Author Topic: Pseudopod Bonus Flash: Fan Letter To Joe Lansdale  (Read 4131 times)

Bdoomed

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on: June 28, 2015, 03:21:15 PM
Pseudopod Bonus Flash: Fan Letter To Joe Lansdale

by Adrian Simmons

“Fan Letter To Joe Lansdale” is making its first appearance on PSEUDOPOD.

ADRIAN SIMMONS writes science fiction, fantasy, a little non-fiction, and a little horror. He is a founding member and co-editor of Heroic Fantasy Quarterly. His science fiction stories are available in issues one and three of James Gunn’s AD ASTRA online magazine, and his story “Paradise of Wasteland” in Heroic Fantasy Quarterly number nineteen received a “recommended” score from Locus magazine’s Lois Tilton.

Your reader is Jared Axelrod. Jared has been involved with podcasting for almost a decade as the writer and producer of three science-fiction podcasts, the audio anthology series “The Voice Of Free Planet X,” and the serials “Aliens You Will Meet” and “Fables Of The Flying City.” The story started in “Fables Of The Flying City” is concluded in The Battle Of Blood & Ink, a graphic novel published by Tor. He is also the creator of several comics and short stories featuring the down-on-his-luck supervillain, Comrade Cockroach. He’s recently restarted The Voice of Free Planet X podcast, back and better than ever!



“Dear Mr. Landsdale:

I would like to congratulate you on your story “Boys Will Be Boys” in the FenCon 2010 program booklet.

For years I have tried to write a story that gets into the head of a sociopath, and you’ve put together one that gets into the heads of not one, but two of them!”





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?


Fenrix

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Reply #1 on: June 30, 2015, 01:15:11 PM
Al's closing commentary was fantastic on this one.

I'm going to try to stop staring into the abyss now.

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


Unblinking

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Reply #2 on: June 30, 2015, 03:09:46 PM
Ha, I seem to have listened to this and its paired episode in the wrong order.  This I enjoyed relatively well, even though I am very tired of sociopaths and psychopaths in horror fiction, probably  because it was meta which lent it an angle that made it feel a little less well-trodden.  I'm assuming the implication is that the writer of the letter is himself a sociopath and doesn't realize it?



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Reply #3 on: June 30, 2015, 05:34:25 PM
I liked this.
It was unpredictable yet restrained. I could imagine this as real "fan mail."
Re commentary: it's common to prompt one to "check your privilege."
It's good for everyone on any side of the cited controversy to "check your objectification."
"How dare they..." sometimes contains the seed of a good reason.



Fenrix

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Reply #4 on: June 30, 2015, 05:42:04 PM

I liked this.
It was unpredictable yet restrained. I could imagine this as real "fan mail."
Re commentary: it's common to prompt one to "check your privilege."
It's good for everyone on any side of the cited controversy to "check your objectification."
"How dare they..." sometimes contains the seed of a good reason.


The fact that this reads pretty straight as fan mail is delicious meta-horror.

I was going to mention privilege in the other thread. The scene with the judge in the main story is about as perfect an example of white privilege as it gets.   

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


Adrian S.

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Reply #5 on: July 07, 2015, 02:43:53 AM
Hi, all.  Thanks for the comments on my story!  I'm glad to see the tale is having the effect I was hoping for!

As for the idea that the letter writer himself may be a sociopath.  Mayyyybe...  but then, once a person begins down the path of de-humanizing other people (even if those people lack the basic empathy that pretty much defines what being human is) it is a slippery slope. 

-Adrian Simmons



headintheclouds

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Reply #6 on: July 07, 2015, 05:45:10 PM
As for the idea that the letter writer himself may be a sociopath.

That's exactly what I was thinking. Here he is talking about killing all of the sociopaths, would he not in the end kill himself?

 I did enjoy listening to this fan letter. I have to say i probably liked it more than the original story  :D



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Reply #7 on: July 10, 2015, 05:06:00 PM
As for the idea that the letter writer himself may be a sociopath.

That's exactly what I was thinking. Here he is talking about killing all of the sociopaths, would he not in the end kill himself?

 I did enjoy listening to this fan letter. I have to say i probably liked it more than the original story  :D


Probably wouldn't kill himself, but the cause he championed could very well turn on him.



Fenrix

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Reply #8 on: July 10, 2015, 06:32:38 PM
As for the idea that the letter writer himself may be a sociopath.

That's exactly what I was thinking. Here he is talking about killing all of the sociopaths, would he not in the end kill himself?



Probably wouldn't kill himself, but the cause he championed could very well turn on him.

Everyone is the hero of their own story.


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


Adrian S.

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Reply #9 on: July 12, 2015, 03:24:54 PM
Ah, just when you think the science is settled!  http://www.psmag.com/books-and-culture/do-psychopaths-even-exist

I can't help but feel the authors are doing a little hand-waving between "psychopath", "sociopath", and "APD". 

-Adrian Simmons



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Reply #10 on: July 30, 2015, 07:30:57 PM
Yeah, this was excellent. On one level, it pointed out the problems with viewing people in terms of personality "type" and also the dangers of buying into any kind of societal cleansing plan, especially one with scientific backing.

On another level, it did a good job of pointing out the weaknesses of Lansdale's story. The over-enthusiastic tone of the fan letter hinted that "Boys Will Be Boys" might not be the sharp social satire it pretends to be (i.e. if a jerk loves your story, then maybe your story is for jerks) — although, it might be implying that anything can be misread, regardless of quality.

I hated Lansdale's story, so I naturally want to read this as a clever and subtle take-down. I think it works in that way even if the author didn't intend it to.

Jesse Livingston
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