PodCastle Miniature 24: Intelligent Design

[Heradel]

PodCastle Miniature 24: Intelligent Design

by Ellen Klages
read by M. K. Hobson

God cocked his thumb and aimed his index finger at the firmament.

Ka-pow! Pow! Pow! A line of three perfect glowing pinpoints of light appeared in the black void. He squeezed his eyes almost shut and let off a single shot. Ping! The pinprick of light at the far edge of the firmament, just where it touched the rim of the earth, glowed faintly red.

Rated G. Contains whimsy.

[thomasowenm]

Not a fan of this one, though I'm not sure why? 

I know it is a miniature, but it seemed more like a vignette, or a flashback, than a complete story. Maybe too much time was spent developing Grandma God, and not enough on the plot, or maybe it was having God's insect fetish explained in the beginning before the story started that spoiled it for me. 

After I get through my backlog, I will have to have another go at this one.

[Kaa]

This is, unequivocally, the best short I've heard on PodCastle, PseudoPod, or Escape Pod, so far.  Hands down.  I was grinning all the way through it, thinking, "Yes. Yes! The universe created by a child practicing his god powers!"

It would certainly explain many things.   And working in the "poop" aspect that seems to make up 99.99% of child humor with the dung beetle was very nice.

On top of that, though, maybe this resonated with me because the very first short story I ever wrote had a very similar theme.  I've always wanted to revisit the idea and do something better with it, but I never found a "hook."  This one has exactly the tone I think I was going for.

So, kudos to Ellen Klages on the story and to M. K. Hobson for another fantastic performance.

[Listener]

It was cute. That's about all I can say.

[stePH]

Reminds me of "Let There Be More Darkness" by Robyn Hitchcock:

And on the eighth day, when he had rested, he created darkness.
And for all around him he needed a cloak to hide himself from his tired labours.
And the antelope and the deer and the ostrich and the zebra hid
their faces and ran like tiny children
into the shrivelling blackness around them.
And the trees grew hoods and the cows winced.
And all the crops began to droop.
Even the coal rattled in terror for, lo, there was no light anywhere.
And he was well pleased with his labours and he smiled and was unable to find his way out of the room.
Consequently, he blundered around his new creations;
 stamping helplessly left and right upon the new buds of his endeavour.
Octopuses, caterpillars, tendons and worms were squashed like buds.
Easter bunnies ruptured like eggs.
At length he found the door, and, fumbling with the handle,
he chanced to knock the key on to the ground.
As he lowered his nose to rummage around that vast appendage where he might see something on the floor,
beheld a ray of light coming in from the hall.

Kevin?  Supper's ready.
Mom, I'm locked in!
Kevin... Supper's ready!
Mom!

[CammoBlammo]

This one reminded me of a sermon by Tony Campolo.

I like that quote of Lord Chesterton who said, "I think that God is the only child left in the universe and all the rest of us have grown old and cynical because of sin."

What a good line! How did God create daisies? I say, "Like a child."

You take a child; you throw them up in the air; you bounce them off your knee; you set them on the floor. The first thing the kid says is, "Do it again."

Throw them in the air; catch them; bounce them off your knee, set them on the floor. The kid is going to yell, "Do it again."

Throw them in the air; catch them; bounce them off your knee, set them on the floor fifty times. The fiftieth time the kid is yelling hysterically, "Do it again. Do it again."

The excitement of a little child. That is how God created daisies. He created one daisy. I am sure of this and in the childlike heart of God, He clapped and said, "Do it again." And He created daisy number two and something within God said, "Do it again." And He created daisy number three and four and five and fifty billion trillion daisies later, the great God of the universe is still creating with childlike excitement and joy and yelling, "Do it again."

[Windup]

Woot!! What a riot!  For me, it dovetailed perfectly with some of the theology I've been reading about in Karen Armstrong's A History of God, in which Yahweh of the Hebrew Bible is seen as an inferior, created being, rather than the true High God.  Though none proposed anything quite this irreverent and unconventional... 

And M.K. Hobson is rapidly becoming one of my favorite readers, second only to the incomparable Mur.

[Talia]

Haha, this was excellent. Just pure fun.  The concept of god as a misbehaving child is highly amusing to me.

[Poppydragon]

This was a delight, beautifully read and splendidly told. The idea is reminiscent, although more playful, of the depiction of the Norse Gods in "Eric the Viking"

[DKT]

Yeah, this was one was pure awesome. God cocking his thumb and forefinger and going pow pow pow!

It was a very different, unique perspective on God that really tickled me. Great writing and once again, I am smitten by MK Hobson's reading.  Well done all around.

[Sandikal]

This story was blasphemous and sacrilegious.  It was also utterly delightful.  I listened to it while wrapping some last-minute Christmas presents and was laughing out loud through the whole thing.  Although it was blasphemous and sacrilegious, it captured a truth that is missed in the Judeo/Christian story of the Creation:  that God must have had an awful lot of fun creating everything.  He came up with giraffes and platypuses (or would that be platypi?) and puppies and kittens and monkeys.  Making things can be fun; it doesn't have to be serious business.  If people have fun creating things, why wouldn't God?

[Swamp]

This was a very fun, irreverant story.  I thought the kid characterization was done very well.  Like hurrying to name the bugs before grandma got back.  Good stuff.

[vcity1986]

I have to say I thought this miniature was brilliant, I loved the imagery of this one.
"Weevil, Weevil...Weevil"

[DarkKnightJRK]

The idea of God being a playful child while creating the universe does make a lot of sense, when you think about it in a sense. Very cute story.

[Unblinking]

This one was pretty fun and nice and short.  My only real complaint is that the whole story was given away by the quote at the beginning that inspired the story.  If that had been given at the end instead it would've been better.