Union Dues: Sidekicks in Stockholm

Novelette by Jeffrey R. DeRego
Read for Escape Pod by Stephen Eley (Text & Audio online)

Dark comedy about a Superman-like hero in a hostage situation. But the hostage taker is a villain called "The Chairman" who is mainly just upset about corporate greed and wants to use the ransom demands to force the various big and corrupt companies to undo some of the harm they did. He is a crazed extremist, they are a bunch of particularly exploitative CEOs and the Chairman's political lectures are softened by meta-commentary and opposing viewpoints presented by the hostages. DeRego isn't a fan of big business, but he isn't giving a one-sided lecture about it either.

The best thing is everyone's amazement at how little Adam Smasher understands of economics and politics. The whole debate basically goes straight over his head. At the end, dark political humor goes out the window for a just plain dark ending as Adam has to make a decision about where he stands on the debate.

I don't agree with Adam's decision, and I suspect none of the hostages, terrorists, or most people reading this story will either. Which is what makes it a great one. We don't have to agree with the hero or like his decisions, but it is great fun coming to understand how they get to that point. Even more fun for being such a deconstruction of the superhero hostage situation. DeRego and others have done superhero deconstructions before, and I've liked some but not all of them, but this is my absolute favorite such story I've ever read.

4 out of 5 supervillains have the floor, goddamnit.

We Go Back

Novelette by Tim Pratt

An Escape Pod original, text and audio free online

Randy has the ability to teleport anywhere in the universe, but she doesn't get much use of it because of her uber-vigilant mother, and not having enough free time with school and teen drama. But her best friend Jenny needs her help, and Randy gives it willingly. The mini-adventure forms a small fraction of the story, most of it being emotional aftermath of Randy's being manipulated, and some big revelations about Jenny's home life. A story about the power of friendship, and the relative uselessness of superpowers.

What I like most is that the whole story is aftermath of some big coming-of-age adventure Randy had, that she mostly laughs off, but gives us enough background for an interesting backstory. I'm aware that Pratt actually wrote a book about this material, but he gave us enough of it here that I almost like it better as story background than actual fiction. But I haven't read it. More importantly, I don't need to in order to enjoy the story.

I also really like Jenny's actual problem. It is much more significant than things first appear, and something I like seeing addressed in what amounts to Young Adult fiction. The story was exciting, but still emotional and thoughtful. Randy is a very good friend but still very much a teenage girl. This is a fun story.

4 teleporting teenagers out of 5.

A Small Matter, Really

Short Story by Monte Cook

Text and Audio free at Escape Pod

A May 2011 Escape Pod Original

I'll keep this very short, because I don't want to take time on detail.

Lots of really cool ideas and a good setup. Possibly too many good ideas, including:

• The Catholic Church of Osirus and their time travel plot
• Aliens who think humans are gods
• A grieving woman who will change time itself to bring back her husband
• Time Hackers

Extremely disappointing conclusion, featuring:

• a joke reference to the title
• a random POV switch
• an unjust comeuppance caused by totally random chance but written as if it were deserved
• faux tragedy that doesn't make sense within the logic already established by the story
• Any of the cooler plot elements introduced at the beginning

More with the church, less with the unearned Be Careful What You Wish For tragedy!

2 time hackers out of 5.

Tom the Universe

Short Story by Larry Hodges
Read for Escape Pod by Mat Weller
An Escape Pod original, text & audio free online

The singularity in Tom's brain has expanded to become the universe. Now he quite literally plays god, trying to set things up exactly as his life was, so he can have some petty revenge and/or save the universe from himself.

If you ignore the highly bullshit "science", and more annoyingly, the attempt to make it seem like it's supposed to be plausible, this is a neat story about how all the power and intelligence in the world can't make you more emotionally mature or a better person. The writing isn't bad, but the end is muddled and doesn't make all that much sense when you think about it. It wasn't awful, but nothing to recommend here.

2.5 brain branes out of 5.

Schrödinger’s Cat Lady

Short Story by Marjorie James
An Escape Pod original, text and audio reading by Mur Lafferty free online.

Eleanor is an animal control officer sent to investigate complaints of a woman having too many cats. As you might guess from the title, determining exactly how many she has gets to be a bit complicated. Largely Eleanor just goes to the lady's house, sees a bunch of weird shit and physics jokes, leaves, comes back, leaves, and then we get a totally out-of-nowhere conclusion. Different in tone from the rest of the story, but also events out of nowhere, and a resolution to a problem out of nowhere with no real resolution to the main problem.

This was light, nerdy fun, with a surprisingly dark twist, but it left me unsatisfied. Amused but unsatisfied.
3 cats out of 5 might be able to walk through walls, but only those who read Heinlein.