What I liked about this story was how strangely ‘comfortable’ it felt to hear all these stories from the characters. Even when the cat and the house started talking, I wasn’t surprised, because it fit in with the mood of the party. Having had a miscarriage myself, I was very touched to hear the unborn child speak as well. Her take on scar brought tears to my eyes.

Okay, things *did* get a little weird after that, but I truly, truly enjoyed this flash!

Well, except that t’is the season… but still, this was pretty gruesome.

(in case it’s not clear, I liked it!)

My favorite scar is the one line which remains on my left arm. It used to be a grid pattern all the way up the inner arm from wrist to shoulder, but everything healed except that spot.

Am I winning so far?

When we start recording new warnings, I’ll take this into account, but unfortunately, we’ve done all our recording through the end of January.

Shift again, and I felt like I was in Euopean Cinema, maybe Bergman at his bleakest or Jean-Pierre Mellville. One more shift and I thought Chuck Palahniuk had shown up.

Then things got downright surreal, and I quit trying to pull literary and cultural influences (homages?) from the characters, and just tried to soak it all in.

I like it. We think of Halloween Tales as Extra Bloody with a Wink, or maybe just the Essence of Dread, but I like the idea of Despairing us to Oblivion. After all, there’s more than one way to scare a psyche. Great job to all involved!

^^^

On another, more uncomfortable note, I fear I must second a comment from a few podcasts ago, taking issue with the “warnings” for more adult entertainment. “Immature listeners of any age” just rubs me the wrong way. I’m not judging motives, but it comes across (to me) as a bit elitest and defensive, as if anticipating problems from controversial subject matter, and already spinning those complaints as coming from prejudice.

I don’t doubt for a minute that there are subjects that veer into politics or views of morality, and some people will react in a knee-jerk close-minded way. However, I think you should give people the benefit of the doubt, that there might be a whole host of reasonable and legitimate reasons to object.

I guess what I’m asking is if maybe the Warnings could be more along the lines of, “This Podcast is rated R for a, b, and c reasons, so strong viewer discretion advised.” I know it’s a minor quibble, but PodCastle has become one of my favorite sites on the Net, and I want it to be a Shining City on a Hill.