Author Topic: PC212: Squonk and the Lake Monster  (Read 11386 times)

Swamp

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Reply #25 on: July 06, 2012, 02:20:18 PM
I think eliminating all Squonk stories on Podcastle would be going too far, but I'm speaking as one who has been with Squonk from his first appearance on EP.  I think where this one fell a bit flat was that it got away from the core Squonk/Wendell relationship.  A lot of these other characters serve as a good backdrop, but it is the interaction between Wendell and Squonk that has made these stories work.  Maybe they need to go on a quest and leave the horde and Miss Tweedlechirp behind for a while.

That said, I did like Despairing Nevermore, but the story overall was a bit bland.

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Unblinking

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Reply #26 on: July 09, 2012, 01:48:22 PM
I think eliminating all Squonk stories on Podcastle would be going too far, but I'm speaking as one who has been with Squonk from his first appearance on EP.  I think where this one fell a bit flat was that it got away from the core Squonk/Wendell relationship.  A lot of these other characters serve as a good backdrop, but it is the interaction between Wendell and Squonk that has made these stories work.  Maybe they need to go on a quest and leave the horde and Miss Tweedlechirp behind for a while.

I agree with this.  I love a good quest.  And a Wendell/Squonk quest would be fun.  I could really like that.  Preferably a quest that puts more at stake than saying "hi" to a lake monster.



jennybean42

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Reply #27 on: July 09, 2012, 03:36:52 PM
I have to disagree with the people who don't like these, but for a very specific reason.

I am the mother of an adopted son (he's 6 now) with special needs. We are adopting again within the year.
These stories are FANTASTIC-- pardon the pun-- when looked at through the lense of someone with an adopted child, or a child with special needs.
(Or, in my case, both.)
I don't know if the author has any experience with my world, but the characters are tenderly written and deal gently with so many of the subjects that my son and children like him deal with-- feeling out of place, having trouble making friends, looking for people who are "like him," dealing with bullies,   etc. etc. Even the goth crow is an identifiable character when you've been dealing with foster children for as long as I have.
Mrs. Tweedlechirp's loving and no nonsense approach to parenting is even identifiable. I like that she's not the throwaway parent that gets tossed aside in some quest for "real/wonderful/magical/whatever" biological parents.


Anyway, yeah, I hope someday all these stories are put together in an anthology.

Jenny



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Reply #28 on: July 09, 2012, 08:17:38 PM
Yes, speaking as another mother, I adored this story. Can't wait to let my son listen to it. And there were some sweet quotes in this story. "'Later' can mean 'never'--right?" Ahhh...good stuff.

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Anarquistador

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Reply #29 on: July 10, 2012, 06:56:47 PM
And I liked the Goth crow.

ALL crows are Goth. It's kind of their thing.

Man, lake monsters are jerks. This explains why my recent expedition to Lake Champlain yielded no results. Champ is just under the boat giggling to himself. Jerk.

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childoftyranny

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Reply #30 on: July 15, 2012, 11:27:56 AM
I think I'm just going to with I enjoyed this one, and hopefully others disappointment with it means the others with come across even better!



DKT

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Reply #31 on: July 16, 2012, 03:57:20 PM

I think I have isolated the problem, and identified why there is so much hate for this episode. All three previous Squonk stories came with strong warnings prior to even the opening music. I will blame Ray Bradbury. Without his passing and the resultant grieving, Dave would not have overlooked the warning system. I'll forgive you dropping the ball this time, PodCastle, but give us warnings of fun and the requirement of child supervision before the next one.


You know, I think you're probably right on this regard. In hindsight, I can't believe I didn't slap the content warning on this one. Will definitely rectify that next time a Sqounk story comes our way.


Listener

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Reply #32 on: August 01, 2012, 12:34:13 PM
I think I agree with most folks that this was a decent story, but in the Squonk continuum it was not in the top three. Perhaps because it took away from the main storyline, which was that Squonk wanted to become a wizard.

Also, I may have been oversaturated on bullying stories having just watched "Griff the Invisible" a couple of days prior (review coming next week on escapepod.org).

My Bluetooth seems to fuzz out on certain voices when they hit certain notes, and it happened a lot with Wilson, especially with his voice for Squonk. I did love the portrayal of Despairing Nevermore, who I believe is my favorite character now.

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