EP058: Shadowboxer

[Swamp]

EP058: Shadowboxer

By Paul Di Filippo.
Read by Scott Fletcher (of Podcheck Review).
Musical guest: Andy Guthrie.

Generally speaking, I need only three minutes of concentrated attention to kill someone by staring at them. If I’m feeling under the weather, or my mind is preoccupied with other matters–you know how your mind can obsess about trivial things sometimes–it might take five minutes for my power to have its effect. On the other hand, if I focus intensely on my victim I can get the job done in as little as ninety seconds.

…Now the nation is at war. Or so we’re told. I guess that changes everything. A person like me becomes much more important.

Rated R. Contains violence, some sexual content, and disturbing themes.


Listen to this week’s Escape Pod!

[Unblinking]

I enjoyed this one.  The protagonist was so twisted and unlikeable, but all the little details were compelling enough to keep me going.  I especially liked him naming all of his captors Dave. 

I could've done without the impending Bush assassination at the end.  On the one hand, it fit the story well enough.  But I'm not thrilled about ending the story with the assassination of a real president, even if that president was unpopular and is no longer president.

But overall, I very much liked it.

[CryptoMe]

So, I just listened to this in flashback EP 767, and seeing as I couldn't find a thread for the flashback, I decided to comment here. I really enjoyed this story. As Unblinking said more than 10 years ago (!!!), it is rich with details that kept you hooked.

I am not completely sure about the ending. I interpret it to mean that he will use the mirror to kill himself rather than the president. I also didn't connect the mention of the president with any particular president (living or dead) and I didn't have any more issue with him being asked to kill the US president than I had with him being asked to kill the Canadian Prime Minister. Both are assassinations of a head of state, and so equally horrible. I think those were specifically mentioned to build up the horror of the character's situation, so that we agree with his decision to use the mirror to kill himself and stop all of this.