Author Topic: PC362: Amma's Wishes  (Read 4837 times)

Talia

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on: May 05, 2015, 03:46:11 PM
PodCastle 362: Amma’s Wishes

by M. E. Garber

read by Marguerite Kenner

First published in MZB’s Sword & Sorceress 29.

The door to the Dragon’s Beard Tavern slammed open and wintry winds gusted within, twisting Amma’s skirts about her legs like the arms of a drunken hero. Amma stumbled, sloshing ale from the tankards on her tray onto her skirts. She glared towards the door, where three men dressed in crimson-edged blacks let the door bang shut behind them.

Damn these fighters. Couldn’t they just once enter like human beings? They swaggered to the far table, ignoring everyone in the crowded tavern. “Stew!” one yelled over his shoulder.

“Wench! Hurry with that ale. We’re thirsty men!” a helmed man at the table before her demanded. Those around him roared their agreement.


Rated PG.

M. E. Garber grew up reading about hobbits, space-travel, and dragons, so it’s no wonder that she now enjoys writing speculative fiction, and dreams of traveling the world(s). She used to live near the home of Duck Tape, then near the home of Nylabone. Now she lives near the home of Gatorade. You can find her blog at: http://megarber.wordpress.com.

Marguerite Kenner is a native Californian who has forsaken sunny paradise to be with her true love and live in Merrye Olde England. She frequently wears so many hats that she needs two heads. When she’s not grappling with legal conundrums as a trainee solicitor or editing Cast of Wonders, she can be found narrating audio fiction, studying popular culture (i.e. going to movies and playing video games) with her partner Alasdair Stuart, or curling up with a really good book. You can follow her at her personal blog, Project Valkyrie, or on Twitter via @LegalValkyrie.

Listen to this week’s PodCastle!
« Last Edit: May 27, 2015, 01:21:30 PM by Talia »



Dwango

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Reply #1 on: May 05, 2015, 04:14:45 PM
Hmmm, genie wins again.  What if Amma's true love walks in to the tavern at the end.  It could get, well, really weird and creepy.   :o

Amma was kind of dependent and not very imaginative, which actually works in this tale, as she accepts this and overcomes her limitations with a little help from her friends.  It was a very cute story, a little more than I generally like, but it would be a great story to tell children of a certain age.  I did get a strange image, before I knew her real wish, of a gaggle of the adventurers' mothers all behind the bar, scolding their adventuring kids to clean up, stand up straight, and get a "real" job.  Humorous and disconcerting at the same time.

This reminds me of.... something.  ;)



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Reply #2 on: May 12, 2015, 02:40:58 PM
Hmmm..  I tend to like wish stories because it's always interesting to see how the wishes get upturned in the end.  So most of my interest was in that first wish.  And although it would've screwed up the happy ending I was kind of hoping the 2nd wish would have some unintended consequences. 

I thought the dynamic between Gene and Fillmore was interesting, especially since they appear to have gotten together in the end?  The act of selflessly giving away the genie lamp as their moment of connection was cute.

At times it seemed like Amma was a little too passive.  I liked that the story started out with her taking action to try to improve her living conditions, but without succumbing to greed that would've doomed her to a worse fate in the long run--she only wanted to be treated like a human being. 

The solution was clever, but I'm not convinced that it would've actually worked.  OK, being under the watchful eyes of their mothers might make them more calm and collected, might.  But are they going to want to sit around and swill ale in such an environment?  I thought that rather than a tavern they'd change over to a place known for home-cooked meals and a quiet environment, where you can go to eat some pot roast and catch up on community gossip or something.



NumberFive

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Reply #3 on: May 13, 2015, 06:10:02 PM
A fun twist on the genie in the bottle story. I enjoyed it, although I agree that in the end a lot of adventurers might end up going somewhere else to drink, unless of course their Mom drank right along with them!



shanehalbach

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Reply #4 on: May 15, 2015, 01:23:44 PM
It didn't seem to me that the second wish was appreciably different than the first wish; if magically forcing them to be gentlemen had them taking their business elsewhere, then guilting them into being gentlemen would seem to have the same effect.

I particularly enjoyed the scene with Amma and Gene getting drunk and commiserating on their similarities. It was easy to forget the dark undercurrent of "it's a man's world" and "adventures will be adventurers" under all the cutseyness, but I was definitely rooting for Amma to find a third choice rather than being forced to choose between constant sexual harassment or becoming a prostitute. So I was glad it ended happily for everyone in the end.


FrogNLotus

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Reply #5 on: May 17, 2015, 02:24:06 PM
I enjoyed this story.  The narration was excellent and it was easy to visualize the characters and setting.  The one thing that I did not get entirely was Ammah's motivation for wanting 'gentlemen' in the tavern.  I suppose I would have liked some more background information on Ammah.  The story made it clear that the inn keeper and his wife were not Ammah's parents, so I wondered where she had come from and where she got the notions of the good behavior she expected.  I also wondered why she didn't just join Fillmore making candles instead of returning to the tavern.  A candlemaker's shop would attract more refined coterie than the inn.  The story made it seem that the oldest profession and serving girl were the only jobs available, but obviously Fillmore's mother had found something more worthwhile.  I also did not understand how she came to own the inn if it wasn't hers to begin with. 



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Reply #6 on: May 18, 2015, 01:50:30 PM
I also wondered why she didn't just join Fillmore making candles instead of returning to the tavern.  A candlemaker's shop would attract more refined coterie than the inn.  

Hmmm....  Interesting question.  Would've been nice to have had that considered in the story.  Maybe she felt uncomfortable at the notion of taking employment from someone who seemed to fancy her (which I assumed he did at the beginning).  I would think they both might've been comfortable with a clearly defined apprenticeship, the usual seven years of helping Fillmore around the shop before she could consider making it on her own.   This idea hadn't occurred to me while listening, mind you.



FrogNLotus

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Reply #7 on: May 19, 2015, 12:59:41 PM
And yet they still ended up working together at the Inn.  

An alternate ending could be:  Fillmore grinning as Gene announces to him that he has done his bidding:  He has brought the young lass to his candle shop of her own free will.  Fillmore needs Ammah as a sacrifice to save his mother who is enslaved by a vile demon of the underworld that she unwittingly unleashed by lighting the Necromancer's candle.  It was imperative Ammah arrive on her own free will or the magic would not work.  Fillmore tells the genie that he will not free him until he performs the arcane spell and secures the release of his mother.  Fillmore begins his incantations, Ammah becomes bewitched, the demon manifests; all is going according to plan.  Then the door of the candle shop bursts open, freed from its hinges by the force of an armored hero type crashing into it.  The hero somersaults across the floor knocking Fillmore down and in one swift motion delivers an enchanted sword into the belly of the demon.  Demon dies, mother is rescued, Fillmore is shamed, Ammah is saved, genie freed, hero exalted.  Hero takes off helmet and reveals a shield maiden on her own heroic journey to avenge her brother and father.  She arrived at the candle shop when she noticed an ominous cloud above it and recognizing it as one similar to one associated with her kinfolk's death.  But really this is Gene's doing because Ammah's last wish is to be rescued.  They go back to inn and Ammah notices the adventurers treat the shield maiden differently.  Then Ammah has an epiphany!  She realizes that the reason the heroes act politely around their mothers is because they respect their mothers--just as they respect the shield maiden.  She decides she needs to earn the same respect.  So she trains with shield maiden and later challenges a warrior--who is being particularly vulgar--to battle.  She fights well and earns their respect.  The story ends with Ammah not really caring about the occasional slamming of doors because it indicates a stranger.  All the regulars respect her and she knows that the world needs heroes and adventurers.  
« Last Edit: May 19, 2015, 01:02:30 PM by FrogNLotus »



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Reply #8 on: May 19, 2015, 03:00:12 PM
And yet they still ended up working together at the Inn.  

Right.  But working WITH someone who may fancy you is a very different power dynamic than working FOR someone who may fancy you.  I felt like they were three equal partners in the keeping of the inn, though I might've misinterpreted that (also by that time it appeared that Fillmore was together with Gene, so if there was also a fancy for Amma it was at the very least much less relevant).

An alternate ending could be:  Fillmore grinning as Gene announces to him that he has done his bidding:  He has brought the young lass to his candle shop of her own free will.  Fillmore needs Ammah as a sacrifice to save his mother who is enslaved by a vile demon of the underworld that she unwittingly unleashed by lighting the Necromancer's candle.  It was imperative Ammah arrive on her own free will or the magic would not work.  Fillmore tells the genie that he will not free him until he performs the arcane spell and secures the release of his mother.  Fillmore begins his incantations, Ammah becomes bewitched, the demon manifests; all is going according to plan.  Then the door of the candle shop bursts open, freed from its hinges by the force of an armored hero type crashing into it.  The hero somersaults across the floor knocking Fillmore down and in one swift motion delivers an enchanted sword into the belly of the demon.  Demon dies, mother is rescued, Fillmore is shamed, Ammah is saved, genie freed, hero exalted.  Hero takes off helmet and reveals a shield maiden on her own heroic journey to avenge her brother and father.  She arrived at the candle shop when she noticed an ominous cloud above it and recognizing it as one similar to one associated with her kinfolk's death.  But really this is Gene's doing because Ammah's last wish is to be rescued.  They go back to inn and Ammah notices the adventurers treat the shield maiden differently.  Then Ammah has an epiphany!  She realizes that the reason the heroes act politely around their mothers is because they respect their mothers--just as they respect the shield maiden.  She decides she needs to earn the same respect.  So she trains with shield maiden and later challenges a warrior--who is being particularly vulgar--to battle.  She fights well and earns their respect.  The story ends with Ammah not really caring about the occasional slamming of doors because it indicates a stranger.  All the regulars respect her and she knows that the world needs heroes and adventurers. 

I don't hate the idea, but there's so much there that it essentially become an entirely different story, rather than just an alternate ending.



FireTurtle

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Reply #9 on: May 19, 2015, 06:58:12 PM
My own response to the story is similar to the ones mentioned above. I was intrigued by the twist, but kind of turned off by both the sort of "girls are servers" assumption of the MC ( I say MC rather than author because I'm sure the author can think of something else for a woman to do, but it remained one of those off-putting things that reminded me of all the bad hero fiction in the world.) and the generally skeevy assumption by the Amma that it is perfectly ok to change everyone to suit her idea of how they should be. Perhaps that latter was intentional, an inversion of the male-gaze? I dunno. I was just creeped out by the idea that it's ok to force people to be something other than what they are.


“My imagination makes me human and makes me a fool; it gives me all the world and exiles me from it.”
Ursula K. LeGuin


MooG

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Reply #10 on: May 30, 2015, 03:41:20 PM
This story never really grabbed me.

As others have implied the ending seemed a bit contrived - adventurer's desert an inn where they had to be polite but flock to drink in one overlooked by their mum.

I also wonder what happens when the adventuring version of Norman Bates or Nero arrives for a visit.



Devoted135

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Reply #11 on: June 19, 2015, 02:49:07 AM
I liked the tone of this story and it's usually fun to see how each wish will be subverted. However, like others I had a lot of issues with the implications and open questions left by the story. At pretty much every turn I was fairly baffled by the choices made by each character.