personally, i thought it was great. there are some excellent stories on here, but this was the first i listened to more than once. well-written, creepy, and disturbing. perfect.

way to much time spent on card game development and none on character development. in the end i didnt care about any of them and it didnt matter who would die(was hoping for all).

guy who is being immolated responds to request for pizza with “nah, im good”… seriously?…

Okay, I was going to write how, while I liked the story without scratching too deep at the surface, I felt like there was a little bit more going on than I could get, like a Neil Gaiman or Michael Moorcock story (and you may consider that a compliment). That last message you posted pretty much jerked everything into focus. Thanks!

As far as the story on its own, I liked the idea of a CCG that seemed to incorporate Tarot elements, at least in theme. I liked how the game seemed to be more of a personal matter between the four, and I thought that the game itself was something sinister, as the players switched traits as they built their personalities from items in the deck.

And, while I don’t play CCGs but I know people who do, I could see why they’d want to come back again and again, even if sometimes they didn’t want to.

Now, as far as the dangers of symbols and architecture, I’d love to hear you elaborate on this a bit more…I mean, yes, there is a danger of repetition or internalization when reading fantasy, just ask the kids who try to fly like Superman, but I got the sense that you were aiming for something a bit more than that.

which is, this story talks about narrative fiction, and the dangers of symbols, the dangers of reading and absorbing this architecture into your own being, your own person.

I’m glad some people really enjoyed it, since I knew it was different and not an easy thing to write. Might write a blog post later this week on defending the technique and structure to Light Like Knives….

As far as the story itself, I found the angle interesting, but as a whole it didn’t quite grab me. I couldn’t relate to the characters when their behavior is controlled by cards that they themselves control, in a dangerous, largely ungratifiying (it would seem) game they can choose not to partake in. I suppose one could see it all as an allegory for addiction, but within this story I just didn’t feel that any one of the characters was someone “real.” Just my take.

That was just like this story, but with a little kinky sex involved. it wasn’t enough to elevate it to horror, or even something entertaining. Print this, and sell copies at the next Magic The Gathering tourney. You’ll make some beer money off those hopeless, socially retarded morons.

Glad everyone enjoyed it so much…

BTW, did anyone else catch a couple references to the work of Umberto Eco? I wonder how many other references I missed? Maybe I’m just hallucinating again.

Psuedopod really is a great thing. Definitely browse through the archives, I did. And was happy.