Escape Artists
Escape Pod => About Escape Pod => Topic started by: Swamp on January 28, 2010, 05:14:50 PM
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I've been going back into the forums to try and recapture the fun and positive energy that I remember. In 2007, someone posted a thread regarding what the best episode from the previous year was. It was pretty fun. I was also reminded of this by Drabblecast running its annual Peoples Choice Awards on its forums.
So hey, if it's fun, let's do it. Below is a list of the main episodes that ran in 2009. Nominate your favorite 5 and then we'll put up a poll. Also feel free to express your reasons for why you liked those episodes. Please remember The Rules (http://forum.escapeartists.net/index.php?topic=3289.0) and that it is all in the spirit of Fun.
EP185: Union Dues - All About the Sponsors by Jeffery R. DeRego
EP186: Chrysalis by Mary Robineete Kowal
EP187: Summer in Paris, Light from the Sky by Ken Scholes
EP188: 29 Union Leaders Can’t Be Wrong by Genevieve Valentine
EP189: The Botox School of Acting by Liz Shannon Miller
EP190: Origin Story by Tim Pratt
EP191: This Is How It Feels by Ian Creasey
EP192: Sumo21 by Daniel Braum
EP193: Article of Faith by Mike Resnick
EP194: Exhalation by Ted Chaing
EP195: 26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss by Kij Johnson
EP196: Evil Robot Monkey by Mary Robineete Kowal
EP197: From Babel’s Fall’n Glory We Fled… by Micheal Swanwick
EP198: N-words by Ted Kosmatka
EP199: Elvis in the Attic by Catherine M. Morrison
EP200: All You Zombies by Robert A. Heinlein
EP201: Harry The Crow by John Kratman
EP202: Will You Be an Astronaut? By Greg van Eekhout
EP203: The Legend of St. Ignatz by Samantha Henderson
EP204: The Fifth Zhi by Mercurio D. Rivera
EP205: Requiem in D-minor (for prions, whale and burning bush) by Ian McHugh
EP206: Rogue Farm by Charles Stross
EP207: Wonder Maul Doll by Kameron Hurley
EP208: An Almanac for the Alien Invaders by Merrie Haskell
EP209: On the Eyeball Floor by Tina Connolly
EP210: The Hastillan Weed by Ian Creasey
EP211: Carthago Delenda Est by Genevieve Valentine
EP212: Skinhorse Goes to Mars by Jay Lake
EP213: A Monkey Will Never Get Rid of Its Black Hands by Rachel Swirsky
EP214: Sinner, Baker, Fablist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast by Eugie Foster
EP215: Mr. Penumbra’s Twenty-Four-Hour Book Store by Robin Sloan
EP216: Boyfriend by Madeline Ashby
EP217: The Kindness of Strangers by Nancy Kress
EP218: Ode To Katan Amano by Caitlin R. Kiernan
EP219: Sleepy Joe by Marc Laidlaw
EP220: Come All Ye Faithful by Robert J. Sawyer
EP221: Little Ambushes by Joanne Merriam
EP222: Infestation by Garth Nix
EP223: The Uncanny Valley by Nick Mamatas
EP224: The Ghost in the Death Trap by Marjorie James
EP225: A Hard Rain at the Fortean Café by Lavie Tidhar
EP226: Pirate Solutions by Katherine Sparrow
EP227: His Master’s Voice by Hannu Rajaniemi
EP228: Everything That Matters by Jeff Spock
EP229: Littleblossom Makes a Deal With the Devil by S. Hutson Blout
EP230: Candy Art by James Patrick Kelly
EP231: Solitary as an Oyster by Mur Lafferty
EP232: Flash Special - Alloy by Marissa Lingen, Flare by Kyle Deas, My Grandfather's River by Brenda Cooper
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Good call Swamp! Here's my five:
EP194: Exhalation by Ted Chaing
EP213: A Monkey Will Never Get Rid of Its Black Hands by Rachel Swirsky
EP214: Sinner, Baker, Fablist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast by Eugie Foster
EP219: Sleepy Joe by Marc Laidlaw
EP225: A Hard Rain at the Fortean Café by Lavie Tidhar
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Hard to choose just Five but here goes!
EP214: Sinner, Baker, Fablist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast by Eugie Foster
EP211: Carthago Delenda Est by Genevieve Valentine
EP209: On the Eyeball Floor by Tina Connolly
EP216: Boyfriend by Madeline Ashby
EP220: Come All Ye Faithful by Robert J. Sawyer
Runners up would be:
EP190: Origin Story by Tim Pratt
EP191: This Is How It Feels by Ian Creasey
EP212: Skinhorse Goes to Mars by Jay Lake
EP210: The Hastillan Weed by Ian Creasey
EP227: His Master’s Voice by Hannu Rajaniemi
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How fun! Picking only 5 will be a real challenge though! :D
In no particular order:
EP194: Exhalation by Ted Chaing
EP195: 26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss by Kij Johnson
EP214: Sinner, Baker, Fablist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast by Eugie Foster
EP202: Will You Be an Astronaut? By Greg van Eekhout
EP209: On the Eyeball Floor by Tina Connolly
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In decsending order:
EP194: Exhalation by Ted Chaing
EP214: Sinner, Baker, Fablist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast by Eugie Foster
EP195: 26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss by Kij Johnson
EP225: A Hard Rain at the Fortean Café
EP200: All You Zombies
Runner up is EP222: Infestation - I had a hard time deciding whether to list this one or EP200 as my fifth choice.
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Maybe I should have made it a top 10. Oh well.
Here is my top 5 list:
EP194: Exhalation by Ted Chaing
EP214: Sinner, Baker, Fablist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast by Eugie Foster
EP198: N-words by Ted Kosmatka
EP220: Come All Ye Faithful by Robert J. Sawyer
EP202: Will You Be an Astronaut? By Greg van Eekhout
Honorable mention:
EP195: 26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss by Kij Johnson
EP210: The Hastillan Weed by Ian Creasey
EP225: A Hard Rain at the Fortean Café by Lavie Tidhar
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EP194: Exhalation by Ted Chaing
EP208: An Almanac for the Alien Invaders by Merrie Haskell
EP214: Sinner, Baker, Fablist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast by Eugie Foster
EP216: Boyfriend by Madeline Ashby
EP220: Come All Ye Faithful by Robert J. Sawyer
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My most-awesome 5, in chronological order:
EP194: Exhalation by Ted Chiang
EP206: Rogue Farm by Charles Stross
EP209: On the Eyeball Floor by Tina Connolly
EP214: Sinner, Baker, Fablist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast by Eugie Foster
EP215: Mr. Penumbra’s Twenty-Four-Hour Book Store by Robin Sloan
Honorable mentions:
EP201: Harry The Crow by John Kratman
EP218: Ode To Katan Amano by Caitlin R. Kiernan
EP219: Sleepy Joe by Marc Laidlaw
EP224: The Ghost in the Death Trap by Marjorie James
EP228: Everything That Matters by Jeff Spock
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Top five, from 1 to 5
EP194: Exhalation by Ted Chaing
EP222: Infestation by Garth Nix
EP192: Sumo21 by Daniel Braum
EP198: N-words by Ted Kosmatka
EP216: Boyfriend by Madeline Ashby
This is great. It's very interesting to see what different people liked, though there does seem to be one clear favourite.
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Wow, this was really hard!! Here are my top 5 in their podcast order - please don't make me have to rank them :-[ - and a few words on why I particularly liked them.
EP186: Chrysalis by Mary Robineete Kowal
- Detailed study of a very alien life process, working as an adolescent so you can play as an adult.
EP194: Exhalation by Ted Chaing
- Self vivisection, very well told.
EP198: N-words by Ted Kosmatka
- Interesting study of racism, Neanderthal resurrection.
EP215: Mr. Penumbra’s Twenty-Four-Hour Book Store by Robin Sloan
- Google Crystal campus!
EP222: Infestation by Garth Nix
- "J" as original vampire hunter.
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Here are my options. This was indeed difficult; I started with ten and had to prune viciously.
1) EP195: 26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss by Kij Johnson
I love love love the tone of this one, flat and declarative and yet filled with wonder. I love the incongruity and the homeyness, and I love the way it all ties together in a way that makes sense and feels organic instead of forced. One of the few endings I did not see coming, for which I feel duly ashamed. Oh, and: Best title ever.
2) EP187: Summer in Paris, Light from the Sky by Ken Scholes
I had JUST been thinking, "Man, it would be interesting to think about what might have happened to, say, Hitler, if things had turned out just a little differently." Then this story came up in my trip through the archives, and I said, "[unprintable]! Well, at least this way the story can be published, since it doesn't look like I'd have done it well enough." It was very nicely done, and I particularly enjoyed the glimpses of the other changes in history around the edges of the central conceit.
3) EP202: Will You Be an Astronaut? By Greg van Eekhout
I would read this to my children. That is all.
4) EP197: From Babel’s Fall’n Glory We Fled… by Micheal Swanwick
I put this in fourth place instead of "Exhalation" because I didn't want TWO of the award-nominated stories in, and plus I enjoyed this one a lot. The title was nifty and intriguing, and the story held my interest by explaining as little as possible. I'm also usually not a fan of overt "Lady or Tiger?" endings, but I appreciated it in this instance, since I think either ending would have felt a little too pat on its own.
5)EP214: Sinner, Baker, Fablist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast by Eugie Foster
Eugie Foster stole my dreams and also writes them better than I can. Goddammit, Eugie, stop being awesome. You're killing my self-esteem. (Also, major props to the reading; I read this story before hearing it, and the reading was really fun. Obviously everyone had a good time going into that one.)
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In numerical order:
#187 Summer in Paris, Lights from the Sky
#199 Elvis in the Attic
#194 Exhalation
#209 On the Eyeball Floor
#224 The Ghost in the Death Trap
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Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast by Eugie Foster.
I actually almost stopped listening to this halfway through - stories with sex in them can make me uncomfortable - and words cannot express how glad I am I came back to it.
Summer in Paris, Light from the Sky by Ken Scholes.
I have to confess a weakness for stories about Nazis. If those stories are also about how being a Nazi doesn't make you completely, unavoidably evil and that everyone has the potential to be good, so much the better.
Exhalation by Ted Chiang.
Actually the first story I heard on Escape Pod, as well as the first I'd heard of Chiang. Entirely beautiful.
Pirate Solutions by Katherine Sparrow.
Just a lot of fun, I thought. I especially loved that not only was the main group healthily polyamorous, but that the story didn't really care that they were - it was just a thing. And rogue anarchist programmers = awesome.
All You Zombies by Robert Heinlein.
Still the only Heinlein I've ever properly enjoyed.
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Here we go...
Exhalation, by Ted Chiang
Origin Story, by Tim Pratt
A Monkey Will Never Get Rid of Its Black Hands, by Rachel Swirsky
Article of Faith, by Mike Resnick
Littleblossom makes a deal with the devil, by S. Hutson Blout
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I think the real question here is "what's the best EP episode of 2009 besides Exhalation. It won the Hugo, and with good cause - it will almost certainly win here.
So:
EP194: Exhalation by Ted Chaing
EP210: The Hastillan Weed by Ian Creasey
EP215: Mr. Penumbra’s Twenty-Four-Hour Book Store by Robin Sloan
EP204: The Fifth Zhi by Mercurio D. Rivera
EP222: Infestation by Garth Nix
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Ocicat, would love to know your comments on each of these. If you have time. If not... all good.
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I love Union Dues stories, but it is impossible to pick one/some of them.
Otherwise, my list is:
Exhalation
Hastillian Weed
Mr. Penumbra’s Twenty-Four-Hour Book Store
Chrysalis
Origin Story