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Author Topic: PodCastle Miniature 48: An Invitation Via Email  (Read 4778 times)

Heradel

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on: March 30, 2010, 12:23:37 AM
PodCastle Miniature 48: An Invitation Via Email

by Mike Allen.
Read by James Trimarco.
Originally appeared in Weird Tales.

Some of the asides in your article made me realize (Gods, can I be dense sometimes) that when you spoke of concerns about “arcane rites” in response to the invite to my Halloween party the next evening, that you possibly weren’t kidding and perhaps had some genuine anxieties. I really should stress that my wife and I had planned for the Halloween party to be occult-free — no spirits other than the liquid sort!

Rated PG for warlocks in your inbox.
« Last Edit: May 07, 2010, 05:46:30 AM by Heradel »

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eytanz

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Reply #1 on: March 31, 2010, 07:16:49 AM
This was a fun little piece. But, audio is not always kind to these one-joke flash stories. What would probably have been paced fine for text felt like it was dragging on a bit to me. But, still, it got a chuckle or two out of me.


Unblinking

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Reply #2 on: April 01, 2010, 01:32:17 PM
short, to the point, not bad.  Like eytanz, I think I might've liked this better in text.  For one thing, the email tags/timestamps/metadata dragged on in audio, while I tend to like that sort of thing in text.


Scattercat

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Reply #3 on: April 02, 2010, 04:31:13 AM
Eytanz nailed it.

The reading of the e-mail headers was particularly excruciating.  Fun story that audio was not kind to.


Boggled Coriander

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Reply #4 on: April 02, 2010, 07:19:37 AM
I agree with the above.  I really liked the story itself, but the email data being read out loud made me think something important to the story would be buried in there somewhere.  And it wasn't.

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Unblinking

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Reply #5 on: April 02, 2010, 01:35:26 PM
I think an abbreviated version of the original for the use of audio could've worked better.  Just an idea if there are any more email formatted stories in the future:

To:  So-and-so
From:  Such-and-such
Friday, April 4th, 2010

<body of email>



mbrennan

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Reply #6 on: April 06, 2010, 07:23:20 AM
Ditto what the others said.  The e-mail headers should have been truncated for audio purposes.  As for the story itself, the humour probably would have come through better if I'd seen it in print (and therefore read it at my own pace), rather than being slowed down by the pace of spoken narration.  Cute concept; just not quite fast-moving enough for audio.


stePH

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Reply #7 on: April 06, 2010, 02:25:40 PM
I agree with the consensus that this story probably works better in print than in audio, and that the email headers in particular drag it down.  Otherwise, it seemed a good story.

And I note that it's another that would have worked on Pseudopod as well.

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merryoldsoul

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Reply #8 on: April 07, 2010, 09:13:41 AM
as everyone else said, interesting story that just didn't work when read


Gamercow

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Reply #9 on: April 24, 2010, 01:39:28 AM
I'm a Network/Email admin, and I enjoyed the headers.  /nerd :P

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