Drabblecast 259 - The Last of the O-Forms

[StalinSays]

Feature: The Last of the O-Forms by James Van Pelt
Drabble: The Woman Made of Flowers by Nathan Lee



Tuesday, October 9th, 2012
At the sack’s bottom, beneath an empty donut box, he found the beef jerky. It tasted mostly of pepper, but underneath it had a tingly, metallic flavor he tried not to think about. Who knew what it might have been made from? He doubted there were any original-form cows, the o-cows, left to slaughter…

Art by Jacob Wayne Bryner
Read by Ken Jordan

Twabble: “ I could feel her eyes on the back of my neck. Then I turned around and her green eyestalks adjusted, pushing into my chest. ” by loyaleagle

[chemistryguy]

"Come inside the show's about to start. Guaranteed to blow your head apart"

This story depressed me in a most delightful way.

Loved the creepy carnival theme so close to Halloween. Loved the twist ending.

[Mildred]

Definitely reminds me of the decline in the circus, and the sideshow specifically, over time from their heyday.

Creepy as all hell too.

[Richmazzer]

Wowwww.
Norm mentioned on twitter some time ago that he thought the post-Lovecraft Month lineup of stories was maybe the strongest ever... He wasn't joking!
I knocked out the last four episodes today and let me tell you, from alien virus mysteries to God forgetting about a handful of astronauts, child mind readers to mutant traveling caravans, things have somehow been getting better and better each week 'round these parts.

This one is my favorite story of the year. I loved the tone... darkly weird, creepy and melancholy. Loved the imagery of muddy small town Mississippi, baseball games going on and steamboats floating down the sluggish black river, despite some unknown pandemic mutation slowly twisting around life as we know it.

Creepy little genius girl was a peach and I loved the conflict of letting go this story presented. Letting go of the past, when everything seemed "normal"...letting go of the life, the business of weirdness that the protagonist had built up. In perfect Drabblecast form, the story asks us "What is weird? What is normal?" and shows us how the relationship changes with time, along with everything else around us.

And there was even a fight scene involving a slithering triangle-headed river mutant thrown in for good measure. I'm off to find more James Van Pelt to read.

Great Drabble btw, but we've come to expect that from ol' Scattercat.

[normsherman]

the story asks us "What is weird? What is normal?" and shows us how the relationship changes with time, along with everything else around us.

Good point. We don't need some widespread mutation-virus to keep us from displaying our "Snookie" in the carnival that is network televsion. Eventually the sensationalism and spectacle dies off and that lonesome, bloated Snookie slithers back down the muddy shoals, belly gorged on mutilated chicken-- only to find that there's no more room in those shallow, tepid waters for her! The oily black river is flopping with slimy lurking things... all of them complaining still that there's nothing good on TV.

[strawman]

the story asks us "What is weird? What is normal?" and shows us how the relationship changes with time, along with everything else around us.

Good point. We don't need some widespread mutation-virus to keep us from displaying our "Snookie" in the carnival that is network televsion. Eventually the sensationalism and spectacle dies off and that lonesome, bloated Snookie slithers back down the muddy shoals, belly gorged on mutilated chicken-- only to find that there's no more room in those shallow, tepid waters for her! The oily black river is flopping with slimy lurking things... all of them complaining still that there's nothing good on TV.

OK, that's enough. No more jelly for you, mister.

[Algernon Sydney is Dead]

This episode was okay-ish. The twabble was good for a smile.
The story vaguely reminded me of my periods as an itinerant farm-worker. I heard the show in the middle of a few-hours trip (road-kind, not ROU kind ), so that added to the ambiance nicely.

I like the pace, and characterization, and little details like how the neighbor kids turned out.
I didn't like that this was one more example of male/father (straw)man bashing. The father is deluded and mildly pathetic. The kid is wise beyond her years and, worse, another variant of the talking infant -- like some bad John Travolta movie.

The father won't even acknowledge that the brat is his kid until there's money on the line. Does that mean she'll mutate into an NBA star?

Lastly, thanks to Norm, for the on-air thanks.
In a happy co-inky-dink, the renewal-notice, for the Twitfic sizer, arrived on the same day as I listened to this episode.

[Unblinking]

Really top-notch story here. Everything from the premise itself of a mutagenic panspecies plague, to the change of one kind of circus (of the freaks the like of which no one has ever seen) to another kind of circus (of the only normal-looking kind left of which we all have seen, but thought we never would again), to the battle with the river beastie. All good stuff.

More please!

[uncre8d1]

This was one of my favorite stories this year.

When people are strange, normal is stranger.
Their faces aren't lumpy; yours is too flat.
Strange and the twisted make you feel wanted
Dollar a head to see you pet a fake cat

You're O-Form
Deviant from the new norm
You're O-Form
They come to see you in swarms
You're O-Form
You're O-Form
You're O-Form

[chemistryguy]

This was one of my favorite stories this year.

When people are strange, normal is stranger.
Their faces aren't lumpy; yours is too flat.
Strange and the twisted make you feel wanted
Dollar a head to see you pet a fake cat

You're O-Form
Deviant from the new norm
You're O-Form
They come to see you in swarms
You're O-Form
You're O-Form
You're O-Form

8D

[Unblinking]

This was one of my favorite stories this year.

When people are strange, normal is stranger.
Their faces aren't lumpy; yours is too flat.
Strange and the twisted make you feel wanted
Dollar a head to see you pet a fake cat

You're O-Form
Deviant from the new norm
You're O-Form
They come to see you in swarms
You're O-Form
You're O-Form
You're O-Form

love it!

[uncre8d1]

heh, thanks. Wish I had the lyric-, uh, -ality? to write the whole spoof, but I fear I'd run out of both synonyms and weirdness too quickly. Anyone who feels like making a Bbardle, have at it.

[Beth Peters]

I'm really surprised some of these forum threads around this time are notably barren of comments. I'm pretty sure the Drabblecast story streak I've listened to this week happening in the "episode 50's" was the best I've consecutive stories I've heard anywhere in awhile.
This one, along with Roanoke, Nevada really showed the sadness of the passing of one period and people into inevitable oblivion. I thought of the amazing heritage of many native american tribes when listening to both. It's how I feel about books and CD's dying off in the face of technology, that feeling of whether it's a disease, colonial expansion or market behavior causing the extinction, there's nothing you can do to truly preserve a way of life that will soon be lost to time.