Author Topic: EP023: The Dream Factory  (Read 7034 times)

Russell Nash

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on: February 27, 2008, 09:43:11 AM
EP023: The Dream Factory

By Jenn Reese.
Read by Scott Fletcher (of Podcheck Review).

You need some younger Ast-tlakians for a new fantasy feature the company is doing. It’s Lord of the Rings meets Kindergarten Cop. Vin Diesel to star, Woo to direct. So you need a bunch of realistic fantasy creatures, and Stan Winston figured out long ago that it was easier to hire off-world than build all these bizarre creatures from scratch. It’s a big industry secret, and you need to keep it that way. You have a tendency to brag and name-drop when you’re drunk, so you’re only mostly sure that you haven’t told anyone.

Rated R. Contains sexual situations and a sleazy industry.


Referenced Sites:
The Bear’s Grove
Podcheck Review
Thither.biz



Listen to this week’s Escape Pod!



eytanz

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Reply #1 on: February 27, 2008, 10:54:41 AM
Overall, this was an ok lighter piece - entertaining, but not really substantial. It's not one of the better stories, nor one of the worst ones.

The reason I requested it was to comment on the fact that it was told in second person. As everyone here knows, that's a rarely used device, and there's a good reason for that - it very rarely works. But here it worked very well. Not because I got on board and really thought I was the protagonist - far from it - but because it felt to me like the story itself was a pitch, trying to sell me a new and exciting life concept. It made me feel like I was the person sitting across the table from a holywood screenwriter being offered a mediocre fantasy as if it was the most important thing in the world. So, while I was not brought into the world the story was presented on the level of the narrative, I *was* brought into the very same world on a meta-level. And that, for all that the storyline itself was a piece of fluff, was a masterstroke.



Planish

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Reply #2 on: March 09, 2008, 06:35:59 AM
I enjoyed it especially for the reader's voice - so slick and smooth, in a pitchman sort of way.
It seemed like perfect casting.

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DKT

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Reply #3 on: March 10, 2008, 05:47:17 PM
I enjoyed it especially for the reader's voice - so slick and smooth, in a pitchman sort of way.
It seemed like perfect casting.

I agree.  I can't imagine this story in print -- but the reader really nailed this.  And the 2nd person POV worked really well, too. 


Bdoomed

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Reply #4 on: August 17, 2008, 04:05:26 PM
Recently re-listened, love it!  This was incredibly entertaining and funny, and the reading was perfect.  I third the notion that i cannot imagine this in print.

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


Unblinking

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Reply #5 on: March 01, 2010, 05:45:55 PM
This one was fun.  I barely noticed the 2nd person usage, which is high praise since I've yet to hear a story where a story was better for using 2nd person.  The narrator was a phenomonal choice!  At first, I was skeptical--it sounded like a guy on an informercial or something, but as the story unfolded, that was very very fitting.  Without the narrator the story just wouldn't have been as good.  Good choice!



Fenrix

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Reply #6 on: May 14, 2013, 06:59:57 PM
Overall, this was an ok lighter piece - entertaining, but not really substantial. It's not one of the better stories, nor one of the worst ones.

The reason I requested it was to comment on the fact that it was told in second person. As everyone here knows, that's a rarely used device, and there's a good reason for that - it very rarely works. But here it worked very well. Not because I got on board and really thought I was the protagonist - far from it - but because it felt to me like the story itself was a pitch, trying to sell me a new and exciting life concept. It made me feel like I was the person sitting across the table from a holywood screenwriter being offered a mediocre fantasy as if it was the most important thing in the world. So, while I was not brought into the world the story was presented on the level of the narrative, I *was* brought into the very same world on a meta-level. And that, for all that the storyline itself was a piece of fluff, was a masterstroke.

With the concept of this as a movie pitch, I dislike the second person less. However, I think this story could have been just as effective in first person. I didn't really hear the value added portion.

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