Escape Artists

PseudoPod => Episode Comments => Topic started by: Bdoomed on May 03, 2020, 05:07:43 AM

Title: PseudoPod 701: Technicolor
Post by: Bdoomed on May 03, 2020, 05:07:43 AM
PseudoPod 701: Technicolor (https://pseudopod.org/2020/05/02/pseudopod-701-technicolor/)

Author: John Langan (https://pseudopod.org/people/john-langan/)
Narrator: George Hrab (https://pseudopod.org/people/george-hrab/)
Host: Alasdair Stuart (https://pseudopod.org/people/alasdair-stuart/)
Audio Producer: Chelsea Davis (https://pseudopod.org/people/chelsea-davis/)

“Technicolor” was first published in Poe: 19 New Tales of Suspense, Dark Fantasy and Horror in 2009


Show Notes
The inspiration, “The Masque of the Red Death”, was read on PodCastle and can be found here (http://podcastle.org/2010/10/29/podcastle-miniature-56-the-masque-of-the-red-death/)

The Tor article that Alasdair mentions: https://www.tor.com/2019/11/13/the-things-we-do-for-course-credit-john-langans-technicolor/


Come on, say it out loud with me: “And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all.” Look at that sentence. Who says Edgar Allan Poe was a lousy stylist? Thirteen words—good number for a horror story, right? Although it’s not so much a story as a masque. Yes, it’s about a masque, but it is a masque, too. Of course, you all know what a masque is. If you didn’t, you looked it up in your dictionaries, because that’s what you do in a senior seminar. Anyone?



Listen to this week's PseudoPod. (http://traffic.libsyn.com/pseudopod/Pseudo701_Technicolor.mp3)
Follow us on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtLeMuTcFDtF2C3MiF6GPfQ) and Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/7ahtswbjEhqKQifCwMX8o1?si=GMgBgLFHRsCzJ8xlvf9nOw)!
Title: Re: PseudoPod 701: Technicolor
Post by: Languorous Lass on May 03, 2020, 05:38:45 AM
I didn’t see this one coming at all!  Long, but the length works for the story.  Outstanding. 
Title: Re: PseudoPod 701: Technicolor
Post by: Scuba Man on May 03, 2020, 01:33:45 PM
Blah.
Blah.
Blah.
Blah.
Institutional blah.
Blah.
Blah.
Gotcha!
 :o
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Title: Re: PseudoPod 701: Technicolor
Post by: Languorous Lass on May 04, 2020, 02:13:08 PM
Scuba Man, did you listen to this one before or after #700? 
Title: Re: PseudoPod 701: Technicolor
Post by: Scuba Man on May 05, 2020, 08:32:42 PM
Number 700 was Hop Frog, yes?  I watched Technicolor (Technicolour) after 700. That's a curious question. Reason?
Title: Re: PseudoPod 701: Technicolor
Post by: Languorous Lass on May 06, 2020, 05:30:40 AM
I wondered because you said you learned a lot about Edgar Allan Poe from the previous story, and this story ties in with the Poe theme as well.  (Maybe I misread your reaction to this story, but you seemed to prefer the Poe to this one.)
Title: Re: PseudoPod 701: Technicolor
Post by: Languorous Lass on May 06, 2020, 05:33:25 AM
Now that I look back, though, either I hallucinated your positive reaction to the Poe, or your edit to your comment on that story upped the snark level considerably.   ???
Title: Re: PseudoPod 701: Technicolor
Post by: JDuckworth on May 08, 2020, 05:25:39 PM
Langan has such a rare talent for making horror set in academia.

It's also remarkable how in such a long story that takes so long to get to its final point and meanders quite a bit, it's never boring and I never lost interest.
Title: Re: PseudoPod 701: Technicolor
Post by: Marlboro on May 09, 2020, 10:19:52 PM
As he reveals the last twelve words, Helmut Finch becomes the world.  And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all.


Neat story. Good reading.
Title: Re: PseudoPod 701: Technicolor
Post by: Metalsludge on June 08, 2020, 03:58:28 AM
This has been my favorite Langan story, so of course I'm happy to see it here.  I always liked how it combines real facts about the story and writer that inspired it with fictionalized stuff until one doesn't know which is which, kind of like Lovecraft's approach in that respect. It also starts out with a truly fine appreciation for Poe's sentence structure that rings true and is genuinely revealing of something about Poe's awareness of his craft and the way the original Masque story worked.

Even when I first read it, one could see the ending coming, but it's still pleasantly creepy in its presentation. All and all, a dream story for a literary horror fan.
Title: Re: PseudoPod 701: Technicolor
Post by: Scuba Man on June 12, 2020, 09:46:08 PM
I like an episode that makes me reminisce about those bright college days (sung in the same tune as Tom Lehr's evil little ditty).https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=More_of_Tom_Lehrer&oldid=951324639 (https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=More_of_Tom_Lehrer&oldid=951324639)