I'm very excited about the Giant stories, but in purchasing them, I've noticed that the category opens up whole new questions about length.
Currently, I'm capping normal PodCastle episodes at 10,000 words. My original concept was that Giants would be 10,000-15,000 words. "Moon Viewing at Shijo Bridge" was smack dab in the middle of that range, at 13,500. The other Giant that I've requested is about the same length.
As I ponder other giants to purchase, I've noticed that some of the stories I'm strongly attracted to are over 15k. There's an award-winning steampunk adventure by one of the field's foremost writers which I'm interested in giving an offer on -- but it's 17,500. My favorite novella is another award-winner by an SF giant, this one a surrealist fantasy at approximately 20,000 words long.
We're definitely not in novel territory here -- the bottom level for which is 40,000 words, twice the longest piece I'm pondering. But it brings up the question -- how long is too long?
No guarantees that I'll abide by what gets hashed out in this thread, but I'd love to hear listener's opinions.