Author Topic: Best of Escape Pod 2013 Nominations  (Read 13845 times)

Ocicat

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on: February 18, 2014, 06:54:10 PM
It's time for you to nominate the best episodes of Escape Pod from 2013!  The most nominated stories will appear in the best of 2013 poll sometime next month.  

You may nominate up to three episodes.  This year, there is no separate polls for story and reading, the episodes are considered as a total experience, including the flash fiction special.

The list of eligible episodes follows.  Links will be added soon, but here's the raw data:

EP377 Real Artists by Ken Liu read by Ann Leckie
EP378 Scout by Bud Sparhawk read by Corson Bremer
EP379 Concussion by David Glen Larson read by Mat Weller
EP380 Punk Voyager by Shaenon Garrity read by Nathaniel Lee
EP381 "Elias Smith and Jones" by Mark English read by Dave Robison
EP382 They Go Bump by David Barr Kirtley read by Alasdair Stuart
EP383 The First Book of Flaccid Swords by Edward Cowan read by Bruce Busby
EP384 The Tamarisk Hunter by Paolo Bacigalupi read by Caith Donovan
EP385 The Very Pulse of the Machine by Michael Swanwick read by Amy Elk
EP386 Finished by Robert Reed read by Joel Nisbet
EP387 Perspective by Jake Kerr read by Julian Bane
EP388 Trixie and the Pandas of Dread by Eugie Foster read by Mur Lafferty
EP389 Keeping Tabs by Kenneth Schneyer read by Dani Cutler
EP390 Cerbo un Vitra ujo by Mary Robinette Kowal read by Veronica Giguere
EP391 Making My Entrance Again With My Usual Flair by Ken Scholes read by Bill Bowman
EP392 Aftermaths by Lois McMaster Bujold read by Mat Weller
EP393 Red Card by S L Gilbow read by Heather Bowman-Tomlinson
EP394 Good Hunting by Ken Liu read by John Chu
EP395 Robot by Helena Bell read by Eleiece Krawiec
EP396 Dead Merchandise by Ferrett Steinmetz read by Kathy Sherwood
EP397 A Gun for Dinosaur by L Sprague de Camp read by Ayoub Khote
EP398 Subversion by Elisabeth R Adams read by Christiana Ellis
EP399 My Heart Is a Quadratic Equation by Shane Halbach read by Christina Lebonville
EP400 Rescue Party by Arthur C Clarke read by Norm Sherman
EP401 Growing Up Human by Claudine Griggs read by Laura Hobbs
EP402 The Tale of the Golden Eagle by David D Levine read by David D Levine
EP403 Saving Alan Idle by Katherine Miller read by Kyle Akers
EP404 Zebulon Vance Sings the Alphabet Songs of Love by Merrie Haskell read by Amanda Ching
EP405 Vestigial Girl by Alex Wilson read by Nathaniel Lee
EP406 Freia in the Sunlight by Gregory Norman Bossert read by Shaelyn Grey
EP407 Mono No Aware by Ken Liu read by Amy Robinson
EP408 Immersion by Aliette de Bodard read by John Chu
EP409 Mantis Wives by Kij Johnson read by Heather Bowman-Tomlinson
EP410 Nutshell by Jeffrey Wikstrom read by Alasdair Stuart
EP411 "Loss With Chalk Diagrams" by E Lily Yu read by Eleiece Krawiec
EP412 Thirty Seconds From Now by John Chu read by Joel Kenyon
EP413 Why I Left Harry's All-Night Hamburgers by Lawrence Watt-Evans read by Jonathon Hawkins
EP414 Knowing by Matt Wallace read by Mat Weller
EP415 The Nightmare Lights of Mars by Brian Trent read by Veronica Giguere
EP416 On the Big Fisted Circuit by Cat Rambo read by Shaelyn Grey
EP417 Southpaw by Bruce McAllister read by bdoomed
EP418 The Dala Horse by Michael Swanwick read by Michael Liebmann
EP419 Expediter by Mack Reynolds read by Corson Bremer
EP420 The Shunned Trailer by Esther Friesner read by Norm Sherman
EP421 Bright Moment by Daniel Marcus read by Mr Lee
EP422 Deshaun Stevens’ Ship Log by Marie Vibbert read by Alasdair Stuart
EP423 Arena by Fredric Brown read by Bill Bowman
EP424 Biographical Fragments of the Life of Julian Prince by Jake Kerr read by "Heather Bowman-Tomlinson, Andrea Richardson, Bill Hollweg, and Mat Weller"
EP425 The Boy in Zaquitos by Bruce McAllister read by John Chu
EP426 "Flash Fiction Special: Four Tickets, Life Sentence, and The Future Is Set" by "Leslianne Wilder, Ben Hallert, and C L Perria" read by "Nathan Lee, Angela Lee, and Norm Sherman"
EP427 Samantha’s Diary by Diana Wynne Jones read by Emma Newman
EP428 Paradise Left by Evan Dicken read by Barry Haworth
« Last Edit: February 18, 2014, 07:48:40 PM by Ocicat »



Fenrix

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Reply #1 on: February 18, 2014, 07:34:12 PM
EP388 Trixie and the Pandas of Dread by Eugie Foster read by Mur Lafferty

This was fun, and:



EP412 Thirty Seconds From Now by John Chu read by Joel Kenyon

Most original presentation of a carpe diem theme.

EP426 "Flash Fiction Special Four Tickets Life Sentence The Future Is Set" by "Leslianne Wilder, Ben Hallert, and C L Perria" read by "Nathan Lee, Angela Lee, and Norm Sherman"

"The Future is Set" is one of the tightest and hardest hitting stories on the podcast this year.

Honorable Mentions:
EP397 A Gun for Dinosaur by L Sprague de Camp read by Ayoub Khote
EP423 Arena by Fredric Brown read by Bill Bowman

Because awesome classics rule!

EP413 Why I Left Harry's All-Night Hamburgers by Lawrence Watt-Evans read by Jonathon Hawkins

This one was my second choice for presentation of a carpe diem theme.

EP420 The Shunned Trailer by Esther Friesner read by Norm Sherman

This was my second choice for fun, but I like farting pandas more than non-Euclidean condoms.

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Varda

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Reply #2 on: February 18, 2014, 09:19:59 PM
NOM NOM NOMS! :D

Here are my picks for 2013:

1. EP380 Punk Voyager by Shaenon Garrity read by Nathaniel Lee - because I laughed so hard, I cried... on public transportation. FUUUUUuu...dge!

2. EP390 Cerbo un Vitra ujo by Mary Robinette Kowal read by Veronica Giguere - Egads, it was disturbing, but really resonated with me. I think it's a great example of how sometimes literature can make you uncomfortable for all the right reasons. It's really stayed with me nearly a year later.

3. EP409 Mantis Wives by Kij Johnson read by Heather Bowman-Tomlinson - brilliant, perfect wedding of science elements to the theme. It's one of the best stories exploring biological determinism that I've heard in a really long time.

Honorable mentions:

EP402 The Tale of the Golden Eagle by David D Levine read by David D Levine - lush, gorgeous piece with a fantasy feel. Loved it.

EP405 Vestigial Girl by Alex Wilson read by Nathaniel Lee - mainly because it's about my branch of science, and that makes me all warm and happy.

EP411 "Loss With Chalk Diagrams" by E Lily Yu read by Eleiece Krawiec - pensive, sad, thought-provoking.

EP428 Paradise Left by Evan Dicken read by Barry Haworth - because it's hilarious AND thinky!

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Unblinking

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Reply #3 on: February 19, 2014, 02:56:41 PM
Easy Top Three for me, three of my favorite stories of the year of any venue:

Dead Merchandise by Ferrett Steinmetz
They Go Bump by David Barr Kirtley
The Shunned Trailer by Esther Friesner




DKT

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Reply #4 on: February 19, 2014, 06:07:50 PM
I need to think about this some more, but if Punk Voyager ran this year, that's definitely getting a vote - in no small part to all of Nathan's cock-punching and fuuuuuuuuuuck you antics.  ;)


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Reply #5 on: February 19, 2014, 06:14:52 PM
I don't know if I've said it before, but "Punk Voyager" was such a note-perfect riff that I not only immediately sent it to Mur (this was when she was still editor) and insisted not only that we absolutely had to buy it, but that I needed to read it.  I loved that story a lot. 

(And if people liked "Punk Voyager," I must also recommend "Flying on My Hatred of My Neighbor's Dog," which Shaenon also sent to EP but which was a little too not-actually-science for us.  Luckily, both Norm and I happen to work for a weird fiction magazine with which some of you may be familiar...)



Unblinking

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Reply #6 on: February 19, 2014, 07:11:44 PM
(And if people liked "Punk Voyager," I must also recommend "Flying on My Hatred of My Neighbor's Dog," which Shaenon also sent to EP but which was a little too not-actually-science for us.  Luckily, both Norm and I happen to work for a weird fiction magazine with which some of you may be familiar...)

And even if you didn't like Punk Voyager.  I didn't care for the former, but I liked the latter enough that it's on my as-yet-unpublished Best of Drabblecast list this year.
« Last Edit: February 19, 2014, 07:15:02 PM by Unblinking »



matweller

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Reply #7 on: February 19, 2014, 07:49:35 PM
I had a hard time getting it under 10…but here are my votes:
EP382 They Go Bump by David Barr Kirtley read by Alasdair Stuart
EP394 Good Hunting by Ken Liu read by John Chu
EP387 Perspective by Jake Kerr read by Julian Bane

And the ones I would add if you were taking 7:
EP380 Punk Voyager by Shaenon Garrity read by Nathaniel Lee
EP410 Nutshell by Jeffrey Wikstrom read by Alasdair Stuart
EP412 Thirty Seconds From Now by John Chu read by Joel Kenyon
EP426 Flash Fiction Special: Four Tickets, Life Sentence, and The Future Is Set by Leslianne Wilder, Ben Hallert, and C L Perria read by Nathan Lee, Angela Lee, and Norm Sherman

Wait -- you didn't say "only 3"…am I self-imposing that or is that what you're looking for?



Ocicat

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Reply #8 on: February 19, 2014, 08:09:25 PM
You may nominate up to three episodes.  

It's stated, and has been pretty much the standard for these polls for time immemorial.   :)



matweller

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Reply #9 on: February 19, 2014, 08:12:19 PM
I thought so, but glanced right past it. 'Tis the price of multitasking…

Regardless, you have my vote, and I posted a link for the poll here too: https://www.facebook.com/escapepodscifi



Listener

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Reply #10 on: February 19, 2014, 09:26:07 PM
Top Three
EP386 Finished by Robert Reed read by Joel Nisbet
EP403 Saving Alan Idle by Katherine Miller read by Kyle Akers
EP412 Thirty Seconds From Now by John Chu read by Joel Kenyon

Honorable Mentions
EP380 Punk Voyager by Shaenon Garrity read by Nathaniel Lee
EP388 Trixie and the Pandas of Dread by Eugie Foster read by Mur Lafferty
EP389 Keeping Tabs by Kenneth Schneyer read by Dani Cutler
EP405 Vestigial Girl by Alex Wilson read by Nathaniel Lee
EP413 Why I Left Harry's All-Night Hamburgers by Lawrence Watt-Evans read by Jonathon Hawkins
EP420 The Shunned Trailer by Esther Friesner read by Norm Sherman
EP422 Deshaun Stevens’ Ship Log by Marie Vibbert read by Alasdair Stuart

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Trelbee

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Reply #11 on: February 20, 2014, 06:03:40 PM
1. Dead Merchandise is a resounding first place for me, as one of the best things I've heard ever. So well crafted, so haunting, so right. I think I actually teared up.

2. Next, I did truly love They Go Bump, because dammit, that's a story idea that kept me awake at night as a kid too! We must have read the same short story collection.

3. Robot was very well done, the format worked for me, and holy crap to the subtle invasion implication at the end. So good.

I cant't stop!! I also loved Punk Voyager because who can get enough cock punches, and The Shunned Trailer, because ha.

Please forgive my typos and grammatical errors. I'm probably using swype on my phone, or god help me, holding my iPad aloft over my head while the baby sleeps in my arms. Believe me, the errors bother me waaaay more than they bother you...


Devoted135

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Reply #12 on: February 21, 2014, 12:17:22 AM
(And if people liked "Punk Voyager," I must also recommend "Flying on My Hatred of My Neighbor's Dog," which Shaenon also sent to EP but which was a little too not-actually-science for us.  Luckily, both Norm and I happen to work for a weird fiction magazine with which some of you may be familiar...)

And even if you didn't like Punk Voyager.  I didn't care for the former, but I liked the latter enough that it's on my as-yet-unpublished Best of Drabblecast list this year.

Seconded. :)



Devoted135

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Reply #13 on: February 21, 2014, 12:28:38 AM
Wow, this was a hard list to cut down! Here are my top three:

EP382 They Go Bump by David Barr Kirtley read by Alasdair Stuart - Because creepy!

EP396 Dead Merchandise by Ferrett Steinmetz read by Kathy Sherwood - Because wow!

EP420 The Shunned Trailer by Esther Friesner read by Norm Sherman - Because funny!

Honorable mentions:
EP398 Subversion by Elisabeth R Adams read by Christiana Ellis
EP402 The Tale of the Golden Eagle by David D Levine read by David D Levine

And a few that I really liked but didn't consider because they are older:
EP392 Aftermaths by Lois McMaster Bujold read by Mat Weller
EP400 Rescue Party by Arthur C Clarke read by Norm Sherman
EP423 Arena by Fredric Brown read by Bill Bowman



Unblinking

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Reply #14 on: February 21, 2014, 04:08:47 AM
Wow, this was a hard list to cut down! Here are my top three:

EP382 They Go Bump by David Barr Kirtley read by Alasdair Stuart - Because creepy!

EP396 Dead Merchandise by Ferrett Steinmetz read by Kathy Sherwood - Because wow!

EP420 The Shunned Trailer by Esther Friesner read by Norm Sherman - Because funny!

Great choices!



Devoted135

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Reply #15 on: February 21, 2014, 08:54:15 PM
Wow, this was a hard list to cut down! Here are my top three:

EP382 They Go Bump by David Barr Kirtley read by Alasdair Stuart - Because creepy!

EP396 Dead Merchandise by Ferrett Steinmetz read by Kathy Sherwood - Because wow!

EP420 The Shunned Trailer by Esther Friesner read by Norm Sherman - Because funny!

Great choices!

That's hilarious! Back atcha ;)



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Reply #16 on: February 23, 2014, 04:45:09 AM
Okay here goes:

EP388 Trixie and the Pandas of Dread by Eugie Foster read by Mur Lafferty
EP418 The Dala Horse by Michael Swanwick read by Michael Liebmann
Third one so hard. Going with: EP420 The Shunned Trailer by Esther Friesner read by Norm Sherman



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Reply #17 on: February 23, 2014, 02:25:57 PM
EP384 The Tamarisk Hunter by Paolo Bacigalupi read by Caith Donovan
Because I think it's a good extrapolation of class conflict and water issues in the southwest, and because I have strong feelings about assholes in California and Phoenix wasting water while there are other cities in the region where people actually know how to live with less.  

EP413 Why I Left Harry's All-Night Hamburgers by Lawrence Watt-Evans read by Jonathon Hawkins
This is set in the same multiverse as EP286 The ’76 Goldwater Dime, I'm sure of it.  

EP387 Perspective by Jake Kerr read by Julian Bane
A pretty cool story built around a "dude what if you..." kind of idea.  

I was torn on Perspective vs. Tale of the Golden Eagle...but the latter has some tropes that kind of irritate me.  Perspective does not.

Punk Voyager is getting the shit nominated out of it so I don't have to.
« Last Edit: February 23, 2014, 02:43:05 PM by SonofSpermcube »



TrishEM

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Reply #18 on: February 26, 2014, 06:27:48 AM
I nominate Loss with Chalk Diagrams, The Shunned Trailer, and Subversion.



queene

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Reply #19 on: March 05, 2014, 05:25:35 AM
1. Punk Voyager (One of my favorite stories. Period.)
2. Perspective (I'm an artist too, I know how it can be hard to get through things when people can't see what you're doing, and I love how he tried to help his dad feel better even though the consequences were harsh.)
3. Shunned Trailer (Lovecrafty and funny!)

Also really, really liked Vestigial Girl, but I can't quite get over how she couldn't operate a touch screen. And Gun for Dinosaur, but it's dated, plus I feel recent stories should get more attention in this situation. But then again my list of favorites would be a dozen long if it were up to me...



Bartok

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Reply #20 on: March 06, 2014, 10:05:43 PM
Hard choices, it was a great year for Escape Pod! In the end I have to go with:
EP392 Aftermaths by Lois McMaster Bujold read by Mat Weller
EP398 Subversion by Elisabeth R Adams read by Christiana Ellis
EP420 The Shunned Trailer by Esther Friesner read by Norm Sherman

Not that they count, but my honorable mentions would go to:
EP380 Punk Voyager by Shaenon Garrity read by Nathaniel Lee
EP388 Trixie and the Pandas of Dread by Eugie Foster read by Mur Lafferty
EP391 Making My Entrance Again With My Usual Flair by Ken Scholes read by Bill Bowman
EP399 My Heart Is a Quadratic Equation by Shane Halbach read by Christina Lebonville
EP400 Rescue Party by Arthur C Clarke read by Norm Sherman
EP407 Mono No Aware by Ken Liu read by Amy Robinson
EP428 Paradise Left by Evan Dicken read by Barry Haworth



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Reply #21 on: March 08, 2014, 04:41:11 PM
Wow, it's hard to pick only three, and on a different day I'd likely pick a different three, because there are so many that are so close in my mind.  But, here are the picks I'm going to live with:

EP396 Dead Merchandise by Ferrett Steinmetz read by Kathy Sherwood
EP402 The Tale of the Golden Eagle by David D Levine read by David D Levine
EP420 The Shunned Trailer by Esther Friesner read by Norm Sherman


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Ocicat

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Reply #22 on: March 11, 2014, 09:23:06 PM
One more week for nominations!



Ocicat

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Reply #23 on: March 20, 2014, 01:59:37 AM
...guess not.

Okay, nominations closed.