Pseudopod 449: How To Remember

[Bdoomed]

Pseudopod 449: How To Remember

by Sylvia Anna Hivén.

“How To Remember” won the 2014 Parsec Short Story Contest.

SYLVIA ANNA HIVÉN lives and writes in Atlanta, Georgia. Her fiction has appeared in Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Daily Science Fiction, EscapePod, and others..

Your narrator – Patrick “The Voice” Bazile – WAS born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. Patrick has voiced everything from PSA’s to major product brand commercials and movie trailers to documentaries. With a deep, commanding voice often referred to as “The Voice of God” Patrick demands attention. His website is HERE.


“The painted woman shimmered bronze-red against the desert. I didn’t know if I’d ever catch up with her, but still I whipped my ragged horse on, doing everything in my might to not let that little speck of a savage vanish over the horizon.

My throat itched with hot dust, which bothered me, and my horse’s hooves bled, and that was no good neither—the fanged mustangs would smell it, and the black-hounds, too. But I followed that painted woman like the devil chasing a damned soul, because that woman had stolen Ellie.

_You get my daughter back, Jeremiah. You get her back, or this ain’t your homestead anymore._

I couldn’t remember Clementine’s face much, in the feverish desert and with the sun so unwilling to set—so unwilling to do anything but bake, and char, and burn, and make a man miserable. But my wife’s words burned more than the sun, and even if I didn’t remember quite how she looked when I’d left, I could pretty much imagine her. My mind conjured up images of her tear-dusty face and the way she’d writhe her hands—not despairingly, but like a warning what all would happen if I failed. That was Clementine: pretty and frail on the outside, a wispy ghost of a girl in her thin cotton dress, but when she wanted to she could be something else—something nearly as wicked as the desert and the vile creatures crawling in its cracks. And she wanted Ellie back. So I had ridden out.

I was still riding, ignoring the flicker of scarlet the horse left on our trail, not caring how damn parched I was and how I had no idea when I’d refill my water skin. And I ignored how the life I was desperate to put back together, in my icy-cold fever, I barely remembered anymore.”



Listen to this week's Pseudopod.

[bounceswoosh]

Haunting and beautiful. Loved it.

[robert.reed.auth]

There are several things I like about the story, but the thing I liked the most was the atmosphere. The story itself almost had a Hitchcock / Western vibe, but I really liked the atmosphere and setting. Great  job I loved the story.

[Lieberkuhn]

I loved the imagery and mood. And it was the perfect combination of narrator and story; Patrick Bazile is a fantastic reader.

[Millenium_King]

This was a good "weird west" story.  The narration was excellent too.  Really fit well with the story itself.

It was nice to have something fantastic, with the fantastic elements simply presented and straightforward without occluding overly detailed justification.  The world had simply gone mad and the reason wasn't clear.  I enjoyed that.  The overall tone of delirium also fit well.  The entire episode may have been only in the main character's head - who knows?  Well done and kept me interested throughout.

[Unblinking]

I had trouble focusing on this one.  I don't know why.  A lot has been going on this week, so I think it may have been my personal headspace to blame, not anything about the story. :/

[Scuba Man]

Haunting and beautiful. Loved it.

For me, the image of the rider's horse leaving bloody hoof-prints left its mark on me.  I was also trying to parse out the relationship between the rider and his wife.  Was he really not supposed to return until the little girl was recovered... or was that a figure of speech?  A good story.  Now, I have to screw up my courage and try re-listening to to the next posting: The Arrival.  Little kid narratives give me the creeps.

[starktheground]

Loved this, the ambiguity and the feel and all that

[South of No North]

This was creepy and it pulled you along with him as he crossed the desert.

My mouth is dry and I feel grit between my teeth.

Good.

Excellent reading, too.