Escape Pods good enough to keep

[Anarkey]

So I know I'm not the only one who keeps their favorite Escape Pods to hear over and over and over again or to force other people to listen to on long trips or just because they're too good to delete. 

I'm mucking around with my iPod settings and I decided to look at my kept Escape Pods.  Out of 175 episodes (though I didn't hear the first five or so, but let's not complicate the math), I've kept 19. 

That puts the stats at roughly 10% (10.85, almost 11). 

What are your stats?  Which episodes did you keep and why?  What percentage of the episodes you heard were sooooo good you wanted to hear them again and again?

If the thread takes off and there's interest, I'll post my list of kept episodes.

[stePH]

I have yet to delete any, even the few that I outright hated and will certainly never listen to again (I'm looking at you, "Results").

[Anarkey]

I have yet to delete any, even the few that I outright hated and will certainly never listen to again (I'm looking at you, "Results").

Clearly you're a pack rat with audio stories the way you're a pack rat with physical books.   

So if you hypothetically were going to choose some to keep on the basis of their awesomeness, which would they be?

[DKT]

I have yet to delete any, even the few that I outright hated and will certainly never listen to again (I'm looking at you, "Results").

I don't delete them, either.  That said, I don't keep them all on my ipod.  Here's what I do have...

169: How I Mounted Goldie, Saved my PartnerLori, and Saved the Day (Best. Eley. Read. Ever. And Sullydog has yet to disappoint me.)
168: Family Values (Jane Auesten esque + Alasdair Stuart's grand reading.  Good times)
157: A Small Room in Koboldtown (I love New Weird pieces, and this is the closest thing we've had to New Weird for a while.)
150: This, My Body (Actually...I'm not really sure why I'm keeping this one. I liked it, but didn't love it)
146: Edward Bear and the Very Long Walk (Apologies to Anarkey)
145: Instead of a Loving Heart (Steampunk with Nazis.)
143: Flaming Marshmallow and Other Deaths (I loved the father/daughter relationship in this one. Pretty refreshing)
140: Astrokmonkeys! (This one amused the heck out of me.  I still want another story with Digger.)
139: Acephalous Dreams (I keep meaning to listen to this one again and give it another chance)
138: In the Late December (Nuclear Rudolf. 'nuff said.)
131: Hesperia and Glory (This was one just hit the spot for me. I loved the language, the setting, and the smarts behind the ending)
124: Save Me, Plz (Groovy little what is the matrix? thing going on)
123: Niels Bohr and the Sleeping Dane (Golem vs. Nazis. 'nuff said.)
121:Conversations With and About my Electric Toothbrush
112: The Giving Plauge (I couldn't stay focused on the story of this one the first time I heard it -- keep meaning to give it another shot)
105: Impossible Dreams (I just loved this one and keep meaning to play it for my wife sometime)
97: Cinderella Suicide (One of my absolutel favorites)
61: I Look Forward to Remembering You (My other absolute favorite)
21: Platypus Girl (Biopunk?  I don't know, I dug it.)
Flash: Nightshift in the Automart
Flash: The Uncanny Valley

I realize there's some missing.  I thought I had Sullydog's Imperial on here and more of Greg van Eekhout's flash. Depth of Field -- I really should listen to it again -- I just like Ed Wood being tapped by the government in case there was ever some kind of alien invasion.  And, of course, letting his ego blow it.
Also Cory Doctorow's Craphound.  Hrm.  

[stePH]

I have yet to delete any, even the few that I outright hated and will certainly never listen to again (I'm looking at you, "Results").

Clearly you're a pack rat with audio stories the way you're a pack rat with physical books.   

So if you hypothetically were going to choose some to keep on the basis of their awesomeness, which would they be?

"Merry Christmas from the Heartbreakers" is one that comes immediately to mind.  I listen to that one every Christmas.  I'll have to look the list over for more and get back to you.

Maybe I should "clean house."  I don't exactly have lots of money to upgrade the ol' hard drive, and three years worth of EP fills a lot of space.

[stePH]

61: I Look Forward to Remembering You (My other absolute favorite)

Ooh, yes ... that one too.  My favorite one ever.

[slic]

I'm a packrat too.  Storage is too cheap not to keep the stories around, and one man's garbage is another's treasure...

But looking over the list, and count the one's whose title means something to me, I have 12-14 that's I'd highly recommend - some of the older ones not listed above - L’Alchimista and "Paul Bunyan and the Photocopier"

[stePH]

So far I've picked "Merry Christmas from the Heartbreakers" and "I Look Forward to Remembering You".

Add to my list:
All Union Dues stories
How I Mounted Goldie....
Feng Burger

Hard to pick others just looking over the Escape Archive list; that feed doesn't preserve the show information so I can't look at the sample passage to remind myself what each story was.  I'd have to go back to the Escape Pod site and look.

[evo.shandor]

So far I've picked "Merry Christmas from the Heartbreakers" and "I Look Forward to Remembering You".

I think I see a trend.

[evo.shandor]

I am not one to keep stuff.  I have a wall full of DVDs and VHS tapes I watched once and never again.

But there is one I hang on to when I need a kick in the butt: Metacast #3.  Has never been off my crappy MP3 player since I listened to it.  Have listened to it 4 times now.

[deflective]

I am not one to keep stuff.  I have a wall full of DVDs and VHS tapes I watched once and never again.

wait, what?

[stePH]

So far I've picked "Merry Christmas from the Heartbreakers" and "I Look Forward to Remembering You".

I think I see a trend.

Not really, if it's what I think you're thinking ... I have no great opinion (as an Austen character might say) of Mur Lafferty's last Christmas story ("Citytalkers").  And "Santa in My Pocket" was kind of cute, but not in the same league as "Heartbreakers"  or "I Look Forward ...".

[Talia]

my ipod holds a "mere" 8 gigs so i delete all podcasts regularly. Heck, I know they're all available here on the site should I care to revisit them.

I know there have been some that I absolutely loved, but I forget.. most short stories tend not to stick in my mind at all, no matter how much I loved them at the time.

'Burning Bush' is one of the few that sticks out, because I laughed and laughed and laughed and laughed. Oh my was that fun.

'Private Detective Molly' is another, because I really did completely love it, but it could just be because its very recent too.

Union dues freedom with a small f. The darkness really appealed to me.

Ooh. and going through the archives just now I realized that Benjamin Rosenbaum has written not one but two of my favorite episodes, 'The House Beyond Your Sky' and 'The Ant King' from PC. I may have to track down his book. Wait, three. He wrote 'Start the Clock' too.

Heh.

[evo.shandor]

I am not one to keep stuff.  I have a wall full of DVDs and VHS tapes I watched once and never again.

wait, what?

To clarify: I received them as gifts, have tired to give them away, but can't bring myself to throw them out. Erasing an MP3 I know I won't listen to again is not in the same league.

[Darwinist]

I don't save any on my IPod because that mofo is almost full.  The ones I have saved in I-tunes are: 43 Antarean Dynasties, The Watching People, Nightfall, Friction, and How I Mounted Goldie.... 

[Russell Nash]

We were up around episode 120 or so before I thought of saving any.  I have downloaded the back catalogue, so I can relisten to them and decide what to keep.  I haven't finished that process.

It's an incomplete list, but this is what I have so far:

EP001: Imperial-Jonathon Sullivan
EP027: Iron Bars and the Glass Jaw - Jeffrey R. DeRego
EP033: Santa In My Pocket - Mur Lafferty   
EP041: Ambient Sleaze - Jeffrey R. DeRego
EP049: Union Dues - Off White Lies - Jeffrey R. DeRego
EP057: Chuckles Mulrooney, Attorney for the Damned - Scott Sigler
EP061: I Look Forward To Remembering You - Mur Lafferty
EP062: Union Dues - The Baby and the Bathwater - Jeffrey R. DeRego
EP070: Squonk the Dragon - Pete Butler
EP080: Union Dues - Cleanup in Aisle Five - Jeffrey R. DeRego
EP082: Travels With My Cats - Mike Resnick
EP085: Merry Christmas from the Heartbreakers - Mur Lafferty
EP090: How Lonesome a Life Without Nerve Gas - James Trimarco
EP100: Nightfall - Isaac Asimov
EP103: The Watching People - Paul Berger
EP105: Impossible Dreams - Tim Pratt
EP108: Kin - Bruce McAllistercape
EP109: Squonk the Apprentice - P.M. Butler
EP110: Frankie the Spook - Mike Resnick
EP115: Conversations With and About My Electric Toothbrush - Derek Zumsteg
EP116: Ej-Es - Nancy Kress
EP124: Save Me Plz - David Barr Kirtley
EP125: End Game - Nancy Kress
EP126: The Sweet, Sad Love Song of Fred and Wilma - Nick DiChario and Mike Resnick
EP128: Union Dues - Send in the Clowns - Jeffrey R. DeRego
EP134: Me and My Shadow - Mike Resnick
EP143: Flaming Marshmallow and Other Deaths - Camille Alexa
EP146: Edward Bear and the Very Long Walk - Ken Scholes
EP149: Union Dues - All That We Leave Behind - Jeffrey R. DeRego
EP154: Union Dues - Freedom With a Small f - Jeffrey R. DeRego
EP169: How I Mounted Goldie, Saved My Partner Lori, and Sniffed Out The People’s Justice - Jonathon Sullivan

Also because of the kids' summer break and family vacations and such I'm quite a bit behind.  I haven't listened to the last five episodes.

Looking at my list, gives me insight into why I think something is worth keeping.  I keep things that are fun to listen to.  Not the deep thought provoking pieces, but the stuff I think I can just get lost in again and again.

I also noticed that certain authors show up more than once, so here is may "Saved Story Author Ranking".  If someone can give it a better name, I'd appreciate it.:

from 31 stories

Jeffrey R. DeRego - 8 stories (I think this is why Thaur canonized him in TCoRN) (Keep in mind I haven't listened to the newest one yet.)
Mike Resnick - 3.5 (He shares credit on one.)
Mur Lafferty - 3
Jonathon Sullivan - 2
Nancy Kress - 2
Pete (P.M.) Butler - 2

[Rain]

It is only recently that i started saving stories, so far i have :

138: In the Late December
144: Friction
146: Edward Bear and the Very Long Walk
153: Schwartz between the Galaxies
160: Kalakkak's Cousins
169: How I Mounted Goldie, Saved My Partner Lori, and Sniffed Out The People’s Justice

[Ocicat]

I've been listening since just after ep 100 (but it was still up on the site).  I have:

EP100: Nightfall
EP105: Impossible Dreams
EP109: Squonk the Apprentice
EP115: Conversations With and About My Electric Toothbrush
EP116: Ej-Es
EP144: Friction
EP155: Tideline
EP169: How I Mounted Goldie, Saved My Partner Lori, and Sniffed Out The People’s Justice

Defiantly tending more towards the "fun" side for the keep list.

[SFEley]

This thread warms my cockles.  Thank you.

[Russell Nash]

I went back through the list to see if there were any that jumped out at me and needed to be added to my keep list.  I came up with four more:

EP005: Snow Day - Jennifer Pelland
EP020: The Burning Bush - Jennifer Pelland
EP055: Down Memory Lane - Mike Resnick
EP071: The Capo of Darkness - Laura Resnick

[Anarkey]

Here's my list of kept EP episodes:

EP175: Reparations   By Merrie Haskell. Read by Mary Robinette Kowal.
EP169: How I Mounted Goldie, Saved My Partner Lori, and Sniffed Out The People’s Justice   By Jonathon Sullivan. Read by Stephen Eley and Jennifer Bowie (of Screen Space).
EP166: The Something-Dreaming Game   By Elizabeth Bear.  Read by Mur Lafferty (of The Takeover and The Murverse).
EP160: Kalakkak’s Cousins   By Cat Rambo. Read by Stephen Eley.
EP157: A Small Room in Koboldtown Hugo Nominee! By Michael Swanwick. Read by Cheyenne Wright (of Arcane Times and Girl Genius).
EP155: Tideline   2008 Hugo Nominee! By Elizabeth Bear. Read by Stephen Eley.
EP138: In the Late December   Nebula Award Nominee! By Greg van Eekhout. Read by Stephen Eley.
EP131: Hesperia and Glory   By Ann Leckie. Read by Frank Key (of Hooting Yard).
EP109: Squonk the Apprentice   By P.M. Butler. Read by Stephen and Anna Eley.
EP099: Start the Clock   By Benjamin Rosenbaum. Read by Chris Fisher (of The Adult Space Childfree Podcast).
EP Flash: Printcrime   By Cory Doctorow. Read by Karen Roman.
EP087: Authorwerx   By Greg van Eekhout. Read by Stephen Eley.
EP070: Squonk the Dragon   By P.M. Butler
EP054: Tk’tk’tk    By David D. Levine. Read by Paul Tevis (of Have Games Will Travel).
EP Flash: One Million Years B.F.E.    By Merrie Haskell. Read by Deborah Green.
EP038: L’Alchimista By N.K. Jemisin. Read by Paul Tevis (of Have Games, Will Travel).
EP037: Craphound  By Cory Doctorow. Read by Jesse Thorn (of The Sound of Young America).
EP030: Aliens Love Oranges   By Sue Burke. Read by Mur Lafferty (of Geek Fu Action Grip).
EP016: Seamstress   By Sarah Prineas.  Read by Deborah Green. 

Though most of these are simply favorite episodes, some of my favorites aren't here, such as Samantha Henderson's "Cinderella Suicide" because I listened to it like 17 times in a row when it came out, and I'm pretty sure I'm never going to listen to it again, even though I loved it deeply and want to marry it and have its babies.  It's not a casual listen, or an easy listen, like many of the others.  You'll note there's a preponderance of later episodes, some of those are just ones I want to listen to again before I delete.  I can't promise I'll be keeping both the Elizabeth Bear stories, frex, or the Cat Rambo story.    I seem to be slanted toward award nominees, which amuses me, since I spend a lot of time bitching at how terrible most of the award nominees are.  Apparently I don't think they're ALL that crappy.    I also seem to be given to certain readers.  I didn't realize, frex, how partial I am to Mur's reading style (so long as it's not her own stuff, which I find fine and enjoyable, but not good enough to keep).  I'm probably the only person on the planet who counts EP 30 among their favorites...I think most people hated it, and it's mostly Mur's reading that made it so lovely to me.  And about Tk'Tk'Tk (another award nominee iirc)...I'm not sure it's a favorite.  It's something I still need to think about and digest, and I'm hanging onto it because I'm not done with it, not because I love it, though maybe after I'm done thinking about it I will love it.  Apparently I'm a sucker for Cory Doctorow as well as Eekhout. which I hadn't noticed.

"Start the Clock", "L'ALchimista", "Authorwerx" and "Hesperia and Glory" are straight up stories I ADORE.  "How I Mounted Goldie" will likely end up as one of those, although it's too soon to say.   

[CGFxColONeill]

I dont have the list with me as my Ipod+Itunes freaked out recently so I had to reset it all

[Russell Nash]

A few more good ones for comment threads.

[Rain]

I went back through the list to see if there were any that jumped out at me and needed to be added to my keep list.  I came up with four more:

EP005: Snow Day - Jennifer Pelland
EP020: The Burning Bush - Jennifer Pelland

If there was some sort of request feature for Escape Pod, the first thing i would ask for would be more Jennifer Pelland stories read by Deborah Green 

[Russell Nash]

I went back through the list to see if there were any that jumped out at me and needed to be added to my keep list.  I came up with four more:

EP005: Snow Day - Jennifer Pelland
EP020: The Burning Bush - Jennifer Pelland

If there was some sort of request feature for Escape Pod, the first thing i would ask for would be more Jennifer Pelland stories read by Deborah Green 

Steve reads all of the comment threads.  Go totally ape over it in the thread and he'll take note of it.

There's already a thread for EP020 and there will be a thread for EP005 soon.

[Anarkey]

I went back through the list to see if there were any that jumped out at me and needed to be added to my keep list.  I came up with four more:

EP005: Snow Day - Jennifer Pelland
EP020: The Burning Bush - Jennifer Pelland

If there was some sort of request feature for Escape Pod, the first thing i would ask for would be more Jennifer Pelland stories read by Deborah Green 

I LOVE Deborah Green's readings.  She's the bomb.  I rarely start threads around here, but the one other thread I started was the "who is your favorite reader" thread, just so I could type about how much I love Green's readings.  (I should go back into that thread and moon a little about Cheyenne Wright and Mur Lafferty....but ehh, feels like work, so I won't)  She hasn't read anything real recently, but I retain hope this is not a permanent alteration and we'll get more stuff read by her at some point down the line.

[Raving_Lunatic]

About 10% of my iPod is filled with Escape Pod, which is a pretty high honour. In space terms, it's second only to that band in my signature
I keep most episodes for about five weeks, but then delete if I did not like them. In addition to the new episodes, I have about 20 from the archives, mostly the same as others here although with the addition of Three Wish Habit.

[Nfidel]

I've enjoyed EscapePod weekly since I discovered it. I think I read about or heard about it and decided to listen to just one episode. I was hooked. More on that and my selective memory later.

I suppose because I grew up in the 60s and 70s, I lean more toward alien stories. Even though EscapePod has consistently
produced great stories, there are 3, maybe 4 that really grabbed me and have imprinted on my memory.

EP 36- Connie Maybe: I live in North Carolina and Wichita Rutherford sounds like relatives of mine. Great story, Kind of Twilight Zone-ish.

EP 37- Craphound: Wow, a buddy/ alien story involving what we down here call yard sales, flea markets and advanced alien technology.

EP 83- Ulla: To me, the best science fiction story to appear on EscapePod, that I remember. I apologize Steve, that sometimes I skip the intro, as I did with Ulla. So when I first heard the story it gradually dawned on me that the aliens had received the radio broadcast of "War of the Worlds", of course based on one of my favorite books by one of my favorite authors. Only today did I listen to the intro and hear you mention "War of the Worlds". I've always liked stories that are told via letters, journals or notes. The communication transmissions used in this story were an excellent storytelling device.

OK, now on to my bad memory. The first story I downloaded, the one on which I'd base future EP listening habits, I can't find. That was quite a while back in time, so I may be remembering things wrong. I do remember, I think,  the first EP episode I heard was not close to EP 1. It would probably have been somewhere between 1-100. Anyway the story involved a guy who traveled to another planet where humans, once again, were replacing the native inhabitants and bringing commerce and destruction to yet another culture. I seem to remember the aliens could hide in or move through blemishes on a table or wall. I remember they were described as resembling the color of sheetrock and in the story an alien was run over by a car.

It is possible that I've combined a couple stories in my memory and it's even possible that I heard this story elsewhere but it contained a reference to EscapePod. Does my description remind anyone of an EP episode. I'd really like to hear this again.

  As for archiving stories, I used to save all the EscapePod and PseudoPod to the hard drive until I had enough that, combined, they would fill a CD. I have EscapePod 8-118 and PseudoPod 5-46. I don't know why I didn't archive the earlier stories.

[GreenDude]

OK, now on to my bad memory. The first story I downloaded, the one on which I'd base future EP listening habits, I can't find. That was quite a while back in time, so I may be remembering things wrong. I do remember, I think,  the first EP episode I heard was not close to EP 1. It would probably have been somewhere between 1-100. Anyway the story involved a guy who traveled to another planet where humans, once again, were replacing the native inhabitants and bringing commerce and destruction to yet another culture. I seem to remember the aliens could hide in or move through blemishes on a table or wall. I remember they were described as resembling the color of sheetrock and in the story an alien was run over by a car.

It is possible that I've combined a couple stories in my memory and it's even possible that I heard this story elsewhere but it contained a reference to EscapePod. Does my description remind anyone of an EP episode. I'd really like to hear this again.

Hmm, sounds a little bit like EP 101: The 43 Antarean Dynasties.  Been a while since I listened to it, though, so I could be wide of the mark.

[Nfidel]

Hmm, sounds a little bit like EP 101: The 43 Antarean Dynasties.  Been a while since I listened to it, though, so I could be wide of the mark.

Thanks, but that is not it. I'll keep searching. It may even have been a Pseudopod episode.

[Nfidel]

I just found it. It was on Pseudopod. Number 019: Through the Many Corridors. A horror/ science fiction story. No wonder I was looking here.

Pseudopod 019: Through the Many Corridors
It was weird, wasn’t it? Weird how little it impressed him. It was an alien world, after all, a whole new planet, a landscape that held only a vague familiarity with the world he’d been born in, the atmosphere he’d inhaled for twenty-nine years. Maybe that’s it. It was just congruent enough to orient yourself, to fool yourself into thinking you were okay here. Up was up, down was down, you could breathe the air. But you weren’t okay here. You were drawn into this landscape by a different artist using a different pallet and a different technique and you just weren’t okay here.

Art took the cigarette out of his mouth and pointed up ahead. “Chalkie.”

It was at the very edge of the road with its long doughy fingers wrapped over the top of the metal barrier. Its skin was dry, dusty, cracked and curling like old paint, and dull white like chalk. Its tiny black eyes were set deep into its face, which was long and snoutish and bald. Even when nothing on this planet seemed to reflect the glow of that big red moon, the bleeding moon, those eyes picked it up like deep black wells.

[lungdoc]

i thought i was the only one to listen to episodes over and over...
they seem to go in spurts but the ones that i still have on my ipod
177: Usurpers
169: How i mounted goldie...---one of my top five, seems a overall winner, steve, your reading was great
168: Family values
162: Godjuice
160: Kallakak's cousins
155:  Tideline
123: Niels Bohr...
116: Ej-Es
107: Eight episodes
105:  Impossible dreams--   one of my top favorites
103:  The Watching People--  another top 5
101:  The 43 Antarean Dynasties--another top 5
095: Blink, don't blink
093: (Now + n, Now - n)
075:  Nano comes to clifford--top 5
073:  Barnaby in exile
054:  Tk'tk'tk--ok, it was the top 6
043: Little worker

This is by far my favortie podcast

by the way, I recently read "Lostronaut" by Jonathan Lethem in the New Yorker...Altho an avid reader of the New Yorker, i rarely read the fiction.  But the title caught my eye ("hmmm, ?science fiction...") and  i loved the story---could actually imagine it being read on escapepod....so maybe you can get this one??  here is the link....
http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/features/2008/11/17/081117fi_fiction_lethem

[DKT]

Getting Jonathan Lethem on Escape Pod would be freaking awesome. I love that guy.