EP682/EP214: Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest (Flashback Friday)

[Russell Nash]

Escape Pod 682: Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast

Escape Pod 214: Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast

Nebula Award Winner for Novelette
Hugo Award Nominee

Author : Eugie Foster
Narrator : Lawrence Santoro
Host : Alex Hofelich and Matthew Foster
Audio Producer : Summer Brooks

Each morning is a decision. Should I put on the brown mask or the blue? Should I be a tradesman or an assassin today?

Whatever the queen demands, of course, I am. But so often she ignores me, and I am left to figure out for myself who to be.

Dozens upon dozens of faces to choose from.

1. Marigold is for murder.

Rated R for sex, masks, and violence.



Listen to this week’s Escape Pod!


Listen to the original episode!

[LarrySantoro]

Apparently, I've been an idiot.  I must have given Jeremy the wrong website.  The one linked on the page for the story takes you to a site I haven't touched for about two years, there's some enjoyable stuff there but it's not current.  Foolish Larry.  Stop by here.... http://blufftoninthedriftless.blogspot.com/

And I hope you enjoy Ms. Foster's story as much as I did recording it...

[JeremiahTolbert]

Larry, sorry about that.  I'm updating the link now.

[KenK]

I thought I knew where this story was going... about four different times.    The surprise ending really was a surprise too. Gives new meaning to the term "psychological thriller", eh? I enjoyed listening  very much.

[LarrySantoro]

Jeremy, thanks.  I must have had a brain freeze or something.  Hope all is well...missed you at last week's Sofanaut gathering.

[Brave Space Monkey]

I was draw into the story, but almost unwillingly. Pulled along by a promise of an unknown alien world. I never felt the story had a firm grip on my attention, it set a slow wondering pace, like following a old dog, or slow child (not mentally slow, just not a fast walker, slow). As the story unfolded I could easily predict the outcome.  Wow! that ending came out of nowhere! I didn't see that coming. I love that. The slow pace and lose grip of the story made the ending even more dramatic, more shocking and more worth the effort to follow where this story leads. 

I give it two monkey thumbs up.

(spoiler)
There are no monkeys in this story!

[Cayora]

I joined the forums just to comment on this story.  I've enjoyed other work by Eugie Foster before, but this was definitely my favourite.  The baroque feel to the world, the different identities and descriptions of the masks, and the format were all wonderful.  Also, the reading was just divine.  I listened to this story twice in one day, I loved it so much.  It satisfied a need for a story I've been feeling for a long time.  Thank you for that.

[foo]

Since last summer when a new friend turned me on to EP, I usually love it and look forward to it.  I am grateful for all of the excellent work by EA, the authors, and the readers.  Y'all have truly given us some awesome stuff, and you rock.

However, as someone who had a violent parent, I found EP213 difficult, and finally shut off EP214 somewhere in the saffron mask.  Stronger, more serious warnings about violence, especially in up-close, point-blank circumstances would be appreciated.

[JeremiahTolbert]

This story probably should have had an audio warning in the opening. I forget that not everyone sees the ratings I post on the Escape Pod site.  I'll try to have warnings recorded by the hosts when dealing with extreme subjects in the future. Thanks for the feedback, foo.

[Boggled Coriander]

Excellent story, and one of my favorite from Eugie Foster.  That's high praise. 

I hope this comment doesn't mark me as an idiot who missed or misunderstood something significant, but I admire how it's made pretty clear these characters aren't human (or if they were once human, they'd been so hugely tampered with by the royal mad scientists that they might as well not have been) even though there's no dramatic and explicit reveal of their alien-ness.

[LarrySantoro]

Boggled,

I had a similar reaction when I first got the story from Jeremy.  Some kind of buggy, nasty, insecty-things, I thought.  I do believe, however, that they are human and that the world in which they exist is one somewhere aside our own, a place not so much in the future, but somewhere in the heart of the possible...

[Godot]

This is definitely one of my favorite tories to ever "air" on escape pod.

Larry, your reading was wonderful and very passionate.

one of the Best. Stories. Ever.

[LarrySantoro]

Thanks, Godot.  It is a good story, and for an aloud-reader, SINNER, BAKER, ET AL is lots of fun to play with and i'm not even going to make any jokes about the two guys waiting for you over by that tree.  So there!

[LarrySantoro]

I'm a new guy here but I don't think so, allie.  They seem to be under the same umbrella but pseudopod seems to have its own presence.

[Praxis]

I've just gotten past part '4' and think this should really have had a 'this episode contains graphic scenes of violence' maybe.

Could the intro on the feed be edited?

[Russell Nash]

I'm a new guy here but I don't think so, allie.  They seem to be under the same umbrella but pseudopod seems to have its own presence.

Umm, Larry?  Are you talking to those voices in your head again? 

This is probably an example of when you want to use the quote button.

[LarrySantoro]

Russell...no, no.  I was speaking to my imaginary playmate, allie.  Not only is allie imaginary, allie isn't even imaginary on THIS board.  Allie is a resident of another place, another time.

Actually, allie WAS there but then, alas, allie wasn't.  Self-emmolation I suspect...the which is immolations of self in the e-world, sometimes called "delete?"

And here we have it.  Another case where the use of the quote option would have been the thing to do...

[Gia]

I found this one to be very enjoyable, but I have a question (which expands into many others). If each mask is a different personality and has different relationships, how do they coordinate them? If, let's say, I have a purple mask that is the wife of some other mask, what do I do if I wear it one day but my husband's oversoul isn't being worn? What if my green and silver mask goes out to have lunch with friends only to find that most of them aren't being worn that day? How do the oversouls establish relationships if each citizen has so many masks that it is unlikely that any two will be worn in combination more than a few times a year? Does each oversoul have a general personality and then just makes up something new every day? ""My mask's oversoul has decided that it hates your mask's oversoul and I'm going to kill you today"? "My mask has decided that I work at this shop today, but only for today"?
I think that I might be thinking about this too hard.

[ajames]

Great story and brilliant reading. Fascinating, engrossing, disturbing, though-provoking, imaginative - this is what keeps me coming back to EP week after week. A huge THANK YOU to everyone involved.

[yaksox]

Beautifully read!  Interesting story too -- all the colours in the mask descriptions made it very visual for me.

[Amish Ninja]

Outstanding story. I'm probably going to listen to it a second time just to catch everything I might have missed (I tend to listen while working). Larry: you have a good speaking voice and read it well. Just wanted to give you props.

[mairlistening]

Fabulous reading of an absolutely chilling story. I was blown away!

[DaveNJ]

Terrific story. Just when you think you have a handle on this story it just throws on another mask. Really good pacing, too, as it manages to build its world without doing the whole "here's a few minutes of exposition before the real story starts" thing. It manages to convey its info organically, which really just drew me in.

[ajames]

I found this one to be very enjoyable, but I have a question (which expands into many others). If each mask is a different personality and has different relationships, how do they coordinate them? [Snip]
I think that I might be thinking about this too hard.

Gia, you are only thinking about it too hard if you aren't having fun. 

One of the things I liked about this story was that the author didn't explain everything, yet still left me with the impression that such questions as these could be answered. I think she did a masterful job in determining what the reader needed to know and what could be left to his/her imagination.

For this specific question, perhaps each mask provides its wearer with a specific type of experience, even if the wearer does not encounter anyone else wearing a "related" mask, but the masks are programmed to interact with other masks, too, providing a different experience if any of these masks are being worn. So in the first scenario, if no one wears the "wife" mask, the "husband" might still have some adventure of his own, or encounter someone wearing the "mistress" mask, or the "drinking buddy" mask, etc. Just one possibility.   

One thing I found myself wondering about was what the citizens did, and more to the point, what they thought after the unmasking hour and before they selected their new mask the next day. Wouldn't this consistency provide them with some sense of identity, even if it was as little as a gender and over-all appearance?

[Boggled Coriander]

One thing I found myself wondering about was what the citizens did, and more to the point, what they thought after the unmasking hour and before they selected their new mask the next day. Wouldn't this consistency provide them with some sense of identity, even if it was as little as a gender and over-all appearance?

I had exactly the same thought.  It was left somewhat vague exactly how much - or how little - continuing identity one of these people had.  I got the distinct impression that the choice of mask (somehow) determined the wearer's sex for the day, although the protagonist stayed male throughout the story.  It added to my impression that these people aren't human, or any sort of human we would recognize.

Assuming these guys are at least humanoid, was I the only one to picture them as being nude (or almost so) apart from their masks?  I got the feeling it was implied in some scenes, such as when the "servant girl" smeared her own body with honey, and no mention was made of her tearing off or shoving aside her clothes first.  Was there any mention of clothing?