Author Topic: PC534: The Lamentation of Their Women  (Read 2799 times)

Ocicat

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on: August 07, 2018, 11:05:14 PM
PodCastle 534: The Lamentation of Their Women

Content warning: graphic violence and mature content



Rated X for sex, drug use, graphic depictions of violence with blood and gore and all it’s wet and slippery trappings, and general horror..

This story was originally published by TOR.com

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Sandra M. Odell

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Reply #1 on: August 09, 2018, 08:25:26 PM
What a powerful, engaging story!  Everything about both the prose and narration allowed me to slip into the story without hesitation.  Brutal and beautiful.



Moritz

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Reply #2 on: August 10, 2018, 08:53:15 AM
I generally liked the premise, but it became a bit stale in the second half of the story because of the many repetitions.

I'll leave the political discussions to those living in the US (I'm an American born/raised/living in Europe, so I have a rather detached point of view when it comes to such issues). I didn't quite like that the end comments by Khalida went in the direction of "see you in the forum for a discussion", because that sounded like Escape Artists wanted to get political/controversial on purposes. Now, I don't think it's wrong to include a political story. I also think this story can certainly be discussed here. But to tell us to have a discussion sounded a little bit patronising. I believe the story will generate a discussion on itself.



raroyce

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Reply #3 on: August 10, 2018, 10:13:02 PM
Amazing writing. Beautifully graphic. Stunning character development and imagery.
Is this a political story? Not in my mind, even with the references to BLM. Of course these murderers, like all murderers, would try to justify their murderous behavior by claiming some right to enact vengeance. That's the way of all those who act with evil intent, seduced and corrupted by power. But there is no justification for murder, for any reason. That's the reason to stand firm against any and all systems that try to do so, state sanctioned or otherwise. These are not avenging angels, and I like that the author doesn't try to make them seem so.
This is just plain amazing writing. I won't soon forget it.

;0


cwthree

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Reply #4 on: September 06, 2018, 02:24:03 AM
Gruesome, but beautifully crafted and brilliantly narrated.



Katzentatzen

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Reply #5 on: September 27, 2018, 06:18:34 PM
I know we weren't supposed to like the protagonists, and that was kind of a relief. I felt a lot of sick satisfaction as the events ad violence transpired. If nothing else, and it's very much besides this, it was great to let off some vicarious steam.

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Fenrix

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Reply #6 on: April 02, 2019, 11:24:41 PM
This was an engaging story. I'm not sure I agree with the "X" rating since I think that stigmatizes the work in a fashion which is not entirely fair.

Historically, in the US, the divide between X and R is generally pornography. It's also been historically used as a systematic punishment to rein in the message, as the commercial viability of a film drops off sharply above R. It's also worth noting that this classification above R is used more heavily against independent distributors -- those who are outside the system and don't have access to all the privileges of the big studios. With regards to this story, while the sexual content is there, we're not salaciously presented with descriptions of the individual acts. There's more textual lingering over gory bits than sexy bits. Natural Born Killers is rated "R" and I find this work comparable.

I'm glad the text was available, as I was wondering about the purpose of the repetition of the headers at the end.

All cat stories start with this statement: “My mother, who was the first cat, told me this...”