Author Topic: PC444: The Giant’s Lady (Aurealis Month)  (Read 5081 times)

Ocicat

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on: November 29, 2016, 07:47:51 PM
PodCastle 444: The Giant’s Lady (Aurealis Month)

by Rowena Cory Daniells

read by Barry Haworth

First published in the Legends 2 anthology, Stories In Honor of David Gemmell.

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

Hosted by Graeme Dunlop.

As we entered the white-walled courtyard, the music stopped and every islander turned. Wyrd, they whispered.

Wyrd, they whispered. My lady stood tall, her pale hair glinting in the hot noonday sun. A full-blood T’En throwback, she

My lady stood tall, her pale hair glinting in the hot noonday sun. A full-blood T’En throwback, she did not try to hide her hair or her six-fingered hands, and her distinctive wine-dark eyes held quiet defiance. As for me, I was not a Wyrd, not even a half-blood, just a freakishly big True-man, and an ugly
one at that.

My lady headed for two seats at the end of a trestle table. By the time we reached it, the table was empty. She sat, turning her long legs to the side. Dropping our travelling bags, I took the opposite seat, where I could watch the courtyard gate.


Rated PG-13.



Rowena Cory Daniells is a fan of the genre who has been going to Conventions since she was eighteen. Over the years she has been involved in Indy Press, run a bookshop, then a graphic art studio. She reared a family of six kids, served on numerous arts committees at a state and national level and went back to study where she did a Masters then taught at University. In her spare time she studied Tae Kwon Do, Aikido and Iaido, the art of the Samurai Sword.

And she’s written a pile of books. On the Internet, you can find her website at www.rowena-cory-daniells.com, or find her on Twitter @rcdaniells.

Rowena Cory Daniells’s series King Rolen’s Kin has just been released (with stunning new covers) in the US by Solaris Classics. Head on over to amazon to pick up the series now!





Barry Haworth works as a statistician for the Australian Taxation Office, which is more interesting than you might think. He holds a Masters degree in Statistics. Outside of work he is a keen reader of science fiction, and enjoys choral singing and taking part in amateur theatricals, having performed such roles as Prospero in The Tempest and Major-General Stanley in The Pirates of Penzance.

Barry has narrated episodes of Escape Pod and also the Cheap Astronomy podcast. He lives in Brisbane, Australia with his wife Sylvia, those of his children who haven’t left home yet, and whatever the current quota of pets is. He also says, “I am a Statistician. One false move and you’re a Statistic.”

Listen to this week’s PodCastle!



Frank Evans

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Reply #1 on: December 02, 2016, 08:15:47 PM
I'm really impressed with how developed the world and the story were given its length. This felt like the author had crammed (in a good way) a full novel's worth of world building, character and detail into a short story. More like this one please. (and that goes for all the shows in the Aurealis Month cycle; I've found each of these stories to be excellent. I'd love to hear more from any of the authors featured)
« Last Edit: December 05, 2016, 02:11:34 PM by Frank Evans »



Scuba Man

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Reply #2 on: December 05, 2016, 01:51:48 PM
At timestamp 42:50, the penny dropped, bounced, and then hovered in midair (that's how I felt with the story's unreliable narrator [who was telling the truth]).
 ??? The plot became a little too uneven-keeled for me, flipping back and forth between a treacherous  (and vengeful healer) and a clueless (and somewhat naive) deformed giant.  I wasn't convinced of the healer's intentions by the story's end. 
 ::) I think the man-boy (of the unfortunate sister) will be trouble as he grows into his powers (do I also detect a love-triangle forming between the giant-healer-full blood?).  A nastier (but a little more satisfying) ending would be for the giant to black out, not knowing whether or not his lady was on the up-and-up, or not. 
 ;D Was I glad I listened to the podcast? Hell yeah!

I'm a stand-up philosopher until 2024. Then, I move onto my next gig. I'm a gentleman forester and farmer. I also enjoy jumping into Lake Huron and panicking the fish.


Unblinking

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Reply #3 on: December 06, 2016, 03:06:41 PM
I enjoyed this.  Cool worldbuilding.  The bit about the healer planting the characteristic mark of the plague to save his life was a particularly clever one (though I was surprised at how quickly he decided that she had planned all this to wipe out the city instead of just guessing it was a fake mark like I had figured).



DerangedMind

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Reply #4 on: December 06, 2016, 10:44:56 PM
I had assumed she had given him the plague to wipe out the city, but planned to return to heal him before it was too late.



Fenrix

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Reply #5 on: January 11, 2017, 05:21:19 AM
Good stuff. Phenomenal world building and an emotional roller coaster. Also nice craftsmanship of erasing the Unfortunate Sister's name.

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


Devoted135

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Reply #6 on: January 23, 2017, 08:26:59 PM
This was weird (heh) and enchanting. The author did a masterful job at giving us just enough information to flesh out the world without bogging the story down. I'm still don't quite trust the young Wyrd; I guess we'll just have to hear more of the group's adventures so he can prove himself true! :D