Me, Escape Pod, Thursday

Set your podcatchers to download Escape Pod on Friday the 26th of January. I’m the guest presenter, and like ITV’s “The Storyteller”, my stories must be told. As you may already know, Escape Pod is the free weekly science-fiction and fantasy magazine. It’s the largest free collection of science-fiction and fantasy stories on the Internet, and I’ve been somewhat obsessed by this project since it started last Summer.

Intro:

Steve asked me to tell you about my love for the definitive English trilogy; Written shortly after the 2nd world war, This epic story spans three volumes and a shorter children’s novel. It’s a story of intrigue, betrayal and a long adventure very far from home…

I’m sure most of you have guessed that I’m talking about the Ghormenghast books by Mervyn Peake. The trilogy has recently been re-released as a single volume, and if you are lucky you might find an out of print copy of Peake’s sinister children’s book “Boy in Darkness”.
This trilogy describes the childhood of Titus Groan, the heir to the throne of Castle Ghormenghast, a crumbling dystopia where tradition and pointless ceremony utterly dominate life.

The books describe the rise and eventual fall of “Steerpike”, an ambitious kitchen-boy who by cunning, and deception gains the highest office in the land. Steerpike will stop at nothing (including murder) to get what he wants. Titus is the only person in the castle with with wits to oppose steerpike.

These books are about Titus’s struggle to overcome betrayal and escape his destiny. They are about growing up and becoming a man. These are the eternal, epic themes, themes of great literature…

… and yet strangely enough you will find this book in the Fantasy section, even though it features no dwarves, magic rings or any of the usual Tolkeinesque trappings.
Every time I see Ghormenghast on a ‘Fantasy’ shelf, I’m going to pick it up and move it into the ‘Literature’ section. Now Ghormenghast clearly IS a work of fantasy because it is purely a work of imagination. The world of Ghormenghast is to bizarre to ever have existed, but nevertheless, the book is also great literature and I think it deserves to be treated as such.
It works the other way round: I can take “Moby-Dick” and place it with the Fantasy novels. Moby-Dick is unquestionably great literature, but It’s also a fantasy world every bit as removed from our lives as an alien planet. Why shouldn’t Moby-Dick live on the same shelves as Shai-Halud?

Malevolent whales are arguably further from our urban reality than robots and cyberspace.

The division between great Literature and great fantasy is artificial. It exists only for the convenience of booksellers, and it puts our favourite stories into a ghetto. We should recognise that all great stories are made from the same stuff; and once we do we can unite against the real enemy:
We’ve allowed ‘our’ section to be invaded by spin-off novels; The adaptations from movies, tv-shows and even video-games. Those publishers are really aiming for the lowest common denominator, and as a result it’s not surprising that most booksellers don’t take Fantasy and SF seriously.

And that’s where Escape Pod can help; I expect the new authors “the Pod” has featured will soon have their own books published; We can expect amazing stories that cross the genres, and defy our expectations. But more importantly, these will be books that we will want to buy
If we support those authors by buying their books, then booksellers might just want to stock more original works and fewer spin-offs. Publishers might turn off their play-stations and actually start commissioning some original work. Before we know it, we will have created a thriving market for new fiction… or is that just a fantasy?

Which somehow brings me to our latest battle in our struggle for literary liberation; Today’s story ,“L’alchemista” by Nora Jemison received an honourable mention in the 18th edition of “The Year’s Best Horror and Fantasy”. Nora was also the winner of a travel grant form the Speculative Literature Foundation.

Her story is without doubt a fantasy, however one which eschews the usual cod medievalisms, semi-norse poetry and sword-wielding hobgoblins. It is set in contemporary Italy, and while magic is involved, it’s both familiar and subtle.

It’s read by an expert fantasist, Paul Tevis from the “Have Games Will Travel” podcast, a show about the philosophy of games and role-playing. Paul’s series really dissects the essence of fantasy, and you can find him you can find it on the iTunes Music store, or just follow the link from www.escapepod.org

As Steve would say, It’s story time…

OUTRO

And that was our story…

Nora Jemison (the author of today’s story) says she listens to Escape Pod as she bikes into work. A few weeks back I Steve mentioned Eric from Surrey, England who listens to Escape Pod on his motorbike. It’s time for me to confess, that I am also a escape-pod biker. I know that it’s not safe to mix fantasy and motorbikes with oncoming heavy-goods vehicles, but nevertheless, many of us do.

I’m not encouraging it or anything, but do please let us know if like Nora you listen to Escape Pod in a dangerous or life threatening situation. For example, do you listen while you deploy fireworks, operate agricultural machenery or perhaps pilot an experimental aircraft. I think it’s measure of how much we value our escapism; literally how much personal danger are we willing to expose ourselves to for half an hour of fantasy? The most extravagant story will win nothing but my admiration, but please add your comments to www.escapepod.org.

Speaking of featured donors, today’s featured donor is myself. Yes, I have donated to Escape Pod on a number of occasions and my British pounds go to pay authors and keep the escape pod web-server from imploding. I would urge you to do the same.

I know it’s self indulgent to feature myself, but that’s because I would like to tell you about another artistic institution that deserves your attention and perhaps a podcast subscription.

I’m talking about London’s ultra-alternative radio station Resonance FM. Resonance gives a showcase to our city’s most unusual artists. People like Dan Wilson, whose hobby is tape-dropping, the art of purposefully discarding recordings full of original, bizarre and challenging audio in order to create a disturbance. Some might think that a pointless and loosery thing to do, but just be thankful Resonance FM helps to channel his artistic energies.

“Tape-dropping is a nice exciting method of music distribution that has its roots in the historic medieval pastime of twig-dropping; leaving oddly shaped twigs around the courtyard to freak out the superstitious. Whether they be gentry or serf, it mattered not.”

Dan is one of the many bizarre and original resonance programme makers, so if you are curious, just follow the link for Resonance FM on from www.escapepod.org or search any of the podcast directories for “Resonance”. I’m going to play a promo for Dan’s show at the end of today’s podcast.

In the meantime, it’s time to remind you that our theme tune is by Daikaiju, whose riffs will outlast the heat-death of the universe.

This recording is released under a creative commons “Attribution, non-commercial no-derivatives” license. This means that like Dan, you are free to record copies of Escape Pod onto cassettes and CD’s in your neighbourhood in order to perplex your fellow earthlings.

So until next week, when Steve Eley returns, I’ve been Salim Fadhley for Escape Pod. Thanks for listening.