EP037: Craphound
Published by SFEley on 19 Jan 2006 at 6:32 am.
17 Comments.
Filed under Podcasts, Rated PG.
By Cory Doctorow.
Read by Jesse Thorn (of The Sound of Young America).
Craphound beat me out the door, as usual. His exoskeleton is programmable, so he can record little scripts for it like: move left arm to door handle, pop it, swing legs out to running-board, jump to ground, close door, move forward. Meanwhile, I’m still making sure I’ve switched off the headlights and that I’ve got my wallet.
Rated PG. Contains some profanity. That’s it, really.
Referenced sites:
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Sal on 19 Jan 2006 at 8:54 am: 1
Yay Cory! Is this Escape Pod’s most famous/published featured writer so far?
J. R. DeRego on 19 Jan 2006 at 9:17 am: 2
It won’t download for me
Len on 19 Jan 2006 at 9:26 am: 3
So its not just me. Was going to listern on the way home as well.
J. R. DeRego on 19 Jan 2006 at 9:30 am: 4
I had to download it manually (which isn’t really a problem, just unexpected).
Also, do I have deja vu or did I read this story a couple of years ago in F&SF or Asimovs or even way back in Science Fiction Age? I know I read it, a long time ago, but when??
CrazyDave on 19 Jan 2006 at 10:40 am: 5
Accroding to Croy http://craphound.com/000140.html it’s been published in * Year’s Best Science Fiction XVI, Griffin, 1999 * Northern Suns, Tor, 1999 * Podcast, Escape Pod, January 2006
It doesn’t mention any magazines, but then it doesn’t mention “A Place So Foriegn and Eight More”.
I’m looking forward to listening to this on the tube home tonight.
SFEley on 19 Jan 2006 at 11:03 am: 6
I’m sorry about the earlier download issues, guys. Please try it again — it should work. The problem was with the tracking service we use. Their server went down, and since it relied on redirects, that meant nobody could get to our stuff… I’ve taken all the tracking links out from all of our files until I get some assurance from them that it’s not just fixed, but fixed.
On the story itself: Your memory’s good, Jeffry. I totally forgot to mention that it was first published in the late great Science Fiction Age in 1998. And yes, since then it’s been in a few anthologies (Northern Suns is a good one, BTW), not to mention all over the place online thanks to the Creative Commons license.
Len on 19 Jan 2006 at 11:23 am: 7
No still not working for me but I am using a work computer so it may be me.
J. R. DeRego on 19 Jan 2006 at 11:57 am: 8
AHA!!!! I knew I wasn’t dreaming it Steve! Thanks!
al saiz on 20 Jan 2006 at 1:36 am: 9
Masterful, just plain Masterful. The Craphound is a perfect story, has to be my new favorite.
rob on 20 Jan 2006 at 8:25 am: 10
i get a server error everytime i try to download! HELP!
SFEley on 20 Jan 2006 at 9:11 am: 11
Argh. I’m sorry about that, Rob. Please try it one more time.
Jesse Thorn on 23 Jan 2006 at 7:53 pm: 12
Thanks for giving me the chance to read this, Stephen. What a story, huh?
Brad P. from NJ on 24 Jan 2006 at 12:26 pm: 13
This was a great story, and Jesse did a great job reading.
I need to listen to this story a couple of more times, because I get the feeling that there’s layers upon layers of story here… and I’ve only gotten a couple of ‘em.
Jack Mangan on 2 Feb 2006 at 1:10 pm: 14
It is a great, masterfully-written story. Wonderful reading too, Jesse! I recently listened to Steve Martin reading one of his books - - very similar tone and delivery. Well done indeed.
Simon on 4 Feb 2006 at 9:04 pm: 15
A goodie
Howie Feltersnatch on 24 Apr 2008 at 9:29 am: 16
Corey Doctorow has the ability to take a subject that you’d think would be really boring, like venture capital or yardsale hunting, and by adding just a few sci-fi elements, turn it into something really amazingly, mind-numbingly boring.
Book Review - Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom on 16 Aug 2008 at 1:54 pm: 17
[...] Cory Doctorow is a superb short fiction writer as well. If you do anything within the next months of your life, I beseech you to check out this book and his futuristic yard sale story “Craphound.” A podcast of it can be found over at Escape Pod. [...]