PseudoPod 581: Love Will Tear Us Apart

[Bdoomed]

PseudoPod 581: Love Will Tear Us Apart

by Alaya Dawn Johnson
Narrated by Dominick Rabrun
Hosted by Tonia Thompson

‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ was first published in ‘Zombies vs. Unicorns’ in 2010


1. I Bet You Look Good on the Dance Floor

Think of it like the best macaroni and cheese you’ve ever had. No neon yellow Velveeta and bread crumbs. I’m talking gourmet cheddar, the expensive stuff from Vermont that crackles as it melts into that crust on top. Imagine if right before you were about to tear into it, the mac and cheese starts talking to you? And it’s really cool. It likes Joy Division more than New Order, and owns every Sonic Youth album, and saw you in the audience at the latest Arctic Monkeys concert, though you were too stoned to notice anything but the clearly sub–par cheesy mac you’d brought with you.



Listen to this week's PseudoPod.

[Scuba Man]

Great story. Well narrwted.... question about the last part....

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

...um, was the narrator quoting a Joy Division song, or did either Jack or Grayson pull a knife on the other? The prose got too purple for me! Pity.

Who knows why the love interest had scars all over the body. I like it.

[Fenrix]

Great story. Well narrwted.... question about the last part....

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

...um, was the narrator quoting a Joy Division song, or did either Jack or Grayson pull a knife on the other? The prose got too purple for me! Pity.

Who knows why the love interest had scars all over the body. I like it.

The text is all here and helps answer your question: http://pseudopod.org/2018/02/09/pseudopod-581-love-will-tear-us-apart/

Also the video for every section title is linked in the story, for your viewing pleasure.

[Scuba Man]

Great story. Well narrwted.... question about the last part....

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

...um, was the narrator quoting a Joy Division song, or did either Jack or Grayson pull a knife on the other? The prose got too purple for me! Pity.

Who knows why the love interest had scars all over the body. I like it.

The text is all here and helps answer your question: http://pseudopod.org/2018/02/09/pseudopod-581-love-will-tear-us-apart/

Also the video for every section title is linked in the story, for your viewing pleasure.

Re: Section 10. Shoot Out The Lights.
So...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

as far as I can see, it's NOT part of the Joy Division Song. If he attacks and devours another human, he'll experience his lover's tears... the two men will embrace. And as his lover will execute him with a switchblade...

...sigh, if it's meant to be vague that's fair enough. It's romantic fiction, not an IKEA manual! 

[Fenrix]

Twice in the paragraph he indicates imagining/fantasizing about losing control

“Do you cry out in your sleep / all my failings exposed” is a line from the title song

The blade going snicker-snack is a call back to the Jabberwocky discussion in Section 3

Maybe it's something like "if I were to lose control, I would be killed like the Jabberwocky, because losing control would make me a monster"

[Moritz]

The narrator did a terrific job, but the story's tone and topic wasn't for me.

I mean "Think of it like the best macaroni and cheese you’ve ever had." - I've never had macaroni and cheese...

[countblackula]

The narrator did a terrific job, but the story's tone and topic wasn't for me.

I mean "Think of it like the best macaroni and cheese you’ve ever had." - I've never had macaroni and cheese...

Thanks!

[Katzentatzen]

I love zombies and queer fiction, so this was fantastic. It didn't go anywhere that I expected it to! I love stories of a monster actually being a functional carrier of a chronic illness, since I sympathize on a visceral level. I like that their relationship isn't perfect either! Knowing you partner might eventually kill you is quite the elephant in the room. Too many stories end with the doomed but perfect lovers, and that's not interesting at all.