Escape Artists
Escape Pod => Episode Comments => Topic started by: Russell Nash on March 16, 2007, 09:07:18 AM
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EP097: Cinderella Suicide (http://www.escapepod.org/2007/03/15/ep97-cinderella-suicide/)
By Samantha Henderson (http://www.samanthahenderson.com/).
Read by MarBelle (of Director’s Notes (http://www.directorsnotes.com/)).
First appeared in Strange Horizons (http://www.strangehorizons.com/2006/20060515/suicide-f.shtml), May 2006.
List, then. 1788, New Holland becomes New South Wales, and dear England starts to send her slithies there, her dribs and drabs and pick-pocks and whores and cutthroats, to drain the cesspool Britannia’s become. And then we pin the gravitational constant, and solve Pringle’s Mysterious Logarithm, and then just when we’re ready for it there’s an explosion of a different sort (I’m a proud product of my state school, whoreboy though I became). From the skies over Van Diemen’s Land streaks a merry flaming angel arcing down to earth and boom! Kills most of the slithies, and their Bulls, and the Murri and the Nunga in their Dreamtime too, far as any know. Sky goes red from Yangtze to Orkney. A few Nunga are left, fishing the Outer Isles. And more slithies come soon, for England’s still all-of-cess, and we’d just as soon have them die.
But! Scattered all about, like Father Christmas tossing pennies, rare earth, yttrium and scandium in luscious ashy chunks. And soon there are Magnetic Clocks, and Automatons, and Air-Cars, and good Queen Vickie trulls about in a Magnetic Carriage like everybody else. But still there is cess, and ever will be, pretend as they might at home, so still the slithies are transported.
And a good thing for Merrie Olde too, because nowhere is there as much rare earth as Australia, being that’s where the Great Boom happened, and nothing so useful for gathering ore and jellies as a big jolly family of convicts. Work for the Squatters when you’re Docked; work for them after you serve your time and are pensioned, but on your own terms. Or whore-about. Or prentice to the tech gnomes. Or mine gold, which never goes out of style. Or wander the Nullarbor, looking for the Source, and die. Or fish with the Nunga, if they’d have you, which they won’t. Stick with your duet/triune mates, if you would live out the year.
Always something to do.
But don’t fly, not much, because the variable-mag will crash you deep, and don’t depend on Carriages to work all the time. Beware your metal, for it can betray you.
Rated PG. Contains violence, unsavory characters, and opaque slang.
(http://escapepod.org/wp-images/podcast-mini4.gif)
Listen to this week’s Escape Pod! (http://www.escapepod.org/media//EP097_CinderellaSuicide.mp3)
Referenced Links:
Scott Sigler (http://www.scottsigler.net/)
Podiobooks.com (http://www.podiobooks.com/index.php)
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I havent listened to this yet but i read it in the text format on Strange horizons last year and thought it was great.
I'm looking forward to the listen :D
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I've listened to about half this story so far (during my morning commute)... can't wait to hear the rest.
I like alternate history sci-fi, and this one is right weird.
Early-Industrial Australian Steampunk, I guess.
Only a matter of time before a GURPS supplement comes out for it.
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Wow!
I enjoyed the hell out of this story! Any chance Ms. Henderson has more stories of this trio?
This adventure was missing a little something, and I think that think is that it was only a few thousand words long. This story sounds like it could, very comfortably, have a whole world around it.
MarBelle had a great accent for this piece, though it was a little difficult to catch some of the slang. But I'm not sure if that's because of the accent, or in spite of it. It's possible I wasn't paying attention or that the words were just too foreign for me to know how to interpret them.
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I enjoyed the prose a lot, but I spent almost the whole story trying to figure out what was going on. What are slithies? Why is there such a powerful magnetic field and why if its so dangerous to have metal in your body, would someone get such extensive implants. Furthermore how, if these characters are so downtrodden, did they drum up the cash for the surgery?
I followed the middle bit where the Cinderellas are going after the source, because I sort of had an idea of what their goal was, but then it all got muddled again at the end. Who was talking to them? Did they find the source? Was the bird thing the source?
I'd like to read this in text some time as I probably missed something listening to the recording. It reminded me of the poem Jabberwocky. I only have a shadow of understanding about what actually happened, but the crackle and pop of the language and imagery made it entertaining anyway.
Perhaps the slithies are toves that are gyring and gimbling in the wabe. :)
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I'm having to re-listen to the story and read along. Yes I admit I had problems following the podcast due to the thick Cockney accent of the reader. I guess, I'll have to admit fault on my part for this since others seem ok with the reading. :-\
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I loved the reading. It allowed the story to grab me, to surround me and pull me into its world. I ended up having to read along, but I still feel that this is one of Escape Pod's finest presentations to date.
Awesome!
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I cheated and pulled it up on Strange Horizons site to read along. Interesting story, one of my EP favs thus far (I still have about 6 months of catch up to do). I think this story is an amazing read (like most everything I read on Strange Horizons, and I have a much bigger backlog there!) but it does not work in audio. At first I was blaming the reader, but it was just the slang and the dialect. The reader did a fine job and I hope to hear more of him.
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This story rocked! I can't wait to listen to it again (and possibly read along on Strange Horizons). This is easily one of my favorite stories of the new year right along with How Loneseome a Life Without Nerve Gas, and one of my favorite stories I've heard on this site. I can't wait to listen to it again!
More steampunk, please ;D
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It was...different. Not my cup of tea (I don't like alt. his. all that much) but still pretty good.
Hey, when it gets me thinking about writting it can't be all bad!
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I couldn't wait and snuck my earbud into my ear at my desk at work to listen to the rest, this time while reading along with the text.
This alternate history would make a cool graphic novel series, followed by a movie directed by Terry Gilliam and starring Clive Owen.
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I found this to be fairly challenging, but rewarding nonetheless. I did end up having to read along with the text as I listened to it: there was just too many unfamiliar words that I wasn't sure I wasn't just mishearing with the heavy accent. I wouldn't say I entirely 'get' it... I'm not really sure why these criminals wound up in duos or triads for instance, or exactly what state the rest of the world was in. The voice of the story felt real and honest to me, though..I felt like that's the thought pattern someone in that universe might actually follow, without having everything over explained, and I appreciated that.
I guess I stumbled a lot on some of the slang/terminology. I don't think I'm a stupid person; I'm not certain whether I'm simply not well read enough or if its just a lot of the slang is British/Aussie (I'm American).
Was it engrossing? Eventually. I did find it hard to follow at some points, though. I don't know, my feelings are mixed overall. Maybe, after all, I'm just not smart enough.
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Between the accent and the slang I couldn't make heads or tails of it. I stopped listening halfway through, completely frustrated.
Clearly, something was happening (an improvement over last week's story) but what it was, I can't begin to say. Maybe if I were Australian it would have made more sense.
I'm not intending to make snarky remarks every week... but the last two really didn't do anything for me.
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I enjoyed it, eventually. Must admit I had a bit of trouble figuring out what was happening at first, but overall the tone and characterization worked well for me and it rewarded.
Oh, and though the setting is colonial Australia, neither the slang nor the reader's accent are Australian. Some of it is invented and some of it is of the time (19th century). sometimes you just have to use your imagination to figure out what they're talking about. It's one of the things I enjoy about the alternate-history genre.
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Between the regular British slang and the story slang, I must have missed half of what the author was telling me. The accent of the reader hurt, as well. It took me a few times before I understood him when he said Duet.
I think reading the story (and I'm glad to know I can see it online) would have made it less confusing. As an audio story, even multiple hearings would not have helped.
Until I read the posts, I had no idea that this was alt history. I figured future sci-fi, didn't even get that it was Earth. Though, it goes to show how much language/our world changes over time.
From what I could understand, I found the exposition in the middle - something about Queen Vicky riding a car - too long. Right in the middle of the action - it slowed the whole story down.
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I'm really amused that Australia ends up as the universe's prison colony.
Here’s some slang that might help make sense out of the story:
Dinkum: Honest, real, genuine http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-fai3.htm
Slithy: A portmanteau word coined by Lewis Carroll in his poem, "Jabberwocky." It combines the words "slimy" and "lithe."
Swizzlestick: Given the world, it’s probably slang for a non-magnetic (plastic/ceramic) blade of some kind.
Pulp, “Master Humphrey's Clock,” and “All the Year Round”: Two pulp periodicals (reading materials)
Topsy: Short for “topsy-turvy”, meaning ‘a mess’.
Nunga: Aborigines
Uluru: Ayers Rock, a monolith sacred to the Aborigines
Anagnu: Native to the Ayers Rock area.
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Being a kiwi, I could pick up the Aussie slang pretty quickly, but I'm in the same boat that I was terribly confused for the longest time as my brain adjusted to the syntax and prose.
I can't say I enjoy alt history/steampunk/whatever-punk (I'm VERY unfamiliar with this genre, and if this is a good example of it, it's just not my cup of tea), but I am absolutely blown away by the talent of the writer to a) have such a wonderful vocabulary! b) put it all together to make a credible flow!
I agree that this story did not translate well to being read aloud. But it is very easy for me to see that, though I didn't like it, it was an incredibly well written story with a lot of imagination.
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couldnt get into it (maaaybe because i was doin homework at the same time... probably missed huge chunks of it...) so i'll have to take another listen, due to the enormous amount of praise this story recieved.
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Well, I finally managed to listen to this one all the way through the second time! I have to say that Thaurismunth's glossary was very usefull for the second listening, I got abotu 1/4 of the way through the first time before the relentless slang became too much for me.
I have to say that overall I liked it, it's well paced and has some interesting ideas. I'm still not completely sure of everything that happened, I may have to go back over it one day with a hefty Slang Dictionary.
The slang was hard going to listen through, but it did a very vivd feel for the setting.
I was quite amused by some of the other poster's comments about the "thick cockney accent" believe it or not, this guy doesn't have a strong accent at all. By UK standards it's very light. I'm not sure it's cockney, either, that's just the people from one small area of London, he's certainly southern, though.
Oh, and I got one of my comments read out! Yay! Wait until I tell all my friends, and my family, and my pets, and any passers by that happen to be on my street and....why're you all looking at me like that? :P
Simon Painter
Shropshire, UK
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I've listened to this story three times, that make is my most listened to story, and enjoyed it more each time.
I did have a lot of trouble getting a mental picture of what the slang meant because it wasn't treated like anything special, it was just slang, and once I accepted that the exact nature of a 'slithy' must not be important (because the author didn't explain it) things were fine. I think something that made this story difficult to read was a combination of the use unfamiliar slang, and how casually the reader was able to use the words.
I think if an American reader had read the story the words would have sounded a bit more foreign coming from their lips and us listeners would have known and gotten the message "Ok, this is a weird word, just go with it." That said, I'm not sure I'd have enjoyed the story as much, or that it would have had as much atmosphere, had there been less of an accent.
Regarding MarBelle's reading, I hope he'll have a chance to read other pieces, and any (pre-)sequels to this piece.
And I'll have to check out his pod this weekend.
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I have been listening for over a year now (and enjoying it immensely), but this is the first story which has prompted me to post anything.
I definitely experienced similar feelings to some other posters. Above all, in the first few minutes of this episode, regardless of whether I loved it or hated it (because I was trying to decide that for a long time) i was most definitely intrigued and completely absorbed.
The language took some hard concentration to tune the ear to. And the only way I could understand was to do the same as when I first read "A Clockwork Orange" and stop trying so hard and just coast along trusting that a context would make the terminology clear at some point.
I also initially had fierce issues with why an english accented reader was being used for a story set so clearly in Australia. Then I got off my high horse and realised that it was the perfect choice, given the character was English (duh!). But then also, it's alt history and that could really justify anything in terms of accent - and pronunciations such as "Uluru" and "Nullarbor".
I really didn't find his accent difficult to understand, but at the risk of sounding like a grandma: he didn't really speak clearly, he really kinda slurred his words. Which in the beginning just made it that little bit harder to understand - as the words and grammar was already kooky. By the middle I didn't notice any more.
Now as I read this back and it seems like i'm simply complaining and have nothing but negative things to say... I absolutely loved this story - it just mixed me up and had me thinking about four or five different things at the same time as I was listening. It made me work really hard, and I felt like it took me some time to work out exactly why I loved it. It made me think about the time I've spent in the red centre by Uluru. It made me ponder a different history with the indigenous population. It illustrated complex relationships with such simply gentle phrases.
It shook me up a little - which is not necessarily a bad thing when it comes to the art you consume.
'nuff said.
Bec
Melbourne
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he didn't really speak clearly, he really kinda slurred his words.
Yeah, the main thing he does is called a 'Glottle Stop' which means he doesn't pronounce his 't's much, hence 'bottle' becomes 'boh'ull'. I do it myself, it's extremely common in the UK. I probably don't have a problem with it because I hear it every day.
Simon Painter
Shropshire, UK
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Very interesting, a lot of comments both pro and con. Unfortunately, I am part of the latter. The thick accent and slang caused me to struggle to understand what was going on. I would say I missed half the story. It just didn't seem like the narrator was speaking clearly. Perhaps I would like it more if I read it. Looking forward to the next story...... :-\
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This is one I will have to read to enjoy. I'm not sure audio is the best format for this story, unless you have the text to read along or are already familiar with it. With that said, it seems like a story I'd love to read.
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I agree, it was tough to understand what exactly was going on, but are we supposed to be able to relate to three surgically alterred criminals in an alternate reality? I have to disagree with most of the listening vs. reading comments. I never would've gotten through this in text, because I would've gotten hung up on words which may or may not be in the dictionary. Listening to it, you just have to be carried along at a quick pace, which is how the story is meant to go. I love Cinderella Suicide, she reminds me of River in the wonderful movie, "Serenity". I wouldn't want this kind of story every week, but it's nice to mix it up.
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I took me three tries before I could listen to this one. I was pretty tired the first two times and my brain just wasn't up to dealing with the combination of the accent and jargon. (which is entirely my fault. I have a real difficulty understanding some accents - even mild ones.) I finally decided to give it one last go and I found that once I got a ways into it, I was completely engrossed! I figured out what most of the slang meant, at least in general terms. I'm going to have to go back and listen to it again. Also, I think the story would not have worked without the accent. Having an American read it would have sounded like the old Steve Allen bit where he reads to words to disco songs - farcically wrong!
<Steve Allen deadpan voice>
I love to love you baby.
I love to love you baby.
I love to love you baby.
<Steve Allen deadpan voice>
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I couldn't get into and thus really didn't like it that much. but even with a bad story Im still happy with the quality of escape pod.
but this doesn't really make a difference because it think this was just a simple cultural boundary that i didn't understand.
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The more I think about it, the more I believe this story wouldn't have worked so well for me if it was read by someone else, specifically an american. Even if it was someone with a complete dead-on delivery like Ben Phillips (who's reading of Bag Man on Pseudopod still gives me chills) or Sigler or anyone else. To me, the accent and the slang added a whole new layer to the story and I'm really glad MarBelle read it.
I've also been thinking of the genre for the story. I still think it's closest to steampunk, but it has pensioners, razorblades, and magnets thrown in for good measure.
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Being from hte UK, obviously the accent didn't bother me.
One of the above users said the main thing that story first reminded me of, Clockwork Orange. Not much... but at first... definatly a tingle of it.
I liked this story though; it was entertaining. I like trying to work out how a world works, and for alt history stories, where the point of divergence was. Trying to work out where their technology would have came from.
It took a while for me to work out the characters, especially with a team name like cinerella.
I really liked the ending. Good story. :D
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The only reason I got to the end of this story was because I was cycling through snow, and would not have undone my coat for a man with a gun, let alone to skip a podcast.
I've come across these lingo-istic stories in the past and don't enjoy them. I always feel that the author has gone too far in trying to provide the usual linguistic originality to his world.
I'm OK with people putting the occasional hy-phen or a'pos in their text, but when they change MOST of the language they've gone too far. It stops being an enjoyable listen, and instead becomes an on-the-fly translation task.
Thumbs down to this one.
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When an English translation of the story becomes available, do you think Steve would be willing to run it?
All right, it did win me over by the end. Things picked up nicely once their journey to the source was underway. But the early-going was brutal; I'm not surprised a lot of listeners bailed.
Glad to hear it's on Strange Horizons; I'll have to give it a look there and try and figure out the first half at my own pace.
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I'm playing catch up on my podcasts and just listened to this yesterday while working out at the Y. EscapePod is the only thing that makes thirty minutes on the elliptical walker tolerable.
This story was pretty amazing.
I'm a big reader and usually perfer reading a piece over listening to one, but with this story the narration is what made it enjoyable. I hate to read dialect and would has tossed it aside after the first sentence or two if I came across the piece in print. MarBelle's accent and the made the story for me, I didn't find it or the slang hard or opaque at all after the first few lines, and loved the cadency and texture they gave the piece.
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I think the story itself was probably good, and the choice of reader was appropriate. However, the story was way too difficult for a podcast. As Steve has mentioned before, audio stories need to be easy to follow, since most listeners won't rewind and can't follow along in print. Print stories can demand so much more from a audience, since a reader can slow down to puzzle out unknown terms. I'll be reading this one online before I try listening to it again.
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I enjoyed this story greatly,it's a beautifully written,powerful piece of speculative fiction.
I can understand why some listeners think it's a difficult story to follow;its' subtleties are easy to miss with a casual listen,but I was intrigued enough by the story to read it and some of Ms.Henderson's other work.
I think I enjoy Escape Pod (and Science Fiction in general) the most when the stories give me something to chew over rather than spoon feeding me.
Thanks for this story!
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Is it a coincidence that Steve just finishes reading "Perdido Street Station" and then we get this Mievillesque story?
The comments have been as interesting as the story itself. Steve mentioned that this was the strangest story EP has run. I bet he knew he was taking a risk with this one.
In general cyberpunk annoys me. Enjoyment of a cyberpunk story depends on the reader thinking the characters are cool. I usually think they are just thieves and low lifes, like the panhandlers with dyed mohawks, leather jackets, and piercings. Cinderella, Tin Type, and Superstar were transported for a reason. I have a feeling I have more in common with one of their victims than one of them. But I can suspend my annoyance for a good story, like I can accept sound in space when I watch Star Wars.
The slang and the accent made the first half of this story barely comprehensible. But the total immersion was stimulating, and MarBelle's reading doubled the effectiveness. This was the best match of story and reader I've heard on EP.
Their journey was too easy. We are told that none have made it to The Source and lived to tell the tale. But these guys seemed to walk right up to it. If Tin Type hadn't gone up to the edge of the giant trap, and the girl with the skin full of razor blades hadn't gone into the giant MRI machine, or if they had brought along some sort of rope, they wouldn't have had any problems. It's almost an idiot plot, a story that only works if all the characters are idiots. And the ending depends on the astounding coincidence that the baby cthulhu hatches just as Superstar arrives. I could have accepted this if some connection had been made like "Make sure you hurry and get there before it hatches." or "I sense the approach of life forms. Now I can be born."
But most Star Trek plots are much dumber than this, and I keep watching. The plot is an excuse to spend some time in this fascinating setting. The world itself is the most interesting character, even more so through MarBelle's reading. Several commenters have said that they would like to read more by Samantha Henderson. I have a feeling they are less interested in the exploits of Tin Type, Cinderella, and Superstar, and more interested in what you get when you mix truly alien aliens and criminals 100 (?) years ago.
I think stories like this are what Science Fiction and Escape Pod are for. More of this please.
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Is it a coincidence that Steve just finishes reading "Perdido Street Station" and then we get this Mievillesque story?
Funny. I wondered this as well.
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Is it a coincidence that Steve just finishes reading "Perdido Street Station" and then we get this Mievillesque story?
Since I contracted for the story late last year, and for that matter this isn't even our first attempt at producing this piece, the answer's "yes." It's a coincidence. >8->
The comments have been as interesting as the story itself. Steve mentioned that this was the strangest story EP has run. I bet he knew he was taking a risk with this one.
That, too, would be a "yes." But I don't regret taking risks.
More than that I will not say at this time; I don't want to stifle feedback. I'll respond on the podcast in due time.
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Is it a coincidence that Steve just finishes reading "Perdido Street Station" and then we get this Mievillesque story?
Since I contracted for the story late last year, and for that matter this isn't even our first attempt at producing this piece, the answer's "yes." It's a coincidence. >8->
I thought something like this was the case, but I still wanted to say "Mievillesque." Say it out loud. It's fantastic.
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But the total immersion was stimulating...
Oh yeah, I struggled. But from the first, I knew this was not a person-like-me-in-different-circumstances story and I was VERY curious about who, where and why. Thanks for the great story that I'll have to listen too again!
Regards,
Don
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In the year or so that I have been listening to Escape Pod this is the best story I have heard and probably the first example of cybersteampunk I have come across anywhere. I am an Australian so my opinion may not be entirely unbiased. I found the story reasonably easy to follow but can understand how a non-Australian, or someone unfamiliar with the steampunk genre might struggle with it.
Regarding the podcast, I couldn’t help thinking that the story may have benefited from a reader with a British accent (I did notice that the reader had a slight accent, but I couldn’t place it). But these podcasts are about the story so the accent of the reader shouldn’t be important, should it? Unfortunately the pronunciation of some of the Aborigine names made them unrecognisable, specifically Uluru, although upon a second listening I did work out what the reader meant with this word. As a sideline, people should note that because of its cultural significance it’s nowadays deemed very politically incorrect to refer to Uluru by the name given to it by European settlers. The author is obviously aware of this as any white person form the Victorian era would certainly not have used, nor even been aware of, the traditional name of Uluru.
A great story and I would like to thank all concerned for bringing it to me.
P.S. Slithies are convicts.
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Regarding the podcast, I couldn’t help thinking that the story may have benefited from a reader with a British accent (I did notice that the reader had a slight accent, but I couldn’t place it). But these podcasts are about the story so the accent of the reader shouldn’t be important, should it?
I find this comment fascinating. Mar is British, and to my American ears his accent in this story was actually very thick. Some of our English listeners can hopefully place it precisely; I'd be hesitant to guess. (And I never got around to asking where he was from.)
I don't say this to correct you, but simply because I think it's really cool how different people around the world hear different things in the same voice.
Unfortunately the pronunciation of some of the Aborigine names made them unrecognisable, specifically Uluru, although upon a second listening I did work out what the reader meant with this word. As a sideline, people should note that because of its cultural significance it’s nowadays deemed very politically incorrect to refer to Uluru by the name given to it by European settlers. The author is obviously aware of this as any white person form the Victorian era would certainly not have used, nor even been aware of, the traditional name of Uluru.
Very interesting -- I didn't know that. Thanks!
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I find this comment fascinating. Mar is British, and to my American ears his accent in this story was actually very thick. Some of our English listeners can hopefully place it precisely; I'd be hesitant to guess. (And I never got around to asking where he was from.)
Steve, since you're asking...
We call it Estuary English. It's the debased from of the language that keeps spreading around the Thames Estuary. Turns out is even has a wikipedia entry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estuary_English).
FWIW, it was perfect for this story. It's what the criminals would have spoken during/after their deportation.
Loved the story, loved the reading.
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I'm a bit confused about why this story had to be alternate history. I get the cyberpunk aspect what with the semi-transcendence of an awful, debased world at the end. But, apart from them being transplanted criminals, why was it important to be alternate Australia? So you could the outback into it? Maybe. But once the quest got going, there was really no more need for the alt-history setting.
That said, this is a world (alt-history or not) that needs more stories. And I only found the language/accents (however mismatched) to be evocative and enjoyable. Having to figure out what was things meant seemed a nice mirror to how the slithies would have had to figure out their own environment.
But I'll repeat the question someone posed earlier: why were implants so sought-after if it was clear that there are some kind of giant magnets around that rip them out of your body? It seems like a bit more thought was needed on that aspect.
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I found this story totalling engrossing. I listened to it twice; loved it both times. Yes, it was a bit hard to figure out the slang, but in the end it totally worked. Yeah Steve, you took a risk, but you sure made me happy with it. I think it's my favorite EscapePod episode so far!
Thanks Steve!
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But I'll repeat the question someone posed earlier: why were implants so sought-after if it was clear that there are some kind of giant magnets around that rip them out of your body? It seems like a bit more thought was needed on that aspect.
I think it's because they A: didn't have a choice of materials and B: They're in prison and the benefits (staying alive longer) out weighed the costs (possible pain/death). Super powers having a down side or weakness is a major theme of SF. Riddic's eyes come to mind.
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But I'll repeat the question someone posed earlier: why were implants so sought-after if it was clear that there are some kind of giant magnets around that rip them out of your body? It seems like a bit more thought was needed on that aspect.
I think it's because they A: didn't have a choice of materials and B: They're in prison and the benefits (staying alive longer) out weighed the costs (possible pain/death). Super powers having a down side or weakness is a major theme of SF. Riddic's eyes come to mind.
I'm going back to relisten to this one. I think I missed a lot. Everyone who has relistened to it seems to think it was fantastic.
Before I do that though I'm going to take a stab at answering this question. I think the strong magnetic field was part of the defenses around their goal. Many of the defenses were unknown, because nobody ever made it back out. I'm going to guess that under normal circumstances these implants are actually a good thing. If this magnetic field was a known threat, I believe a different charactor would have been sent.
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But I'll repeat the question someone posed earlier: why were implants so sought-after if it was clear that there are some kind of giant magnets around that rip them out of your body? It seems like a bit more thought was needed on that aspect.
I think it's because they A: didn't have a choice of materials and B: They're in prison and the benefits (staying alive longer) out weighed the costs (possible pain/death). Super powers having a down side or weakness is a major theme of SF. Riddic's eyes come to mind.
I'm going back to relisten to this one. I think I missed a lot. Everyone who has relistened to it seems to think it was fantastic.
Before I do that though I'm going to take a stab at answering this question. I think the strong magnetic field was part of the defenses around their goal. Many of the defenses were unknown, because nobody ever made it back out. I'm going to guess that under normal circumstances these implants are actually a good thing. If this magnetic field was a known threat, I believe a different charactor would have been sent.
I heartily suggest listening to it another time, at least.
The magnetic fields were a known threat, he mentioned before that some people got wings and tried to fly away, but the variable magnetism would eventually pulse and crash them in to the ground/ocean. This crew might have been sent in spite of it or because of it. Superstar only had a 360 Scope (which got removed) and the anti-flap ear piece, Tintype only had the ear piece. Suicide was the only person with a problem, and even she was fine 'till the boys fell in the pit. None of them had hard mods done to their skulls or bones.
It was also mentioned that some people did reach the source, and came back, but they were stark raving mad when they did. Presumably because they didn't have the special ear plugs to keep the voice out of their heads.
I've wondered about the hatching time of the bug. The voice kept saying, over and over, that it was cold. Perhaps its hatching wasn't so much a coincidence, as it was triggered by the heat from the blast?
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I re-listened to this story yesterday and for any who has not yet done so, it is really worth a re-listen. As I stated earlier, I read the text along with the first listen, which help a bunch, but may have made me miss how well this story truly works in audio (insofar as I stated as much in my first post, which I now wish to formally retract). When I listened to it the second time, it was like I was sitting next to Superstar listening to him tell me a story of his life. One of the best listening experience I have had on EP. Great match up of voice talent for this story. He slipped in the odd Aussie punk type slang like someone who lived there for years.
Kudos to Steve for not only be a great editor, but also a brilliant producer. The more I experience Podcasting, the more respect I have for any who would be brave enough to attempt it.
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I too was baffled during the first few minutes of this story, but resisting the urge to hit the SKIP button, I realized that all good things are hard. I swam with the flow of the story, gradually picking up the context as the story made more and more sense. By mid-story I was completely captured and enjoyed it right to the not-quite-a-surprise-and-a-bit-frightening ending. Good work, Steve - more SteamPunk please!
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I just couldn't get into this story. I tried, I really did. I listened while grocery shopping and I found myself more interested in prices and ingredients.
I turned it off and waited until I got home.
I started over and found my mind wandering thinking about baseball practice. Ok, I put it away for a couple of weeks in case I was just a little burned out by audio fiction.
I finally listened to it yesterday and once again, I couldn't concentrate on the story. I dunno, it could be a great story. I can't even tell you what it's about. I've listened to most of it 3 times now, and I haven't the foggiest idea what was going on. It had nothing to do with the accent or the lingo. shrugs Some stories just don't catch you I guess.
-w4o
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Oh, well chosen, Steve! I loved this story. It goes into the stack of keepers. I say this as a person who is normally deeply biased against alt-history (with a few exceptions). True that the alt-history didn't play such a large part in this one so maybe my bias didn't take me far.
I loved the tone, the reader, the narrative voice, the plot, the setting, the language.
Pretty much everything. This totally hit my squids.
On a first listen I had to stop it and rewind, like many others have mentioned. I had too much going on externally and the story demanded concentration. However, on the second run, I was not bothered by accent, slang, or any other part of the writing or production. I didn't find the reader's accent to be too heavy at all.
Have I mentioned that I love this story?
Right, guess I have...
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Pretty much everything. This totally hit my squids.
Hit your "Squids"??? :o
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Pretty much everything. This totally hit my squids.
The ones on your mantlepiece?
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Pretty much everything. This totally hit my squids.
Hit your "Squids"??? :o
Shorthand for story fetishes. It's those elements that, when included in a story, reach into your hindbrain, grab it and make you moan, "Gooooood". My best understanding of the expression is that it derives from the Turkey City Lexicon for "Squid in the mouth" but insted of referring to an author's faux pas, it refers to a reader's bulletproof kink. I picked the term up from Elizabeth Bear's livejournal, but I don't know whether it's properly hers or she picked it up elsewhere. It's a handy descriptor.
One of my squids is inexorable failures. You know these guys are underdogs, you know the odds are against them and there's no way they should be able to pull it off, you root for them anyway, then they fail to pull it off. I love that story, and it was particularly well done in this piece. It's what makes Macbeth work for me. And what I love about Gene Wolfe's "The Death of Dr. Island". Story of Sisyphus packs in the "it never ends!" variant of the same theme. It's also what pleases me about prophecy in fiction (to borrow from the pet peeves thread of a few weeks ago). If the prophecy dictates character failure and it comes true, I'm deeply satisfied by the tale. If it comes true in ways you could not have predicted at the outset but are totally plausible? You've won me as a reader for life.
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Pretty much everything. This totally hit my squids.
The ones on your mantlepiece?
Nah, that's not where I keep them. ;)
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really? It's the perfect place. Not only do guests get to admire 'em, but the squids'll occasionally eat the ones you don't like :) They pretty much dust themselves too.
You have to watch out for the odd attempt to summon elder Gods, I find a rolled-up newspaper helps for that.
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And you'll never run out of ink!
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I'd never heard "hit my squids" before but I have to say I liked it almost immediately ;)
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Right, so I listened to this story again today, and I think I figured out why I had so much trouble listening to it: There's no differentiation.
MarBelle didn't give the characters voices, nor did he make any changes of inflection when he switched. It was just read.
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Did that approach work for you? I think Mur does a similiar thing when she reads.
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I adored this story.
Maybe it´s because I´m Australian and I´ve both a lot of British friends and I´m there a few times a year, but I had no trouble with the accent. In fact I personally felt the story benefitted from the thickness of it. As Roney pointed out, that´s probably what it should have been anyway (unless it was my accent!).
Punk just sounds more authentic British.
The mispronounciations have already been pointed out, and they were slightly disappointing, but I loved the reading and I loved the story.
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Did that approach work for you? I think Mur does a similiar thing when she reads.
Yes, I loved the story, and it strongly benefited from the reader's accent and familiarity with the slang, it was just difficult to know where one speaker's line was stopping, and another's began.
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This totally hit my squids.
Must...put...squids...in...sequel...
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This totally hit my squids.
Must...put...squids...in...sequel...
Which you'll be writing when? ;D
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This totally hit my squids.
Must...put...squids...in...sequel...
Which you'll be writing when? ;D
Not nearly soon enough, I'd wager.
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This totally hit my squids.
Must...put...squids...in...sequel...
Which you'll be writing when? ;D
Soonst as I can get into Superstar's head again.
Maybe kidnap MarBelle?
I'm (pleasantly!) stunned by the response "Cinderella Suicide" has engendered in this forum. And grateful that it was so very well performed/produced.
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I'd say you made a few fans :)
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This totally hit my squids.
Must...put...squids...in...sequel...
Eeeeexcellent. I can think of few stories that wouldn't be improved by the liberal addition of cephalopods. I eagerly await future visits to neo-tunguskalike-exploded-but-with-monsters-inside-the-meteor-alternate-australia.
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[
Eeeeexcellent. I can think of few stories that wouldn't be improved by the liberal addition of cephalopods.
Are you Karen Traviss in disguise? She has a complete fascination with cephalopods.
An invertebrate paleontologist friend of my husbands says they are God's favorite creatures, but I'm not convinced.
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Eeeeexcellent. I can think of few stories that wouldn't be improved by the liberal addition of cephalopods. I eagerly await future visits to neo-tunguskalike-exploded-but-with-monsters-inside-the-meteor-alternate-australia.
...in which thylacines never became (perhaps) extinct!
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[
Eeeeexcellent. I can think of few stories that wouldn't be improved by the liberal addition of cephalopods.
Are you Karen Traviss in disguise? She has a complete fascination with cephalopods.
An invertebrate paleontologist friend of my husbands says they are God's favorite creatures, but I'm not convinced.
Alas, I am not.
But God has to love the Vampire Squid.
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Are you Karen Traviss in disguise? She has a complete fascination with cephalopods.
An invertebrate paleontologist friend of my husbands says they are God's favorite creatures, but I'm not convinced.
I am not Karen Traviss, either in disguise or out of it.
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Ok, I give up.
What are the "Jelly Orchards"??
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Ok, I give up.
What are the "Jelly Orchards"??
Hi!
Jellyfish harvesting.
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Oh! I'd have never guessed.
How's that sequel coming?
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Hurray for my first post! I found the story very interesting. There is plenty of texture to the world setting. I have to agree with an earlier post that the journey wasn't very difficult, and the characters didn't seem to present any special capabilities that allowed them to finish the trip. But the setting was very interesting. It would be a great setting for a more developed story.
Curiously, half my opinion comes from reading everyone's commetns.... Hmmm, is this college all over again?
Escape Pod Rocks!
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Oh! I'd have never guessed.
How's that sequel coming?
Slower than I'd like! ;)
Thank you for asking! :)
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I loved this story.
I hope we hear more from Samantha even if it isn't the sequel.
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I, for one, would love a prequel, or a story out of the Tarro (sp), or back in Jolly old England.
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I'm having to re-listen to the story and read along. Yes I admit I had problems following the podcast due to the thick Cockney accent of the reader. I guess, I'll have to admit fault on my part for this since others seem ok with the reading. :-\
Nah, I'm bad with accents, too. I can do most European ones (even tho' certain regional British ones make me cringe), but middle-easterns and Asians I have a hard time with. To each his own.
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I just loved this story. Being a bit of a newcomer to escape pod, I came across this one whilst trolling the archives on the website.
Actually I was listening to some feedback at the end of another episode when I came across it. The comments intrigued me, and being Australian myself thought I better go back and have a bit of a listen.
I think the narrator Mar is really, really excellent. I was way impressed with his reading of the 8 episodes story so when I discovered that he read this one, I was hooked.
And yes, a perfect choice for the narrator given that those convicts would've talked exactly like that.
I was blown away by the alternative history and although it did require my most serious attention (quite a few rewinds {does one actually rewind digital media??}) but it was well worth it.
Rather than taking away from the story, I think that the slang actually adds to it. Helps to create a more constructed world - and more believable.
Looking forward to hearing more of Mar's reading - I really like the sound of his voice.
Bloody grouse mate, more of this please!
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Good story! Twas one of those that just following the events is a challenge, but a fun one. I've only listened to it once, but I suspect that if I listened to it again I would probably follow 75% of what happened (instead of about 50%). I hope the author's got another in the works. :)
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I've probably commented on this before, but I agree that its an excellent story upon multiple listens to get the lingo down - the tone, slang, and world combine to generate a thick atmosphere for a novel story.
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This one gets my vote for best Escape Pod story ever. The story was perfect: the characters were multi-dimensional, the setting was rich and colorful, and it was even plausible. The voicework was superb, easily one of the best readings I've ever heard.
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Just finished listening to this one as I work my way through the last 20 episodes I haven't listened to before. What others have said before.
Some stories are much better read than listened to. I think this may be one of them because of the slang. A reader can pause and think or reread the sentence, a listener cannot. I think the biggest problem with the reading, though, is the dialect/accent of the reader. It made a story hard to understand because of the slang that much harder. For example "duet" would have helped me understand "triune", but "duet" wasn't spoken clearly enough. I really disliked the beginning, scene setting with was difficult to understand because of the accent and slang. Later on, once the world building was done, the slang slowed down, and the adventuring began, I had a much easier time, but that first bit was a struggle and I considered giving up because it was simply incomprehensible.
I enjoyed the story in the end even though I am not a fan of steam punk and will probably read the text in order to understand, but I don't think it was a good fit for an audio version especially with a heavily accented narrator.
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I just need to speak about my hard time hearing this. I'm a non native english speaker, and didn't get anything of the story. The weird slangs and heavy accent turned this experience into a nightmare to me. And now that I see how many people loved the story, I just feel dumb for my innability to understand it. Damn, I thought I knew english.
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