Really hard to get into the story with the audio quality being what it is.

Thank you for saying what you said.

The outro… I usually look forward to Steve’s outro’s but this one was uncomfortable for listeners like me who enjoy the stories and don’t follow the snarkfest forums, it was unneeded in the body of the actual podcast where everything should be about the artform instead of the politics, and it just seemed like more of a typical snark found in internet forum replies. You don’t see this in other media offering collections of stories and it was wholly unprofessional to bring that conversation into the podcast itself. The outro did nothing but take away from what we are all here for, that being, good and enjoyable stories.

Here’s my suggestion, have the courage to address the conversation where it is, on the forum, and don’t subject your other listeners to it just so you can do it where you are safe from people directly replying to your statement. Sorry, but this just struck me as cowardly and avoiding the actual conversation. I and other listeners like me don’t care what goes on in the forum with all of the pseudo-intellectuals who type just to hear their keyboards click and if you don’t have the courage to address the issue where it lives maybe there shouldn’t be forums in the first place.

Don’t stop Steve…just don’t stop.

I don’t mind a few editing mistakes, it is a free podcast. I guess the same could be said for the audio quality, except that, for the most part, the audio quality of Escape Pod is excellent, so my expectations are high. This actually hurt my ears. I had to turn it off.

Also, I could hear Alasdair bumping the mic, or flipping pages, or clicking the mouse, or whatever the hell he was doing. It was like he recorded this one on his home PC’s webcam mic instead of in the studio. I don’t know what method you guys usually use, but it’s usually better than this.

Anyway, this one was too, too predictable, and once you knew what was going to happen (about a minute in), it was just a matter of wading through the rest of the story.

When it was first written, I’ve no doubt that it was groundbreaking and terrifying, but as you say, Steve, this plot has been recycled ad nauseam, and no longer holds any surprises for even a casual fan of either genre.

No worries, though, I’m not asking for my money back. The best part about EP- if you don’t like this week’s story, there’s always next week’s! Keep ‘em coming and I’ll keep listening.

The story – the audio wasn’t too bad for me, other than the fact that Alisdair never seems to pause where I would between sentences, giving the story an interesting, sometimes confusing rhythm.

I was half expecting Eley, after saying today’s story was by HG Wells, to say that “Mr Wells lives in Milwalkee with his wife and three kids, and has been published in Asimov’s, F&SF, Analog and several of Mike Resnick’s anthologies. This story was originally published in September last year at Strange Horizons.”

9) For the original publishment, ‘Elvesham’ was originally printed in the May edition of The Idler in 1896.

SE could be making millions off this podcast, millions I tell you, but he gives it away for free…because he loves you.

I have my HG Wells book in hand now and am starting page 1 tonight to re-read with that point of view in mind.

1) Why is the audio when Alastair Stuart reads at Escape Pod always so horrible, yet so clear and crisp at Pseudopod?

2) This is actually more fantasy-horror than straight SF horror, but since there is an inclusion of mathematics, I must give it a pass.

3) I deeply enjoy HG Wells, not just for his ideas, but for the deeper, satiric meanings of his work, such as in the War of the Worlds, which is not about alien invasion, but actually about British Imperialism, or that the Time Machine is actually a polemic/examination of the English class structure. Elvesham is no different, being a critique of two-way “charity” in a capitalist society which–I dare say–completely agree with.

4) Oh Eley! Why did you go and express your opinion!

5) Good on you for expressing your opinion; I probably would have done the same.

6) That word to describe the feeling you get when you think of the fire fighters, the rescue workers and all the other persons who were brave enough to risk their lives on 9/11 is ‘humanity.’ Be glad you have it.

7) With that quote at the end, Babylon 5 is now on my to-do list…

Of course its total nonsense that someone would be able to move bodies like that, especially having them change their name and all that; pure stuff and nonsense. I mean, who in the world would take on some sort of name combination like Herbert and George, eh? Can’t think of any George Herberts at all…

/Jules Verne

Haha yeah I pretty much just wanted to say that and I think it’s pretty sick that I can just listen to all these stories for free when I’m drawing or whatever. So, thanks for that.

On the current note, I knew what was going to happen and how it was going to end the minute he said “Take my years”. H.G. Wells was a revolutionary for his time and when he wrote grand stories about people, like War of the Worlds or the Time Machine, they were truly awesome. But when he wrote tiny, point-oriented stories, they were just that, a point and nothing more. It might have sufficed at the time but now I think that time is long gone and I want more meat in my stories.

And yes, the audio quality on this one wasn’t great and there were even some editing glitches along the way. If you could, Mr. Eley, elaborate on some of the behind the scenes work on Escape Pod, I would really appreciate it. Mostly because we’re trying to get the thing going in my home country, Israel.

And finally, thank you very much for that closing quotation. It was exactly what I needed to say to a friend of mine to raise her spirits.

Audio quality wasn’t up to standards, but you gotta love Alasdair Stewart. Give the guy a raise, Steve. He deserves it!

wow
the outro
just wow
steve, you got really angry
dropping the f bomb really surprised me

but way to go steve for standing up for what YOU think is right. i cannot agree with everything you said, but way to go man, its about time you took a stand

I didn’t like the outro so much – sounded indignant and condescending to my ears – I felt like I was a naughty school boy being reprimanded by a stern teacher – if I want that experience, there’s plenty of NPR podcasts out there. Please stay on point? It should be about the short stories and the craft yes?

Side question: did Wells really invent the idea of body-swapping? Wow. The man was more influential than I thought. It’s like someone once said about Shakespeare: all he did was take a bunch of well known phrases and put them together.

As regards outro palaver, rise above it. It’s unnecessary to state a rebuttal, partially ruining such usually enjoyable episodes.

The story itself, I thought was a good choice. It’s an old trope, but a good one and it Mr. Wells played very well to the concepts of old age and how scary it is. I still wonder to some fashion though if it’s not a touch ageist… but then he did switch bodies and didn’t gain the wisdom he would have gotten with age.

Great reading.

And, land sakes, what an Outro! Such passion!

I didn’t follow any of the “discussion” on the Reparations story, so I don’t know what people said and didn’t say. I remember at the time thinking two things: I wouldn’t be surprised if there was an outcry, and what a great story it was.

Moral justification is one thing, and a totally legitimate discussion, but I think you hit the nail on the head. People forget that history is about people. Every “just” war, every moral military action ends up killing people who didn’t deserve it.

A piece of art is not supposed to encompass all relevant thought. It is supposed to stretch out with its truth, whatever that might be. I thought Reparations was incredibly powerful, and whatever day you ran it, I was glad to listen.

And I’m glad for H.G. Wells.

I was surprised how modern the prose sounded, I had expected it to be really dated.

PS – Keep up the good work and consider adding donate via Google checkout button somewhere.

many of the consonants are screetchy

tah puh suh

I can’t listen to it