EP227: His Master’s Voice

[Loz]

I did like this although I must admit I'm not entirely sure what happened, especially at the end. I admit it, I listen to Escape Pod just for the funny noises.

[LaShawn]

I have to say, I really loved this story, even though the SF bits was hard for me to follow. The best parts for me were the cat bits. I loved its standoffishness and coolness, but to me it also show how much it cared about its master, just in an entirely different way from the dog's. I loved how the two of them worked together to get their master back, and though I was initially confused by the music part, it turned into a giant win.

A very sweet, creative story.

[Gamercow]

I liked this story a lot, and followed it mostly.  I caught a few plot holes, but it may have been holes in my understanding.  I really enjoyed the idea of nanotech, a tech that I have found surprisingly lacking in most SF these days, and I'm not entirely sure why, perhaps because nanotech is becoming more of a reality and less of a fiction.

  Parts of this story reminded me of the world brought about by Neal Stephenson in Diamond Age, with the small animal in the dog and cat's dreams being analogous to the Young Lady's Primer, teaching the dog and cat everything they know.  I also found it excellent that the evolution of man was to digitize themselves rather than stick themselves in robots, and I think it was done MUCH better in this story than in many others, including Uncanny Valley. 

[Unblinking]

Loved it!  To begin with, dog POVs are almost always a win for me (including PC's Nine Sundays in a Row and this one).  There were a lot of things I probably didn't "get" as far as the setting, but it didn't really bother me at any point, because it was clear that the dog did not understand them either, and since I'm looking through his POV it's not a big deal.  I loved the cyber-enhanced animals that still keep their animal traits, and the multiple Masters.  Very cool throughout and had me wide-eyed as a kid as each cool thing rolled by. 

And, a quote:
"The only thing cuter than the cutest cat is any dog."
--Tosh 2.0

[DMBlackthorn]

I was very pleased to hear this story and intrigued.  The cyber-pets turned pop stars was a great touch, and reminded me of the bloggers in O.S.Card's book Ender's Game.  The Author's action writing very telling of the tech of the realm the story took place in - I hope to hear this author's voice again.
Also, I liked being challenged by the vagarious times and points of view presented.  I prefer stories in which time and memory aren't linear.  Because, well, it isn't.

[Unblinking]

I thought of a more quotable way to say I liked this story:  "It was confusing in all the right ways."

That is, the confusion about the setting was what drew me in, and even though I'm not sure I understood every detail of what happened, I thoroughly enjoyed the ride and loved the characters.

[Paranatural]

I admit I found it quite odd that anyone had trouble following the story. I thought it was pretty straightforward. Uncanny Valley, sure, that was just one big hot mess of random imagery. Anyway, I loved the story and how the dog retained his essential dog-ness throughout. I also thought it was fairly obvious that he'd genetically modified his pets to slowly become more and more intelligent, and his AI taught them as much as it could. Also, that the Not Master was an illegal clone of the Master, who the Master made to help him do whatever the frick it was he was working on.

[TrapperDan]

I just listened to this story and it inspired me (for better or worse) to post.  I stock up on various podcasts and listen to them while i am out in the Gulf of Mexico for work.  A month at a time on the job means that i have plenty of time where if i am not putting info in my brain, i slowly go crazy.

A note about the sound, if you are able to, a better quality level of headphones may help out. I know it did to me. I picked up a set of Grado SR80 headphones before i headed out this month and i can't even begin to describe how much this has helped the quality.  Yes you look like someone from the 70s, its ok.  The price is about 100 bucks though, but if you are in the market, sick of ear buds, and have the time, it would pay to check them out. Your ears will thank you. On a side note, i do not work at a secret grado production facility on the bottom of the gulf of mexico, they are made in new york, a place i never want to visit again.


Ok the story, i thought it was brilliant, though at times hard to follow, i had to back it up a few times to figure out what was going on, but i like a story that makes my brain heat up a bit.  At the end i understood (or at least thought i did) that the cat and dog were going to their death.  The giant intarweb black hole (it IS a series of tubes!!!) made me scratch my head a bit, but i understood the part were they shot the masters info up in to space and what not, so yea may live oneth for countless aeons... sure. Sounds great.

I assumed that cat and doggington were about to pay the price for de-headafication of the RIAA guy and were about to meet a host of bad ass robots that they could not possibly finish off. Hence all the hurrying and then the sad moment with the ball, that trick worked on me, i got choked up.  It felt like to me that we were right on the cusp of a guns blazing finish.

At any rate, i LOVED the tech, loved the raidoactive cat barf (is there any other kind?), and since i am on something quite similiar right now, liked the setting of a oil platform.

[EpidemikE]

I thoroughly enjoyed this story and wish there was a sequel. As I listened to the story on my drive home from work, I couldnt help but picture this story made into an animated short movie.

I look forward to seeing some more work from the author.

[tamahome]

Just listened to it because he just got a Tor book deal.  I'm in the confusing/interesting camp as well.  Reminded me of Grant Morrison's WE3 comic.  Gud dog??