Author Topic: EP191: This Is How It Feels  (Read 22151 times)

Talia

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Reply #25 on: March 24, 2009, 08:54:56 PM
Yeah, that's totally ridiculous. It would take reducing the 'Heroes' and 'Dollhouse' schedules to end the world.

...:p



BethPeters

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Reply #26 on: March 25, 2009, 01:36:03 AM
The story was sweet, if not a bit overkill.  The reading was fabulous.  The hosting was unbearable-- I mean, almost Clonepod bad.  Missing Steve's intro's/outro's back in the day is one thing, this was, yikes.



Ersatz Coffee

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Reply #27 on: March 25, 2009, 07:38:08 AM
Interesting concept, slightly over-egged pudding; about a quarter of it could've been cut and it would have made its points more effectively. Well read though.

The SSS guy's presentation style was, er, interesting. Not sure I'd want to subject myself to it on a regular basis.



DarkKnightJRK

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Reply #28 on: March 25, 2009, 01:43:39 PM
Tony was...surprising, to say the least. Used to hearing Steve, so I wondered if I played the wrong 'cast for a sec. I adjusted quickly afterwards.

Overall, cool piece of near-future sci-fi. I can definately see something like this happening in my lifetime, and I'm not really sure if that's a good thing or not. The image of the holographic gravestones was particuarly haunting, too.



Listener

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Reply #29 on: March 25, 2009, 02:57:56 PM
I've harped on before about how Escape Pod should run more stories with space ships and aliens, but in response Mr Eley said that if they don't get submitted he couldn't select them.  So I guess the problem is they dont get submitted.

Well, after someone buys "Belief", I'll submit it to EP as a reprint. It has spaceships and aliens.

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Kaa

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Reply #30 on: March 25, 2009, 05:06:33 PM
I enjoyed the story. I, like Zathras, thought that the main character was that one who had killed Jenny, and I was surprised that it went elsewhere.  This is a good thing. :)  Overall, I liked the story.

But I had one major complaint: I'm writing a story in which some of these same ideas figure prominently, and now people will think I'm copying this one. :)

As for the host....

<sigh>  You know, it's not that he's not Steve. And it's certainly not his accent, although that took a few seconds to get used to.  I just didn't like his hosting as much as I like Steve or Jeff DeRego. But I'm sure I'd get used to it if it were a recurring event.

But OH. MY. GOD.  Could the interminable ad for his podcast have possibly gone on any longer?  I was just about ready to skip Escape Pod altogether in favor of something that didn't irritate me to that level when he finally got to the story. The ad, I'm sorry to say, had the opposite effect on me than was intended: I doubt I'll listen to SSS because the ad irritated me so.

Stuff like that belongs at the end, so we can skip ahead to the next podcast with a single button press.  Very important if you listen while driving, as I do.

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Glass

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Reply #31 on: March 25, 2009, 08:23:12 PM
Stuff like that belongs at the end, so we can skip ahead to the next podcast with a single button press.  Very important if you listen while driving, as I do.

if you aren't careful they'll implant you for multimedia-usage-while driving!

I enjoyed the lead-up to the main plot catch, and the questionable means considered of ridding said catch from one's cranium, but found serious holes elsewhere.

Jenny's father seemed to be a walking PSA for speed regulations- well, ok, if he would agree to have his memories shared he must feel pretty much along the government line anyway.

All the same, my suspension-of-disbelief was, er, suspended when the conflict between the two men at the gravesite carried on.
Allowing that jenny's father was selected, or volunteered, to have fragments of his daughter scattered like ashes to the cerebrally implanted winds, he should have had some government training on how to deal with potential approaches from people with these implanted memories.  Either they don't have the tech to implant fake memories without the brain realizing it - i.e. a fully fictionalized jenny is killed or a simple names-changed-for-privacy version of the story is implanted- or they opted to not use fake memories strictly so that there would be a real person somewhere out there you could meet and feel incredibly guilty and ashamed about having met.  Either way, the odds of someone along the line meeting the memory host for their implant had to be incredibly high, so in true bureaucratic fashion there should have been a training seminar somewhere.  i can excuse a grieving father at his daughter's grave [on her birthday with a dancing interactive holographic representation no less] of many things, but it briefly cut off the flow of the story universe when he didn't, say, angrily squash a folded business card for a support group of jenny-killers into main character guy's temple before banishing him.

Isn't driving obnoxiously slowly also against the law?

Doesn't main character have something akin to a parole officer to talk to?  I wouldn't need to be in-depth or lengthy or even useful to the main character, but that the option was left unexplored while black-market hackers were leaves me questioning the morality of a character who is otherwise made out to be your usual generally-good-with-heroic-faults everyman.

In a society where the technology and capacity to install mental implants reprimanding speeders exists, why can't they just install context-sensitive speed limiters in all the country's cars?



kenryan

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Reply #32 on: March 26, 2009, 11:32:10 AM
Not a bad story, a little heavy-handed.  The conflict between the protagonist and the father was unsatisfying, it didn't seem to add to how the story came out.

Tony's voice at the intro was somewhat a shock, and a little hard to listen to.  The biggest thing that got me though was when he first started talking my initial reaction was "Guest-hosted by the Wiggles???".  Probably not a typical reaction...not sure if I want to know what it says about me!



ChiliFan

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Reply #33 on: March 30, 2009, 11:06:26 AM
In my experience, people who claim to live in Yorkshire or other abolished counties such as Sussex or Middlesex, usually do so because of holding old fashioned views of the World, or in other words that they wish it really was 1974 or earlier on. I'd like to know where this author *really* lives, otherwise I don't think I'll be listening to or reading any more of his stories.

And why on earth do you care if he holds old fashioned views or wishes it was 1974? These things offend you morally or something? Everyone must be in align with contemporary thinking or they are worthless?

heh

You're right when you assume that these things offend me morally. I don't just want to know where he really lives, I want him to admit it on his website as well. In my experience, people who believe in counties which have been abolished are also against metric measurements, pro sex discrimination and anti EU membership, as well as some other issues.

As for me, I'm from London, which has been a county since 1889 and has had its current boundaries since 1965. Unfortunately, some of its territory gained in 1965 is under threat from the Post Office, who claim that about a third of London still belongs to other counties, as well as some fanatics who believe in "historical counties". I think the biggest threat is from Middlesex fanatics, who claim about 25% of London, as well as still running a Middlesex County Fair. I'm thinking of writing a story based at their fair.

« Last Edit: March 30, 2009, 11:21:02 AM by ChiliFan »



Loz

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Reply #34 on: March 30, 2009, 07:30:15 PM
Having lived in parts of London which were officially postcoded for outside London in their time can I be the first one to ask you to kindly stop talking pish?

Despite valiant attempts by the reader this story failed to really engage me, the central conceit was implausible for a number of reasons, not least because it seemed likely to potentially put the life of his wife and child at risk, but then the AI holograms of dead people at the gravesite (and why the gravesite, why not at home where it would be easier for the bereaved parent to brood and build up his rage at the world until he unleashes it in some form of psychopathic fury?) this seemed to be some strange world designed to drive it's inhabitants insane even quicker than this world does to Chilifan.



Talia

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Reply #35 on: March 30, 2009, 08:29:24 PM
In my experience, people who claim to live in Yorkshire or other abolished counties such as Sussex or Middlesex, usually do so because of holding old fashioned views of the World, or in other words that they wish it really was 1974 or earlier on. I'd like to know where this author *really* lives, otherwise I don't think I'll be listening to or reading any more of his stories.

And why on earth do you care if he holds old fashioned views or wishes it was 1974? These things offend you morally or something? Everyone must be in align with contemporary thinking or they are worthless?

heh

You're right when you assume that these things offend me morally. I don't just want to know where he really lives, I want him to admit it on his website as well. In my experience, people who believe in counties which have been abolished are also against metric measurements, pro sex discrimination and anti EU membership, as well as some other issues.

As for me, I'm from London, which has been a county since 1889 and has had its current boundaries since 1965. Unfortunately, some of its territory gained in 1965 is under threat from the Post Office, who claim that about a third of London still belongs to other counties, as well as some fanatics who believe in "historical counties". I think the biggest threat is from Middlesex fanatics, who claim about 25% of London, as well as still running a Middlesex County Fair. I'm thinking of writing a story based at their fair.



The way you talk you make it sound as though England were on the brink of an internal civil war. Darn those filthy Middlesex fanatics! Someone must stop the Middlesex Threat before its Too Late! :p



Bdoomed

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Reply #36 on: March 30, 2009, 10:47:33 PM
you'd think memory implants wouldnt be so prominent, it seemed to make the character more dangerous on the road rather than less...

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


Loz

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Reply #37 on: March 31, 2009, 07:55:11 PM

The way you talk you make it sound as though England were on the brink of an internal civil war. Darn those filthy Middlesex fanatics! Someone must stop the Middlesex Threat before its Too Late! :p

It's too late, they look like us now!



Wilson Fowlie

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Reply #38 on: April 02, 2009, 09:15:54 PM
Complaining that someone says they live in Yorkshire is like complaining that someone says they live in New England, or The Maritimes, or the Eastern Seaboard or the South Coast.  None of them are political entities, but they are still recognized geographic regions.

Chilifan should stop trolling around here and devote his energies and money to suing organizations like www.yorkshire.com - imagine, an entire website devoted to a county that doesn't exist!

Well, after someone buys "Belief", I'll submit it to EP as a reprint. It has spaceships and aliens.

Listener, what will you do if everyone defies "Belief"?  Let EP run it as an 'Escape Pod Original'?

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Listener

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Reply #39 on: April 03, 2009, 04:52:28 PM

Well, after someone buys "Belief", I'll submit it to EP as a reprint. It has spaceships and aliens.

Listener, what will you do if everyone defies "Belief"?  Let EP run it as an 'Escape Pod Original'?

Well, I have to start submitting it places before people can defy it. *grin*

Because of the rights that are purchased by the EA group when they buy a story, from what I have been told it behooves writers to attempt to sell the stories elsewhere first, then sell them to EA as reprints. I'm not really sure what I'd do; I'm hoping that, when I finally finish revising it, a journal purchases it, but if not, I have no problem running it as an EA Original if they'll buy it.

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ChiliFan

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Reply #40 on: April 08, 2009, 09:05:39 AM
I never knew until now that New England used to be a political entity! Fortunately, everyone realises that it's not now a political entity, but I only found out about two years ago which states are considered to be part of it. According to Wikipedia, it used to include New York, East Jersey, and West Jersey, but I read as well as heard that nowadays it's only considered to be all states from Maine up to the New York state border. When asked where they're from though, I think that people usually say which state or a well known town or city within a state.

The case with Yorkshire is different, because people are actively defying political changes made as from 1974. Unfortunately, Yorkshire still has a cricket team, so I think this should be abolished or at least banned from competition ASAP. After careful consideration, I think the general term should be northeast England. This takes account of the fact that Yorkshire has been abolished, because previously northeast England was the corner of England to the north of Middlesborough, including Newcastle on Tyne, Durham, and Northumbria. 

Complaining that someone says they live in Yorkshire is like complaining that someone says they live in New England, or The Maritimes, or the Eastern Seaboard or the South Coast.  None of them are political entities, but they are still recognized geographic regions.

Chilifan should stop trolling around here and devote his energies and money to suing organizations like www.yorkshire.com - imagine, an entire website devoted to a county that doesn't exist!

Well, after someone buys "Belief", I'll submit it to EP as a reprint. It has spaceships and aliens.

Listener, what will you do if everyone defies "Belief"?  Let EP run it as an 'Escape Pod Original'?
« Last Edit: April 08, 2009, 10:44:58 AM by ChiliFan »



JoeFitz

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Reply #41 on: May 13, 2009, 12:53:29 AM
The story was interesting enough with the only particular jarring portion being the confrontation at the grave site. The exposition was important to the story, but I feel a better way might have been to split the exposition from the confrontation.

I did not find it surprising at all that such ridiculous punishment was imposed out-of-proportion to the infraction. Twelve months of psychological torture for speeding did seem a little too obvious of a slippery slope argument and I would have preferred something a little more proportionate like the drink driver example. I realize that it would be a lot more difficult to sympathize with the main character if they had been convicted of DWI/DUI.

I took the punishment in this story as a metaphor for incarceration: a blunt instrument that makes people imposing the sentence, and lots of other people, feel better. I also found in interesting that it was a "voluntary" treatment. The implication seems to be that the future society would not impose such a sentence otherwise.



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Reply #42 on: May 18, 2009, 06:12:55 PM
I really didn't expect the ending. It was good, and something I figured out a bit ago and have been trying to implement into my own life. I guess I saw it as a single good point to the giant evil idea of the implant, period.

I'm also kinda surprised none of the other implant people would have shown up.



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Reply #43 on: May 10, 2010, 05:15:21 PM
Not a bad story, it really had me going emotionally which is a huge plus. 

I wasn't sure I believed the plausibility of the AI ghost at the gravesite, particularly the fact that it is capable of being scared of strangers, and upset at its inability to hug the father.  That's just cruel to make a construct which desires human contact and then put it in a form that is incapable of human contact.  When the kid kept trying to hug the father I thought it was touching at first, but then found the bad design of the ghost rather distracting.

I did find it odd that they didn't just install a governor on his car to cap the upper speed.  Governers exist already these days, although I suppose that wouldn't work if he shared cars with someone else.

My favorite part of it was that the memory implants had an unexpected side effect--encouraging him to get to know his own son better.  At the beginning I found it very sad that this artificial memory was clearly taking priority of his actual son.



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Reply #44 on: May 10, 2010, 06:53:49 PM
I did find it odd that they didn't just install a governor on his car to cap the upper speed.  Governers exist already these days, although I suppose that wouldn't work if he shared cars with someone else.

More to the point, he almost has several accidents because he's so distracted by the upsetting memories.  Strong emotions are one of the biggest causes of inattention and error around...



CryptoMe

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Reply #45 on: May 28, 2010, 02:41:08 PM
I did find it odd that they didn't just install a governor on his car to cap the upper speed.  Governers exist already these days, although I suppose that wouldn't work if he shared cars with someone else.

My understanding is that you can get Governors that respond differently to each key for the car. That way, parents can set different speed caps for their teenagers than they do for themselves.



Unblinking

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Reply #46 on: June 02, 2010, 01:43:29 PM
My understanding is that you can get Governors that respond differently to each key for the car. That way, parents can set different speed caps for their teenagers than they do for themselves.

That makes sense, hadn't heard of that technology.