Author Topic: EP Special: Promo for the Alphabet Quartet  (Read 5686 times)

eytanz

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on: June 01, 2011, 09:11:21 PM
Promo for the Alphabet Quartet

From Dave Thompson, the co-editor at our sister podcast, Podcastle:

Quote
In late 2007, I took a trip down to San Diego’s Conjecture convention. I’d been listening to Escape Pod for a couple of years (PodCastle hadn’t even started yet) and so I was thrilled that the very first panel I got to see featured Tim Pratt, Heather Shaw, and Greg van Eekhout. Tim had just won a Hugo for his story “Impossible Dreams” (which I first heard at Escape Pod, yo!) and proceeded to do a collaborative reading of ABC flash fiction. Essentially, they divvied up the alphabet, wrote flash fiction stories for each letter, such as “E is for Excrement” and “N is for Nevermore Nevermore Land.” It was a fantastic reading – hilarious, poignant, thrilling, and most of all – they knew how to have fun. I left the convention knowing, just knowing, that one day – this ABC book was going to be big.

But nothing happened. Several years passed, and still – nothing happened.

And then, toward the end of last year – I realized, I’m at Escape Artists, co-editing PodCastle, and that awesome book I remember? Is out there still, and nobody’s heard it. So, I talked to Ben Phillips, and then I talked to Tim, Heather, Greg, and Jenn Reese – who came aboard to help them finish up the collection – and we came up with a plan. I decided it’d be awesome to send the Alphabet Quartet out to listeners who’d been kind enough to sign up as paid subscribers or make a one-time donation to us of $50 or more since January 1, 2011. Times are tough, we know, and not everyone can donate, so all the Escape Artists podcasts are going to be sharing a few of these stories with everyone who wants them (and also at the Drabblecast). Additionally, all the stories are available to read there for free at Daily Science Fiction, a great new online magazine that emails you free SF/F stories daily, so everyone wins. Thanks for listening, and we hope you enjoy the extra stories.

Contains the story "C is for crate" and "D is for De Gustibus"


Listen to this week’s Escape Pod!
« Last Edit: June 01, 2011, 10:36:40 PM by eytanz »



Wilson Fowlie

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Reply #1 on: June 01, 2011, 09:55:41 PM
Contains the story "C is for crate"

And one more, too!

"People commonly use the word 'procrastination' to describe what they do on the Internet. It seems to me too mild to describe what's happening as merely not-doing-work. We don't call it procrastination when someone gets drunk instead of working." - Paul Graham


eytanz

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Reply #2 on: June 01, 2011, 10:01:43 PM
Contains the story "C is for crate"

And one more, too!

Which one? I must admit I only listened to the first couple of minutes since I'm in the middle of marking papers; and they aren't mentioned in the thread in the blog so I added this note myself.



Wilson Fowlie

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Reply #3 on: June 01, 2011, 10:35:35 PM
Contains the story "C is for crate"

And one more, too!

Which one? I must admit I only listened to the first couple of minutes since I'm in the middle of marking papers; and they aren't mentioned in the thread in the blog so I added this note myself.

"D is for De Gustibus", read by Norm Sherman!

"People commonly use the word 'procrastination' to describe what they do on the Internet. It seems to me too mild to describe what's happening as merely not-doing-work. We don't call it procrastination when someone gets drunk instead of working." - Paul Graham


eytanz

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Reply #4 on: June 01, 2011, 10:37:09 PM
Cool - so that one is in both this and the Podcastle promos?



Wilson Fowlie

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Reply #5 on: June 01, 2011, 10:42:49 PM
Cool - so that one is in both this and the Podcastle promos?

Yes. There is (or will be) a total of 6 distinct stories spread across 3 promos.

(Also, later in the month, I'm told Norm plans to have his own preview for this special on the DrabbleCast. I won't give away which - or even how many - stories he's using there, though. That's for him to disclose, or not, as he wishes.)

"People commonly use the word 'procrastination' to describe what they do on the Internet. It seems to me too mild to describe what's happening as merely not-doing-work. We don't call it procrastination when someone gets drunk instead of working." - Paul Graham


Unblinking

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Reply #6 on: June 03, 2011, 01:41:48 PM
"C is for Crate" was a pleasant subversion of expectations.  That sort of tale always seems to go the Pandora's Box route, where insatiable curiosity is our downfall, so it was a change of pace to have that says "just open the damned box already!"  :)

Also, for anyone who's interested in Daily Science Fiction, my site Diabolical Plots seems to be the only one who's been reviewing them with any regularity (reviews written by Frank Dutkiewicz).  Every story is reviewed, and the reviews of stories up through February are posted, including all the alphabet stories up to "H is for Horse" (with more reviews to come).  The reviews so far are the first few on this page:
http://www.diabolicalplots.com/?s=daily+science+fiction



Salul

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Reply #7 on: June 08, 2011, 03:12:53 AM
I really enjoyed the short stories featured in the promo. Fundraising aside, what a great idea to offer the full set of letters (including repeats) for those who subscribe.

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Kaa

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Reply #8 on: July 06, 2011, 08:52:11 PM
I think I missed HOW, exactly, those of us who contribute are supposed to get these stories.

I've just finished reading them all on dailysciencefiction.com (well, 26 of them), and I'd like to hear them in audio.

I invent imaginary people and make them have conversations in my head. I also write.

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eytanz

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Reply #9 on: July 06, 2011, 09:21:24 PM
I don't have any more information than you do, but I think the information will be released when the stories are ready - as Dave said in another thread, there's been a small delay.



DKT

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Reply #10 on: July 07, 2011, 06:28:44 PM
I think I missed HOW, exactly, those of us who contribute are supposed to get these stories.

I've just finished reading them all on dailysciencefiction.com (well, 26 of them), and I'd like to hear them in audio.

Hey, sorry for the late response. We'll send an email out to you with instructions on how to download the stories when they're available :)


Dave

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Reply #11 on: January 16, 2013, 03:22:13 AM
So, I am finally getting around to listening to the Alphabet Quartet (yes, my podcast backlog is hewj).

Some of these are pretty awesome. Any chance the text of any of them are available anywhere?

At the moment, "G is for Graven" is my favorite- talk about a dark twist... but hey, you pledge to unknowable gods, what do you expect, right?

-Dave (aka Nev the Deranged)


Kaa

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Reply #12 on: January 16, 2013, 03:41:00 AM
All of the alphabet quartet stories were published on Daily Science Fiction.

I invent imaginary people and make them have conversations in my head. I also write.

About writing || About Atheism and Skepticism (mostly) || About Everything Else


Dave

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Reply #13 on: January 18, 2013, 04:15:30 AM
Cool... where would I find that?  Nevermind, Google has sufficed!

Thanks!

-Dave (aka Nev the Deranged)