Pseudopod 204: Her Collection of Intimacy

[gord42]

I didn't at all read it as she murdered her family. I saw it as much more a mania for filming the things she loves...She wanted her boyfriend to understand just how crazy she was. The horror was in how damaged she was, how wrapped around her own trauma her mind had become, to the point that love and death, record and reality, have become totally indistinct.

I thought maybe she was actually killing them: sabotaged her dad's parachute, "helped" her mom's suicide (I mean, you don't just stand there and film a parent dying of CO poisoning, right?), did something to her brother's car.

I rather pedantically saw it as progressive...she witnessed/taped her father's death by accident, caught her mother in the act and instead of saving her grabbed the camera and finally got proactive about causing her brothers death in order to ensure she had a matched set of recorded family events.

Mostly I love that this story allows all these possibilities to stand next to each other.  Well done!

[The Far Stairs]

I wasn't bothered by the narrator being sketchily written. There's a certain style of first person narration where that works, because it allows the listener/reader to pour themselves into the story. I thought his reactions to events were believable on a basic human level, so I didn't feel like I needed to know details about him. In fact, I think they would have gotten in the way. The horror of the story felt very immediate. I felt like it was happening to me. If I had been thinking about who the narrator was and why he did things, that effect would have been lessened.

This was one of my favorite recent stories. Probably because it touched on a very real and practical fear of mine: the fact that you never really know someone until they decide to let you in. By the time they do that, it's often too late--you're already tangled up in your feelings for them and their feelings for you. In this case, the guy's need to be loved led him into the world of a complete monster. Funny how that happens.

[Jabari Woods]

I loved this podcast. It was interesting simply because it involved sex. I believe that was the only reason why I listened to the whole thing through. It is like who thinks of this stuff. Very demonic.

[Fenrix]

I think the female had a growing obsession with video documentation. But not in the oversharing modern method of vlog, blog, and photo documentation kind of way. Hers was a very selfish, greedy, and horribly disconnected way. Maybe she doesn't have the wiring to actually care about people. Maybe those were broken when her father died. Only her mother was heard on that recording - the camera stayed nice and steady all the way to the horizon. A monster would want to memorialize the impact - a perfectly natural reaction would be to put the camera down (or drop your arm to your side) while you watch with your eyes not through a viewfinder as the inevitability of the coming disaster impacts you.

I think the "two men and one woman" line was intended to foreshadow that she'd killed her family, or that they'd died, or some combination of both (I think she killed her mother and brother, myself). But it was too subtle, and the shelves of DVDs of Carla with other women was meant to draw suspicion away, much in the same way that the new Scooby Doo show (which is really quite good, despite being only half an hour per episode) introduces a character with SOME evil traits to draw your mind away from the REAL villain. See also Red Herring.

Between the title of the story, the introduction about her parents shortly before, and that line, I got that it was her family right away.

Final note: Eytanz, now that I've listened to this one, I call fie on this being better than Dreaming Way for the Slaughterhouse. But I understand your defense of it.

[eytanz]

Between the title of the story, the introduction about her parents shortly before, and that line, I got that it was her family right away.

Final note: Eytanz, now that I've listened to this one, I call fie on this being better than Dreaming Way for the Slaughterhouse. But I understand your defense of it.

Actually, I don't think the story is better than the Dreaming Way. Those two were both among my overall favourites from last year. You'll note that I never voted the Dreaming Way down. It's just that the Dreaming Way had other supporters and I felt like it needed me less, so I concentrated my efforts in perserving this story for as long as I could (I would have liked both stories to rank above Acceptable Losses or Nimble Men, btw, which were both very good stories but neither really struck a cord with me).

[Red Dog 344]

Just thought I would note that Paul Haines, the author of this story, is no longer with us.  Sad and far too soon. 1970-2012.

http://paulhaines.livejournal.com/

For the record, this was my favorite Pseudopod story.  This is one of several terrific authors that PP has introduced me to; I went on to read Haines' collection of short fiction, The Last Days of Kali Yuga, which is well worth a look.

Readers who like audio versions should definitely check out Haines' own reading of his story "The Devil in Mr. Pussy (or How I Found God Inside My Wife)" here:

http://keithstevenson.com/terraincognitasf/tisf001.html

Both of these links are working as of today, no promises for the future.

[Unblinking]

Just thought I would note that Paul Haines, the author of this story, is no longer with us.  Sad and far too soon. 1970-2012.

I'm so sorry to hear that.  He was so young, too.