Drabblecast 112 - The Guardian

YouTube · Post by **Kevin Anderson** » Thu Apr 30, 2009 9:38 pm

Drabblecast 112

Drabble- 3:52 to Oblivion
by J.D. Riso

The Guardian
by Michael Anthony

She sprinted along the sidewalk, the bag bouncing against her back. The sun melded into the horizon, disappeared, engulfing the city in grave dark. Blood-thirsty screams could be heard in the distance, human howls. The gangs and muties were waking, to reclaim the city in their nightly routine...

Music by Scott Shannon and Bartok

Art by Josh Hugo

strawman · Post by **strawman** » Thu Apr 30, 2009 10:30 pm

Well, this is interesting. We get a direct comparison of the same piece, as performed by Norm and by Dani Cutler.
Dani starts off at a big handicap, since she gets no Drabblenews intro about racist dolphins to warm up with. But wait a minute here! I'm getting sucked down a rabbit trail about peripheral matters. What about the story?
It's a dystopian (there's that word again, Louise. Pass me the Funky Wagnal's...) formula genre piece, that hinges on what's in the bag... and so resolves at the very end when the bag is opened, and it turns out to contain Tolstoy's War and Peace, which the girl thinks will contain the secrets of War and Peace, so the world can finally end war and get some piece.
What, that's not what's in the bag? Oh well. Woulda, coulda, shoulda.
I say mount this baby on some dolphins and lets kill us sum terrorists. Now that I think about it, this Drabble might have worked better after the story. Walk into the light...*catsplat*

Richmazzer · Post by **Richmazzer** » Fri May 01, 2009 12:06 am

Wow, I've gotta say, Drabblecast has only been getting better and better. This year we've had a really strong run of stories, 2 Bbardles in one month, a couple fun Bsides stories... this week's story (and episode-- the dolphin stuff made me almost pull over I was laughing so hard) was right in line. Outstanding production, as usual, but kudos to the Mr. Anthony for really pulling off a lot of action and suspense in a relatively short story.
The scene when the Dead Boys surround them is just awesome, the sheer tragedy of Tolia's futile tenacity is powerful. Nietzsche and Franklin win the battle here, but in the grand scheme of things I think Einstein and Churchill win the war.

Oh, and saddest Drabble ever, but good episode for it.

MichaelAnthony · Post by **MichaelAnthony** » Fri May 01, 2009 6:13 pm

Awesome job guys! And I loved the voice of the Deadboy. Very creepy

Phenopath · Post by **Phenopath** » Fri May 01, 2009 9:46 pm

Great story Michael.

I was hoping that the capn crunch would have a miraculous restorative affect, sadly not...

Beth Peters · Post by **Beth Peters** » Sat May 02, 2009 12:22 am

Riveting! I love post-apocalypse stories, putting Lord of the Flies in that context made for awesome adventure.

Maybe a little too much sneaking around in dark shops in the first half, lagged a bit as a result, but then really took off in the second half. Reminded me of Mel Gibson's Apocalypto, but not god awful.

Didn't really care for the Drabble. Shave off 97 words and you've got the same thing: "Chick commits suicide."

As far as the racist anti-terrorist dolphins and Lethal Dolphin IV, too funny! Ah Norm, so so so strange.

Norma Sherman · Post by **Norma Sherman** » Sat May 02, 2009 3:59 am

One of the best told DC stories... I think this calls for some more EXPLICIT episodes. I was completely IN the story as it was being told- wonderful writing and great voicing by Norm <3. So sad to discover that Tola's prized remedy was a box of Cap'n Crunch... seriously there must be more ingredients in that crap that would kill the poor boy than save his life...

Really impressed with DC lately- I agree with the recent comments... awesome Bbardles and Drabble News... Norm must have too much time on his hands? Or maybe some newfound source of immense inspiration in his life...

wish it were me...

Mr. Tweedy · Post by **Mr. Tweedy** » Sat May 02, 2009 1:46 pm

Dolphin Supremacy = Must See
You sure milked that one, Norm old boy. My favorite part was how did the ambush interview of the Navy guy, lulling him into a false sense of security with real questions before suddenly pouncing with the accusations. I also love how you satirized the action movie genre: The clichés are so numerous that you can just ad lib a trailer by plugging in names (species names, in this case).

Drabble = Meh
Chick commits suicide. The end.

Story = Average
This one didn't particularly impress me because I saw the ending coming about a third of the way into the story. She's carrying something in a bag... She got it from a store in the city... She idolizes a sword-wielding captain... It's a box of Captain Crunch. She must therefore survive so that the ironic truth can be revealed at the very end.

So I saw the twist coming, and everything else in the story was rigidly conventional (protagonist picks off pursuers using convenient environmental objects; protagonist is finally cornered by lead antagonist; protagonist is unexpectedly saved by third party). The story was very well-told, though. Vivid images and sympathetic characters. It wasn't unique enough to be memorable, though.

Goldenrat · Post by **Goldenrat** » Sun May 03, 2009 12:19 am

Excellent show this week. The drabble was one of my favorites, right up there with the one where Death forgot to kill the sole survivor. Loved the main story also. Well done. What cereal would you die for? I would have to say Booberry.

tbaker2500 · Post by **tbaker2500** » Sun May 03, 2009 4:00 pm

Here's how my parakeet found this episode.

During the intro, he was happy and chirping quietly to himself. During the story he was he was rigid- head cocked slightly to the side, not looking at me nor anything else in particular. I chirped at him, no response. He was intent on listening! When the outro came he immediately fluffed up, started preening himself and talking to me.

'nuf said.

jonathancg · Post by **jonathancg** » Tue May 05, 2009 6:05 pm

I loved this story when I heard it on Pseudopod, and it's great to see if get its due here as well. Michael is a solid writer.

One of the things I enjoyed about the tale is the little bits of humanity that poke through all that ugly. Just a glimpse of some of that childhood innocence by the Dead Boy leader is enough to encourage him to do the right thing and let the girl go. I think that is the most solid example of hope in the tale.

Great job, Michael.

LajesticVantrashellofLob · Post by **LajesticVantrashellofLob** » Wed May 06, 2009 8:49 am

This story really had me going. The writing was tight, the violence sufficiently violent, the awesomeness incredibly awesome and my attachment to the character strong.

Then the MacGuffin turned out to be a box of cereal.

Really? REALLY? A box of cereal? CEREAL?

Alright, I'm overreacting here for dramatic effect, but that little twist ruined it for me. All that brilliant writing for what? Cereal?

ROU Killing Time · Post by **ROU Killing Time** » Thu May 07, 2009 8:18 am

jonathancg wrote:I loved this story when I heard it on Pseudopod, and it's great to see if get its due here as well. Michael is a solid writer.

How did this story ever end up on Pseudopod? Doesn't seem particularly horrifying in any way shape or form?

:puzzled:

As for the drabble, i have to second the "meh" on that one. Nothing against suicide ditties but this was just plain vanilla. Some time ago there was a drabble with an Olympic Silver-Medalist taking her last dive, which by contrast, was exceptional.

P.S. 4 out of 5 muties prefer Shredded Wheat...

strawman · Post by **strawman** » Thu May 07, 2009 11:41 am

But it's gotta be the mini-wheats, not the hay bales of yore.

tbaker2500 · Post by **tbaker2500** » Thu May 07, 2009 3:23 pm

Frosted or not?

strawman · Post by **strawman** » Thu May 07, 2009 4:55 pm

Personally, I'm a purist, so let me add my own sugar and milk.
Especially since Domino's now offers me the choice of carbon-free sugar!

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2009/05/04/s ... lain-crap/

tbaker2500 · Post by **tbaker2500** » Thu May 07, 2009 6:02 pm

Oh that's classic! Kudo's for a carbon-neutral factory, but I agree that the lab guys must be going into convulsions over the marketing.

Talia · Post by **Talia** » Mon May 25, 2009 4:27 am

Hah! This story was swell. The cereal thing took me by surprise and amused me (at least kind of. If you think about it, society getting to that point where they think cereal is medicine isn't funny at all. It's really rather tragic).

And I too am surprised this was on Pseudopod, seems more fitted for Escape Pod, IMHO. Although it was rather chilling, the gist of it seems to be dystopian future rather than "scary." I guess its one of those that crosses genres and could fit in either category, really.

FNH · Post by **FNH** » Thu May 28, 2009 4:57 pm

What a great llittle story. A thrilling danger filled environment and a chase with nasty bad guys. Even some blood letting. Then a pathos filled ending, oh the pathos! Who could demand or want more?

Norm your show has peaked, it's time to quit while your ahead!

[Note]The previous line is not to be taken seriously, anyone found to be taking it seriously will be hunted down by unicycling Dolphins armed with deadly pea-shooters.[/Note]

Talia · Post by **Talia** » Thu May 28, 2009 6:49 pm

On the upside, unicycle-trained dolphins make the best burgers.
Om nom nom.

The Drabblecast Forums

Drabblecast 112 - The Guardian

Drabblecast 112 - The Guardian

YAY