PseduoPod 315: Bad Company
Show Notes
Links to the books mentioned at the end of the episode:
Paul Cornell’s Homepage
London Falling on Amazon
Ben Aaronovitch’s Homepage
Rivers of London on Amazon
Gordon Rennie’s Wikipedia entry (His stuff’s brilliant)
Absalom: Ghosts of London on Amazon
Bad Company
by Walter De La Mare
It is very seldom that one encounters what would appear to be sheer unadulterated evil in a human face; an evil, I mean, active, deliberate, deadly, dangerous. Folly, heedlessness, vanity, pride, craft, meanness, stupidity – yes. But even Iagos in this world are few, and devilry is as rare as witchcraft.
One winter’s evening some little time ago, bound on a visit to a friend in London, I found myself on the platform of one of its many subterranean railway stations. It is an ordeal that one may undergo as seldom as one can. The glare and glitter, the noise, the very air one breathes affect nerves and spirits. One expects vaguely strange meetings in such surroundings. On this occasion, the expectation was justified. The mind is at times more attentive than the eye. Already tired, and troubled with personal cares and problems, which a little wisdom and enterprise should have refused to entertain, I had seated myself on one of the low, wooden benches to the left of the entrance to the platform, when, for no conscious reason, I was prompted to turn my head in the direction of a fellow traveler, seated across the gangway on the fellow to my bench some few yards away.
What was wrong with him?
About the Author
Walter de la Mare
Walter John de la Mare OM CH (/?d?l??m??r/; 25 April 1873 – 22 June 1956) was a British poet, short story writer and novelist. He is probably best remembered for his works for children, for his poem “The Listeners”, and for a highly acclaimed selection of subtle psychological horror stories, amongst them “Seaton’s Aunt” and “All Hallows”.
His 1921 novel Memoirs of a Midget won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction, and his post-war Collected Stories for Children won the 1947 Carnegie Medal for British children’s books.
About the Narrator
Paul S. Jenkins
Paul S. Jenkins could be described as a podcast pioneer, hosting the long-since pod-faded Rev Up Review from 2005. Since then he has narrated for Escape Pod, PodCastle, and PseudoPod, has written and published a number of short stories, and is currently settling in to his new status as “gentleman of leisure”. If you feel so inclined you can listen to his debut novel, The Plitone Revisionist, for free, at Scribl.com.
