Pseudopod 065: Doghead

[Bdoomed]

Pseudopod 065: Doghead

By Craig A. Strickland

Read by Steve Anderson

She felt polarized with excitement and fatigue, and her hot eyes suddenly brimmed with tears as they scanned the room, at the dusty wine bottles in the rack in the corner. At the tiny T.V. on the nightstand, at the refrigerator magnets; little cartoon pigs holding scraps of coupons and phone numbers. Finally, at the window, half-closed blinds revealing only the Toyota’s front wheels resting on the parking lot, five feet higher and right outside.

Something dripped under the car. Steadily. Almost – a trickle. If that was oil she had a hell of a problem.
Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Listen to this week's Pseudopod.

[bolddeceiver]

Good shiver-factor, and clever twist ending.  Interesting to note, there's always horror potential in cars hitting dogs....

[eytanz]

A bit too repetitive, but overall a pretty good story. I really liked that, despite the gruesome turn of events, and the supernatural twist, the actual menace played out entirely in the protagonist's thoughts - the dog head could do nothing to her, and she knew that - it was the implications of its existence, both to the world around her and to her personal future - that were the real issue at hand.

[DKT]

Storywise, this one just didn't click for me.  The plot felt too familiar (as bolddeceiver already pointed out) and I just couldn't get all that concerned about the horror factor.  The twist left me pretty cold. 

That said, I have to give credit to Steve Anderson's reading.  Despite my feelings about the story, the reading added a level of suspense that the story itself lacked and I couldn't stop listening because he did such a good job reading it.

[wakela]

I didn't care for the story or the reading.  It felt like Mr. Anderson was giving every single line too much emotional punch.

As for the story, there was some creepiness about a severed dog head stuck to her car, but I didn't feel a sense of danger.  The eye movement was too easily explained by guilt and exhaustion, so while it was unusual and gross to have a severed dog head on the car, it didn't seem horrific.  I didn't see the twist coming, but I thought it was going a child's head, and guilt made her remember hitting a dog.  The feeling of "Oooooh, a werewolf.  THAT explains everything" seemed unnatural. 

[gelee]

OK, finally got the ipod unscrewed and was able to listen to this story.
Steve certainly gave it his all.  It was a good performance, but the story just didn't do anything for me.  The characterization was good, but I just couldn't buy into the premise. 
If I saw a dogs head stuck in my grill with the eyes rolling around, I would assume it was some kind of nervous twitch.  I'd wedge it out, stick it in a trash bag, and toss it in the dumpster.  Would I puke?  Yeah, probably.  I'd also know that the longer I left the head in there, the worse it would stink and I'd want to get it out fresh.

[Listener]

Another story about a car hitting a dog?

The twist, as has been said, did not make me happy.  There wasn't enough buildup to make me believe that werewolves exist in that universe.

The reading was not too bad.  It needed some volume normalization (is that the right word?).

[DDog]

First couple of minutes I was going "Wait a minute...Didn't I hear this one already?" I suppose it's not really the authors' faults for having market saturation on car-hits-dog stories; there is value in knowing your market though, but I also don't know the timeframe on PP's slushpile.

I agree the twist was kind of... I didn't see it coming, sure, but there's a difference between "surprise" and "deus ex machina." It was okay over all though, and I liked it better than the other dog story.

I didn't like the reader's female voice.

[DKT]

First couple of minutes I was going "Wait a minute...Didn't I hear this one already?" I suppose it's not really the authors' faults for having market saturation on car-hits-dog stories; there is value in knowing your market though, but I also don't know the timeframe on PP's slushpile.

Yeah, I don't blame the author for having a similar story to one Pseudopod's already run (although it might sound like it from my previous comment).  It's just that the overall plot felt way too familiar because I've heard it/read it/seen it so many places before. 

[Russell Nash]

Story didn't do it for me and think DKT and Wakela covered it all.

Question:  Did she really hit a werewolf in wolf form or was she in some kind of denial and just hit a normal guy?

I go with the normal guy.  As was pointed out (by Listener?) there's no reason to expect werewolves really exist in this story.

[eytanz]

Story didn't do it for me and think DKT and Wakela covered it all.

Question:  Did she really hit a werewolf in wolf form or was she in some kind of denial and just hit a normal guy?

I go with the normal guy.  As was pointed out (by Listener?) there's no reason to expect werewolves really exist in this story.

I go with werewolf. The reasoning is simple - if she hit a normal guy, he'd be dead. Thus, not only does she have to view the guy as a dog, but she had to imagine the whole "it's still alive!" thing. Now, it could be that she's just hallucinating in order to avoid the guilt of looking at the dead guy's head, but then - what changed to make her see it in the morning?

If I have to choose between a story of a woman having random, unmotivated, hallucinations that don't make sense and don't gel together to give the story any point, and a story including a surprise werewolf, I'd rather go with the latter.

[Russell Nash]

Story didn't do it for me and think DKT and Wakela covered it all.

Question:  Did she really hit a werewolf in wolf form or was she in some kind of denial and just hit a normal guy?

I go with the normal guy.  As was pointed out (by Listener?) there's no reason to expect werewolves really exist in this story.

I go with werewolf. The reasoning is simple - if she hit a normal guy, he'd be dead. Thus, not only does she have to view the guy as a dog, but she had to imagine the whole "it's still alive!" thing. Now, it could be that she's just hallucinating in order to avoid the guilt of looking at the dead guy's head, but then - what changed to make her see it in the morning?

If I have to choose between a story of a woman having random, unmotivated, hallucinations that don't make sense and don't gel together to give the story any point, and a story including a surprise werewolf, I'd rather go with the latter.

What if she hit a zombie.  You have to go with the zombie.  you know…because it's a zombie.

[wakela]

OMG!  Everyone, zombies have broken into the Doghead discussion.  Quick, barricade the entrance with a discussion of whether or not we have free will or defining what makes a story science fiction! 

Must...listen...to...next...story....
escape...to....other...thread...

[Unblinking]

The twist on this one caught me off guard and that's good.  But this wasn't what I would really call a story.  Our heroine does nothing to change her fate, she hits the dog by accident, she doesn't get out at the time which is understandable in a bad neighborhood, she goes home and is scared, and then daylight comes.  She's never really in danger, there's no character or story arc.  Things happen and then the words end and that's it.

[Fenrix]

I go with werewolf. The reasoning is simple - if she hit a normal guy, he'd be dead. Thus, not only does she have to view the guy as a dog, but she had to imagine the whole "it's still alive!" thing. Now, it could be that she's just hallucinating in order to avoid the guilt of looking at the dead guy's head, but then - what changed to make her see it in the morning?

If I have to choose between a story of a woman having random, unmotivated, hallucinations that don't make sense and don't gel together to give the story any point, and a story including a surprise werewolf, I'd rather go with the latter.

I go with werewolf because the description of the head silhouette was far to canid for a human. I recall the snout and ears being described, and that's not easily mistaken, even if you're flighty.

Overall, I was unimpressed by the story as I found it difficult to empathize with the character and the situation didn't draw me in.

[Millenium_King]

I have mixed feelings about this story.  I did appreciate how it built up the horror of the situation, but I kept wondering if her reaction was entirely believable - I certainly know I would have reacted differently.  Because of this, it became tough for me to seperate how I would have reacted with how she was reacting.  Ergo, I can only conclude the characterization was a little thin.

It was tough not to think: Call the press, dummy!  You're rich!  They're gonna write whole new science books about this!

But then...  The ending ruined it for me.  An original idea, turned into a dull archetype.  I was not aware the grilles of Toyotas were made out of silver.

The concept, however, recalled to mind certain experiments by Vladimir Demikhov (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Demikhov) involving the heads of dogs.  There are videos on youtube (for which I will spare you the links) but I should warn you: this is another case of reality being far more horrific than fiction.  (FYI - I am pretty sure the video showing a severed dog head still alive with only the aid of machines is Soviet propoganda - the others seem legitimate).

EDIT: Forgot to mention, EXCELLENT reading!!!  Loved it!  One of the best so far.

[Unblinking]

I was not aware the grilles of Toyotas were made out of silver.

Did it say that the grill was silver?  I thought the head died when the moon went away.  I would also be surprised if the grill were silver.  I'd guess chrome is much more likely. 

[Millenium_King]

I was not aware the grilles of Toyotas were made out of silver.

Did it say that the grill was silver?  I thought the head died when the moon went away.  I would also be surprised if the grill were silver.  I'd guess chrome is much more likely. 

Haha - sorry.  I was being sarcastic.  Doesn't always translate well into the written word.  That Toyota so thoroughly tore apart the werewolf that I figured a silver grill was the only explaination.

(And you're half-right: in the good-ol'-days when cars were made out of actual metal, it might have had an actual chromed-steel grille.  Now it's probably just painted fiberglass or plastic.)