Escape Artists
PseudoPod => Episode Comments => Topic started by: Bdoomed on July 06, 2007, 05:07:01 AM
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Pseudopod 045: Goon Job (http://pseudopod.org/2007/07/06/pseudopod-045-goon-job/)
By G.W. Thomas
Read by Ben Phillips
“I’m just here for the book,” I said, impatient to get my hands on it again.
“Of course, you are. Mr. Telford told me you knew quite a bit about this book yourself. Please, sit.”
That should have been my first clue. Book renters don’t share the eldritch secrets they pull from their reading. To ask is the height of rudeness.
(http://escapepod.org/wp-images/podcast-mini4.gif)
Listen to this week's Pseudopod. (http://pseudopod.org/podpress_trac/web/66/0/Pseudo045_GoonJob.mp3)
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One of my favorites so far. It had a very Dresden Files (books) fell. I hope to have more dark urban fantasy (if that is the genre, I get so confused with the fantasy ones >:( ) soon.
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I really enjoyed this one - not scary, by any means, but it's a lot of fun, and it did a really good job of world-building for a short story.
It reminds me of a movie I enjoyed a lot, even though it is really hard to get a hold of - Cast a Deadly Spell (http://imdb.com/title/tt0101550/).
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I know I like a story when I start imagining myself starting up a tabletop RPG campaign based on it.
Goon Job would make a fun Call of Cthulhu (http://www.chaosium.com/) campaign, with PCs acting as Book Collectors for a forbidden text rental service.
Now I'm trying to remember if there were any indications in the story of the era in which it takes place. It could have been the 1920s, I suppose, Lovecraft's era.
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That is a good point, I don't think there were many time referances other than to a .44 which I believe didn't come into existance until at least the 30's. But I could be wrong.
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"Shit Happens at Midnight" -- great line. I love it when Ben reads stories like this one.
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That is a good point, I don't think there were many time referances other than to a .44 which I believe didn't come into existance until at least the 30's. But I could be wrong.
No, I think you're right, the .357 wasn't around until the 30s and the .44 came around in the 1950s, at least the S&W one. I had to look that up, I'm not a gun expert at all.
I think the story is meant to be present-day.
In the words of the demon bartender in BtVS, "Metal meets propulsion, yeah. But you still better be a good shot!"
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Well, I just listened to it again and we were stupid!
Was Armani(sp) around in the before 1980? I don't think so. :)
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It had a very Dresden Files (books) feel.
I too liked this a lot, and had the exact same thought about this story, even to the point of checking the author again after listening to it. (Of course, it could be because I'm going through all the books at a rate of knots at the moment...)
Shame about Mur giving up the Podcast. Good luck in your other podcasting, Mur, and hopefully we'll hear you back here again!
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Yes, sad to see you go Mur. Go Eagle Go!!!
So, will we be seeing a new co-editor or is Ben becoming a full editor without a co-?
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I wish this was longer I wouldn't mind novella or even a novel from this premise. Original but pays homage to lovecraft.
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I love the kind of story where you don't need a sword to have sorcery! Perfect mix of Cthulu and the 'dime store detective' pathos. I definitely would like to hear more from this world. Well done G.W. Thomas and well read by Ben Phillips.
I will miss Mur..
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i really enjoyed listening to this one but it was way too short. i needed to hear more about the background of the characters, the nature of their work, what happened next; all of that. it sounded like it was part of a much bigger story.
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I don't know why it's taken me so long to write about how great a story this was.
I would love to find more from the same world.
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i loved this one also
is any one else farmiliar whith the hellblazer comics?
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By name and brief synopsis only, but I think you are right.
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i loved this one also
is any one else farmiliar whith the hellblazer comics?
I love the Hellblazer comics, especially those written by Mike Carey. Goon Job definitely reminded me of them in a way.
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I really liked this one. It had a very Sam Spade type of feel to it.
Hopefully Mur will come back to do readings from time to time. It would be great to hear her on any of the Escape Artists podcasts.
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i loved this one also
is any one else farmiliar whith the hellblazer comics?
I love the Hellblazer comics, especially those written by Mike Carey. Goon Job definitely reminded me of them in a way.
don't think i have read any of his , most of my collection is garth enis and jamy dalanio
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It's always a happy day when a Pseudopod story fits Ben's reading style, and this one was a perfect match. Plus it tickled my silly-bone. Unfortunately the playfulness meant that it was a story-with-traditional-horror-elements, not a story that created a horror mood. I'd love to see more on Pseudopod like this, but I imagine they need to be kept as occasional treats.
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Ever since listening to this story I've been itching to go back and read The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath. This was a great addition to the Lovecraft universe, and well read to boot.
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Ah, Mur! So short a time I knew ye...
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Well, I wasn't hanging around here until long after Mur left, so I knew it was coming long before I hit that point in the marathon. But I was still sad to see her go. I liked her readings and also her intros (once she loosened up). But I also like Alasdair's intros very much, so no real complaint here.
This story was good, and I liked the twists, but I felt too often like I was playing "catch up" trying to figure out what was possible in this world. There was no indication for the longest time at the beginning that any magic was possible, just rich book collectors. When the first magic showed up I had to stop and re-evaluate everything. After that it was hard to keep the tension up, because it kept adding new magical elements that I hadn't known existed. So when a new obstacle came up I just thought "He'll just snap his fingers and a new previously unexplained magic spell will come into play).
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I listened to this one after "Merlin's Bane." My first comment is that, for being such a supposedly experienced "book collector" Our Hero really makes a lot of rookie mistakes. That aside, I just couldn't enjoy this one. It was written well enough, but the "paranormal detective" niche genre is not for me. Also the Lovecraftian allusions felt clumsy.