Drabblecast 226 - The Heroics of Interior Design

[StalinSays]

Feature: The Heroics of Interior Design by Elise R. Hopkins
Drabble: Imaginary Runner by Tesseract McCrea



Tuesday, December 13, 2011
I can’t fly faster than a speeding bullet. I can’t lift a car. I can’t climb slick surfaces with my bare hands or breath underwater or stop time. All I can do is change blue things to yellow. I didn’t bother to buy a cape or a spandex suit like the others. I just bought a blouse and some slacks and went into interior design…

Contest: Become a Tim Pratt Character!

Read by Veronica Giguere
Art by Skeet Scienski

[themorg]

really great story. super hero that was not so super but totally powerful.

[swamp]

I really enjoyed this story. It really built on itself and flowed naturally to the end without giving too much away to the listener. It was also read very well and had the right tone. It reminds me of the third wavers from Mur Laferty's "Playing for Keeps".

Thinking about the implications of the story, I would hate to watch Sesame Street with a yellow Grover, and Harry Monster. What about Beast and Nightcrawler from the X-men, and Sully from Monsters, Inc, and...? Color blind people would really be screwed because blue is typically a color that they do see, but now it will also be a shade of yellow.

[tbaker2500]

Great drabble Tesseract! And a nice twabble from Dolohov to cap it off.

Narration was top-notch.

The main story was excellent. It captured the descent into villianhood in such a believable manner. It flowed so smoothly, never forced or uncomfortable. It conveyed the frustrations of the protagonist so convincingly that I didn't mind the ending. It just made sense.

It is, of course, easy to draw parallels to people's frustrations with their own lives. Their inability to be valued for their specific talents. Worse, is when you've built a business capitalizing on those talents, only to have business dry up. It's no longer that people haven't discovered the value of your talents; people have, but now they are bored with that talent and perceive no more value from you or your talent. Even if your talent is as cool as sliding across hardwood floors in orange socks.

[ROU Killing Time]

Agree with Swamp. Definite 3-wave feel to that story, but I'd cite that as a compliment. The protagonist of this story shouldn't feel too bad, and the world is lucky that it wasn't Feculance-Boy that went super-villain.

P.S. Who knew that Ender's Game was actually Angry Birds.

[moonowl]

Great one. I love it when you can really feel for someone you shouldn't have sympathy for. I was like "Yeah sister! Turn it yellow!"

[moonowl]

"I can't turn it back"- very haunting.

[Unblinking]

I really enjoyed this one. All the comics focus on supers who have powers with some kind of practical use, but if they're just random mutations from nature/radiation/whatever, then what happens to all the people who get powers that aren't useful? This is that story.

Which reminds me of one thing I like about Piers Anthony's Xanth series as a teen. Everyone has powers in Xanth, but not all the powers are useful. I remember one particular town where everyone had the power to make a colored splotch appear temporarily on the object of their choice, each person a different color. I liked that, a counterpoint to things like X-Men where everyone's power has some real use.

I enjoyed her descent into supervillainhood. I really wanted to root for her, even though I don't really want the sky to be yellow.

If it makes her feel any better, the artist who painted an all-blue canvas will not be famous over the ages as she thinks. The works of art that stay famous through the ages have to really be more unique from that. It's still frustrating (to me) that such a thing can legitimately make a boatload of money though in the short term.

[tbaker2500]

Wow, Xanth. Man, I read all those books many, many, many years ago. They were like crack. Not healthy for me, but I couldn't stop.

[bratri_ve_zbrani]

Nice. I'd rather be able to turn things yellow than nothing at all, yeah?

There should be a contest dedicated to this story. Like that one they did WAY back at the dawn of drabblecast with super-monsters-that-probably-don't-exist. Maybe in an elimination/playoff, Mongolian-death-worm-either-or-game style of relatively useless (super?) powers. Like, Round 1, "Number one seed, tournament favorite, Turn-You-Yellow going against wild card rookie May-You-Fart-Sunflower-Seeds!" or something.

[ROU Killing Time]

Wow, Xanth. Man, I read all those books many, many, many years ago. They were like crack. Not healthy for me, but I couldn't stop.

I stopped after it wasn't a trilogy anymore. They weren't healthy for Anthony (as an author, either) but they were like reverse-crack for him. The more he did, the MORE money he made...

[StalinSays]

Like that one they did WAY back at the dawn of drabblecast with super-monsters-that-probably-don't-exist.

At the dawn of the Drabblecast, and rising again like a blood moon, this very night. It's re-dubbed the Mega-Beast Death-Match at this point, and has been separated out of the main feed, to its own filthy, regrettable podcast.

We did a round in season 4 pitting characters (errr... monsters) from Drabblecast stories against one another. This was our initial set http://bokaier.deviantart.com/gallery/26512339#/d30oyh3. We'll assuredly recycle that idea at some point. Your suggestion is dually noted.

At this point we're starting fresh. Scroll down to the MBDM 2012 forum, if you have any further thoughts. I (Bo) will draw em, and soon enough Norm will talk about them.

[ltswampdonkey]

I also really liked the story. Kind of neat to hear something about the 'not so special' super power... the kind we are most likely to get if given the chance.

[thebulletproofamish]

I quite enjoyed this story - it had a sorta whimsical feel to it. It was almost childlike in the way the narration and the prose melded together, but not in a bad way at all. I feel like it really tapped into that inner child, y'know, and I feel that's a pretty hard thing to do well. It definitely brought back memories of reading things by Roald Dahl and Ray Bradbury.

[ROU Killing Time]

Nice peacekeeper you are packing. welcome aboard.

[thebulletproofamish]

Nice peacekeeper you are packing. welcome aboard.

The trick to being truly bulletproof is to shoot first and ask questions later. It's good to be aboard! Just make sure nobody touches my windmill or I'll fill them full of lead, capishe?

[palimpsestia]

This story hit all the right buttons for me. It fits in nicely with the whole re-examining super heros genre, but didn't feel like total a retread.

[doomedbunnies]

This story hit me really hard. Great story, fantastic narration, beautiful production. And so I decided to finally subscribe to the Drabblecast, which I'd been feeling sort of guilty for not having done over the past few years. Pretty much ever since listening to 'Mongoose'.

I was partway through setting up that subscription when I realised that I had apparently already subscribed in July, after listening to Drabblecast 211 "At the end of the hall", which had affected me in much the same way.

What can I say? I'm a total sucker for a good story about a deeply unhappy person letting go of their self-imposed restrictions and finding a brief moment of joy while plunging into the abyss.

Apparently.

Wow, things that I so didn't know about myself.

[tbaker2500]

Hee hee. Welcome to the forums, doomedbunnies. Nice handle, BTW.

I think what we can take from this, is that the Drabblecast asks so little, that people don't even notice when it's gone.

Tell a friend! Hell, tell two! Let them know what a weirdo you are.

[themorg]

I'd been feeling sort of guilty for not having done over the past few years. Pretty much ever since listening to 'Mongoose'.

I felt guilty when i thought about canceling mine when times are difficult but deep down i know this is better than any other $5 (or $10) i might spend a month. welcome Doomedbunnies we ask you park your T-rex in the carnivore section.