Escape Artists
PseudoPod => Episode Comments => Topic started by: Bdoomed on November 01, 2010, 05:18:23 AM
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Pseudopod 210: The Nimble Men (http://pseudopod.org/2010/10/31/pseudopod-210-the-nimble-men/)
By Glen Hirshberg (http://www.glenhirshberg.com/)
Read by Eric Luke of the Extruding America (http://www.extrudingamerica.com/) podcast
We’d reached the de-icing station, and I pushed on the brakes and brought the coasting plane to a rolling stop. No matter how many times I did this, I was always surprised by the dark out here. At every other point within two miles of this tiny airport, manmade light flooded and mapped the world. But not here.
I peered through the windscreen and the wavering skeins of snow. It took a few moments, but eventually, my eyes adjusted to the point where I could just make out the de-icer truck parked a few meters off the taxiway in the flat, dead grass. Weirdly, it had its boom already hoisted, as though we were meant to make our way into the fields to get sprayed. I couldn’t see either the driver of the truck or the guy on the enclosed platform at the top of the boom, because both were blanketed in shadow.
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Listen to this week's Pseudopod. (http://media.libsyn.com/media/pseudopod/Pseudo210_TheNimbleMen.mp3)
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Meh.
Didn't do much for me. Too much buildup and not enough payoff. Eric Luke is amazing though. He could probably make the phonebook sound ominous.
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I liked this one. Good character construction -- felt like we're dealing with real people -- and a nice, slow build. I can see where folks would think the build is too slow but it worked for me. There's something inherently creepy about freezing cold places at the edge of civilisation, or in the wilderness.
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First of all, I quite liked this one. The story elements didn't totally thrill me - the nimble men were abstract without being truly alien and mythic without evoking a myth I was familiar with. That said, the story was perfectly told, I deeply empathized with the characters, and generally had a great time. I thought the narrator was particularly well-evoked, with his nameless, mysterious grief and beautiful relationship with the younger pilot.
More importantly, Alasdair's yearly Halloween parade is rapidly becoming my favorite thing about the podcast. I look forward to it every year.
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(DISCLAIMER: I AM A TOTAL BASTARD)
That would be "Alasdair". Having an oft misspelled first name, spelling is important.
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(DISCLAIMER: I AM A TOTAL BASTARD)
That would be "Alasdair". Having an oft misspelled first name, spelling is important.
(DISCLAIMER: I AM A TOTAL WISEASS)
Well, I like Alasdair's Halloween parade, too.
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I quite enjoyed this one, mostly because I just really liked the two pilot characters and their back-and-forth--good stuff! All 3 of the main characters felt like real people. I like the unexplainedness of the nimble men, and the quesiton of who they are brought up by the fables the men were telling to each other. And the narration was done very well.
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Very enjoyable. A good solid monster story that resolves quickly and has, if not a full-on metaphor steak to chew on, at least a well-made hamburger for us literary sorts. I felt like the opener was a teensy bit slow and the ending a bit too explicative for my tastes, but I wouldn't even call them bad; they were just the least excellent parts.
(See, when there's nothing wrong with a story, there's nothing to talk about!)
((Did it bother anyone else the way he kept saying "Nimble Men" instead of rushing it a bit more like "Nimble-Men"? Maybe I'm spoiled by Nimblejacks and Nimbelschrewds and so on. "Nimble" is a great compound word piece.)
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This one put me in mind of Stephen King's "The Langoliers", mostly because of the common elements: a plane stopped on the taxiway, no apparent activity outside, supernatural creatures distant but approaching, and even something that looks like the aurora but isn't.
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Big boys don't cry.
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This one put me in mind of Stephen King's "The Langoliers", mostly because of the common elements: a plane stopped on the taxiway, no apparent activity outside, supernatural creatures distant but approaching, and even something that looks like the aurora but isn't.
I forgot to mention that, but yes it did flash across my mind as well.
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This one put me in mind of Stephen King's "The Langoliers", mostly because of the common elements: a plane stopped on the taxiway, no apparent activity outside, supernatural creatures distant but approaching, and even something that looks like the aurora but isn't.
I forgot to mention that, but yes it did flash across my mind as well.
Me too!
OMG story reaction jinx!
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(DISCLAIMER: I AM A TOTAL BASTARD)
That would be "Alasdair". Having an oft misspelled first name, spelling is important.
(DISCLAIMER: I AM A TOTAL WISEASS)
Well, I like Alasdair's Halloween parade, too.
I have to say I find Alasdair's contributions to be completely without merit and often boring. Alasdair's stuff rocks though.
The story made me think of the Judderman from the Metz TV ads of the long, long ago which was probably somewhat atmosphere-of-creeping-doom dispelling but otherwise it was still a good little story.
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Loved this one.
It occured to me while listening that winter nightscapes are quite potent in many mediums: "The Thing" would have been half the movie it was were it not for its setting. Ditto "The Shining". I would have thought that only in visual forms -film, photo, etc- would it be so effective, but I found the imagery of the dark howling night over a white plain (plane, heheh get it? puns) within the story quite effective.
There is a great irony to this sort of setting, both figuratively and literally, wherein when the world has actually been rendered black-and-white, that things become most distorted. When it's like this, shadows turn into living things, living things into shadows:
I have a friend who claimed that, when he was a guard at an Alaskan Air Force base, was patrolling in a blizzard. He thought he saw the shape of a bear lumbering toward him in the snow. He aimed his rifle at it, but it didn't seem to get any closer. He backed away, keeping his eyes on it. When he came back the next day he realized he'd been aiming at an external propane tank for a residence. He had a story about someone else who mowed down a line of christmas trees (still growing, undecorated) with his carbine because they looked like a row of people coming at him through a blizzard.
I live in woodsy New England (quite near where Lovecraft wrote a lot of his stuff, he often references towns I have stayed in or near) so perhaps the effectiveness of this setting for me is merely sense-memory. I'm curious, do people who aren't familiar with such weather find it as compelling? I know we have some Aussies and west-coasters here (and others besides) so I'm putting the question out.
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Btw, I loved Alisdair's parade this year as well, but I lost track of the references. Solomon Kane next to V, (nice joke on the 'five' btw) was great.
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Glad you liked that:) They DO have the same hat:)
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I don't comment much here in the Pseudopod forums, but this story was great. This is the kind of horror I like: ghost stories, unexplained things coming out at night, not necessaryily Lovecraftian, but right on the verge. There is also the macabre stuff, like Poe, and something like The Worm That Gnaws.
This story really drew me in. I think it is due to, as others have said, the very real characters presented to us by Mr. Hirshberg. It was the kind of thing where you know that if you were there when this was going down, you would be freaking out. I also like the urban legend stuff about the Northern Lights coinciding with the events of the story, but not in the same way as told by the characters. Good stuff!
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a very solid story ghost story, i enjoyed it.
one nitpicky detail, poutine is pronounced 'pooteen' in english areas of canada. i actually didn't recognize the word until cheese curds were mentioned.
and speaking of cheese curds...
a mnemonic: think of a lactose intolerant Alasdair5000 getting gassy and remove the 'y'
alas, dairy
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a very solid story ghost story, i enjoyed it.
one nitpicky detail, poutine is pronounced 'pooteen' in english areas of canada. i actually didn't recognize the word until cheese curds were mentioned.
and speaking of cheese curds...
a mnemonic: think of a lactose intolerant Alasdair5000 getting gassy and remove the 'y'
alas, dairy
Ha, that's a good mnemonic! I'm not sure it'll work for a me, because I also know an Alasdair. For me it'd have to be something related to Pseudopod, like calling him Alasdair "There's no T in Pseudopod" Stuart. :D
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I really liked this story, mostly for the characters. Once things got going, the tension level remained constantly high - even though it was clear the narrator survived, I was really dreading that something bad was going to happen to Alex to co-pilot. When it didn't, in the end, I was very much relieved.
I also appreciated that the story left open the question of the relationship between the narrator and the cabin attendant.
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a very solid story ghost story, i enjoyed it.
one nitpicky detail, poutine is pronounced 'pooteen' in english areas of canada. i actually didn't recognize the word until cheese curds were mentioned.
and speaking of cheese curds...
a mnemonic: think of a lactose intolerant Alasdair5000 getting gassy and remove the 'y'
alas, dairy
Ha, that's a good mnemonic! I'm not sure it'll work for a me, because I also know an Alasdair. For me it'd have to be something related to Pseudopod, like calling him Alasdair "There's no T in Pseudopod" Stuart. :D
I'd go with: even though he's British, that doesn't necessarily mean he likes T.
or,
Because he's British, he hates to waste T.
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I really liked this one, too. Very likable characters, and a good build-up of tension. My only nitpick is the insectoid denouement. I would rather it have remained more ghostly, i think. But still, a great story, and i'll probably give this one another listen.
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Great story. Thanks to the author for taking me some place different.
I always like plane travel-related stories.
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While I liked the characters have to say they seemed to be doing a whole lot of nothing. Besides the lights there seemed to be nothing all that strange about them being there and nothing all that interesting by the end of the story. Seemed like more of a waste of time than anything else.
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I'd go with: even though he's British, that doesn't necessarily mean he likes T.
or,
Because he's British, he hates to waste T.
That doesn't work for me either, because the Alasdair that I know is British also. The "There's no T in Pseudopod" works for me because Alasdair is not affiliated with Pseudopod, but Alasdair is.
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plus, extensible: 'there is no t in pseudopod, but there is a u'
Alasdair Stewart -> Alasdair Stuart
but you need to already know an Alas[dt]air for it work. i'll stick with 'alas, dairy' to avoid an Alisdare incident.
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While I quite liked this story, there was one thing that detracted from the tension somewhat. When 'The nimble men' attacked the narrator, there was no real feeling of suspense of threat - we know he survives, he's narrating the damn story! I think the use of the third person would have made it a little more effective.
That being said I loved the characters, particularly the pilots. Their dialogue was really well written and allowed us to really empathise with the characters. I also really like the suspense that was built. I like my horror to be implied because I don't really find monsters all that scary. The curiosity over what was oot (well it is set in Canada) there really engaged me in the story. As such I felt the lengthy exposition at the end was slightly redundant and dragged too much, especially in light of the interesting note on 'the sad' at the end.
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While I quite liked this story, there was one thing that detracted from the tension somewhat. When 'The nimble men' attacked the narrator, there was no real feeling of suspense of threat - we know he survives, he's narrating the damn story! I think the use of the third person would have made it a little more effective
Given that we have magical glowing lights that might be the souls of sad Eskimos or whatever, I think we can dispense with the "We know the first-person narrator survives" argument. Because it's not a given when you got ghosts around the joint.
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I think it's an assumption that is harder to subvert than that. Had the narrator died and been a ghost wandering the forests of Canada it would have been an interesting twist because it's unexpected. As it is we still expect the narrator to survive in my view, which still detracts from the tension.
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Eh, I think this one could have plausibly ended with something like "And so I remain out here in the cold, forever one of the NIMBLE MEN" with the last words in that like wiggly-outline font from old horror comics. Either way, if I based my enjoyment of stories on whether I was surprised by the ending, I'd never have any fun. I gave this one about a 3/4 chance of ending with the main character alive, but I haven't actually been shocked by a plot twist for like a decade now. As far as I'm concerned, an inability to guess the ending ahead of time usually just means the story was badly written and has some kind of deus-ex-machina left-field denouement.
Me, I'm more upset that the homoerotic tension was left totally unresolved. There's a reason he's not going for the stewardess, people! C'mon now, I couldn't have been the only one to think that, huh?
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Me, I'm more upset that the homoerotic tension was left totally unresolved. There's a reason he's not going for the stewardess, people! C'mon now, I couldn't have been the only one to think that, huh?
See, I rarely pick up on that. Maybe he's just a slow starter. Shy, y'know? Afraid to hook up with a colleague?
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Me, I'm more upset that the homoerotic tension was left totally unresolved. There's a reason he's not going for the stewardess, people! C'mon now, I couldn't have been the only one to think that, huh?
See, I rarely pick up on that. Maybe he's just a slow starter. Shy, y'know? Afraid to hook up with a colleague?
Subtext is just "buttsex" rearranged. 'Struth!
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Me, I'm more upset that the homoerotic tension was left totally unresolved. There's a reason he's not going for the stewardess, people! C'mon now, I couldn't have been the only one to think that, huh?
See, I rarely pick up on that. Maybe he's just a slow starter. Shy, y'know? Afraid to hook up with a colleague?
That was my read on it, too. He seemed to be interested in her too, just reluctant to act upon his feelings.
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Me, I'm more upset that the homoerotic tension was left totally unresolved. There's a reason he's not going for the stewardess, people! C'mon now, I couldn't have been the only one to think that, huh?
See, I rarely pick up on that. Maybe he's just a slow starter. Shy, y'know? Afraid to hook up with a colleague?
That was my read on it, too. He seemed to be interested in her too, just reluctant to act upon his feelings.
I don't really know which the author intended, but I think I like the sad gay unrequited crush angle better.
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Me, I'm more upset that the homoerotic tension was left totally unresolved. There's a reason he's not going for the stewardess, people! C'mon now, I couldn't have been the only one to think that, huh?
See, I rarely pick up on that. Maybe he's just a slow starter. Shy, y'know? Afraid to hook up with a colleague?
That was my read on it, too. He seemed to be interested in her too, just reluctant to act upon his feelings.
I don't really know which the author intended, but I think I like the sad gay unrequited crush angle better.
I think the subtext is pretty clear (to me at least) that the senior pilot had lost a wife or lover and was still suffering emotionally. It was never specifically laid out, but it was implied. That is why he felt he would have been taken if not for the sobbing passenger in the front seat (since it is always the sad who are taken).
Not every relationship between men has to have a homoerotic component. I do see how that could have been used as a plot element; I just don't think it was in this story.
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Late catching up and have been (gasp!) listening to the 'casts out of order (insert pithy order pun here).
Very much enjoyed this piece even with the McGill shirt (was a little too much and stood out like ketchup on poutine). The Langolier's echoes didn't bother me because of the much more effective (IMHO and apologies to Mr. King) build-up. I liked the characters and was very impressed by how the dialogue defined the contours of the relationship between the pilot and co-pilot.
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This is the perfect example of a story to point people iunfamiliar with Pseudopod towards as a first sample. Solid and relatively inoffensive. This is a great place to dip your toe into the pool before diving into the dark deep end with the nasty lurking things.
This was a good ghost story. A well told tale with compelling characters exposed to us a bit at a time through conversation and interaction. There was good construction of tension and a good payoff. I was also reminded of Langoliers, but not in a bad way. This one wins for me in that respect, because I actually finished this story. ;)
I didn't realize poutine had such an offensive smell as described. I never got that impression from the horror stories I had heard. I liked the poutine as the minor monster in the story.