PodCastle Miniature 006: Eating Hearts

[Heradel]

PodCastle Miniature 006: Eating Hearts

By Yoon Ha Lee
Read by Ann Leckie
First appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.

"It's about not seeing," Chuan explained to her just after he brought the meal to the table.  "The perfect magician is all-blind, all-unknowing.  No sound reaches a wall to wake an echo; no touch bridges distance."  He leaned back against the wall where, Horanga imagined, the cloth of his shirt hung over the hollow curve of his back.  He lived in a house in the city, by the river, and long ago the sound of fish swimming endlessly in that river would have distracted her from her purpose.

"Then what do you do in this house?" asked Horanga, looking not at his face or his hands, but at the plate between them.  The plate was heaped with tender vegetables, slivers of rare meat, and sliced nuts; over the vegetables and meat and nuts, he had drizzled three different sauces in a tapestry of taste.

"A perfect magician, I said."  He smiled.

Rated PG. Contains sex between humans and those who only appear so.


Listen to this week’s Pod Castle Miniature!

[Listener]

Reading seemed a little less mystical than I would have liked.

Story overused the word "gaze".  I find a lot of writers doing that.  I'm actually helping a romance novelist edit a piece and at this point I'm just yellow-lining it and not commenting or offering suggestions.

I liked the resolution.  Sometimes, sex really does solve everything.   

[stePH]

I listened to this one while grilling dinner Saturday.  Didn't get it.  Last night I listened to it again to see if my reaction was to the story itself or if I just missed something.  Still didn't get it.

I've liked a few of the regular episodes, and a couple have been excellent, but I just haven't liked a single "miniature" yet.  It's not just the shorter form; I remember there are a few Escape Pod "flash" pieces that I liked (though I can't think of them offhand).

[eytanz]

I enjoyed the story... but I think Ann was the wrong reader for it. Not that she did a bad job, it's just that A - she sounds very young, and that didn't fit in very well with the story, and B - she read it very matter-of-factly, which I think was not quite the right approach. I think someone a bit older, in more of a "storyteller" mode rather than a straight reading, would have given the story more impact.

[JoeFitz]

I wanted to like this piece, and I listened to it twice to see, like stePH, if I had missed something. I don't think so. Several images were compelling to me, but I thought the piece was too short to bring it all together.

I also thought the description of the cave was a little overwrought, given the characters were making love at the time, and the story is involves rebirth.

[Nobilis]

Neither the story nor the writing caught my attention.  I skipped it after the first five minutes.

[Rain]

I enjoyed the story... but I think Ann was the wrong reader for it. Not that she did a bad job, it's just that A - she sounds very young, and that didn't fit in very well with the story, and B - she read it very matter-of-factly, which I think was not quite the right approach. I think someone a bit older, in more of a "storyteller" mode rather than a straight reading, would have given the story more impact.

I agree, the story in itself wasnt written too well and the reading almost just made it become random noise in the background

[Sandikal]

I thought I was just not paying attention or missed something.  I see that I'm not the only one who didn't get it.

[Dwango]

I think I got it, but it was almost cheesy in the end.  She eats hearts of wizards to gain their power.  This wizard is different, he keeps her from eating his heart.  He fell in love with her, so she devoured his heart in a different way, emotionally.  Awww, isn't love cute.  Boy, I'd hate to be there for the break up.  It could be rather messy. 

[Rachel Swirsky]

"emotionally"

*cough* Physically, I think. Just not, um, with her mouth.

[eytanz]

"emotionally"

*cough* Physically, I think. Just not, um, with her mouth.

Ok, I get what you're doing there, but - the story was already straining under the literal/metaphorical use of "heart" and I think you just broke it.

[Rachel Swirsky]

I should have said carnally.

[Unblinking]

I'm a huge fan of Yoon Ha Lee, but I didn't get this one at all.   

What did the list of myths at the beginning that were repeated at the end have to do with anything?  What actually happened?  I'm just lost on this one.