Author Topic: EP222: Infestation  (Read 27879 times)

cercle

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Reply #50 on: November 13, 2009, 11:50:06 AM
This was so much fun ! At last : vampires I can believe in.  More, more !



eytanz

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Reply #51 on: November 13, 2009, 05:13:26 PM
The vampires were specifically designed to infect their prey and so reproduce - no loss of control there. The hunters were designed to to just clean up the vampire mess, so they had no need for a similar method of replication.

the host loses control, subjected to the nano's programing.  am i misremembering the line about the boss spreading his genetic material?  that's why i thought he had modified his nanos to be virulent.

If I remember correctly (and my memory is hazy on this point), the narrator was saying that he stopped his boss before he could spread his genetic material, by which I thought he meant get some women pregnant with alien hybrids.

But I am entirely sure that the boss was sent to Earth on a vampire-hunting mission, and that the vamps were already there before he arrived.



deflective

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Reply #52 on: November 13, 2009, 08:59:28 PM
aye, he definitely wasn't the original earth vampire but there is a chance that he did became one (a new version of).

the truth of it probably depends on how long of a story the author had in mind.  short story: take it at face value.  novel: turns out the genetic material had spread and the hunter encounters a hunter/vampire hybrid.  novel series: his boss, in desperation as his time ran out, created a dozen different nanobot strains and fed them to his followers in a last supper hoping that some would work.  these have created different 'bloodlines' the hunter needs to deal with.

it seems unlikely that he was planning to reproduce sexually, there was the suggestion that the alien race was insectoid before their bodies were reconstructed by the nanobots.

the relation between religion and vampires is a rich genre vein.



Kanasta

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Reply #53 on: November 14, 2009, 12:31:21 PM
How did the boss spread his genetic material? Check out Matthew 26:26!
« Last Edit: November 14, 2009, 12:35:48 PM by Kanasta »



RoccoFan

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Reply #54 on: November 16, 2009, 09:31:24 PM
Very nice story.



RedArrow

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Reply #55 on: November 20, 2009, 07:12:15 PM
This story was a home run in every conceivable way.  Thanks!



mbrennan

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Reply #56 on: December 29, 2009, 03:37:14 AM
Add me to the list of people who are glad they read the forums, because I missed the "J" thing entirely.  (Often don't pick up on details as well when listening -- probably because I can't easily glance back at the preceding text.)

Loved the story anyway, and love it more now that I'm aware of that aspect.  Great narration, a setup I really enjoyed (even if it does have the occasional logical flaw, as others have pointed out), and it didn't go for the obvious twist of "J is a vampire himself."  I did guess who the newly-turned vamp was before the story got that far, but knowing the destination doesn't mean you can't enjoy the journey.  Fun story all around.



Unblinking

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Reply #57 on: January 15, 2010, 04:45:12 PM
Great story!  And I'm glad I read the forums because the whole religious aspect totally went over my head.  Now that I think back on it that makes an awesome story even, um, awesomer!

I usually get pretty bored by vampire stories, but in the beginning the contrast between him and the other vampire hunters kept me entertained, and then later when he finally started revealing his true nature that kept me even more interested.  I kind of wish that he had started the reveal earlier on, but it kept me entertained throughout so it's not a big complaint. 

Action!  Nano!  Vampires!  What more can I ask for?  :)



Kaa

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Reply #58 on: January 15, 2010, 04:48:40 PM
Action!  Nano!  Vampires!  What more can I ask for?  :)

Sparkles!

<ducking for cover>

I invent imaginary people and make them have conversations in my head. I also write.

About writing || About Atheism and Skepticism (mostly) || About Everything Else


Scattercat

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Reply #59 on: January 15, 2010, 08:08:15 PM
Action!  Nano!  Vampires!  What more can I ask for?  :)

Sparkles!

<ducking for cover>

Those come with the vampires, duh.  You need to keep up with the latest cryptozoological manifestations.



Unblinking

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Reply #60 on: January 18, 2010, 07:16:54 PM
Action!  Nano!  Vampires!  What more can I ask for?  :)

Sparkles!

<ducking for cover>

*GROAN*



Dave

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Reply #61 on: January 21, 2010, 01:41:27 AM
I should mention that I hate vampires. They're boring. They've been boring since the early 90s. Everyone needs to just let it go. With the exception of: Robin McKinley (where is the next Sunshine book, dammit?) and Garth Nix, who needs to write a novel in this setting.

Is there a petition somewhere for that?


To make people stop writing vampire fiction?  I dunno, but if you find one, I'll sign it.


Yeah... on one hand, I'd like to sign that one too... but who knows, some day somebody might do something new that doesn't suck. Hey, it's not likely, but it could happen.

Twilight fans are the new catgirls.


Heh. I love S*P.

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LaShawn

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Reply #62 on: January 28, 2010, 05:04:10 PM
You mean there was a 'J' angle to all of this? Crap! Now I gotta go listen to it again!!! I totally missed it...and I love that type of stuff!

Someone mentioned that it would be better to read than listen, and I do have to agree. All the religion stuff went right over my head, even though I heard it loud and clear.  Good think I came to the forums, otherwise I would have passed it off as "just another vampire story"...


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Talia

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Reply #63 on: January 28, 2010, 05:07:03 PM
Yeah... on one hand, I'd like to sign that one too... but who knows, some day somebody might do something new that doesn't suck. Hey, it's not likely, but it could happen.

Vampire fiction that doesn't suck? That wouldn't be terribly vampirey :p



Dave

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Reply #64 on: January 29, 2010, 01:13:52 AM
Yeah... on one hand, I'd like to sign that one too... but who knows, some day somebody might do something new that doesn't suck. Hey, it's not likely, but it could happen.

Vampire fiction that doesn't suck? That wouldn't be terribly vampirey :p

I'm not going to dignify that with a response.


...


D'oh >_<

-Dave (aka Nev the Deranged)


WillMoo

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Reply #65 on: January 29, 2010, 04:21:06 AM
Sorry but I am kind of a purist. This is sci-fi... not horror because the vampires are aliens... see not horror... honestly... really...

pffft.

(Good story but I think it needed to be longer to fully flesh out the characters and reasoning.)



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Reply #66 on: January 29, 2010, 06:08:14 PM
This is sci-fi... not horror because the vampires are aliens... see not horror... honestly... really...

It makes sense to me.  I think it would've fit in well either here or at Pseudopod.



Talia

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Reply #67 on: January 29, 2010, 06:40:32 PM
Sorry but I am kind of a purist. This is sci-fi... not horror because the vampires are aliens... see not horror... honestly... really...

pffft.

(Good story but I think it needed to be longer to fully flesh out the characters and reasoning.)

no, its sci fi because we pointed to it and said it was :P



TrapperDan

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Reply #68 on: February 02, 2010, 10:23:12 AM
some how i missed the important parts and still liked the story.

now i feel teh dumb.

Loved the idea of a vampire i could believe. Though the vampires in the Dresden series are pretty rad, you got your lame ass twilight emo vampires, your corpse vampires, and even your bat vampires.  No nanotech vampires though, and lemme tell you, the world needs MORE nano tech vampires!!! 

I am going to have to put this back on my iphone so i can listen to it again and wonder how i missed all these critical clues.  I get to root for Judas??!?!?! HOW RAD!  Wait, why is it so warm in here?!?!?!

As far as the belivability of letting a bunch of 'Merika!!! meat eating republicans put on camo and go kill the vampires first, i guess why the hell not if you think about how deadly yet how easy they are (for a short time) to contain.   You got something that is deadly fast, munches on the skilled and unskilled with pretty much the same ease, and a bunch of rednecks who want to take a shot at it.  You can contain them for hours and have your own force on standby ready to clean up if things go south.

I guess it would never happen in a nanny state, but if society got knocked around a bit and things ended up getting a bit threadbare i could see something like this.  Then again, in the UK if your kid shows up to school with a Spoon they call the swat team (armed with sharper, longer spoons i assume), so we got a while before i can paint a confederate flag on my real tree camo (larry the cable guy eddition) vampire armor and get to stabbin!



Unblinking

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Reply #69 on: February 04, 2010, 03:09:18 PM
Then again, in the UK if your kid shows up to school with a Spoon they call the swat team (armed with sharper, longer spoons i assume), so we got a while before i can paint a confederate flag on my real tree camo (larry the cable guy eddition) vampire armor and get to stabbin!

The idea of a SWAT team armed with spoons is just silly.  Everyone knows they're armed with sporks (which are clearly superior to spoons as weapons).



captain0terror

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Reply #70 on: August 10, 2010, 02:10:01 PM
++Superb Story
++Superb Narration
+Good sound quality

More from this author please!! I'm new to escape pod, so i'm now finding myself backtracking through all the episodes...

Please keep up the good work Escape Pod Producers, and thank you for another great distraction to add to my goodie bag of the internets!

Note: If this is a inexpiably-bad bump, please feel free to begin the smiting process....

\= )