Escape Pod 892: Rogue Farm (Flashback Friday)
Show Notes
Recorded at Balticon 43, May 23, 2009
Read by:
Joe – Jared Axelrod (of The Voice of Free Planet X),
Maddie – J.R. Blackwell (of Voices of Tomorrow)
The Farm – Evo Terra and Sheila Dee (of Evo at 11, et al.)
Brenda the Barkeep – Dee Reed (of Nobilis Erotica),
Wendy the Rat – Laura Burns,
Art the Boy Toy – John Cmar,
Bob the Dog – Earl Newton (of Stranger Things),
Narrator – Serah Eley
Special Thanks To:
Paul Fischer (of The Balticon Podcast) for instigating and organizing
Nobilis Reed (of Nobilis Erotica) for engineering
Rogue Farm (Excerpt)
By Charles Stross
“Buggerit, I don’t have time for this,” Joe muttered. The stable waiting for the small herd of cloned spidercows cluttering up the north paddock was still knee-deep in manure, and the tractor seat wasn’t getting any warmer while he shivered out here waiting for Maddie to come and sort this thing out. It wasn’t a big herd, but it was as big as his land and his labour could manage – the big biofabricator in the shed could assemble mammalian livestock faster than he could feed them up and sell them with an honest HAND-RAISED NOT VAT-GROWN label.
“What do you want with us?” he yelled up at the gently buzzing farm.
“Brains, fresh brains for baby Jesus,” crooned the farm in a warm contralto, startling Joe half out of his skin. “Buy my brains!” Half a dozen disturbing cauliflower shapes poked suggestively out of the farms’ back then retracted again, coyly.
“Don’t want no brains around here,” Joe said stubbornly, his fingers whitening on the stock of the shotgun. “Don’t want your kind round here, neither. Go away.”
Host Commentary
By Mur Lafferty
Settle back, children, as I tell you about the time when there were no big podcast conventions, there was only Balticon. Many early adopter podcasters like Tee Morris, Paul Fischer, JR Blackwell and Jadzia Axelrod, lived somewhat close to the Baltimore area, and there were many of us willing to come a bit farther for some podcaster camaraderie back when few people had even heard of the term. Roughly speaking, Balticons 40-45 were a great deal of fun for the east coast nerd podcasters (and podcast fan).
Full cast audio isn’t something we usually do at Escape Pod. It’s expensive and a pain to produce, and sometimes we have enough problems finding one narrator for a story. But when you have an in-person gathering of many podcasters, fans, and a science fiction author like Charlie Stross, it can come together a bit easier.
So settle back on the porch and let Gramma Mur take you back to Memorial Day weekend, back in aught nine. It’s story time.
Again, that was Rogue Farm by Charlie Stross, narrated by Sheila Dee, Serah Eley, Evo Terra, Edward Newton, Dee Reed, Laura Burns, and John Cmar.
Charlie Stross is a futurist whose intellect frankly intimidates me. And I love his stories that show that, even with vastly advanced technology, there will still be people who have to do the grunt work, and they have stories to tell as well.
Another reason I chose this story is that Charlie Stross writes stories that, if you just read the plot description, you’d think it was too weird to pull off. But when Charlie writes it, you find yourself nodding and thinking, “Right, ok, let’s hear a story about a Rogue Farm. Why not?”
About the Author
Charles Stross
Charles Stross, 54, is a full-time science fiction writer and resident of Edinburgh, Scotland. The author of six Hugo-nominated novels and winner of the 2005, 2010, and 2014 Hugo awards for best novella, he has won numerous other awards and been translated into at least 12 other languages.
About the Narrators
Earl Newton
Earl Newton has won multiple awards for writing and directing. He was also rejected from film school three times. He is not sure which fact gives him more delight at present.
When not scheming about all Things Stranger, Earl Newton works as a director and editor for other people. He also blogs at his website (EarlNewton.com) about creativity, the film business, and the rare chances when those two meet.
Evo Terra
Travis Unwin, known professionally as Evo Terra, is an American podcaster, author, radio broadcaster, and businessman based in Bangkok, Thailand. Terra is the author of Podcasting For Dummies, originator of The Beer Diet, a travel blogger, and an early pioneer in podcasting.
Jadzia Axelrod
Jadzia Axelrod (also known as Jared Axelrod) is an author, an illustrator, and a world changer. Through out her eventful life she has also been a circus performer, a puppeteer, a graphic designer, a sculptor, a costume designer, a podcaster and quite a few other things that she’s lost track of but will no doubt remember when the situation calls for it. But that “writer” business, that seems to be one she keeps coming back to.
Jadzia is the author of Galaxy: The Prettiest Star, a graphic novel illustrated by Jess Taylor and published by DC Comics.
She is the author and illustrator behind “Frankenstein’s Support Group For Misunderstood Monsters,” a comic about monsters and feelings, for Quirk Books.
She is the writer and producer of the award-winning podcast, “The Voice Of Free Planet X” where she interviews stranded time-travelers, low-rent superheroes, unrepentant monsters and other such creature of sci-fi and fantasy, as well as the podcasts “Aliens You Will Meet” and “Fables Of The Flying City.” The story started in “Fables Of The Flying City” is concluded in The Battle Of Blood & Ink, a graphic novel published by Tor.
She is not domestic, she is a luxury, and in that sense, necessary.
Drop her a line, if you’d like to chat. You can also subscribe to her newsletter.
Thanks for coming by.
You look nice today.
John Cmar
John Cmar is an infectious diseases physician in Baltimore who splits his time between treating horrors such as syphilis, and molding the next generation of doctors, while repeatedly washing his hands in between. When not herding his five cats or going fanboy over the space endeavors of his wife Moon Ranger Laura, John infectious various podcast and radio projects with his voice. He is the Chief Medical Officer and Bad Doctor in Residence at his personal blog, Saint Nickanuck.
Serah Eley
Serah Eley is a chaos spirit who first appeared in 2013, from the right cerebral hemisphere of a former podcaster named Steve Eley. Best known as the founding editor and host of Escape Pod, with the famous signoff “Have Fun,” Steve realized he was having more fun as Serah and gave her the body for transition and general mayhem. Now much prettier than Steve and at least seventy percent weirder, Serah lives in Atlanta, Georgia with her spouse Sadi and collects stories too fantastic to be fiction. If you ask nicely she may even tell some of them. Very nicely.
