Author Topic: Pseudopod 244: Bruise For Bruise (Read 10835 times)

Bdoomed · **on:** August 26, 2011, 06:31:13 PM

Pseudopod 244: Bruise For Bruise

By Robert Davies

Read by Elizabeth Green Musselman

Sometimes there would be something of the mother in the child, and sometimes something of the father; there was always something of the town. Leathery wings sprouted oftentimes, as common as fingers. Fur of every hue. Horns and scales were plentiful, too. Lots of feathers and thorns and glass and steel. Beneath the apple trees and the pine, anatomy was negotiable. Anything was probable. Every now and then, though, the tired wet nurses, long inured to the strange fecundity of flesh, would whistle in awe as they lifted a newborn from the amniotic slime.

Something truly special would be seen.

Listen to this week's Pseudopod.

ElectricPaladin · **Reply #1 on:** August 26, 2011, 07:21:11 PM

I am the King Under the Mountain, and I am the first to comment on this thread.

I really enjoyed this piece, and only partly because I'm currently on anticoagulants and therefore bruise like woah. Mostly, I enjoyed it for its tone. It's wonderful, dark, weird, rural, apocalyptic tone. Every word was perfectly placed. The transformities of the townsfolk - and the way they reacted - were beautifully, deliciously wrong.

Most of all, though, I liked the justice. Oh, give me justice. Give me hot, dark justice, smelling like coals and tasting like copper. Give me justice as it is meant to be: the innocent walking free, the guilty broken so profoundly that they are become innocent once more in their suffering, the punishment fitting the crime. Science fiction and fantasy can do happy endings, and they can do sad endings, but nobody does justice like horror.

Seekerpilgrim · **Reply #2 on:** August 26, 2011, 09:38:19 PM

I liked this one. Very much reminiscent of Clive Barker (as mentioned in the introduction), a mix of BOOKS OF BLOOD and CABAL, perhaps even a bit of THE HELLBOUND HEART...strong themes of monsters among monsters and the flesh as religious tapestry. Well written and well read.

kibitzer · **Reply #3 on:** August 29, 2011, 03:28:27 AM

Wonderfully constructed story. I felt I was on a journey and was keen to see where we ended up -- and I was not disappointed.

Kconv · **Reply #4 on:** August 29, 2011, 07:33:13 AM

The nesting doll babies creeped the living heck out of me.....

Im going to hide under a chair....

Im going back to Podcastle where its safe

Scattercat · **Reply #5 on:** August 29, 2011, 12:36:53 PM

The knives-for-hands thing reminded me (perhaps somewhat unfortunately) of The Invincible Hammer-Wheel, who has wheels for hands and hammers for feet. He lives in the woods!

This rather undercut the darkness of the story for me.

It was a good story, though.

ElectricPaladin · **Reply #6 on:** August 29, 2011, 01:12:43 PM

Quote from: Scattercat on August 29, 2011, 12:36:53 PM

The knives-for-hands thing reminded me (perhaps somewhat unfortunately) of The Invincible Hammer-Wheel, who has wheels for hands and hammers for feet. He lives in the woods!

It might be hammers for feet and wheels for hands. He was raised by farm implements.

Kaa · **Reply #7 on:** August 29, 2011, 07:16:18 PM

It took me a while to get into this one, but the reading sucked me in and kept me there and gave the story enough time to draw me in. I'm not done listening, yet, but I just wanted to say that Elizabeth Green Musselman is almost solely responsible for me paying attention long enough to get hooked on this one.

Is it just me, or has Escape Artists had a string of fanTAStic readers, lately? Wherever you're getting these readers, guys, throw some raw meat down there. Keep 'em happy.

evelet · **Reply #8 on:** August 29, 2011, 10:08:14 PM

Oh jeez no the nesting doll babies... I wish my imagination did not eat these images up. Damn good image creation though.

Can I have some wings, please?

kibitzer · **Reply #9 on:** August 30, 2011, 03:09:47 AM

Quote from: Kconv on August 29, 2011, 07:33:13 AM

The nesting doll babies creeped the living heck out of me.....

Im going to hide under a chair....

Im going back to Podcastle where its safe

BWAHAHA! COME JOIN US!

Anyway, what's safe about PodCastle? They do weird things on dead unicorns.

Unblinking · **Reply #10 on:** August 30, 2011, 12:42:04 PM

A lot of bizarre and interesting imagery here. And yes, the Babushka-doll babies most of all. But for me, it was too distantly told.

Kaa · **Reply #11 on:** August 30, 2011, 01:49:44 PM

Having now finished it, I think I tend to agree with Unblinking. The narration was too distant, so the story felt sort of lackluster, for all its imagery. I still say that Musselman really narrated it well. I was surprised when it said New England. I was all ready for it to be Mississippi or Louisiana.

Thomas · **Reply #12 on:** August 30, 2011, 03:55:59 PM

Quote from: kibitzer on August 30, 2011, 03:09:47 AM

Quote from: Kconv on August 29, 2011, 07:33:13 AM
The nesting doll babies creeped the living heck out of me.....

Im going to hide under a chair....

Im going back to Podcastle where its safe

BWAHAHA! COME JOIN US!

Anyway, what's safe about PodCastle? They do weird things on dead unicorns.

Podcastle.. why a castle?? because it is a safe world??

all kidding aside, this was a wonderful story, thoroughly enjoyed it

and as electric paladin said ...

Quote from: ElectricPaladin on August 26, 2011, 07:21:11 PM

but nobody does justice like horror.

ElectricPaladin · **Reply #13 on:** August 30, 2011, 04:17:53 PM

Quote from: Thomas on August 30, 2011, 03:55:59 PM

Quote from: kibitzer on August 30, 2011, 03:09:47 AM
Quote from: Kconv on August 29, 2011, 07:33:13 AM
The nesting doll babies creeped the living heck out of me.....

Im going to hide under a chair....

Im going back to Podcastle where its safe

BWAHAHA! COME JOIN US!

Anyway, what's safe about PodCastle? They do weird things on dead unicorns.

Podcastle.. why a castle?? because it is a safe world??

When I first glanced at that, I thought you wrote "safe word."

I think my wife would be laughing too hard to enjoy it if PodCastle was our safeword.

Kaa · **Reply #14 on:** August 30, 2011, 04:27:13 PM

Quote from: ElectricPaladin on August 30, 2011, 04:17:53 PM

When I first glanced at that, I thought you wrote "safe word."

Oh, good. I'm not the only one.

Thomas · **Reply #15 on:** August 30, 2011, 04:32:07 PM

Quote from: ElectricPaladin on August 30, 2011, 04:17:53 PM

When I first glanced at that, I thought you wrote "safe word."

I think my wife would be laughing too hard to enjoy it if PodCastle was our safeword.

Quote from: Kaa on August 30, 2011, 04:27:13 PM

Quote from: ElectricPaladin on August 30, 2011, 04:17:53 PM
When I first glanced at that, I thought you wrote "safe word."

Oh, good. I'm not the only one.

ya'll are cracking me up

Kconv · **Reply #16 on:** August 30, 2011, 05:36:57 PM

Quote from: kibitzer on August 30, 2011, 03:09:47 AM

Quote from: Kconv on August 29, 2011, 07:33:13 AM
The nesting doll babies creeped the living heck out of me.....

Im going to hide under a chair....

Im going back to Podcastle where its safe

BWAHAHA! COME JOIN US!

Anyway, what's safe about PodCastle? They do weird things on dead unicorns.

Now you got me thinking Gooble gobble one of us, gooble gobble one of us., we accept you gooble gobble

Im wondering how many people are old enough to get this.

Listener · **Reply #17 on:** August 31, 2011, 04:05:53 PM

I enjoyed the reading and the imagery, but I had issues with the way the story started. We get this glimpse of Joss Coffington, and then several minutes of "here's all the horrible things that happen in the town", and then the Jesus-bruise girl, and then Joss shows up. It's almost like there are two separate stories here. We could almost have completely done without the Joss Coffington side of things.

bolddeceiver · **Reply #18 on:** August 31, 2011, 10:02:09 PM

I really enjoyed this. The story was good, though I might need to let it stew a bit before I can discuss that part. What really hooked me, however, was the reading.

Normally with audio fiction, you can either have a poor reading, which distracts or detracts from the story, or a good reading, which effectively carries across the text as written. Once in a while you can have a great reading, which works within the world of the story to add something more while staying faithful to the text. The good "reading" is fine, and is usually what a reader should shoot for, as a badly-executed attempt at the "great" reading is the easiest way to get the "poor" reading.

This pulled off the "great reading" thing. It's done subtly, but certain small touches, like going in to whispering tones when discussing indecorous topics, really helped add reality to the small-town tone of the piece. Well done.

elizabethgm · **Reply #19 on:** September 01, 2011, 02:26:33 AM

Thank you for the very kind comments about my reading of the story. I've read a number of stories for Podcastle as well, and I've noticed that stories tend to fall into two camps: the kind that are written to be read and the kind that are written to be performed.

I don't think one kind of story is better than the other, but with stories like this one that have a very distinctive voice, it's easier to imagine how to perform them in a more dramatic way.

It's the same thing with reading aloud to my 7yo kid: some books are great to read to yourself (the Magic Treehouse series, for example) and just OK to read out loud. But some books are just made for reading aloud, like The Stinky Cheese Man.

Dave · **Reply #20 on:** September 04, 2011, 05:21:55 AM

That is some dark and f***ed up fiction right there, kids. Why is it that I always find Christian communities the most terrifying in this brand of fiction? Probably the familiarity, I suppose? I wonder if people in other cultures have the same visceral reaction to whatever their predominant religious memesphere is.

Reminded me quite a bit of that one from early on about the flesh-sculpting mad scientist and his creation... I still get chills every time I hear "I have given you the power to fly!"

Unblinking · **Reply #21 on:** September 06, 2011, 01:52:41 PM

Quote from: Dave on September 04, 2011, 05:21:55 AM

That is some dark and f***ed up fiction right there, kids. Why is it that I always find Christian communities the most terrifying in this brand of fiction? Probably the familiarity, I suppose? I wonder if people in other cultures have the same visceral reaction to whatever their predominant religious memesphere is.

Yeah, I would guess the familiarity. Christianity is the predominant religion in the communities I've lived in and so a story feels more grounded if it begins with those familiar traditions and makes something new with them. Much more so than, say, if the same were done with Hindu, or Muslim, or pagan religious traditions, which I'm much less familiar with.

eagle37 · **Reply #22 on:** September 09, 2011, 08:24:54 AM

Well, heck, I was going to get all fulsome and praisy about this story, it being the first that has stirred me to such excess, only to find ElectricPaladin said everything I felt I needed to with his post.
I shall just shut up and slide gently back into the tunnel of my shell, and wait.

Fenrix · **Reply #23 on:** September 16, 2011, 08:53:52 PM

Just damn, this one was good. This takes stigmata in a new horrible direction. The body as a canvas for scripture is an awesome concept. The pilgrims really worked for me as I used to live not-too-far from a lady who saw the Virgin Mary once a month and the traffic it drew was stunning.

Quote from: Listener on August 31, 2011, 04:05:53 PM

I enjoyed the reading and the imagery, but I had issues with the way the story started. We get this glimpse of Joss Coffington, and then several minutes of "here's all the horrible things that happen in the town", and then the Jesus-bruise girl, and then Joss shows up. It's almost like there are two separate stories here. We could almost have completely done without the Joss Coffington side of things.

After a lifetime of being a pariah followed by being a spectacle, I think she needed an external force to allow her to accept her self worth. The story sucked me in so much I didn't even remember his introduction until he finally made it to town, so I had an "oh hey, we've made it back to the beginning" moment.

justenjoying · **Reply #24 on:** January 08, 2012, 05:18:38 AM

The comment on the rediculousness of putting so much power on an image is very well done here. The ending perfect and scary. I did lose a little faith in humanity in this story. Beutifully written and a great idea.