Author Topic: PC696: Tend to Me  (Read 715 times)

Ocicat

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on: September 14, 2021, 10:55:30 PM
PodCastle 696: Tend to Me

Author: Kristina Ten
Narrator: Nicola Seaton-Clark
Host: Summer Fletcher
Audio Producer: Peter Behravesh

Lightspeed

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Show Notes
Rated PG-13



Nora is a serial becomer. She has become many things in her life, though rarely on purpose. The first time, it just sort of happened. The second time, it was a coincidence. Now, it is a habit she cannot seem to break.

In the past, she has become a rock climber and a scuba diver, a beekeeper and a gardener and a mechanic specializing in European cars. For two months last summer, she was a stand-up comedian. Her senior year of college, she amassed New England’s largest collection of antique coins.

Nora has no interest in any of these things. She has, in fact, an acute fear of heights and depths and stages. Exhaust fumes make her sick, and she is allergic to bees.

But Nora cannot help herself: she is prone to absorbing the interests of whoever she is dating. She is caught in a pattern. She cannot get out.




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Álex Souza

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Reply #1 on: September 24, 2021, 01:28:04 AM
This story didn’t work for me, I’m afraid. :(

The speculative element takes long to appear, and when it does, I’m not sure if I wanted it to show up in the first place. The magic system is soft. Too soft. So soft that it breaks out of the magic system spectrum and falls into something else. And I don’t know what that is. Maybe something sui generis.

The way she changed and nobody even commented didn’t convince me. It happened fast and nobody seemed to bother or find it strange. I believe that it was meant to be funny. It looked like the author was trying to write humor, but I found myself frowning too much and had no time for laughs. >:(

I like the narrator though, especially how she reads dialogue. The way she reads male voices is funny. Funnier than the actual jokes.

This story reminded me of In that place she grows a garden, by Del Sandeen, published in Uncanny Magazine 38. It’s pretty much the same, but Tend to Me tackles on the dangers of being what others want you to be, of doing things only to praise others; while Sandeen’s story tackles more on racism. Tend To Me is also more aimed towards women, and how women absolutely shouldn’t dedicate their lives just to praise men. But those who do can find comfort in each other. It’s a good theme, at least...

I just wanna go pro before AI takes over and the bot dogs from Boston Dynamics kill us all.