Author Topic: EP076: The Dinner Game  (Read 3881 times)

Swamp

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on: October 17, 2009, 10:01:53 PM
EP076: The Dinner Game

By Stephen Eley.
Read by Maia Whitaker (of Knitwitch’s SciFi/Fantasy Zone)

“Do I know you?” she says.

“I remember you,” he says, and she smiles. It’s another game. He has been a spy fleeing his country. She has been an adulterous First Lady. They have been psychiatrist and schizophrenic; vampire and victim; two blind people speculating on the world they cannot see. They will make love as themselves when they leave the Rose for a room upstairs, and tomorrow he will finish his business and leave her city. But first they dine as other people.


Rated R. Contains sex, violence, sacrilege, and other epic necessities.


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Scattercat

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Reply #1 on: October 28, 2009, 10:33:50 AM
I listened to this story while killing Troggs in the Stonesplinter Valley in WoW.  I am now torn, because I *hate* that place and I *hate* Troggs and the quest chain sucks on toast, but now I've got some really cool memories associated with it.

This story pretty much rocked.  Go team or whatever.



yicheng

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Reply #2 on: November 04, 2009, 03:27:05 PM
I'm not the only one to enjoy playing WoW and listening to EP I see.  :-)



Scattercat

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Reply #3 on: November 05, 2009, 07:00:46 PM
I can't just sit and listen; I get antsy.  WoW takes up just enough attention to keep my hands busy.  I've tried Magic Online, but I end up paying too much attention to the game itself and end up missing parts of the story and having to backtrack...



Unblinking

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Reply #4 on: February 11, 2010, 02:54:15 PM
There was much debate over on the forum whether this was just a couple of role-players or if they were actually an eternally resurrected couple meeting up to recount their past.  For me it seemed pretty clear-cut that it was a role-playing couple for a few reasons:
1.  They didn't have to give their waiter food orders.  They come here often enough that he knows exactly what they want and when and how it's to be served.  If this was a new lifetime they would remember each other, but a waiter wouldn't.  This is a big recounting of their past, after all, if they actually did these things visit this restaurant once a week or more why would they need to recount everything every time.
2.  The "As you know, Bob" dialog only works if it's roleplaying.  If they're roleplaying, then they're improvising the story as they go, so neither side knows what's going to happen next for sure--hence why they're telling each other things they supposedly both already know.  If this was actual fantasy, then it just seems like bad dialog for a couple to sit together and tell each other exactly and with great detail what they both already know. 

Anyway, I can definitely see how this ended up in the Epic anthology, it definitely has an epic feel which is impressive in such a short tale.  But since I couldn't see it as fantasy, it just ended up being two people at dinner making up stories--I could've used a little more action for my tastes.  I liked The Malcontent much better, but I don't think this one was out of place here--just not well suited to my own tastes.