Classics 04 (EP 129) – Annabelle’s Alphabet

[ROU Killing Time]

a la The Wasp Factory

I mean not i'm some conservative uptight hippie..

Do they come in conservative uptight form now? Whatever will they think of next..

I love Iain Banks' sci-fi, but I also find the thriller stuff to be a bit too messy.

You must have read "Complicity" Ewww, he took his head (and his readers heads) into some gnarly places when he wrote that one.

His recent non-culture SF has been weaker than his culture stuff too, (i.e. The "Algebraist" and "Transition")

I haven't been disappointed by a Culture novel yet, though certainly there are ones I like more than others. Some people don't like the Culture novels where the action takes place on a lower-tech part of the galaxy ("Inversions" and to a lesser extent "Matter" for instance) but I personally like those as well.

Favorite Culture Novels.

"Use of Weapons" & "The Player of Games" (tied for 1st place)
"Excession" (a very close second, and the origin of my screen-name. The chat-logs between the culture ship Minds are just fantastic)
"Consider Phlebus" (first Culture novel, bonus points for it's amazingly pretentious title)
"Look To Windward." (Nice novel that is primarily just about life in the Culture ,more than anything else, for Culture addicts a very enjoyable place to vacation)

Oops, what a Horrible Derailment.

I'll finish by saying that Annabelle's Alphabet was a very good example of a story that makes effective use of stylistic writing. (It's easy to bomb when going for "Style", but with this story, it was a direct hit...)

[Unblinking]

Loved this story when I first read it in text and it worked well here too. Most of the time a format like the alphabet would be nothing more than a distraction but it was used beautifullly here, and a good way to tell a story in a logical order with chronological order. None of the letters seemed forced like I suspected they would at the beginning. The reveal of her past is done in a series of clues, done very well so that even I figured it out before it's fully revealed, which gave me the thrill of solving a puzzle. Good show!

[sandrilde]

Really loving the merger of Tim Pratt and Drabblecast. Seems to be a great match. This may be my favorite of the Tim Pratt's on here.

[Algernon Sydney is Dead]

{Marker for start of Classics comments. See Pondspider's suggestion.}

Glad this episode was re-Drabblecasted. Entertaining all around and a fine example of one of the rare times that "Alphabet headings" actually work well-enough in a story.

I admit that I skipped right over the commentary in Drabbleclassics 2 (a decision I now regret), and I haven't even listened to Drabbleclassics 3 yet (not a big Lovecraft fan; I know it's blasphemy here).

But the commentary here was a good summary, making or restating some fun points, and enjoyable. Charity's enthusiasm was infectious.

[hellena.xantia]

This one is magic, simply magic. A very good story. I had two interpretations in mind: it's either a story about children who become independent on their parents and about the latter's reluctancy to let go, or just a story taken literally: about an angel who isn't brevented from being who she is even by cutting off her wings. By the way, it reminded me of a film by Ozon, where a baby grew wings and flew away from his parents.