Wow, heavy story. I have a Pavlovian response to seeing/hearing the name Resnick now, it's like bungee jumping off of a bridge, there's fear, excitement, and the near certainty that it will all end in tears even if it is enjoyable.
Every time I see Resnick's name in the author field I worry, because I just don't like his style or most of his stories. I guess I'm in the minority, since he's the most awarded author or somesuch.
The reading was passable, though there was some metallic rattling at times that I think could be explained by the microphone. I also like how, in PC, breaths are left in, whereas in most EP and PP that I remember, the breaths are taken out in editing.
The story didn't do anything for me. It was interesting at first, but it was FAR too talky and I just felt like it didn't go anywhere. I have a couple minutes left of it, but I can't see it getting much better in two minutes. It's like "I'm Merlin, I live backward in time, here's someone I'm talking to that I don't remember, I'm really upset about that, here's a pithy reference to how I live backward in time, rinse, repeat."
Either way, to me the story just sounded like the same thing over and over again:
“Someone’s coming. Do they know me? Do I know them? I’ll drop some vague and mysterious statement to stall for time and get rid of them. Now I’ll try to remember… But I can’t remember! Someone’s coming. Do they know me?”
I realize this story is important to people who've been affected by Alzheimer's, but I'm sure there at least a few good stories about memory on the slushpile that were (a) written more recently (b) more interesting (c) not written by Mike Resnick. But to me it was distressingly self-indulgent and pretty boring, and it kind of felt a little anachronistic too; though it took place in the Round Table times, I didn't have any sense of being in that time. It was more like all these actors going to a big castle and playing parts.
I try to give every story at least a chance, but I'm almost to the point where I'll see Resnick's name and think "oh, thank goodness, I can save myself 45 minutes and just move onto the next item in my podqueue."