Author Topic: EP188: 29 Union Leaders Can’t Be Wrong  (Read 17211 times)

MattArnold

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Reply #25 on: March 03, 2009, 04:46:07 PM
This story was poorly titled. There was about one sentence in the story to justify the title, but it seems like that sentence could have been left out without losing anything.

The reading of the videotape went by far too fast, and the rest of the story didn't make sense to me. I wondered whether Callahan had shot the suspect in order to give the protagonist the suspect's body and the thing about the motorcycle accident had been a lie. But it turns out the protagonist threw himself in front of the bullet. What does that have to do with the theme of the story, which is the ramifications of full-transplant?



Dwango

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Reply #26 on: March 03, 2009, 08:37:52 PM
The story keeps itself shrouded in mystery in the end.  I don't know about the grateful look, I think it was about Callahan showing her the mirror.  I think it may be the wife wants him to realize he's in a different man's body.   I think she started out not accepting him being the same man anymore.  The idea of Callahan wanting to be shot was an eye-opener for me.  I can see her saying "It should have been me." to him.  The story notes she is a steady shot on committing suicide, so why couldn't she shoot the suspect first?  I see her guilt guiding her actions after the shooting.

Its a disturbing story that questions our concepts of love and fidelity.  Would a marriage last after such a major event?  Would a person really be the same if they have someone else's body?  I think the story dealt with the issues in a very human way.  And it was a science fiction piece, in a way similar to Flowers for Algernon was.  In fact, its the most important type of science fiction, seeing how almost possible science would affect normal lives.  High science fiction is fine and can be profound, but a piece like this hits much closer to home.



MacArthurBug

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Reply #27 on: March 04, 2009, 02:01:26 AM
I kept thinking this story was going in a diffrent direction- each turn I found my self looking back scratching my head. Glad to have a story- so despite it not fitting in my "new fav" area I'll keep my other opinionated opinions to myself.

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Planish

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Reply #28 on: March 05, 2009, 07:28:20 AM
The reading of the videotape went by far too fast, and the rest of the story didn't make sense to me.
I had to rewind to the beginning after getting about 2/3 through, also wondering whether Callahan was a transgenderplant (?), especially once Thomas was introduced.

I think it needed some longer pauses between scenes, or whatever is the audio equivalent of "establishing shots". The setting seemed to jump around a bit too quickly in space and time, with no cues that time has passed, or that we're somewhere else now. Like "the guest bed" - that was at the precinct, right?

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biconditional

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Reply #29 on: March 05, 2009, 08:25:56 AM
ok, i am not in a position to know, so i am asking: after x number of years of marriage, wouldn't you be at least a little excited that your husband had a new body?

and i really agree with the reading of this story as anti-trans. kinda anti-hope in general.



Loz

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Reply #30 on: March 06, 2009, 07:35:01 PM
It doesn't make sense for a devoted wife to have difficulty accepting the same husband in a new body.  That part bothered me.

I don't know if there's any study that's been done of couples where one or both go through SRS and whether they stay together, anecdotally it seems half and half and, of the half that do it seems swayed towards no longer having any kind of sexual relationship. But what about couples that split up after the children have left the nest and they have a new freedom?

This story was a bit too flat for me, I didn't really find a reason to care about the characters and perhaps this was one case where subtlety was the killer. If it were a dig against transgendered people then the main character would have woken up to find himself divorced from his wife and encouraged to start a new and different life, I'm just dubious that there would be enough pristine bodies available for this, surely they'd have to be bred like clones?



Loz

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Reply #31 on: March 06, 2009, 07:36:09 PM
Oh and as ever, the sexy, sexy voice of Chris Lester, with that headband in his hair, those forget-me-not blue eyes, he is my sexy young friend...  ;D



eytanz

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Reply #32 on: March 15, 2009, 04:52:37 PM
(still catching up on a backlog of stories, so I'm quite behind) What I didn't understand about this story was the union/political aspect. I didn't see what it added, and I certainly don't understand why it was important enough to name the story after.

Other than that, I think the characterization fell a bit flat, especially on the wife - I didn't get the sense that she was trying to come to terms with the situation and failing, but rather it felt like she's just not trying at all (compare this story to the PP story The Ashen Thing for a much better take on this scenario). Of course, the POV character is unreliable, but still, I think she ended up as a very two dimensional character.

However, I did appreciate that for all its flaws, this story does try to tackle interesting questions, and presents a novel approach.



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Reply #33 on: March 27, 2009, 03:32:06 PM
wow, just got around to this story, trying to clear up my backlog...
I really liked it!  Yes, it has a few flaws, but i loved the premise.  Yes, i would think that the wife should be able to accept her husband's new body, but then again, none of us have been nor probably will be in that position so... who knows?  Great story about identity, especially using Thomas as one who has transcended the gap of acceptance of the new body, the different perspective on the whole situation.
I feel like this could be expanded upon, patched up a bit, and turned into something truly tremendous. :)

I'd like to hear my options, so I could weigh them, what do you say?
Five pounds?  Six pounds? Seven pounds?


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Reply #34 on: May 18, 2010, 05:16:35 PM
Didn't care much for this one.

Bad choice of title--what did it have to do with the story?  Apparently nothing.  And having DeRego introduce it, with his Union Dues stories, just made it more confusing.

I really didn't care about any of the characters, so I was just coasting and waiting to see if it got better before the end, and then Callahan commits suicide.  It caught me out of the blue, which I guess is good, but then it goes completely unremarked by the protagonist, her damned partner!  That turned me from apathy to just plain disliking him.

More development could've been done for the wife so she didn't come out like she just didn't care, and her callousness was only equalled by the protagonist who sleeps with pretty much the first person he meets.  Blech.