Escape Artists

PseudoPod => Episode Comments => Topic started by: Bdoomed on June 17, 2008, 04:40:28 AM

Title: Flash: Daily Double
Post by: Bdoomed on June 17, 2008, 04:40:28 AM
Flash: Daily Double (http://pseudopod.org/2008/06/15/flash-daily-double/)

By Kevin Carey

Read by Rich Sigfrit (http://www.requiemoftheoutcast.com/)

“Promise me,” she says.

“I promise.”

“I mean it, Eddie. Blow this and it’s over.”

“Come here,” I say and put my arm around her. “It’s all going to be cool. Trust me.” I slide a finger over the two small welts on her neck. “Still hurt?”

“No.”

“See, I told you, a couple of days.”

For a moment her face softness, then she snaps, “Eleven o’clock. He’s coming right from the airport.”

“Eleven sharp,” I say with a salute. Then I kiss her. A long, lip-locked, eyes closed, reassuring, don’t-sweat-it-kid-kiss. I feel the tiny tips of her teeth against my lips.

She flashes a quick smile. “Where are you going?”

“I may go down for the double, stay a few races.”

“The dogs, Eddie?”

“Just to kill some time, before I have to deal with the Gestapo.”

“He’s not that bad. He just thinks he is.”

I kiss her on the cheek and head for the door.

“Please don’t screw this up Eddie.”

“You have my word,” I say.

(Happy [late] Father’s Day.)



(http://escapepod.org/wp-images/podcast-mini4.gif)
Listen to this Pseudopod Flash. (http://media.rawvoice.com/pseudopod/media.libsyn.com/media/pseudopod/PseudoFlash018_DailyDouble.mp3)
Title: Re: Flash: Daily Double
Post by: eytanz on June 17, 2008, 05:10:28 PM
Meh. It's a misdirection story, designed so we think it's going to end one way but it ends another way. The problem is that the misdirection is lazy and artificial - good misdirection makes you think "ah, the signs were there all along but I misinterpreted them". This story just plain out has characters acting in ways the make no sense given the actual ending.
Title: Re: Flash: Daily Double
Post by: Listener on June 19, 2008, 01:12:22 PM
The story was interesting enough, but the reader seemed rushed, like he was trying to emulate Ben Phillips's blase-character reading style and not quite hitting it.

First vampire story I've read where the victim has to be dead BEFORE you drink the blood.
Title: Re: Flash: Daily Double
Post by: Chivalrybean on June 21, 2008, 02:54:03 AM
I didn't hate it, but didn't like it a lot either. I saw the final munchies from pretty far away.
Title: Re: Flash: Daily Double
Post by: DarkKnightJRK on June 21, 2008, 06:11:59 AM
Considering that the day that this was released was Father's Day, I thought they were going to turn the father-in-law into a vampire. Well, that sure didn't happen.
Title: Re: Flash: Daily Double
Post by: Sgarre1 on July 10, 2008, 03:27:42 AM
Well, it was short.  And the voice characterization of the friend was good (the whole co-dependent enabler aspect of him was well done, in fact).  I'd rather "cute" story ideas be short like this, so they don't waste your time if they don't work.

So, again, not really my kind of thing but painless.

The story was interesting enough, but the reader seemed rushed, like he was trying to emulate Ben Phillips's blase-character reading style and not quite hitting it.

First vampire story I've read where the victim has to be dead BEFORE you drink the blood.

Really?  They just didn't want to make any competition for themselves, I assumed.  Makes sense with the whole "exponential growth" thing. Besides, they supped seconds later so...not dead for very long.

Thanks for listening.

“Vampires, like virgins or priests, are things that women believe in. We must never fail to humor them in such matters.”
Brian McNaughton, “Child Of The Night”
Title: Re: Flash: Daily Double
Post by: Unblinking on September 14, 2009, 06:43:37 PM
This story didn't do much for me.

For one, it wasn't cohesive, which is especially a problem for a such a shortie.  There was one story about his gambling and drinking problems, and the other about his relationship with his wife and her father. 

Vampires are so over-used these days that for a new vampire story to be good it has to be something really really special, and this just wasn't it.
Title: Re: Flash: Daily Double
Post by: Millenium_King on August 21, 2010, 12:32:55 AM
I actually liked this one.  A little ridiculous, but a new(ish) spin on a vampire story.  Yes, it was a lot of misdirection/information, but in such a short format, I thought it was alright.