EP Flash: Nightshift in the Automart

[Russell Nash]

EP Flash: Nightshift in the Automart

By Andrew Gudgel.
Read by Jared Axelrod (of The Voice of Free Planet X)

The doors whooshed open and the Goddess Kali strode up to the counter. She stopped in front of him, grinning wickedly. Straight platinum-blonde hair spilled down over her shoulders and high bare breasts, contrasting with her inky black skin. Jeremy noticed a necklace of tiny, perfectly-formed ceramic skulls hung around her neck.

“Hi, Jeremy.”

“‘Lo, Suzy.”

The Goddess Kali’s eyes flashed red with anger. “Don’t call me that!” Behind her, a whole pantheon wandered the aisles, looking for late-night snacks.


Rated R.  Contains partial nudity, some language, petty crime, and a few gods’ names taken in vain.


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[Thaurismunths]

A fun story to be sure. The baseball bat is a nice touch and I can't wait for implants to evolve so I can get my own hanuman rig.

[Jonathan C. Gillespie]

An amusing little story.  I liked it.

[wakela]

How was this story SF?  You could have told exactly the same story with goths and punks instead of techy Hindu gods.

[Jim]

I liked the part about the boobs. 

[Russell Nash]

How was this story SF?  You could have told exactly the same story with goths and punks instead of techy Hindu gods.

Much of good SF is just taking present day situations and moving them to another time or place so that we can examine it free of present day prejudices or from a different angle.

Most of your good stories are just re-tellings of Shakespeare. Does that mean that they're classic English literature and not modern stroies?

[wakela]

Much of good SF is just taking present day situations and moving them to another time or place so that we can examine it free of present day prejudices or from a different angle.

This could easily spin off into an endless "What is Sci Fi" debate.  Maybe there should be a separate thread for people to discuss this.  Personally, I think the sciency part (future, high technology, space travel, aliens, etc) should be necessary to tell the story.  You are right that authors use the future as a metaphor for the present.  Much of Star Trek TOS was talking about the Vietnam war.   But this story, which I thought was a nice little cute romance, would have been exactly the same if set in the present day.  The only SF concept I could see was "kids use advaced technology for vanity and fashion," but kids are doing that now.  If fact, I might go as far as saying that the story would have had more impact if the Shiva girl had been a goth.  Goth kids are so negative and sullen, that it would be been sweeter to see that veneer broken.

[Ryuujin]

Jim: Who doesn't like boobs? Babies, men, some women. Meh, boobs are generally great.

I have to say though, that I really liked this story. It's something that you don't come across all too often.

And if I may remind you, Wakala: Escape Pod isn't all SF. It's also fantasy and all of the subgenres of both, really. So this one is quite covered.

[scottjanssens]

Most of your good stories are just re-tellings of Shakespeare. Does that mean that they're classic English literature and not modern stroies?

Heck, Shakespeare engaged in a fair bit of retelling himself. 

[greenpix]

hey, after all this story made me join the forums. In the beginning it all sounded a bit odd and confusing but after all it has a great feel to it and just is a very well done episode.   But I agree that without the godesses it would just be quite a pointless story, but the characters add a lot of charm to it. 

[Ken]

I liked the story.  The idea that even with all the tech some fundamental human themes like "boy meets girl" still go on was comforting.

[.Morph.]

I agree that although this story doesnt live up to what some of us have come to expect from the stories made available to us, it still has a charm to it which made it a thoroughly enjoyable listen.
Myself, and im sure others to, have come to like the undercurrent of social commentary which seems to work its way into the stories we see here and i know some people will be disappointed that this story didnt continue in the same vein so i would like to take the time to point out that although this just seems to be a jazzed up "boy meets girl" story, it also holds an important message, which could be called a commentary i suppose, that no matter how far technology advances and how different it makes us seem at the core if our being we are still humans and we will continue to experience things that humans have been experiencing for a very long time.

Oh and yh boobs are great...nt sure how u guys got onto that subject lol

[FNH]

Sci Fi? Yes.

Interesting?  No.

I thought that the story was bland.  Boy meets girls has been done to death.  In that aspect there was nothing new here.  The Sci Fi skin added nothing to that story.

Sorry, my boat was not floated.

[wakela]

which could be called a commentary i suppose, that no matter how far technology advances and how different it makes us seem at the core if our being we are still humans and we will continue to experience things that humans have been experiencing for a very long time.

I thought of this too, but it didn't seem like it was that far into the future.  An SF boy meets girl story should have them on different planets and communicating via virtual spacephone, or one of them be dead but her mind has been loaded into a computer, or one of them be an alien.  I've hung out with punks at a Burger King, and I did it 15 years ago!

[.Morph.]

Who knows how far into the future it could be? I mean look at convenience stores these days....they have the worst of the technology thats going so who knows what the rest of the worlds outside the doors are like?
Thats another thing i liked about this story....it left enough blanks for your mind to fill in any which way it pleases.

[fiveyearwinter]

I thought this story was great! Very funny - reminded me of a scenario from one of the sourcebooks of Shadowrun - the whole thing takes place in a ridiculous convenience store. Very funny!

[BSWeichsel]

I liked the story thought it was simple enough to just be  astory and enjoy it sometimes its nice to have a story thats not all action and just chill a normal sort of story that you can just sit back and relax and not have to think to hard.

At least thats what I liked about this story how just laided back and chill it was.

[Anarkey]

I really enjoyed this piece.  (See, I can be positive.)  In particular, I liked the concept of being a teen as finding a persona and finding a group willing to believe your persona, regardless of how ludicrous. 

"Nightshift in the Automart" was easily digestible, entertaining and funny.  Perfect for flash fiction.

[sirana]

This one really worked for me. I like the Hindu-Gods-as-newest-trend idea and the characters were well developed for a flash piece and made me care about them.

[Planish]

I liked the story.  The idea that even with all the tech some fundamental human themes like "boy meets girl" still go on was comforting.

That's what I got from it too. "Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose." The tech facade and roleplaying did not completely overshadow the "normal" interaction.

Somehow I also thought of the "Scorpion" rigs in Samuel R. Delaney's Dahlgren.

[Unblinking]

Fun, fluffy, flash.  I liked this glimpse at the future of body mods where people are self-proclaimed deities.  It's not one that will be forever memorable, but not bad at all.