Pseudopod 504: Cuernavaca

[Bdoomed]

Pseudopod 504: Cuernavaca

by John Mile Deisinger.

“Cuernavaca” is a Pseudopod Original. “I’d like the audience to ask themselves what ‘belief’ means to them, and whether they think the things we believe in can protect us from a world that doesn’t seem to believe in much at all.”

JOHN M. DEISINGER is a writer from Milwaukee who lives in Michigan. He blogs at JohnMDeisinger.com

Your reader – Luis Moreno[/b] – is an actor from New York City. He holds an MFA in acting from Columbia University, and you can learn more about him at his website, luismorenotheactor.com. He loves recording audiobooks, and does so for many publishers; his narration work can be found on Audible and other commercial platforms.

Luis’ audio producer is the impeccable Branan Edgans (whom you last heard reading on Pseudopod in The Influence Of Thomas Glittio. And we would also like to thank Chris and Rob at BrickShop Audio in Industry City, Brooklyn for the recording help!

The CAST OF WONDERS Flash Fiction Contest info can be accessed at the link.

Info on Anders Manga’s album can be found here.


“Morelos state, as you know, is the crucible of the People’s Revolution. This was where the Grito de Dolores found its most fervent listeners. This was the homeland of Zapata, who I rode with and followed. You should have seen the landlord’s faces when we asked them for the taxes. When we burned their fields of sugar cane, so that the campesinos could plow them fresh and plant corn and peppers. They squealed like pigs in hot grease. How they threatened us, with their army, with their policemen, with their money, with their God. And all of this is to say nothing of the ones whose houses we burned.

But excuse me. My point is, I know the land well. The mountains that separate the city from the Distrito to the north. The patchwork fields, the lakes and small forests, where the peasants trap snakes for meat and smoke little green cigars. You are a peninsulare, of course, yes? You would have been lost, camarada. Your Spanish might serve you well in Monterrey or Madrid, but you’d be lost in the cornfields. The tongue of conquered peoples lives there still, it’s more Nahua than nacionale down there.”



Listen to this week's Pseudopod.

[dagny]

I absolutely love the bitterness in Luis Moreno's reading. What a fantastic narration--and the story! Oh my, I'm gushing.

"The thing to remember is that they aren't human. They just dream that they are." THIS LINE.

Such an excellent meditation not only on faith but on oppression and ideology. Lovely work, all!

[adrianh]

I absolutely love the bitterness in Luis Moreno's reading. What a fantastic narration--and the story! Oh my, I'm gushing.

"The thing to remember is that they aren't human. They just dream that they are." THIS LINE.

Such an excellent meditation not only on faith but on oppression and ideology. Lovely work, all!

^ that ;-)

[UncleYo]

Gotta 2nd every point made.

The narration was top-notch, maybe one of my favorite of the whole summer, if not, the year.

This story gripped me because of all the petty reasons for the men to be fighting: political, social, geographical, cultural and religious disagreements. The Church was mentioned alongside the Free Masons, and nobody got along nor believed each other.

"Who puts dandelions over graves? Children, maybe?" Just as the protagonist would personify and quote the vampires as stereotypes, he'd do the same to other people, even the Western man he was hired on to help hunt. Even as you waited eagerly to glean more about the vampire itself, you learned so much more about the tense political situations surrounding the one hunt detailed in the story.

Amazing that, even when faced with the supernaturally destructive, humans will still be their own biggest threat.

[ElectricPaladin]

This story was so damn awesome. I want to live in this world. I want to be a communist vampire hunter when I grow up. I want to watch the buddy-cop style action/horror movie about a staunch Jesuit and an angry, bitter, profane atheist communist revolutionary who hang out, are totally bros despite their differences, and fight vampires together. I will pay money to see this movie. I'll see it twice just to make sure it's profitable. Also, if the author is listening, please please please consider expanding this story into a novel. I'll buy a copy. I'll buy three: one for me, one as a backup, and one to loan out. If you come and do an author event at Borderlands in San Francisco, I'll personally take you out to dinner.

Seriously. One of the best stories I've experienced in at least this year.

[dagny]

This story was so damn awesome. I want to live in this world. I want to be a communist vampire hunter when I grow up. I want to watch the buddy-cop style action/horror movie about a staunch Jesuit and an angry, bitter, profane atheist communist revolutionary who hang out, are totally bros despite their differences, and fight vampires together. I will pay money to see this movie. I'll see it twice just to make sure it's profitable. Also, if the author is listening, please please please consider expanding this story into a novel. I'll buy a copy. I'll buy three: one for me, one as a backup, and one to loan out. If you come and do an author event at Borderlands in San Francisco, I'll personally take you out to dinner.

Seriously. One of the best stories I've experienced in at least this year.

Me too! Me too!

[DerangedMind]

Count me in on the 'loved it' camp.  And the narration was perfect.  It dragged me into the story and kept me there.  Kudos to both the narrator, and whoever suggested that he would be a good choice for narration!

[bounceswoosh]

 Jumping on the bandwagon. The story was great. The narration was more performance than narration, in all the best ways. This was a prime example of how audio publication can elevate the original story. Without Morenos' narration, this episode would have just been pretty good.

*wanders off to find Moreno on audible.com ...*

[Unblinking]

This story was so damn awesome. I want to live in this world. I want to be a communist vampire hunter when I grow up. I want to watch the buddy-cop style action/horror movie about a staunch Jesuit and an angry, bitter, profane atheist communist revolutionary who hang out, are totally bros despite their differences, and fight vampires together. I will pay money to see this movie. I'll see it twice just to make sure it's profitable. Also, if the author is listening, please please please consider expanding this story into a novel. I'll buy a copy. I'll buy three: one for me, one as a backup, and one to loan out. If you come and do an author event at Borderlands in San Francisco, I'll personally take you out to dinner.

Seriously. One of the best stories I've experienced in at least this year.

Yes!


I generally tap out pretty early on zombie or vampire stories unless something remarkable is done with them.  This was something remarkable.  The voice of the character alone carried the piece wonderfully.  Like Electric Paladin said I loved the pairing here of the mixed ideologies and how they were used to fight the supernatural threat.  I liked the imagery used, in particular two things.  First, the description of the creatures as being like sleepwalkers dreaming of being human, kindof getting it right some of the time but there are tells in their screwy dream logic (dream logic is endlessly fascinating to me so that was a really cool thing).  The dandelions no the grave, while an example of that dream logic, were a wonderful specific example of that.  Flowers on graves is such a common image as to be unremarkable--whether or not a person has left flowers on a grave, they have probably seen others do it.  But dandelions.  They are flowers, obviously, and from a child's logic that means they should also make sense as a thing put on graves.  But, the choice is just enough off to be remarkably odd.

If this does become a book (which I would totally buy), a nice catching piece of cover art would be a bunch of dandelions on a grave. 

[davidthygod]

Unbelievable narration. 

[TrishEM]

Wow, this was just incredible.
I've been listening to Mike Duncan's Revolutions podcast, which is currently covering Simon Bolivar and Gran Columbia (waves of revolutions in South America), and which will eventually cover the Mexican Revolution. It's dizzying to contemplate all the different sides that can be taken in wartime; oddly enough, this fantastical horror story reminds me that life goes on amid the political, religious, class, etc.-based conflicts.

I also love the dream-logic of the "parasites" as others have described.

Great writing, great grounding of fantasy elements amid real-life elements, great characterization, and great narration.

[Not-a-Robot]

So, I am usually one to rub against the grain on these forums, but...

This was great. The writing and the performance.

[Frank Evans]

I read the comments on this one before I listened to it, so I went in with pretty high expectations that apparently weren't high enough. This was excellent. The narration in particular was perfect. It reminded me of the narration on Archibald vs the Churlish Shark Gods over at Podcastle in that the narrator elevated an already very good story into something spectacular. Thanks to everyone involved.