Escape Artists
Escape Pod => Episode Comments => Topic started by: Russell Nash on February 27, 2008, 09:43:11 AM
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EP023: The Dream Factory (http://escapepod.org/2005/10/13/ep023-the-dream-factory/)
By Jenn Reese (http://www.memoryandreason.com/).
Read by Scott Fletcher (of Podcheck Review (http://www.podcheck.com/)).
You need some younger Ast-tlakians for a new fantasy feature the company is doing. It’s Lord of the Rings meets Kindergarten Cop. Vin Diesel to star, Woo to direct. So you need a bunch of realistic fantasy creatures, and Stan Winston figured out long ago that it was easier to hire off-world than build all these bizarre creatures from scratch. It’s a big industry secret, and you need to keep it that way. You have a tendency to brag and name-drop when you’re drunk, so you’re only mostly sure that you haven’t told anyone.
Rated R. Contains sexual situations and a sleazy industry.
Referenced Sites:
The Bear’s Grove (http://bearsgrove.blogspot.com/)
Podcheck Review (http://www.podcheck.com/)
Thither.biz (http://www.thither.biz/)
(http://escapepod.org/wp-images/podcast-mini4.gif)
Listen to this week’s Escape Pod! (http://media.libsyn.com/media/escapepod/EP023_DreamFactory.mp3)
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Overall, this was an ok lighter piece - entertaining, but not really substantial. It's not one of the better stories, nor one of the worst ones.
The reason I requested it was to comment on the fact that it was told in second person. As everyone here knows, that's a rarely used device, and there's a good reason for that - it very rarely works. But here it worked very well. Not because I got on board and really thought I was the protagonist - far from it - but because it felt to me like the story itself was a pitch, trying to sell me a new and exciting life concept. It made me feel like I was the person sitting across the table from a holywood screenwriter being offered a mediocre fantasy as if it was the most important thing in the world. So, while I was not brought into the world the story was presented on the level of the narrative, I *was* brought into the very same world on a meta-level. And that, for all that the storyline itself was a piece of fluff, was a masterstroke.
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I enjoyed it especially for the reader's voice - so slick and smooth, in a pitchman sort of way.
It seemed like perfect casting.
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I enjoyed it especially for the reader's voice - so slick and smooth, in a pitchman sort of way.
It seemed like perfect casting.
I agree. I can't imagine this story in print -- but the reader really nailed this. And the 2nd person POV worked really well, too.
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Recently re-listened, love it! This was incredibly entertaining and funny, and the reading was perfect. I third the notion that i cannot imagine this in print.
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This one was fun. I barely noticed the 2nd person usage, which is high praise since I've yet to hear a story where a story was better for using 2nd person. The narrator was a phenomonal choice! At first, I was skeptical--it sounded like a guy on an informercial or something, but as the story unfolded, that was very very fitting. Without the narrator the story just wouldn't have been as good. Good choice!
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Overall, this was an ok lighter piece - entertaining, but not really substantial. It's not one of the better stories, nor one of the worst ones.
The reason I requested it was to comment on the fact that it was told in second person. As everyone here knows, that's a rarely used device, and there's a good reason for that - it very rarely works. But here it worked very well. Not because I got on board and really thought I was the protagonist - far from it - but because it felt to me like the story itself was a pitch, trying to sell me a new and exciting life concept. It made me feel like I was the person sitting across the table from a holywood screenwriter being offered a mediocre fantasy as if it was the most important thing in the world. So, while I was not brought into the world the story was presented on the level of the narrative, I *was* brought into the very same world on a meta-level. And that, for all that the storyline itself was a piece of fluff, was a masterstroke.
With the concept of this as a movie pitch, I dislike the second person less. However, I think this story could have been just as effective in first person. I didn't really hear the value added portion.