Author Topic: PC482: The Family Ghost  (Read 3779 times)

Ocicat

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on: August 08, 2017, 04:18:33 PM
PodCastle 482: The Family Ghost

by Rati Mehrotra
read by Kaushik Narasimhan
hosted by Graeme Dunlap
First published in The Sockdolager

Rated PG-13.

The day before she left for her husband’s village, Urmila got her dowry: a goat, two gold bangles, and the family ghost. The bangles were pretty and the goat would be useful, but what would she do with the ghost? Dirty, smelly old thing.

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Rati Mehrotra lives and writes in lovely Toronto. Her short stories have appeared in AE – The Canadian Science Fiction Review, Apex Magazine, Urban Fantasy, Podcastle, Cast of Wonders, and many more. Her debut novel ‘Markswoman’ will be published in January 2018. Find out more about her work at ratiwrites.com or follow her on Twitter: @Rati_Mehrotra

Kaushik Narasimhan is a management consultant by day, writer by night and psychonaut every weekend. He tweets at @kazarelth.

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FictionPhial

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Reply #1 on: August 09, 2017, 07:23:03 PM
I really loved this, particularly the ending :)


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Katzentatzen

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Reply #2 on: August 10, 2017, 12:47:30 AM
Female empowerment through ghost haunting/astral projection! I'm a fan.

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Obleo21

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Reply #3 on: August 11, 2017, 02:23:44 AM
This was such a sweet story. I'm a sucker for stories where everyone is more or less happy and gets nearly everything they want at the end. For some reason I kept picturing the ghost like a clear, transparent, squelchy, squishy gummy bear, even though it was never described that way. It made me laugh visualizing it cuddling up in bed with Urmila.



deank

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Reply #4 on: August 26, 2017, 05:12:20 AM
I love this story! Great protagonist and such an uplifting ending. I also love the setting, since I haven't heard/read that many stories set in rural India. Really well done.



Ichneumon

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Reply #5 on: December 19, 2017, 03:38:26 PM
This was so good! I wonder if the evil mother-in-laws were abused themselves when they first moved to their husband's family. It reminds me of hazing.
I liked that the ghost wasn't too aggressive, just haunted enough to get the girl a little respect.