Author Topic: Pseudopod 242: The 7 Garages of Kevin Simpson  (Read 11986 times)

Bdoomed

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on: August 12, 2011, 02:06:59 PM
Pseudopod 242: The 7 Garages of Kevin Simpson

By Alan Baxter

Read by Graeme Dunlop, the one and only, the slayer of gods and demons, Kibitzer

“‘Seven garages?’

‘Yes, Mrs Baker. Your father’s will identifies each one and dictates that they have all been left to you, along with the family home.’

Claire sat stunned for several seconds, staring across the solicitor’s desk. ‘Seven garages?’

‘Yes, ma’am.’ The solicitor was smiling. ‘Mostly on industrial estates, commercial lock-up garages, in suburbs around northern and western Sydney, though there is one on a farm property just outside Burrawang on the Southern Highlands and one in North Bondi.’

Claire looked at Ben. Her husband shrugged. ‘You don’t think this is weird?’ Claire asked him.

‘Sure, it’s weird. But not really any weirder than anything else your old man ever did.’”




Listen to this week's Pseudopod.
« Last Edit: January 12, 2012, 05:22:31 AM by Bdoomed »

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Five pounds?  Six pounds? Seven pounds?


Tori

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Reply #1 on: August 13, 2011, 06:07:19 PM
That was good, creepy fun!



Bdoomed

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Reply #2 on: August 13, 2011, 08:37:00 PM
Just started listening, had a laugh over the "neverending screams of people who you told the Tim Burton Planet of the Apes movie was good, and believed you" in Alasdair's intro.
:D

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


kibitzer

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Reply #3 on: August 15, 2011, 03:24:17 AM
... the "neverending screams of people who you told the Tim Burton Planet of the Apes movie was good, and believed you" ...

I'd just like to get this on the record: I NEVER!


Bdoomed

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Reply #4 on: August 15, 2011, 05:59:55 AM
Pretty creepy story.  The sudden changes in perspective sort of threw me off a few times, but all in all I don't think that detracted from the story.  Oh those Aussies and their Occultism.

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


Kaa

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Reply #5 on: August 15, 2011, 01:40:53 PM
I really liked this one, although I saw fairly quickly where it was headed. Still, I enjoyed the journey. :)

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Unblinking

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Reply #6 on: August 15, 2011, 01:47:06 PM
I enjoyed this one, a good classic feel.  Nothing particularly surprising in the story, but sometimes the sense of dread is enough.  And the story involving finding out hidden details of a deceased relative is a good way to build and keep my interest.

Also, since the word "garage" was used so often in the story, I found it interesting how much the pronunciation of a word can change from one dialect to another, different syllable emphasis makes the word sound exceedingly strange.  :)



kibitzer

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Reply #7 on: August 16, 2011, 03:10:23 AM
Also, since the word "garage" was used so often in the story, I found it interesting how much the pronunciation of a word can change from one dialect to another, different syllable emphasis makes the word sound exceedingly strange.  :)

What, no mention of "al-yoo-min-ee-um"?  ;)


AlanBaxter

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Reply #8 on: August 16, 2011, 04:53:14 AM
Thanks for the kind words, all.

And kibitzer, great read, thanks. I was very pleased to hear "al-yoo-min-ee-um". :)


Hedge Monk

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Reply #9 on: August 16, 2011, 07:53:48 AM
I loved the way this story brought an otherworldly sense of the unknown to the anonymous streets of Australia suburbia. The mystery unfurled coyly with each new garage. As each door creaked open I anticipated caged demons, Hellblazer style storage lock-ups and/or the discovery of a gruesome body count within. Needless to say my expectations were pleasantly thwarted by the Hammer House of Horror pay-off (I mean that in a good way). I enjoy this kind of crisp, clear storytelling immensely.



Unblinking

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Reply #10 on: August 16, 2011, 01:29:26 PM
Also, since the word "garage" was used so often in the story, I found it interesting how much the pronunciation of a word can change from one dialect to another, different syllable emphasis makes the word sound exceedingly strange.  :)

What, no mention of "al-yoo-min-ee-um"?  ;)

Actually I didn't notice that one! 



Marguerite

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Reply #11 on: August 16, 2011, 03:20:04 PM
What, no mention of "al-yoo-min-ee-um"?  ;)

*puts her hand up*  I love that about narrators from places other than my own, hearing their take on pronunciation.  Their better job of speaking slowly and leaving pauses between paragraphs. *coughs self consciously*

Excellent work, Kibitzer.  And a fun story.  I admit when there was a refrigerator, sink and "hob" - i.e. a kitchen - set up in the first garage I had a feeling I knew where this was heading, but the description was lovely and I wasn't expecting there to be FOUR of them at the climax. 

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Reply #12 on: August 16, 2011, 04:05:40 PM
I quite liked this one. The buildup was very well paced, up to a final, creepy reveal. This is exactly the sort of thing that will ferment in my head and eventually appear as part of some story or game I create in the future. The cyclical nature of the story, the idea of magic as this thing that traps the protagonist in the story of her ancestors, was very compelling.

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Sgarre1

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Reply #13 on: August 17, 2011, 12:34:46 AM
A link to the text of the story is now up on the story page.



galacticus

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Reply #14 on: August 17, 2011, 02:27:33 PM
I really liked the story. Reminds me of the "old school" horror that you'd get from an episode of "tales from the darkside" (that's a compliment).
« Last Edit: August 17, 2011, 02:35:38 PM by galacticus »



AlanBaxter

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Reply #15 on: August 18, 2011, 01:18:59 AM
Thanks everyone.


yaksox

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Reply #16 on: August 18, 2011, 01:38:41 AM
Looks like I get to be the bad guy this week.
This story didn't do it for me. Up til the end I'd nutshelled it as 'PMSing wife discovers dead dad's a demon-worshiper'.
Coming across hidden inheritances is a common and usually happy fantasy so I didn't understand why the woman was so niggly for the first three or four garages. It would've worked better if her attitude had started at neutral and grown more worried as they went along. I don't know if there needed to be seven (7) garages since several had nothing special to offer and (amirite?) weren't even described.
The ending was kind of okay, but only just kind of.
Re swearing: less is more.  Some of those lines could be swapped for something a bit more descriptive that helps to flesh out the characters.

Since pronunciation has already been broached, the c in scythe isn't pronounced.
Kibitzer, you mentioned you'd spent some time in England, it must've been Devon(?) because that's the only way I can account for your Rs sounding 'rrr' instead of the standard australian 'ahh'. (I'm australian.) 



kibitzer

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Reply #17 on: August 18, 2011, 03:04:17 AM
Kibitzer, you mentioned you'd spent some time in England, it must've been Devon(?) because that's the only way I can account for your Rs sounding 'rrr' instead of the standard australian 'ahh'. (I'm australian.) 

Yarrr, seven years in England (one for each garage?) Loved it. Didn't want to come back. But Devon? No. Not really sure what has influenced my accent; folks these days guess me as Canadian or American. Or Birmingham. Or something. The UK stay is a definite influence, otherwise it's down to memorising Monty Python and other English comedy, and a steady diet of American TV whilst growing up.


AlanBaxter

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Reply #18 on: August 18, 2011, 07:06:34 AM
Incidentally, on the subject of why 7 garages, it's because this story came about due to a passing comment at a con. The small and intimate Freecon that happens every year in Sydney, to be exact. A mention was made of an old SF fan who had seven garages full of stuff, that his family new nothing about until after his death. I thought that was a great premise for a story, so I changed the names and wrote it. You know that all stories on Pseudopod are true, right?


iamafish

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Reply #19 on: August 18, 2011, 09:27:35 AM
Al promises us it's true, so yes, of course. Al's word is law. In Al we trust. He is the eternal king under the mountain, the lord of all that is dark and beautiful. Al is god, Al is king, Al is legion. And he promises us it's true. So it is. Everything else is a lie.

In any case, I enjoyed this story.

In terms of accents and the reading, the reading was, as always, excellent from Kibitzer, but I've always found your accent somewhat strange. It's Australian, but not like any Australian I've ever heard :P


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Reply #20 on: August 18, 2011, 03:25:49 PM
I liked the story for most of its length, it had a good build up of tension towards the inevitable ending. But, perhaps because I anticipated it, I had an issue with the ending. The whole story is about Claire's dread and discomfort and Ben was a side character. Then, at the end, the twist is that Claire is swapped for a pod person off-screen, and Ben is made out to be the victim.

But, well, he had the words "victim" written on him in glowing letters throughout. I was interested in Claire - what made her change from a loving, if damaged, mother and wife, to a murderer and cannibal who will inflict the same pain of her son that her father inflicted upon her? Apparently, it was just sudden personality-altering magic.

I think the ending belongs to a different story - it is the ending to a story told from Ben's perspective, where Claire is slowly becoming more and more distant until he discovers she changed way more than he thought. It's not the ending to the story we heard, where we were allowed into Claire's mind and no mystery remained for us there. It's a good ending, and a good buildup, but I don't think they entirely work together.



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Reply #21 on: August 18, 2011, 04:22:01 PM
I liked the story for most of its length, it had a good build up of tension towards the inevitable ending. But, perhaps because I anticipated it, I had an issue with the ending. The whole story is about Claire's dread and discomfort and Ben was a side character. Then, at the end, the twist is that Claire is swapped for a pod person off-screen, and Ben is made out to be the victim.

But, well, he had the words "victim" written on him in glowing letters throughout. I was interested in Claire - what made her change from a loving, if damaged, mother and wife, to a murderer and cannibal who will inflict the same pain of her son that her father inflicted upon her? Apparently, it was just sudden personality-altering magic.

I think the ending belongs to a different story - it is the ending to a story told from Ben's perspective, where Claire is slowly becoming more and more distant until he discovers she changed way more than he thought. It's not the ending to the story we heard, where we were allowed into Claire's mind and no mystery remained for us there. It's a good ending, and a good buildup, but I don't think they entirely work together.

I think I agree with this.  I hadn't quite been able to put it to words, but the ending did seem a bit disconnected from the rest, and I think you described well why I thought that.



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Reply #22 on: August 18, 2011, 10:25:23 PM
I had mixed feelings about the story,the writing I felt was quite good and narration A+ as usual but brought too many expectations to the table, I guess. I was honestly surprised, pleasantly so, to not have one of the garages filled with hanging carcases, hands, hearts etc.. even if that intent was implied. It maintained a certain creepy miasma, part of that arising from the tendril Pseudopod so helpfully was sliding into my ear as well, oh thank you great Pseudopod. At the same I found myself giggling a bit at the fear. To some extent what caused this was the kind of eye-roll I imagine when a great deal of people think of occult and while I was expecting a darker turn for this I imagine finding a library like that and the "OH NOES" reaction from it, and in most cases just a collector of oddities. Hopefully that makes sense, it sure seems like a lot of these thoughts are personal impressions.



kibitzer

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Reply #23 on: August 19, 2011, 08:16:42 AM
What made her change from a loving, if damaged, mother and wife, to a murderer and cannibal who will inflict the same pain of her son that her father inflicted upon her? Apparently, it was just sudden personality-altering magic.

I took it to be some property of the sigils, some kind of connecting and building force, probably augmented by being, it seems, hereditary. Blood will out?


kibitzer

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Reply #24 on: August 19, 2011, 08:17:51 AM
Hopefully that makes sense, it sure seems like a lot of these thoughts are personal impressions.

That's pretty much the forum summed up ;-)