Author Topic: EP020: The Burning Bush  (Read 8553 times)

Russell Nash

  • Guest
on: January 14, 2008, 08:25:39 AM
EP020: The Burning Bush

By Jennifer Pelland.
Read by  Deborah Green.

I did the sensible thing. I screamed and ran to the bathroom, where I started tossing cups of water on my crotch in the hopes of extinguishing the flames. My boyfriend ran in behind me, started the shower up, and tossed me into the freezing water. But the fire continued to rage, despite the dousing.

At that point, I realized that I wasn’t actually in any pain. I stepped out of the stream of water, teeth still chattering, and held my hand in the blue flames. “This should hurt,” I said.


Rated X. For blasphemy and anatomy. Really.


Referenced Sites:
I Should Be Writing
Dag Viggo Lokøen



Listen to this week’s Escape Pod!



Ocicat

  • Castle Watchcat
  • Moderator
  • *****
  • Posts: 3722
  • Anything for a Weird Life
Reply #1 on: January 29, 2008, 03:37:43 AM
Okay, if no one's going to start this thread, I will.  It's been a long long time since I listed to this story.  But I remember it well.  One of the funniest damn things ever.  Sure, I'm the type of person who finds blasphemy easily amusing, but this was really well done, too.  Made me want to run out and share it with some of the particularly feminist professors I had back at UCSC, actually.



Bdoomed

  • Pseudopod Tiger
  • Moderator
  • *****
  • Posts: 5891
  • Mmm. Tiger.
Reply #2 on: January 29, 2008, 04:15:36 AM
OOoh yea, this is an EP classic.  I could not stop laughing while listening to this one.

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


DKT

  • Friendly Neighborhood
  • Hipparch
  • ******
  • Posts: 4980
  • PodCastle is my Co-Pilot
    • Psalms & Hymns & Spiritual Noir
Reply #3 on: January 29, 2008, 04:50:09 AM
I thought this one was absolutely hilarious.  The funny thing is, I didn't really find it all that blasphemous.  (Then again, I thought the same thing about Kevin Smith's Dogma)


Rain

  • Matross
  • ****
  • Posts: 178
Reply #4 on: February 04, 2008, 02:18:45 PM
One of my favorites, great story!



Russell Nash

  • Guest
Reply #5 on: February 05, 2008, 01:07:36 PM
This one had me laughing my ass off from beginning to end.  It was one of my first EPs and most likely the first one I ever kept.



Unblinking

  • Sir Postsalot
  • Hipparch
  • ******
  • Posts: 8729
    • Diabolical Plots
Reply #6 on: September 17, 2010, 04:48:45 PM
Despite my glowing comments about Pelland's religious story Immortal Sins, I really disliked this one.

I'll admit, I thought the immediate reveal of the burning bush was pretty hilarious and quite memorable.  The rest I didn't really care for.  There's no clear reason why she's the one who gets to be the vessel of God.  The apparent moral:  the only way for a woman to end up in charge is to get alone with the man in charge and then drop her pants.  And, if you ignore that unpleasant apparent moral, then the more overt moral is that the Catholic church makes absurd rules that are clearly not from God, such as only men being in the clergy.  And, even though I agree with that, the message was delivered with the subtlety of a steamroller.

If this had been a flash story that showed a reveal of the bush and then some short summary of consequences it would've been hilarious and may have been one of my favorites as a joke story that made you think about religion.  But the joke went on too long, and just kept pounding at its message and in the end I didn't care for it overall.



Talia

  • Moderator
  • *****
  • Posts: 2682
  • Muahahahaha
Reply #7 on: September 18, 2010, 03:44:09 AM
Oh man, I loved this one. I can't believe you didn't like it. :p



Unblinking

  • Sir Postsalot
  • Hipparch
  • ******
  • Posts: 8729
    • Diabolical Plots
Reply #8 on: September 20, 2010, 06:49:52 PM
Oh man, I loved this one. I can't believe you didn't like it. :p

I usually go for stories that look at religion in any novel way, so I'm a little surprised myself.  The execution, and the apparent moral, just didn't work for me though.