EDIT: One more thing. Does Alasdair live in some alternate universe?
So... how'd I do?
Fine. I'll fire the opening salvo for the opposition.
I liked it.
I've often toyed with the idea of telling a story through a fictitious research paper or lecture. This was mostly well done, and the full cast audio helped a lot. The only complaint I have is that whole interview thing. I think that in a full cast production we could have dispensed with the "he paused" "the audience laughed" "the what's his name followed up" stuff and just added the effects (you can get them at the Free Sound Project) so that it would seem much more like we were listening to a lecture and the lecturer played an entire clip from the interview for us.
Sound effects for this story supplied by the following Freesound.org contributors: driet, lonemonk, Littleboot, klankbeeld, stevelalonde, blouhond, alexmol, bulbastre, Corsica_S, and gmarchisioSee more at: http://escapepod.org/2013/12/01/ep424-biographical-fragments-life-julian-prince/#sthash.jsnuFUDn.dpuf (http://escapepod.org/2013/12/01/ep424-biographical-fragments-life-julian-prince/#sthash.jsnuFUDn.dpuf)
EDIT: One more thing. Does Alasdair live in some alternate universe? Because he always gets the episode for feedback wrong by a week.
2) I found a major plot hole. I don't understand why they didn't just relocate North America's entire population. It would have been rough, sure, but the rest of the world could carry them for the year it would take for the dust to settle, and then you could make them all go home. There was nothing in the impact that made North America uninhabitable - just wrecked everything. It would have been cruel. There would have been a lot of conflict, a lot of Americans and Canadians applying for permission to stay in South Africa or France or China or whatever, and maybe there would have even been violence, or sad photographs of displaced Americans being herded back onto the ships at gunpoint... but it would have cost fewer lives than saving a small number and leaving the rest to die.
Not a bit. ;D
EDIT: One more thing. Does Alasdair live in some alternate universe?
Would it surprise you in the least if he were?
Not your fault. He consistently got it wrong the past 4 or 5 times he hosted. :PEDIT: One more thing. Does Alasdair live in some alternate universe? Because he always gets the episode for feedback wrong by a week.
I apologize for that. There were 20 minor crises surrounding this project that pushed it late, and in the frenzy to get it out the door and into your ears I forgot to delete that mention in Alasdair's bit. I'll try not to miss it again.
Not your fault. He consistently got it wrong the past 4 or 5 times he hosted. :PEDIT: One more thing. Does Alasdair live in some alternate universe? Because he always gets the episode for feedback wrong by a week.
I apologize for that. There were 20 minor crises surrounding this project that pushed it late, and in the frenzy to get it out the door and into your ears I forgot to delete that mention in Alasdair's bit. I'll try not to miss it again.
I'm not exactly required by law to leave what he says completely unedited.Not your fault. He consistently got it wrong the past 4 or 5 times he hosted. :PEDIT: One more thing. Does Alasdair live in some alternate universe? Because he always gets the episode for feedback wrong by a week.I apologize for that. There were 20 minor crises surrounding this project that pushed it late, and in the frenzy to get it out the door and into your ears I forgot to delete that mention in Alasdair's bit. I'll try not to miss it again.
Well, if we're being realistic, wouldn't an impact with the power to kill everyone on a continent cause climate-wide devastation worse than the K-T extinction?
I'm surprised that the word "pretentious" hasn't appeared in people's comments. To me, this story felt like an alternative history inside-joke for graduate students. I just gritted my teeth at the nth reference to Pulitzer prizes, and at yet another big build-up to an uninspired quote.
Something else that nobody else seems to have commented on is that Prince, to my ears, is obviously an unreliable narrator. For example - none of the evacuees mentioned the people left behind? Seriously? That sounds much more likely to be a reflection of Prince's attempt to block out the people he left behind.
I'm surprised that the word "pretentious" hasn't appeared in people's comments. To me, this story felt like an alternative history inside-joke for graduate students. I just gritted my teeth at the nth reference to Pulitzer prizes, and at yet another big build-up to an uninspired quote.
I think I get what you are saying. Those bits did come across as a little ham fisted. But, I also get that they were somewhat necessary to making the biographical part of the story work. We don't tend to write biographies about nobodies and so the story had to make some effort to establish that Prince was a somebody. Perhaps this could have been done with more subtlety.
I'm surprised that the word "pretentious" hasn't appeared in people's comments. To me, this story felt like an alternative history inside-joke for graduate students. I just gritted my teeth at the nth reference to Pulitzer prizes, and at yet another big build-up to an uninspired quote.
I think I get what you are saying. Those bits did come across as a little ham fisted. But, I also get that they were somewhat necessary to making the biographical part of the story work. We don't tend to write biographies about nobodies and so the story had to make some effort to establish that Prince was a somebody. Perhaps this could have been done with more subtlety.
I guess I didn't think much about it because historically, those people have always been pretentious. I mean, the real discoveries happen by people doing the work, but history books get filled by people who write press releases, and dandies write press releases. Even think of someone more in Prince's line like a Hemmingway or Warhol. Haunted and disturbed to be sure, but still "Look at me! Pain is real because I'M feeling it" pretension.
or Warhol. Haunted and disturbed to be sure, but still "Look at me! Pain is real because I'M feeling it" pretension
Something else that nobody else seems to have commented on is that Prince, to my ears, is obviously an unreliable narrator. For example - none of the evacuees mentioned the people left behind? Seriously? That sounds much more likely to be a reflection of Prince's attempt to block out the people he left behind.
I actually interpreted this differently. It seemed obvious to me that everyone was lying about not having left anyone behind, probably as a coping mechanism for dealing with that much grief and guilt. I thought that Prince was purposefully highlighting these claims in order to call attention to how impossible (and ridiculous) they were, not because he actually believed anyone when they said they didn't leave anyone behind.
I'm wondering if Mr. Kerr has "issues" with the U.S. and perhaps Western Civilization. I think it's no mistake that most of the after-action takes place in Africa. Culturally Australia is a lot closer to the U.S. than most of Africa, and just as far from the impact (and with lots of empty space). I'd expect more Americans to head there.
You can fit almost four Australia's into Africa - it supports more that forty times the population. Very little of the free space in Australia is particularly conducive to supporting large populations of folk.
Africa is a much better choice than Australia!
I'm going with the minority to say that I straight-up loved this story. The lecture-y, literary format reminded me of my English major days, so wasn't a barrier to me getting into the story. I could see how this might be very alienating for people not acclimated to it, the same way scientific papers are hard to read for people not used to that format. Jargon does come across as pretentious if it's not your jargon, but I thought it was used quite cleverly in this story.
I'm wondering if Mr. Kerr has "issues" with the U.S. and perhaps Western Civilization. I think it's no mistake that most of the after-action takes place in Africa. Culturally Australia is a lot closer to the U.S. than most of Africa, and just as far from the impact (and with lots of empty space). I'd expect more Americans to head there.
The association that I couldn't get out of my head was of course PodCastle 269: Selected Program Notes From the Retrospective Exhibition of Theresa Rosenberg Latimer. (Why do such stories always have crazy long titles?)
The association that I couldn't get out of my head was of course PodCastle 269: Selected Program Notes From the Retrospective Exhibition of Theresa Rosenberg Latimer. (Why do such stories always have crazy long titles?)
I think part of the answer can be found here (http://www.themillions.com/2012/10/literary-fiction-is-a-genre-a-list.html), with the increasingly long and complex titles of literary fiction. (Since these pieces are sort of literary views of speculative issues.)
The association that I couldn't get out of my head was of course PodCastle 269: Selected Program Notes From the Retrospective Exhibition of Theresa Rosenberg Latimer. (Why do such stories always have crazy long titles?)
I think part of the answer can be found here (http://www.themillions.com/2012/10/literary-fiction-is-a-genre-a-list.html), with the increasingly long and complex titles of literary fiction. (Since these pieces are sort of literary views of speculative issues.)
And more than just literary fiction, I think the title length fits very well with the research paper nonfiction format this particular fiction is mimicking. Googled for reasons for that, found this list which I glanced at:
http://augmentedtrader.wordpress.com/2012/02/07/how-to-compose-a-title-for-your-research-paper/
I actually interpreted this differently. It seemed obvious to me that everyone was lying about not having left anyone behind, probably as a coping mechanism for dealing with that much grief and guilt. I thought that Prince was purposefully highlighting these claims in order to call attention to how impossible (and ridiculous) they were, not because he actually believed anyone when they said they didn't leave anyone behind.
That was absolutely the point that Prince was trying to make. However I doubt that in "reality" everybody would deny the existence of knowing people who were left behind. For me it beggars belief. Some certainly - but not everybody.
I took this, and other elements of the story like the sketched out neo-optimism movement, that Prince's perspective wasn't universal or necessarily accurate. Impactful and important certainly - but not necessarily "truth".
This episode reminded me of two things; PodCastle 269: Selected Program Notes From the Retrospective Exhibition of Theresa Rosenberg Latimer and Behind the Music on VH1.
This episode reminded me of two things; PodCastle 269: Selected Program Notes From the Retrospective Exhibition of Theresa Rosenberg LatimerThat is exactly the first thing that came to my mind from the opening of the story.
3) Once the global winter is resolved, there is no reason why the impact site and it's immediate surroundings would be unsuitable for farming (it's not a nuclear explosion with radioactive fall-out, after all). Also, impact ejecta deposits should make excellent soils. They resemble volcanic ash or glacial tills, which are both very good growing substrates. Organic fertilizer would be required to speed up recovery, but all animals produce that on a daily basis. ;)
I was going to come along and science all over this thread, but I see CryptoMe has that handled nicely, as they usually do.