Long time listener (to all escape artists pods), first time poster . . .
Someone already commented about this at podcastle.org, but I too wish to briefly address how comically annoying I found the mispronunciation of Xenia (the town in Ohio where Iris lives at the end of the story). The wonderful Ann Leckie said "Zen-ee-uh" (3 syllables) when it's actually pronounced "Zeen-yuh" (2 syllables) . . . at no fault of her own however; for if I had not lived both in and around the city of Dayton, I too might be inclined to pronounce it the same as Ann Leckie. Nevertheless, wonderful reading as always Ann.
Now, I must admit that I was so eager to finally sign up and post in this forum because of this little mishap, but was planning on doing so another day . . . that was until my ipod (set on shuffle mode) directly chose, out of 1,500 files, the song Rundgang Um Die Transzendentale Saule Der Singularitat by black-metal artist Burzum--which for any of you who are not familiar with was a song featured on the soundtrack for the movie Gummo, directed by Harmony Korine, which is (more or less) a not-so-accurate disturbing portrait of Xenia, Ohio and its residents. And for being someone who reads far too much in rather inane coincidences, I finally decided to join the forums this very evening and comment on this particular story. But enough jibber-jabber . . .
I for one found this story overall pleasing, but was rather taken aback by the ending, or lack thereof. It seems to me that the story fell short of its own foreshadowing (if indeed there was supposed to be one), for I was waiting for the enigmatic conman to really pull one over on Iris. Of course we all probably expected that he was going to con her in some way, but all he really did was punish her for her own sense of dishonesty . . . some punishment: reimbursing her for her own money lost. Though I suppose one could argue that there exists the implication that the realization of her own dishonesty was in itself the punishment. However, I was waiting for the conman to reveal a horrible fortune . . . for, as he (under the alias Joe Truman) had stated to Iris: "when a conman tells fortunes, he doesn't usually tell the good parts, he tells the bad in hints of dire fates that can be averted only by copius payments to the piper; but I do not cheat honest men." Well the conman definately cheated Iris, yet he still revealed to her a good fortune in his note at the very end. I was expecting the note to reveal a bad fortune which would call into question whether or not Iris could live with her dishonest act or try and avert the bad fortune by playing the conman's game even further.
Nevertheless, I liked this story for many reasons: 1) I caught a mistake in pronunciation which led to a freaky musical coincidence that amused me for at least an hour at work today; 2) it finally motivated me to join the forums; 3) it was a similar tale told very well; 4) the characters were quite charming; 5) I enjoy stories that play on technique and style (the only time dialogue was shared amongst other characters was at the beginning and at the end of the story . . . makes me wonder if there's a deeper meaning behind this); 6) any story that gets me thinking (let alone criticize) is a good story me.
~peace(s)
« Last Edit: February 03, 2009, 02:18:57 AM by Chadwicked »
the remnants of tomorrow shattering my aspirations . . .