EP459: The Water That Falls On You From Nowhere

[Scattercat]

Yeah, if you've got full-on second-world fantasy going, it ain't Magical Realism. 

[Fenrix]

Yeah, if you've got full-on second-world fantasy going, it ain't Magical Realism. 

And second world fantasy is the same effective thing as "sub-creation" right?

[Scattercat]

What, like what the teenagers do at Blimpie?

[Fenrix]

Nah, it's easy to make a sandwich. My familarity with the term is via Tolkien in his essay "On Faery Stories" and other academic takes of his on fantasy.

[UnfulredJohnson]

Can't say I liked this one at all. The MC just came across a little bit too passive for me, and Gus was just cartoonish in his immaculate perfection. I could see his big square jaw jutting in my minds eye, maybe the baritone voice the narrator used had something to do with it though. I just didn't connect with any of the characters, and the fantasy element was too vague to be of any real significance or interest to me.

[hardware]

Not a bad story, but not really special enough to be a Hugo nominee in my opinion.

What was weird was that the speculative element, while quite cool in principle, actually worked against the story in some ways by removing uncertainty in situations where it would strengthen emotional impact. It always seemed to resolve conflicts where real human communications would normally be necessary, and I think that kind of communication makes for more compelling fiction than a rain shower.

On the other hand, the family dynamics was well captured, including the abusive sibling relationship, which is more common than one tends to believe.

[El Barto]

A lovely tale but I did not vote for it to win the Hugo because I didn't think it was anything special and I am not a fan of stories where something crazy is happening but the author doesn't explore it beyond using it as a narrow plot device. 

In this case we have a world in which lying causes rain and different shades of fibs cause the relative humidity to change.  That is pretty crazy and has huge implications on politics (no more campaign lies?), police interrogations (!), and people lies from the mundane (you look great in those pants) to the life-changing (are you having an affair?).

In that context, I found it frustrating to simply watch the main character joust with his jerk sister.

That said, I am only one Hugo vote, and others who vote did want this to win, so it did.

Anyone who wants to vote next year . . .  it is super easy.  Just pay $40 to become a "supporting member" of the 2015 convention.  This should be the link:

https://sasquan.swoc.us/sasquan/reg.php

Cheers!

[dSlacker]

A lovely tale but I did not vote for it to win the Hugo because I didn't think it was anything special and I am not a fan of stories where something crazy is happening but the author doesn't explore it beyond using it as a narrow plot device. 

In this case we have a world in which lying causes rain and different shades of fibs cause the relative humidity to change.  That is pretty crazy and has huge implications

This sums up my take on the story as well - and in this light it is exactly as the future-seeing Scott in the author's other story [1]. They could even be a set in the same universe.

"EP412: Thirty Seconds From Now" [http://escapepod.org/2013/09/05/ep412-thirty-seconds-from-now/]

[Unblinking]

This sums up my take on the story as well - and in this light it is exactly as the future-seeing Scott in the author's other story [1]. They could even be a set in the same universe.

"EP412: Thirty Seconds From Now" [http://escapepod.org/2013/09/05/ep412-thirty-seconds-from-now/]

In Thirty Seconds From Now, water didn't fall on you from nowhere when you lied.  So, it's not the same world unless it is before the water started falling, in which case it's indistinguishable from the world we actually live in.

[Scatcatpdx]

I deleted it off my mp3 player only after a third way though; thats my opinion.

[Unblinking]

I deleted it off my mp3 player only after a third way though; thats my opinion.

I think that's a fact rather than an opinion.  Can you elaborate on what moved you to stop listening?

[Scatcatpdx]

I deleted it off my mp3 player only after a third way though; thats my opinion.

I think that's a fact rather than an opinion.  Can you elaborate on what moved you to stop listening?

It came across as just a Gay romance story than science fiction. Its not my thing.  I not going to kowtow  to political  correctness, if that what your getting at.   

[SpareInch]

It came across as just a Gay romance story than science fiction. Its not my thing.

Fair enough on that score.

  I not going to kowtow  to political  correctness, if that what your getting at.   

I still don't see what is Politically Correct about this story. Just being about gay men does not make it PC. It's just a story about some of the sorts of people who exist in the real world. So long as you have a sound, non prejudiced reason for not liking something, that's fine. I imagine if someone objected to a story simply because it was about a gay couple, that would be overstepping the bounds, but not liking Magic Realism Romance is quite reasonable.

[bounceswoosh]

It came across as just a Gay romance story than science fiction. Its not my thing.

Fair enough on that score.

  I not going to kowtow  to political  correctness, if that what your getting at.   

I still don't see what is Politically Correct about this story. Just being about gay men does not make it PC. It's just a story about some of the sorts of people who exist in the real world. So long as you have a sound, non prejudiced reason for not liking something, that's fine. I imagine if someone objected to a story simply because it was about a gay couple, that would be overstepping the bounds, but not liking Magic Realism Romance is quite reasonable.

I agree it's not a PC story, but I also think people have a right to their opinions. If someone doesn't like a story because it has gay characters, that's how they feel - and their loss. On so many levels.

[Unblinking]

It came across as just a Gay romance story than science fiction. Its not my thing.  I not going to kowtow  to political  correctness, if that what your getting at.  

I wasn't getting at anything.  I was just interested in hearing more than "I stopped listening" because that's not really a basis for conversation. Fair enough to not be into gay romance stories, or romance stories in general.

"Political correctness" is a loaded term in itself.  No one self-describes as politically correct, and it seems to only be used an insult.  I'd be happy if I never heard the phrase again.

[bounceswoosh]

Sorry for all the dupes. Could an editor clean that up?

[Varda]

Sorry for all the dupes. Could an editor clean that up?

Sure, I gotcha covered.

[Unblinking]

Sorry for all the dupes. Could an editor clean that up?

Sure, I gotcha covered.

That looked way too easy.  Could an editor give me a pony?

[Varda]

That looked way too easy.  Could an editor give me a pony?

Well, we could build you one...

[CryptoMe]

You know how Gus is "training," saying things that are only kind-of true and then enduring the resulting existential despair? What if the point of this training is to be able to say things that are true... but truer, kind of like how you don't necessarily train your body by doing exactly what you plan to do with it, but sometimes by isolating that muscle and training the hell out of it. If anyone could figure this out, it's philosophy-reading personal-training Gus.

Yes, Gus was definitely holding on to the ambivalent existential angst as long as he could so that he would have to say something very very true (or very very false). That was the point of the "game" that people developed. The longer you held out after saying something ambivalent the more extreme your next pronouncement had to be and the stronger the reaction and relief was. But I don't think Gus was training. I think he just wanted the MC to be with him to see the absolute truth of his "I love you" statement. It was his way of getting the MC to believe him.

As to my opinion of the story, I liked it. It was fun to listen to. But, I do have 2 small beefs.
1) I wish there had been more information on where/how/why this WTFOYFNW phenomenon came to be.
2) The ending was just a bit too muddy for me and I wasn't exactly sure what the point at the end was.
But that's just me. And these only impacted my enjoyment of the story a little bit.