Author Topic: Pseudopod 115: Clockwork  (Read 14501 times)

Unblinking

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Reply #25 on: October 30, 2009, 05:13:45 PM
Loved it!

After I listened to the story I realized that... not a lot really happened, which is usually something I complain about.  But the philosophy and the comic snippets kept me enthralled. 

Am I the only one that now wants to buy the complete Horologe collection?  :D

Lots of great imagery, the flashforwards and flashbacks worked well with the cyclical time theme.

And, my new favorite quotation:
"The moment of my death signifies nothing, except that I have lived."




Fenrix

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Reply #26 on: March 21, 2010, 04:44:12 AM
The stuff with the Horologe (sp?) comics worked really well, I think, but I was less impressed with the children's book bit that was put in, perhaps because Ben overplayed the voice a little.

Heh, a very polite way to put it.  I was wondering how that bit was going to go over.  A children's book narrator I am not.

*shrug* That part worked for me just fine. Very dark Seussian. Like the narration for the Grinch. Or maybe that creepy-ass Seuss segment of The Maxx. Then again I have a soft spot in my heart for children's literature, and if it happens to be dark all the better. The story was pretty, but a little too much Dream Cycle in my Maxx for my tastes.

I think it's also worth mentioning that this is one of the stories bumped by Wil Wheaton.
« Last Edit: March 21, 2010, 04:46:50 AM by Fenrix »

All cat stories start with this statement: “My mother, who was the first cat, told me this...”


Millenium_King

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Reply #27 on: June 29, 2010, 08:17:38 PM
If there are two things I like most in horror, they are:

(1) Nightmare edifices.
(2) Unspeakably grotesque monsters.

This story did the nightmare edifice justice, with a wonderful fake background story and a compelling image.  The story reminded me of the Victorian Age idea of "influencing machines" (particularly the "Air Loom") in the way the Citadel had a strange, remote hold over the protagonist.

Likewise, I appreciated the message: stop fretting and analyzing your life, or you'll never live.  A good message about overcoming the fear of death.  Something we should all take to heart.

All that being said, there were some parts that I didn't like: the fear of death alone providing the motivating force made this story heavy on imagery, but light on plot.  A more direct source of tension, such as inheriting the same disease as his father, might have helped.  I also thought the comic book scenes made the story goofy and undermined, rather than illuminated it.

An okay piece, but not great.

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