EP Review: X-Men 3
A film by Brett Ratner.
Reviewed by Jonathon Sullivan.
EP Flash: Paul Bunyan and the Photocopier
Show Notes
Rated G. Objects in story may be larger than they appear.
Paul Bunyan and the Photocopier
by Larry Hammer
Well, the time came Paul Bunyan had a pretty successful thing going with his lumber business. Fact is, the first year his company went public, the stock price doubled, and it went up fifty percent each of the three years after that. Mind you, this made Paul a target for corporate raiders. Why, the battle he had with Bluebeard is a yarn and a half–but that’s another tale. This is the story of what happened when Paul Bunyan’s secretary went on vacation.
Escape Pod 59: Anyone Can Whistle
Show Notes
Rated PG. Contains innuendo and some violence.
Referenced sites:
Guild Wars
John W. Campbell Award
Chronigma (David Walton’s puzzles)
2006 Podcast Awards
(Technical Note: Argh. I got feedback today that the iTunes feed was grabbing the wrong file — and sure enough, it was. It worked fine when I tested it, but Feedburner must have changed something at some later point. I’m sorry for the confusion two weeks in a row, and my apologies if you get this story twice.)
Anyone Can Whistle
by David Walton
In the center of the room, on a platform, was our Dokja–not the humanoid body she took in VR, but a blue mass of flesh with dry fish-like skin that pulsated as she breathed. She had no definitive shape, no arms or legs or tentacles, or even a face. Her only prominent feature was a taut membrane stretched tightly over an opening at the top of her body. One section of that membrane was covered over with an elaborate breathing apparatus, and the familiar array of VR electrodes were attached to what must have been her central nervous system.
I felt ill just looking at her. But I knew therapy would readjust my feelings.
Escape Pod 58: Shadowboxer
Show Notes
Rated R. Contains violence, some sexual content, and disturbing themes.
Referenced sites:
Podsafe Music Network
Musical guest: Andy Guthrie.
(Technical Note: To everyone who caught the incomplete file this morning — my deep apologies. The upload got cut off and I failed to test properly. Here’s the full version.)
Shadowboxer
by Paul Di Filippo
Generally speaking, I need only three minutes of concentrated attention to kill someone by staring at them. If I’m feeling under the weather, or my mind is preoccupied with other matters–you know how your mind can obsess about trivial things sometimes–it might take five minutes for my power to have its effect. On the other hand, if I focus intensely on my victim I can get the job done in as little as ninety seconds.
…Now the nation is at war. Or so we’re told. I guess that changes everything. A person like me becomes much more important.
Escape Pod 57: Chuckles Mulrooney, Attorney for the Damned
Show Notes
Rated R. Contains profanity, violence, clowns, and violence against profane clowns.
Referenced sites:
Infection – A Podcast Novel
2006 Hugo Ballot
Chuckles Mulrooney, Attorney for the Damned
By Scott Sigler
After a decade of ceaseless writing struggle, Satan had come to him in — of all places — the soup aisle at Meijer’s grocery store. There was no fire and brimstone, no tail, no horns, not even that cool hipster pointy goatee the devil always sported in the movies. He was actually kind of fat, and wore a three-piece suit with Gucci shoes. He didn’t look at all like Satan — he looked more like Dom Delouise posing as a lawyer.
Welcome!
Escape Pod is a weekly podcast bringing you fun short science fiction and fantasy. You can listen at your computer, on any MP3 player, or subscribe to receive each episode. We pay our authors, but we’re always free to listen.
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Escape Pod 56: The Clockwork Atom Bomb
Show Notes
Rated R. Contains profanity and some violence.
Referenced sites:
2006 Hugo Nominees
The Balticon Podcast
Michael & Evo’s Slice of SciFi
Rock & Roll Monster Bash
The Clockwork Atom Bomb
by Dominic Green
The wind in here was deafening. The girl had to shout. “THERE IS MORE THAN ONE IN HERE. THEY LIVE IN THE MACHINES. THE GOVERNMENT MADE THE MACHINES, BUT NOT WITH TECHNICIANS AND ELECTRICIANS. WITH SORCERY.”
The machines did not look made by sorcery. They were entirely silent, looking like rows of gigantic, rusted steel chess pawns twice the height of a man, with no pipes or wires entering or leaving them, apparently sitting here unused for any purpose. Mativi felt an urgent, entirely rational need to be in an another line of employment.
Return from Balticon 40 and news
Apologies for the silence; many of us spent the weekend at Balticon 40 talking about podcasting, editing, scotch, and “Hey, I saw Neil Gaiman in the hallway!”
Latest news:
Tour Asia in 2007! China is hosting an International SF/Fantasy Conference in Chengdu, August 24-27, 2007. This coincides nicely with WorldCon in Nippon, scheduled for August 30-September 3. There are even direct flights from Chengdu to Tokyo. No site link, but the full press release is at the Emerald City Weblog.
If you didn’t get to see Serenity as many times as you’d hoped in the theater, many cities are screening it again on Joss Whedon’s birthday (June 23 for all of you non-obsessed fans). Learn more here.
Pern Movie!
Anne McCaffrey’s (why is it never “Hugo-winning novelist, Anne McCaffrey”?) rich world of telepathic dragons is finally coming to a movie house near you. SciFi Wire reports that Copperheart Entertainment will be adapting it to the movies.
This makes me want to send a note back in time to my 15 year old self and say, “Just be patient. It will come.”
Escape Pod 55: Down Memory Lane
Show Notes
Rated G.
Referenced sites:
2006 Hugo Nominees
World Science Fiction Convention
L.A.Con IV
TellTale Weekly — Clarion Foundation Fundraiser
Hooting Yard Benevolent Fund for Distressed Out of Print Pamphleteers
Down Memory Lane
by Mike Resnick
I don’t know where I was when Kennedy was shot. I don’t know what I was doing when the World Trade Center collapsed under the onslaught of two jetliners. But I remember every single detail, every minute, every second, of the day we got the bad news.
“It may not be Alzheimer’s,” said Dr. Castleman. “Alzheimer’s is becoming a catchword for a variety of senile dementias. Eventually we’ll find out exactly which dementia it is, but there’s no question that Gwendolyn is suffering from one of them.”