Pseudopod 248: Killing Merwin Remis

[Talia]

Pseudopod 248: Killing Merwin Remis

By Jason Helmandollar

Read by Big Anklevich. Yeah. That's right...

“‘How long?

I’ve already answered the question a dozen times. How many times must I explain? Once more, it seems, although I assure you my story will not change. The facts are the facts. The truth is the truth.

Four months.

It was nearly four months after Merwin Remis moved into the apartment upstairs when I decided to kill him. It was a rational decision – one that came about only after much careful consideration. In the end, I had no other choice. The man was driving me insane.”



Listen to this week's Pseudopod.

[ElectricPaladin]

I am the king under the mountain, and I am the first one to post on this thread.

I rather enjoyed this story. It wasn't very deep - and I'm afraid that I found it a little transparent - but it was a short, mean, bloody, and entirely effective little piece of horror. I particularly loved Big Anklevich's reading. He did a great job of bringing out the character's arrogance, and self-satisfied superiority, subtly communicating his disdain for drinkers. In the end, when everything came together, I was really impressed with the characterization. Perhaps it was obvious to me that the main character was hating on a suppressed part of himself, but the reason, when it was revealed, was still very compelling.

[Smackdab]

This story was very close to Poe's "Tell Tale Heart" in its delivery.

[Fenrix]

Big Anklevich is a good choice for the unreliable narrator. After listening to Dunesteef a bit, I am inclined to mistrust him slightly.

I also got a nice Poe vibe from this. A little lighter than the usual fare, but it's nice to have a change up every so often.

[pinprick]

I liked the old-school vibe of the story, and while it wasn't anything ground-breaking or too creepy, I have say the one thing I didn't care for was the narration.  It felt over-done and hammy to me.  It was just a bit too melodramatic for my taste!

[Unblinking]

A good old-fashioned unreliable narrator story.  I confess I was pretty slow to pick up on that, which is always a fun surprise--There are enough movies where you find out two people are the same person that I tend to watch closely for clues to that, but for this one I was thinking it was more along the lines of the Cask of Amontillado where the narrator is plotting murder against someone for an unexplained and possibly imaginary crime.

[Scattercat]

This one was immediately apparent to me (the landlady getting "nervous" during their conversation was what sealed the deal), but it was a decent rendition of an old song, so hey, kudos to the artist.  I'd go to a classical music concert, so why not just enjoy the classic tropes if the person holding the instrument is a good player?  I felt like it fumbled a bit at the end, but these narrative-monologue stories are always hard to combine with a Shocking Reveal; that's a situation where I'm surprised and amazed if it comes off without feeling a little awkward.  (The bit about "the hospital" felt just a skoch over the top.)

I liked the melodramatic reading.  The protagonist seems like a melodramatic kind of guy, y'know?  I think Big was the right choice for this one.

[iamafish]

I often find that average stories are made really good listens by good narrations here on Pseudopod and on the other escape artist podcasts. Unfortunately this story bucked the trend in that i found the reading to be really off putting. I very nearly stopped listening half way through because I found the reading so over-dramatic and a little bit silly.

I'm glad i listened through to the end, because, although i had the twist as a distinct possibility, I still enjoyed it and found it a little surprising. I though the end was not dealt with brilliantly, but it was done well enough to work.

very nice story, not great reading.

[Listener]

I actively try not to apply tropes to stories while listening to them, so I wasn't looking for a twist. I found said twist about halfway through. Wasn't terribly surprised. *shrug*

I guess the story was okay, overall.

[brlteach]

Loved the reader!  I'm sure he was a Muppet in another life. I don't know which one, but one of those dramatic Muppets.

Spoiler alert:  The story was, as was said in an earlier post, predictable.  I do feel obligated to let the gentleman (protagonist?) know that his defense won't work well:  "It wasn't me, it was my alternate personality," has been tried (and failed).  Regardless of which of the personalities the court finds guilty, the gentleman's fate is sealed with Merwin.

Darned that Disassociate Personality Disorder.  It gets in the way every time!

[kibitzer]

Loved the reader!  I'm sure he was a Muppet in another life. I don't know which one, but one of those dramatic Muppets.

Fozzie. Definitely Fozzie. I'm pretty sure he has the hat, too.

[blueeyeddevil]

The first rule of upstairs-neighbor murdering club is you do not talk about upstairs-neighbor murdering club.
The second rule of upstairs-neighbor murdering club is you DO NOT TALK ABOUT UPSTAIRS-NEIGHBOR MURDERING CLUB.

Yeah, perhaps the story is a bit by-the-numbers, but it still manages to bring the fun.

[Alasdair5000]

HANDS YOU THE INTERNET FOR THE DAY.

I believe this is yours:) I'm still chuckling at that:)

[yaksox]

I quite liked this story. The first two thirds felt like a spiritual ancestor of h.p. lovecraft (but without the starch) and if the reading was in a different gear. I thought the reading was fine.

I could relate a bit too. I have an upstairs neighbour who clumps around like a mentally challenged hippo. That's forgivable but cigarrette smoke is not, and I must admit I have thought of killing him.

I expect I'll be receiving a visit from some helpful people after admitting that.

[Rishoutfield]

I have to admit that, were the task of narrating this story given me instead of my partner, it would have been a thousand times as melodramatic.  I know, I measured it.

With that in mind, I dread the response to me own reading in the weeks to come.  (shudder)

[Unblinking]

I quite liked this story. The first two thirds felt like a spiritual ancestor of h.p. lovecraft (but without the starch) and if the reading was in a different gear. I thought the reading was fine.

I could relate a bit too. I have an upstairs neighbour who clumps around like a mentally challenged hippo. That's forgivable but cigarrette smoke is not, and I must admit I have thought of killing him.

I expect I'll be receiving a visit from some helpful people after admitting that.

I did relate to the annoying neighbor aspect, too!  We live in a house now, but our neighbors at our last apartment drove us bugnuts, especially:
1.  Our upstairs neighbor had a three year old stomped around their house every night until 3am, and I had to get up at 6. 
2. The same kid rode her bike back and forth in the kitchen all winter, which is very noisy through the floor.
3.  The parents of this kid made their own curry at 2am, and the sound of grinding coconuts reverberates very loudly through the floorboards.
4.  Our downstairs neighbor cooked his supper at about 9pm every night, right when the night is nice and cool in the summer for opening windows.  Whatever he was cooking was SO spicy that just the amount that wafted outside and back into our apartment had actually given Heather nosebleeds on more than one occasion.

[Bdoomed]

Does anyone ever have a great apartment neighbor?  The people above me like to rend the earth asunder every time they walk anywhere.  They also like to host Thursday night douchebag parties.  Bad music, sorority bitches, frat bros, the smell of natty light... It's pretty disgusting.

Anyway, this story was fun, I looove unreliable narrators.  I love his reasoning and the way he told the story.  Cool concept to be tormented by your own construct.

[Unblinking]

Does anyone ever have a great apartment neighbor?  The people above me like to rend the earth asunder every time they walk anywhere.  They also like to host Thursday night douchebag parties.  Bad music, sorority bitches, frat bros, the smell of natty light... It's pretty disgusting.

Anyway, this story was fun, I looove unreliable narrators.  I love his reasoning and the way he told the story.  Cool concept to be tormented by your own construct.

I have had very nice apartment neighbors, but it's not entertaining to tell stories about them. 

[birdless]

I found the writing overly dramatic, so what can you expect from the narration (which I didn't really have a problem with). Yeah, the story just didn't click with me. It starts off conversational as if he's relating his tale verbally to the police, but it quickly transforms into something more like he would have written in his diary. I would have enjoyed the story much more if it were either one or the other. It's a nitpick, I suppose, but this idea's been done before, and done better, mainly because I felt the transition from conversational to poetic-y prose was slapdash. It annoyed me enough to keep me from enjoying the story as much as I could have.

[Triangle]

I have to admit that, were the task of narrating this story given me instead of my partner, it would have been a thousand times as melodramatic.  I know, I measured it.

With that in mind, I dread the response to me own reading in the weeks to come.  (shudder)

Well, while I can't predict whether your reading will align with my personal tastes or not, I can tell you without a doubt that my personal response (and, likely, that of the community) will be one of great appreciation either way.  Thanks for putting yourself out there and making our lives better for it.

[Balu]

it was a short, mean, bloody, and entirely effective little piece of horror.

That's what I was going to say.

Good workmanlike stuff. Loved it.