CoW Ep. 195: Staff Pick 2015 – The Tale of the White Tiger

[danooli]

Episode 195: Staff Pick 2015 – The Tale of the White Tiger by Donald Jacob Uitvlugt

Narrated by Tracey Yuen
Audio production by Rikki LaCoste
Originally published in Interstellar Fiction (May 2013).

Every year in January, Cast of Wonders takes the month off to recharge our batteries, plan the year ahead, and highlight some of our favourite episodes. As part of joining the Escape Artists family, this year we’re pulling out all the stops. We’re running 10 staff pick episodes over the month, each one hosted by a different member of the Cast of Wonders crew.

We hope you enjoy editor and host Marguerite Kenner’s favorite story from 2015, The Tale of the White Tiger by Donald Jacob Uitvlugt and narrated by Tracey Yuen. The story originally aired July 5, 2015 as Episode 168.

Blind Li Xiao surveyed the marketplace. The sensor net embedded in his storyteller's robes fed signals directly to his brain. The citizenship transponders exactly matched the number of heat signatures. A world firmly loyal to the Empire, then. Or one too afraid to act otherwise.

Click here to listen to Episode 195
Click here to read the text of the story

Original Episode 168 Notes:
Donald Jacob Uitvlugt lives on neither coast of the United States, but mostly in a haunted memory palace of his own design. His short fiction has appeared in numerous print and online venues, such as Necrotic Tissue and the Wily Writers podcast, as well as the anthology Techno-Goth Cthulhu. He regularly serves as a judge at the weekly one-on-one writing competition at The Writers Arena. He strives to write what he calls “haiku fiction,” stories that are small in scale but big in impact. If you enjoy this story, you could let him know at his website or via Twitter.

Your narrator this week is Tracey Yuen. Tracey lives in Singapore, which he encourages you to realize is not a part of China but a separate country with a multi-ethnic society of which Chinese speaking people are one component.

Tags: adventure, Cast of Wonders, Chinese literature, Eight Hundred Systems, pirates, Rikki LaCoste, romance, Science Fiction, space ships, Staff Pick, Tracey Yuen, wuxia, Young Adult fiction

[Unblinking]

I enjoyed this, I am a sucker for a story-within-a-story format.

[Tango Alpha Delta]

I started listening, and went, "Heyyyy... I recognize this one!" Then the light went on and I went, "Alright! I recognize this one!"

Very enjoyable second listen. This story has some elements in common with one of my favorite Escape Pod stories, too: The Tale of the Golden Eagle, by David D. Levine. I wouldn't change anything about either story, but while listening, my mind was ticking over all of the places where a line or two of story could be expanded into a full story of its own. I imagine I would be quite happy traveling around with Blind Li Xiao.

[Marguerite]

Very enjoyable second listen. This story has some elements in common with one of my favorite Escape Pod stories, too: The Tale of the Golden Eagle, by David D. Levine. I wouldn't change anything about either story, but while listening, my mind was ticking over all of the places where a line or two of story could be expanded into a full story of its own. I imagine I would be quite happy traveling around with Blind Li Xiao.

I REEEEEALY hope we get more tales from this author in this universe, I'm head over heels for this story!

---Marguerite

[Devoted135]

Loved it! Would definitely jump on a chance to hear the further (or previous) adventures of these characters!