Evil Robot Monkey first appeared in the Solaris Book of New Science Fiction, volume 2. To test a new microphone,1 I decided to record this because it is darn short.
Here you go. Six minutes of science-fiction.
Sliding his hands over the clay, Sly relished the moisture oozing around his fingers. The clay matted down the hair on the back of his hands making them look almost human. He turned the potter’s wheel with his prehensile feet as he shaped the vase. Pinching the clay between his fingers he lifted the wall of the vase, spinning it higher.
Someone banged on the window of his pen. Sly jumped and then screamed as the vase collapsed under its own weight. He spun and hurled it at the picture window like feces. The clay spattered against the Plexiglas, sliding down the window.
The audio version of “Evil Robot Monkey” by Mary Robinette Kowal is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Based on a work at www.solarisbooks.com.
- A Blue Snowball mic, which I think I might love [↩]
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[...] Mary Robinette Kowal reads “Evil Robot Monkey” which was originally published in The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction, volume 2. You can listen to it here. [...]
What is the new mic?
A Blue Snowball, which was recommended to my by Steve Ely at Escape Pod.
Lovely piece. You really have a wonderful way of sensory description.
Thank you! My mother collects pottery and so I went through a brief period in high school where I was trying to learn to throw pots. Heavens, it’s hard.
Nice story. =)
That snowball mic does look like a snowball! Makes me want one. Though I’m not sure if I want a snowball microphone or actual snowball…
Thanks! I’m pretty impressed with the mic. The phone rang twice during the reading and I didn’t have to cut it out.
Really? That could just be what I’m looking for. I am currently using an inexpensive Sony unidirectional mic. I like it because I can record stuff even when other people are talking next to me. All I have to do is point the microphone away from them. It doesn’t seem to catch all the dynamic I want though.
So none of that hiding in the closet to get some quiet thing, eh?
What’s particularly nice about it is that you can switch from unidirectional to omnidirectional. Handy.
Wow, handy indeed. Which setting were you using for this one?
I think, I’m going to seriously look into getting one. =)
The uni-directional.
Are you using it on a Mac or PC? I have a really nice MXL mic that works nicely on my PC but tends to crap out on the Mac, due to power issues with USB.
However, I would prefer to record on the Mac, only because my PC is a monster system and sounds like a jet engine.
I’m using a PC, but it says that it’s Mac compatible.
By the way, I ordered one. Too bad you are not getting more commission, hehe.
“Any” commission, I meant.
[...] close personal acquaintance Mary Robinette Kowal put up a reading on her site of her short story “Evil Robot Monkey.” I both liked the story and liked her reading of it. I’d love to one day have a chance to [...]