Author Topic: Pseudopod 95: No Tomorrows  (Read 22514 times)

Ben Phillips

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Reply #25 on: July 01, 2008, 07:16:29 AM
I also noticed the lack of resolution regarding Horton, and my trenchant analysis consisted of:  well, he was kind of a dick, so do we care?  :)



DKT

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Reply #26 on: July 01, 2008, 06:03:07 PM
I also noticed the lack of resolution regarding Horton, and my trenchant analysis consisted of:  well, he was kind of a dick, so do we care?  :)

YES! 

I mean, c'mon.  We've had loads of stories about dicks here that we care about for one reason or another.  ;)


Loz

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Reply #27 on: July 01, 2008, 09:31:20 PM
I enjoyed that, though I eighth or ninth what everyone else said about the lack of explanation for any of it, and the sudden ending, it reminded me of some of the shorter Michael Moorcock stories broadcast on Starship Sofa earlier this year.



SteveCooperOrg

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Reply #28 on: July 01, 2008, 10:54:17 PM
Thanks for the comments, guys.

Yeah, I definitely need to work on finding the balance between providing enough explanation and cack-handed infodumping. Some of that info is explained in the PDF mentioned above, but really that's not the right place for it, is it? The right place is in the story. Storytelling should never happen in an appendix.

Again, I'm really grateful for your feedback.



wakela

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Reply #29 on: July 04, 2008, 12:53:44 AM
Sorry I'm late to the party, but I wanted to say how much I enjoyed the story.  The characters were interesting, funny and world-weary --  but not in the dry, Dekard-from-Bladerunner way that I am so tired of.

Quote from: eytanz
One thing I like about this story is that it felt well-worked out; i.e., that when there were things I didn't understand, I didn't feel "huh, the author didn't think things through", but rather "I'm sure there's an answer to this". I'm glad to see that was right...
Yes.  It felt rushed in a fun, roller coaster way.  I want to know more the same way I want more donuts.  But your shouldn't eat all the donuts in one sitting.  It's best if you save some for later.  I would love to read more stories about the chorovores, -nauts, -mancers, -philiacs, etc. 

And, Alasdair, great, great reading.  It really added to the humor and characterizations. 



Tango Alpha Delta

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Reply #30 on: July 04, 2008, 03:03:12 AM
I'm avoiding the possible spoilers on principle (and because page loads are interfering with my sound card tonight for some reason), so this may be redundant commentary... but that beats just saying, "Yeah, I liked it, too, and thought the same thing as everyone else!" right?


Anyway, I was waiting for some more detailed explanation of what happened after Ethan goblet-smacked Horton.  I guessed that the combination of ingredients/blow to the head/distraction with bullets caused Horton to lose whatever magic "transparency" he had.  But I was waiting for more of a denouement than even the "blue text" Steve posted.

-Did Sonia still go through with the sting, with Ethan playing Falkirk?  Or did they buy the drugs and let the guys go?
-Wasn't Falkirk still distinctly dead?  She'd still have to deal with the fallout from that, wouldn't she?


I guess a lot of my questions stemmed from the fact that I wasn't sure what was really at stake.  Ethan's mission was to take out Falkirk, so good for him; but it felt like with so much else going on, there was something larger I was supposed to be paying attention to.

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koda

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Reply #31 on: July 07, 2008, 02:33:19 PM
Ditto!

I would like some mo' pleeeeeeeeaaaze!!! =)

Very l4yercake-like.

Live every week like it's Shark Week!


SteveCooperOrg

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Reply #32 on: July 08, 2008, 08:19:29 AM
Might I recommend the work of Mike Carey?

I'm 2/3rds through his first novel, The Devil You Know, which is about a London exorcist and the mystery of a dead girl he's hired to exorcise. I think if you liked my stuff, you'll go for Mike's.

Mike Carey is the author I want to be when I grow up. ;) He also wrote for hellblazer. Check out an interview (pdf) in Hub Magazine.

Aaand finally, since I mentioned Hub; Hub will soon be podcasting Pseudopod's host Al Stuart's miniseries, Pantheon. Looks like it's going to be fun. So watch out for that, too.



Sgarre1

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Reply #33 on: July 16, 2008, 01:00:25 AM
Another miss for me, but then I'm not the target for this at all.

Quick observations

- for being hundreds of years old, the chronomancer guy has almost no personality The line about Greek was about it.

- the writer has, set-up in the main character, an absolutely perfect reason/ excuse to always have the world around the protagonist be eerie, except (IIRC), outside of using this to explain why he can see the chronomancer, this is only set-up as a childhood thing (with the faces in the skin guy as a nice topper) and not used to any effect later, or did I miss something?

- This one's a pet peeve with these kinda stories so feel free to just consider it something I always want to know. It's more something that gets fleshed out with a series, but I'd like some little inkling as to how much of this is perceivable to the real world? Sensitives and sorcerers and no ones the wiser?  Do the hoods hire the chronomancer through the protagonist know what they're getting or do they just think he's an uncannily adept hitman?  If the  criminals know, how well known is it all? Or is this full scale parallel world where magic... (and that ellipsis would be where I bail on this kind of story).

Thanks for listening
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« Last Edit: July 17, 2008, 02:30:59 AM by Sgarre1 »



JoeFitz

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Reply #34 on: July 17, 2008, 02:20:39 AM
Thanks so much for explaining the story! Unfortunately, I heard chronovore as carnivore. It still worked (and was pretty creepy) but it makes a lot more sense as chronovore.

I liked the setting and the pacing, etc. I recognized the Ipsum Lorum text (why do graphic designers call it "greek text"?) but didn't get much beyond "3 feet" from the Greek.

Great PP!



cartmancakes

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Reply #35 on: July 18, 2008, 12:04:57 AM
Am I the only one who is wondering about the books he mentions at the end of the podcast?  I heard Mike Resnick, but I couldn't for the life of me understand the title of the story.  The plot intrigued me, something about alien acheologists learning about human culture...  What is the title?



Unblinking

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Reply #36 on: October 23, 2009, 07:28:27 PM
This one had some interesting character interactions, a rich world with lots of interesting things (that I didn't really understand).  But in the end, I have to say it didn't really suit my fancy, for a few reasons:

1.  Too much I didn't understand, with the chronomancers, chronovores, why is Horton ghostlike, why does his ghostiness go away at the end, all of that.

2.  Horton is too powerful.  Nothing really serves as an obstacle to his progress (this is the same complaint I have about Superman by the way).

3.  The protagonist does nothing throughout the story. Horton drives everything, the protag just kind of follows along, even trying to just stay out of the way in the end climax.

4.  The appearance of his sister is just out the blue and seems to be intended to carry more weight than it did with me.



Millenium_King

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Reply #37 on: July 15, 2010, 11:03:15 PM
No clue what this one was about.  It just blabbed on and on and on and on.  There definately seemed to be a plot (something about hitmen going to kill somebody, ummm, related to dealing meth?).  But there was positively no thrust to this story.  It just wandered around.  The supernatural elements were confusing and I had no idea why a "chronomancer" or a body writhing with mouths suddenly appeared.  Heck, I had no idea what the significance of the protag's sister suddenly appearing was either.

I am willing to admit that there might be answers to these questions in the text, but the story simply did not grip me enough to make me notice (or care about) them.

I think this story would have benefitted from a more vigorous, direct style.  Rather than beating around the bush with vague conversation with "grandpa-like" old men, it would have been better if the scenario of two hitmen travelling to Istanbul was simply made plain.

Again, I don't really think there was a problem with the concept for this one.  I'm not even sure if the plot had any holes.  The truth is that it simply failed to hold my interest, making any other considerations I have about it secondary.

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