Drabblecast 168 - Route Nine

[Kevin Anderson]

Drabble- The Gray House
by Travis Scott Greer

Route Nine
by Samantha Henderson

Two years ago it must've been. Me and Manny and a couple of the other boys -- Carlos and T-Bone -- met up at the last Dairy Queen outside of Lompoc.
Manny was going on at me about that shortcut I liked, Route Nine.
"I'm telling you that place is God-awful weird, Joe."

Art by Broken Cyborg

[moonowl]

Super creepy. I loved it.

The tagline wasn't 'weird's gotta have a place'??

I know way too much about duck vajayjays now.

[Talia]

RE: main story - the description of the guy's dream was particularly horrific. The whole piece has that creeping sense of dread that's evident in (what I feel to be) the best horror stories.

[Beth Peters]

EEEP. That was spectacularly spooky. My favorite Sam Henderson story on the Drabblecast so far (but will always hold a special place in my heart for Starry Night.) Norm just killed this with the read and production, his spooky old trucker voice is second to none. I made the mistake of trying to listen to this before going to bed tonight and now I'm all jittery. I second Talia in saying that the meaty eyeball dream was particularly freaky way to start closing out the story. This was just good ol' round the campfire horror story time with Norm.

Cracked up with the jab at the U.K. being "one and the same" as the U.S. with the 1-1 World Cup scores. And Drabblenews was hilarious as always. Oh, and the Drabble was nice and a great opener for the feature too, both had the same "old legend" tone. A+ episode, even by Drabblecast standards.

[vburn]

WOW, this one keep me enthralled through the whole story and the ending caught me unaware, which is always pleasant.

[f0nz1e]

Fantastic Story!
I actually listened to it twice in a row because the story was told so well and and the narration was fantastic. Creepy but not to creepy.

Loved It!
John

[strawman]

Willkommen to the DC party, John! It is good that you like this world since, now that you have posted, the portal has locked behind you.

[tbaker2500]

That was as good as a Kevin "No J" Anderson story. I loved it! Combine that with Ducks are Bastards Pt.2, and you have an immediate classic.

[Etaan]

Fantastic Story!
I actually listened to it twice in a row because the story was told so well and and the narration was fantastic. Creepy but not to creepy.

I also listened to it twice, but that was because Norm's grizzled Southerner voice makes me sleepy. This is the one where you should have blown the budget and brought Sam Elliott in. Loved the story, though I'm not sure if I entirely appreciate the meaning of the room full of meat part.

[Talia]

The room full of meat is a suggestion of horrors untold. I'm pretty sure there's not supposed to be a specific meaning, its just supposed to be very, very sinister.

[ZuSquared]

I listened to this story at work, at 2am... by myself. The disturbing atmosphere seemed to leak out of the story and envelop me. I'm pretty sure I heard some light tapping noises on the bathroom door... and I'm sure I saw the door handle start to turn.

When the phone rang, half way through, I nearly hit my head on the ceiling tiles.

Loved it. Thank you.

[Phenopath]

I am a super++ Samantha Henderson fan, but this was not my favourite story of hers. The set-up was excellent and Norms trucker was very convincing [a potential career change perhaps?], however I was a little bemused by the reveal... brightly coloured plastic shapes?!? And then the story closed out well; with the haunted protagonist, and the classic "and the monster... she's behind the bar".

If only Ms Henderson could place something more/less surprising inside Ed's torso. I know that she can be much more devious.

PS. I love Creatures in Disguise and placed it in my all time top ten forever http://www.gardenstreet.org/drabblecast ... topten.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[ZuSquared]

If only Ms Henderson could place something more/less surprising inside Ed's torso. I know that she can be much more devious.

Apricots?

[tbaker2500]

Yea, there were weak spots like you described. But this story I was able to toss those aside. More to do with my listening mood than any, I'm sure.

[Talia]

If only Ms Henderson could place something more/less surprising inside Ed's torso. I know that she can be much more devious.

Apricots?

If any podcast would air a story about a body stuffed with apricots, it would be Drabblecast.

[El Barto]

Did anyone else think of the Drabblecast logo tentacle when the narrator described finding the suction-cup marks on the truck in the morning?

[jannypie]

I think the computer ate my first reply this morning.

Did anyone else think of the Drabblecast logo tentacle when the narrator described finding the suction-cup marks on the truck in the morning?

Sure did. First thing to mind was, "Those Drabble kids and their darned obsession with squid... so fitting." LOL

I also listened to it twice, but that was because Norm's grizzled Southerner voice makes me sleepy. This is the one where you should have blown the budget and brought Sam Elliott in.

I'm certain you meant to type that you listened to it twice because you wanted to hear Norm's grizzled voice. 'Cause the delivery is what makes this my favorite podcast. I am really sensitive to hearing, and some podio audio I just can't follow because the voices grate on my ears, or are hard to understand. My favorite type of audio is just a smooth voice making the story come to life. Greg Crites is one example I think of. There was one time at Balticon when I was standing between Norm Sherman and Phil Rossi talking, and I could have just stood there all night listening. ^-^

Anyways, in the story Route Nine, it was interesting to see which details the author chose to describe and which to leave vague. Some elements, such as the silent car, didn't seem to relate to the story, whereas the yellow and green triangles in the flesh seemed almost too much description, as though it would have been creepier if left to my imagination. I interpreted the dream scenario with a door full of meat as a parallel to Ed's torso being full of something alien. Both were containers that hid opposing and unexpected contents: the human's body hid something not-human, while the door hid something organic and living. The lack of a defined source for these elements (where they aliens? mutations? where did they come from? what triggered the change in smell?) normally would have frustrated me, but in this instance reinforced the authors (poorly paraphrased) point that sometimes, things just happen.

[Richmazzer]

I'm certain you meant to type that you listened to it twice because you wanted to hear Norm's grizzled voice. 'Cause the delivery is what makes this my favorite podcast.

I agree, Norm's readings are unparalleled. But what really makes me agree is that even when Norm isn't reading, he consistently finds top-notch subs as well. Say what you will about anything else on Drabblecast, the one thing you can always expect on a week to week basis is a really well produced and really well read story.

About the episode: I spit diet Sprite accidentally twice during Drabblenews, laughing. Twice. Thanks Norm. Where can I send my dry cleaning bill to? I've heard of duck genitals before but now the world knows the connection to dead duck rape. I think Norm should get a nobel peace prize.

Story: My favorite line was the one when the narrator was speculating if he had come in at any other moment, if maybe Jeanie would be strung out and cut open, or maybe she would have taken care of everything, tidied up, and by the time he came in just asked if he wanted 'the usual.'
Like at any moment any of us could walk into a situation where "Weird" went bad and we could get tangled up in it, but most of the time things goes smooth and we never even notice the green curl coming out of the waitress's nose or the way the bunnies are lined up on the side of the road.

This story seemed written to tell out loud. So of course it turned out great with the Drabblecast treatment. I feel like some arbitrary things could have been trimmed, like janny mentioned, the silent Buick scene seemed unnecessary and I'm not sure the dream sequence needed to be there. Felt to me like they killed the momentum a little.

[Wonko]

So, all in all, I found the story delightfully creepy. Mostly because when I got home after listening to this in the car, my house reeked of acetone. I was told that it was because my niece had been playing with nail polish.

...

Yeah, nail polish. That's obviously what happened.

[Travelin Corpse Feet]

Really liked this one. I've been cross country a couple of times and I'm a sucker for anything remotely road/travel based. There's a lot of weird stuff out there.