Author Topic: EP258: Raising Jenny  (Read 51034 times)

eytanz

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Reply #125 on: February 08, 2011, 11:07:51 PM
And it seems like it's time for a quick message from the moderator, reminding everyone of the one rule.

There's certainly nothing wrong with finding the story dreary or not to one's taste, but given that there were certainly people who liked this story on this forum, it's worth remembering that it meets some people's definitions of SF.



iamafish

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Reply #126 on: February 09, 2011, 07:30:28 AM
I'd love for you to explain why this story was a waste of time.

Because it took the place of the usual top quality SF I thought I was going to spend fifty minutes listening to.

Instead I was tricked into wasting almost an hour of my life being subjected to something that should have been sent to Good Housekeeping.

Don't get me wrong. I'm sure lots of people love this sort of dreary middleaged emo schtick. But that's no excuse for sticking a gimp mask of an SF motif on it and smuggling it into Escape Pod.

space ships and aliens to not a sci-fi make.

It contained futuristic tech and frequent references to subtle differences between the setting of the story and the present. It might be understated, but there's no reason why this shouldn't be called sci fi. You're missing the point of genre distinctions.

sorry you didn't like it, that's your call. Not all stories are for everyone, but please try to be civil about voicing your dislike.


Balu

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Reply #127 on: February 09, 2011, 01:01:00 PM
The problem is that space ships and aliens (and clones) do make SF. That's why they're sometimes tacked on to otherwise unmarketable stuff.

The question is, did this straight up and down 'I don't want to become my mother' story need an SF veneer?  

I don't think that it did. If anything that cloning angle detracted from it. As somebody else said, it was the gun on the mantlepiece that was never used.

BTW, apologies if my criticism of the story itself was a bit pugnacious. It was well written, it just wasn't very Escape Artisty.



eytanz

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Reply #128 on: February 09, 2011, 01:05:39 PM
For what it's worth, my own impression was that this wasn't a mundane story given an SF veneer (compared to that sitcom-on-a-space-station from a couple of years ago whose name I'm forgetting), I felt it was a story that started from an SF concept and tried to make it as mundane as possible. I thought it did it quite well, but I can see why that wouldn't work for everyone.




Unblinking

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Reply #129 on: February 09, 2011, 02:55:38 PM
What a waste of time this story was.

It's only saving grace was that it reminded me of the Turkey City Lexicon, something which always makes me smile:

Abbess Phone Home

Takes its name from a mainstream story about a medieval cloister which was sold as SF because of the serendipitous arrival of a UFO at the end. By extension, any mainstream story with a gratuitous SF or fantasy element tacked on so it could be sold.

http://www.critters.org/turkeycity.html

I bet that the clone thing wasn't added to this until after it had been turned down by Woman's Own  :D

On the subject of genre boundaries, did anyone read "Because Someone Had to be Neil Gaiman" in Realms of Fantasy a couple years ago?  It had 0 fantasy element whatsoever, and its only tie-in with a fantasy magazine seemed to be that it mentioned Neil Gaiman.  That drove me nuts.  Anyway...



Gamercow

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Reply #130 on: February 09, 2011, 04:20:51 PM
The question is, did this straight up and down 'I don't want to become my mother' story need an SF veneer?  

I don't think that it did. If anything that cloning angle detracted from it. As somebody else said, it was the gun on the mantlepiece that was never used.

I'm not sure if it needed the SF veneer, but I disagree it was never used.  There were hints and gestures towards the nature vs nurture debate, which was an underlying part of the story.

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iamafish

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Reply #131 on: February 10, 2011, 12:42:42 AM
The question is, did this straight up and down 'I don't want to become my mother' story need an SF veneer?

given that Jenifer turn out to be very much like Jenny, from whom she was cloned, I'd argue that this story wouldn't have made any sense without a scifi element.

Without that the story would simply be about the narrator. It's not; it's about Jenifer as well.


Sci-fi adds a new level of complexity to this story


luka datas

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Reply #132 on: December 16, 2012, 08:43:26 AM
ten stars out of a possible five. great work well read.  :'(



SonofSpermcube

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Reply #133 on: March 30, 2013, 11:03:27 AM
The question is, did this straight up and down 'I don't want to become my mother' story need an SF veneer?

given that Jenifer turn out to be very much like Jenny, from whom she was cloned, I'd argue that this story wouldn't have made any sense without a scifi element.

Without that the story would simply be about the narrator. It's not; it's about Jenifer as well.


Sci-fi adds a new level of complexity to this story

Plenty of people end up being like second-order relatives.  I remind pretty much everyone in my extended family of my uncle.  Though I've never seen one of his drawings, I'm told I draw in the same style.  We read many of the same authors, though we rarely consult one another on the subject.  And I'd only met him twice before adulthood. 

Sci-fi removes complexity from this story.