Re this story. I too am a bit behind, but I liked it well enough. I think I preferred her Single White Farmhouse better though.

It will take a couple of time of listens to analyze this story and the symbolics. Great story and great reading!

I loved how early-on Heather kept ramping up the absurdity if The Girl’s “infestation” from the completely mundane insect parasites, up through the improbable wildlife, until finally we got to the Volcanic Diarhea when even our completely down-to-earth protagonist had to admit something very strange was going on.

I loved how the story kept me guessing. I never expected that it would be his neighbors who would pay the price for this strange relationship. I never expected her to take the dog with her.

And a screeching case of poison oak, fleas, and wood ticks followed by getting buried to your neck in snow feel like appropriate consequences for dumping a nature spirit.

Both of the stories by Heather Shaw run in Escape Pod have been inventive, unpredictable, wonderfully executed and wildly imaginative. I’d be glad to hear anything else she’s written.

The ending did seem a little weak but that might have been exacerbated by the rest of the story keeping me wondering what in the heck was going to happen next!

BTW: On the “kid speaking” front. According to family lore, my mom didn’t say a word until she was almost 5. Then out of the blue she walked up to her mom in the kitchen and began voicing her opinion on something in complete sentences and paragraphs. Nearly startled her mom to death.

Kids … apparently one size does NOT fit all.

Some folks really like abstract art, but it’s not my cup of tea. So I was very glad to hear this week’s episode was one of the Union Dues series, which most certainly _is_ my cup of tea.

In this last intro you gave us listeners a lot of you and Anna. I feel honored and special for knowing about your sons development, both joyful and concerned.

The fact that you did in a Podcast for all to hear amazes me. I could not even tell my closest family about my daughters slow reading development. Again I feel honoured.

My daughters reading is fine now though. Letting her listen to Escape Pod sure has peaked her interest in fantastic stories like yours as well.

I liked your words about Escape Pod CDs and in particular: Daikaiju CDs!!! at the end….

I’m now on your $5.00/month list

To enjoy scifi/fantasy you have to extend your imagination, but I think there is a limit (probably different for everyone) to how far you are willing to extend before things are too bizarre. This story crossed that line for me.

Nevertheless, keep up the good work.

There are no bad writers, only bad execution.

Furthermore, there have been several accounts in history of bad executions of bad writers.

I think there are several ways to dislike a story, and sometimes (as I did) you force yourself to listen through to prove something to yourself (probably not a good indicator for my sanity) then comment, and sometimes you just turn it off and never think on it again.

I had a strong gut reaction to Single White Farmhouse, and forced myself through this one in order to evaluate it – I had exactly the same reaction to the sicklyness and lack of any new ideas – It’s like listening to an album by Enya when you’ve got a hankering for Neil Young.

I would lay fair money that a sizeable proportion of listeners just stopped this one after the “and then they made love” tedium – whereas a story like Nano Comes To Clifford Falls engaged people enough that they had to finish it and were often driven to comment negatively.

I stand by what I said – bad, bad writer.

I think you’re being too quick to assume that everyone else shares your view of the story.

I think that the lack of comments is more indicative of the fact that the story didn’t stir up many strong feelings – either for OR against. You know, people didn’t love it enough to say so or hate it enough to complain about it.

Fair comment?

The reduction by almost an order of magnitude in the number of comments this week suggests i’m not the only one who finds her sentimentality brings them out in hives.

Steve – You’ve been blazing a high quality trail lately mate, Pseudopod is also maturing nicely… Good stuff and good luck with your son.

My thoughts are with you concerning your toddler. Sometimes I think Children who don’t speak as soon as us adults would like them to, do so simply because they choose not too. I think they hold on to something that adults are sometimes too quick to forget: how wonderful and awe inspiring it is to be a child. Once they get their full enjoyment out of this time of their lives they will decide when they are ready to move to the next step. That‚Äôs when the questions you won’t know how to answer will start.

Good luck and, again, my thoughts are with you.

But it was still very enjoyable, and the descriptions of the “dryad” were top-notch. I also like the reference to her being so wrapped up in love that the seasons went awry.

Any space based thrillers in the pipeline?

Maybe your toddler has developed his own language, a sophisticated phonetic language with certain high pitched sounds inaudible to most adults and isn’t quite ready to degrade his abilities to use our grownup-speak.

Don’t worry Steve i had the same thing when i was a toddler…and i turned out alright

PS
How does he like the Toddler room?

So I went googling and really couldn’t make sense of the return list. FYI the search string “sci-fi” podcast “short stories” brings back EscapePod as #1!
I’ve been to podiobooks and got some good stuff there (Different Point of View, Brave Men Run, Voices) but it’s mostly novels. So I’m hoping some of the other listeners here can tell me about a podcast or two that will scratch my itch.
One good sci-fi podcast is Tales from the ‘Verse (Firefly/Serenity fan fiction) http://talesfromtheverse.libsyn.com/rss

One fun comicbook type, very much in the style of “Union Dues” but from the villian pov, is How to Succeed in Evil http://succeedinevil.com/?feed=rss2&cat=6