Escape Artists
Cast of Wonders => Episode Comments => Topic started by: danooli on September 10, 2016, 12:28:30 PM
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Episode 82: Mr. Scampers War by J. S. Bell (http://www.castofwonders.org/2013/06/episode-82-mr-scampers-war-by-j-s-bell/)
Today we present a story from J. S. Bell. Mr. Bell is a full-time dad and part-time writer who makes a living in sales only because he can’t write fast enough to pay the bills. He has two novel projects with an agent, and a publishing credit with The Western Online (“Mitchellsville”). He is a Lap Servant to two cats, Frost and Bramble, who help him with his stories by walking across the keyboard and adding random letters.
You narrator today is John Cmar. John is an infectious diseases physician in Baltimore who splits his time between treating horrors such as syphilis, and molding the next generation of doctors, while repeatedly washing his hands in between. When not herding his six cats or going fanboy over the space endeavors of his wife Moon Ranger Laura, John infectious various podcast projects with his voice. He is the Chief Medical Officer and Bad Doctor in Residence at The Secret Lair (http://www.thesecretlair.com/) podcast, and ruminates over all manner of things at his personal blog, SaintNickanuck.com (http://www.saintnickanuck.com/).
Click here to listen to Episode 82 (http://archive.org/download/Wonders082/Wonders082.mp3)
Click here to read the text of the story (https://docs.google.com/document/d/12mVmiMJE0hYYmrVq9morZrEqJDvN0IyMnbmJQqw3vDg/edit)
Tags: Cast of Wonders, Fantasy, Humor, J. S. Bell, John Cmar, Young Adult fiction
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So I read Bunnicula a lot when I was the target demographic. The paranoia and characters in this story brought those books to mind. I'm tempted to pick those back up and see how well they stand up. I see that my library has the first three books on audio...
I was also strongly reminded of the primary sequence of the film Cat's Eye (which I also consumed at a similar demographic). I'm also tempted to pick this film up again and skip the first two shorts to go straight to the part with the cat and the monster. However, Stephen King's films as a general rule tend to fare worse for me under a critical viewing. I may be better off with my fond recollection of the film.
There was a third thing that came to mind while listening to this one, but I may need another cup of coffee before that one re-emerges.
ETA: Rikki Tiki Tavi!
That was it. Was randomly talking to someone else about Kipling and it came back and recalling this post distracted me in the middle of that other discussion. Frankly, that portion of Cat's Eye was also very Rikki Tiki Tavi, and I know King has mentioned Kipling before. I read the story a bunch growing up, and I remember some animated thing. Going back to Rikki Tiki Tavi as an adult, I was pleasantly surprised to find how compact and energetic the action scenes are. It's a pretty masterful example of the short form.
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Ha. I... am a sucker for amusing cat and dog stories. This one is super fun.