Pseudopod 147: Orifice

[Bdoomed]

Pseudopod 147: Orifice

By John F.D. Taff
Read by Kris Johnson

The needle touched skin, vibrated with the small hum of a person in deep concentration.

A smell, electrical, full of ozone with metallic undertones, crackled from everything in the cramped little backroom of the tattoo parlor.

There was a brief moment of contact, full of excitement and anticipation.

Jesse grasped my hand, squeezed it tightly.

Then, the needle broke the skin, punched through.

A dot of color, a bright, iridescent green, lay side by side with a perfectly circular dot of blood that had been coaxed to the surface by the tattooist’s instrument.

Jesse’s skin flinched, relaxed.

The needle approached again, penetrated.



Listen to this week's Pseudopod.

[Listener]

Definitely feels like something I would have read in year's best from the 90s. The language, style, and over-attention to the disparity between the protagonists fits that. I think the language in places fell down where it was too descriptive (or, at least, more than necessary). I did enjoy the story, though the horror element wasn't all that horrific to me.

Reading was pretty good.

[lostchoas]

I just listened to this audio and i must say it was very well recorded and the ending was very shocking. Also what the director of the podcast went really deep and i think his thoughts are very interesting and id love to hear more

[600south]

I stopped this story around the 15 minute mark. I was hating it. Girlfriend angst? check. Ex boyfriend angst? check. Horror at girlfriend getting a tattoo? What? 

... I'm guessing it got worse from there somehow, but I couldn't be bothered listening to find out.

[csrster]

I stopped this story around the 15 minute mark. I was hating it. Girlfriend angst? check. Ex boyfriend angst? check. Horror at girlfriend getting a tattoo? What? 

... I'm guessing it got worse from there somehow, but I couldn't be bothered listening to find out.

Turns out the narrator was a psycho :-)

But it did seem a bit unconvincing that this wild girl who'd been hanging with all sorts of freaks, taking all sorts of drugs, having
all sorts of weird sex, and had previously dated a tattoo artist ... had never yet had a tattoo

[Portrait in Flesh]

I stopped this story around the 15 minute mark. I was hating it. Girlfriend angst? check. Ex boyfriend angst? check. Horror at girlfriend getting a tattoo? What? 

... I'm guessing it got worse from there somehow, but I couldn't be bothered listening to find out.

Turns out the narrator was a psycho :-)

But it did seem a bit unconvincing that this wild girl who'd been hanging with all sorts of freaks, taking all sorts of drugs, having
all sorts of weird sex, and had previously dated a tattoo artist ... had never yet had a tattoo

Yeah, that part was just a wee bit much for me to suspend my disbelief over.

Story kind of really left me cold...if this is what love is supposed to do to you, then bleh.  The ending would've moved me more had…well, with the kind of deep-set indifference boarding on dislike that I had for Jesse I couldn’t really care much about how things played out.

[Bdoomed]

this was pretty gross...

[eytanz]

People I dislike doing horrible things to other people I dislike. That may be horror - and Alasdair's outro was close enough to be worth the 30 minutes that preceeded it - but it's not the kind of horror I get anything out of.

[MacArthurBug]

This story worked for me on so very many levels. I myself am inked- so the psychological process this guy goes through is interesting to me. I even identified with his manic beloved. Opening a hole- if not literal the figurative. By my ink I'm telling a story. A story to all who care to read it about my inner psyche. I was moved and creeped VERY thoroughly out by this tale.

ALSO: The outro- Al's ideology on horror. Just- Wow, man, wow. I can't even put the words to how much that moved me. Great deep wonderful thought. Even if the story hadn't been good for me this outro would have mad listening all the way through (something I do even when the stories suck) FULLY worth wile.

[thomasowenm]

I tried it and made it only about half way through  before I turned it off.  Then by accident it resynced and I listened all the way through this time.  I made the right choice the first time I hope it doesn't resync again, after I have forgotten it.

[umamei]

Relationship angst may at best make a heart-wrenching story, but this didn't succeed at that.  At worst, relationship angst is just annoying.  This did succeed at that.  I can only see this reaching fear-inducing qualities if the POV was changed.  I could see this told from the girlfriend's POV much more effectively.  Who wants to go in to get a tattoo from and wake up later to find that your ex had installed a new orifice in you just for his psychotic desires?  My hand isn't raised for that one.

And don't get tattoos from creepy ex-boyfriends who don't know and follow basic hygiene rules where blood and potential fluid exchange are concerned.  You might contract an unwanted orifice.

[Unblinking]

This one was alright, definitely weird and creepy and original.  I don't have any tattoos so maybe that's why it didn't connect too deeply with me.  The reader's voice was good, especially when he talked about Mutt, his contempt was dripping from every syllable.  As others said, I did find it hard to believe this girl had never been inked before.

[El Sabor Asiático]

I don't know when this story was originally written, but it definitely has a 80s/90s vibe to it. Especially the bit where the narrator describes the edgy, extreme lifestyle he and his girlfriend are into, then expresses an amusingly prissy horror at the notion of his girlfriend getting (gasp!!!) a tattoo. Uh, yeah, toddlers are getting inked these days. Not really such a shocking thing anymore. I'll give the author the benefit of the doubt and just say that part was a bit dated.

Not so easy to give a pass to is the unbearably clichéd "flat-affect dude in love with damaged, flat-affect chick" storyline, and the mawkish teen-romance lines that are pretty much required in stories like this, such as "you could fuck Jesse, but you couldn't touch her heart." Groan!

I suspect this story reads better on the page than out loud. There's a formal quality to the style that sounds wooden and unnatural when read.

[Millenium_King]

Another lukewarm response from me for this one.  I've read plenty of tattoo stories.

I knew from the beginning that Mutt was a dead man.  The suicide ending was kinda lame.  Definately an angsty, 90's story.

I still applaud PP for picking it.  I love the way each week is something different totally different.  Great narration.

[Fenrix]

The outro made this one for me. Al does really fantastic commentary.

[kibitzer]

The outro made this one for me. Al does really fantastic commentary.

...and in this week's Episode (249), Al reveals just how many intros/outros he has done. It's a large, round number :-)

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