Drabblecast 046 - The She-Wolf

deflective · Post by **deflective** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 10:24 am

"The She-Wolf" by Saki

usually i quite enjoy the extra production that drabblecast gives its stories but this is one time that the extra effort detracted from the story.

i wanted to hear it played with an understated British humour in the style of Oscar Wilde. the over-the-top voices are fun but they're exactly wrong for a story where people straightfacedly outdo someone that's taking himself too seriously.

thanks for the introduction to Saki, he does good stuff.

Mr. Tweedy · Post by **Mr. Tweedy** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 9:35 pm

What a fun story! I like this sort pseudo-speculative story where there isn't actually any magic/aliens/ghosts/mutants/weirdness, but the characters think there is. A clever idea and very entertaining. I also thought the voices were a bit overdone, but not enough to detract from it.

How much did you pay Saki for this story, Norm? Did he submit it himself or did you solicit it?

Dustin · Post by **Dustin** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 9:35 pm

YES! I loved the voice work!

Thanks for the extra effort,

D

Post by **normsherman** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 1:55 am

Mr. Tweedy wrote:
How much did you pay Saki for this story, Norm? Did he submit it himself or did you solicit it?

Hehe, that's actually why we did the story- we're cheap bastards.

just playin.
And yah, I figured the voice work was too much but once I got started I just coudln't stop. Bwaa, I steel cahnt stop- it's dreadfoool Hyah!

RNDG33K · Post by **RNDG33K** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 9:52 pm

Once again Norm, your incredible voice acting has taken a story way beyond its level. The story was interesting and well done but didn't appear as random or speculative as I would have expected from the Drabblecast. But the voice acting was incredible, and turned the story from a acceptable but well written story into a very solid episode.

On another note, this story does bring up the issue of magic. What counts as "magic?" Is magic just anything that you can't explain?

I would probably say that the term "magic" depends on the observer and point of view, and is pretty much anything that can't be explained or isn't understood. i.e. Norm's incredible voice talent is, to me, an amazing magical ability that can turn anything into a cool audio episode.

Post by **normsherman** » Sat Jan 12, 2008 12:18 am

*pulls out wallet* Ok RND, how much do I owe ya? sigh...

Derm · Post by **Derm** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 11:00 pm

I thought the voice work was the best thing about it - It started out amazingly consistent posh southern english and stayed that way for a long time and then it took a train ride north via peterborough to Yorkshire, Cheshire and Lancashire. This last is no bad thing, by the way. The story was okay, but I felt he held back a bit to much. Kafka or Chechov would have really picked up the ball and ran with it.

G. E. Lee · Post by **G. E. Lee** » Tue Jan 15, 2008 11:08 pm

Fun story!
Great read from Norm, as usual. Loved the accents.
I haven't heard/read anything from Saki before. I may look into it. Strikes me as a cross between Mark Twain and Rudyard Kipling? Anyone more familiar, please feel free to set me straight.

Post by **normsherman** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 8:11 pm

RNDG33K wrote:
On another note, this story does bring up the issue of magic. What counts as "magic?" Is magic just anything that you can't explain?

I would probably say that the term "magic" depends on the observer and point of view, and is pretty much anything that can't be explained or isn't understood. i.e. Norm's incredible voice talent is, to me, an amazing magical ability that can turn anything into a cool audio episode.

I'd agree with that to some extent, although it seems to differ depending on the context. In terms of the unexplainable in science or religion- you'd get some weird looks bantering that term around there. "Magic" seems to apply completely in the realm of fantasy now, but even there some authors put some science behind it in an attempt to understand it and work in the story.
I'm watching the second season of the HBO show "Carnivale" and there's alot of that type of thing. I'm digging it, although I think they should have hired Kevin Anderson as a writer for it.

bolddeceiver · Post by **bolddeceiver** » Thu Feb 28, 2008 7:00 am

I somehow missed this one when it played. I think I probably started it, then had to pause to answer the phone or something a few seconds in, then forgot about it, and it was marked as played on my podcatcher.

Always lots of love for a Saki piece, and the opening lines exactly sum up my general nonplussedness (is that a word anymore?) with most practitioners and devotees of the supernatural (that including the ones who dribbled magic water on me as a baby and made me practice ritualized cannibalism-in-effigy when I was si)...

Mr. Tweedy · Post by **Mr. Tweedy** » Thu Feb 28, 2008 4:28 pm

What is magic? What is supernatural?

It seems to me that those terms are almost completely arbitrary and dependent on context. I do things every waking hour that someone 1000 years ago would have viewed as magic. I touch this here keyboard and stuff appears on your screen a thousand miles away. What a mighty wizard I am! We can fly! There are several countries that can cause fire to rain from the heavens to smite the cities of enemies anytime they want to.

Fast forward to Star Trek. They can be just about anywhere in the universe just by speaking a command. Hot Earl Gray tea? Say it. Inconvenient stars? Blow them up.

And then the Star Trek people run into Q....

"Magic" and "supernatural" are terms that can be convenient at times, but I don't think they really have any objective meaning. Magic explained is science and science practiced produces magic. The supernatural turns out to have a natural explanation and the natural explanations turn out to have supernatural implications. It's all a matter of perspective and how one chooses to label things.

For my own stories (which as of now exist almost entirely in my head), there is lots of "magic," but the people using it understand how and why it works, so to them it's all quite natural and scientific.

Chivalrybean · Post by **Chivalrybean** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 5:59 pm

The voice acting was what I liked most about the story, it was great!

AliceNread · Post by **AliceNread** » Sat Apr 26, 2008 6:21 pm

I have enjoyed the works of Saki for decades. His stories are one of those wonderful dark, yet cherry secrets I hold close. Most folks have never heard of him. Sad really.

Personally I liked all the extra touches.

This one really showed off Norm's talent.

sandrilde · Post by **sandrilde** » Fri Apr 05, 2013 6:23 pm

Cute story. Kinda prefer to see people being rewarded for believing in the absurd, though. The voice acting was great, ya'll are crazy who disagree.

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