It's my second time looking at the St. Darwin's universe (I listened to "Heart of Clay" on Variant Frequencies) and I'm somewhat nonplussed by the world. For me, the whole thing comes off as a sort of not-humourous Ankh-Morpork (it's the Golem Constables). I'm particularly put off by the re-casting of Darwin and his work. I know, nothing is sacred in fiction, but I've been arguing lately with people about ID and the massive debt modern biology and medical science owe TOoS.
Seeing a world where TOoS is only seen as a footnote 'essay' chills me down to the bone. I admit, if we lived in times where people weren't actively trying to undo Darwin's (and all the other biologists', before, contemporary to, and after him) work, I'd be less sensitive.
I'm having a hard time putting this into words without just sticking my internet tongue out at you and going "thbthbthbt!" This probably has something to do with the fact that it's six in the morning and I went to bed last night at midnight. Why's that, you might ask? Why would any reasonable adult human being willingly get just under six hours of sleep?
Because in addition to doing NaNoWriMo this year, I'm a middle school biology teacher.
So, I understand the debt that modern science owes Darwin. I spend weeks struggling to communicate the concept of evolution to kids with very little background in science (thanks, standardized testing!

) and some of whose parents
do believe in Creationism and its kin. And I have no problem with a story that pokes fun at Darwin and his beliefs.
Seriously, blueeyeddevil. Darwin was a Christian. The dude would be rolling over in his grave to hear you treating his work like a sacred writ that must be treated with gravitas wherever it goes. Speaking for him - Darwin's theories are just that, theories. This doesn't mean (as IDers are wont to believe) that it has no weight. It does mean that it isn't written in stone, and frankly, it
might be wrong. Sure, all of modern Biology stops making sense without evolution... but you know, all of modern physics doesn't make a lot of sense in light of some stuff the quark-botherers have discovered.
Anyway, the point I'm trying to make (other than "thbthbthbt!") is this: when you take some written thing and give it a whole lot of weight, demand that it be treated with respect wherever it is mentioned, you know what I call that? Religion. So, I understand that you're a good Evolutionist and you love Darwin with all your heart, that you hope and pray that your genes will be judged fit enough to continue past your death... but this is a secular podcast. Some of us are just here for the stories

.
*Ahem* That wasn't too thbthbthbt, was it?
The reason I've got my natural selection in a bunch over your comments, blueeyeddevil, is that you're taking the story way too seriously. Lighten up, man! It's not like the story was actually arguing against evolution. It was just poking it with a stick and laughing maniacally. Actually, it was poking something else with a stick and not really caring that it missed and hit evolution once in a while. We've got a weird horror fantasy steampunk lark with ghost sex and goggles, set in a bizarre alternate universe where not only is spiritualism real (and ghosts are decidedly profane) but Charles Darwin himself opened the world of the spirits to the world of the living. Evolution is the least of this story's concerns. It's weird! It's fun! It's got the word "ghostgasm" in it.
Seriously, I could say ghostgasm all day. Though, if I did, my students would probably freak out.
"Mr. Stone, can I go to the bathroom?"
"Ghostgasm."
Ok.
Way too early in the morning for me to be commenting on forums.
As for the this is/is not scifi (I don't think it is, but I don't feel like fighting), isn't it about time Escape Artists broke down and had a Steampunk/Alt history podcast? It would clear up all the confusion. (I'm joking, I know you're busy enough)
Possible titles: Steampod, Podboiler (hmm, that one sounds like a spy-thriller podcast, so Boilerpod instead), Every-Frickin'-Story-Has-To-Have-Brass-Goggles-In-It-Pod (srsly, that seems to be the only prereq for being "Steampunk"), Dirigipod (or maybe Podigible).
I propose a new podcast: Badpod. It'll have all the stories I don't like on it. At this point, it would consist mostly of high concept stories that are too artfully worded and don't make any sense, stories with no noticeable sympathetic protagonists, about half of the Pseudopod stories in which the bad guys win (I don't mind them, once in a while, but there are just too many), stories in which I sympathize with a secondary character who then dies a stupid death, and one in three stories
not read by Wilson Fowlie (so as to increase the Wilson Fowlie density in the main podcasts - we just need more Wilson Fowlie). What do you think.
*Hoooork Spat!*
Sorry, that was the sound of me extracting my tongue from my cheek.
Anyway, I get really sick of people proposing the need for a new podcast whenever one of the three tries to branch out and mix it up a little. It's inevitable. I could make money betting on it (if there were bookies for the Escape Artists forums). The genre bed is big, blueeyeddevil, so let's all try to share the covers.
Huh. That metaphor didn't really... make any sense. The genre pie is big? The genre... you know, I'm going to quit while I'm ahead. There's lots of stuff out there in genre-land, and I don't see the need to get my DNA all hot and bothered whenever one of the pods does something odd. I enjoy it. It mixes things up a little.
Now that I'm done making an utter fool of myself ("I have not yet begun to fool!") what did I actually think of the story?
Actually, I enjoyed it a great deal. It was a fun, clever, quirky little gem of a story and it brightened my morning. I particularly enjoyed the layered and bizarre world the authors have built, Lucy and her denial, and the concept of ghostgasms. The ghost-eater was particularly fun and evocative as well. I was sad that Lucy wasn't able to save Thomas, though. It wasn't quite "defeat snatched from the jaws of victory" for me, since it was pretty well foreshadowed that Thomas was no longer among the living, but I do love a happy ending so... Anyway, this story was fun and I'd love to hear more in the universe. So there.