Comments on: Escape Pod Flash Fiction Contest, Honorable Mention: From Liquid to Glass

By: jabberwocky

jabberwocky — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 22:24:41 +0000

This is a short story that is an all to real foreshadowing warning of how we as a culture could be going.

By: Emilia Cruz

Emilia Cruz — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 12:45:59 +0000

Very good, short but extremely deep and touchable expression of feelings.

By: The Fix | From the Podosphere: December 2008

The Fix | From the Podosphere: December 2008 — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 16:22:56 +0000

[...] “From Liquid to Glass” by J. R. Blackwell (read by Rachel Swirsky) is extremely short—just enough words to set up a scenario (a woman takes on a substitute for her unfaithful lover) before effectively undermining it. [...]

By: Steve

Steve — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 04:57:51 +0000

AHHHH! Okay, I got excited about this one… not THAT kind of excited… because I loved the way she cheapened the male persona. She turned him completely into a farce, a generic joke, a complete robot if you will. But then to make him an actual robot ruined it. Okay, I know you have to tie it into SF somehow but… Frustration at its zenith.

By: Rachel

Rachel — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 06:42:54 +0000

Also, the only time I ever entered a ChiZine contest, I totally didn’t get anywhere either.

By: Rachel

Rachel — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 06:42:27 +0000

Hi Scatter,

That's not an unfair question. However, I can rebut your premise a bit:

1) It's true that a lot of the names you're seeing around the place have become familiar, such as mine and Ann Leckie's. However, neither of us had ever interacted with Escape Pod before the contest. We both signed on to work with Escape Pod after the contest, when Steve had observed our work and thought we were interesting people.

2) There are a few honorable mentions and winners who haven't worked with Escape Pod before or since. For instance: Gideon Fostick and Jeffrey Valka (whose honorable mention, "Tooth Fairy," appeared recently on PodCastle).

So while I do see your point, and I understand how you came to that conclusion, it's really not what's going on.

By: scatterbrain

scatterbrain — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 23:07:39 +0000

Not entirely original one must say, but while it is brilliantly written, there is this feeling of dred I have that Escapepod let all of its friends have all the prizes and HMs. I entered a contest at Chizine a while back; didn’t even get on to the HM list, but the top three were all well-known with websites and isfdb pages and the like, no new discoveries at all. One must wonder…

By: Martin R

Martin R — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 21:36:10 +0000

Yeah, good story and good read! Though I wonder if I’d really be in the mood for a fleshbot if I spent the whole time tight-lippedly staring into space.

By: tjhart

tjhart — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 14:15:36 +0000

the voices enterpretation was as artfull as painter with brush. the intense reading and soft tone also enhanced the idea with orgasmic result. great reading rachael.

By: Raving_Lunatic

Raving_Lunatic — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 21:44:35 +0000

Well done to Rachael and the Podcastle team, this turnover is miraculous!

Anyways, the story was good. It deserved a mention, at least.