Escape Artists

PseudoPod => Episode Comments => Topic started by: Ben Phillips on March 19, 2010, 05:53:04 PM

Title: Pseudopod 186: Ankor Sabat
Post by: Ben Phillips on March 19, 2010, 05:53:04 PM
Pseudopod 186: Ankor Sabat (http://pseudopod.org/2010/03/19/pseudopod-186-ankor-sabat/)


By C. Deskin Rink
Read by Ben Phillips (http://painfulreminder.net)

But less than a year later, when Lord Galen returned home from a hunting trip, he discovered four of his guards torn limb-from-limb, his bedroom window broken in from the outside, monstrous claw marks on the second floor balcony and, of his beloved, no trace. Most disturbing of all was what he beheld graven into the wall above her bed: a monstrous blue sigil in the form of a six-lobed eye. No earthly implement could have rendered the perfectly aligned delineations of that unmentionable shape; nor could any earthly ink have provided its hateful color which glimmered balefully even in total darkness.

Terrible was Lord Galen’s grief, but even more terrible was the thing which grew by degrees within him: his wrath.



(http://escapepod.org/wp-images/podcast-mini4.gif)
Listen to this week's Pseudopod. (http://media.rawvoice.com/pseudopod/media.libsyn.com/media/pseudopod/Pseudo186_AnkorSabat.mp3)
Title: SRSLY?
Post by: BrianDeacon on March 19, 2010, 08:01:18 PM
I hate snarky folk that just enjoy picking apart a not-good story just because they're too lazy to go home and kick the dog.  And I can't help but imagine the author reading these comments.

But....

This was just really awful.  Like I'm really surprised it made the cut.  I haven't even read a lot of Lovecraft, and it still felt like a tribute band.

It was almost kind of funny, though, how he even mimicked Lovecraft's weaknesses.  Whenever I read Lovecraft not-describe something as "indescribable", "unspeakable", or "unimaginable" I can't help but think he was just filling in from his own notes where he wrote "put something scary here, not sure what yet".

I really did think about 10 minutes into it that some twist was going to come up that would let me know that it started out intentionally bad.  Like, "Ha ha!  You're actually trapped forever in a nightmare recreation of unpublished Lovecraft!  Spooooky!"

Bleh.  How not to end on snark.... You guys normally do miles better than this... I hope somebody coming to Pseudopod for the first time listens to some of the great stuff you've put out in the past few weeks.
Title: Re: Pseudopod 186: Ankor Sabat
Post by: empathy44 on March 19, 2010, 08:47:16 PM
I liked the way it was written, I just yearned for a different ending--as in wanted one I didn't expect. I love good verbosity and I enjoyed it on that level.

I thought the ending would be either she wouldn't  recognize him--or is repulsed by him because of his age--or that he wouldn't recognize her--or is repulsed by her (with an ever so slight chance that he would become the new High Priest due to the changes his evil deeds had wrought in his nature). Mind you, I don't know what  an "other" ending would entail... I suppose having the High Priest not give two hoots about humans at all being they are truly insects to him and annoyed that sycophants keep bringing him ugly ape women.
Title: Re: Pseudopod 186: Ankor Sabat
Post by: TaraInDC on March 19, 2010, 10:05:21 PM
I enjoyed the style enough that I didn't mind that the plot was a little bit obvious.  Particularly liked the descriptions of the harem.  Wasn't wild about the High Priest's spell-it-out monologue at the end, but overall a fun listen!
Title: Re: Pseudopod 186: Ankor Sabat
Post by: lowky on March 20, 2010, 01:18:26 PM
at first it seemed like a bad pastiche of Lovecraft but as the story went on I enjoyed it more and more.  I thought this was one of the better podcasts in a while for what I like in a horror story.  Not that I haven't liked other stories, just this one pushed the right buttons for me.
Title: Re: Pseudopod 186: Ankor Sabat
Post by: snap-hiss on March 20, 2010, 01:26:09 PM
I enjoyed the style enough that I didn't mind that the plot was a little bit obvious. 

Agreed, although it imitated Lovecraft a little too well.  Great language, description, and concepts... weak plot.

You just can't get away with certain words (cyclopean, unspeakable).  I was listening to this just waiting for "non-Euclidean".

Honestly though, the good did outweigh the bad.  The priest did not disappoint, and the harem was great.
Title: Re: Pseudopod 186: Ankor Sabat
Post by: tinroof on March 20, 2010, 06:22:07 PM
I could have done without the high priest's speech at the end. It would have been much more effective had it simply cut off at his laughter after the guy stomps off planning to torture everyone - everything after that is just redundant and overplayed. (Did anyone not figure out the moment she appeared that the girl in the capsule was Fiona?) I know it's a style thing, but I don't like styles that require people to explain plot twists at length to empty air.

Overall, good atmosphere, a nice "look how CREEPY and GROSS I am" piece, but beyond that there wasn't much to make it memorable.
Title: Re: Pseudopod 186: Ankor Sabat
Post by: Kapitano on March 20, 2010, 10:38:21 PM
Christ it was a pretentious pile of wank. It was a checklist of everything not to do.

* Pseudo-grand world creation with lots of sub-Tolkein place names.
* Pile on the standard horror adjectives - till you run out of them and have to start describing things as "unspeakable".
* Have the hero lose all remaining hope, several times in succession.
* Give the big bad exactly one insult to throw at the hero, again and again - "insect".
* Signify that a name refers to something evil by putting a "th" in it.
* Obvious "surprise" at the end - with the big bad explaining it for the benefit of dumb readers.

There's a difference between horror and disgust. And there's a difference between overblown lip-smacking description and ambiance.

BTW, hello everyone. This story annoyed me so much I finally registered.
Title: Re: Pseudopod 186: Ankor Sabat
Post by: lowky on March 21, 2010, 01:21:31 AM
Christ it was a pretentious pile of wank. It was a checklist of everything not to do.

* Pseudo-grand world creation with lots of sub-Tolkein place names.
* Pile on the standard horror adjectives - till you run out of them and have to start describing things as "unspeakable".
* Have the hero lose all remaining hope, several times in succession.
* Give the big bad exactly one insult to throw at the hero, again and again - "insect".
* Signify that a name refers to something evil by putting a "th" in it.
* Obvious "surprise" at the end - with the big bad explaining it for the benefit of dumb readers.

There's a difference between horror and disgust. And there's a difference between overblown lip-smacking description and ambiance.

BTW, hello everyone. This story annoyed me so much I finally registered.

Let me guess you don't like H. P. Lovecraft either, who would regularly violate almost all of your "rules"
Title: Re: Pseudopod 186: Ankor Sabat
Post by: Kapitano on March 21, 2010, 05:04:08 PM
Lovecraft was better when he didn't do these things. The Ankor Sabat story could have been a parody of Lovecraft at his worst. In fact, for the first few minutes, that's what I thought it must be.

An intentional parody of Lovecraft at his best...that would take skill. That would make a great pseudopodcast, IMO.
Title: Re: Pseudopod 186: Ankor Sabat
Post by: stePH on March 21, 2010, 05:36:56 PM
Listened to this one at bedtime last night; attention drifted, and I dozed through most of the middle.  Came back to attention near the end as Fiona was brought out.  Didn't think much of the story, not inclined to listen again for whatever I missed in the middle.
Title: Re: Pseudopod 186: Ankor Sabat
Post by: eytanz on March 21, 2010, 05:40:22 PM
While I did not quite hate this story as much as some people in the thread above, I definitely found little to like in it. It revisited an old trope without adding much, except very poor writing - and I love Lovecraft, and Lord Dunsany, and other writers which this story emulates. But the writing was not just derivative, it also didn't feel like it was written with an understanding of how to properly use the styles it was emulating.
Title: Re: Pseudopod 186: Ankor Sabat
Post by: lowky on March 21, 2010, 06:18:41 PM
I still assert the story worked for
ME
.  Is it as good as Lovecraft and some of his contemporaries, no, the only part that really turned me off was the villain becoming a Bond Villain at the end.
Title: Re: Pseudopod 186: Ankor Sabat
Post by: snap-hiss on March 21, 2010, 06:31:23 PM
It revisited an old trope without adding much, except very poor writing

That is harsh.  Regardless of your opinion on the work "very poor writing" this is not.
Title: Re: Pseudopod 186: Ankor Sabat
Post by: eytanz on March 21, 2010, 06:59:33 PM
It revisited an old trope without adding much, except very poor writing

That is harsh.  Regardless of your opinion on the work "very poor writing" this is not.

So, you ignore the post who called it "just really awful" and the one that called it "a pretentious pile of wank" and called my post harsh?

"Very poor writing" is a subjective opinion, and I stand by it. I don't expect everyone to share it, there clearly are people who liked this story, and I'm glad for them - they got more out of their time than I did. I didn't hate the story, but I thought it was poorly written.
Title: Re: Pseudopod 186: Ankor Sabat
Post by: expatrie on March 21, 2010, 07:18:05 PM
I'm new, too, and I just listened to "Learning to Fly" and "Ankhor Sabat" yesterday.  I write as a hobby and have written one piece deliberately emulating a writer's style (Salinger).  It's difficult.  A lot more difficult than you might think.  When I started "Ankhor Sabat" I knew immediately it was a Lovecraft homage, and I think it did a good job of it.  Sometimes a nice adjective is fun, not everything has to be Hemingway to be good, and when it comes to style, suppressing your own is another difficult element of the writing.

I don't see the story as weak, or pretentious, or poor.  All the stuff others disliked, I liked.  I view it as an homage that acknowledges the challenges the original author faced.  ( I confess here I have read more author's opinions of Lovecraft than I've read by Lovecraft, so I may be misinformed.)

I had more of an issue with mispronounced / non-standard pronunciation of words.  Is the word pronounced Sig - ill supposed to be sigil, rhymes with vigil?  Or is it a word I don't recognize?  I thought miscegenation had a hard k in it but I was wrong.  So I learned something, too.

If you don't like something, the most valid criticism is "I didn't like it."  That's really all that matters.  The why is irrelevant, taste being subjective and all.  It is, however, nice to see, I guess, sort of an assurance the review isn't a hit piece and is about the writing, or a bit of critique for the author to consider "next time."

Has anyone read "A Study in Emerald" by Neil Gaiman?  (I may have the title wrong.)  Cthulu meets Sherlock Holmes.  Fun.
Title: Re: Pseudopod 186: Ankor Sabat
Post by: Sgarre1 on March 21, 2010, 10:13:44 PM
I'm surprised how many people are tagging this as Lovecraft derivative (points to Eytanz for name-checking Lord Dunsany, however) when the real inspiration seems to me to be Clark Ashton Smith - specifically Zothique (apparent through what might be considered anachronistic details like "repeating rifles" and "newspapers").

That having been said - had I heard this a few years ago, I probably would have had my standard reaction to a genre piece like this: my tastes in Fantasy are very specific and usually don't encompass much Heroic Fantasy (to which this is related) or the subgenre (or sub-sub genre) of Sword & Sorcery (which is what this is).  I have great respect for those genres but they don't usually work for me personally, even more so in attempting to evoke fright.  However, two things would temper that reaction - over the last few years, in an effort to explore my way out what I think are the modern dead-ends of horror fiction, I've been doing some related readings and, relevant to this, those include the varied Decadent literary movements of the late 19th century (thank you Dedalus Books!).  Tying into that, by sheer happenstance I listened to some Clark Ashton Smith readings earlier this year, mostly of Zothique stuff.  Smith is fairly prevalent in most Lovecraft circle comps so I'd read him many times before but, as I said, the whole sword & sorcery shtick is not my bag.  But hearing him read, I realized two things - one, my tolerance for writing in this style goes up dramatically.  The use (which some modern readers, myself included, misread as abuse) of language and arcane names are best served when spoken aloud and run around the tongue like a fine wine.  Secondly, and most importantly, what Smith was doing was deliberately merging fantasy tropes with a decadent style at the beginning of the 20th century, so that means overwrought ornamentation, fevered prose, endless multiplication, excess in service of a ripe and humid atmosphere.  Decadent writing is like a spicy broth or a soft cheese, overpowering and intoxicating and not to be consumed too often.  It uses the tools of Romanticism but in a rejection of Classicism.

And a lot of modern readers have been trained to believe that this is an incorrect way to write, instead of understanding that at its best (an important qualifier), this is just another way of writing which usually strikes a sour note to the modern ear.  It can be, and has been, done badly, and will continue to be.  It is very difficult to do well and, an argument can be made, no one has really attempted an updating since Michael Moorcock (that I'm aware of).

Regarding this story, I felt the author did a fairly solid take on Smith/Moorcock dark fantasy decadence.  It seemed like Clark Ashton Smith writing a variation of H.G. Wells' "The Pearl Of Love".  Perhaps it might have been a better fit for Podcastle, but part of the point of Pseudopod is to offer up a variety of styles in horror fiction, and very few people like (or should be expected to like) all styles.  But exposure leads to awareness and awareness can lead to acceptance and perhaps even attraction.  The didactic ending, again, is par for the course for these things, as they tend to have a fable-like structure.  But if that doesn't work for you, that's absolutely fine, I'm just noting that it would be a mistake to consider it a mistake - it's a stylistic choice.

As an addendum: of Clark Ashton Smith's fiction I've loved "The Gorgon" and liked "A Rendezvous In Averoigne", "The Disinterment of Venus", "The Mandrakes", "The Ninth Skeleton", "The Plutonian Drug" and "The Seed From The Sepulcher".  There's lots of his stuff I don't like.  Overwrought still has to come in small doses for me (like a bon-bon laced with opium) and can easily go on for too long.  The readings that impressed me recently were of "The Maze of Maâl Dweb" and "The Empire Of the Necromancers".
Title: Re: Pseudopod 186: Ankor Sabat
Post by: Alasdair5000 on March 21, 2010, 11:01:46 PM
Three points, in passing:

-Welcome to the new posters, how are you guys doing?:) 

-Sgarre1-Interesting points all the way along.  I simultaneously feel dumber AND smarter and that's rare.  Seriously, interesting stuff:)

-Some of this discussion is getting dangerously close to the limits of the civil.  I recommend people re read the rules post, which a mod will be was happy to link to in just a moment (http://forum.escapeartists.net/index.php?topic=3289.0), take a breath, step back from the keyboard and remember that this story, like every other story we post, has been written by a real person and not just a name. 

Title: Re: Pseudopod 186: Ankor Sabat
Post by: lowky on March 21, 2010, 11:29:56 PM
I'm surprised how many people are tagging this as Lovecraft derivative (points to Eytanz for name-checking Lord Dunsany, however) when the real inspiration seems to me to be Clark Ashton Smith - specifically Zothique (apparent through what might be considered anachronistic details like "repeating rifles" and "newspapers").

Actually the talk of the Atlantean High Priest Klarkash-Ton made me relisten and i have to agree that it is a story in his style but disagree on Zothique and say instead it is Hyperborea because of Tsathoggua (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsathoggua)

Title: Re: Pseudopod 186: Ankor Sabat
Post by: Sgarre1 on March 21, 2010, 11:59:46 PM
They had repeating rifles and newspapers in Hyperborea?  Of course, I didn't mean it was literally Zothique, of course, but in that dying earth has reverted to sword and sorcery style.
Title: Re: Pseudopod 186: Ankor Sabat
Post by: lowky on March 22, 2010, 01:20:13 AM
They had repeating rifles and newspapers in Hyperborea?  Of course, I didn't mean it was literally Zothique, of course, but in that dying earth has reverted to sword and sorcery style.

Well if you are going to honor your favorite author or the like why not combine both series?
Title: Re: Pseudopod 186: Ankor Sabat
Post by: Sgarre1 on March 22, 2010, 03:37:48 AM
Thank you for the kind words Alasdair!  Keep up the great intros and outros!

I did want to reiterate that I'm in no way saying that people who didn't like the story are wrong or don't get it, just that it's a difficult and fairly uncommon story style.
Title: Re: Pseudopod 186: Ankor Sabat
Post by: eytanz on March 22, 2010, 09:02:23 AM
I'd also like to thank you, Sgarre1, for your discussion - I have never read Clark Ashton Smith, and I want to now. The thing is, I really like sword-and-sorcery, and I *like* the overwraught early 20th century style that this story is referring to. And while I may be missing something by the fact that I don't know Ashton Smith's work, I still want to defend my assertion that this particular work is poorly written.

The problem, as it so often is, is with the pacing. In order to pull of this style succesfully, the story must relish in its own descriptions. This story did not. Rather, the first half of it seemed rushed, trying to get the backstory out of the way in order to get to the confrontation at the end. And once the story shifted to Ankor Sabat, it felt very derivative, like it was emulating rather than reviving the style. Almost every description was entirely predicatable, in that I actually found myself providing adjectives before Ben uttered them. Moorcock was a late master of this form, but he added a lot to it. This story, in my eyes - and I fully admit to judging it based on one listen, and neither a close read nor one where I go back and re-read its influences - merely apes.

So when I said "poor writing", I did not mean that the style in which the story was written is poor - rather, that it was a poor example of this style. Which it still seems to me, though maybe I will feel differently once I read Clark Ashton Smith.
Title: Re: Pseudopod 186: Ankor Sabat
Post by: gelee on March 22, 2010, 12:20:22 PM
I liked this one, though I would definately call this a style piece. I'm not familiar with Clark, but I would say this piece reminded me more of Dunsany than Lovecraft.
Really, this is one where the style is going to have a lot to do with whether or not you like this story.
Within it's appointed context, I'd say was done quite well.
Calling something a "pile of wank" if the style is not to your taste is a bit much.   
Title: Re: Pseudopod 186: Ankor Sabat
Post by: Sgarre1 on March 22, 2010, 01:09:26 PM
No need to defend your opinion at all, Eyetanz!  As I said myself, I found it fairly solid, which isn't exactly faint praise but isn't a resounding hit either.

All of this stuff comes out of Dunsany, of course.  The thing I think Moorcock did was take the Smith stylistic detail (more "sorcery") and meld it with Robert E. Howard's proactive action (more "sword") - adding in his own psychedelia.  In the Smith and Dunsany I've read, I would almost say that the action is background to the description - the stories have quests and battles and sneak-thievery, but these are rarely highlighted so much as an excuse to get on to the next description and, finally, the ultimate "point" of the story.  It's an odd inversion, really, as it plays up action as story engine, reducing it to an almost mechanical role.

Coincidentally, all of this has been a nice precursor to a collection I have coming up in my to-read pile of the poetry of George Sterling, american poet, friend of Smith's and championed by elderly Ambrose Bierce, he wrote  epic decadent fantasy poems - most famous for "A Wine of Wizadry".
Title: Re: Pseudopod 186: Ankor Sabat
Post by: Mortuis on March 22, 2010, 04:42:43 PM
Hey, I just listened to this story and signed up to say I loved it.  Is there any place we can get the text?
Title: Re: Pseudopod 186: Ankor Sabat
Post by: Kapitano on March 22, 2010, 11:50:31 PM
Calling something a "pile of wank" if the style is not to your taste is a bit much.

Strawman. Personal taste in (sub)genre and judgements about whether the piece is written well are quite different things.

Personally I love science fiction - but I can still recognise that three quarters of Star Trek: Voyager is clumsily written and overformulaic. I'll forgive it some of it's problems more willingly than I'll forgive similar problems in (say) historical romance stories, because I don't enjoy the genre  of historical romance - though I may like certain stories.  But that doesn't mean I'm blind to bad writing in science fiction - or good writing in historical romance.

I gave a list of reasons why I think Ankor Sabat is thematically poor. Eytanz discussed it's overderivative and predictable use of language. Others said they found it boring. These are not objections to the genre itself.

If you personally enjoyed the story...good for you. But if we're talking about personal taste, all we can do is compare, not discuss.
Title: Re: Pseudopod 186: Ankor Sabat
Post by: Koobie on March 23, 2010, 12:24:51 AM
Woah, teh hate. :)

Anyhow, much like Mortuis, I've also registered to say how much I've enjoyed the story.

While I agree with the general notion that the piece would have benefitted from a slightly less expected ending, I think that the world building, descriptions, and general "feel" of the story are extremely well-written.

Talking about the ending, btw, while I was hoping for more, I thought it fit with the rest of the piece. The evil high priest laughing at his throne made perfect sense to me - it reinforced the wicked fairytale-gone-wrong feel I got listening to this piece.

I had a very vivid image of the badly damaged old man climbing up to the tower with his six chambered repeater... Very powerful use of language, too - especially where the author described the high priest. Great stuff.

And the harem was a very powerful scene IMO, really made me feel for the MC's fear that his girl would be next in line.
Title: Re: Pseudopod 186: Ankor Sabat
Post by: goatkeeper on March 23, 2010, 12:42:48 AM
Yah, the story worked well for me too.  The language made it feel like a super twisted fairytale, and in that light the "moral of this story" ending seemed totally appropriate.  I'm personally very surprised that the author was previously unpublished-- congrats C.

  Truly horrible a fate for that Fiona, as kind and loving as she was to him at the beginning, to see and recognize him but not be able to speak yet, to know, after so many years of hopelessness, that he came all that way for her, only to then turn his back and leave her to be locked away forever. 
Title: Re: Pseudopod 186: Ankor Sabat
Post by: feste451 on March 23, 2010, 01:22:09 AM
I enjoyed this story a lot. It started out like a classic epic fantasy, but started leaning toward steampunk a bit with the mention of the repeating rifle (I like), but then took a massive turn to the dark side as desperation and despair overpowered the values that made the MC a good leader. But when he finally reached Ankor Sabat, wow.

My first reaction was, "How cool! How very Lovecraftian." But then I read Sgarre1's entry and the reference to the works of Clark Ashton Smith. I immediately went looking for works from this author. I managed to find a few pieces from the Zothique collection and can only say, Sgarre1, SPOT ON! Thank you for the lead.

And to C. Deskin Rink, thank you for a most enjoyable and twisted story.
Title: Re: Pseudopod 186: Ankor Sabat
Post by: Koobie on March 23, 2010, 04:14:57 PM
And additionally, thanks to Pseudopod for buying it and to Ben for doing a fantastic job with the narration (forgot to mention how much I liked Ben's work with this in my previous post). Cheers!
Title: Re: Pseudopod 186: Ankor Sabat
Post by: Listener on March 23, 2010, 05:33:01 PM
I'm not a fan of this writing style. It seemed like it was a lot of telling and not a lot of showing, too much description without enough action, and at the end the Elder God says "ha ha I fooled you". Not my kind of story.
Title: Re: Pseudopod 186: Ankor Sabat
Post by: gelee on March 23, 2010, 08:34:07 PM
* Pseudo-grand world creation with lots of sub-Tolkein place names.
* Pile on the standard horror adjectives - till you run out of them and have to start describing things as "unspeakable".
* Have the hero lose all remaining hope, several times in succession.
* Give the big bad exactly one insult to throw at the hero, again and again - "insect".
* Signify that a name refers to something evil by putting a "th" in it.
* Obvious "surprise" at the end - with the big bad explaining it for the benefit of dumb readers.
Well, I don't know about "strawman."  I'm looking at the list of things you hate about this story, and all but two seem, to me, to be hallmarks of the style in which it's written.  Are you really a fan of Lovecraft, Dunsany, Clark Ashton Smith, Howard, and others who wrote in this style, but just don't like this particular story?  I'm thinking you're not, and any story written in this style is probably going to get the "Overblown Lip-Smacking" lable.
But my point wasn't that your objection wasn't valid, just that it was made a bit theatrically.  Sorry if that wasn't clear.
Title: Re: Pseudopod 186: Ankor Sabat
Post by: Unblinking on March 24, 2010, 02:01:58 PM
The beginning was so slow and over-descriptive that I was very tempted to hit the next button.  But I'm less quick to do that these days because I know I'll have to wait another week for a new episode, so I kept listening, and I'm glad I did!

I'm not very familiar with any of the authors that others have said this evoked.  I've only heard one Lovecraft, and that was The Music of Erich Zann here on PP (which I very much enjoyed).  So I'm coming into it with fresh eyes.

Overall, I wish the first half had gotten to the point a little faster.  Lots of description, not much happening.  Lots of writers do this (Tolkien being the master of over-describing) but it's not my cuppa.  And, as others have pointed out, the "indescribable" and "unspeakable" adjectives constantly making an appearance weakens the otherwise powerful descriptions.

It really started interesting me when each member of the harem was brought out, and it kept me interested until the end.  And by "end" I mean the point where the "hero" leaves.  I prefer to retcon out the Bond-villain explanation at the end and leave it at least marginally ambiguous.

To me, the most powerful things in this story were what I saw as the two themes.  Yes, these themes have been covered well elsewhere, but I thought this was a decent addition.
1.  The all-powerful quest bends the hero to its will.  Similar to Memento in this way.  The quest becomes the sole focus of the hero's attention for so long that it gains a life of its own.  No longer is the quest a means to an end, but it is both means and end.  "The Quest Must Go On" is similar "The Show Must Go On" as if the quest/show are more important than anything, but without any explanation for WHY.  The Hero has scraped away every bit of his soul that could interfere with his Quest, and when he finally attains his goal, he finds that he still feels empty inside, unfulfilled, and if he stops the Quest he will have nothing to do but wallow in his own misery.  Continuing on the Quest doesn't make him feel any more fulfilled, but it gives him a purpose and he can push aside his despair in his efforts to drive on. 
A Quest-obsessed hero can be one of the most capable villains because some part of him feels that what he is doing is for Justice and Truth, and he doesn't give a crap that he just tortured hundreds of innocent priests to death.
I'm not sure it would've ended any happier if he had taken Fiona back with him.  I'm not convinced he was any more sane or any less cruel than the evil priest, and with no quest to follow, he would've turned his sadistic attentions on Fiona.

2.  Reality can't compare with nostalgia.  He remembers Fiona through the distorted filter of his own nostalgia, and over the years, his obsession with the quest to find her has only strengthened the distortions in this memory.  The version of Fiona in his mind is so flawlessthat no flesh-and-blood woman could possibly compare.  When faced with the real incarnation, even one which has been apparently put in stasis to prevent the inevitable aging that SHOULD have occurred to turn her into a wrinkled old lady, all he can see are the flaws not represented in his memory.  Even kept so young, the real Fiona is human, and therefore she cannot be perfect enough.  He sees her in this moment of weakness coming out of the chamber and her fragility, her mortality is so apparent that he knows in a moment that she cannot possibly be the immortal, incomparable, unchanging, inhuman being he has used to drive himself to continue on his quest.    She has to eat and poop like any other person, she has flaws and tempers like any other person, she gets sick sometimes and she will die like any other person.  No matter how strong he is in other ways he cannot cope with the realization that he has gone to such lengths and done such terrible things for a woman who is only human, so instead he denies the truth and abandons her.

Title: Re: Pseudopod 186: Ankor Sabat
Post by: Unblinking on March 24, 2010, 02:06:59 PM
Oh, and great reading by Ben!
Title: Re: Pseudopod 186: Ankor Sabat
Post by: Sgarre1 on March 24, 2010, 03:57:31 PM
Oops, just realized this went into "What are you reading" and not this thread...

Clark Ashton Smith readings at

http://www.eldritchdark.com/writings/spoken-word/

I can definitely recommend "The Maze of Maâl Dweb" (which has something like a sequel in "The Flower-Women") and "The Empire of the Necromancers".  "The Door To Saturn" is surprisingly funny!  "The Dark Eidolon" is very outre.
Title: Re: Pseudopod 186: Ankor Sabat
Post by: J_Sch_1104 on March 25, 2010, 12:48:22 AM
I really liked the story and great reading.  I have to say that if I were in the High Priest's position, I would have done the same.  Not create a harem of horror, but interact with the protagonist and give him the chance to leave with his prize.
Title: Re: Pseudopod 186: Ankor Sabat
Post by: GuildSteersman on March 25, 2010, 01:01:53 AM
I see what in the story has made so many draw parallels to the work of H.P. Lovecraft. However, I think that - beyond use of some nice vocabulary and a horror setting - this isn't really much like a Lovecraft tale in the motivations. The protagonist is motivated by lost love, and the story's theme is that you are changed by the chase, maybe even to the point where you aren't chasing what you were originally. Not much like Lovecraft's usual messages. I thought the story was solid and didn't deserve quite so much criticism.
Title: Re: Pseudopod 186: Ankor Sabat
Post by: Boggled Coriander on March 25, 2010, 06:53:25 AM
Five minutes in, I was thinking that this was a very over-written Lovecraftian story, and I was kind of looking forward to seeing what sorts of snarky comments it would generate on this forum.

Ten minutes in, I was hooked.  Totally engrossed and loving the writing style.  I saw the final twist coming, but only 5 minutes in advance, not 20.

Great story.
Title: Re: Pseudopod 186: Ankor Sabat
Post by: Sgarre1 on March 25, 2010, 08:30:02 PM
A very interesting essay on "over-writing" versus differences in style, re: Clark Ashton Smith, that compares the original written text of a story by him versus its "edited for publication" version.  Well worth looking at.

http://www.violetbooks.com/REVIEWS/rockhill-cas.html
Title: Re: Pseudopod 186: Ankor Sabat
Post by: Listener on March 25, 2010, 08:39:22 PM
A very interesting essay on "over-writing" versus differences in style, re: Clark Ashton Smith, that compares the original written text of a story by him versus its "edited for publication" version.  Well worth looking at.

http://www.violetbooks.com/REVIEWS/rockhill-cas.html

THIS (from the article):

Frequently, the revision replaces a phrase evocative of a number of different impressions by a simpler one with a close, but less precise meaning, for instance the fusion of the first two clauses of the opening sentence minus the cosmic frisson produced by the earlier description, the removal of "writhings" from the swamp, the substitution of "he did not approach" for "he was equally careful to avoid," the substitution of "guarded by the silent colossal automatons" for "guarded by those he did not wish to meet: the silent colossal iron servitors," etc. Subtle indications of Tiglari's caution & motives disappear. Now he simply moves, & the world in which he does so is less colorful & a little less menacing than it had been.

That's exactly how I feel when I have to cut down my stories -- I lose the descriptive words and turns of phrase that make the story more detailed. I cut almost 5000 words over the past three years as I tried to get "113 Feet" published. At first I lost minor details, but the last batch of 2200 chopped out two swaths of plot that made the story richer and more interesting (in my opinion). I still haven't sold it, and someday, after I do, when I have my own anthology or become popular (hah!) I'll publish the Director's Cut.

But by the same token (to bring it back on topic), there's a difference between description for description's sake and description to enrich the story. I made that mistake when trying to sell my first (and very crappy -- trust me) novel. I felt my readers needed to know the tiniest details about every character's life. It's still something I write when I do first drafts, but I pull that stuff out when I revise unless it's actually germane to the story. I haven't gone back and listened to "Ankor Sabat" -- and I probably won't -- but it felt like a lot of the descriptive language was overly flowery and unnecessary, much in the same way Tom Clancy's earlier Jack Ryan books overexplained EVERYTHING.
Title: Re: Pseudopod 186: Ankor Sabat
Post by: goatkeeper on March 26, 2010, 04:13:41 AM
GREAT article.  Thank you Listener, you've done a service to us all-- including editors of fiction markets everywhere.  :-)

Originality really comes into play whenever there is "excessive" modifiers, adjectives, descriptors-- and even then, most readers would probably prefer writing that is sharp and concise.  But I think it's something all of us writers deal with, we love us some lyrical lines.

At the same time, I always love when ancient, spooky stuff is described as "eldritch."  So, let's not get too regulatory here, hehe.
 
Concerning Ankor Sabat, this story just wouldn't have worked had it been trimmed of all wordiness, IMO.  It's more of a fairytale-- almost a parable, than "in the style of ____" and you just get away with it in that context.  The same way that a banjo works in a bluegrass band but not with a symphony orchestra.
Or does it....?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R13gYUjO2Ws&feature=related
Title: Re: Pseudopod 186: Ankor Sabat
Post by: Scattercat on March 26, 2010, 06:08:39 AM
Extremely big "meh" for me.  I <3 Lovecraft 4 eva, but I never liked any of the other Mythos stuff.  It felt derivative and just... kind of imitative.

I pegged this as an homage to the Mythos stories almost immediately and was prepared to enjoy a bit of fun.  "The Great Old Pumpkin" is one of my favorites, and I generally enjoy stories that play with language and sounds ("Sultan of Meat," say.)

Someone above used the word "checklist," and noted "non-Euclidean" as the only Lovecraft Word that didn't get checked off.  That almost precisely parallels my own thoughts while listening.  I rapidly grew bored when I realized that, rather than a fun parody or reimagining, I was instead going to be listening to someone playing it straight and, worse, playing a cover rather than a new song in the style of the original.  Not to say that this specific story was told elsewhere, but it didn't go anywhere that wasn't obvious from the beginning, and then had a freaking monologue to explain the painfully obvious ending.  I kept second-guessing myself.  "Surely there's a twist here somewhere," I cried, running through the manure-filled barn.  No pony for me, alas.

I feel like this was an ode to Lovecraft/Smith/whoever that got a little too wrapped up in itself and its adoration and forgot to do enough to make itself fully presentable.  The place names were annoyingly generic; sure, they sound exotic... if you don't know the words.  To me, naming your cities "Blessing" and "Sullen" and so on isn't much of a cute trick.  (At least do some linguistic games and create words that SOUND LIKE they mean the concept you want them to mean.  Watch, I'll do one right now.  I want a, um, desert city.  Full of cacti.  So a word that means "spiky" and "dry."  Definitely need a "k" sound from prickly, stickly, etc.  "D" is dry.  "S" for sand and silicone and sun, and we want "a" because of all the "al" sounds in Arabic and Arabic = desert-ish.  My desert city will be named... Akladasi.  Bam.  Done.  Sixty seconds of stream of consciousness linguistic association.  How hard is that?)  In particular, the tone-deaf use of Lovecraft Words was grating to me.  There were a couple of times that I just groaned and said, "That's not how you use that word."  My cats were offended, as they never say anything they don't intend.  (They are quite erudite, but they don't realize that I'm not always addressing them.)

(Also, it would have been way cooler if Fiona had gasped out Galen's name as she was crammed back into the Magic Sensory Deprivation Chamber instead of the Attack of the Monologue.)
Title: Re: Pseudopod 186: Ankor Sabat
Post by: Listener on March 26, 2010, 01:00:22 PM
GREAT article.  Thank you Listener, you've done a service to us all-- including editors of fiction markets everywhere.  :-)

You're welcome... but we really must thank Sgarre1, who put up the link in the first place.
Title: Re: Pseudopod 186: Ankor Sabat
Post by: kibitzer on March 30, 2010, 09:42:39 PM
Just finished this one and I'll add my voice to those who found it underwhelming. I found neither the MC nor his quest compelling or interesting and it felt a little like the story was going through the motions of C19th horror. It was by no means a terribly bad story, simply uninspiring.

The title had me expecting a setting in Thailand.
Title: Re: Pseudopod 186: Ankor Sabat
Post by: Ben Phillips on March 31, 2010, 12:53:01 AM
There were a couple of times that I just groaned and said, "That's not how you use that word."

Specifically?  (I'm sure you're right, but I like learning.)
Title: Re: Pseudopod 186: Ankor Sabat
Post by: Scattercat on March 31, 2010, 01:46:00 AM
There were a couple of times that I just groaned and said, "That's not how you use that word."

Specifically?  (I'm sure you're right, but I like learning.)

Criminy, now I can't even remember, and I don't want to re-listen to the story.  It might have been miscegenation, but I'm not sure.  It was something where he just threw out a Lovecraft-sounding word in a not-quite-appropriate context.  (He used miscegenation, for instance, to describe one of the twisted mockeries of women who had been reshaped and tormented into a monstrous form.  Either they started as human and were warped, in which case no breeding took place, or they were actually monsters in and of themselves, in which case they had bred true to their monsterhood and no interbreeding took place.  It wasn't entirely clear from the story which of those it was; I got the impression of the former, personally, given the Magic Sensory Deprivation Closet.)

Like I said, there were a couple of moments like that, and they bugged me, but I can't recall them all.
Title: Re: Pseudopod 186: Ankor Sabat
Post by: ancawonka on April 01, 2010, 04:51:40 PM
I've never been able to read a full Lovecraft story, so I can't comment on whether this is derivative or not.  I enjoyed listening to this story, however. The narrator's tone was just right, and the imagery toward the end had me sitting in the parking lot till the end. Which was a bit disappointing after the buildup.

Perhaps Pseudopod should run a "classic" here and there, with an actual HP Lovecraft tale rather than all tuse dudes who are into Lovecraft.
Title: Re: Pseudopod 186: Ankor Sabat
Post by: DKT on April 01, 2010, 06:33:09 PM
Perhaps Pseudopod should run a "classic" here and there, with an actual HP Lovecraft tale rather than all tuse dudes who are into Lovecraft.

Psssssst (http://pseudopod.org/2008/07/25/pseudopod-100-the-music-of-erich-zann/)  :)
Title: Re: Pseudopod 186: Ankor Sabat
Post by: nathonicus on April 06, 2010, 11:32:38 PM
Well, I'm not too into this story, but my Nerd-Rage has been piqued by people referring to this as "Lovecraftian."  Tsthagguoa was a creation of Clark Ashton Smith, and mentioned only in passing by HPL.  The whole structure of the story is dark fantasy, of the the type written by Smith or Robert E. Howard.  Perhaps dark, heroic fiction is not for you, but it is a genre some folks enjoy, and just because something is written in that genre doesn't make it garbage.  The writing in this story was ok, the plot was a bit predictable, and the pacing slow, but those are something of a hallmark for the genre, which attempts to create a fairytale-like experience.  (Albeit a dark one.)

Not one of my favorite stories, but really people, feedback can be negative without being cruel.

Oh, and learn your early 20th century horror tropes! :P

Title: Re: Pseudopod 186: Ankor Sabat
Post by: ancawonka on April 08, 2010, 05:46:20 PM
Quote
Oh, and learn your early 20th century horror tropes!

Care to summarize?  I've already learned more than I ever knew just from this thread. ;)
Title: Re: Pseudopod 186: Ankor Sabat
Post by: lastofthelight on April 17, 2010, 11:10:36 PM
I, for one, loved this story. It combined my enthusiasm for Lovecraft, and my yearning for a good old fashioned fairy tale. Lovecraft, too, is an author that one tends to hate or love. Perhaps the best authors are. Frankly, I think the people who were criticizing this so harshly at the beginning fail to differentiate between bad writing, and writing they just happen to not like. Its pretentious of them, and rather arrogant.
Title: Re: Pseudopod 186: Ankor Sabat
Post by: tinroof on April 18, 2010, 12:49:10 AM
On the other hand, mightn't it be just as pretentious to fail to differentiate between good writing, and writing you just happened to like?

I'm pretty agnostic on this story, 'cept for my peeve with the ending. But, y'know. At least most of us listed reasons. :P
Title: Re: Pseudopod 186: Ankor Sabat
Post by: Scattercat on April 18, 2010, 05:08:48 AM
Yeah, the ending is like fifty DKP minus; the rest of it was kind of meh.  I love language, but as I said above, this story put its foot in its mouth a couple of times with the big and impressive words in places where they didn't need to be and weren't comfortable fits. 

I mean, you can't ever say anything 100% objective about any work of art, but that ending monologue was pretty tiresome by almost any measure.  I don't think you can chalk the lukewarm reception on this story entirely up to Tha Hatahz.
Title: Re: Pseudopod 186: Ankor Sabat
Post by: Millenium_King on August 29, 2010, 05:34:26 AM
This is long overdue, but for those of you who do not know, I am the author of this one.  I'd like to thank every person here for their comments (positive and negative).  I'm very happy with the discussion this one generated.  If anyone would like to read (hear) any more of my fiction, I have two stories over at Cast Macabre (http://www.castmacabre.org/).  The first is the flash piece "The Joining" (http://www.castmacabre.org/2010/08/stab-of-fear-003-joining-by-c-deskin.html) and the second... well, I didn't actually write the second one.  It was written by Mr. Helmut Finch (http://pseudopod.org/2009/07/24/pseudopod-152-hometown-horrible/) who, I assure you, is a very real person.  That story is "What they Consumed" (http://www.castmacabre.org/2010/08/cm-ep-15-what-they-consumed-by-helmut.html) and is narrated by none other than the (in)famous Mr. Alasdair Stuart!

Speaking of Al, I'd like to thank him for an excellent intro and outro on "Ankor Sabat."  I'd also like to thank Ben for his stellar narration and Pseudopod and Escape Artists as a whole for making me, for the first time, a published author!  You guys rule.

I also have a blog here (http://ankorsabat.blogspot.com/) if anyone is interested in following me.  I list my Top 10 Pseudpod Episodes (http://ankorsabat.blogspot.com/2010/06/pseudopod-top-10.html) there too.
Title: Re: Pseudopod 186: Ankor Sabat
Post by: snap-hiss on September 01, 2010, 08:06:44 PM
I just re-listened to this story the other day and it lent it's influence for a most interesting dream.

I greatly enjoyed it, and look forward to checking out your other work.
Title: Re: Pseudopod 186: Ankor Sabat
Post by: Millenium_King on September 02, 2010, 06:23:55 PM
I just re-listened to this story the other day and it lent it's influence for a most interesting dream.

High praise indeed!  I am very happy to have a fan!

"What they Consumed" is probably one you'll enjoy then - it's a lot more Lovecraftian than Ashtonian, though.

There's also a connected story to "Ankor Sabat" called "The High Priest" making the rounds.  I'll be sure to make some shameless plugs should it be accepted anywhere.
Title: Re: Pseudopod 186: Ankor Sabat
Post by: orrin on September 21, 2010, 07:58:28 PM
Not a lot to add to this discussion, but I just got around to listening to this one and liked it a fair bit. I've not read a ton of Clark Ashton Smith, but I thought it nailed the Smithian/decadent tone pretty well, with just enough self-awareness to not strike me as too forced. A good one.
Title: Re: Pseudopod 186: Ankor Sabat
Post by: Millenium_King on September 30, 2010, 05:15:31 AM
Hey thanks Orrin!  Coming from you, high praise indeed.
Title: Re: Pseudopod 186: Ankor Sabat
Post by: Umbrageofsnow on January 21, 2011, 06:57:37 AM

 It might have been miscegenation, but I'm not sure.  It was something where he just threw out a Lovecraft-sounding word in a not-quite-appropriate context.  (He used miscegenation, for instance, to describe one of the twisted mockeries of women who had been reshaped and tormented into a monstrous form.  Either they started as human and were warped, in which case no breeding took place, or they were actually monsters in and of themselves, in which case they had bred true to their monsterhood and no interbreeding took place.  It wasn't entirely clear from the story which of those it was; I got the impression of the former, personally, given the Magic Sensory Deprivation Closet.)


"The product of miscegenation between human and animal stock." seems to be proper usage to me.  And that is the only one in the story.  It may have been something else, but just listened to this, and nothing really jumped out at me.

Anyway, here are my feelings on the story, reposted from my blog:

It was a bit slow getting started, and a tad confusing at first, but once we have our hero on his quest, it moves along pretty well. The meat of the story is Lord Galen's attempt to rescue his TrueLove™ from the evil priest, and to play the game the priest challenges him to. And this is absolutely the best thing about this story.

Although I've seen some criticizing this as generic horrific heroic fantasy, I beg to differ. There is an actual point, with themes and all that, rather than just some sap running off and having terrifying but meaningless adventures before dying or whatever the standard is. My favorite bit of resonance, is how we tend to put our loved ones "up on a pedestal" and imagine they are perfect. This story addresses that in two ways: both the tendency to remember the past fondly and forget all negatives of past romances, and in the present tense, to put a love up on a pedestal where they could never achieve that level of perfection if you were to look at them with unbiased eyes. Either way we can be sorely disappointed if we examine our past or present loves too closely while remembering only our ideal image, not what attracted us in the first place.

That said, although I liked the story at heart, want to defend it from attackers, and will certainly be looking out for more stories from Rink, I know I'm looking at my idealized version that ended about two minutes earlier. When I take this story down off the pedestal and inspect her, I remember that the end completely ruined it for me. A nice, thoughtful ending was all set up, and then we had to flash back to a long speech explaining everything to the point where it not only feels disrespectful to the intelligence of the reader, but actively detracts from the thematic internal dialogue I was having. It isn't just a case of Bondvillianitis, but the author going in to pound one last nail into the poor horse's coffin, missing, and smashing a hammer right through the rather pretty looking box. The story is shallower, and oddly less sinister, for the sinister, explanatory ending. (To be fair, Lovecraft and pals were often guilty of this, so it nailed the writing style...)
Title: Re: Pseudopod 186: Ankor Sabat
Post by: Millenium_King on February 05, 2011, 04:28:07 AM
Thank you for your review Umbrage of snow!  It sounds like you enjoyed the story - it was a fun one to write.  I found your blog and I have been reading through it and enjoying it immensely.  You sure review a LOT of stories.

If you'd like to see more of my work, you can find links to all of my published works on my blog (http://ankorsabat.blogspot.com/).  I might be so bold as to sugges "What they Consumed" (http://www.castmacabre.org/2010/08/cm-ep-15-what-they-consumed-by-helmut.html) which is another of my (fumbling, perhaps?) attempts at the "classic, pulpy" horror story.  (Also available in print! (http://www.betenoiremagazine.com/))

Also for you, and anyone else who enjoyed "Ankor Sabat," I have a spot of good news:  Cast Macabre  (http://www.castmacabre.org/) will be producing a companion piece to it entitled "The High Priest" sometime in the near future.  I will be sure to shamelessly plug it once it comes out.

I'm also going to show up on Pseudopod again soon: my flash story "King" was recently accepted.

Thanks for listening!
Title: Re: Pseudopod 186: Ankor Sabat
Post by: Millenium_King on March 15, 2011, 05:35:26 AM
For everyone who enjoyed this story, Barry over at Castmacabre has released the absolutely AMAZINGLY well produced and narrated follow-up:  THE HIGH PRIEST (http://www.castmacabre.org/2011/03/cm35-high-priest-by-c-deskin-rink.html).
Title: Re: Pseudopod 186: Ankor Sabat
Post by: Millenium_King on May 15, 2011, 05:09:56 PM
A little more shameless self-promotion here:  "The High Priest" (http://www.castmacabre.org/2011/03/cm35-high-priest-by-c-deskin-rink.html) and Castmacabre have been nominated for a Parsec Award (http://www.parsecawards.com/)!  Fingers (and tentacles) crossed that they will win!
Title: Re: Pseudopod 186: Ankor Sabat
Post by: Fenrix on May 20, 2011, 04:52:15 AM
I've drug my feet on listening to this one, as I wanted to ensure I gave it a fair shake. I didn't want to let any feelings for the author and his acerbic tone in other threads muddling my opinion. Park me in the spot next to Lowky, as I dug the story but not the expositional ending. I don't think the ending added anything to the tale. The language was well served by being read, and Ben did his usual great job. The story plodded for a bit early on, but really took off once arriving at the citadel. The parade of the harem was maleficiently fascinating. The rejection and degradation at the end made it a truly awful story. So, basically, a lot of the things I love PseudoPod for.

I also gave the follow-up story a listen afterwards. The production value was great, and those who enjoyed the fecund language of Ankor Sabat should go download it. However, I found the story less compelling as it was more action-oriented, and could have been better served by a more oblique sex interlude.

Oops, just realized this went into "What are you reading" and not this thread...

Clark Ashton Smith readings at

http://www.eldritchdark.com/writings/spoken-word/

I can definitely recommend "The Maze of Maâl Dweb" (which has something like a sequel in "The Flower-Women") and "The Empire of the Necromancers".  "The Door To Saturn" is surprisingly funny!  "The Dark Eidolon" is very outre.

First you expose us on the forums to the Black Mass and now this. This makes completing the last 5% or so of PseudoPod that much more difficult.
Title: Re: Pseudopod 186: Ankor Sabat
Post by: Sgarre1 on May 21, 2011, 12:54:12 AM
Ahhh, and then try to make your way through "Mindwebs" (I'm not a sci-fi fan and even I'm enjoying them)
Title: Re: Pseudopod 186: Ankor Sabat
Post by: Millenium_King on May 21, 2011, 09:16:54 PM
I've drug my feet on listening to this one, as I wanted to ensure I gave it a fair shake. I didn't want to let any feelings for the author and his acerbic tone in other threads muddling my opinion.

Yes... er...  Apologies to all for that.  As I read my older posts, I'm not sure exactly why I was such an asshole.  I could make empty excuses regarding the difficult time I was having in my life back then, but they are just that: empty excuses.

So apologies to all concerned.  I'll try not to be such a jerk anymore!
Title: Re: Pseudopod 186: Ankor Sabat
Post by: kibitzer on May 22, 2011, 02:29:53 AM
I've drug my feet on listening to this one, as I wanted to ensure I gave it a fair shake. I didn't want to let any feelings for the author and his acerbic tone in other threads muddling my opinion.

Yes... er...  Apologies to all for that.  As I read my older posts, I'm not sure exactly why I was such an asshole.  I could make empty excuses regarding the difficult time I was having in my life back then, but they are just that: empty excuses.

So apologies to all concerned.  I'll try not to be such a jerk anymore!

I'm still a jerk but less than before. I hope. You should read some of my early postings.

Actually, no. Don't do that. [embarrassed]
Title: Re: Pseudopod 186: Ankor Sabat
Post by: Millenium_King on April 15, 2012, 10:27:09 PM
My darkest thanks to everyone who enjoyed this story!

Finally, it is available in print!  It is collected in the new anthology Torn Realities (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0615627110/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=musofasmaprep-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0615627110) available on Amazon.com!  Much thanks to Paul Anderson and Post Mortem Press (http://www.postmortem-press.com/) for believing in my harrowing vision.
Title: Re: Pseudopod 186: Ankor Sabat
Post by: Unblinking on August 21, 2014, 01:20:20 PM
I named this my #11 favorite Pseudopod episode:
http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2014/08/podcast-spotlight-pseudopod/
Title: Re: Pseudopod 186: Ankor Sabat
Post by: Fenrix on August 21, 2014, 08:31:52 PM
I have set aside October to read all the Zothique stories by Clark Ashton Smith. I'll have to toss this one into my queue again for a relisten.