Author Topic: EP185: Union Dues - All About the Sponsors  (Read 22037 times)

TristanPEJ

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Reply #25 on: January 09, 2009, 09:48:01 PM
Just a funny note: When I was new to podcasts and didn't know anything about anyone, I thought Playing for Keeps was a Union Dues novel.

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Raving_Lunatic

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Reply #26 on: January 09, 2009, 10:47:21 PM
A Mur Lafferty and JR Derego collaboration.

Yum.



contra

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Reply #27 on: January 10, 2009, 12:56:03 AM
I liked the story.

As others have said a good origins story that makes me think about the Unionverse as a whole.

Only learning the true nature any why it is the way it is this late on, does shine a different light on other stories we have had.
'Freedom With a Small f' is now an attempt by those within the union dismantle it from within, and change its initial mission statement and goal.  Making the motives behind the characters even more sinister?

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Russell Nash

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Reply #28 on: January 10, 2009, 01:19:39 PM
Another UD story that goes straight into my saved stories playlist. 

I have a question for Jeff:

The Army "infected" 2,000 soldiers.  Did they do anything to prevent these soldiers from being stationed overseas?  Everyone knows that whenever soldiers are stationed somewhere, they make "DNA donations".  If these soldiers ever got stationed overseas, you could have supers manifesting in Germany, Korea, and Japan among other places.



Zathras

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Reply #29 on: January 10, 2009, 03:12:05 PM
Another UD story that goes straight into my saved stories playlist. 

I have a question for Jeff:

The Army "infected" 2,000 soldiers.  Did they do anything to prevent these soldiers from being stationed overseas?  Everyone knows that whenever soldiers are stationed somewhere, they make "DNA donations".  If these soldiers ever got stationed overseas, you could have supers manifesting in Germany, Korea, and Japan among other places.

Oooooohhhhhhh!  Outstanding point!  Also, once the files were stolen, did the military even know not to station them over seas?



slothflyer

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Reply #30 on: January 12, 2009, 07:51:16 PM
I wonder how much of the Union Dues Mythology was planned out by DeRego before he began writing the stories.

Also, what was the order in which the stories were written?

What can we expect in the future from Union Dues?

and finally-Why Clonepod?  WHY?



Poppydragon

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Reply #31 on: January 12, 2009, 08:34:08 PM
As with all of the UD stories I've heard so far, I really enjoyed the whole feel of this. It's not my favourite (that is still freedon with a small f) but as an origin story its good and solid. I like the moral / ethical question raised by it, is it better to have something that started and continues to exist as a lie in order to do good than it is to have the truth? It's interesting that in general it appears popular superherodom is looking more and more for obviously flawed heros, but although perhaps making for more "tortured" storylines, doesn't it defeat the point somewhat, humans are already flawed, do we really want these characteristics in our superheros or are we simply making our gods in our own image?

I look forward to the next one, and as commented above would also love to see these stories as a graphic novel.

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stePH

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Reply #32 on: January 15, 2009, 02:55:47 AM
... and finally-Why Clonepod?  WHY?

I don't mind the stories being on Clonepod.  I just object to the hosts reading the stories.  (I just listened to last month's "Cold Duty", read by the host of the "Tea and Chat" podcast; loved it.)

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Darwinist

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Reply #33 on: January 17, 2009, 05:18:32 AM
I wonder how much of the Union Dues Mythology was planned out by DeRego before he began writing the stories.

Also, what was the order in which the stories were written?

What can we expect in the future from Union Dues?

and finally-Why Clonepod?  WHY?

Give me a break.  Yeah, Clonepod bashing is the thing to do I guess but most of the recent stories (last UD included) have been read by adults.   

For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.    -  Carl Sagan


stePH

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Reply #34 on: January 17, 2009, 04:02:03 PM
I wonder how much of the Union Dues Mythology was planned out by DeRego before he began writing the stories.

Also, what was the order in which the stories were written?

What can we expect in the future from Union Dues?

and finally-Why Clonepod?  WHY?

Give me a break.  Yeah, Clonepod bashing is the thing to do I guess but most of the recent stories (last UD included) have been read by adults.   

I find it funny that I, the "most likely to bash Clonepod", end up being one of its few defenders here.  ;D

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Planish

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Reply #35 on: February 12, 2009, 01:26:40 AM
Great story.  I don't think the marketing idea is so far fetched.  Remember Walt Disney?
Disney? *snort*
What about Operation Desert Storm and its sequels?

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Russell Nash

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Reply #36 on: February 12, 2009, 08:18:19 AM
Great story.  I don't think the marketing idea is so far fetched.  Remember Walt Disney?
Disney? *snort*
What about Operation Desert Storm and its sequels?

Marketing always gets carried away with itself.  Desert Storm was cool sounding.  Like it trusted you to come up wt what it really meant.  Iraqi Freedom is the marketers jumping up and down saying, "no, it's really this!"



Ersatz Coffee

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Reply #37 on: February 12, 2009, 04:43:16 PM
I have a hard time taking any kind of superhero story seriously (I know I'm out of step with the times - superhero stories are everywhere these days), but taken for what it was, this one was quite listenable - more so than previous UD stories on escapepod. Still, it was no more than a 'take it or leave it' story for me.



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Reply #38 on: May 20, 2010, 02:19:49 PM
Probably my least favorite Union Dues story to appear on EP.  Okay, maybe my second least favorite, with the last being the memory loss story.

It was kind of cool to get to know the old-school origins of the Union, and it's interesting to see the old-school superhero names (where everything has words like "Patriot" or "America" in its title) and ideals up against the newer ones, but other stories have done it better, such as Pratt's Origin Story.

The government creating super-soldiers which eventually breed into the general populace creating mutant outbreaks has been done--"Push" comes to mind, though it's very possible that this story came out before that movie, it's just the order I saw them in.

Supers in the general population being distrusted is nothing new, such as all of the previous Union Dues stories, and the entire history of X-Men.

The marketing angle introduced in the Union's origins wasn't in the least bit surprising, considering the Union's current marketing behavior.

I just didn't see a single way that the rest of the stories were enhanced by this origin story.  Origin stories are really only good to me if they illuminate character relationships, origins, or something else that I hadn't already guessed at.  This did none of that, so it was just extra word count without enhancing the series.



jrderego

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Reply #39 on: May 20, 2010, 05:16:19 PM
Probably my least favorite Union Dues story to appear on EP.  Okay, maybe my second least favorite, with the last being the memory loss story.

It was kind of cool to get to know the old-school origins of the Union, and it's interesting to see the old-school superhero names (where everything has words like "Patriot" or "America" in its title) and ideals up against the newer ones, but other stories have done it better, such as Pratt's Origin Story.

The government creating super-soldiers which eventually breed into the general populace creating mutant outbreaks has been done--"Push" comes to mind, though it's very possible that this story came out before that movie, it's just the order I saw them in.

Supers in the general population being distrusted is nothing new, such as all of the previous Union Dues stories, and the entire history of X-Men.

The marketing angle introduced in the Union's origins wasn't in the least bit surprising, considering the Union's current marketing behavior.

I just didn't see a single way that the rest of the stories were enhanced by this origin story.  Origin stories are really only good to me if they illuminate character relationships, origins, or something else that I hadn't already guessed at.  This did none of that, so it was just extra word count without enhancing the series.

Nevermind...
« Last Edit: May 20, 2010, 05:20:01 PM by jrderego »

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