I think it was very cool for both the forum "root post" and the EscapePod excerpt quotation to be this:
They try everything. Cellular toxins. DNA replication inhibitors. Anti-sense nucleic acids. Artillery. Great bolts of lightning. Nothing stops him, it only makes the monster angrier. They try mutagens, teratogens, carcinogens, neurotoxins, hemotoxins, genotoxins — they think that toxins in the environment created the monster, and maybe toxins can kill it. Maybe two wrongs can make a right.
When I was driving in to work, this morning, this sentence leapt out at me as the best in the story and, frankly, one of the best series of English words I'd heard. It is not only lyrical (especially in how Steve read it) but deftly combines all the elements of the story's metaphor into one, concise package.
While metaphor and allegory are frequently used subtly, I think it's an assumption of literature that they have to be subtle or hidden; waiting to be coaxed from their surrounding prose like a frightened rabbit from its hole. Rather, I believe that if the overall narrative is strong, metaphor -blatant or subtle- is still metaphor.
Granted, each reader brings their own expectations to the table and for many, subtlety is required.
For me, however, I enjoyed this tale quite a bit. Mostly, I enjoyed that the two main characters were complex and had a relationship that was hardly cookie-cutter. I've seen several family members go through cancer -none of them being lucky enough to have recovery- but, curiously, this tale did not pull at my heart-strings as I expected. Rather than feeling an echo of pain at the gradual erosion of a human life, I felt a strong appreciation for the flawed hero. Is wanting a "Thank You" a bad thing? No, but it makes your altruism less than altruistic. Does it make you a more interesting character? Definitely.
I kept following this tale to see how things would develop for him. His own development of a deep, hacking cough at the end was painful.
I'm left with two thoughts:
#1. Would the story have been better-ended without the world-wide resurgence of monsters and just left it with them heading back to the hospital with his own, personal, battle to fight without the echo throughout the rest of the world?
#2. Can a Daikaiju story be simply a Daikaiju story in a Science-Fiction, Fantasy, or Horror setting without being a metaphor (as Steve touched upon in his Outro)?
Yours,
Sylvan (Dave)