Author Topic: PC495: Shadow Man, Sack Man, Half Dark, Half Light  (Read 2483 times)

Ocicat

  • Castle Watchcat
  • Moderator
  • *****
  • Posts: 3722
  • Anything for a Weird Life
on: November 07, 2017, 06:24:13 PM
PodCastle 495: Shadow Man, Sack Man, Half Dark, Half Light

Author : Malon Edwards
Narrator : Mandaly Louis-Charles

Originally published in Shimmer

Rated R.

You keep running, even though you know you can’t escape the fifty-foot-tall Pogo. But you were built for this.

You are taller than all of the girls and most of the boys in your Covey Four class. Your legs are longer. Your steam-clock heart is stronger. Your determination is unmatched. Even against the rocks they throw. Even against the insults they hurl. Even when they entimide you and chase you home after school every day, all because your mother could not save their friends.

They have not caught you yet. And they never will. Because you will not let them.


Click here to continue reading.



Malon Edwards was born and raised on the South Side of Chicago, but now lives in the Greater Toronto Area, where he was lured by his beautiful Canadian wife. Many of his short stories are set in an alternate Chicago and feature people of color. Currently, he serves as Managing Director and Grants Administrator for the Speculative Literature Foundation, which provides a number of grants for writers of speculative literature.



Mandaly Louis-Charles has been running the Haitian Creole Blog for five years now and is an advocate for the Creole language. The blog promotes the Haitian Creole language to foreigners and natives. The blog’s Twitter page @creolelingo publishes daily Haitian Creole words and terms for native and foreigners.

Mandaly just completed a project creating the first ever Creole alphabet song and animated video for the Creole language as the alphabet is unknown to most Haitians at this time. This successful project was done in collaboration with MIT linguistic professor Michel Degraff. Info on the alphabet Creole song may be found on the blog here.

Listen to this week’s PodCastle!
« Last Edit: November 07, 2017, 06:27:49 PM by Ocicat »



Katzentatzen

  • Matross
  • ****
  • Posts: 212
Reply #1 on: December 12, 2017, 06:44:54 PM
Loved this Bluebeard-esque story. So terrifying to find out one's closest parent is a monster, I imagine. I really loved the narrator's voice. Wasn't sure entirely what was going on with the steam clock hearts. I think she became corrupted at the end by her father? Or was it the opposite?

"To understand a cat you must realize that he has his own gifts, his own viewpoint, even his own morality."
--LILIAN JACKSON BRAUN


Ichneumon

  • Matross
  • ****
  • Posts: 219
Reply #2 on: March 27, 2018, 11:50:09 AM
What did I just listen to? I struggled to get my bearings from beginning to end. I will check the printed version to see if reading it myself helps, but there were very strange things happening in the story and I didn't have any points of reference. I enjoyed listening to the narrator's voice and accent.



Ichneumon

  • Matross
  • ****
  • Posts: 219
Reply #3 on: March 27, 2018, 12:09:24 PM
I will check the printed version

That did help. Very dark story, but the protagonist is strong. I have hope she will become the hero her mother foresees.
Katzentatzen, I think both she and her father will be fine in the end, and relatively unchanged. He will still be a boogie man and she will still be a heroine.