PC505: There Are No Wrong Answers

[Ocicat]

PodCastle 505: There Are No Wrong Answers






LaShawn M. Wanak lives in Madison, WI with her husband and son. Her short fiction and essays can be found in Strange Horizons, PodCastle, and Uncanny Magazine. She reviews books for Lightspeed Magazine and is a graduate of the 2011 class of Viable Paradise. Writing stories keeps her sane. Also, pie. Visit her at her blog, The Cafe in the Woods.



Jen Albert is an entomologist, writer, editor, narrator, game-player, cosplayer, streamer, reader of All The Things, and haver of far too many hobbies.

Jen somehow became co-editor of her favorite fantasy fiction magazine and podcast; she now wonders if she’s still allowed to call it her favorite. She lives in Toronto with her very large, very hairy German Shepherd.



Khaalidah Muhammad-Ali lives in Houston, Texas, with her husband and three children. By day she works as a breast oncology nurse. At all other times she juggles, none too successfully, writing, reading, gaming, and gardening. She has written one novel entitled An Unproductive Woman available on Amazon. She has also been published in or has stories upcoming in Escape Pod, Diabolical Plots, and FIYAH. Khaalidah also co-edits podcastle.org where she is on a mission to encourage more women to submit fantasy stories. Of her alter ego, K from the planet Vega, it is rumored that she owns a time machine and knows the secret to long youth. She can be found online at khaalidah.com and on Twitter at @khaalidah.

Listen to this week’s PodCastle!

[Father Beast]

Hmmnn... Interesting format for a story.

I am aware that there are often fads for personality inventory tests. The Myers-Briggs is popular at the moment. The color code was poplar thirty years ago. Each is valid - as far as they go. I take the position that each is equally valid, so I choose my own classifications:

Belgariad race, for innate nature.
Aes Sedai Ajah, from personal choice.
Hogwarts house, because why not.

Still, the story kept my attention with the fascinating characters and kept me rooting for the main woman. I liked it.

[Frank Evans]

the story kept my attention with the fascinating characters and kept me rooting for the main woman. I liked it.

Same for me. Enjoyable story and well produced. Thanks!

[Ichneumon]

Personality tests can only capture a static snapshot of who somebody is, with varying degrees of accuracy. I think people are too unpredictable, dynamic, and self deceiving for tests to mean too much.

[Fenrix]

This was an excellent story, and the thoughtful and broad comparisons of personality tests and astrology/fortune-telling was really nicely done. We start off with the skeptic, but slowly grow to accept the whole range for their own uses.