Drabblecast 258 - Brown Dust

[StalinSays]

Feature: Brown Dust by Esther Friesner
Drabble: You Can't Go Home Again by Bellcast



Saturday, September 29th, 2012
“Adao, no.” Teo, the older boy’s second-in-command, lays a staying hand on his master’s arm. “The stories I told you about this one… they’re true.”
“True?” Adao casts a skeptic’s eye over Santos. Can those flimsy ribs cage anything as fugitive as truth

Art by Amber Carky

Twabble: “ His tears fell just like the rain: from 6,000 feet as he pulled frantically at the cord of a parachute that wouldn't open. ” by Emily

[strawman]

Crazy good intro. True dat, Norm.

Crazy good drabble by Belcast. They don't call 'em phantom limbs without reason.

Esther Friesner's Brown Dust... yeowza!
Obviously, the inspiration for the intro, which sure does the story justice.

The piece, (and the intro) is certainly beautifully written. A bit like a glass-bottom boat cruise of the Love Canal.

"To put an end to all this troublesome dust" ... a perfectly exquisite final image.

And yet...

For the hero to be Santos, and Christ the Redeemer the backdrop, it's a narrative version of Andres Serrano's blasphemy.

I wish the Muses would use their great powers for good.

[ROU Killing Time]

Great now I have to research your listener feedback to fully understand it. Don't you know I have a naval that needs cleaning?

[ROU Killing Time]

Oh, that guy. His blasphemies pale to insignificance to those I endured when I was an altar boy.

[strawman]

ROU, you know Christ endured torture to be with us in our own suffering. He is not to blame for it, but the only way out of being destroyed by it.
You know that. The priest is something else. And I think Serrano's point was the same as Friesner's. Not as offensively expressed... in fact, beautifully expressed. But with more darkness than light.

[ROU Killing Time]

Edit: Moved to a more appropriate thread...
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=4236&p=37591#p37591

[ROU Killing Time]

Apologies for quite probably inappropriately derailing this thread.

[danthelawyer]

Really loved this story. Best Drabblecast in a while.

[Richmazzer]

Truly great writing. Brought me right there into the slums of Rio. Very cool premise and well paced into the mid-story twist. Would love to see more from Ms. Friesner.

[Mildred]

I loved this story. There were several ways I thought it was going to play out, but the author went to a different and awesome place.

[Unblinking]

I... didn't get into this one much. I'm not sure why. If I hadn't fallen woefully behind on my forum activity due to the Escape Pod flash fiction contest, I'd probably be able to say. </unhelpful feedback>

[tbaker2500]

I didn't get into it much because I tend not to like heavily depressing stories.

[Kibitzer]

God-DAMN that was a great story (that's Brown Dust I'm referring to). It led expertly from little kid with big gift using for small gain, to wow, evil bastard, to geez didn't quite see that coming, to can't see the resolution for this, to wow... what a way to end!! That ending was real sad but so hopeful! (in a revengeful kinda way)

Fabulous. Loved every moment of it.

[TheBigBadG]

I'm pretty new to Drabblecast so apologies if I'm missing some stone-cold classic but this is the best story I've heard to date. And that's not to discredit any of the others, because there have been some real corkers. It's the flicks of imagery and metaphor that make it sing. Santos and Adeo 'stink to stink' leapt out at me first time through. The whole of the opening scene in fact, I had to go back and listen again before I could even finish the story. As I'm guessing Norm might say, pretty sweet.

[Algernon Sydney is Dead]

Glad you liked the story, you can remember it, come time for the People's Choice Awards (usually March-ish). (Although, this particular story was not one of my favorites and I insist -- Insist I say -- that you vote for my favorites when the time comes. )

As I'm guessing Norm might say, pretty sweet.

I think his go-to adjective is "Nice". Probably because it is a mere tongue-slip away from "Knife".

[TheBigBadG]

Glad you liked the story, you can remember it, come time for the People's Choice Awards (usually March-ish). (Although, this particular story was not one of my favorites and I insist -- Insist I say -- that you vote for my favorites when the time comes. )

I've actually gone right back to the start so I'm currently at episode 10. I'll try and get through it all by March... That said I can't guarantee obedience (i get that from my mother's side) but how about the finest and most elegant evasion of an actual apology this side of the House of Commons / Capitol Hill / insert local political cypher here?

[tbaker2500]

Pah! Don't listen to ASID. It's much more important to recognize the value of the ROU/Tbaker voting bloc.

[Beth Peters]

Catching up. Have to say, this story is one of those that, to me, is in a class of its own. Stephen King wishes he could write a story like this. This is an author who clearly knows what she's doing and wow did she do it well here. very powerful, thank you Drabblecast and Esther Friesner for blowing me away this week.

[Sphinx]

I'm glad this wasn't the first DC episode I listened to. Out of all (and that is nearly all by this point) the ones I've been through —the dystopia, the post-apocalyptical and the dead babies— this was the most depressing of them all. It was ridiculously well-written, though, and last night it was just the something I needed to cleanse the palate from the taste of self-pity.

I would almost call the prose of the main story flowery if it didn't manage to make me hang one every word of it. Which is the opposite effect verbosity usually has on me. On closer inspection, I found the author to have been almost economical in their use of words — just enough to paint a vivid picture before my mind's eye, but not one word in excess in doing so.

I appreciate the cold reality of the setting, as well. This episode really quite stuck out, and I'm glad Norm (or whoever) decided to include it in the podcast.