PC Miniature 54: A Spot of Bother, High Above the Undead Sea

[Heradel]

PodCastle Miniature 54: A Spot of Bother, High Above the Undead Sea

by Kris Dikeman

Read by Simon Meddings (of the Waffle-On podcast)

A PodCastle Original!

Bits and pieces of passengers and crew lay in untidy heaps along the deck. Picking my way through the remains of the unfortunate purser, I stepped to the railing. The setting sun threw the airship’s shadow across the water. Amid the rolling waves, the mermaids kept pace with us, gliding effortlessly in a perfect Q-formation.

“Regard,” I said to the gore-spattered robot, hoping to distract him from his murderous frenzy. “The zombie mermaids of the Undead Sea. The dirigible’s shape triggers the decayed synapses of their putrefied brains, awakening memories of the briny dill pickles they craved in life.”

Rated R: Contains Zombie Mermaids, Killer Robots, Dirigibles, and Cigars

[DKT]

Full text here!

(You have to be signed up on the forum to be able to access it, though, as it's from the original EP Flash Contest.)

[eytanz]

Enjoyable little flash piece.

One narration nitpick - the reader says "pursuer" instead of "purser" early on.

[stePH]

I seem to be continuing my fine Podcastle tradition of disliking all the miniatures.

[Talia]

Hehe, this was great. Particularly the closing line, which wraps it up beautifully. I love the thought of a gentleman passenger trying to buddy up to a killer robot. The line "“They say the bottom of the ocean is enchanting this time of year,” was also fantastic.

Reminds me a bit of the current trend of Jane Austen + zombies books that have sprouted up all over the place.

[Boggled Coriander]

Another successful exercise in seeing how much grin-inducing coolness can be alluded to in a very limited wordcount.  If this had been an entry in this year's flash contest it would have had my vote(s).

[DKT]

Enjoyable little flash piece.

One narration nitpick - the reader says "pursuer" instead of "purser" early on.

Thanks for mentioning this, eytanz. We're fixing this, and we'll put up a corrected file very soon.

-Dave

[DKT]

And the file's been replaced. So if you go to the website and redownload the file, the pronunciation of "purser" has been corrected.

We do apologize for the inconvenience, and thank you for your patience. Cigars and bourbon and a free trip in the PodCastle time machine for everyone!

[Heradel]

And the file's been replaced. So if you go to the website and redownload the file, the pronunciation of "purser" has been corrected.

We do apologize for the inconvenience, and thank you for your patience. Cigars and bourbon and a free trip in the PodCastle time machine for everyone!

Just because you stole it and put a sticker over the Escape Pod logo doesn't mean the Time Machine's yours. Now if only I could get my Vortex Manipulator working for hops longer than a century and get it back, the Manipulator's like driving a Yugo.

[Swamp]

As I read the title of this story and began listening to it, I was trying to figure out where I had heard it before.  Turns out I read it three years ago right here on the forums.  Cool.

[Wilson Fowlie]

Waitaminnit, here.  Heradel's the Podcastle moderator, but the Escape Pod A.R.M.?  I smell conflict of interest...

[stePH]

Waitaminnit, here.  Heradel's the Podcastle moderator, but the Escape Pod A.R.M.?  I smell conflict of interest...

I love the smell of conflict-of-interest in the morning.

[Listener]

Another successful exercise in seeing how much grin-inducing coolness can be alluded to in a very limited wordcount.

That was exactly my reaction, except I didn't grin. I just couldn't get into this story.

[blueeyeddevil]

Yes, amusing, but...meh.
The ironic-steampunk-piratepunk reference/joke density was high, I mean neutron-star core high. All that really means to me, though, is that the genre did all the work. Were this posted ten years ago (and quite possibly ten years from now) it would just be a strange collection of historical jokes that no-one would really care about.

Hitting people's fad-buttons is a potential part of successful writing, but it's never been the part I personally care about.

[satyrscotty]

I would love to see this little world turned into a much larger story.  The characters, though only briefly described, intrigued me.  I found myself wanting to get to know the robot, the rage filled one, and even those pesky mermaids.  What a great world of exploration, intrigue, and fun described in such a short little piece.  Loved it.

[Loz]

A weird little story. But good weird. And I want a robot-pirates versus the zombie-mermaids story Stat!

[kibitzer]

...and a free trip in the PodCastle time machine for everyone!

You guys have TIME MACHINE?? Where do I sign up?

[Unblinking]

This one was a lot of fun.  Lots of weird ideas crammed into a teeny tiny story.  I figured the undead mermaids were just a ploy to get the robot to peer over the edge, so it was even funnier when they turned out to be real. 

[Meds]

I had great fun narrating this story, I've just read another one for Pseudopod. Steampunk style storytelling seems to be dipping of late which could be because of lack of originality but honestly I think this story has a great world to it and as someone said above it would be great to see a wider tale from this world.