Escape Artists
PseudoPod => Episode Comments => Topic started by: Bdoomed on November 02, 2014, 05:15:35 AM
-
Pseudopod 410: Flash On The Borderlands XXII: Britshock (http://pseudopod.org/2014/11/01/pseudopod-420-flash-on-the-borderlands-xxii-britshock/)
A gaggle of new Flash Fiction to warm your heart and chill your bones…
The Day The Words Took Shape by Francesca Haig.
Read by Alasdair Stuart
Francesca is an academic, writer and tea enthusiast whose first novel, The Fire Sermon is due out next year from Harper Collins in the UK and Simon and Schuster in the US. She can be found here on Twitter (https://twitter.com/FrancescaHaig).
Juggernaut Revisited by Lou Morgan
Read by Wilson Fowlie
Lou is an old, dear friend and the author of three novels to date, Blood and Feathers, Blood and Feathers: Rebellion (There may be a supporting character in there you find slightly familiar…) and Sleepless, a chillingly good YA horror novel. She’s also the author of numerous short stories, including one of the best Mummy stories I’ve ever read and is an Archer although, to the best of my knowledge, her frequent trips to Starling City have not been confirmed. She blogs: here (https://loummorgan.wordpress.com/books/).
The Anniversary by Den Patrick
Read by Alasdair Stuart
Den is the author of the wonderful Dwarf, Elf and Orc War Fighting Manuals, in-universe anthropology texts about the culture, weapons and history of the three cultures. Imagine Art of War written by Douglas Adams and you’re close. He’s also the author of the fantastic novel The Boy With The Porcelain Blade and, along with the magnificent Jen Williams, has pioneered Super Relaxed Fantasy Club, a new, rapidly growing author/publisher/fan/editor/agent meeting that’s started to spread across the UK.
Den blogs here (http://www.denpatrick.com/).
Kraken Rising by Andrew Reid
Read by Dave Robison
Andrew Reid – Cook, climber, teacher, writer and one of the most fiercely articulate, creative people it’s my honour to know. He and I, along with Lou, survived redshirting World FantasyCon together last year. That may mean at some point we open a bar. We’ll let you know… Andrew blogs at My God It’s Raining (http://mygoditsraining.co.uk/).
Party at the Witch House by Richard Kellum
Read by Rikki La Coste
Richard’s not only an author he’s a fellow podcaster who, along with Chris Brosnahan (Who’s own serial you should totally be reading too), hosts Early Draft (http://earlydraft.podbean.com/). He’s on twitter here (https://twitter.com/richardkellum/).
The Lake by Severity Chase
Read by Siobhan Gallichan
Severity Chase’s body of work is well known in some circles but this is her first foray into horror and it comes with the same precision and subtle flamboyance that she brings to all her work.
The Biggest Candle of Them All by Peter Newman
Read by Graeme Dunlop – audio engineer, Chief Technical Officer and superhero. One of the singular pleasures of working at EA is the amazing people you get to work with and Graeme is one of the best.
Pete is the author of The Vagrant, a post-apocalyptic thriller due for release in 2015 and is the husband of Emma Newman (who blogs at Em’s Place (http://www.enewman.co.uk/)), author of the wonderful Split World series and host of Tea & Jeopardy (http://www.geekplanetonline.com/hosting/originals/jeopardy/) one of my favourite podcasts. Any resemblance between Pete and Lattimer the butler is entirely coincidental. Pete blogs at Run, Pete, Write! (http://www.runpetewrite.com/)
And that’s our stories. I’d like to thank all our narrators and authors for turning in stories that show just how diverse and vibrant a genre horror is. Armageddon to basement ghosts, supernatural music to last commands, these stories have it all and it’s been a pleasure to share them with you.
(http://pseudopod.org/wp-content/plugins/podpress/images/audio_mp3_button.png)
Listen to this week's Pseudopod. (http://media.libsyn.com/media/pseudopod/Pseudo410_MushensShowcase.mp3)
-
Would it be possible for brief excerpts to be added under each story? Makes it easier to recall what they were actually about for discussion. I often comment in environments where I can't listen to audio, and if the titles not perfectly evocative, and especially when a bunch of flash stories are bundled together, it can be hard to recall just based on the title.
The Day the Words Took Shape
I liked it. Takes a ludicrous idea, applies it to the real world, and then explores the consequences. Reminds me quite a bit of Cat Rambo's story where there was a word shortage, but distinct enough that they're complementary rather than redundant.
The Anniversary
Like Al said, this story is a good metaphor for a grief that just won't quite heal. I don't know if he is noble for giving this ghost yearly comfort or masochistic for reopening his own wounds for the brief and repetitive conversation. Probably both.
Kraken Rising
I really enjoyed this one. The title did telegraph the reveal that they were going to find something big under there, but the story didn't depend on that being a surprise. Lots of cool detail, I thought it was creepy how it took over the sonographers body just through sound, and how even in the end it's clear that this probably won't be enough to kill it, just delay it for a while.
Party at the Witch House
This one was too predictable to me. From when the witch house was mentioned, I figured it would go down pretty much the way it did.
The Lake
The girl in this story is badass, and she's my hero. Even though she's been horribly damaged both physically and psychologically, and even though not a single person believes her story, she still keeps vigil over her family when they're in the lake and when the dark moment comes when the monster rises up again, she risks life and limb to jump back in and save them. Maybe someone will believe her now that they've seen the invisible scars, but that's not what really matters--what matters is that she didn't just give up even when no one believed her and she was ready when the time came. She's my hero.
I'm drawing a complete blank on "Juggernaut Revisited" and "The Biggest Candle of Them All". If someone's comment reminds me of what they were about or if I get a chance to go open the audio file again I'll chime in what I thought.
-
Enjoyed all of them. My favorites were The Anniversary and the Biggest Candle of Them All. Turns out that I am a sucker for lost-love stories. It is the scariest thing of all that the entity I love most in the world (my wife) can be taken away at any point by something as common as cancer. Like, I think that the only reason we even fall in love is because we can convince ourselves not to think about how fragile it is.
And the Biggest Candle of Them All is one of the stories I would use to show people what flash fiction is and what it can do. Just an amazing reveal at the end of some very good character building.
-
It is the scariest thing of all that the entity I love most in the world (my wife) can be taken away at any point by something as common as cancer. Like, I think that the only reason we even fall in love is because we can convince ourselves not to think about how fragile it is.
THIS Friday's FLASH ON THE BORDERLANDS is centered on "Grief"....enjoy?
-
I put "Kraken Rising" as honorable mention on my Best of Pseudopod 2014 list posted this morning:
http://www.diabolicalplots.com/?p=12662