Pseudopod 063: The Western Front

[Bdoomed]

Pseudopod 063: The Western Front

By Patrick Samphire

Read by Paul Jenkins

We crawled forward. My hand pressed on a face jutting from the mud. I turned away and forced myself not to vomit.

A shell ruptured the earth nearby. Mud hammered over me. I bit my tongue to stop myself screaming. I rubbed the mud from my face.

When I could see again, I realised my men were no longer in sight. Panic took me. “Wait,” I whispered. “Wait.”

No one answered.


Remember Veteran’s Day, Nov 11.


Listen to this week's Pseudopod.

[Jim]

I liked this story for the intense war-time drama of it, but the thing with the rose really didn't make any sense.

Couldn't the squad just be attacked by a tentacled monster?

[Le Cruise]

this story brings to mind an old saying.

"War is Hell"

[gelee]

Great story.  Patrick did a great job of capturing both the early optimism and later despair that characterised WWI.  The U.S. didn't have much involvement in the first great war, so it's easy for us Yanks to forget how truly enourmous the scope of those battles were. 
I thought I got a good feel for what sort of person the Lt. was in a very short time.  Both Bird and the Lt. came across as very real and believeable.
The story also leaves an interesting question for the reader/listener: Were these men inspired by The Rose, or conscripted by it?  Once they saw it, did they even have any choice about whether or not to defend it?
I also have to mention Paul Jenkins.  This was an excellent reading.  Paul gave a great voice to both the Lt. and Bird.  I realy had the sense I was listening to someone elses private recollections.

[Listener]

I think this was a very good story.  Just not a horror story that belongs in the horror genre.  More like a drama.  Or even a horror/fantasy or dark fantasy.  The rose angle was really what broke it for me.  I was expecting Bird to be a vampire.

Another story done in letter format.  I hope some publications start moratoria (moratoriums?) on those, as they're getting a little tiring.

[darusha]

I was totally sucked in by this story.  The gritty realism of the scene and the Lt.'s increasing madness are my idea of excellent horror.  And then the rose showed up.  What a shame.

Oh well.  Different strokes for different folks.

[Loz]

I often enjoy stories just because Jenks reads them and this was the same.

[DDog]

I was perfectly prepared for this to be a war story where the Lt. goes increasingly mad--that belongs in the horror genre to me, especially if he had completely snapped at the end. The rose confused me. Was it the same one that had "fallen" out of the Lt.'s diary? Why do Bird's eyes go all golden by the end? Are the Lt.'s eyes golden as well?

I enjoyed it though--although I may have enjoyed it less in print. The reading was excellent.

[Chivalrybean]

I wasn't sure about the rose either... obviously, being 'realistic' isn't required, but it was so for out there and totally unexplained, I got a bit lost at the rose too.

[Thaurismunths]

I loved this story, but am very tardy in posting so.

I really expected this to be about a soldier's descent in to madness, which would have been terrifying enough, but the twist was well executed.

I think the Lt. lost one rose to gain another.

[Haggis]

Another late reply.

Here's a positive vote for the rose--a symbol of love, life and light--everything that war lacks.

Well written and well read.

[Coyote]

Jenkins' reading was absolutely perfect for the story. It was a slice of supernatural crammed in with all the horror of the real world, and what really struck me was how the two were contrasted.

In most stories, we are presented by the normal, and then the abnormal or supernatural comes into play and turns the world upside down. This story, however, threw us into a time where the normal world was already turned upside down, and the supernatural element acts as the one bastion of peace.

[stePH]

Like others, I didn't see this one as horror.  This would have been better suited to Podcastle (except that I don't think Podcastle existed when this story ran.)

As for the rose, am I the only one reminded of Stephen King's "Dark Tower" septology?  The Rose is introduced in volume 3, The Wastelands, growing in a vacant lot in New York City, and its protection is of the utmost importance to the maintenance of all worlds and dimensions in existence.

[Unblinking]

A war-based story is a good choice for Veteran's Day, of course, but this one didn't set itself apart from many other war stories in the beginnings.  I didn't even get to any hint of the speculative element by the time I'd stopped listening.

stePH, I didn't get to the rose in the story, but yes it does sound much like the Dark Tower rose, and I"m certain I would've made the same association if I'd gotten that far.  Even if I had made it that far, I don't think it would've wowed me since it sounds like the serial number was just filed off from The Dark Tower (maybe that's too harsh since I didn't get to that point).

[Millenium_King]

I liked this story.  I was pretty close to loving it, but I'm not sure how I feel about The Rose.  As a metaphor, it worked well - but if it was supposed to be an actual, magical thing I don't really like it.  Because it was ambiguous, I think I liked this story more.

Well told, well paced with solid language.  Nothing really to complain about here.  Close to making the top 10.

And I definately thought it WAS horror: you don't need vampires and monsters and all that ephemera to make a horror story.  Reality is often much more terrifying.  These sort of horror stories surpass all others, frequently, because they are based upon actual things.  I'm disappointed to see a lot of people raising the "this isn't horror" schtick here.

One thing I did not like was the title.  It recalled All Quiet on the Western Front too much.  It should have been called "The Rose" or "Sunlight" or something like that.

The only historical gripe I have with it is that when Bird mentioned Haight saying the Germans would break at Somme, it was because a secret weapon had been deployed against them that would ultimately win the war and pave the way for modern warfare: the Mark I tank.  So Haight was not totally exaggerating.  Given the timeline (the Royal Tank Corps. had been established by the time this took place) I am surprised the Mark I was not mentioned.  Only a few months later (November) a few hundred tanks were deployed against the Germans in the first major armored victory in history.