Author Topic: Pseudopod 321: I Am The Box, The Box Is Me (Read 14944 times)

Bdoomed · **on:** February 16, 2013, 08:03:48 AM

Pseudopod 321: I Am The Box, The Box Is Me

By Kyle S. Johnson .

“I Am The Box, The Box Is Me” is previously unpublished - the story was conceived on a gloomy Sunday afternoon at the best coffee shop my little town had to offer

Kyle. S. Johnson spent the last two years teaching in Korea. His work has appeared in anthologies such as THE WORLD IS DEAD (Permuted Press), DARK FAITH (Apex Publications), DARK FAITH: INVOCATIONS (Apex Publications), and the upcoming VAMPIRES DON’T SPARKLE (Seventh Star Press).

Pete Milan - is your reader this week. Pete writes, and produces audio drama for Pendant Audio, and can also be heard in audio dramas from Gypsy Audio, the Colonial Radio Theater On The Air, and Cape Cod Radio Mystery Theater. He has also performed free audiobooks for Librivox. You can visit him at twitter.com/PeteMilan..

“The crate, as best I can tell, hangs high above some sprawling dock, some bustling seaport. The smells are pretty unmistakable, but it’s the sounds that do the most telling. Gulls talk, water babbles. A lot of ships come and go. I can hear their massive hulls cutting the waves. I hear their horns, which sound somber and gloomy in the distance, then earsplittingly awake and angry when close. Foggy, lumbering mastodons, I imagine. Things crawling up out of the mist and out of history itself.

When I imagine the sea, the world outside the box, I always picture it dark. I don’t mean that to suggest I’m being fatalistic. I don’t brood because I don’t have time to. I’m far too busy in here, you see. If I started brooding now, I’d tumble down into it, and it would be a forever-slope that I couldn’t climb back up from. I see it as dark because that’s just how it naturally feels through the cracks.”

“I Am The Box, The Box Is Me” uses these creaking and harbors sounds from Freesound.

“treehouse” by mystiscool

“tie the boat” by laurent

“creaking silver birch” by ERH

“dock ramp” by epolk

“tree creak” by department64

“HarborToulon” by DifferentSoundScapes

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Listen to this week's Pseudopod.

Creideann · **Reply #1 on:** February 16, 2013, 06:56:37 PM

I like the opening, but after given the sound effects a few minutes to stop fighting with my hearing, I moved on to another podcast.

heyes · **Reply #2 on:** February 16, 2013, 09:16:30 PM

For me this was a shaggy dog story. The only thing keeping me interested in listening was the production and the great narration. I have to go further and say that really the only thing I enjoyed was Alasdair's commentary at the end, but for me the commentary did little to improve the value of the story.

Scuba Man · **Reply #3 on:** February 17, 2013, 01:29:31 PM

The swinging, twisting background sound worked for me. A little loud - sure. At the end of this story, I was I imagining an abandoned shipping terminal on one of my local Great Lakes. An abandoned Owens Sound (Georgian Bay).

Unblinking · **Reply #4 on:** February 18, 2013, 02:56:42 PM

I stuck with this one until about halfway through, but at that point I still had no interest in the story so I skipped ahead to the outro. Why am I supposed to care about this guy narrating what he hears in a shipyard? The fact that he frequently referred to his obsession without ever taking the extra step to say what his obsession was, constantly irritated me. That never seemed like anything but an author trying to be clever. Maybe the reveal was worth it, but I never made it far enough to know.

I liked the sound effects. I may have only listened as far as I did because I liked listening to the sound effects.

Scumpup · **Reply #5 on:** February 19, 2013, 01:57:21 PM

I gave this one a listen on the way to work this morning and gave up on it about 3/4 of the way through. It was like listening to the ramblings of an unfunny version of the janitor from Scrubs. I just couldn't bear any more and switched over to another podcast.

Scattercat · **Reply #6 on:** February 19, 2013, 03:21:01 PM

I enjoyed several parts of this story, and in particular the bit where the narrator got confused between himself as a former person and himself as a former tree. I liked the rope creaking for mood, but I think the foghorn was a little distracting; it kept popping up in the loop and drowning out a word or two in the quiet bits. There was one moment when the narrator mentions the foghorns, and the sound appeared right afterward, and that was nice, but I think it could otherwise have been clipped out to profitable effect.

The ending was kind of a letdown to me, but I know I've mentioned my dislike of Lovecraft pastiches before. At least no one actually *said* Shub-Niggurath or mentioned the Necronomicon explicitly. I feel like the story went on perhaps a paragraph or two too long after the reveal; I know the narrator is kind of circling in a psychic drain at that point, but I think he conveyed it well enough through the rest of the story and didn't really need to hammer the point home quite as thoroughly as was done. Still, overall, it was an enjoyable story, and an interesting perspective. (Who ships shoggoths internationally, anyway? Fedex?)

Scattercat · **Reply #7 on:** February 20, 2013, 01:32:23 AM

Quote from: Unblinking on February 18, 2013, 02:56:42 PM

Why am I supposed to care about this guy narrating what he hears in a shipyard? The fact that he frequently referred to his obsession without ever taking the extra step to say what his obsession was, constantly irritated me.

The question is the answer, young padawan.

Unblinking · **Reply #8 on:** February 20, 2013, 02:48:19 PM

Quote from: Scattercat on February 20, 2013, 01:32:23 AM

Quote from: Unblinking on February 18, 2013, 02:56:42 PM
Why am I supposed to care about this guy narrating what he hears in a shipyard? The fact that he frequently referred to his obsession without ever taking the extra step to say what his obsession was, constantly irritated me.

The question is the answer, young padawan.

So, I'm not supposed to care at all?

Scattercat · **Reply #9 on:** February 20, 2013, 03:19:03 PM

His obsession WAS the shipyard, the stories he made up to suit the voices he heard. Those stories, in turn, being by his own admission his invention, illustrate something about his own history and how he came to be in/of the box.

Unblinking · **Reply #10 on:** February 20, 2013, 03:43:18 PM

Quote from: Scattercat on February 20, 2013, 03:19:03 PM

His obsession WAS the shipyard, the stories he made up to suit the voices he heard. Those stories, in turn, being by his own admission his invention, illustrate something about his own history and how he came to be in/of the box.

My comment where I said "Why am I supposed to care?" would be more accurately rephrased "I didn't care." So when you answered my question, I just shot off a glib response, aiming for and probably missing an attempt at comedy. You didn't have to dignify my comment with a response.

Scattercat · **Reply #11 on:** February 20, 2013, 04:42:20 PM

Yes, but then I wouldn't get to be pedantic, and where would the fun be in that?

Unblinking · **Reply #12 on:** February 21, 2013, 02:52:53 PM

Quote from: Scattercat on February 20, 2013, 04:42:20 PM

Yes, but then I wouldn't get to be pedantic, and where would the fun be in that?

benjaminjb · **Reply #13 on:** February 23, 2013, 05:00:34 AM

I soldiered through the sound effects, which did get on my nerves some; but I feel unrewarded for that effort.

canajunsam · **Reply #14 on:** February 24, 2013, 02:36:42 AM

Slow. That's the first word I could think of to describe this story. It took a fair amount of time to get to a point of any type. And the ending kind of seemed...tacked on? It was like this started out as something else entirely, then they decided to stick some lovecraft on it, and call it done. The story wasn't un-entertaining, and I quite enjoyed the small stories of the dockyard, and the man in the box. I feel unsatisfied, and craving a bit more out of it.

So I guess what I'm saying is I don't know how I'm supposed to feel about this story. Which might be how I'm supposed to feel about it.

Thulsa Morgue · **Reply #15 on:** February 26, 2013, 04:23:52 PM

I've been listening from the shadows for a long time and there have only been a handful of episodes that I couldn't make it through to the end. The sound effects took me out of this story, I could not concentrate on what I was hearing. If it were a less subtle story (and I do love subtlety), maybe the sounds wouldn't have been so jarring. I had to skip past this one and I always feel guilty for doing that, like it's unfair to the writer. Whether it's a bad recording mic, a thickly accented reader, intrusive sound effects or just my mood at the time... none of these are the author's fault and the few episodes I didn't fight my way through haunt me to this day. I have no idea if this story is any good because I couldn't get through it and that makes me feel like I've insulted the story... and maybe the story will come stalking, seeking its revenge...

Unblinking · **Reply #16 on:** February 27, 2013, 02:47:39 PM

Quote from: Thulsa Morgue on February 26, 2013, 04:23:52 PM

I've been listening from the shadows for a long time and there have only been a handful of episodes that I couldn't make it through to the end. The sound effects took me out of this story, I could not concentrate on what I was hearing. If it were a less subtle story (and I do love subtlety), maybe the sounds wouldn't have been so jarring. I had to skip past this one and I always feel guilty for doing that, like it's unfair to the writer. Whether it's a bad recording mic, a thickly accented reader, intrusive sound effects or just my mood at the time... none of these are the author's fault and the few episodes I didn't fight my way through haunt me to this day. I have no idea if this story is any good because I couldn't get through it and that makes me feel like I've insulted the story... and maybe the story will come stalking, seeking its revenge...

What stories have you liked? With long-time lurkers it's interesting to hear both what they liked and didn't like.

i.wright · **Reply #17 on:** February 27, 2013, 06:22:40 PM

That creaking rope or whatever that sound effect was, was like nails down a chalkboard. I couldn't listen to it for long.

Thulsa Morgue · **Reply #18 on:** February 28, 2013, 01:16:13 PM

Quote from: Unblinking on February 27, 2013, 02:47:39 PM

What stories have you liked? With long-time lurkers it's interesting to hear both what they liked and didn't like.

I'm far too eclectic to select a favorite, I like a wide variety of styles and that's what's kept me listening for all this time... But to avoid a weaselly noncommittal answer, recent stories that stood out to me were "The Cell Call", "Persistence of Memory", "The Crawl Space" and "Night Fishing".

Writing is art, art is open to interpretation and as they say, there is no accounting for taste. So I've kind of avoided the forums thus far because I'm generally not a fan of critiques. Rejection is part of the game but to have someone reject and then belittle your art after misinterpreting it is hard for me to watch, even if it's not my story being ridiculed.

But from what I've read here at EA, everyone seems to have a tad more civility than many forums I've been to. I was drawn in because of the upcoming flash contest and figured I'd dip my toe into the pool and see how the water feels...

Unblinking · **Reply #19 on:** February 28, 2013, 02:44:05 PM

Quote from: Thulsa Morgue on February 28, 2013, 01:16:13 PM

But from what I've read here at EA, everyone seems to have a tad more civility than many forums I've been to. I was drawn in because of the upcoming flash contest and figured I'd dip my toe into the pool and see how the water feels...

I'm glad you stopped in. I have definitely found this forum to be more civil than almost any other forum I've been to. Great moderators make a big difference, and there's a good crowd here for debating story strengths and weaknesses if you like that kind of thing.

JohnCombo · **Reply #20 on:** March 01, 2013, 12:01:12 PM

This was a good story. I kept waiting for something to really shock me though. I expected to find out that the narrator was the box more so after he started talking about chopping up the girl's limbs and using them in a fire. Now if you guys come back and tell me that it was the box, then I was lost the whole time.

will write for beer · **Reply #21 on:** March 07, 2013, 09:28:59 PM

The SFX made it hard to get through this one, maybe just because I was listening to it while driving on the Interstate. But even the parts I could make out, I couldn't figure out.

chemistryguy · **Reply #22 on:** March 12, 2013, 11:17:17 AM

It felt like three different stories that had no business being together. I guess you could look at is as the ramblings of a man gone mad with hunger/thirst/pain.

The sound levels needed some tweaking as well.

All in all, not a fan of this one.

Dr_Know453 · **Reply #23 on:** March 14, 2013, 07:53:56 AM

I actually liked the atmospherics, especially the creaking, but I could've done with fewer foghorns - after a while I found myself being distracted by the pattern of them and lost track of what was going on.

I imagined the narrator in an enclosed gibbet cage for some reason and soon realised as the story progressed that either he was long dead or had completely lost it. Not my favourite episode, but I've found myself thinking about the imagery and what it means a few times since I heard it, which I guess is the purpose of any story.

Special Ed · **Reply #24 on:** April 11, 2013, 01:52:28 PM

I came here looking for answers and thinking I'd missed something. It appears that I'm not alone. Has anyone figured out the connection between the Lovecraftian bit and the box / guy in the box? Or do we merely have a very unusual narrator for a lovecraft story that also happens to weave a shaggy dog tale about the guys on the shipyard?

I liked the creaking ropes. The air horn did get old (especially since it sounded like a hand held air horn and not a large, ship-mounted fog horn.)

Author Topic: Pseudopod 321: I Am The Box, The Box Is Me (Read 14944 times)

JohnCombo