I usually listen to podcasts like RadioLab, More Perfect, Hidden Brain, and Invisibilia when I run. (I use “run” in the most modern sense – the pace at which I shuffle my feet used to be called “jogging” but that term seems to have slipped out of favor.) But while waiting for fresh episodes, I often look to Escape Pod, an always reliable source for professionally rendered audio sci-fi short stories, to keep my mind off my tiring legs.
Yesterday, I was entranced by an episode in Escape Pod’s Artemis Rising series (a month of sci-fi by female authors) called Promise by Christi Nogle. I won’t spoil anything about this story except to say that if you like crisp plots that tie up neatly at the end, then you might look askance at this one, but I recommend it anyway. Promise is mesmerizing and beautifully read by Tina Connolly. I enjoyed it so much that after I finished my run, I went to the site and read the story for myself.
Art (for Escape Pod) by Geneva B
Okay, I need to talk with someone about Escape Pod 620: Promise by Christi Nogle. Is there any link to a conversation about this story? I am just stuck trying to figure out what is real and what isn’t in the entire conversation. It is a very intriguing piece, but enough was left to the imagination that I am stuck wondering whether any of it took place on an actual physical location. Or is the main character simply uploaded to a virtual reality for the entire story? That she pieces out the unreality as she goes? So many questions…who to ask?
There may very well be a thread somewhere but I’m not going to search for it myself. Although you do ask interesting questions, I don’t want the answers! I guess I take a kind of twisted pleasure in not knowing. So many possibilities ….
I didn’t find anything on the page where the podcast was. (Kudos for getting me to a podcast without getting lost. By the way.) I did enjoy the listen and then had to re-read it to make sure I could look up all the references I didn’t actually have a mental picture for. It was a very well written piece. I just couldn’t tell you if it was real or just a digital dream. Thanks for sending me there.
You are quite welcome.