Lots of stories out there about sexual awakening (which is how I understood the essential nature of RRHC)… but precious few in which that awakening is
a) homosexual,
b) positive for the awakener (did I just make up that word?),
c) when the gay awakener achieves personal power.

IMHO, much of the disgust (and misinterpretation as pedophilia) expressed in the posts over the sexuality in the story are evidence of the deeply ingrained homophobia in this culture… and perhaps a bit of fear of a gay persona that does not adopt the self-loathing This Culture (aka Blacksmith) vigorously seeks to instill in its gay children.

Is this the same writer who brought us the ingenious L’Alchimista” and the awesome “Dragon Cloud Skies”?

Get back on track girl!

The only reason the sexuallity of it felt icky to me was that I wasn’t sure if the wolf ended up dead in this version of Red’s tale. I half thought the wolf was his dad durring most of the story.

Also, I thought it was made pretty clear that Anrin was no longer prepubescent; and furthermore, the age of sexual awakening in the time period being portrayed was likely the early teens, as a matter of course.

Bravo to Odin, for understanding the proper relationship between freely distributed works of art and their audience. Alas, he won’t get these kudos, but I state them for the edification of others nonetheless.

Well written and well read, me hearties. Juuuuust barely avoided being exactly the kind of drek that gives this sort of thing a bad reputation. And that’s a feat, if I do say so.

Also, thanks for the mention last ep! It’s a pleasure and an honor.

*bows*

Yours ever faithfully,
the Blaine Boy

Unfortunately, I can not say the same of RRHC.

I am not going to debate the merits of the story so others can tear them apart or adhere to them as a banner of some sort.

One thing I see/hear in our modern society is people trying to censor everything or argue others into seeing the world from their point of view. Instead I believe that I have the power to see/hear what I choose and when something becomes abhorrent to me, I have the power to turn it off.

That said, I can’t say I’ve experienced enough of the kind of fantasy I enjoy on PodCastle, and to much that I didn’t (for one reason or the other). Rather than try to censor what is presented, or argue others into seeing the world from my point of view, I choose to remove you from my podcatcher. And no, I’m not encouraging anyone else to follow anyone’s example. Think for yourself and do what you choose.

Peace!

I was glad to see a story that characterized ignorance about sex as a dangerous weakness that unnaturally puts children in situations they don’t understand and sexual awakening as empowerment. Perhaps if someone had talked to the boy about it beforehand, he would have known what the smith was up to and been able to respond to it competently (he might have even gotten to have some fun) instead of rumors being swapped over back fences and his guardian having to give up her life just to avoid telling the kid what the smith really wanted.

Old Man Parker: You’re completely wrong. In the “dark ages”, there was no such thing as homosexuals. The distinction between “heterosexual” and “homosexual” is entirely a modern western society invention. It has never existed in any other society previously. All other societies distinguish between people who penetrate and people who get penetrated as a matter of social hierarchy. In those societies, the idea that someone would restrict themselves to sexual relations with one gender exclusively was either a bizarre notion or one of no importance. Unless you meant “dark ages” to mean the 1950s…

Norvaljoe: You need to look up your defintions. Pedophiles are interested in prepubescents. It was made clear in the story that the boy was a pubescent. That puts it out of pedophile territory and into social persecution territory. You seem to be the one obsessed. Sex is a bodily function that everyone, even kids, partakes in. Fetuses have been seen on sonograms to masturbate in the womb. Any parent knows that their kids play with themselves. Pubescents are driven to seek partners, and other people seek them. It’s a product of hundreds of thousands of years of evolution, and I’d be interested to hear what case you could make to suggest that this evolution has produced a situation that, if followed without opposition, would harm the species?
And yeah, no, there is no pedophile menace. Do your research. Child abduction, molestation, etc is at an all-time low. You need to quit watching Fox News and basing your opinions on the general feeling you get and start basing them in real observation of the statistics. Crime, in all categories, is reduced drastically from prior decades.

Mark Ross: There is nothing bizarre about an adolescent being interested in sex. Not even gay sex. Rape, torture, and cannibalism, on the other hand, are very harmful things. it’s pretty disgusting that you would lump together normal human sexuality with those things and says a lot about the society you’ve been raised in.

Really wish you could edit comments sometimes.

Not their job. The “Explicit” and “Clean” tags are part of the markup on the feed, put their by whoever publishes it. Don’t know if the iTunes store ever inserts “Explicit” tags based on complaints, but if they did they’d certainly go overkill on it.

Podcastle probably should be using that markup, though, even with the warning in front of the episode.

@Old Man Parker: In the old days…really old days… people would think “Vampires, Werewolfs, and Homosexuals” all in the same catagory.

Bingo.

Still, like some others here before me, I miss the final confrontation between Anrin and the smith.

As I interpreted the story, the fact that he had grown taller than Baba for instance indicated to me that he would be at least 15 y/o or possibly nearing 18 even and obviously well into his adolescence. Pedophilia is obviously not the case here.

Dibs!!

That story made me throw up a little in the back of my throat.

What’s next? A rape torture and cannibalistic fantasy complete with ritual defecation? Three little pigs and one cup?

… when attempting to be shocking, there is such a thing as going too far. When overdone, the shocking becomes merely absurd and loses its value.

Factually, this is untrue. Just for the record.

If you want to see the author’s reaction to charges of pedophilia, and mine, you can see them at the message boards.

For some reason America is obsessed with sex. We have it in our literature, entertainment, and our advertising. We have sexualized our young children in providing them with provacative clothing and teaching them mature attitudes and behaviors. It is no wonder that child sexual assualt and the pedophile menace is increasinly common.

Graffiti is vandalism because it permenantly mars the view. This story is mental graffiti.

I tunes missed putting the ‘explcit’ warning on this one….or is that their job?