Author Topic: CoW Ep: 187 Staff Pick 2015 – The Haunted Jalopy Races  (Read 3783 times)

danooli

  • Moderator
  • *****
  • Posts: 1745
    • Who Doesn't Love Stories?
Episode 187: Staff Pick 2015 – The Haunted Jalopy Races by M. Bennardo

Narrated by Alasdair Stuart
Audio production by Rikki LaCoste

Originally published in Shimmer (January 2013)

Every year in January, Cast of Wonders takes the month off to recharge our batteries, plan the year ahead, and highlight some of our favourite episodes. As part of joining the Escape Artists family, this year we’re pulling out all the stops. We’re running 10 staff pick episodes over the month, each one hosted by a different member of the Cast of Wonders crew.

We hope you enjoy alumnus host and editor Graeme Dunlop’s favorite story from 2015, The Haunted Jalopy Races by M. Bennardo and narrated by Alasdair Stuart. The story originally aired March 22, 2015 as Episode 160.

It all started when gallant Joe Jones and shiftless Sylvester Sneep agreed to race each other for the hand of pretty Sadie Merriweather. Except that’s not really how it started at all, not the first year anyway, not back in 1938.

Click here to listen to Episode 187
Click here to read the text of The Haunted Jalopy Races by M. Bennardo

Original Episode 160 notes:
M. Bennardo‘s short stories have recently appeared in Asimov’s Science Fiction, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, and Clarkesworld. He is also co-editor of the Machine of Death series of anthologies. He lives in Kent, Ohio, and you can find out more about his work at his website or on Twitter.

To narrate the story we welcome back the dulcet tones of the man at the top of the Pseudopod Tower, Alasdair Stuart, who our listeners last heard this Halloween past with the classic Lovercraft tale Dagon on Episode 143.

Alasdair is a literary jack of all trades, who’s credits include freelance culture journalism, comic and film critique, amateur food blogging and PR work, not to mention fiction of his own. He’s most frequently found on Twitter or his website.

Tags: Alasdair Stuart, cars, Cast of Wonders, driving, Fantasy, ghost story, ghosts, Graeme Dunlop, Humor, Matthew Bennardo, racing, retro, Rikki LaCoste, Staff Pick, Young Adult fiction



Unblinking

  • Sir Postsalot
  • Hipparch
  • ******
  • Posts: 8729
    • Diabolical Plots
Reply #1 on: January 12, 2016, 03:47:10 PM
This story was interesting, but not really my cup of tea, I guess?  It seemed to be a riff on a kind of story I never really got that much into in the first place, the Grease-esque car race competition.



Fenrix

  • Curmudgeonly Co-Editor of PseudoPod
  • Editor
  • *****
  • Posts: 3996
  • I always lock the door when I creep by daylight.
Reply #2 on: January 12, 2016, 06:15:28 PM
I dug the hell out of this one. I suspect the libraries I used growing up were slightly out of date, because I read the Hardy Boys when they called each other "chum" and drove a jalopy. And oh the 3 Investigators. So much better. I could totally see this fitting that milieu. So along with teen investigators I read some greaser/racing fiction. Might not have hurt that my older sisters were obsessed with Grease.

I also like how this one draws lines between the old and the new. It's not just a nostalgia story.

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


Jhite

  • Palmer
  • **
  • Posts: 47
    • Great Hites
Reply #3 on: January 13, 2016, 04:37:47 PM
This story was not at all what I was expecting when I read the title. I really enjoyed.

Captain James T. Kirk
I'm sorry I can't here you over the sound of how awesome I am
http://GreatHites.blogspot.com


Tango Alpha Delta

  • Hipparch
  • ******
  • Posts: 1778
    • Tad's Happy Funtime
Reply #4 on: January 16, 2016, 03:43:40 AM
I dug the hell out of this one. I suspect the libraries I used growing up were slightly out of date, because I read the Hardy Boys when they called each other "chum" and drove a jalopy. And oh the 3 Investigators. So much better. I could totally see this fitting that milieu. So along with teen investigators I read some greaser/racing fiction. Might not have hurt that my older sisters were obsessed with Grease.

I also like how this one draws lines between the old and the new. It's not just a nostalgia story.

Ha, ha - same! I still have a bunch of my old Hardy Boys books.

I really liked the notion of the way the memories of the living affected the ghosts, making them exaggerated caricatures. That really is how our brains work, which is why humans make such lousy eye-witnesses. The younger brother added a really neat dimension to this, making the "bad guy" more understandable and relateable... (ahem, Anakin take note...)


This Wiki Won't Wrangle Itself!

I finally published my book - Tad's Happy Funtime is on Amazon!


Devoted135

  • Hipparch
  • ******
  • Posts: 1252
Reply #5 on: January 17, 2016, 01:33:21 AM
I loved Nancy Drew books, and quite enjoyed the few Hardy Boys books that I happened to pick up. I agree that this story fits in nicely with their atmosphere.



kibitzer

  • Purveyor of Unsolicited Opinions
  • Hipparch
  • ******
  • Posts: 2228
  • Kibitzer: A meddler who offers unwanted advice
Reply #6 on: January 17, 2016, 10:18:34 PM
Hardy Boys... Nancy Drew... The Three Investigators...

Nostalgia :)


TrishEM

  • Matross
  • ****
  • Posts: 208
Reply #7 on: January 29, 2016, 07:06:31 AM
I really liked that Bennardo made this story end in a way that I wasn't expecting at all. I'll have to look up more of his stories.
The flavor of it reminded me a bit of Seanan McGuire's Sparrow Hill Road, which is a GOOD thing.