more inclined to just say the F-word while girls tend to say "effin" - at least thats what I hear. But, every 10 minutes a new "cool" word comes along and that's all you hear for a while.
depends on the person
I used to work w/ a girl that if she went more than 20 min w/o saying the F-word something was wrong so ya I guess it depends on the person and area of the country
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Wow, what a great start to a really excellent-sounding story. I can't wait to hear the rest of it.
Okay, so that's pretty snarky, but I feel let-down by this story and last week's (Artifice and Intelligence). They both seemed to be only the merest kernel of an idea without sufficient development to make them fully compelling.
That said, FMaOD has depths and characterization beyond AaI; the main character's sound is pretty plausible despite being a bit too overtly stereotyped Valley Girl. The dad was a nice touch---I wonder if his cause of death is somehow linked to his daughter's.
All in all, I'd have been happier if FMoAD had been developed to the point of Greg Egan's "The Hundred-Light-Year Diary", but I'm not complaining much. +1 for production values this week.
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Not much for me to say about this one. For a while I was wondering if the story would take a serious turn with one of the kids actually dying and the protagonist deciding she doesn't want to know or something - and I was very glad it didn't. I did really like the turn it took, especially in the depiction of the father.
I was also a bit puzzled by her cause of death, but I guess it was supposed to sound futuristic and far away and not really important beyond that. Of course, there was a missed opportunity here, as if her COD was "Heat death of the universe", there could have been a cool crossover with "In the late December" in the making ;)
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My first thought was She should put a couple of dollars in a savings account and then she'd be a trillionaire by the time she's "middle aged". My next thought was I wonder how that machine would effect the life insurance industry.
Ok, I'm gonna shoo some kids off my lawn now.
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My next thought was I wonder how that machine would effect the life insurance industry.
Ok, I'm gonna shoo some kids off my lawn now.
Interesting. I would think that since the machine doesn't give a time of death that it wouldn't make that much difference. On the other hand, most of us aren't worrying about death and life insurance in our teens or even twenties. I guess if a person found out they were a "suicide" they or their family would want to load up on life insurance ASAP since there is usually a suicide timing issues on most policies.
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My next thought was I wonder how that machine would effect the life insurance industry.
Ok, I'm gonna shoo some kids off my lawn now.
Interesting. I would think that since the machine doesn't give a time of death that it wouldn't make that much difference. On the other hand, most of us aren't worrying about death and life insurance in our teens or even twenties. I guess if a person found out they were a "suicide" they or their family would want to load up on life insurance ASAP since there is usually a suicide timing issues on most policies.
There's that. But also think about car insurance - if someone knows they are going to die in a crash, is their premium going up?
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There's that. But also think about car insurance - if someone knows they are going to die in a crash, is their premium going up?
They could be riding along as a passenger which wouldn't affect their premium. I can't remember if the machine specified they type of vehicle they were riding in.
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There's that. But also think about car insurance - if someone knows they are going to die in a crash, is their premium going up?
They could be riding along as a passenger which wouldn't affect their premium. I can't remember if the machine specified they type of vehicle they were riding in.
Considering the way the actuarial tables work, if you, or anyone in your family, is a "crasher", I can assure that your premiums would go up.
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There's that. But also think about car insurance - if someone knows they are going to die in a crash, is their premium going up?
They could be riding along as a passenger which wouldn't affect their premium. I can't remember if the machine specified they type of vehicle they were riding in.
Considering the way the actuarial tables work, if you, or anyone in your family, is a "crasher", I can assure that your premiums would go up.
My original comment about knowing the cause of death of people not making much of a difference in the insurance industry was way off. The whole insurance industry would have to be revamped. Each type of death would have to be assigned some type of average life expectancy and risk - like current smoker / non-smoker ratings. It would be a mess. The "old-ager" group would pay the lowest premiums and "suiciders" would probably be ineligible all together, with everyone else falling somewhere in between.
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Considering the way the actuarial tables work, if you, or anyone in your family, is a "crasher", I can assure that your premiums would go up.
you gotta wonder if forming cliques around cause of death is really the best way to go.
"what? the crashers? yeah, they just piled into Lisa's van on their way to the burners' indoor barbecue."
new airport regulation: at least one old ager on every flight.
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new airport regulation: at least one old ager on every flight.
New airport regulation: at least one young old ager on every flight, who has to ride tied to the nose cone...
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Loved this one, great pick Steve!
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I have to admit, i had my doubts about the whole "Machine of Death" concept when i first heard of the contest a year or so ago and wondered if it would produce any good stories. But after hearing that, i'll definitely be checking it out.
eh?? whatchyoo talkin bout willus?
We have a winner for the "Obscure Reference Award" for this thread.
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My next thought was I wonder how that machine would effect the life insurance industry.
Ok, I'm gonna shoo some kids off my lawn now.
Interesting. I would think that since the machine doesn't give a time of death that it wouldn't make that much difference. On the other hand, most of us aren't worrying about death and life insurance in our teens or even twenties. I guess if a person found out they were a "suicide" they or their family would want to load up on life insurance ASAP since there is usually a suicide timing issues on most policies.
The insurance companies were quite upset in Heinlein's story "Lifeline" as well.
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Cotton Candy! That was my impression of this story. As always I post before reading all the other posts, because I don't want other posts to taint my views until after I have gotten my views down on "Paper."
As Mr. Eley said at the beginning, if you don't want to remember you high school years you might want to skip this one, wow I wish I had skipped it. Maybe I am just too old, maybe my high school years were different, maybe maybe maybe... But I doubt it. I listened to the whole story saying, it is going to get better but, it didn't.
The build up was all about this slip and how it was so important to how cool she would be tomorrow, and then at the end it was all about a father not wanting to think about how it daughter was going to die. As a father I can understand that, and I could even get into it. I could even see how my daughter might be more interested in wanting to know what it was than how it might make me feel. With all that being said It felt out of place in the story. What about her old friend? Why was he there? Did he really add anything to the story? In a story so short I think I would have dropped him.
The reader did an excellent job with portraying the standard stereotypical teen aged girl. So good job on that! However, with that in mind I am so totally over and stuff, the valley girl thing, I found myself getting annoyed while listening to it. All teen aged girls are not from that mythical valley, and though they do seem to have their own language, (which in case you are interested there will be a masters degree program in the language of teen aged girls held at my house in two more years) they don't all talk like that.
So for a wrap up. Reader: good job. Writer: sorry but I was not impressed. Mr. Eley: Please no more of these!
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I have to admit, i had my doubts about the whole "Machine of Death" concept when i first heard of the contest a year or so ago and wondered if it would produce any good stories. But after hearing that, i'll definitely be checking it out.
eh?? whatchyoo talkin bout willus?
We have a winner for the "Obscure Reference Award" for this thread.
What really scares me is that that reference is now considered obscure. :-\
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I have to admit, i had my doubts about the whole "Machine of Death" concept when i first heard of the contest a year or so ago and wondered if it would produce any good stories. But after hearing that, i'll definitely be checking it out.
eh?? whatchyoo talkin bout willus?
We have a winner for the "Obscure Reference Award" for this thread.
What really scares me is that that reference is now considered obscure. :-\
Well Diff'rent Strokes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diff%27rent_Strokes) was cancelled over 20 years ago
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I have to admit, i had my doubts about the whole "Machine of Death" concept when i first heard of the contest a year or so ago and wondered if it would produce any good stories. But after hearing that, i'll definitely be checking it out.
eh?? whatchyoo talkin bout willus?
We have a winner for the "Obscure Reference Award" for this thread.
What really scares me is that that reference is now considered obscure. :-\
Well Diff'rent Strokes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diff%27rent_Strokes) was cancelled over 20 years ago
.......and Kimberly Drummond (Plato) died in 1999 and Willis (Todd Bridges) has moved on to a successfull career as a producer - his latest masterpiece is called "Big Ball'n 2 - Pimp'n Ain't Easy". Dig it!
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What an excellent story. Wonderful relationships expressed in understated ways. The father said so much without dialog!
The reading was very good. However. I think there might be a production issue there. The readers voice came over a lot louder than the intro. I nearly lot an ear drum or three.
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I have to admit, i had my doubts about the whole "Machine of Death" concept when i first heard of the contest a year or so ago and wondered if it would produce any good stories. But after hearing that, i'll definitely be checking it out.
eh?? whatchyoo talkin bout willus?
We have a winner for the "Obscure Reference Award" for this thread.
What really scares me is that that reference is now considered obscure. :-\
Well Diff'rent Strokes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diff%27rent_Strokes) was cancelled over 20 years ago
.......and Kimberly Drummond (Plato) died in 1999 and Willis (Todd Bridges) has moved on to a successfull career as a producer - his latest masterpiece is called "Big Ball'n 2 - Pimp'n Ain't Easy". Dig it!
Yeah, but you guys are forgettin' Arnold run against another fading star named Arnold a few years ago for California's governor race. (God forgive us.)
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There's a formula for writing a science fiction short story. First, pick a technology. Whatever you want is fine, as long as it's something that doesn't exist yet. Second, pick a group of people. You can't pick "Everyone" because that's too big, you won't be able to cover it in less than 50,000 words, not and do it right. Then, Madlibs-style, fit those two words into this question:
What would be the effect on _(group of people)_ if _(technology)_ existed?
I've used this formula many times in my own writing. It's a pretty solid way to create a pretty solid story. Of course, if you never deviate from that question, and start talking about the characters as individual people rather than just a delivery mechanism for your speculations, that's all you'll get... a pretty solid story.
Still, this was a better story than Lust for Learning (ep. 104 (http://escapepod.org/2007/05/03/ep104-lust-for-learning/)) which had a similar structure but nothing else going for it.
I especially liked the father; even though he only had a few minutes screen time, I especially sympathized with him, probably because my kids are young teenagers.
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Question: do kids really say "effing" or "what the ef?" Not too many high schoolers I know do, they usually just say it. I was okay with it once but when it happened three times, I thought it was funny. Still, that's a pretty minor complaint :)
I grew up in a heavily Mormon school district in NW Phoenix; the non-Mormon kids peppered their speech with whatever they wanted, mostly to needle the devout LDS kids. The less-devout LDS kids would substitute "heck" or (*gasp*) the dreaded "fetch" ... as in "Oh, my heck!" or "What the fetch?"
There are endless euphemisms out there, so "effing" and "ef" are probably not unreasonable.
There was a lot for me to like about this one; I thought Dani's reading was pitch perfect, and, like Bunter, I loved that we didn't delve into the tech ... how many 16-year-olds really CARE how the car works, as long as it gives them status?
I thought the ending struck just the right tone, as well; I read where one of the commentors on the EP143 post who said they were disappointed that it "just ended", but I thought it was just right. Being a "fuggy, dad smelling" guy myself, I certainly see the beauty of that juxtaposition where the best news to one of us seems like the worst news to the other.
I'm just glad it didn't have the cheesy twist I envisioned where she got a slip that read "death by flaming marshmallow"...
And then I turned and saw Bradley or whatever his name was coming out of the food court. I showed him my slip and he smiled and held my hand. Then we heard screaming, and someone was yelling that the Ghostbusters were outside. So we stepped out, just in time to see them fry that evil, giant marshmallow man... and *whap*... that's how we ended up here in the afterlife!
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Very cool little story.
Whether or not it was realistic, I found her manner of speaking believable.
It seemed like the father somehow knew she was going to die young, so I was waiting for this light story to go all DARK and DEEP and CHALLENGING OF MY PRECONCEPTIONS and the slip somehow say that the father was going to kill her or that she was going to die in the next 15 minutes. That would have blown the story. That the story was a happy ending for the father and a sad one for the girl was beautiful.
I too liked the relationship with the father. Teenagers hating their parents has become a very tired cliche in my opinion (especially with sons and fathers). That the author realized that parents and children can have completely different world views and still express tenderness for each other was a breath of fresh air.
The cliques that the kids broke up into perfectly mirrors the inverse relationship between that which makes you socially successful in high school and that which makes you successful after graduation (good at computers, good at football, etc). I kept wondering "what's with all the burners and crashers? Where's cancer and heart disease....ah, of course. They're lame." Nice touch.
My quibble is that her old friend with the protester mom seemed to be a Chekov's gun that didn't fire. Though the story of the cool kid who rediscovers her affection for her uncool childhood friend is also pretty cliche, so I'm glad they didn't go there. But still, it didn't seem to be necessary.
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IMHO would have been a much funnier ending. As it was I was pretty disappointed in this story. Too light too fluffy too full of hot air.
from: me, writing a fake ending
And then I turned and saw Bradley or whatever his name was coming out of the food court. I showed him my slip and he smiled and held my hand. Then we heard screaming, and someone was yelling that the Ghostbusters were outside. So we stepped out, just in time to see them fry that evil, giant marshmallow man... and *whap*... that's how we ended up here in the afterlife!
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I wonder how many people who didn't like this don't have kids.
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I for one am not one of those. I have 7 so that is not the issue.
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I for one am not one of those. I have 7 so that is not the issue.
Dang... I usually "wow" the room with my 4! (And if I never hear the phrase "your hands must be full!" again, it'll be too soon!)
And I'm curious to see what my 11 year old thinks of this story, if she gets around to listening to it. I'm sure everyone will be waiting for a tween POV.
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The narrator, and I say narrator not reader, as the narrator was more a part of the story and less simply translating it from text to voice, this made the story for me.
I didn't particularly like this story as the plot was less technologically driven and more driven by society. This story stimulated thoughts of 1980's high school stereotypes and clicks. However the story itself was perfectly built up.
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I wonder how many people who didn't like this don't have kids.
I liked the story, have zero kids and intend to keep it that way.
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The only slight gripe I have is with the actual predicted cause of death: what on earth is 'millenium space atrofy' ???? I mean, I get what it meant in the context of the story, but what is it?
I agree with that. in fact, I logged here to ask what really was the cause of death. I listened that part several times, and I thought that I heard 'millenium space atrofy'. I was thinking that I must have misheard or misunderstood, because that CoD doesn't seem to make any sense.
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I have to admit, i had my doubts about the whole "Machine of Death" concept when i first heard of the contest a year or so ago and wondered if it would produce any good stories. But after hearing that, i'll definitely be checking it out.
eh?? whatchyoo talkin bout willus?
We have a winner for the "Obscure Reference Award" for this thread.
What really scares me is that that reference is now considered obscure. :-\
Well Diff'rent Strokes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diff%27rent_Strokes) was cancelled over 20 years ago
Hello, need some explaining here, would someone help?
As someone not living in US those references don't mean anything to me.
I know Different Strokes is a TV-series, but I have never seen a single episode of it. I think I have heard about it (was it about black or mixed race family or something?), but what "machine of death" concept and what it has to do with an old TV-series?
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Kia ora
Question: "do kids really say "effing" or "what the ef?" Not too many high schoolers I know do, they usually just say it. I was okay with it once but when it happened three times, I thought it was funny. Still, that's a pretty minor complaint "
Answer : Unfortunately Yes they do !
I thought this was just another story until tonight, came out of the movies walked into the book/mag shop attached to the Mall and there was the latest WIRED magazine, with the headline articla being about individual DNA analysis perhaps being able to identify how we live and how we could die !
Dave A
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I have to admit, i had my doubts about the whole "Machine of Death" concept when i first heard of the contest a year or so ago and wondered if it would produce any good stories. But after hearing that, i'll definitely be checking it out.
eh?? whatchyoo talkin bout willus?
We have a winner for the "Obscure Reference Award" for this thread.
What really scares me is that that reference is now considered obscure. :-\
Well Diff'rent Strokes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diff%27rent_Strokes) was cancelled over 20 years ago
Hello, need some explaining here, would someone help?
As someone not living in US those references don't mean anything to me.
I know Different Strokes is a TV-series, but I have never seen a single episode of it. I think I have heard about it (was it about black or mixed race family or something?), but what "machine of death" concept and what it has to do with an old TV-series?
Explanation: Goatkeeper was saying that he didn't know about MoD and was asking for an explanation. He did this by using a pop reference.
This sitcom starred Gary Coleman as Arnold Jackson and Todd Bridges as his older brother, Willis. They played two African-American children from a poor Harlem neighborhood whose deceased mother previously worked for a rich white widower, Philip Drummond (Conrad Bain), who eventually adopted them.
[snip]
As Arnold, Coleman popularized the catch phrase "Wha'choo talkin' 'bout, Willis?" which was popular in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and is still mentioned in pop culture references today. The line was supposed to be "What are you talking about Willis" but on the script was spelled "Wha'choo talkin' 'bout, Willis"
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I wonder how many people who didn't like this don't have kids.
Hello! Don't have kids, don't particularly want kids, only really like kids in small batches.
I don't think it's school stories I have a problem with, but more American school stories. I try to avoid anything set in school now, I stopped with 'Smallville' somewhere near the end of the first season partly because of that and partly because everyone was so stupid, the 'Claire at school' parts of 'Heroes' make me wince.
This story felt like a pretty good flash piece with a lot of filler to try and delay the joke ending as long as possible. Not one of my favourites.
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I'm a little surprised that so much of the reaction to this one is so negative. I thought the relationship between the girl and her father was handled pretty well. It was sweet enough, but not such a sudden complete reversal that it rang false. I liked the appearance by a character who's family didn't buy in to the whole death-machine craze. It gave the story a little bit of context and hinted at a broader, more varied reaction to the technology. I didn't feel that it needed to go anywhere in terms of the resolution if it did an important job by adding some deeper texture.
Finally, one quick reply:
I didn't particularly like this story as the plot was less technologically driven and more driven by society.
I liked it for precisely the same reason.
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I for one am not one of those. I have 7 so that is not the issue.
Dang... I usually "wow" the room with my 4! (And if I never hear the phrase "your hands must be full!" again, it'll be too soon!)
And I'm curious to see what my 11 year old thinks of this story, if she gets around to listening to it. I'm sure everyone will be waiting for a tween POV.
Yes, but do you have a Kirk icon? I think that makes the difference between 4 and 7 ;)
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Just proof that I am insane. TOS reference alert, there is no such this as a Vulcan death grip.
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The only slight gripe I have is with the actual predicted cause of death: what on earth is 'millenium space atrofy' ???? I mean, I get what it meant in the context of the story, but what is it?
I agree with that. in fact, I logged here to ask what really was the cause of death. I listened that part several times, and I thought that I heard 'millenium space atrofy'. I was thinking that I must have misheard or misunderstood, because that CoD doesn't seem to make any sense.
I thought it said "Millennium Space Entropy" which I think was supposed to refer to the heat death of the universe.
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But what does "millenium" have to do with the heat death of the universe? Esp. since the father was happy because "the millenium is a long time away" or something to that effect.
Has the technology involved in the death-predictors somehow drastically shortened the life of the universe to last only until the next millenium?
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It could be a limitation of the machine; it may only be able to process deaths in the next thousand years, and she might not have died yet for as far ahead as it can "see". So even with the paper, she still doesn't know.
Just a thought.
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Wow. That's an awful lot of comments. That's what I get for being behind.
I liked the story. Even though I went to high school last decade, I totally bought into the character, and this was a great character for Cutler to read.
I submitted to this anthology with a story called "BUS CRASH", but did not make it in, so it was interesting to see what the editors thought was more up their alley.
Sitting at the "proper" table at lunch is a big deal in HS, but at my school, you could go almost anywhere in the building. Still, this story brought back memories of me trying to find the right place to sit. I tried a lot of places -- the quiet bunch on the 2nd floor, the losers near the DECA room, the angsties behind the stage, even the back corner of the cafeteria with a couple of casual friends. Never was quite happy in any of those locations. Eh. What're you going to do...
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But what does "millenium" have to do with the heat death of the universe? Esp. since the father was happy because "the millenium is a long time away" or something to that effect.
Has the technology involved in the death-predictors somehow drastically shortened the life of the universe to last only until the next millenium?
"Millennium" has more meanings than just "a thousand years".
From the American Heritage Dictionary: "A hoped-for period of joy, serenity, prosperity, and justice."
Not that the machine is necessarily that poetic, but it may be something that the people who invented the machine put in to indicate a concept that modern points of view don't really quite understand.
I understood what it meant, even if I didn't think the particular combination of words was a great choice.
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I know that millenium has other meanings, but how does that fit in with the father's response, which seemed to indicate the millenium is a particular date?
Also, I don't see how any of those other meanings combine with "space atrophy" to make "heat death of the universe".
I agree it's possible this is a new idiom invented by that society, but in that case, I think it was a confusing thing to do, given that the rest of the piece was very contemporary and normal in its language.
Certainly, the point is that the narrator is going to live a very, very long time. As far as that goes, I think the story is perfectly clear. And that is really enough for it to work. But I think the actual phrase was confusing and, if indeed it is one of the more poetic uses of the word, somewhat out of tune with the rest of the story (which is just a nitpick, I should add, and I don't mean this as substantive criticism).
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"Millennium" has more meanings than just "a thousand years".
Suppose the machine had given a reading of death by "Millennium Hand and Shrimp"? ;)
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"Millennium" has more meanings than just "a thousand years".
Suppose the machine had given a reading of death by "Millennium Hand and Shrimp"? ;)
That's the internal error code for "Call Tech Support"
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"Millennium" has more meanings than just "a thousand years".
Suppose the machine had given a reading of death by "Millennium Hand and Shrimp"? ;)
That's the internal error code for "Call Tech Support"
I thought those were "Out of Cheese" and "Redo From Start".
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"Millennium" has more meanings than just "a thousand years".
Suppose the machine had given a reading of death by "Millennium Hand and Shrimp"? ;)
That's the internal error code for "Call Tech Support"
I thought those were "Out of Cheese" and "Redo From Start".
I'm reading that right now.
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What if it was "millennium space entropy" and the reader mispronounced it? Either entropy or atrophy, I think we're talking about "she just couldn't be made to function anymore, not in spite of her old age but because there's just no order to be had in the universe anymore".
Clearly she'd sit with the post-humans :)
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"Millennium" has more meanings than just "a thousand years".
Suppose the machine had given a reading of death by "Millennium Hand and Shrimp"? ;)
That's the internal error code for "Call Tech Support"
I thought those were "Out of Cheese" and "Redo From Start".
Divide by cucumber error.
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"Millennium" has more meanings than just "a thousand years".
Suppose the machine had given a reading of death by "Millennium Hand and Shrimp"? ;)
That's the internal error code for "Call Tech Support"
I thought those were "Out of Cheese" and "Redo From Start".
Divide by cucumber error.
But you only need to worry when it st@&$&
END OF LINE
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It could be a limitation of the machine; it may only be able to process deaths in the next thousand years, and she might not have died yet for as far ahead as it can "see". So even with the paper, she still doesn't know.
i like this interpretation, she remains a no know even with the machine.
the last line of the story was great. people are people and what most people consider important never changes. when confronted with incredible truth, knowing that you'll outlive everyone around you and knowing that there will be world changes to make that possible, we still instinctively think about social standing. dance, monkeys, dance (http://www.ernestcline.com/spokenword/dance.htm).
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She's going to go to school, and she's going to say, "I'm immortal." Immortals are definitely cooler. All she has to do is start dressing like a vampire.
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What if it was "millennium space entropy" and the reader mispronounced it? Either entropy or atrophy, I think we're talking about "she just couldn't be made to function anymore, not in spite of her old age but because there's just no order to be had in the universe anymore".
Clearly she'd sit with the post-humans :)
The cause of death was given as "millenium space entropy". It's not clear to me exactly what this is, but the concept of entropy was featured in the classic Doctor Who story "Logopolis". Find out more on http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/episodeguide/logopolis/ . Basically, they kept saying things like entropy is the second law of thermodynamics, the universe had passed the point of natural heat death, but had been saved using a special type of mathematics.
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I really enjoyed this episode of Escape Pod, because it seemed to me that it was condemning cliques. I've heard a lot about cliques, which are basically just a form of social exclusion, harassment or bullying, so I hope this story gets that message across to some more people.
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I really didn't get that, ChiliFan, or at least not strongly. They seemed to me to be portrayed as a fact of teenage life more than something that was ruining things for her.
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Just to add to the brouhaha over the CoD... maybe the characters were as clueless to what that slip meant as we are.
The cliques forming around the different deaths are suspect, since we (and I presume, the others in the society) don't usually know specifics. We see them spreading gossip about Flaming Marshmallow boy, but that seems to be the exception... most people only share their broader "category" than their actual death. For all we know, all of the Burners have equally vague and mysterious "burning" deaths. Maybe one of them got "Heat death of the universe" and decided that meant "Burning" somehow (not everyone in our universe is up to speed on their science-related vocabulary, so I assume the same is true there).
Seems to me these "slips" could be as vaguely accurate as a horoscopes.
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I really didn't get that, ChiliFan, or at least not strongly. They seemed to me to be portrayed as a fact of teenage life more than something that was ruining things for her.
I agree - I don't think this story was particularly critical of cliques. It wasn't very positive about them, but it felt more like they were a symptom of the immaturity of the characters than anything particularly negative.
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Maybe Millennium Space Entropy is slang for whatever the latest designer drug is going to be at that time and she actually is dies from an OD. Do those sit with the suicides? :o
Nobilis gave me the idea in my head for that with the comment "Heat death of the universe, man... Millennium Space Entropy." cuz in my head I saw some hippy saying that while sparking up a bong. :D
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This one was great. The reading really made a difference too, I'm sure I would've gotten something completely different (and less) out of it on paper. (Although I spent half the story trying to place the reader's voice until I realized she'd done that one for PseudoPod about killer snow fairies.)
As for the debate about the slip, I heard "millennium space entropy," grossly mispronounced from how I usually say it. I say "EN-troh-pee." Do other people say "en-TRAH-pee"? (I also say "AT-troh-phee" and not "uh-TRAH-phee" as some seemed to hear 'atrophy.') And I don't know what it means either, but the first thing I thought of was "heat death of the universe"—clearly this chick is Little Orphan Cephalopod from "In the Late December."
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I thought the discussion about young folk reading SF and why we started reading SF was really interesting, so I split it off here (http://forum.escapeartists.info/index.php?topic=1344.0).
I'm sure we covered this for a lot of folks before, but it hasn't been a running thread in a very long time.
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if a story creates enough discussion on a topic to spawn a separate thread i like the idea of editing the initial post to include a link to it.
especially when the thread discusses the story's intro since it's on the podcast as a whole if not the story in particular.
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So after much speculation on my part I wrote the author to get her side of the story. So, with out further ado!
The answer you've all been waiting for:
I'm not sure I intended Carolyn's actual death in "Flaming Marshmallow and Other Deaths" to have any particular significance, other than for it to sound impossibly distant (particularly to the mind of the teenage main character) and too vague to fit into her preconceived notions about the importance of the cause-of-death revelation. Of course, it had to be something for her father also to latch onto as impossibly distant (to his relief as a parent).
Thank you (and everyone else over at the Forum) for your passion for speculative fiction and for your willingness to debate and ponder.
If anyone's interested in reading the introduction to the forthcoming Machine of Death anthology, they can find it at
http://www.machineofdeath.net/a/about
Thanks again!
--Camille Alexa
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Wow. Such negative comments. I really enjoyed this story. It may not have been the Best Sci-Fi Story Ever Written, Ever, but it was fun, which is all Steve set out to do--bring us fun stories.
It made my commute whiz by, and I was happy for that.
But I want to make a different comment. It's been a while since I heard this, but either in the intro or the outro, Steve mentioned something about how it was lucky his parents didn't know what was in some of the books on his book shelf when he was a teen, and he specifically mentioned John Varley.
Well...I also had John Varley's books on my shelf as a teenager. As far as cover art went, they were among the most innocuous ones in my entire collection. Inside, though....
So, one day, my mother decides she's going to Read One of My Books in order to Understand Science Fiction and The Kinds of Things I Read. You can see where this is headed. Of all the books on my shelf from Piers Anthony to F.M. Busby to Robert Heinlein to Margaret Weis, she chose John Varley's Demon.
I thought I was going to die of embarrassment. To this day I don't know if she actually finished it, but she never mentioned it if she did. She did give me a few looks as she was reading it in the living room.
I guess it could have been worse. She could have picked up Jack Chalker's Flux and Anchor series.
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So, one day, my mother decides she's going to Read One of My Books in order to Understand Science Fiction and The Kinds of Things I Read. You can see where this is headed. Of all the books on my shelf from Piers Anthony to F.M. Busby to Robert Heinlein to Margaret Weis, she chose John Varley's Demon.
Heh. Yes, that's the trilogy I was thinking of in particular. There's also some pretty racy stuff in Steel Beach and The Golden Globe, but I didn't read those until much later. I can't even remember if they were published when I was in high school.
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So, one day, my mother decides she's going to Read One of My Books in order to Understand Science Fiction and The Kinds of Things I Read. You can see where this is headed. Of all the books on my shelf from Piers Anthony to F.M. Busby to Robert Heinlein to Margaret Weis, she chose John Varley's Demon.
Yikes. It's a mistake to start with the third book in a trilogy.
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So, one day, my mother decides she's going to Read One of My Books in order to Understand Science Fiction and The Kinds of Things I Read. You can see where this is headed. Of all the books on my shelf from Piers Anthony to F.M. Busby to Robert Heinlein to Margaret Weis, she chose John Varley's Demon.
Ah, mothers... mine knew I was into science fiction (all the Star Trek, the Asimov books, etc.) and knew I wasn't going to church any more. She wanted to get me "back on track" and wanted to show me that she was "with it"... so sent me the "Left Behind" series. I did try to read them... and got through the first chapter before demonstrating the aerodynamics of a trade paperback to my roommate.
I had to tell my mother I found them just a touch preachy. ;)
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Ah, mothers... mine knew I was into science fiction (all the Star Trek, the Asimov books, etc.) and knew I wasn't going to church any more. She wanted to get me "back on track" and wanted to show me that she was "with it"... so sent me the "Left Behind" series. I did try to read them... and got through the first chapter before demonstrating the aerodynamics of a trade paperback to my roommate.
I had to tell my mother I found them just a touch preachy. ;)
Ah yes........
Into sci-fi....check
Not going to church anymore.......check
(Step) mom recommending "Left Behind" series.....check
I have not tried to read them yet, though. I have too much good sci-fi sitting on my shelf to even consider that load.
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that load.
I think the term you're looking for is "steaming pile." :)
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Ah, mothers... mine knew I was into science fiction (all the Star Trek, the Asimov books, etc.) and knew I wasn't going to church any more. She wanted to get me "back on track" and wanted to show me that she was "with it"... so sent me the "Left Behind" series. I did try to read them... and got through the first chapter before demonstrating the aerodynamics of a trade paperback to my roommate.
I had to tell my mother I found them just a touch preachy. ;)
Nobody has ever tried to force these books on me, probably because I still go to church. However, I have
never had a desire to read the Left Behind series. It just seemed like such a pretentious premise. You say " a touch preachy" as an intended understatement; I would add self righteous and insulting. And this is coming from a believer, at least in God and Jesus Christ (not necesarily the perspective of the Left Behind books or their ilk). I also wasn't interested in more frivilous speculation about the Book of Revelations, especially from a fictional novel with action hereos.
I'm glad to hear my insticts were correct. I haven't read a page of it, nor do I intend to. Experiences like yours only prove I was right.
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Flaming Marshmallow was a fun story. The reading was great and the ending was perfect.
I haven't read any of the Left Behind series, but I've seen the movies. Fiction based loosely on the Bible and marketed towards Christians can be dangerous. I've met more than one Christian who read/saw Left Behind and based part of their theology on the story. This is scary to me, because the work isn't Biblically accurate nor does it even claim to be. It's a work of fiction. The movies were okay, probably not worth watching again, but definitely should not be used as a means of evangelism.
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Getting back on topic of the story:
I thought I had commented on it. I enjoyed the story. I had heard of the Death Machine anthology contest and thought about submitting something, but never did. I think Flaming Marshmallows is a good example of what they were looking for. Basically as I remember it, they wanted stories showing how such a machine would effect different types of culture. This author chose the culture of an American high school, and did a good job of capturing that perspective, albeit a bit stereotypical.
As many other fathers have mentioned, I related to the father's experience even though my kids are not in high school yet.
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I've met more than one Christian who read/saw Left Behind and based part of their theology on the story. This is scary to me...
...definitely should not be used as a means of evangelism.
Amen
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Ah, mothers... mine knew I was into science fiction (all the Star Trek, the Asimov books, etc.) and knew I wasn't going to church any more. She wanted to get me "back on track" and wanted to show me that she was "with it"... so sent me the "Left Behind" series. I did try to read them... and got through the first chapter before demonstrating the aerodynamics of a trade paperback to my roommate.
I had to tell my mother I found them just a touch preachy. ;)
Nobody has ever tried to force these books on me, probably because I still go to church. However, I have
never had a desire to read the Left Behind series. It just seemed like such a pretentious premise. You say " a touch preachy" as an intended understatement; I would add self righteous and insulting. And this is coming from a believer, at least in God and Jesus Christ (not necesarily the perspective of the Left Behind books or their ilk). I also wasn't interested in more frivilous speculation about the Book of Revelations, especially from a fictional novel with action hereos.
I'm glad to hear my insticts were correct. I haven't read a page of it, nor do I intend to. Experiences like yours only prove I was right.
I haven't been coerced into reading them for much the same reason. I do feel slightly bad about this because I would like to at one point read the first one, just so I can point out to people who recommend it to me what a piece of shit it is. Sometimes I'm masochistic.
Fiction by Christian publishers just usually leaves me pretty frustrated, though. I read a couple of Frank Peretti's books and was floored by how bad one was, yet how much people LOVED him. Christian fiction by, say Madeleine L'Engle...well, my love knows no bounds.
I haven't read any of the Left Behind series, but I've seen the movies. Fiction based loosely on the Bible and marketed towards Christians can be dangerous. I've met more than one Christian who read/saw Left Behind and based part of their theology on the story. This is scary to me, because the work isn't Biblically accurate nor does it even claim to be. It's a work of fiction. The movies were okay, probably not worth watching again, but definitely should not be used as a means of evangelism.
Yep. It was terrifying at the church I used to attend how much of an influence they had on people, not as fiction, but as something they thought was TRUE.
I realize I'm dangerously off topic, so I'd just like to say I'm glad the death was intended to be so ambiguous. That's what really made the story for me, the concept of a father excited about how his daughter was going to die was so quirky and somehow sweet due to the futuristic, ambiguous sounding death. If it was something more tangible, it would've been a much creepier story (and wouldn't have worked as well for me).
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OK, the Left Behind series was getting a bit of traction here, so I started a new thread about religion based SF (http://forum.escapeartists.info/index.php?topic=1363.0). I didn't split off any of the posts from here, but if you want to reply to any of those comments, please do it in the new thread.
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This one didn't leave me with much to think about beyond, "How would the dad have reacted if the paper had said 'Entropic collapse caused by the heat death of the Universe?'"
That might have turned it into Chapter 1 of a far more interesting story. As it was, it was light and fluffy and I mostly liked it.
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You know, if you think about it, the people with "Old Age" and other ho-hum deaths are going to have the most exciting lives.
Imagine all the wonderful things you could do, knowing they won't kill you? As usual, the high school kids aren't seeing past the surface.
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You know, if you think about it, the people with "Old Age" and other ho-hum deaths are going to have the most exciting lives.
Imagine all the wonderful things you could do, knowing they won't kill you? As usual, the high school kids aren't seeing past the surface.
"Old age" can get you if you're a quadrapalegic or have a brain turned to oatmeal by chemical or other experimentation...
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And thus life is not without its risks...
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This was a fantastic story- I joined these forums just to say so. Well done Escapepod!
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Great story. I really liked this one.
I heard "millenium space entropy" as well. I thought exactly the same thing the main character did - where was she going to sit? That really brought out how I felt all through high school. I was friends with all the "smart kids" in the advanced placement classes (and was with them for English class), but for science, math and history I was stuck in the "college prep" classes, which was one step down.
And, I wonder if it would be possible to lie about what's on your slip, or just mispresent it somehow. Would other people know? Was there a central database you could check?
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Wow, exactly...
"No, I can't show you... my mom started crying and tore it up and flushed it down the toilet... She wants to forget it ever happened. Don't tell her I told you, but I got a look before she tore it up. It said 'Knifed by a cyborg terrorist in a botched hostage rescue.' No, I don't know whether I'm one of the cyborg terrorists or not... heck, could be a hostage... never know. But I'm definitely one of the sharpies."
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Huh... that makes me wonder.
We heard about the kid who dies by flaming marshmellow but trumps it up as a burner. What about deaths that go the other way, like suffocation, as in suffocated under 30 tons of rock having just saved a school bus full of children, nuns, and the next Buddha with your super speed.
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This story sort of reminded me of an episode of The Man Show where you could hire people to come kill you in creative ways instead of dying in your sleep or slowly wasting away. The only two I can remember are "Mob Hit" and "Assassination by Ninja". That could make one of the old age kids become someone who was murdered. Instant popularity boost!
This is on a similar topic, but slightly different. I told my wife that after I die I want her to feed my body into a woodchipper pointed at the doctor's house that couldn't save me. She said she wouldn't do it. Bummer. :-[
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This is on a similar topic, but slightly different. I told my wife that after I die I want her to feed my body into a woodchipper pointed at the doctor's house that couldn't save me. She said she wouldn't do it. Bummer. :-[
You must have a good friend that can pull this off for you. That would be cool. The side of the doc's house would be coated with blood and tissue matter. His/her dogs would be out there lapping up whatever they could. An interesting thread would be: how is your body going to be disposed after your death? Are most people still going to be put in a cement vault and buried in a casket?
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His/her dogs would be out there lapping up whatever they could.
I was thinking about him having to pick my teeth out of his front door too. Heh. That would be a funny/gruesome sight.
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His/her dogs would be out there lapping up whatever they could.
I was thinking about him having to pick my teeth out of his front door too. Heh. That would be a funny/gruesome sight.
Hey, write it down, combined with your zombie thread, and you've got a Pseudopod tale in the hopper!
"I'm bit," said Dave, horrified. We knew what that meant - 30 minutes and he'd be one the them, trying to get at our brains. He looked at us, looked at the woodchipper, and then sighed. "Guess I know what we gotta do."
[exposition....blah blah blah...]
...and the zombie onslaught began to disintigrate under a steady spray of Dave.
(You can contribute my share of the story sale back to Escape Artists. ;) )
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His/her dogs would be out there lapping up whatever they could.
I was thinking about him having to pick my teeth out of his front door too. Heh. That would be a funny/gruesome sight.
Hey, write it down, combined with your zombie thread, and you've got a Pseudopod tale in the hopper!
"I'm bit," said Dave, horrified. We knew what that meant - 30 minutes and he'd be one the them, trying to get at our brains. He looked at us, looked at the woodchipper, and then sighed. "Guess I know what we gotta do."
[exposition....blah blah blah...]
...and the zombie onslaught began to disintigrate under a steady spray of Dave.
(You can contribute my share of the story sale back to Escape Artists. ;) )
:D Damn, if only I could put together an intelligible sentence! Anyone who would like to use my wood chipper idea - feel free. Just don't use it on my house.
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His/her dogs would be out there lapping up whatever they could.
I was thinking about him having to pick my teeth out of his front door too. Heh. That would be a funny/gruesome sight.
Hey, write it down, combined with your zombie thread, and you've got a Pseudopod tale in the hopper!
:D You said "in the hopper" :D
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I really like this story. Being 18, I can certainly relate to a lot of it. Most high schools will have some sort of status symbol, whether is be the car you drive,the sports you play, the clothes you wear, or in this case your cause of death. The narration was great, albeit very annoying, and it sounded like a lot of the people in my school. My only gripes would be the lack of the word "like." and the use of effing. "Like" has to be by far the most frequently used word by teenagers, even more then "I." As for "effing" I don't know anyone who consistently uses that word; Teenagers just say fuck.
On a side note, I think she's a burner. If Mr. Popular can call his death by flaming marshmallow a "burner"
then the protagonist can certainly call her self a burner.
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I really like this story. Being 18, I can certainly relate to a lot of it. Most high schools will have some sort of status symbol, whether is be the car you drive,the sports you play, the clothes you wear, or in this case your cause of death. The narration was great, albeit very annoying, and it sounded like a lot of the people in my school. My only gripes would be the lack of the word "like." and the use of effing. "Like" has to be by far the most frequently used word by teenagers, even more then "I." As for "effing" I don't know anyone who consistently uses that word; Teenagers just say fuck.
On a side note, I think she's a burner. If Mr. Popular can call his death by flaming marshmallow a "burner"
then the protagonist can certainly call her self a burner.
That's like, y'know, so totally effing dead-on! (About calling herself a burner, that is.)
I'm kind of glad they didn't overdo the "like", though. I hear enough of that when I'm around my daughter's friends.
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An interesting thread would be: how is your body going to be disposed after your death? Are most people still going to be put in a cement vault and buried in a casket?
I plan to be eaten by my friends and relatives. Not necessarily all of me, but a symbolic amount, say a sandwich each. Maybe a cup of stew.
Anything left over should be given over to medical research, or if they don't want it, stuffed in a bin-bag and dumped in a landfill somewhere.
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An interesting thread would be: how is your body going to be disposed after your death? Are most people still going to be put in a cement vault and buried in a casket?
I plan to be eaten by my friends and relatives. Not necessarily all of me, but a symbolic amount, say a sandwich each. Maybe a cup of stew.
Anything left over should be given over to medical research, or if they don't want it, stuffed in a bin-bag and dumped in a landfill somewhere.
"Sorry, I only consume organic dead friends & family members..."
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I plan to be eaten by my friends and relatives. Not necessarily all of me, but a symbolic amount, say a sandwich each. Maybe a cup of stew.
You are Valentine Michael Smith and I claim my ten bucks ;D
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I plan to be eaten by my friends and relatives. Not necessarily all of me, but a symbolic amount, say a sandwich each. Maybe a cup of stew.
You are Valentine Michael Smith and I claim my ten bucks ;D
I actually planned on this before reading Stranger in a Strange Land*. Mythologically, it's not such a new idea.
*Though I do love that book. The only bad thing about it is that it lead me reading The Cat Who Walked Through Walls.
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I plan to be eaten by my friends and relatives. Not necessarily all of me, but a symbolic amount, say a sandwich each. Maybe a cup of stew.
You are Valentine Michael Smith and I claim my ten bucks ;D
I actually planned on this before reading Stranger in a Strange Land*. Mythologically, it's not such a new idea.
*Though I do love that book. The only bad thing about it is that it lead me reading The Cat Who Walked Through Walls.
THANK you! That was the other Heinlen book I read... i couldn't think of it... now if I could only find that post where I was trying to remember it.
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I plan to be eaten by my friends and relatives. Not necessarily all of me, but a symbolic amount, say a sandwich each. Maybe a cup of stew.
You are Valentine Michael Smith and I claim my ten bucks ;D
I actually planned on this before reading Stranger in a Strange Land*. Mythologically, it's not such a new idea.
*Though I do love that book. The only bad thing about it is that it lead me reading The Cat Who Walked Through Walls.
Cat was probably the beginning of the end for Heinlein. Or maybe it was the last section of The Number of the Beast.
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Cat was probably the beginning of the end for Heinlein. Or maybe it was the last section of The Number of the Beast.
While I agree Number was an irredeemable clunker, he did manage to recover and produce Friday and Job after that. I didn't think much of Cat and never did read To Sail Beyond Sunset. I take it that it wasn't good....
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So, I was going through the archives of Dinosaur Comics (http://www.qwantz.com/), when I came across this little gem from December '05:
(http://www.qwantz.com/comics/comic2-706-3.png)
Guess we know where the idea for the death machines came from, now. A Canadian talking T-rex.
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I've never heard of this comic... it's pretty hilarious!
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So, I was going through the archives of Dinosaur Comics (http://www.qwantz.com/), when I came across this little gem from December '05:[. . .]
Guess we know where the idea for the death machines came from, now. A Canadian talking T-rex.
Hi, wintermute!
YEP! Ryan North is one of the three editors for the forthcoming Machine of Death anthology. You can find more about the project at
http://machineofdeath.net/a/
Thanks for listening!
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Hi, wintermute!
YEP! Ryan North is one of the three editors for the forthcoming Machine of Death anthology. You can find more about the project at
http://machineofdeath.net/a/
Thanks for listening!
Huh. I didn't know there was an actual connection. I thought it was just an odd co-incidence.
I ought to get the anthology sometime. But my to-be-read pile is a foot high at the moment.
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Looks like the collection will be on podiobooks once it is released. I'm interested.
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Oh my goodness. SO many comments.
First of all: Dinosaur comics are excellent. Check them out if you haven't.
Second: The wood chipper thing was in Fargo, but not in the postmortem revenge on the doctor scenario that you're talking about. But it was still disgusting.
Third: The story.
I thought long and hard on what was bothering me about this one, and I think it's the stereotypes. Combined with the intro, about SF and young adults.
Because this is not a story that I would give to a teenager, not if you wanted to get them into Science Fiction. The main character, while appealing in an easy to recognize way, was not a strong main character. I couldn't stand it if there was an entire novel based on her, unless she went through some radical changes. Not all teenage girls are that annoying, in fact most of them are quite intelligent when given a chance. That didn't shine through. This girl had no deeper thought about what was happening around her. No self-respecting teen would read something this degrading and ageist, and still enjoy it, especially if given to them by an older person. It would come off as patronizing.
And wouldn't it be great if those awful stereotypes weren't perpetuated? Maybe if we stop saying "teenagers form cliques based on ridiculous criteria", then they'll stop thinking that it's natural and expected behavior. This is like saying "The women are meant to stay in the kitchen", and then shaking our heads in baffled disgust when they do. Is SF really supposed to reinforce our negative customs of segregation?
I hadn't thought so.
A little disappointed.
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I quite liked this one, and Camille Alexa's officially on my list of authors to watch for.
This made total sense to me as the logical result of high schoolers finding out the cause of their deaths. It's no less asinine than any other clique-formation justification. And just like splitting into groups based on skill/interest in sports that you'll all rarely play after high school, it's very likely an inverse of how potentially successful these people might be after they graduate. The ending highlighted this particularly well with the difference in how she reacted and how her father reacted, though I think the most likely result will be that she'll lie to her classmates about what her slip said.
And, for the record, I'm not a father, so add me to the not-parent-but-liked-the-story roster.