Author Topic: Pseduopod 315: Bad Company  (Read 4696 times)

Bdoomed

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on: March 20, 2013, 02:40:36 AM
Pseduopod 315: Bad Company

By Walter De La Mare.

“Bad Company” was originally published in the collection A BEGINNING & OTHER STORIES in 1955. There is a recording in the BBC Archives from January 19, 1954 of de la Mare reading this story. It is not commercially available. Rights to use this story were graciously granted by The Society Of Authors. The Society is a membership organization which has over 9,000 members writing in all areas of the profession and has been serving the interests of professional writers for more than a century. The story itself is available in SHORT STORIES 1927-1956 by Walter de la Mare, published by Giles de la Mare Publishers Ltd. This collection will shortly be available as an Ebook (you lucky people). Links, as always, under the names!


WALTER DE LA MARE OM, CH (1873-1956) was an English poet, short story writer and novelist. He worked in the statistics department of the London office of Standard Oil for eighteen years while struggling to bring up a family, but nevertheless found enough time to write, and, in 1908, through the efforts of Sir Henry Newbolt he received a Civil List pension which enabled him to concentrate on writing. His post-war COLLECTED STORIES FOR CHILDREN won the 1947 Carnegie Medal for British children’s books. He is probably best remembered for his works for children and for his poem “The Listeners”. He also wrote some subtle psychological horror stories, amongst them “Seaton’s Aunt” and “Out of the Deep”. Gary William Crawford has described de la Mare’s supernatural fiction for adults as being “among the finest to appear in the first half of this century” and several writers, including Robert Aickman and Ramsey Campbell, have cited de la Mare’s fiction as inspirational. .

Your reader this week - Paul Jenkins - has narrated for Escape Pod, Pseudopod and PodCastle a number of times (and was honored to be asked to read the story for the very first episode of PodCastle). His science fiction podcast novel THE PLITONE REVISIONIST is available for free at Podiobooks.com. His skeptical blog is Notes from an Evil Burnee and his skeptical podcast is Skepticule Extra (aka “The Three Pauls Podcast”).



“It is very seldom that one encounters what would appear to be sheer unadulterated evil in a human face; an evil, I mean, active, deliberate, deadly, dangerous. Folly, heedlessness, vanity, pride, craft, meanness, stupidity - yes. But even Iagos in this world are few, and devilry is as rare as witchcraft.

One winter’s evening some little time ago, bound on a visit to a friend in London, I found myself on the platform of one of its many subterranean railway stations. It is an ordeal that one may undergo as seldom as one can. The glare and glitter, the noise, the very air one breathes affect nerves and spirits. One expects vaguely strange meetings in such surroundings. On this occasion, the expectation was justified. The mind is at times more attentive than the eye. Already tired, and troubled with personal cares and problems, which a little wisdom and enterprise should have refused to entertain, I had seated myself on one of the low, wooden benches to the left of the entrance to the platform, when, for no conscious reason, I was prompted to turn my head in the direction of a fellow traveler, seated across the gangway on the fellow to my bench some few yards away.

What was wrong with him?”



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Listen to this week's Pseudopod.

I'd like to hear my options, so I could weigh them, what do you say?
Five pounds?  Six pounds? Seven pounds?


Edison14

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Reply #1 on: March 20, 2013, 11:11:14 PM
How could you name drop all those interesting sounding books at the end of the episode and not put a link in the show notes? Can we get those again please?




Sgarre1

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Reply #3 on: March 31, 2013, 04:59:32 AM
huh... all that work and a slight delay and no comment on the story.  De La Mare is one of the most poetic writers I know of...



Alasdair5000

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Reply #4 on: March 31, 2013, 06:43:14 AM
Yeah I'm
Disappointed we've had two like this now too. The flash contest must be eating people's attention.



Bdoomed

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Reply #5 on: April 01, 2013, 07:32:59 AM
I think it is.  I haven't ha a chance to give this one a listen yet, though!  Also, it's tax season, which has a lot of people scrambling in many different directions. 

I'd like to hear my options, so I could weigh them, what do you say?
Five pounds?  Six pounds? Seven pounds?


Fenrix

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Reply #6 on: April 04, 2013, 09:27:29 PM
The imagery was very striking, and I loved the descriptions of the spectre. The pursuit seems reminiscent of another recently produced classic "The Step". However, I feel like I missed a thing or two while driving so I need to put this on the re-listen pile to unpack it better.

All cat stories start with this statement: “My mother, who was the first cat, told me this...”


Scumpup

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Reply #7 on: April 05, 2013, 01:27:25 PM
I listened to it with enough interest to not switch over to a Librivox recording of some Manly Wade Wellman or Keith Laumer story.  At the conclusion, though, I was rather unaffected.  The story had no emotional impact for me.  As I think about it now, the only reason I persisted was curiosity about how the author wouldo end the story, rather than an actual involvement with characters or events.



Unblinking

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Reply #8 on: April 26, 2013, 01:31:13 PM
Yeah I'm
Disappointed we've had two like this now too. The flash contest must be eating people's attention.

It was definitely eating my attention.  At this point I kind of have a fixed period of time I use for forums per day.  Keeping up with the incessant stream of flash stories and comments on them has occupied that time for  6 weeks or so.  I have been listening to stories on my commute as usual but haven't gotten to the comment threads.

Which unfortunately means that I'm not commenting on some of these episodes with as fresh of a memory as I would usually have.  The title, the blurb, and people's comments are not sparking a memory of what happened in the story.  I might need to go relisten to be able to really comment on it.  :(

Thanks for all the hard work and effort to get it in place!