Score!

I don’t mind full cast audio productions, or sound effects; I just didn’t like the “aw shucks, I’m just a hick” overacting of the narrator. It reminded me of the low-budget motion rides in Las Vegas casinos, the kind with a recorded “host” who tries to engage the kids by acting over-the-top stupid.

One small (really, REALLY teeny) quibble: this is the second story in which the word “cache” was mispronounced “cash-A” (rhymes with sashay). It’s “CASH” (like money). “Cachet” is pronounced “cash-A,” but it means a totally different thing.

The Wichita thing has been done to death in the preceding 52 comments, so i wont go into that, lets talk about The Story!

I enjoyed this. It reminded me very very, very strongly of an old Frank Miller comic called Martha Washington Goes To War (and the preceding story Give Me Liberty) – Miller has an obsession with puppet presidents kept alive by technology, a theme he first visited in The Dark Knight Returns, but the post-apoc elements of this story absolutely sing Martha Washington both in style and humour.

To be honest, it’s such a blatant thematic and stylistic rip from Martha that, if the author has read these and knew of the influence when he wrote it, well.. It’s not to his credit. On the other hand, if this was subconscious, then it’s a terrific homage to Miller. If he’s never read Miller (who is, just about, the second most famous comic writer after Alan Moore) then wow, what a meeting of minds.

At the same time, I would just like to say that this ISN’T SF. No real ideas content, and the world isn’t build to sell us a vision. This is escapism, this is hollywood, this is a DC comic.. This is not SF. Fun.. But not SF.

I love the accent, but HE just put THE emphasis ON the wrong words.

As to the rich production, I thought it was lovely, and very appropriately done. I understand why you couldn’t do this all the time, but I’d love to see more of this on an occasional basis.

Sincere thanks for all the work you and your readers put into Escape Pod, and to the authors for supplying their work to you. I thoroughly enjoy it, though I haven’t commented before.

RH

As for the other production — the sound effects, music, etc. — I’m generally a fan, when it’s done well, and I liked most of it this time. There were a couple of places where I had trouble hearing the narration over the background — this was on top of the trouble I was having understanding Wichita’s dialect.

Overall, this was a good story, but I wasn’t thrilled by the presentation.

A.

The story is very chilling, but with Wichita’s cutesy wheezing twang, the suspense and chill was lost. Wichita reading a story like this is too much like watching an empty-headed news bimbo on the six o’clock news tell me a buss full of special education children was driven into an aligator pit and nothing but helmets were recovered…all with a fake plastic smile and false cheer in her voice.

Sound effects, bells and whistles? Keep ‘em. Maybe you could have a spin-off Podplay Podcast. Or Podioplay, or Pod Drama, etc. As for Wichita, if I never hear him narate on here again, that’d be just fine with me.

I had given Escape Pod the right to do whatever they wanted with the story in terms of production. I had even given the author the right to make small changes without consulting me as I was unusually hard to reach.

Having listened to it a couple of times, I have to add, A) I’m flattered that Wichita put so much oomph into the production. B) It’s good for the the writer’s ear to hear his words through unexpected filters. There are changes I intend to make to the story based on Wichita’s read–words and rhythm choices that never would have occurred to me reading the story in my own author’s voice.

I had submitted a first story to Escape Pod with the suggestion that, if accepted, it might be a good one for Wichita to voice. I did not expect him to do this one, but I’m glad he did.

And thank you to everyone for the comments.

Go Escape Pod! Go!

It wouldn’t fit every story, nor would I want the extra production effort to reduce the quantity of stories. I’d rather have an extra EP flash than a highly produced regular.

I have recently been craving more varitey in voices – Wichita fit the bill!

I resisted that impulse and was able to finish the story, it just wasn’t as good as it could have been.

That’s just my opinion; I am a single voice among many.

I’m pretty sure that’s not the type of thing I would look forward to every week, but as a once-in-a-while thing, I don’t mind it so much.

I think I just want something more like ‘reading’ generally.

I don’t have a problem with a few well-placed sound effects, it was the music that I found off-putting.

I don’t suppose you have the audio files available to put up a straight reading as a comparison?

Still, kudos to the escape pod for always moving forward and trying new things. Looking forward to the next download, as always.

Keep up the good work!

The quality stories on Escape Pod don’t need pretty wrapping to make me like them. But, pretty wrapping is nice.

Bottom line: You keep making ‘em, I’ll keep listen’n to ‘em. With or without the frosting.

Now, I wonder if the ‘production’ added or subtracted from the original story. I wonder if the story would still have the same impact without the ‘production’.

Ultimately, excellent story; abivalent about the delivery.

Excellent job this week, though. Everyone I know gets a real kick out of Wichita’s style, and the story was a great choice for it.

People was a-lookin’ at me all funny-like, on account I was smilin’ like I was deranged sittin right there in tha car…

Nother good-un! Thanks Steve.

Sometimes I’m in the mood to listen to radio drama, and but mostly I just like narration.

The accent, the tone, the pace… like nails on a chalkboard (which I am sure many people like as well).

All tastes are unique and the great thing about Escape Pod is that you get something different with every installment. I cannot wait to see what is in store for us next week!

You can find the other Wichita story here. And thanks for reminding me — I just retroactively added that link to the post above.

I’m going to have to go back through the archives to find the other Wichita-read story you mentioned.

Here’s a suggestion: Ask if any of your listeners would be willing to produce one of your stories. They can add their enhancements to one of the older stories as an audition. I don‚Äôt know if you have the means to reward them for their effort, but I‚Äôm willing to bet someone would do one pro bono.

Now, time to listen to that old copy of “War of the Worlds”…