Author Topic: PC017: Goblin Lullaby  (Read 44585 times)

VewDew

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Reply #25 on: July 24, 2008, 04:36:17 PM
I have been a subscriber of all 3 podcasts since the beginning and this is the first one time I have posted a comment.  I really enjoyed this story because of the way Jonathan was portrayed.  Instead of the classic noble quest point of view, I really enjoyed the how his pomposity was displayed.  It shows how there are always two sides to every story.



Roney

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Reply #26 on: July 24, 2008, 10:16:07 PM
I think I've been reading too many D&D parodies recently because this story kept irritating me.  Rather than see it as a standard High Fantasy setting I kept thinking that the whole throne-stealing/wood-elves/quest/goblin-raid scenario sounded like the inspiration-free scribbling of a teenage D&Der.  This may have been intentional but it made it really difficult for me to suspend disbelief and engage with the story, which I prefer to do even with the fun stuff.

I also couldn't help comparing it unfavourably to Goblins.

Great reading, though.



Nobilis

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Reply #27 on: July 24, 2008, 10:30:07 PM
I liked this story.

Technically, it was well constructed and well executed.

The story plot itself was simple, as a short story's ought to be.

The voice of Christiana Ellis is always welcome, especially in a fun story.

Three thumbs up!



JoshEnglish

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Reply #28 on: July 25, 2008, 01:10:13 AM
Great story, and a great reading by Christiana. I've only heard her read one other piece (Mary Hobson's God Juice over on Escape Pod) and I've loved both performances.

This story does a great job of examining the consequences of fantasy tropes. I'll have to look for his work. Thanks to Podcastle for introducing me to his work.



tazo

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Reply #29 on: July 25, 2008, 01:37:22 AM
... and the recent XBox 360 game Overlord, which, as everyone's already said, turned things on their head by showing things from the evil race's point of view.

Dungeon Keeper did that eleven years ago.

Fascinating.  Unsurprising that someone did it before, but still really cool.

And Robney, that point makes me want to run a campaign in D and D of all Goblin Raiders.



Boggled Coriander

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Reply #30 on: July 25, 2008, 08:35:32 AM
I have nothing new to add to the general chorus of approval.  I just want to say that I've never enjoyed a Podcastle story quite as much as this one.  (Not that all the others were ponderous, solemn affairs.)

I'm relieved I wasn't the only person to think of Dungeon Keeper.  I'm relieved I wasn't the only person to remember Dungeon Keeper.

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zZzacha

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Reply #31 on: July 25, 2008, 12:26:56 PM
I also cheer in this chorus of approval! What a great story and very well read by Christiana Ellis. Her voice gave the main character a nice extra level, with her down-to-earth moping about diapers and being all sarcastic about the prince's quest.

As VewDew already posted: "It shows how there are always two sides to every story."
That's what great about this story. I always love the 'other' point of view in a story, because it points out what you normally take for granted in a story. Like in this story, it plays with the whole quest thing and the pompous prince and that makes this story great fun!

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Void Munashii

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Reply #32 on: July 25, 2008, 02:47:08 PM
I'm relieved I wasn't the only person to think of Dungeon Keeper.  I'm relieved I wasn't the only person to remember Dungeon Keeper.

  I loved those games, espeically the second one. I could never beat the first one because it always crashed on the last level :( .

  I was really disappointed when the third one was never made, but with Fallout 3 coming out I guess there is always hope.

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stePH

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Reply #33 on: July 26, 2008, 12:30:13 AM
I'm relieved I wasn't the only person to think of Dungeon Keeper.  I'm relieved I wasn't the only person to remember Dungeon Keeper.

  I loved those games, espeically the second one. I could never beat the first one because it always crashed on the last level :( .

  I was really disappointed when the third one was never made, but with Fallout 3 coming out I guess there is always hope.

I never played Dungeon Keeper, but it came out at a time when my thumb was firmly on the pulse of PC gaming, so I still remember it.

I did play the hell out of its predecessor Magic Carpet, and am currently revisiting that game in its Playstation port.

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JoeFitz

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Reply #34 on: July 26, 2008, 12:50:35 AM
Good story; great reading.

I especially liked the practical use for the magic curse and the elf's reaction.



Schreiber

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Reply #35 on: July 26, 2008, 04:21:28 AM
Did anyone else think that the story had a distinctly anti-war message?  It's not that the Goblins are uniformly righteous and misunderstood.  In fact, Goblin society at large seems just as senseless and bull-headed as humanity.  But the bloodshed between the humans/elves and the goblins is nonetheless pointless.  The looming war between Jonathan and Wendell seems like it would be particularly catastrophic, and the conclusion the Goblin protagonist effected seems like the best of all possible outcomes.



MacArthurBug

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Reply #36 on: July 26, 2008, 02:33:20 PM
I loved this one

that is all. :)

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Dwango

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Reply #37 on: July 28, 2008, 09:29:52 PM
Ahhh, Dungeon Keeper.  That was one of the best presented games of all time.  I still remember the wonderful intro, the snarky narration, the obnoxiuos horned reaper.  I can see how it plays in this story.  This makes me want to fire it up again and kick some goody two-shoe adventurer ass.

This story tickles the cynic in me.  I love the practicality of the protagonist.  She's pragamatic to the hilt and doesn't give a damn about ideals, chivalry, or even piracy.  And the author makes her clever to boot.  She sees the situations sideways so she takes advantage of the unobvious.  The oblivious knight didn't have chance against the ultimate weapon.

I don't see this as an anti-war story.  The goblin nanny could care about the war, she just sees her own personal problems.  If the war helped her, she support it.  In this case, it gets in the way of a good nap.  I know the feeling, I'd rather have a good night sleep these days than anything else.



stePH

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Reply #38 on: July 28, 2008, 10:05:15 PM
... and the recent XBox 360 game Overlord, which, as everyone's already said, turned things on their head by showing things from the evil race's point of view.

Dungeon Keeper did that eleven years ago.

... and how could I overlook the obvious ... playing the "orc" campaign in any of the Warcraft games (I cut my RTS teeth on Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness.)

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Schreiber

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Reply #39 on: July 28, 2008, 11:54:40 PM
Tide of Darkness...who could forget the hammer-wielding, Al Pacino-quoting Orcs?  Good times.



Windup

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Reply #40 on: July 29, 2008, 04:12:17 AM

I'm late to the party -- delayed by work travel -- but this one was a blast.  Like others, I appreciated seeing the Goblin Nanny as the main character.  And what a character she was...

"My whole job is in the space between 'should be' and 'is.' It's a big space."


Animite

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Reply #41 on: July 29, 2008, 10:17:10 PM
This story was a par on excellence. It was the clash of down-to-earth reality and common living meeting the ether of formulaic fantasy.

I suppose this story should be a warning to all those adventurers out there not take appearances lightly. What may appear to be a harmless old goblin could in fact turn out to be a 50th level uber-goblin of absolute common sense just trying to find a little peace and quiet.   

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Schreiber

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Reply #42 on: July 30, 2008, 12:37:02 PM
Quote
I don't see this as an anti-war story.  The goblin nanny could care about the war, she just sees her own personal problems.  If the war helped her, she support it.  In this case, it gets in the way of a good nap.  I know the feeling, I'd rather have a good night sleep these days than anything else.

"Hey hey!  Ho-ho!  This Elf campaign has got to go! Hey-hey!  Ho-ho!"

No, this is true.  The goblin nanny certainly wasn't on a "quest" of her own to stop wars in general.  But I think that strengthens the anti-war message rather than weakens it.  Her outlook never suggested that the skirmishes between humans and goblins were wrong per se, just stupid and destructive.  Which strengthens the message because it doesn't it couch it in a monolithic, overarching worldview that makes too many demands on us, but rather in plain, simple common sense.



Bdoomed

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Reply #43 on: July 31, 2008, 06:44:31 PM
this was a very fun story :) very entertaining, and kept me smiling throughout the entire reading.  Christiana was a great pick for the reader too

I'd like to hear my options, so I could weigh them, what do you say?
Five pounds?  Six pounds? Seven pounds?


Meeks

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Reply #44 on: August 03, 2008, 06:53:03 PM
I'm not much of one for fluff pieces like this one.  It also had all manner of the standard D&D markings on it: sarcastic humor, quests that no one cares about, a general cheapening of life and archetypes galore.  Furthermore it had something I'm coming to see as a mainstay of PodCastle--the dry  lead that deals with all the mundane crap (literally in this case), who doesn't care one bit about the other characters except as nuisances that need to be put aside for life to happily continue.

I'm looking forward to more stories that push outside of the archetypes and use fantasy as a lens into our own world.  I really do enjoy fantastic elements in stories, but having something to relate to helps in my enjoyment.  I can join a D&D campaign any time I want and get a story just like this.  I hope we can get some more stories from authors that have surprising and refreshing ideas, rather than those who just beat the dead horse from a different angle.



CammoBlammo

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Reply #45 on: August 05, 2008, 01:04:42 PM
Did anyone else think that the story had a distinctly anti-war message?

If anything I saw this story as strongly feminist, or at least the sort of story many feminists would say we don't get enough of. It told the story of war, but from the point of view from an old lady who is merely trying to look after a child. It was her story, and the war was only incidental to it. She was well and truly 'other' for the wannabe prince. She just went about her business as well as she could in the hopes she would be able to quieten the war down so she (and her child) could get some sleep. In the process she stopped a war, but probably started another one.

How many wars have been won or lost because of the activity of women behind the scenes? Those stories are as much a part of our history as the noble deeds of heroes, yet they're not considered to be anywhere as important. Fair enough too, I suppose. I want to hear tales of heroism and valour, not menial domestic stuff. Still, women were there, and the great heroes had to do the menial stuff as well. Women have always had to commit acts as brave as their men. The problem is that it's not always so glamorous.

Of course, massive flamewars have been started by comments as innocuous as this, so I'd better stop. I'm trying to be observant, not brave!



zZzacha

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Reply #46 on: August 05, 2008, 01:59:53 PM
Of course, massive flamewars have been started by comments as innocuous as this, so I'd better stop. I'm trying to be observant, not brave!

CammoBlammo, you brave and observant knight. I will leave my flame torch in my pocket, my hands are full of diapers at the moment anyway. Women... we're so busy with all the menail stuff, we don't have time for flamewars!

;P  Sorry, my domestic alter ego had me say that. Now I have to go and be a great hero somewhere. Tatadadaaaaaa!


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Rachel Swirsky

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Reply #47 on: August 05, 2008, 05:03:29 PM
Quote
If anything I saw this story as strongly feminist

Heh, I see it as a story about class struggle, particularly the kinds of class struggle relating to fuedalism. Goblins are peasants, often treated cruelly and made to suffer because of what the elves and kings desire.

I'm so avoided lit theory, but if I recall all my history correctly... The literary movement Romanticism (1800s) was the first time when writers said, "Hey, you know, it's nice to write about kings and all that, but we think people from the lower classes are just as appropriate as subjects for stories." (The equivalent happened in art with Impressionism, where the Impressionists painted prostitutes, actresses, and other people who had previously been considered too lowly to bother with.) I see this story as the fantasy equivalent of that. Beautiful elves and gallant kings are nice and all, but how about the goblin we dispatched before we even got a +1 sword?



Lionman

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Reply #48 on: August 18, 2008, 05:50:39 PM
I rather liked the angle of this story.  The humor of the goblin just wanting peace, doing whatever it takes to get her moment of quiet.  Of course, it's not the way the legends are told, but probably just how one or two of them actually played out before they were doctored by time and wishful thinking.

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Dwango

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Reply #49 on: August 29, 2008, 09:03:34 PM
Just a note, I liked this story so much, I got the novel.  This is the first story on any of the escape artist shows that got me to buy a novel by the author.  I finished Goblin Quest and I'm going to get the next two books in the series.  Really fun stuff.