Bsides 06 - The Horror at Martin's Beach

[Fiddler59]

The Horror at Martin's Beach by H.P. Lovecraft

Hi, I've just recently discovered the miracle of podcasts and love me some Drabble. Really enjoyed the HP Lovecraft stories, they were also new to me. Great narration, like the musical enhancements, but I do have a Drabble Quibble (would that be a Dribble?) with a pronunciation in The Horror at Martin's Beach.

No native to that town calls it Glou-chester. Rather, they rhyme it with lobsta. Where'd you get that lobsta? Got it in Glosta. Similarly, if you ever visit Worcester (also in Massachusetts) you will receive strange looks if you call it Wer-chester. It rhymes with, umm, eh, I don't know WHAT it rhymes with, but you say it Woosta. Like the Roosta when it crows in the mahning.

Just thought you'd like to know. Keep up the good work. I'll pass you the worcestershire sauce.

[ROU Killing Time]

Hi, I've just recently discovered the miracle of podcasts and love me some Drabble. Really enjoyed the HP Lovecraft stories, they were also new to me. Great narration, like the musical enhancements, but I do have a Drabble Quibble (would that be a Dribble?) with a pronunciation in The Horror at Martin's Beach.

No native to that town calls it Glou-chester. Rather, they rhyme it with lobsta. Where'd you get that lobsta? Got it in Glosta. Similarly, if you ever visit Worcester (also in Massachusetts) you will receive strange looks if you call it Wer-chester. It rhymes with, umm, eh, I don't know WHAT it rhymes with, but you say it Woosta. Like the Roosta when it crows in the mahning.

Just thought you'd like to know. Keep up the good work. I'll pass you the worcestershire sauce.

[/i]

Welcome to the asylum. I have the same pet-peave about Gloucester. In the town I grew up in there's a Gloucester St and everyone pronounces it Glou-Chester.

It's futile to point out to them, that there is no "H" following the "C" so there should be no "CH" sound in the middle.

Also doesn't help to refer to the jingle for Gorton's fish products which pronounces it correctly.

"Trust the Gorton's fisherman, from Gorton's of Gloster" phonetically speaking.

[Fiddler59]

Heh - I used to drive past Gorton's on the way to one of the schools I used to teach at, always smelled like fish sticks. When the wind was right then fish guts. Yum.

[alhilton]

*extends the tentacle of welcome* Hi, Fiddler!

[tbaker2500]

Damn fine story, and better telling. I was listening to this alone at 11pm in a lakeside cottage, hearing the water lap the shore. Perfect setting, kick ass story!

[Richmazzer]

That was AWESOME! Well deserved Norm's plugging from the main feed. I loved how it didn't become about the monster, like typical Benchley Jaws and Beast, but about the mystery of the monster. To me, this really is one of my favorite Lovecraft stories now.
I think he could have cut some of the "swaying bodies holding onto the rope under the moonlight" lines and condensed it some 3/4 of the way through. I was definitely like alright alright already, how long is this line of swaying people??
But overall great story.

[the mighty twix]

Woot Woot!!! WOw that was amazing. This is what good pod-casting is, great story, great narration, and probably the best production yet. I was completely drawn into this story, I had to stop everything I was doing(the dishes) and immediately lie down on the floor to listen.

Man I was sucked into this like I was attached to the Horror myself.

This is why Sunday is podcast day at my house.

[ROU Killing Time]

Woot Woot!!! WOw that was amazing. This is what good pod-casting is, great story, great narration, and probably the best production yet. I was completely drawn into this story, I had to stop everything I was doing(the dishes) and immediately lie down on the floor to listen.

I agree with you completely, except for the use of the word "probably."

I started out with PodCasts listening to EscapePod. Then EP made the grievous error of letting the drabblecast cat out of the bag. The writing, the humor, the production values, the heavy dose of strange completely hooked me in.

Sadly, I also seemed to have contracted drabble'itis, and it looks like the only treatment is to let it run its course.

I'd consider legal action for criminal negligence in the handling of a toxic memetic virus, but the illness is too much fun.

(P.S. I notice you are from Thunder Bay. Coincidentally my father used to work as a beach comber there when he was a teenager, 70 or so years ago.)

[Eevilemm]

Wow.
That's it. Just wow.
I found Drabblecast through Escape Pod- Norm Sherman's reading of "On The Eyeball Floor" made me absolutely squirm and I had to follow up.
Since then, I have been consistently impressed with the strangeness in Drabblecast.
Holy Crap!!!
This story really freaked me out. I just moved out of my family home (for collegggggeee!!!) which happens to be precariously perched on a lake. I remember one morning waking up and looking out my window to see the fog obscuring the adjacent shore- it's a good thing I hadn't heard this at that point, because I would have lost it.
Now I have to read Lovecraft.
Because all I need at this point is more to read!!!!
I think a Lovecraft collection will fit in nicely between my Biology and Physiology textbooks.

[The PMS Avenger]

Am I the only one who was a little disappointed by this story? Norm really hyped it up and, admittedly, my expectations were very high, but I was just hoping for a little more.

This story is very typical Lovecraft: mentally unstable guy reflecting on some traumatic monster-based event that shattered his sanity. Usually, I love it, but something was wrong this time. I think it was because all we 'saw' of the big monster in the water was the eye. I pretty much wet myself when the Dagon crawled out of the water and I still have nightmares about Cthulhu, so I think that maybe if something had actually appeared, I would have liked the story a lot more.

But that's just me.

PS Am I the only person who gets H.P. Lovecraft and L. Ron Hubbard mixed up?

[tbaker2500]

Am I the only one who was a little disappointed by this story?

Yes, but that's okay. We love you anyway, despite your failings.

[strawman]

I must admit to feeling a bit let down that the monster stayed submerged. I think Lovecraft tries to evoke a sense of dread/terror that depends on the imagination and unfulfilled anticipation. What worked with our grandmothers may be somewhat different from what works for eyeballs that have seen Alien. When I see a monster movie that doesn't show the monster, I assume it's a low-budget problem rather than psychological ploy (unless it's Hitchcock...boy, those birds were terrifying, huh?). I appreciate Lovecraft being way ahead of his time, and what Norm brings to it. But in the end, I like to see the beast. Maybe next time Norm could slip a few extra sentences into the script?

[TheJebi]

I must admit to feeling a bit let down that the monster stayed submerged. I think Lovecraft tries to evoke a sense of dread/terror that depends on the imagination and unfulfilled anticipation. What worked with our grandmothers may be somewhat different from what works for eyeballs that have seen Alien.

Hmm, but Alien is a great example of using suspense instead of the raw in-your-face-action that is so prevalent now. I mean you hardly even see the alien... when I was twelve or so, Alien bored me, just like The Birds did, of course I love them both now. But I loved Aliens 2 and Aliens 3 back then because they had more action. I can appreciate this story today, but would not have 15 years ago.

[strawman]

Gawd, has it been that long? I mean, it feels like you're talking about Sigourney Weaver as if she were Norma Desmond.

[tbaker2500]

I saw Sigourney Weaver pushing Avatar on the Daily Show the other night. Man, she is TALL! I'm in love. (It's hard to find tall women. At 6'5", I'm tired of women smelling my armpits when they hug me.)

[strawman]

That's just the price some people pay for having irresistable armpits.

[TheJebi]

Well strawman, Alien is four years older than I am.... and I just watched Night of the Living Dead (1968) for the first time, (on Hulu) and it was really great, I can't believe I had never seen it before, pure genius.

And tbaker2500, I know what you mean about liking tall woman, (I'm 6'7.5") but when I actually find one that's taller than nipple biting height (which is the same as arm pit smelling height), it's kinda' weird, because I'm not used to guys being close to my height, not to mention girls.

[tbaker2500]

Yea. Supposedly women like Tall, Dark, and Handsome, but that hasn't worked out so well for me yet. Maybe it's because I just have brown hair, not black. Yea, that's it. Uh huh.

[Unblinking]

Good Lovecraftian story. We didn't need to see the monster, and we got enough of a glimpse of its young'un. I never thought the monster was going to come charging out of the depths and eat the city or anything. For me the tension was from imagining what it would've been like for the people holding the rope, unable to let go, knowing there's not a damned thing you can do. I'm terrified of drowning so that probably multiplied the effect for me. Will they drown when they get under? If so, apparently their corpses keep on gripping because he didn't mention corpses floating to the surface. Maybe they'll survive and be pulled into the gut of the beast to live forever in its digestive fluids or as slaves in its underwater fortress.

[tbaker2500]

Aaaaand unblinking has made it into B-sides!
Kinda fun watching you work your way through all the episodes.