PC442: Almost Days (Aurealis Month)

[Ocicat]

PodCastle 442: Almost Days (Aurealis Month)

by D.K. Mok

read by Graeme Dunlop

First published in Insert Title Here.

Part of our Aurealis Month, celebrating the Australian Aurealis Awards.

Hosted by Margo Lanagan.

What is time?

It’s a question I never asked myself while I was still alive, and now, I suppose time is something that happens to other people. Gainful employment, on the other hand, only happened to me after I’d died.

My colleagues call this place the Wings—we’re the before and the after, enfolding the stage of the world. Here, in my lonely turret on the hill, the sun is always noon overhead. Go seaward, towards the misty waters of Unan, and the sun hovers in eternal dawn. Go worldward, towards the Golden Vale, the realm of Transformation, and the sun dips into the cusp of night. Travelling across the Wings can give the illusion of time passing. Long ago, I found it comforting. Now, it makes me vertiginous.

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Rated PG-13.

D. K. Mok is a fantasy and science fiction author whose novels include Squid’s Grief, Hunt for Valamon and The Other Tree. D. K. has been shortlisted for three Aurealis Awards, a Ditmar, and a Washington Science Fiction Association Small Press Award. D. K. graduated from UNSW with a degree in Psychology, pursuing her interests in both social justice and scientist humour. D. K. lives in Sydney, Australia, and her favourite fossil deposit is the Burgess Shale. Connect on Twitter @dk_mok or find out more at www.dkmok.com.

Listen to this week’s PodCastle!

[Maxilu]

This is beautiful. As Margo said, there's a dream-like quality to it. The Wings are a perfectly developed world; while I would like to know more about the goings on there, it also seems like exploring it more would take away some of the magic.

[Scuba Man]

This is beautiful. As Margo said, there's a dream-like quality to it. ...

I had Neil Gaimen's Sandman (re: family reunion) visually scrolling through my mind's eye as I listened to it. Good stuff, eh.

[DDog]

Fascinating to think about the impact of memory on our choices. And an interesting meditation on stewardship vs impartial observation, and the ethics of divinity.

[Cygnwulf]

It was a very fascinating idea and I'd be curious to see how it might play out.  But then, having things not changing much in the wings is kind of what the wings are about, yes?

I'm a little confused on the ending. The comment about Stone being busy eradicating tuberculosis made me go back and listen again to the lives he effected, wasn't Stone the CEO of the mining corporation and not the TB researcher?  What grant are they refering to?  I'm afraid I lost the thread at the end a bit.

[Unblinking]

I enjoyed the premise and worldbuilding, but I'm not entirely sure I followed it by the end. 

Particular detail I liked is how the sun always stayed at the same point in the sky and that if you traveled east or west you would have the illusion of time passing.

[Fenrix]

This one reminded me a lot of the concepts and stakes in the Incarnations of Immortality series by Piers Anthony. I remember them fondly from my Golden Age of Science Fiction, but revisiting them as an adult made the didacticism painfully present. I found this far more enjoyable due to its ability to evoke themes in compact space, while keeping the messages complementary to the plot rather than the primary focus. Good show!

[Devoted135]

I liked this one, very good choice of "when" in the narrator's life to tell us about. A moment of great change in the middle of all the sameness.