I'm a new guy here but I don't think so, allie. They seem to be under the same umbrella but pseudopod seems to have its own presence.
I found this one to be very enjoyable, but I have a question (which expands into many others). If each mask is a different personality and has different relationships, how do they coordinate them? [Snip]
I think that I might be thinking about this too hard.
One thing I found myself wondering about was what the citizens did, and more to the point, what they thought after the unmasking hour and before they selected their new mask the next day. Wouldn't this consistency provide them with some sense of identity, even if it was as little as a gender and over-all appearance?
Please do more EP readings!
I join the rousing chorus of voices of praise. Love Eugie Foster stories and this is a humdinger. Elegant prose and an intriguing world.
I'm pretty sure they were once human - its a story of technology taken way to far, and what humanity could end up as, with all the meddling science is wont to do. :)
I'm also with the "great narration!" crowd. It was more of a dramatic recital than a simple reading, and I suspect it added something to the story that may not have come across in print.
Kudos all around.
If I had any major problem with the story, it was the very end. Was it really necessary for him to smash in the courtesan's face? Is he going on a rampage to kill everyone who wears masks now? Is he acting this way because of the recent masks he wore? Would he have been different if he'd worn different masks leading up to that? I wasn't expecting that, and I don't know that it really created as satisfying an ending as I would've liked after such a strong story.
By seeing the multitude of people around it, by being busied with all sorts of worldly affairs, by being wise to the ways of the world, such a person forgets himself, in a divine sense forgets his own name, ares not believe in himself, finds being himself too risky, finds it much easier and safer to be like the others, to become a copy, a number, along with the crowd.
If I had any major problem with the story, it was the very end. Was it really necessary for him to smash in the courtesan's face? Is he going on a rampage to kill everyone who wears masks now? Is he acting this way because of the recent masks he wore? Would he have been different if he'd worn different masks leading up to that? I wasn't expecting that, and I don't know that it really created as satisfying an ending as I would've liked after such a strong story.
My feeling was he smashed in the courtesan's face because she knew him and the girl whose mask he was wearing at the end, and she was questioning what happened. It was to shut her up. I didn't feel like he would have gone on to kill anyone else, but maybe that's just my wishful thinking.
I really didn't like anything about this one.......almost turned it off a couple of times but gutted it out. Meh.
I really didn't like anything about this one.......almost turned it off a couple of times but gutted it out. Meh.
Beginning to think it was just me. Was actually considering relistening given all the praise it's been getting here. Just didn't hold my attention. Almost everything drew my attention away from the story. Ooh look a rock.
I found this one to be very enjoyable, but I have a question (which expands into many others). If each mask is a different personality and has different relationships, how do they coordinate them? If, let's say, I have a purple mask that is the wife of some other mask, what do I do if I wear it one day but my husband's oversoul isn't being worn? What if my green and silver mask goes out to have lunch with friends only to find that most of them aren't being worn that day? How do the oversouls establish relationships if each citizen has so many masks that it is unlikely that any two will be worn in combination more than a few times a year? Does each oversoul have a general personality and then just makes up something new every day? ""My mask's oversoul has decided that it hates your mask's oversoul and I'm going to kill you today"? "My mask has decided that I work at this shop today, but only for today"?
I think that I might be thinking about this too hard.
I still don't see why everyone liked Friction.
It seems akin to living in World of Warcraft, but with hundreds of accounts to choose from.
But maybe I'm forgetting something.
It's been a while since I listened, so feel free to correct me. But are the people in the mask society that much worse off? They get to chose a different persona every day. Whoever they want. As for me, I have a persona with my wife, another with my kid, another at work, and a couple with various friends, and they're all pretty much the same guy. I don't get to decide to be a spy one day and a prostitute the next. I'm not saying their lives are unequivocally better than mine, just that they are not living in an oppressive nightmare. It seems akin to living in World of Warcraft, but with hundreds of accounts to choose from.
But maybe I'm forgetting something.
It seems akin to living in World of Warcraft, but with hundreds of accounts to choose from.
But maybe I'm forgetting something.
Yeah. You're forgetting that, while it could be just like playing a MMORPG with hundreds of accounts to choose from, you can NEVER turn the game off or take a day off or walk away. You MUST play, every single day, for always and forever, or suffer consequences from the gendarmes. Your whole life is a game and there's no you there, only the personas. And some people might be ok with that. And were, according to the story. Certainly from the point of view of the queen, this was a utopian society. For others, the absence of true self is pretty much a nightmare...or can become a nightmare over time, as it did for the main character.
My feeling was he smashed in the courtesan's face because she knew him and the girl whose mask he was wearing at the end, and she was questioning what happened. It was to shut her up. I didn't feel like he would have gone on to kill anyone else, but maybe that's just my wishful thinking.
I think that's inconsistent with the ending of the story <snip>
It's been a while since I listened, so feel free to correct me. But are the people in the mask society that much worse off? They get to chose a different persona every day. Whoever they want. As for me, I have a persona with my wife, another with my kid, another at work, and a couple with various friends, and they're all pretty much the same guy. I don't get to decide to be a spy one day and a prostitute the next. I'm not saying their lives are unequivocally better than mine, just that they are not living in an oppressive nightmare. It seems akin to living in World of Warcraft, but with hundreds of accounts to choose from.
But maybe I'm forgetting something.
but generally you get to pick your masks, you could act the way you do with your wife, at work, but from his conversation with the queen they must wear certain masks at certian times. That and they have no sense of identity without their masks + they can't go from green mask to red mask during the day. There, your wife is actually your brother in a different mask, and that don't happen here... generally spakin
You're right that they don't have a sense of identity without their masks, but we don't have the freedom to act out or fantasies. I wonder if someone in their world is writing an SF story about a distopian nightmare where people go to the same jobs and come home to the same family day after day.
You're right that they don't have a sense of identity without their masks, but we don't have the freedom to act out or fantasies. I wonder if someone in their world is writing an SF story about a distopian nightmare where people go to the same jobs and come home to the same family day after day.
But they're not acting out their fantasies. They have *over*souls - the masks overwrite their personalities. The people are reduced to little but vessels for other people's lives.
You're right that they don't have a sense of identity without their masks, but we don't have the freedom to act out or fantasies. I wonder if someone in their world is writing an SF story about a distopian nightmare where people go to the same jobs and come home to the same family day after day.
But they're not acting out their fantasies. They have *over*souls - the masks overwrite their personalities. The people are reduced to little but vessels for other people's lives.
Point taken, but they still acquire a richer set of experiences than I do. I'm not saying Maskworld is a paradise, and I'm not saying I would submit to its rules if I had a choice, it just doesn't seem dramatically worse than our world enough that escape is a no-brainer. The main character didn't seem to do any soul-searching, and the woman --though she did give him a choice -- seemed to think it was inevitable that he would choose individuality if he could just experience it.
Well it took three years (since PP's Oranges, Lemons and Thou Beside Me) but Eugie Foster has totally blown me away again. This story was GREAT. Completely engrossing and gave me that shivery feeling I long for at the end and yay! The reading was fabulous. I can sympathize with those who thought it was over the top because for an EP reading it was a little more acted than usual, but I can only sympathize so far, because this story needed that kind of reading. The reading was amazing and it all went together so well and the ending kicked ass and took no names and I have been telling people OMG you have to listen to this story, it's sooooo good since I heard it.
I heart Escape Pod. Again.
Despite what our video game culture would have you believe, you can't smash in someone's face with your fist, even assuming you were wearing a gauntlet of some sort.
Despite what our video game culture would have you believe, you can't smash in someone's face with your fist, even assuming you were wearing a gauntlet of some sort.
This would have bothered me if I had heard it that way. I thought he used something to smash the face in.
Despite what our video game culture would have you believe, you can't smash in someone's face with your fist, even assuming you were wearing a gauntlet of some sort.
This would have bothered me if I had heard it that way. I thought he used something to smash the face in.
Beautifully read! Interesting story too -- all the colours in the mask descriptions made it very visual for me.
And true enough, this story has been nominated for Best Novelette at the 2009 Nebula Awards (http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2010/02/finalists-2009-nebula-awards/)! Congrats to Eugie, and thanks for an awesome story!Congratulations to Foster as well, and I made a thread here (http://forum.escapeartists.net/index.php?topic=3360) to discuss this year's nominees.
when she steps away from retelling Asian fairy tales.
1. What happens when they "die"? How can one be stabbed many times or skinned alive and come out just fine the next day? That was an obstacle to me understanding it, as I assumed the husband character in section 1 died until it was all tied together 2/3 of the way into the story.
2. I understand that they change gender identities with their masks, but how do they change sexes? They seem to have genitals, given the details of the opening scene in particular, and copulating seems to be referring to heterosexual intercourse, but do the masks actually swap the genitals? Or are they all hermaphrodites?
The Hugo Awards havent been given out yet, but I am totally rooting for this story there. She's got stiff competition though. :)
The Hugo Awards havent been given out yet, but I am totally rooting for this story there. She's got stiff competition though. :)
In the past few years the one that ends up winning has been a clear standout in my eyes, so I'm guessing that this one will do it. :)
So when Escape Pod comes back from hiatus and does the Hugo nominee run, will this story be on here again? ;)
when she steps away from retelling Asian fairy tales.
I think StePH might disagree with you on that front. :p
(so do I actually, I really enjoy her Asian fairy tale stories. Though IMHO this story is easily the best story of hers run on any of the 'casts).
Quote1. What happens when they "die"? How can one be stabbed many times or skinned alive and come out just fine the next day? That was an obstacle to me understanding it, as I assumed the husband character in section 1 died until it was all tied together 2/3 of the way into the story.
2. I understand that they change gender identities with their masks, but how do they change sexes? They seem to have genitals, given the details of the opening scene in particular, and copulating seems to be referring to heterosexual intercourse, but do the masks actually swap the genitals? Or are they all hermaphrodites?
I may be wrong as its been a while since I listened to this one, but i was kinda under the impression all the experiences were virtual - fully immersive virtual, but virtual nonetheles, like some sort of computer program loaded into the masks.
I may be wrong as its been a while since I listened to this one, but i was kinda under the impression all the experiences were virtual - fully immersive virtual, but virtual nonetheles, like some sort of computer program loaded into the masks.
Not only has this story won the Nebula, but Eugie Foster totally gave a shout-out to EP and thanked Larry Santoro in her acceptance speech (http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/6955588). (Starts shortly after 39:00.)
Named this story NUMBER ONE on my Best Podcast Fiction of All Time List:
http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2014/07/the-best-podcast-fiction-of-all-time-the-complete-list/