Escape Artists
PseudoPod => Episode Comments => Topic started by: Bdoomed on February 10, 2007, 12:23:17 AM
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Pseudopod 024: Honest Ghosts (http://pseudopod.org/2007/02/09/pseudopod-024-honest-ghosts/)
By Stephen Dedman (http://eidolon.net/homesite.html?author=stephendedman)
Read by Ben Phillips (http://gtf.org/pynk)
“I thought that having the name would be enough - I remember you saying that we remember the Ripper and the Boston Strangler and Zodiac because they had cool names, while almost nobody remembers John Haigh or George Smith or Jerry Brudos. I wrote to the police and the papers, but I don’t think they’ve taken me seriously… but if you were to write a letter, it’d be different. You’re a writer, you know how it should be done, what it should say.”
(http://escapepod.org/wp-images/podcast-mini4.gif)
Listen to this week's Pseudopod. (http://pseudopod.org/podpress_trac/web/40/0/Pseudo023_HonestGhosts.mp3)
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I don't have those kinds of fans :-[
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"Fan Mail". - Nice!
Got to be one of the best "final twist, ending sentences" EVER!!!!
Oh... and I really liked the rest of the story as well. ;D
Nice build up, nice delivery.
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This was great. Really, honestly, great. That's how you do an effective twist ending -- I don't think anyone saw that coming.
And the narrator did a great job, too!
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im still kinda lost on the twist ending... can someone explain it to me? i usually dont get lost on these kinds of things but im really not gettin this one.
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Great story! Great ending! Even the clever title sucks you in.
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im still kinda lost on the twist ending... can someone explain it to me? i usually dont get lost on these kinds of things but im really not gettin this one.
Ok, so the scene opens with the ghost writer hitting on some young goth girl, but she blows him off. At the end of the story he really was getting contacted by all those psychos, and wannabe psychos and one of them saw the girl blow him off. As a kind gesture, the psycho kidnapped the goth girl and tied her up in the writer’s room, leaving her as a "gift" or piece of fan mail.
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I loved the ending.
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Mr. Cynical is back. I knew this guy was a reporter and a cop, but an author, too? I'm surprised he has the time what with all the sitting in bars smoking, drinking whiskey,and telling his life story. He didn't complain about his ex-wife in this one (it's not her fault, really, he just has a hard time with relationships) , so maybe that's giving him a few more minutes in the day. But he would have to be pretty effing cynical to not call the cops when a serial killer makes contact with him!
The dialogue-within-dialogue was kind of awkward. "'What?', I said," he said.
On a personal note, I'm from New Orleans, so when we find out the convention is there I was hoping for some old skool French Quarter ghosty action.
The description of his Hollywood experience was a little cliche.
But it was a cool idea, and I did not see the ending coming. It's refreshing to have a horror story that does not involve the supernatural.
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Out of the four Dedmen stories read in Pseudopod, I think this one had the strongest impact, especially with the zinger of an ending, though all of them have been pretty good. I purchased his story collection Never Seen By Walking Eyes afterwards.
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Have you read it yet? I've enjoyed the stuff by him Escape Pod, too (A Single Shadow and Depth of Field). This one's grown a lot on me, too. I see he's got a couple of novels out and would be curious about those as well.
Then I think about my Reading Pile *coughbookshelfcough* at home.
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Then I think about my Reading Pile *coughbookshelfcough* at home.
A reading pile that doesn't consider an apocalypse as a possibility is the work of an amateur. Pile the books on. :)
I'm only half way through the Dedman collection, but there are a few stories I suspect could make it Pseudopod someday.
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im still kinda lost on the twist ending... can someone explain it to me? i usually dont get lost on these kinds of things but im really not gettin this one.
Ok, so the scene opens with the ghost writer hitting on some young goth girl, but she blows him off. At the end of the story he really was getting contacted by all those psychos, and wannabe psychos and one of them saw the girl blow him off. As a kind gesture, the psycho kidnapped the goth girl and tied her up in the writer’s room, leaving her as a "gift" or piece of fan mail.
oooooooh hah now i feel dumb. thanks for the explanation!
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Yup, really liked this one in spite of a prejudice I had against it initially. (Just about had my fill of stories about writers, movies about film-makers, -- like shying away from Tequila after getting sick on it, I'm a recovering postmodernist who gets a bit queasy with even the smell of self-referentiality.) I loved the tone of the story, the gentle repartee even though I agree with wakela that some of the specific dialogue creaked a bit. I liked the suggestion that serial killers are publicity obsessed, slightly pathetic dorks looking for their 15 minutes of fame and willing to pay for it. And the zinger was VERY nice and cleanly presented. I've gotta admire a story that gets in, takes care of bidniz and leaves with a flourish. I gotta track down other stories by this guy.
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The body of the story was reasonably good, but the ending really made it. :)
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Loved the idea, loved the ending.
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my favourite, out of all the episodes
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I really liked this one! Very strong. Great concept. Easy to follow and an absolutely wonderful ending. Very twisted. However, I have a hard and fast rule against stories about writers, so I won't put this in the top 10. I wonder also, being a writer myself, if I only got as much of a kick out of this one because I could relate so much to the struggles of writing. Ergo, I cannot honestly say someone else would like it as much.
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I really liked this one! Very strong. Great concept. Easy to follow and an absolutely wonderful ending. Very twisted. However, I have a hard and fast rule against stories about writers, so I won't put this in the top 10. I wonder also, being a writer myself, if I only got as much of a kick out of this one because I could relate so much to the struggles of writing. Ergo, I cannot honestly say someone else would like it as much.
I respect the rule against characters who are writers. However, as a consumer, I will share that I enjoeyd the story. However, it was the ending that secured it for me.