Author Topic: Best of Podcastle 2014 Nominations  (Read 9942 times)

Ocicat

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on: January 13, 2015, 11:36:22 PM
2014 was a great year for Podcastle - we had 45 normal episodes, 3 giants, 3 miniatures, 3 flash fiction extravaganzas, and one essay.  Out of those, you get to pick your top three.  The episodes listed most frequently in people's top 3 lists will end up in a poll (or polls) for best Podcastle episode of 2014.  Nominations will last somewhere between 2 weeks and a month, depending on how frequently nominations continue to come in (there will be notification of at least a few days before nominations close). 

And the episodes are:
293: The High King Dreaming by Daniel Abraham
Miniature 78: Wing by Amal El-Mohtar
294: Sand Castles by Desirina Boskovich
295: The Gunner’s Mate by Gene Wolfe
296: Ill Met in Ulthar by T.A. Pratt
297: The Tower of the Elephant by Robert E. Howard
298: The Shadowcrafter by Ken Liu
299: The Little Room by Madeline Yale Wynne
300: Ilse, Who Saw Clearly by E. Lily Yu
301: In Metal, In Bone by An Owomoyela
302: Feed Me the Bones of Our Saints by Alex Dally MacFarlane
303: The Wrong Foot by Stephanie Burgis
304: Titanic! by Lavie Tidhar
305: Heartless by Peadar Ó Guilín
306: Flash Fiction Special – Tales of Strange Inspiraiton
307: Out of the Deep Have I Howled Unto Thee by Scott M. Roberts
308: Gazing into the Carnauba Wax Eyes of the Future by Keffy R.M. Kehrli
309: Underbridge by Peter S. Beagle
310: When the Lady Speaks by Damien Angelica Walters
311: La Madre Del Oro by Jeffrey Ford
312: Enginesong (A Rondeau) By Nathaniel Lee
313: This is a Ghost Story by Keffy R.M. Kehrli
315: Stranger vs. the Malevolent Malignancy by Jim C. Hines
316, Giant Episode: The Meaning of Love by Daniel Abraham
317: Bee Yard By Cole Bucciaglia
318: The MSG Golem by Ken Liu
319: America Thief by Alter S. Reiss
Essay: We Have Always Fought by Kameron Hurley
320: Baba Makosh by M.K. Hobson
321: Paya Nak by Benjanun Sriduangkaew
322: Saving Bacon by Ann Leckie
323: The Ascent of Unreason By Marie Brennan
324: Without Faith, Without Law, Without Joy by Saladin Ahmed
325: Down by Christopher Fowler
326: Haunts by Claire Humphrey
327: The Telling by Gregory Norman Bossert
328: The Old Woman With No Teeth by Patricia Russo
329: Araminta, or, the Wreck of the Amphidrake by Naomi Novik
330: DRINK ME (A Flash Fiction Extravaganza)
331: Drowning in Sky by Julia August
332: Zeraquesh in Absentia by Benjanun Sriduangkaew
333: Argent Blood by Joe L. Hensley
334, Giant Episode: Quartermaster Returns by Ysabeau S. Wilce
335: The Gorgon by Clark Ashton Smith
Miniature 79: The Dolphin by Dave Bishop
336: Why I Bought Satan Two Cokes on the Day I Graduated High School by Nathaniel Lee
337: Thirteen Incantations by Desirina Boskovich
338: Burying the Coin by Setsu Uzume
Miniature 80: Days of Rain by Rachael K. Jones
339: Help Summon the Most Holy Folded One! by Harry Connolly
340: Your Figure Will Assume Beautiful Outlines by Claire Humphrey
341, Giant: Balfour and Meriwether in the Incident of the Harrowmoor Dogs by Daniel Abraham
342: The World is Cruel, My Daughter by Cory Skerry
343: Elf Employment by Heather Shaw and Tim Pratt
344: Flash Fiction Extravaganza! Other Worlds Than These



Varda

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Reply #1 on: January 14, 2015, 01:35:28 AM
Aaaaah... eeeeeeh.... arrrrgh... This is not an easy choice!!  >:(

Even though it's one of my favorite things ever, I'm leaving out the essay from my rankings since it already got a Hugo. It's hard enough picking my top 3 without that slice of awesome to consider. :)

Varda's Picks:

1. 324: Without Faith, Without Law, Without Joy by Saladin Ahmed - for being one of the best stories I've read/heard anywhere in 2014.

2. 302: Feed Me the Bones of Our Saints by Alex Dally MacFarlane - I haven't been able to get it out of my head, all these months later.

3. 330: DRINK ME (A Flash Fiction Extravaganza) - The sum of the whole is greater than its parts. That's everything a good podcast should be.

Honorable mentions:

- 339: Help Summon the Most Holy Folded One! by Harry Connolly (this would've been my #3 if DRINK ME had been broken down into individual pieces)

- 337: Thirteen Incantations by Desirina Boskovich - soooo many feels <3

- 294: Sand Castles by Desirina Boskovich - gaaaah I love a good road trip story.

- 336: Why I Bought Satan Two Cokes on the Day I Graduated High School by Nathaniel Lee - Hobo Satan. Nuff said.

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jkjones21

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Reply #2 on: January 14, 2015, 05:51:03 PM
1. Ep. 324 - Without Faith, Without Law, Without Joy by Saladin Ahmed

2. Ep. 339 - Help Summon the Most Holy Folded One! by Harry Connolly

3. Ep. 330 - DRINK ME (A Flash Fiction Extravaganza)

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Fenrix

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Reply #3 on: January 14, 2015, 09:54:52 PM
God Damn the Dolphin!

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


DKT

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Reply #4 on: January 14, 2015, 09:56:45 PM
BELAY THAT YOU SCURVY DOG AND GO DOWN TO DAVY JONES' LOCKER!!!!


TrishEM

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Reply #5 on: January 15, 2015, 10:41:29 AM
Another great year at Podcastle; this is going to be really hard. It's going to take me a few days to decide.



TheVoicesOfBrian

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Reply #6 on: January 15, 2015, 05:02:00 PM
Tough choices this year, but here goes:

* Without Faith, Without Law, Without Joy
* Titanic!
* America Thief

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Fenrix

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Reply #7 on: January 15, 2015, 09:09:58 PM
295: The Gunner’s Mate by Gene Wolfe
309: Underbridge by Peter S. Beagle
330: DRINK ME (A Flash Fiction Extravaganza) [even with it's shocking dearth of pumpkin beer.]

Bumped off the list by a tiny margin was 304: Titanic! by Lavie Tidhar. It totally would have made my top three if you had subverted our expectations and ended the episode with Daikaiju.

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


TrishEM

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Reply #8 on: January 26, 2015, 08:32:12 AM
I am amazed that nobody has mentioned my top pick for the year:
305: Heartless by Peadar Ó Guilín
This had a fascinating basis for the system of magic, with a well explored sociology; a strong female protagonist with the courage of her convictions, fighting to save her sister; and choices with real consequences. And the ending blew me away.

My second pick is a story that I didn't entirely understand, nor did I agree with all the protagonist's choices, but it was really powerful.
302: Feed Me the Bones of Our Saints by Alex Dally MacFarlane
It's still in my head, like it is for Varda.

But Podcastle is not always heartwrenching and heavy, thank goodness! A lot of the episodes are just fun. Partly because of Alasdair's delicious delivery, partly because of the Wodehousesque worldbuilding, partly because of the charmingly not-strong protagonist, my third pick is the one story I went back and re-listened to later in the year when I needed cheering up:
322: Saving Bacon by Ann Leckie


Honorable Mentions:
328: The Old Woman With No Teeth by Patricia Russo -- great fun; I loved how the old woman kept interrupting the storyteller to make him revise the narrative.
324: Without Faith, Without Law, Without Joy by Saladin Ahmed -- wonderful style and a really fresh perspective on an old tale.
320: Baba Makosh by M.K. Hobson -- Russian mythic figures during the Russian revolution, neat!
316, Giant Episode: The Meaning of Love by Daniel Abraham -- I loved the worldbuilding and the dialogue about the meaning of love.
315: Stranger vs. the Malevolent Malignancy by Jim C. Hines -- fantastic fun, fighting despair, and turning weakness into strength.
307: Out of the Deep Have I Howled Unto Thee by Scott M. Roberts -- the Easter werewolf!



albionmoonlight

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Reply #9 on: February 03, 2015, 10:18:58 PM
Underbridge
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MSG Golem



Lisa3737

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Reply #10 on: February 06, 2015, 03:09:09 AM
Many really good stories this year.  Hard to pick just 3:

The Old Woman with No Teeth
Drink Me
Help Summon The Most Holy Folded One



tesslajane

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Reply #11 on: February 06, 2015, 07:34:56 AM
302: Feed Me the Bones of Our Saints
305: Heartless
329 Araminta

Great stories, not that all of them aren't. I personally find every story on Podcastle excellent in its own way. But these really stuck with me.



GForce

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Reply #12 on: February 07, 2015, 01:50:33 AM
327: The Telling by Gregory Norman Bossert
336: Why I Bought Satan Two Cokes on the Day I Graduated High School by Nathaniel Lee



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Reply #13 on: February 09, 2015, 03:59:35 PM
Heartless
The MSG Golem
Stranger Vs. the Malevolent Malignancy



danooli

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Reply #14 on: February 15, 2015, 01:51:48 PM
I'm going with this three episode block...

324: Without Faith, Without Law, Without Joy by Saladin Ahmed
325: Down by Christopher Fowler
326: Haunts by Claire Humphrey

Dave and Anna, this pains me...to even think of voting on the last (full) year of stories you so lovingly brought us... thank you again.



Ocicat

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Reply #15 on: February 24, 2015, 06:19:39 AM
Seems like we're a little light on nominations... but this is your last call.  I'm tallying them up in 3 days.



DKT

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Reply #16 on: March 03, 2015, 07:38:20 PM
I've never done this before, but since it's my last year...

I didn't want to actually nominate, because I felt that would be kind of weird, but now that nominations are closed, I did want to mention a couple of stories that were very close to my heart this past year. Of course, they all meant something special to me, but these even moreso:

1) 324: Without Faith, Without Law, Without Joy by Saladin Ahmed -- Honestly, this is one of the stories I'm flat-out most proud to have run at PodCastle. Joyless regaining his identity so he could stand smiling is about as perfect an ending as I could ask for. I wrote the host spot around the time things were getting even uglier in Ferguson, and felt like this story really captured so much of my feelings on what was happening there. I hoped it might be a light for people in a dark time, the way it was for me. 

2) 340: Your Figure Will Assume Beautiful Outlines by Claire Humphrey -- An immigrant, female boxer in a secondary world, and also a love story. YES, CLAIRE HUMPHREY, I WANT YOU TO HIT ME AS HARD AS YOU CAN.

3) 337: Thirteen Incantations by Desirina Boskovich -- Not to take anything away from any of the other stories or narrations we ran, but this was pretty much the perfect story/narrator combo. The sensory details in this one just killed me, as did the love the story. And the mother's love and acceptance at the end was such a welcome surprise.

Also extremely personal for me:
294: Sand Castles by Desirina Boskovich -- which I narrated, cause I loved it soooooooooo much. Road trip, romance, booze. Mmmmmmm!!!!!
308: Gazing into the Carnauba Wax Eyes of the Future by Keffy R.M. Kehrli -- Vomitting peeps so you can (almost) see the future, and always be so disappointed with where you are.
336: Why I Bought Satan Two Cokes on the Day I Graduated High School by Nathaniel Lee -- HOBO SATAN and HIGH SCHOOL FTW
330: DRINK ME (A Flash Fiction Extravaganza) -- both this and Help Summon I just had an absolute BLAST helping put together.
339: Help Summon the Most Holy Folded One! by Harry Connolly

I could list A LOT more. But I'll stop there for now :)