Drabblecast 215 - Dread Unlocks

[StalinSays]

Feature: Dread Unlocks by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Drabble: The Story Teller by Steven Lidster



Friday, August 26, 2011
Okay, no one expects eldritch horror in LA. Not that I know what eldritch horror really is. My old boyfriend (about fifteen boyfriends back) called anything that inspired dread “eldritch horror.” I guess that would describe my entire job, really...

Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Clowns, Bunnies & Other Scary Things
Art by Bo Kaier
Music by Gringo Motel and Norm Sherman

[tbaker2500]

Nice episode! Great to have another Connor episode. I didn't get all the movie references, but that's ok.
Art was another bangup job by Bo!
The drabble was profound- great job ROU!
Narration was great!
The main story was quite good. It follow the Lovecraft style well, by taking so long to build to an obvious point, that it was him. But the fact that paparazzi are the modern beings of horror was a great twist. Makes all sorts of sense.

Great job, guys and gals!

[ROU Killing Time]

Any episode featuring our beloved crypto-zoologist is FTW, so that and getting to appear in Lovecraft appreciation month was a double bonus for me. Thanks, Tom, I'm glad you liked my little story.

Great narration on the main piece. It was a very pleasant listen as the story meandered along in the Lovecraftian way of having the journey be the destination.

So, even dreary and gloomy old H.P. can be a mood lifter. They say it's an ill wind that doesn't blow someone some good. I'm actually thinking about putting a few new episodes of C&B together again.

Thanks for helping me feel like I can get back up on the horse again, Norm.

[nevermore_66]

The relationship between the narrator and her hunky assistant really tickled me -- which is pretty cool considering the character doesn't even make a direct appearance.

[Ham sandwich]

Great episode! The main story was interesting.

Spoiler:

Whatever the intention of the author, I came away actually disliking the heroine more than the entertainment reporter. She just seemed so callous and uncaring. I understand the general hatred for the paparazzi, but are they really the evil soulless ones? I mean, I'm sure there are evil entertainment reporters out there, but we're the ones who have made the tabloid market so lucrative. So it's really us who make them the dread machines that they are.

I hope that spoiler thingy worked. The drabble and Nondi bear episode were both awesome!

[tbaker2500]

Good points, Ham. And welcome to the forums!

[Unblinking]

Good story. Yay for continued Lovecraft month!

I do agree with Ham though, that although paparazzi are eldritch horrors, it's the people who buy those magazines that are facilitating that horror. It's of course much harder to exact revenge on the millions of people who buy those, though, so settling for one paparazzi is much more feasible. It doesn't mean that the protagonist is utterly likeable, but hey, it happens. I can believe that someone would make that choice, even if it doesn't make her completely likeable, so it works for me.

[Talia]

Enjoyed the story, but was derailed by my dislike for the protagonist. Yes the news guy was odious, but it's not like he was killing kittens with his bare hands or something. I think... there's a basic level of something that humans need, and he wasn't getting it, and her denying him it just made me vaguely queasy. Yes, he's a twat, but.. why torture him in penance. Unless he's really supposed to be that shallow, that he'd shrug it off. I don't entirely buy that, because some effort was made to suggest he does, in fact, feel.

[StalinSays]

I wrote off the narrator's somewhat negative viewpoint to sassiness. Her wit was buoying. And maybe I can't keep TMZ from flavoring my perspective, but it'd take truckloads of empathetic moments to even get me thinking of identifying with a paparatzazi'ma'taz (however it is spelled). Monsters, monsters all!