PC542-544: Waters of Versailles

[Ocicat]

PodCastle 542-544: Waters of Versailles

A novella in three parts



Rated R for adult themes.

Originally published at tor.com

Listen to this week’s PodCastle!

[Lionman]

Was there reference to the R-rating in the intro?  I missed it, making this not good for mixed company or the family.  In fact, the opening scenes feel like they boarder on NC-17-rating.

Getting (finally) passed that, it's very interesting!

[MokalusOfBorg]

What I loved most about this story was the fatherly bond that developed between the nixie and Sylvain, culminating in the rescue from the fountain. The image of Sylvain cradling and rocking the nixie back to calm resonated with me as a father.
The idea of providing running water through velvet sleeves and magic is genius, and made me realise that the first plumbers must really have been making things up as they went along.
Finally, I loved the image of collapsing all the palatial plumbing both to spite the courtiers and to care for the nixie. It is, for some reason, tremendously satisfying to think of rich layabouts having everything taken from them when they do not appreciate it.

Mokalus of Borg

PS - I'm not clear on what killed Leblanc.
PPS - Though I suppose the detail didn't matter to the story.

[Moritz]

A story I needed to listen to twice to understand it. I'm glad I gave it a second try.

Still not sure who or what killed LeBlanc, though I would guess it was the nixie. Great settings, characters, and presentations. Was the nixie sounding like Serkis' Gollum intentional? it worked for me, because it made her alienness clear.