Tue
11
Sep '07
I often listen to Escape Pod as I’m working, but it goes in fits and starts depending on if I’m working on language based things or not. Lately, I’ve had a lot of work that doesn’t use the verbal part of my brain and the short fiction at Escape Pod is perfect. I’ve just finished listening to Escape Pod 116: “Ej-Es” by Nancy Kress. This is beautifully read by Sheri Mann Stewart and raises serious ethical questions. It explores human nature in a way that perfectly demonstrates why I read and write speculative fiction.
By standing on the stage of the possible, we can explore thorny ethical and moral dilemmas. Take some time and go listen to “Ej-Es.” I promise that it will make you think.
Tags: fiction, Journal, Reading Aloud
I listened to this on the way back from a teacher training in Phoenicia, NY. It was lovely. The ethical questions were a bit sticky, weren’t they?
I’m digging through the whole podcast and am almost up to date. They are a nice alternative to striaght music and talk radio.
You should check out their sister podcast PseudoPod (horror) and starting in October, PodCastle for fantasy stories.
I listened to the story but i still failed to understand/translate the last line:
“Ej-es! O, Ej-es! Ej-es, Esefeb eket! Ej-es - etef efef! O, etej efef!”
The reading was superb and the events made me think (you were right) but was I thinking properly or not will remain a mystery until someone helps me translate the closing line.
Ej-es was the name of her imaginary companion. Esefeb is her name. So I think it means, “Ej-es, O, Ej-es. I am alone. Ej-es come home. Come home!”