Author Topic: EP097: Cinderella Suicide (Read 49850 times)

Anarkey · **Reply #50 on:** April 12, 2007, 07:10:35 PM

Oh, well chosen, Steve! I loved this story. It goes into the stack of keepers. I say this as a person who is normally deeply biased against alt-history (with a few exceptions). True that the alt-history didn't play such a large part in this one so maybe my bias didn't take me far.

I loved the tone, the reader, the narrative voice, the plot, the setting, the language.

Pretty much everything. This totally hit my squids.

On a first listen I had to stop it and rewind, like many others have mentioned. I had too much going on externally and the story demanded concentration. However, on the second run, I was not bothered by accent, slang, or any other part of the writing or production. I didn't find the reader's accent to be too heavy at all.

Have I mentioned that I love this story?

Right, guess I have...

Thaurismunths · **Reply #51 on:** April 13, 2007, 11:03:02 AM

Quote from: Anarkey on April 12, 2007, 07:10:35 PM

Pretty much everything. This totally hit my squids.

Hit your "Squids"

Simon Painter · **Reply #52 on:** April 13, 2007, 11:17:08 AM

Quote

Pretty much everything. This totally hit my squids.

The ones on your mantlepiece?

Anarkey · **Reply #53 on:** April 13, 2007, 11:48:31 AM

Quote from: Thaurismunths on April 13, 2007, 11:03:02 AM

Quote from: Anarkey on April 12, 2007, 07:10:35 PM
Pretty much everything. This totally hit my squids.
Hit your "Squids"

Shorthand for story fetishes. It's those elements that, when included in a story, reach into your hindbrain, grab it and make you moan, "Gooooood". My best understanding of the expression is that it derives from the Turkey City Lexicon for "Squid in the mouth" but insted of referring to an author's faux pas, it refers to a reader's bulletproof kink. I picked the term up from Elizabeth Bear's livejournal, but I don't know whether it's properly hers or she picked it up elsewhere. It's a handy descriptor.

One of my squids is inexorable failures. You know these guys are underdogs, you know the odds are against them and there's no way they should be able to pull it off, you root for them anyway, then they fail to pull it off. I love that story, and it was particularly well done in this piece. It's what makes Macbeth work for me. And what I love about Gene Wolfe's "The Death of Dr. Island". Story of Sisyphus packs in the "it never ends!" variant of the same theme. It's also what pleases me about prophecy in fiction (to borrow from the pet peeves thread of a few weeks ago). If the prophecy dictates character failure and it comes true, I'm deeply satisfied by the tale. If it comes true in ways you could not have predicted at the outset but are totally plausible? You've won me as a reader for life.

Anarkey · **Reply #54 on:** April 13, 2007, 11:52:32 AM

Quote from: madSimonJ on April 13, 2007, 11:17:08 AM

Quote
Pretty much everything. This totally hit my squids.

The ones on your mantlepiece?

Nah, that's not where I keep them.

Simon Painter · **Reply #55 on:** April 13, 2007, 12:56:03 PM

really? It's the perfect place. Not only do guests get to admire 'em, but the squids'll occasionally eat the ones you don't like

They pretty much dust themselves too.

You have to watch out for the odd attempt to summon elder Gods, I find a rolled-up newspaper helps for that.

Thaurismunths · **Reply #56 on:** April 13, 2007, 12:57:42 PM

And you'll never run out of ink!

DKT · **Reply #57 on:** April 13, 2007, 04:27:18 PM

I'd never heard "hit my squids" before but I have to say I liked it almost immediately

Thaurismunths · **Reply #58 on:** April 13, 2007, 04:54:36 PM

Right, so I listened to this story again today, and I think I figured out why I had so much trouble listening to it: There's no differentiation.

MarBelle didn't give the characters voices, nor did he make any changes of inflection when he switched. It was just read.

DKT · **Reply #59 on:** April 13, 2007, 05:53:19 PM

Did that approach work for you? I think Mur does a similiar thing when she reads.

wherethewild · **Reply #60 on:** April 13, 2007, 06:41:42 PM

I adored this story.

Maybe it´s because I´m Australian and I´ve both a lot of British friends and I´m there a few times a year, but I had no trouble with the accent. In fact I personally felt the story benefitted from the thickness of it. As Roney pointed out, that´s probably what it should have been anyway (unless it was my accent!).

Punk just sounds more authentic British.

The mispronounciations have already been pointed out, and they were slightly disappointing, but I loved the reading and I loved the story.

Thaurismunths · **Reply #61 on:** April 13, 2007, 06:49:41 PM

Quote from: DKT on April 13, 2007, 05:53:19 PM

Did that approach work for you? I think Mur does a similiar thing when she reads.

Yes, I loved the story, and it strongly benefited from the reader's accent and familiarity with the slang, it was just difficult to know where one speaker's line was stopping, and another's began.

Samantha · **Reply #62 on:** April 18, 2007, 11:48:16 PM

Quote from: Anarkey on April 12, 2007, 07:10:35 PM

This totally hit my squids.

Must...put...squids...in...sequel...

DKT · **Reply #63 on:** April 19, 2007, 04:46:10 AM

Quote from: Samantha on April 18, 2007, 11:48:16 PM

Quote from: Anarkey on April 12, 2007, 07:10:35 PM
This totally hit my squids.

Must...put...squids...in...sequel...

Which you'll be writing when?

Thaurismunths · **Reply #64 on:** April 19, 2007, 11:26:59 AM

Quote from: DKT on April 19, 2007, 04:46:10 AM

Quote from: Samantha on April 18, 2007, 11:48:16 PM
Quote from: Anarkey on April 12, 2007, 07:10:35 PM
This totally hit my squids.

Must...put...squids...in...sequel...

Which you'll be writing when?

Not nearly soon enough, I'd wager.

Samantha · **Reply #65 on:** April 19, 2007, 02:10:23 PM

Quote from: DKT on April 19, 2007, 04:46:10 AM

Quote from: Samantha on April 18, 2007, 11:48:16 PM
Quote from: Anarkey on April 12, 2007, 07:10:35 PM
This totally hit my squids.

Must...put...squids...in...sequel...

Which you'll be writing when?

Soonst as I can get into Superstar's head again.
Maybe kidnap MarBelle?

I'm (pleasantly!) stunned by the response "Cinderella Suicide" has engendered in this forum. And grateful that it was so very well performed/produced.

DKT · **Reply #66 on:** April 19, 2007, 04:06:34 PM

I'd say you made a few fans

Anarkey · **Reply #67 on:** April 19, 2007, 11:56:34 PM

Quote from: Samantha on April 18, 2007, 11:48:16 PM

Quote from: Anarkey on April 12, 2007, 07:10:35 PM
This totally hit my squids.

Must...put...squids...in...sequel...

Eeeeexcellent. I can think of few stories that wouldn't be improved by the liberal addition of cephalopods. I eagerly await future visits to neo-tunguskalike-exploded-but-with-monsters-inside-the-meteor-alternate-australia.

Mfitz · **Reply #68 on:** May 07, 2007, 08:20:40 PM

Quote from: Anarkey on April 19, 2007, 11:56:34 PM

[
Eeeeexcellent. I can think of few stories that wouldn't be improved by the liberal addition of cephalopods.

Are you Karen Traviss in disguise? She has a complete fascination with cephalopods.

An invertebrate paleontologist friend of my husbands says they are God's favorite creatures, but I'm not convinced.

Samantha · **Reply #69 on:** May 08, 2007, 01:04:51 AM

Eeeeexcellent. I can think of few stories that wouldn't be improved by the liberal addition of cephalopods. I eagerly await future visits to neo-tunguskalike-exploded-but-with-monsters-inside-the-meteor-alternate-australia.

...in which thylacines never became (perhaps) extinct!

Samantha · **Reply #70 on:** May 08, 2007, 01:07:35 AM

Quote from: Mfitz on May 07, 2007, 08:20:40 PM

Quote from: Anarkey on April 19, 2007, 11:56:34 PM
[
Eeeeexcellent. I can think of few stories that wouldn't be improved by the liberal addition of cephalopods.

Are you Karen Traviss in disguise? She has a complete fascination with cephalopods.

An invertebrate paleontologist friend of my husbands says they are God's favorite creatures, but I'm not convinced.

Alas, I am not.

But God has to love the Vampire Squid.

Anarkey · **Reply #71 on:** May 08, 2007, 02:22:46 PM

Quote from: Mfitz on May 07, 2007, 08:20:40 PM

Are you Karen Traviss in disguise? She has a complete fascination with cephalopods.

An invertebrate paleontologist friend of my husbands says they are God's favorite creatures, but I'm not convinced.

I am not Karen Traviss, either in disguise or out of it.

Thaurismunths · **Reply #72 on:** June 07, 2007, 03:16:08 PM

Ok, I give up.
What are the "Jelly Orchards"??

Samantha · **Reply #73 on:** June 11, 2007, 01:12:59 AM

Quote from: Thaurismunths on June 07, 2007, 03:16:08 PM

Ok, I give up.
What are the "Jelly Orchards"??

Hi!
Jellyfish harvesting.

Thaurismunths · **Reply #74 on:** June 11, 2007, 10:56:03 AM

Oh! I'd have never guessed.

How's that sequel coming?