Drabblecast 234 – Jagannath

[StalinSays]

Feature: Jagannath by Karin Tidbeck
Drabble: Reincarnation by Eric Marsh



Wednesday, February 29th, 2012
Another child was born in the great Mother, excreted from the tube protruding from the Nursery ceiling. It landed with a wet thud on the organic bedding underneath. Papa shuffled over to the birthing tube and picked the baby up in his wizened hands. He stuck two fingers in the baby’s mouth to clear the cavity of oil and mucus, and then slapped its bottom. The baby gave a faint cry.

“Ah,” said Papa. “She lives…”

Art by Bill Halliar

Twabble: “Even deep within his bunker, Paul felt each bomb add to the city's devastation. He smiled and tore up 15 parking tickets.” by loyaleagle

[strawman]

helicobacter pylori

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flagella bacterium

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Helicobacter pylori is a common spiral-shaped gram-negative bacterium commonly found in the mucous layer of the stomach.
I imagine this story was written from the point of view of these fellers.
Very interesting.

[loyaleagle]

I really enjoyed "Jagannath." The point of view was really fantastic and the incidental tour of The Mother kept me wrapt until the very end. I wasn't SUPER sure what the ending meant, but overall I think the "middle" was what I enjoyed the most.

Oh and thanks for picking me this week on the twabble

[strawman]

I wasn't SUPER sure what the ending meant, but overall I think the "middle" was what I enjoyed the most.
Oh and thanks for picking me this week on the twabble

Congrats on the excellent twabble, which finally answers the question, "War!" *HUNH* "What is it good for?"
I believe Jagannath felt the boogie-urge at the end because she was becoming the mother. So you have to envision The Lion King, but with bacteria.

Showing middle schoolers those flagella bacterium while listening to this episode might be an effective element of a pregnancy prevention program. Hakuna Matata, kids.

[eric_marsh]

Yay! I made the Drabblecast! Thanks, Norm.

[StalinSays]

Now for some non-constructive non-criticism! This is one of my favorite stories that we've ever run. A very engrossing bit of world building. It's so alien, yet so familiar. And Bill's art had me on the verge of tears; I love it so very, very much.

Was everyone picturing humanoids? Or something odder? My imagination has this set in the year 2200, and on earth, where humans have entered a symbiotic relationship with colossal aliens. As this story is told, the deal struck is ancient enough that oral tradition remembers nothing before its inception. I credit "imagination" as outside of the mention of "cities" and "legs" there is little direct evidence for my musings inside Karin's tale.

Anyone else have an entirely different imagined context?

[StalinSays]

PS: My thinking was very centered on biology and futures, but there is a whole metaphysical aspect to this story. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jagannath.

[Goldenrat]

WOW!! This is one of my favorite stories EVAAA. I don't even remember my miserable commute to work I was so engrossed with this tale. Weird, creepy, sad, with a dash of hopefulness at the end - great stuff. The cool Sigur Ros background music towards the end was a nice touch also. Kudos, Norm!

[Polecat]

Was everyone picturing humanoids? Or something odder? My imagination has this set in the year 2200, and on earth, where humans have entered a symbiotic relationship with colossal aliens. As this story is told, the deal struck is ancient enough that oral tradition remembers nothing before its inception. I credit "imagination" as outside of the mention of "cities" and "legs" there is little direct evidence for my musings inside Karin's tale.

Anyone else have an entirely different imagined context?

My head went in a very different direction, the "workers" were, to me, some sort of sentient amoebae, as I suspect the man of straw imagined, and I puzzled over the appearance of the Mother until the heroine (?rock, ruck, rack?) reached her head and looked out. I then pictured a cross between a millipede and the beasts depicted on Hawkwinds first album (yes, I am old enough to remember it!). However, when the Mother died and the protagonist was "born" (as I pictured it), I was reminded of Velvet Worms, and I've been thinking of them for the past 24 hours, which is disconcerting.

Handy tip, removing your windshield wipers. I shall do so in future when I wish to park illegally.

Respectfully

The Polecat

[strawman]

Even in retrospect, having read the wikipedia article, I don't get the connection to the Hindu idol. The title seems totally coincidental.

But it does inspire an appropriate DC motto: "The Drabblecast: As easy as 2-3-4."

[Polecat]

Oh Man of Straw,
Maybe this will help: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juggernaut
Then again... 2-3-4

respectfully

The Polecat

[strawman]

Multitudinous thanks, Cat from Poland! Not only does this make sense, but in a delightful way, as my greatest pleasure is word roots.

I would not have guessed in a million years that the indians were responsible for 'juggernaut' as well as 'kemosabe'. They are apparently a lot smarter than they sound at the call center.

Your name is Debbie? Right. I don't think so, kemosabe.

[Dolohov]

Was everyone picturing humanoids? Or something odder? My imagination has this set in the year 2200, and on earth, where humans have entered a symbiotic relationship with colossal aliens. As this story is told, the deal struck is ancient enough that oral tradition remembers nothing before its inception. I credit "imagination" as outside of the mention of "cities" and "legs" there is little direct evidence for my musings inside Karin's tale.

Anyone else have an entirely different imagined context?

That was my read on it as well, that Mother was enormous like a cruise ship; part organic and part machine, and shaped like a squat centipede. I originally pictured full-size human beings inside, then started thinking of them as being smaller than usual. I greatly enjoyed the story, but I had to force myself to stop thinking about and trying to picture scale, and to just go along for the ride.

[Christi]

I think this is one of my favourite stories ever. I cried when “Mother died” and I was filled with joy when she was “reborn”.
There is pain, suffering, hunger and there is discovery, joy and pleasure, its life. It doesn’t matter what form or on what scale, we’re all on the same journey.

[benjaminclaw]

This story was really lovely. I don't even know how to describe why it was touching. But it was. You have the greatest sound design of any podcast I listen to.

[Unblinking]

I don't think that I've read a published story weirder than this one. And I can't think of a better place to run it. (I say published because I've seen weirder things in the slush, but I really don't want to talk about those)

I really liked this one. A well told POV where she really does not know anything beyond her immediate environs, and a twisted and weird future where humans and these centipede-y things are symbiotes. I thought it was interesting how no part of the centipedes could exist without a human running them (not even the processing in the Brain!) but the humans would die outside (by what I gathered).

It did make me wonder whether there was an incentive put in place for the centipedes to stop the symbiosis if the world ever does return to a liveable state. I pictured that they would keep on forcing the humans inside even after the humans don't need it anymore, as an act of self-preservation.

And yes I did see them as being humans. Although I think the story was probably inspired by gastrointestinal bacteria, it seemed pretty clear that these were not those. The interface that went through the nose, for instance, the separate males and females. I guess I couldn't say they were meant to be humans, but certainly some higher order animals with respiratory systems, and some kinds of hands to work the intestines. So I'd guess humans.

I really didn't care for the ending though. Everything we'd seen about Mother up to then made me think that she was essentially a vehicle for humans, but separate from humans. She referred to processors and memory and being irreparable, etc, that made me think she was essentially mechanical though with some squishy interfaces. So it really didn't fit into the worldview I'd built up so farwhen the girl started turning into a centipede. So I'm going to pretend that last bit didn't happen...

[tbaker2500]

There is no doubt that this is an exceptionally well-written story, and very engrossing. I can't disagree with anything people have said here. My problem, and this is my problem, is that my cycle-of-life story mug has runneth over. Seen/read/experienced too much recently. Therefore it was a blessing to have such a great twabble at the end to cheer me up.

[Mikes]

Was everyone picturing humanoids?

Yup, I was thinking humans, or some variation or evolution thereof.

Great story. I'm with everyone else here singing its praise, and will be on the look out for more of Karin's work.

[cinnamon]

I loved it so much. It got real dusty in here towards the end of the story.

[El Barto]

I loved this one too but felt just a bit cheated/mislead because the descriptions were so completely human and the mother seemed to be a machine/animal hybrid. I would have preferred to learn at the end that it was stomach bacteria and then go back and listen for clues that I missed the first time.