Drabblecast 341- The Litany of Earth

[Algernon Sydney is Dead]

Feature: The Litany of Earth by Ruthanna Emrys
Drabble: Broken Promises by PB&Jellyfish
Genres: Drama Horror



Tuesday, November 4th, 2014
After a year in San Francisco, my legs grew strong again. A hill and a half lay between the bookstore where I found work and the apartment I shared with the Kotos. Every morning and evening I walked, breathing mist and rain into my desert-scarred lungs, and every morning the walk was a little easier. Even at the beginning, when my feet ached all day from the unaccustomed strain, it was a hill and a half that I hadn’t been permitted for seventeen years.

Episode Art: Bill Halliar
Additional credits: Rocket Talk podcast by Tor.com
The story first appeared on Tor.com in May, 2014.

Twabble: “ Death stalked the land. Actually, he rode a scooter delivering pizzas. Those scientists and their immortality serum. ” by Pondspider

[pondspider]

I so liked loved this.

I empathised strongly with Aphra Marsh, felt completely on her side, sharing her feelings of being an outsider and of the great loss she had experienced. The injustice her people had suffered.

And Norm's reading is excellent. I sub'd to the Rocket Talk podcast and listened, virtually as soon as the DC podcast had ended, to their reading of the same tale. I really couldn't say which one I like best (seriously).

One for Drabbleclassics, I reckon.

[tibbi]

So cool to have a recording in the Dribblecast. Thank you for selecting it.

[Algernon Sydney is Dead]

Thank you for recording it, Tibbi.

[Penman Bland]

I was looking at the BBC this morning, and this jumped out at me as possibly related:

On 18 May 1926, Aimee Semple McPherson went to Venice Beach, Los Angeles, to take a swim and write a sermon.

The female assistant who'd gone with her had to leave to make a short phone call from a nearby hotel. When she returned she couldn't see the evangelist anywhere.

But leaving aside oddly on-topic news items-- this is the sort of story one would love to see inflated to full novel size; it certainly has a firm enough foundation to support the work.

[pondspider]

I wonder how many DC listeners, strange as we are, are familiar with the past events mentioned in this story resulting in the injustice and maltreatment of the former population of Innsmouth.

Confession: six weeks ago I wouldn't have known.

With this in mind, I've started a thread, "HP Lovecraft essentials" in the "Podcasts and suchforth" section, the aim being to provide links to resources to help others lacking HPL knowledge to gain enlightenment and, thusly, maximise enjoyment of DC stories of a Lovecraftian bent.

[Theory42]

This was a good story that kept me wondering what was going to happen next, but the ending was unsatisfying. Most of its appeal comes from the gradual reveal that the main character is otherworldly and has knowledge of earth's far past and future through the use of arcane magic. As for the story arc, it simply goes nowhere (or was I missing something?).

I must say, I did enjoy the use of magic in this story as a means to gaining knowledge. So much of our storytelling is centered on science as the arbiter of truth, so its nice to see that turned on its head.

[pondspider]

...but the ending was unsatisfying... As for the story arc, it simply goes nowhere (or was I missing something?).

I felt the ending was in keeping with what came before.

Given the history alluded to in the story, there's not much to say but that life goes on, we make of it what we can. Earth-bound humankind, in all its cosmic insignificance, endures a while yet, only to fade sometime in the deep expanse of time.

[tbaker2500]

This story was too long and too good. I really dug it, even if it took several sessions to listen to it all.
I'm not sure there was a story arc or and ending to this, it was simply a slice of life story.
Slice of an alien life, but whatever.