Bsides 06 - The Horror at Martin's Beach

[Unblinking]

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

I'm glad you're having fun with it and not annoyed at my threadomancy pushing down the fresher stories to the second page.

I ran out of new episodes in my other podcasts, having now caught up on Clarkesworld. And then I remembered that there were a dozen or so BSides that I've not heard. Woohoo!

[tbaker2500]

Sometimes people forget how cool the older stories are.

[Wsetlord]

Hi, I'm reading the complete works of H.P. Lovecraft on my Kindle Touch and I'm really loving it! I liked this story, it's about revenge for an uncalled damage, like the Cats of Ulthar. I just have a question, with so much time that they all had, why nobody came out with the idea of cutting the rope? I mean, it's a simple lifesaver rope, not a chain. Really, in such a predicament, if one cannot let go of something holding you, you try to break it, right? There were acquaintances of the people holding the rope, and so many other expectators... I know that it says that they just abandoned them, but none even tried. Perhaps it was impossible to cut, due to the same mysterious force holding the men to it, but it could have been an interesting adition to say that they at least gave it a try.

They could have gone the "127 hours way", messy, but preferable to dying...

[Algernon Sydney is Dead]

Shhhh! Around here, dissing Lovecraft can get... Messy.

Anywho, welcome aboard, Wsetlord!

[tbaker2500]

Hi, I'm reading the complete works of H.P. Lovecraft on my Kindle Touch and I'm really loving it! I liked this story, it's about revenge for an uncalled damage, like the Cats of Ulthar. I just have a question, with so much time that they all had, why nobody came out with the idea of cutting the rope? I mean, it's a simple lifesaver rope, not a chain. Really, in such a predicament, if one cannot let go of something holding you, you try to break it, right? There were acquaintances of the people holding the rope, and so many other expectators... I know that it says that they just abandoned them, but none even tried. Perhaps it was impossible to cut, due to the same mysterious force holding the men to it, but it could have been an interesting adition to say that they at least gave it a try.

They could have gone the "127 hours way", messy, but preferable to dying...

Hi Wsetlord!
Yea, good question. I think it will be covered by the "it's a metaphor" clause, or some such that authors use.

[Beth Peters]

Hi, I'm reading the complete works of H.P. Lovecraft on my Kindle Touch and I'm really loving it! I liked this story, it's about revenge for an uncalled damage, like the Cats of Ulthar. I just have a question, with so much time that they all had, why nobody came out with the idea of cutting the rope? I mean, it's a simple lifesaver rope, not a chain. Really, in such a predicament, if one cannot let go of something holding you, you try to break it, right? There were acquaintances of the people holding the rope, and so many other expectators... I know that it says that they just abandoned them, but none even tried. Perhaps it was impossible to cut, due to the same mysterious force holding the men to it, but it could have been an interesting adition to say that they at least gave it a try.

They could have gone the "127 hours way", messy, but preferable to dying...

You really got me thinking about this, just as I was signing outa here!
It's a really good point you raise, but I don't think it's a criticism of the story as much as an interesting and probably intending point of discussion.

Think of it this way: whenever you get locked into one of those tug-of-war, me-vs.-them relationships... what's usually the strongest response you seem to have? Cut the tie completely and simply walk away from it all? Or pull and pull, debate the point, go to war, WIN. Put your back into it, get morepeople on your side to pull.

I think I missed all of this the first time I heard this story last year (because, well, SEA MONSTERS!) and now I see the cool analogy as something pretty obvious. The harder you PULL the harder it is to see that you can just cut the rope. From boyfriends to political beliefs to oversea wars, we tend to get dragged in and supposedly "can't let go." Even the people watching from the beach get so wrapped up in the back-and-forth that they can't seem to see that the obvious solution might be to just cut the rope.

Not trying to start a flaming political discussion here, I think we're all guilty of this to some degree, on a personal and social level. Regardless of right or wrong choice you can always cut the rope, calm yourself, think and regroup.
...then go back and catch that weird freaking sea-horror in a more efficient, practical and healthy way, dummy.

[strawman]

Good observation, Beth.

[Wsetlord]

You really got me thinking about this, just as I was signing outa here!
It's a really good point you raise, but I don't think it's a criticism of the story as much as an interesting and probably intending point of discussion.

Think of it this way: whenever you get locked into one of those tug-of-war, me-vs.-them relationships... what's usually the strongest response you seem to have? Cut the tie completely and simply walk away from it all? Or pull and pull, debate the point, go to war, WIN. Put your back into it, get morepeople on your side to pull.

I think I missed all of this the first time I heard this story last year (because, well, SEA MONSTERS!) and now I see the cool analogy as something pretty obvious. The harder you PULL the harder it is to see that you can just cut the rope. From boyfriends to political beliefs to oversea wars, we tend to get dragged in and supposedly "can't let go." Even the people watching from the beach get so wrapped up in the back-and-forth that they can't seem to see that the obvious solution might be to just cut the rope.

Not trying to start a flaming political discussion here, I think we're all guilty of this to some degree, on a personal and social level. Regardless of right or wrong choice you can always cut the rope, calm yourself, think and regroup.
...then go back and catch that weird freaking sea-horror in a more efficient, practical and healthy way, dummy.

Yes, at the beginning, they all won't let go because they thought it was someone in trouble, then because they were puzzled and wanted to know what the mystery was, and yes, it's understandable, I think we all would, but when the Captain realized that he was unable to release the rope, and was shouting about it, and the rest of the people tugging as well also noticed this, and knowing they were being dragged, and the level of the sea rising, it's not a matter of wanting to unravel the mystery anymore, or pretending to be the strongest on a contest/relation, it had become a life or death situation. I would've liked or expected to see a line where someone... anyone, would try to cut it, just for the sake of "trying every possible solution", and being unable to do so, just to cover the most simple solution (other than letting go).

If it is a relationship, and you can't let go, there are lots of friends and family that are more than willing to cut the rope for you and they just don't stand by watching as you are being dragged down...

For example, "SPOILERS" in "The Doom that came to Sarnath" the entire town was obliterated, and everyone paid, sinners or not, and there was no possible way out. You can't argue with complete annihilation.

... I'll just stick to my the-rope-was-impossible-to-cut-because-of-the-mysterious-force-that-held-them-together-to-it theory and try no to look at the sea in fear of seeing an enormous eye watching me...