Escape Artists
PodCastle => Episode Comments => Topic started by: Talia on January 24, 2012, 01:05:19 PM
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PodCastle 193: Fruit Jar Drinkin', Cheatin' Heart Blues (http://podcastle.org/2012/01/24/podcastle-193-fruit-jar-drinkin-cheatin-heart-blues)
by Patty Templeton (http://pattytempleton.livejournal.com/).
read by M.K. Hobson (http://www.demimonde.com/).
Originally appeared in SteamPowered II: More Lesbian Steampunk Stories
Cazy Tipple and Balma Walker were the two finest bootleggers for a god-step or more. The only two that lived in the Rotgut, instead of on its edge.
Balma hadn’t always hated the sour, sorrowing guts out of Cazy, but times changed with the rain.
Ten years and a piece with the same two hearts in a three room cabin and there’s bound to be here-and-there altercations. Balma’d call Cazy a no-good-jar-tipper, and Cazy’d have a sip and a swallow and name Balma a brain-big-hollerin’-bitch. Balma’d throw the grits and biscuits at Cazy and the frying pan after. Cazy’d bite a brushed-off biscuit and tell Balma how fine it was. Fairly soon, the two were hot eyes over hot coffee and the stills would have to wait until the sheets had another ruffle and wet.
But this time, Cazy’d done enough wrong for Balma to prop the grudge on a pulpit and preach.
Rated R for profanity, violence.
(http://escapepod.org/wp-images/podcast-mini4.gif) Listen to this week’s PodCastle! (http://media.rawvoice.com/podcastle/media.libsyn.com/media/podcastle/PC193_FruitJarDrinkin.mp3)
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I loved this story.
It was funny, and mean, and sappy and steampunky.
Also, M. K. Hobson's superb reading helped me submerge deep into it, and I was quite grateful for Dave's "welcome back". I don't think I could have found my way back from Rotgut on my own.
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I had trouble getting into it. My best guess as to why is that it was the writing style itself, rather distant and it seemed liked the style went "This happened. Then this happened. Then this happened." just a relating of events, but in a way that I never felt emotionally attached to them. Especially for a story that starts with a messy breakup, I feel like the words didn't really convey the emotion involved. And without feeling emotionally connected, there wasn't enough to keep me listening until the end.
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I confess I had a little trouble following this at first, the dialect and the jargon running so thick and fast, but M.K.'s clear joy in reading allowed me to get over that. Would have liked a little bit more of the Fantastic. But the romance was prickly and believable.
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I didn't think I was going to like this one, despite the awesome title.. The foul language kind of turned me off, but I liked the idea of a hillbilly steampunk story so I kept on. And yes M.K.'s reading helped a lot. I enjoyed it more the longer it went. But I think the ending really capped it perfectly. Maybe that's becasue the breakup was over and the opportunity for new adventures was opened up.
Would have liked a little bit more of the Fantastic.
Walking, stinging, kidnapping moonshine stills is not fantastic enough? :)
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Would have liked a little bit more of the Fantastic.
Walking, stinging, kidnapping moonshine stills is not fantastic enough? :)
I was hoping for a guest appearance by the Fiddler of Bayou Tesh ;)
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I liked this one, but I didn't love it. If you frequent these forums, you already know that I'm never too fond of stories that categorically discount any group of humans. In this case, I thought the story laid it on a little thick when it made every male character some combination of cowardly, violent, corrupt, or small-minded. The women weren't much better, it's true, but they were better - ennobled by love? - and it was enough to bother me.
Who am I kidding, though? This is a story from Steam-Powered 2. I am not the target audience for this story. I set aside my annoyance once in a while and enjoy a Conan or Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser story - letting the tale's other charms overcome my annoyance - and I can't really begrudge others the same vice in a different color. However, I'm also not going to pretend I don't feel it or that it doesn't effect my enjoyment.
That said, the story was very charming in every other way - remember that I liked it, but didn't love it. We can date a while, but I'm going to break up with it when the right novel comes along. I liked this quirky and improbably iteration of the steampunk subgenre. I loved the advanced technology characteristic of steampunk being applied to something as petty and every-day as stills and bootlegging. Even though some aspects of the characterization annoyed me, I thought it was generally very well done. The back and forth between the lovers made me laugh out loud at several points, and I was deeply pleased when they finally got back together.
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Aftah heerin' a axent lahk thayt, ah always wahk around talkin' lahk thayt witch annoys mah wife more'n fleas settin' on a dirty dawg.
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Well, that was a fun ride. Who knows what world-changing inventions got set on fire by a bunch of filthy revenooers?
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Loved this story from the outset. M.K.Hobson's reading added a lot to the listening experience. Being a Brit, I had some trouble understanding everything being said. At first I struggled to understand, but then I just went with the flow and enjoyed it immensely. Reminded me of Doris Day in Calamity Jane, only more so :)
I like the whole SteamPunk thing, and the imagery here was very effective. The ingenuity of the little bots covering the tracks of the walking stills.
I also liked the interaction between the two main characters. Again, the reading added so much to this. If I had read this myself, I doubt I would have had the same sense of time and place. Definitely a case of audio working better than text.
This is only my second list to PodCastle... I've came over for a try from EscapePod... I'll certainly be back.
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Speaking of moonshine, I find it very amusing that NASCAR (a league of American car racing) has its roots in moonshine. During prohibition, moonshine runners needed fast cars with fast drivers to evade the police. Eventually some of them were caught and instead started a league of legal car racing with their skills.
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This one was just alright for me. I'm glad that it went beyond "two ladies air out their dirty laundry in a very public cat fight" but it took too long to get there for my tastes. That said, it's nice to see a steampunk story set in an atypical locale and in which the technology is used so creatively.
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Aftah heerin' a axent lahk thayt, ah always wahk around talkin' lahk thayt witch annoys mah wife more'n fleas settin' on a dirty dawg.
I consider this partial re-payment for every American who saw Crocodile Dundee and proceeded to walk around with an awful fake Australian accent.
As for the story, I liked it, but didn't love it. The lovers' spat was interesting at first, but got a little tiresome. I liked both the female protagonists, as well as all the mechanical creatures. I'm not sure of the feasibility of walking stills in the mountains, given what I know about making moonshine, but as long as they weren't actually boiling while walking, it might work.
And MK's narration was superb.
Edited to add: Mmmm, apple pie moonshine.
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Aftah heerin' a axent lahk thayt, ah always wahk around talkin' lahk thayt witch annoys mah wife more'n fleas settin' on a dirty dawg.
I consider this partial re-payment for every American who saw Crocodile Dundee and proceeded to walk around with an awful fake Australian accent.
Ah, but you'd hafta hear my accent to judge that ;)
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Loved this story.
Loved the steampunk interpretation of Appalachian bootleggers. Loved the moving stills. I accept holistically that they work, and am not going to get too distracted by the gears and cogs.
Enjoyed the characters. I received shades of Lil' Abner and Sadie Hawkins. Received shades of Thelma and Louise. I thought the quarrel and the grudge holding was good.
My only complaint is that they didn't kill the sheriff. They done runnt off from prison, so the longer sentence wouldn't have mattered anyhows.
Speaking of moonshine, I find it very amusing that NASCAR (a league of American car racing) has its roots in moonshine. During prohibition, moonshine runners needed fast cars with fast drivers to evade the police. Eventually some of them were caught and instead started a league of legal car racing with their skills.
They're just some good ol' boys. Never meanin' no harm.
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Oh, this was just so gosh darn cute, even with all the quarrelin and carryings on. Cazy sounded so much like a guy I used to know I had to laugh out loud when she tried to sweetalk Balma back to her. And in a weird way, I loved their passive aggressive way of arguing. I want more stories of them!
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I had a concern or two going into this story but there was just enough moonshine to smooth over those...wait that doesn't sound right...
I enjoyed the story, it won't go down in my list of favorites but well worth the listen. I'm not a huge fan of Steampunk, for some reason this type of alternative history tends to leave me wanting, Gaslamp fantasy, the style Phil Foglio names for his Girl Genius series his the bulls-eye though, maybe I just like more lightning bolts flying through the air..
And the same thing for the Hillbilly setting, its not my cup o tea, which is a simialar reason why I just don't care for tv shows like Swamp People. Despite all of that the story came off very charming, humorous, well written, and well narrated.
P.S. Does anyone else want one of those chittering bronze-critters? I totally do!
PSS. I really love the distance of a God-Step
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Saw this product floatin' round the internet and thought of this here story.
http://www.thinkgeek.com/homeoffice/mugs/ee15/
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Saw this product floatin' round the internet and thought of this here story.
http://www.thinkgeek.com/homeoffice/mugs/ee15/
Funny thing - my kids actually drink milk/lemonade/oj/whatever out of mason jars now...
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Most of my drinking glasses are mason jars. They're handy, stable, and I find them ergonomic. Not to mention they work well as a measuring cup in a pinch. Then again, I did just make some cherry moonshine, so maybe I'm not the best person to get an opinion on the matter.
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Loved this story! The language, the style, and world, and the plot were all SO clever. Loved the list of the terrible things they laid out in public about each other.