Pseudopod 229: On Being Mandy

[Bdoomed]

Pseudopod 229: On Being Mandy

By Sandra M. Odell

Read by Tina Connolly.


“Mandy Adams noticed her face peeling off while coloring her hair Monday evening. She leaned over the sink for a closer look at the small flap of skin on the upper right corner of her forehead. She slipped off one of the plastic gloves and gingerly touched it with the tip of a finger; it was thicker than she expected, almost rubbery. Surprisingly, touching it didn’t hurt; in fact, there was no sensation at all.

Mandy carefully took hold of the errant skin between her thumb and index finger and gave a slight tug. It pulled away enough to reveal a hard off-white surface below the edge of her hairline, smooth and cool to the touch like plastic. No blood, no viscera; the revealed underside was the fresh pink of new skin. “What the hell. . .?”



Listen to this week's Pseudopod.

[Sgarre1]

Many thanks for getting the forum post up!

[Bdoomed]

[ElectricPaladin]

This one wasn't too powerful for me. Neat, clever, creepy, and a little transparent - not much more to say about it than that. I loved the reading, though.

[eytanz]

This story took a metaphor and pushed it so far that it went from cliche' to interesting, and then ruined it all by explaining it. I think the idea, of demonstrating the soul-killing nature of how everyone around Mandy always took her for granted using the device of her losing her face - was very promising. But the story would have worked *so* much better if it trusted itself (or its readers) enough to be subtle.

[Hafwit]

I'm pretty much in agreement with the last esteemed posted. The story was well-written, the portrayal of Mandy's life was well-done and made that stereotypical suburban family come to life (the reading helped too), BUT it really sledgehammers the point home way more than is needed.

[Listener]

The story was well-written, the portrayal of Mandy's life was well-done and made that stereotypical suburban family come to life (the reading helped too), BUT it really sledgehammers the point home way more than is needed.

That.

Additionally: I don't feel that anything really new was explored in the story. I've heard this story before, albeit not with the face coming off at the end. But the faceless wife who is everything to everyone except herself isn't new, and I think it would be difficult for members of the audience who haven't had similar experiences to connect. I honestly didn't care too much about Mandy's woes outside of the whole face-peeling-off thing.

Also, the sex scene went on long enough to be uncomfortable. Realism is one thing, but sometimes it has to be sacrificed for faster pacing. I think the point was being made that she takes on roles even in the bedroom, at the expense of her own pleasure, but... eh. I think I could've lived without the additional details and the porn-esque dialogue.

[Unblinking]

I thought this one was reasonably well done.  It had an uphill battle going for it, since there are already many stories that center around the theme of a housewife without an identity for herself, and losing oneself in the hubbub of family life.  I think I agree with eytanz that it did a good job pushing past cliche into interesting territory but then ended up overexplaining in the end.  I'm not particularly good at picking up hidden messages, but before the explanation the meaning was still quite clear to me. 

Also, I would've liked some indication that her face was actually coming off, rather than it just being a crazy metaphor she's living out inside her own frustrated mind.  Usually I like unreliable narrators, but in this case, some indication that she's not just crazy would've been welcome.

Her husband didn't sound as bad as some in these types of stories have been.  She herself pointed out that he was doing the things during foreplay that he thought that she liked.  That's not to say he's blameless, or that he didn't cause other problems, but she knows he's not a mindreader.  It seemed that he was trying to do what pleased her.  I have trouble condemning him for not pleasing her when she avoids giving him any indication whatsoever of what pleases her. 

Thinking back on that scene, it's very interesting that she says she doesn't care for roleplaying during sex when roleplaying is all she does anymore.

[Sgarre1]

Just as a note - this story was picked for two reasons - the generally high quality of the writing and for taking a familiar concept and ending it in a way I had not seen before.  Usually scenarios like this end in insanity ("Yellow Wall Paper et. al) or, more rarely, defeat of the threat and reaffirmation of the identity.  Subjugation to, and acceptance of the loss of identity (and the fact that this is absolutely unremarked on by those "outside"), summed up in a perfectly bland phrase, hit the right spot.

I don't believe the author is expecting the reader to condemn the husband specifically, or the daughter, or anyone.  Other people, circumstances, timing and our own weakness/ourselves are all at fault to varying degrees.

In general, for full-length fiction, I'll always take a well-written exploration of a familiar theme over a surface treatment of a cool idea (flash is a different kettle of fish - still feeling my way through that).  Horror is, to be truthful, the most quotidian (some would even say reactionary) of genres - endless invention is why we have sf and fantasy.   In horror, for me at least, it's about the little details and variations ("The Horla" and "The Damned Thing" are amazingly similar stories, except in all the ways they're not).  That may be taken the wrong way, and most probably will be, but will suffice for the moment.  We have (eventually - November, maybe) a vampire story coming up.  It does not re-invent "the vampire" in any amazing, startling, flashy way.  Instead, it is a a very human, solid story about a real person facing a terrible situation.  As was this.

On the other hand, I am trying to consciously vary the story types week to week so that you don't get, say, two internal psychodramas bumped against one another - "The Horror of Their Deeds To View" and "Top of the Heap" are, in a way, both "survival" stories but one is in an aggressive "weird tale" mode and the other is in a brutal/prosaic Jack London approach.

We did "Man Eat Man" already, but when the smattering of other zombie stories come down the pike, I hope they'll prove varied enough in relation to that and each other for all of you, not to mention an upcoming piece much in the same territory as Stephen King's "The Woman In The Room".  I hope that aggressive variety + the expected quality can help grow the audience base.

Well, that and... well, it would be telling, but hold onto your hats, hopefully some big announcements to come...

[Kanasta]

A bit "Fay Weldon does horror" for me. OK, but I prefer my horror to be less metaphorical personally.

[deflective]

hated this one, and i'm glad you ran it.  we definitely can use more female voices around here.

it just kills me that so many women's stories have protagonists that spend the story totally wrapped up in their own emotions and actively avoiding anything interesting that happens.  granted, it was an essential part of this story, but that's also the point.  if i hear a woman's name as author on escape artists i know that chances are fifty-fifty there'll be some aliens in the background while the protagonist spends her time moping.

might as well put linkin park in the background and just go with it.

[Chivalrybean]

I agree with above I'd like to have known if her face really fell off or not.

I didn't really notice the over-explanation at the end, mostly because I was really considering how often my own wife might struggle with this. Things have been crazy do to some family issues (thankfully the ones that live on the other end of the country,) and I know sometimes she gets stressed out.

I do, however, know that we don't try to overextend ourselves, we actively communicate about our marriage, and I do try to make sure I'm meeting her needs (I think that's partly my personality and nature, and part knowing it's a good idea.) However, as we've only been married four and a half years, it was a good warning to make sure I'm not a part of my wife's face falling off. I really like her face, and I want her to keep it, and I want her to be the same person I married, at least at the core.

We all change over time, but I hope we are augmenting, and not transforming into something that we don't want to be, or something those who love us don't want us to be (in the good way.)

If you're not you anymore, who are you?

[Kanasta]

Chivalrybean - your comment has made me like this story a lot more 

[Chivalrybean]

Chivalrybean - your comment has made me like this story a lot more 

{:0)

[bolddeceiver]

I enjoyed this a lot.  I do agree with a few above posts that it went a little too far explaining the allegory towards the end, but knowing what a fine line that is to walk, and considering how well written it was on the whole, I don't fault it too much.  What really captured me was the dreamlike quality.  "Dreamlike" is one of those words that gets thrown around a lot, usually just meaning "weird," but in this case I mean it quite literally.  The narrator's reaction to discovering her facial situation (as to whether it was real or in her head I would scarcely like to speculate) very much followed the logic of dreams: Something strange and impossible is taking place, so the only possible response is to hide it and try to pretend it's not happening.  The whole thing felt like an anxiety nightmare.

[justenjoying]

The true horror of being a soccer mom is perfectly captured in this story. We are always wearing a mask and it is called our face. And the worst part of all is we don't even know it. I have felt like this so many times, I'm expected to be the good little girl because of my cute face, so I've used that to get away with shit in the past. And now feel I've grown back into my face and wear it well as it was meant to be. I like being that good little girl, untill you get to know me, of coarse.