Mr Eley’s voice added a lot to the story, I enjoyed it very much.

Non-plot based stories can work, if they’re original or funny or full of memorable characters. But I struggled to find anything original here. The Union Dues stories, for a start, have already covered this kind of ground in great detail.

Super-hero stories only work when, well, they’re stories. Just the fact of talking about super-heroes from a more ordinary, real-life, perspective is not enough. Besides, The Watchmen did it much better over twenty years ago.

Tim Pratt is clearly a very good writer. But, Steve, I think once again you need to exercise more editorial control and recognise a weak idea (albeit written well, masquerading as a story.

Nice retro fun here. My favorite parts were the misdirections of our expectations and the Aerialist’s own compromises. The misdirections? Classic comic style. The compromises? Very Alan Moore. I think by the end, neither brother really has any high ground to hold.

Again this podcast proves, that great personality and love for detail is the best thing to elevate such a controversial genre like SciFi to the level it deserves and keep it relevant, active and appealing in a world of masspleasing multimedia monopolies.

It´s really good to hear your voice again, Mr. Eley… well, you accompany me since two years now and give me inspiration and motivtion to stay curious about what´s going on out there… and in there too.
Usually I am not the fanboy-type, I try to choose my “heroes” very carefully, but I already consider you family.
May you and the whole EP-team keep this amazing dream machine alife.
I try to contribute my part and spread the word.

My best wishes to you all
Gunhead

Mr. Eley, its great to have you back. I hope that your newly chosen administration does well. Most especially, I hope that you are happy with what is happening in your life and your work. Many thousands of us have come to expect your voice telling us the goings on in our little fantasy worlds, so our intergalactic space voyage would be quite lost in the void with you to captain the ship. I have started to ramble a bit too far out of normal boundaries so I’m just going to shut up now.

Sincerely,
The Blaine Boy

being able to edit post would make this monkey a bit happier about use this dump keyboard…

Anyways back to trying to bang-out “Hamlet”.

Which I guess is my rant: Bad guys aren’t bad guys anymore. It seems writers are pulling their punches, or simple don’t have what it takes to write truly bad evil-doers. (The Joker in the “dark knight” being the exception). Too many villains have their sharp edges wrapped in nerf padding or are simply “misunderstood”. Maybe the problem is that our heroes are so impotent that a real bad-guy would simple wipe the floor with them.

Give me a bad guy with teeth, real teeth, pointed and sharp, ready to tear our hero’s flesh from bone. Some one that whom it will take more than sticks-and-stones to defeat. A monster in thought and dead!

Just mu $.02.

Welcome back.

Dammit, I want to see this guy in the Union Dues universe now. Crossover madness! ( :

Second: simultaneous congratulations, thanks, and good luck to the new managing editor. Escape Pod looms large in the brief history of podcast fiction; I expect Mr. Tolbert will prove worthy of the honor and challenge he’s been given.

Third: very good story. I wish the twist had come a little closer to the end, because I had a good idea where things were headed once the narrator lost his family, but this was excellent to that point and decent after. Actually, it kind of reminds me of the “Iron Man” film: a fresh and engaging origin story in the first half, and standard formula thereafter.