Classics 11 (EP 87) - The Box Born Wraith

[Mr. Tweedy]

Update (Friday, October 31st, 2014): Drabbleclassics 11 - The Box Born Wraith
Feature: The Box Born Wraith by Kevin David Anderson
No drabble for this episode.
Genres: Drabbleclassics Horror
Original Episode: 87



Wednesday, October 29th, 2008
"I don't want to die in the dark!" "We all die in the dark, Benny..."

Episode Art: David Flett
This story is a Drabblecast original.

No twabble for this episode.

[normsherman]

eh....I guess everyone is still hung over?

I'll be the first to say....I really dug this story. I liked reading it and producing it. The first half was scarier to me- up until the ghouls appeared, then it became a different story. Less scary but more interesting. Very cool visuals.

[Mr. Tweedy]

Hung over... I haven't had time to get drunk. Busy as can be. It's kind of nuts really. (I've got three people begging for my attention right now.)

I thought this was a good story too and–

I've got to go get a cup of "heart puffs" for Norah.

[Mr. Tweedy]

Oh my Hellephant, it's 11:41! Where did that time vanish off too?!

----------

It it now 11:55.

Great show, as usual. Kevin's story was quite good, I thought. It was cheesy and melodramatic in a way that reminded me of old-timey Boris Karlof-era horror when audiences hadn't been jaded by a thousand hours of sadistic dismemberment and could still be spooked by the mere sight of a misty graveyard. It's easy to image this story–

It is now 12:05.

–being adapted into a grainy black and white movie with monaural sound, static camera angles and an electric organ soundtrack.

My wife is cracking up big-time over an illustration she just saw the "Big Book of Play and Find Out Science Projects." A smiling family is riding in a car. The child in the back seat asks "Why do I have to wear a seat belt?" The driver responds, "Let's find out!" ...What was I talking about?

Some of the language would need to be softened, but the plot and execution have that nice balance of macabre and silly that makes for a fun or–dare I say it?–family horror piece, the sort of scary story you could tell to your kids instead of shielding them from. I like it.

And I love love love the Halloween intro/outro segments, both this year and last year. The self-conscious cheesiness is hilarious in every sentence, and the conspicuous inclusion of awkward silence was a perfect exclamation point to emphasize it. I LOLed* several times, and I need that, man.


Seriously, I hadn't anticipated just how much slacker time I'd loose when I quit my soul-sucking day job. I used to have hours and hours when I could just hang out on the internet and read or post whatever interested me while getting paid a low hourly wage for doing it. Now that I'm self-employed, that time has mostly vanished. I've, like, got stuff to do now.


*Screw you, strawman!

[normsherman]

Some of the language would need to be softened, but the plot and execution have that nice balance of macabre and silly that makes for a fun or–dare I say it?–family horror piece, the sort of scary story you could tell to your kids instead of shielding them from. I like it.

That's one of my favorite things about Kevin's writing. He doesn't use particularly strong language- curse words or other- but packs punch and suspense into his stories by using characters, ideas and classic good story telling.

Rated R for being scary as hell. When was the last time that happened?

[normsherman]

don't get too busy tweeds, I got some footage comin your way soon

[strawman]

Personally, I was kinda worried that the ghoul was coming after DC forum members first. Y'know, before we could warn the world.
But finally Tweeds emerged from his grave, and I laugh out louded.

Texting makes me wonder if opposable thumbs weren't wasted on human beings.

[Mr. Tweedy]

Some of the language would need to be softened, but the plot and execution have that nice balance of macabre and silly that makes for a fun or–dare I say it?–family horror piece, the sort of scary story you could tell to your kids instead of shielding them from. I like it.

That's one of my favorite things about Kevin's writing. He doesn't use particularly strong language- curse words or other- but packs punch and suspense into his stories by using characters, ideas and classic good story telling.

Rated R for being scary as hell. When was the last time that happened?

Well, I more meant the language as in the bits about thugs murdering trick-or-treaters, not words with four letters. The bits about corpse-eating ghouls were goofy fun, but the bits about remorseless hit-men were, IMO, actually less kid-friendly.

You've been promising that footage for months, Norm. The way you've been slacking, people would think you were busy with something. We all know you just sit around all week. It's not like you've got any time-consuming hobbies.

[Ignoranus]

I loved the story, and I love the Halloween cheesy-themed intro and outro. They seemed, however, to be pretty jarringly at odds with one another. The story was kind of creepy (at least, the first half of it) and pretty absorbing, and then at the end the silliness of the outro just kind of... killed all of the residual creepiness that the story itself left me with.

Speaking of jarringly different - the first half of the story WAS really creepy, what with the protagonist getting buried alive and all. All the way up until the point where the ghouls took him captive and brought him before their people. From that point on, it was extremely predictable. Still well-written and enjoyably produced, but... not really scary, or surprising in any way.


(Hey, this is my first comment on a Drabblecast! Woot. Who'd have thunk it would sound so negative? Sigh. I DO love the Drabblecast. I swear)

[Kevin Anderson]

Hey Ig, welcome to the forum.

And I don’t think you were being negative at all. There really were two distinctively different tones in the story. The first half was inspired by an unpleasant experience I had early this year in which I spend 40 minutes in an MRI machine; a device that combines a maddening restriction of movement with the isolation, confinement, and over all coziness of a morgue drawer. I was going for creepy, unsettling. The second half I wanted more of a horror comic book feel. No surprises or twists, just a straight forward creation of a hybrid-creature of vengeance.

Norm was great, another excellent production. I do wish he would let out his inner-ghoul more often. Why, oh why, must Halloween come but once a year.

Tweety - love that picture, can you email me the title and or artist

[Mr. Tweedy]

Tweety - love that picture, can you email me the title and or artist

The Hasty Burial by Antoine Wiertz.

[tbaker2500]

Rocking story dudes! I was really impressed with the unique (to me) story line, and of course the impeccable production. Damn nice.

[LajesticVantrashellofLob]

The first part of the story was a good example of a standard horror piece, but the second part fell flat for me. Not that it was bad, but I was expecting the tone of the first section to carry throughout the piece, and I was very surprised when it didn't. The entire episode was very well done though, and I loved the return of the cackling laugh after super corny jokes.

All in all, this story was a mix between the standard weirdness we've come to expect from the Drabblecast and a horror piece. I think I would have liked it more if it had been one or the other.

[Goldenrat]

Loved it. Excellent Halloween chiller, the claustrophobic elements really freaked me out. I liked the cheesey goulish intro and outro also.

[tbaker2500]

All in all, this story was a mix between the standard weirdness we've come to expect from the Drabblecast and a horror piece. I think I would have liked it more if it had been one or the other.

That's exactly why I liked it so much. I was expecting a standard horror piece, and therefore wasn't paying too much attention. (listening at work) But the plot turned quite intriguing, and I really had to listen. I thought the piece transcended horror.

I always look forward to a Kevin Anderson story.

[cammoblammo]

I loved this one.

I don't usually find horror stories that scary---I suspect we've all been that little bit desensitised to the point where horror writers have to be careful not to come over as camp and clichéd. Face it, horror writing is all about well known tropes these days.

The one exception (in my case) is the buried alive story. I'm not particularly scared of being buried alive* but hearing stories about dudes in that situation really gets the heart racing. Remember the season of Angel that ended with Angel being put in a coffin and dumped at sea? He's a vampire, so the water wouldn't kill him, but he faced an eternal existence at the bottom of the ocean. That traumatised me for months and I was so glad to see that he, well, no spoilers here!

We don't celebrate Halloween here in .au, but if the Drabblecast delivers this every year, I'm willing to reconsider!



*I once asked an undertaker if it were possible to get buried alive. He answered, 'Well, if what killed you didn't kill you, the embalming will.' I felt much better after that.

[zZzacha]

Yes! Kevin Anderson and Halloweeen go so well together, I love the combination.

This story had my complete attention from start to finish (that doesn't happen a lot) because it kept going in many directions I didn't expect and also because of the wonderful production of master Sherman (and colleague deaditors of course).

Accept, I didn't quite understand why this episode was a 'mov' in stead of an 'mp3'. At first I thought the Drabblecast was doing a Halloween Movie Episode this year (!!!), but the image didn't work :[

[McToad]

Really good production. Intro and outro were well done and entertaining, story was well read and sound effects smoothly integrated.

I wish podcasting novelists had production values on par with the Drabblecast ; I am so sick of the cheesy special effects and choppy edits I'm hearing in several not-to-be named podcast novels...these goofballs should take a few lessons from Norm before tossing any more garbage out onto the net. Enough editorializing..

Fun story, compelling character and fantastical turn. My only complaint is that it ended too ambiguously. Another scene or chapter showing his 1st act of vengeance and revealing the nature of what he had become would have brought it to a better close than the abrupt ending. However, this was not a big issues and I enjoyed this one quite a bit.

-McToad

[tbaker2500]

Amen, brotha. So Norm, when are you going to start your audiobook narration service?

[j-m]

What a kick ass story. Listened to this one while driving through traffic on a lunch break and it STILL held me riveted. When he starts to hear the digging sound coming from under the box can go down as the creepiest moment in any story, EVER as far as i'm concerned. Great halloween intro and outro too, i look forward to this years.