PC283: Right Turns

[Talia]

PodCastle 283: Right Turns

by Tim Pratt

Read by Marguerite Croft

Originally published in Faultline.

We talked, in our tiny apartment, with the kitchen so small we couldn’t even pass each other on the way to the refrigerator, with our pipes that howled and clanked when we tried to turn on the hot water. I’d just gotten a promotion, and though it meant less teaching and more administrative work, there was also more money coming in. The housing market was good, for buyers. There were a lot of great places to choose from, but none we liked more than the labyrinth house.

“I don’t see the downside,” my husband said, leaning against me companionably in bed. “Really, the whole thing is just more space, square footage we’re not even paying for. The labyrinth could be extra storage, even.”

“What if there are bugs? Rats?”

“Then we brick up the entrance. Looks like it’s been done before, so we can do it again.”

We bought the house. We moved in. We didn’t go into the basement often, just to do laundry, and we didn’t go into the labyrinth at all. Not at first.

I’m not sure when my husband started his explorations. I didn’t find out for a while.

There are a lot of things from those first months I don’t remember.

Rated PG. We guess.

Listen to this week’s PodCastle!

[Moritz]

OK, I am a sucker for labyrinths, so basically I loved this story. Good reading, nice metaphors, maybe a bit dark, but this is Halloween, so why not. Sure, it could easily been a pseudopod story, but who cares. What did distract me a bit was that the premise and what it was saying reminded me a bit of my favorite novel, House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski.

[jenfullmoon]

Erm...this one drove me a little nuts. Everyone's lost in the labyrinth and forgetting...and then there's no ending or resolution. People get into a problem and then that's it....? Argh.

[chemistryguy]

Not one of my favorites.  I did like the metaphors, but the rest of the story didn't carry any punch.  No sense of desperation from the wife.  No feelings of suffocating claustrophobia that I know I'd be having. I understand the story was from the viewpoint of the woman as she began to lose her memories, but it sounded as if her emotions were being drained as well.  Perhaps that's how it was intended to be, but the slow ride into emptiness left me wanting.

Perhaps this story has nothing whatsoever to do with a labyrinth?  Is the whole story a metaphor about loss and coming to terms with that loss?  I like it better that way.

[Unblinking]

I liked this story as it was going, though it peaked early with the moment the realtor announces they have a labyrinth in the basement.  The husband disappearing into it was expected by the time it happened, and her following was also expected (especially since we'd already been told memory loss was caused by the labyrinth and she'd mentioned forgetting her husband's name).  After that there were some interesting details, but overall it was more of the dreary same: 
I am lost.  I am still lost.  Yup, still lost.  Oh crap, my husband ran out of chalk.  And blood.  I haven't found my way.  I doubt I will ever find my way.  I am lost.  I am still lost.  The End.

It is an interesting setting/character, the evil memory-stealing labyrinth, but this particular story of it I thought was a wee too inevitable, predictable, and because of that, long.

Perhaps this story has nothing whatsoever to do with a labyrinth?  Is the whole story a metaphor about loss and coming to terms with that loss?  I like it better that way.

Anything can be a metaphor if you believe it is!

[Varda]

I read this episode as a metaphor for the small choices that create huge differences in longterm relationships. You move from the early stages, with that passionate, head-over-heels in love feeling, and eventually that settles into a comfortable familiarity that looks like stagnation, but really isn't. Both people are still changing and making choices, but they assume they have the other person figured out. The labyrinth makes you forget because life makes you forget what you once knew about the people you love and rely upon - that they're unpredictable and changeable and full of surprises and the ability to choose. That they are separate from you, and not just an extension of yourself, even though longterm relationships can feel that way sometimes.

So when her husband up and disappears into the labyrinth, the hints are there that he wanted to have an adventure (all those references to how they used to go camping, but don't now), but she didn't pick up on it until it was too late. She thinks she knows him well enough to catch up to him, thus her decision to always take the righthand branch once the chalk markings run out. Her journey is about rediscovery, both of what her husband's like (as she wonders over the objects she finds in the labyrinth) and herself. Eventually she has to stop making decisions based on what she guesses he wants, and follow her own interests (the flowers). She stops following his trail and leaves one of her own (flashlight batteries), in hopes that he too loves her enough to come after her, like she did with him. And this is the right decision, because she walks out into sunlight at the end (previously there's been only moonlight). The point being that you can't and shouldn't stagnate, and that you should trust the people that you love to love you even through radical change.

Also: Dave, thanks for the shout-out! Proud to be supporting Podcastle however we can. We're keeping that beer cold for you, next time you find yourself in the neighborhood.

[Unblinking]

Ah!   Well that totally makes sense, Varda, and I can totally get that metaphor.  I've been with my wife for 13 years as of last week, so that gives a lot of food for thought.

I didn't get any of that from the story.  I have been known to be dense about such things, so this does not surprise me in any huge way.  Though I do think that a story heavily based in metaphor is best if it works with or without understanding the metaphor while reading--which it didn't for me.  That's a personal preference, in any case.

[Varda]

Hey, congrats to you and your wife! Here's to many more years, and may every year be better than the one before!

Regarding metaphors, I hear ya. It's undoubtedly better if a story stands on its own without the metaphor to back it up. Purely as a story, this one does meander and seems in want of a nice, memorable bit of action in the middle of the labyrinth to bring the whole thing to a crescendo. It would have ruined the metaphor, though, which is probably why it doesn't. I guess we can file it under "contemplative pieces that will either work for you or not, depending on your expectations and personal tastes."

[Moon_Goddess]

Did anyone else have Audio problems with this episode?

The intro is fine but as soon as it got to the reader it was staticy

I couldn't even listen.

[DKT]

Do you mean there was a noise beneath the narration, or no narration at all?

[Unblinking]

Did anyone else have Audio problems with this episode?

The intro is fine but as soon as it got to the reader it was staticy

I couldn't even listen.

I don't recall having any static problems on listening.

[Unblinking]

It would have ruined the metaphor, though, which is probably why it doesn't. I guess we can file it under "contemplative pieces that will either work for you or not, depending on your expectations and personal tastes."

Yeah, I think that's a fair assessment. 

[Moritz]

Did anyone else have Audio problems with this episode?

The intro is fine but as soon as it got to the reader it was staticy

I couldn't even listen.

I don't recall having any static problems on listening.

I didn't have any issues with the audio either. I usually listen to the stories on my walk to work and only have little noise distraction.

[Lionman]

Did anyone else have Audio problems with this episode?

The intro is fine but as soon as it got to the reader it was staticy

I couldn't even listen.

Yeah, I had the same problem.  The only track on the audio I could year from the podcast is the static.  I did hear an occasional word or two, but otherwise it was all just static.  No significantly discernible audio.

[Lionman]

Did anyone else have Audio problems with this episode?

The intro is fine but as soon as it got to the reader it was staticy

I couldn't even listen.

I don't recall having any static problems on listening.

I had the same issue, Unblinking.  It was all static, no useful audio.

[Moon_Goddess]

Do you mean there was a noise beneath the narration, or no narration at all?

Noise beneath the narration... I'll redownload tonight and see what I get, thanks.

[Dane Train]

this one felt more like a horror stories than a fantasy story.  don't get me wrong, it is so fancy, but I felt this would have been better for pseudopod. There were some really interesting Ideas here. Loss of the memory, the mystery of the house and the labyrinth itself. I kind of wish there was more to it. There lies the problem I have with this, there wasn't enough for me. Now, I do enjoy an open ended story but this one left me wanting more details about what's going on. I thought the ending was fine, but I still did not have the character investment to make me really care.

[danooli]

I downloaded through itunes and had no audio issues...

Anyway, I had read the story in Antiquities & Tangibles just recently but I liked it well enough then.  (I am admittedly a huge Tim Pratt fan so there's that.)  I loved the audio version.  The slow and mad way Marguerite Croft narrated it was perfect in my opinion.

[Procyon]

Bleak story! It starts out with a nice creepy vibe that seems perfectly appropriate for a twilit evening in late October, but after a while this story just becomes sad and dismal. I expected a descent into madness, but instead I think I've gone on a descent into hopelessness. Not that I didn't like it, but it was a little jarring.

The narration was wonderful, and did a great job conveying isolation. In particular, the line "He must know I'm looking for him. Wouldn't he have come looking for me?" struck one on the ol' heartstrings. This is, I think something we all want to believe, and the poor narrator is finding out that, essentially, he wouldn't.

I understand the criticism that some are expressing along the lines that the plot in this tale consists entirely of some people getting lost in a labyrinth. This isn't something that bothers me, and I've said before I don't mind stories where, well, nothing happens (cf. "Nightfall in the Scent Garden").  But I'd refine that critique to say that all that really happens to the narrator is that she's looking for her husband. Always making right turns. Only at the end do we see a glimmer of how being lost in an infinite maze of possibly malefic intent is actually affecting her. Psychologically this could be traumatizing, heartbreaking, fury-inducing, emboldening, any number of things, and I wish there had been more of that.  But all-in-all a fine, if unexpectedly despair-filled, story.

[bizbrig]

The audio was fine for me (via play button on the website).

[Unblinking]

I had the same issue, Unblinking.  It was all static, no useful audio.

I'm guessing that there must've been a couple versions of the files at some point--one got corrupted or something.  I don't recall hearing even a hint of static.

Maybe, if you feel like a troubleshooting step, try to download it from scratch?  Or I could send a copy of the one I have if someone wants to try that?

[Rain]

I just tried listening to the story, the intro and outtro are fine, the rest is just some weird static.

[DKT]

Hey everyone. Thanks for the heads-up on the sound issues. I've asked Peter to take another look at it. It's a weird anomaly that I think we've experienced once before. We'll try and get an updated file online as soon as possible, and I'll post when it happens.

Apologies, and thanks for your patience.

[evrgrn_monster]

I had a problem listening to this on just my iPhone speaker, but as soon as I plugged in my headphones, the story started working for me. I remember a similar issue with another story.

This story was just alright. I thought the descriptions were beautiful and tone was dark, but still touching. Other than that, though, I felt like this was one of the weaker Pratt stories that you guys have featured. It was nice of Miss Varda to point out the metaphor, which makes this story much more interesting, but the fact that I didn't get it upon first listen made my experience a bit dull. I liked the idea of a maze slowly sucking away at your memories, and that not even the real estate agent was allowed to keep the memory of its existence, but I felt like that wasn't explored fully. I just had too many unanswered questions. Why did the husband feel the need to keep looking? Where is he? Where did she end up? Why didn't he think to turn around, in order to return to her? Did he forget too? And above all, why? Why the maze, what's the motivation? It's a mystery, which I could see having its own allure, but didn't work for me.

Also not a fan of the narrator this time. She seemed a bit too breathy for what I would have imagined this character would actually sound like. Granted, that may have been the aforementioned audio problems. 

[Ocicat]

Thanks for the tip on that Evrgrn!  I got the static listening on my iphone 5, which I normally do with it plugged into a speaker via the charging doc, not the headphones.  I could play the file on my computer just fine, same file.  And... apparently it works on the iphone headphones.  Very, very odd.

[Max e^{i pi}]

There was noise under the audio, and the stereo was... off. Misaligned or something. I don't know the technical term, but in my headphones it sounded not in the middle of my head, like it should (and where the intro/outro sounded) but about two feet behind me and a foot above me.

Story was meh, not bad, not good.

[DKT]

Hey everyone - we think we've isolated the audio issues on this one and have posted a fixed file. It should be about a minute shorter from the previous one (as we took out the bit about the fundraiser that's since passed). Hope that helps, and thanks for your patience!

[Max e^{i pi}]

Thanks Dave. We all appreciate the effort you guys put in to this, and mostly you hear complaints. You guys are totally awesome and I wish I could donate more.
But I'm not going to relisten to the story, I don't think it was good enough to warrant that.
I mean, obviously the sound issue wasn't absolutely terrible since I made it all the way through.

[InfiniteMonkey]

Oh, did I say nothing about this story?... hmm maybe that's a reflection on how much it effected me.

I think part of the problem for me is that it simply reminded me too much of another EA story - either here or Escape Pod - which involved a man whose wife had fallen into a cave and seemingly been transported in time (I of course can not now remember the name of the story nor find it).

[Spindaddy]

THis one bothered me a lot, which I guess is a decent meter stick as to how good it was. Even after I got to work I was thinking about this story and how much it truly bothered me that a man would get so caught up in the thrill of discovery that we wouldn't turn around and come back better prepared. I felt really bad for the woman and on a certain level the story sort of reminded me of the old ascii games I used to play like Moria and Rogue and nethack.

I didn't have any audio issues, and I enjoyed it immensely even though it set a melancholy tone for the day.

[Unblinking]

Oh, did I say nothing about this story?... hmm maybe that's a reflection on how much it effected me.

I think part of the problem for me is that it simply reminded me too much of another EA story - either here or Escape Pod - which involved a man whose wife had fallen into a cave and seemingly been transported in time (I of course can not now remember the name of the story nor find it).

I know that story... what was it called.  Weren't there glyphs on the walls, and the implication in the end is that something magical down there drew her away and now it's doing the same to him?

[DKT]

I believe the story you're talking about Everything You Were Looking For, by Samantha Henderson, read by Wilson Fowlie.

[Fenrix]

I think the editors did a fine job ensuring the story has the right home in the right podcast. Sunshine and flowers and empowerment at the end are my trail blazes for this.

Also: Dave, thanks for the shout-out! Proud to be supporting Podcastle however we can. We're keeping that beer cold for you, next time you find yourself in the neighborhood.

Conveniently enough there's good beer in Athens. I would recommend this:



Maybe Creature Comforts will be open by the time you make it out. It's supposed to be open in early 2014 and their monster mascot is a little more in keeping with PodCastle than an antropomorphized turtle.

[Varda]

I think the editors did a fine job ensuring the story has the right home in the right podcast. Sunshine and flowers and empowerment at the end are my trail blazes for this.

Also: Dave, thanks for the shout-out! Proud to be supporting Podcastle however we can. We're keeping that beer cold for you, next time you find yourself in the neighborhood.

Conveniently enough there's good beer in Athens. I would recommend this:

Maybe Creature Comforts will be open by the time you make it out. It's supposed to be open in early 2014 and their monster mascot is a little more in keeping with PodCastle than an antropomorphized turtle.

1. Terrapin is awesome.
2. I hadn't heard about Creature Comforts!! Holy crap, I love this town.

Someday I hope to make friends with enough people in other craft beer-oriented locations around the country that we can do a Great Beer Exchange where we all mail each other something local. So far, this idea only exists in my head, but a Varda can dream. :-p

[Moon_Goddess]

Ok, 3 things

A) So I finally redownloaded this and listened, ironically I redownloaded it over the weekend and didn't get the corrected version....  But this one was a little better to listen to, so I did, and I'm happy I did.

2) Dear god, this belonged on Pseudopod, that was horrific.   Losing your memory is frightening enough, I work in IT, sometimes I feel like knowledge is the only important thing about me.    I'm valuable because I remember things.   My grandmother had really bad alzheimer's.   It's likely I'll get it....   Forgetting things is something I think about far far more than I should dwell on....   But this... to be dying of thirst, and know that if you drink that water you'll lose a part of yourself.    I think I'd die the painful death of dehydration.   I'd have to I couldn't bring myself to slowly stop being me.

Triangle) Ok, It's really freaky to hear my comments be read on the podcast, especially when It's been long enough I forgot exactly what I wrote.   That was a big surprise.   Makes me notice... everytime I comment on one of these stories I don't say much about the story, it's more of how one aspect of the story (like memory) makes me dwell on my own life.   Is that good or bad?

[Fenrix]

2) Dear god, this belonged on Pseudopod, that was horrific.   Losing your memory is frightening enough, I work in IT, sometimes I feel like knowledge is the only important thing about me.    I'm valuable because I remember things.   My grandmother had really bad alzheimer's.   It's likely I'll get it....   Forgetting things is something I think about far far more than I should dwell on....   But this... to be dying of thirst, and know that if you drink that water you'll lose a part of yourself.    I think I'd die the painful death of dehydration.   I'd have to I couldn't bring myself to slowly stop being me.

May I suggest Come to My Arms, My Beamish Boy and In a Right and Proper Place?

[Moon_Goddess]

After reading what I just posted, you offer me more of that.... I do believe you are trying to kill me.   However, it appears I'm a masocist as I am going to download those.

[Fenrix]

After reading what I just posted, you offer me more of that.... I do believe you are trying to kill me.   However, it appears I'm a masocist as I am going to download those.

Gooble Gobble one of us.

[Jen]

I'm surprised that so many people are 'meh' about this one, because it thought it was excellent (and the narration was amazing).

[Hilary Moon Murphy]

Maybe my brain is weird, because I just kept thinking to myself how the presence of an infinite labyrinth in your basement doesn't have to be horrific.  At first, I was thinking of the storage possibilities.  All my books would fit down there. 

Unfortunately, as the story went on, I realized that would not be really practical due to the whole forgetting who you are and what the heck you are doing side effect.  Anytime you went down to retrieve a book, you'd risk having one of those moments where you sat there in front of the shelf and said, "Why did I come down here?  Hmm... Maybe the answer lies down this endlessly forking maze in front of me."  And there would go your whole day.  This kind of thing really wreaks havoc with your productivity.

But then it occurred to me that there were other uses for this labyrinth that you could turn into a rather lucrative side business.  Waste disposal!  And if you're feeling pretty shady, you could even set up your own modern oubliette business.  Need to get rid of someone pesky in a semi-humane manner?  Bye, bye in-laws!  Farewell to IRS agents!  You could contract out with scary governmental agencies or the mafia to really make people disappear.  The labyrinth would keep getting new people to keep it entertained, and you would add enough revenue to maybe buy the house next door to store your books in.

(Sorry Tim!  Once again, I'm seeing a different story in my head than the one you wrote.  I'm annoying that way.)

[Scattercat]

I really liked this one, but Varda took care of explaining the metaphor before I got here, so I don't have much to add other than hurray for contemplative metaphorical explorations of theme.

[Devoted135]

Continuing on playing catch-up...

I think I'm with Unblinking on this one. I appreciate the metaphor now that Varda has explained it to me, but I certainly did not get all of that on my own. For me, it was an interesting mood piece, but not much more.

[Arri]

The audio problem is the narration is (accidentally) recorded with a mono null in a stereo file. The intro and outro is proper mono. Everyone hears that. The narration disappears when you listen on single speaker gear.
The narration is a mono recording in a stereo file and the two channels are identical but 180˚ out of phase. One goes positive while the other goes negative, each cancelling each other out. All you may hear is compression artifacts.
This commonly happens when someone plugs an XLR mic into a stereo mic input with an adapter cable not realizing that the cable is intended to adapt the balanced XLR to balanced 3.5mm jack. Balanced 3.5mm is found sometimes on pro wireless mic gear. Consumer and prosumer 3.5 mic inputs are most always stereo. Hence this obscure problem.
The end result is if you are listening on two speaker stereo gear you hear the narration but it has an odd spacey directionless quality. But if you are listening on a system that has both channels mono-ed together at any point, i.e. by a single speaker or right/left channels wired together, you get zip.
The only way to fix the file is to load the track into an editor and invert phase on just one channel and just for the narration (in this case).

How do I know this? Did a whole production where someone recorded VO using the wrong cable into the wrong gear and I didn't catch it. Sent out tapes with nice music and NO narration when played on (still common at the time) mono TVs. Now I always check playback on a mono speaker when using supplied audio.

[Max e^{i pi}]

Wow.
Thank you Arri for that detailed and elucidating explanation. I love learning new things

[Unblinking]

Fascinating, and totally makes sense.  Maybe pre-release of an episode, that can be added as a test before it goes out.

[LaShawn]

Auuughhh...I'm soooo behiiiiiiiiiind....lol.

I thought this was gorgeous, quiet story that had a lot going on in the details. So much so I almost got lost..so to speak. I find it interesting that instead of camping gear, the woman brings pens and paper. And the part where she stops following her husbands signs and start making her own. Wow. I think the story captured perfectly the feeling of spinning your wheels and trudging in a routine, to the point that you forget the reason why you're even doing it, and the realization that with a small change, things do happen. So for me, while the story was bleak, it ended in a bittersweet, optimistic note.

I think if I had been in a more stagnant part of my life, I would be deeply impacted by this story.

[girlwithsixarms]

I wasn't going to comment on an episode this old, but I listened to 289 (see Dave's end comments) on the same night as this one.

I didn't like this story so much as I felt a connection to it - a close friend of mine spent years battling with terrible depression and I spent about the same period of time doing the same, one of the things we've both noticed as we're coming out the other side is that our memories are much less sharp than they used to be and it is especially difficult to remember anything from the worst periods of depression. It's difficult to express this thought without sounding overly philosophical and angsty, but I think this labyrinth story stuck with me so fiercely because it's not just about how difficult it is to find your way out, it's also about how the process of doing so takes things from you - some that you didn't know you could lose, and some that you didn't know you had to begin with.