That. was frikkin. AWESOME. I’ve yet to hear a story less than interesting, but that was outstandingly good.

Kudos to Escape Artists for getting thyis stuff out there. And kudos to Alisdair for a great reading.

Love The Dark Humor

Detestable main character that the author presumes we’re going to identify with until, dun-dun-dun!, tables turned, he’s really an asshole, not just snarky, oh, don’t you feel all self questioning now? Maybe you should be nicer to people! Which leaves out a whole set of potential readers who don’t automatically identify with “House”-level snarkiness.

Didn’t like the author’s voice (I’ve read too many jaded, over-verbal “attitude” writers, sorry) — Connect two wildly varying things with some vicious use of overstatement and a “comedic” delivery and hey, presto, it’s like…I don’t know, having to watch a fat, no, dare I say (gotta get that archaic, mannered qualifier in for comedic seasoning), morbidly obese women, a veritable bucket of creosote (there, feeling superior?), trundle (ooh, yeah, nice one) her way across a viaduct as she crushes the screaming bodies of cherubim and seraphim ‘neath her feet. And no one stops to offer her a lift. (memo to self - work a “fuck” or “cunt” into there, if you can). Don’t forget the beautifully observed moment of quiet beauty to prove you’re not such an ogre after all.

Maybe it’s just because I’m old. But somebody get back to me and tell me if they’re still as impressed with writing like this after they reach 40 (or even 35).

And where were the editors? The main character hated the co-worker who always ITCHED his Karl Marx beard? Really? Not ONE editor in the chain said anything?

And sorry, but the usually reliable Alasdair turned in an over-dramatic and far-too mannered reading. Wait, let me try that again. He turned in… an….over-dramatic …and…far…too..mannered…reading. (Repeat that trick a few more times).

Wow, I haven’t actively disliked a Pseudopod story so much since “White Street Society” (and that was more for the potentially good idea handled so ham-fistedly by the writer). Guess they really can’t please everyone!

Thanks for listening.

“The public wants work which flatters its illusions.”

Gustave Flaubert

The story has a couple of plot holes that did me in; I’ve worked in medical imaging for over a decade. The person taking your pictures is almost NEVER the radiologist (who reads the film), and definitely not for an ER clavicular film. The mish-mash of all of medical imaging’s modalities also threw me off.

And yes, many radiologists do not see patients, and have crap-all for a bedside manner… and so they Don’t. See. Patients. They definitely - IME - do NOT give diagnoses to patients, that’s your ER doc or your family physician.

That said, some of the language in the story was great. The visceral descriptions and sheer contemptuous personality of the narrator were excellently written. The central conceit was interesting, but underexplored. Was it madness, or was it something else… something real? How could the narrator (or reader) know?

Coupled with the snark and the plot fact-checking issues, this story gets a solid meh-minus from me. The story itself has promise, but needs lengthened by 50% more at least. I’d love to hear Ben read it, and I’m sure Alasdair’s commentary would be typically amazing.

Kevin

Well done. I’m envious that I didn’t write it. al was the perfect person to read it. I’m going to go listen again, right this minute.

But, I agree with Weirdsmobile about many of the story’s flaws. The “descent into madness” felt more like something I had to assume was there than something that I inferred from the storytelling; after that first magnificent discovery scene, the story’s pacing fell apart. I think my biggest gripe was that it never really explained what the significance of having a soul was, either. I felt like the author was assuming I had a Christian approach to the story and that simply saying someone was “a demon” was enough to send a chill down my spine, albeit a totally harmless, refrigeration-employed demon.

Gripes aside, the story was, as a whole, very strong. As I said, the first scene was magnificent and had me crippled with laughter, and the voice smoothed out its mid-story wrinkles halfway through the climactic scene as well. The one thing that will stick with me most from this story is the image of God as a fish-like leviathan swimming through the magma in the depths of the earth.

If this is the kind of offbeat, original story that is going to be on podcast before anything else, I think printed media has a problem. Thank you for that deeply funny, deeply scary venture, with probably the best reading I have ever heard, on any podcast. The rambling pieces of the story could have fallen flat, but just felt excellent with Alasdair layering them with a full jar of Smucker’s smirky world-weariness. That was one hell of a horror fiction sundae.

Pardon me, but I have to go develop some chest pains in need of immediate x-ray…and maybe I can steal a look at them while I’m there.

I hate to be the “meh” guy for my first comment on a Pseudopod story, but that’s my honest response to “Radiodemonology.” The beginning of the story was promising. The amusingly snarky doctor was amusingly snarky. Unfortunately, the story didn’t progress much from there.

I also hate to be the “I saw the twist coming a mile away” guy, but in this case, I think I saw pretty much the entire story coming a mile away. Is there anyone who listened to this story who wasn’t two steps ahead of it the whole way? The evil-seeming guy has a soul, but the perfectly benign-seeming guy has no soul. Groan. And then the doctor can’t find his own soul. Double groan.

And finally, I hate to be the “this food is terrible, and such small portions” guy, but this was a very, very thinly written story. The doctor’s descent into madness (did I mention groan?) is overly hasty and poorly motivated, making the gruesome finale less than credible — especially given the character’s repeatedly stated aversion to touching bodies. I can’t speak for how other people feel about cracking open their own chests, but I’m not especially body-fearful and it would take a pretty extreme degree of psychosis to make me do something like that to myself.

This is a tale that had some potential for dark humor, and I can’t fault the author’s style — the writing itself was engaging enough to keep me listening to the end — but for me, it just didn’t overcome its basic pitfalls of an overly familiar premise and predictable story beats. I get the feeling this story was primarily motivated by an unpleasant experience at the doctor’s office. It’s a revenge fantasy that comes off like an extended lawyer joke.

(Btw, was anyone vaguely reminded by this story of the classic Harlan Ellison story, “Adrift Just Off the Islets of Langerhans”?)