The SFFaudio Podcast #849 – Prize Ship by Philip K. Dick (42 minutes) and The Ship Who Sang by Anne McCaffrey (41 minutes). Both are read by Tommy Patrick Ryan. These are followed by a discussion of both. Participants in the discussion include Jesse, Will Emmons, and Tommy Patrick Ryan.

Talked about on today’s show:

1954, 1961, 42 minutes or so, one is far superior to the other, which is which?, Prize Ship is superior to The Ship Who Sang, largely similarish time frame, pairing them thematically, Mr. Spaceship, thematically, far superior, first time Anne McCaffrey, a trick story, not a particularly well executed one, he muted himself but doesn’t know, this wide of a gap, particularily phenomenal, a trick, some comments, Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travels, never mentioned, Brobdingnag, Dragon Riders Of Pern, Eric’s book club with Tommy, okay, fun and interesting, themes, the Dick thing relied so heavily, the expanding universe, that gimmick is so thin, an interesting idea, naturally leads to sequels, leaves it open, the worldbuilding that she does, mentally good, physical deformities, these dudes are comin over, they go inside of her, try to charm her, passin out drinks, she signed off on this, that’s gross, being in love with him, a girl story, Philip K. Dick’s story is a peice of shit, way too long for the material, some other solar system, this one stupid moon, Ganymede, they don’t use cradle technology, horrible Ganymedeian emperor, so many characters, any distinction from each other, the Plutonians are Soviets or something, that’s on Philip K. Dick writing in his shit mode, time wasting stories, doesn’t put a foot wrong, leaves open the possibility of endless series, girl ideas, girl mindset, a houseparty inside of her, she sets her cap, she gets to have it every which way, she’s the girl in the wheelchair at the dance party, brain, brawn, a terrific story, also a little bit pretty, in sympathy, we probably agree, not the finest story you’ve ever read, the best McCaffrey story Jesse has ever read, what if this story were weirder or more upsetting, it should be upsetting, programming people, putting them in institutions, concerned citizens, step by step eliminates objections, increases the history, brain ship the third generation, Star Trek [The Next Generation] where Majel Barrett is the ship and Will Riker is her only crewman, girl fantasy romance in space, great at girl psychology, fetish weirdness, coyness with regard to sexuality, silly beyond 40 minutes, our primary brawn, he looks at her, being seen, whole bunch of titanium, he still looks at her, he doesn’t dance with her out of obligation, valid points, more comments about the Dick story, more to be critical of, better to shoot first on a strange planet, he fundamentally doesn’t understand military organization or business structures, when he fakes it he comes across as stupid, there’s greatness in the story idea, it’s a 4 second story, a joke story, a twist story, Gulliver’s Travels, junior year of college, of a regular curriculum, every planet and many moons, deep in the future, their own tech, an excuse to revisit the ideas that blue Philip K. Dick’s socks off when he was a kid, time travel not being really worth it, being silly, throw away characters, so long for the material, the guy who didn’t know the story, a fun brief discussion point, gone to the future, everything could be real, Wonderland, Oz, Middle Earth, Narnia, Neverland, today’s lexicon, maybe it’s not worth it, felt more dated, still out there, the story is dated by it’s dated references, when this is supposed to be, perhaps others, Erewhon, Pellucidar, all the the fantasy’s dreams, jum jum jum, Edgar Rice Burroughs’ hollow earth, going into it, tickled at the imagination, sorta fun, so referential, so meta in that way, way deep into the story, so much setup, so lame, the whole senator scene, boring, he’s terrible at that shit, so useless, did nothing for the story, the Ganymedean at the end, could have been half as long, one of these is a classic, the other one is absolutely forgetable, Return To Lilliput, something that is on his mind, boobs, direct references to The Odyssey, Strange Eden, childhood reading, work through this, social satire not science fiction or a true story, he can’t help himself, the joke is better, Prominent Author, the joke is really good, commuting, who the hell writes about commuting, multiple times, fucked by the robot at home, very fun, gotta commute, tiny little people, doesn’t report the hole, the joke is, slips of paper, not aliens from other planets, they’re the Israelites, he is god, Moses!, busy writing down the ten commandments, cribbing from the bible at work, a good joke, also this weird idea, what kind of idea is that, a result of technology, no such thing as commuting, transit time, your work can be hours away, a six hour drive to work, come back once a week, a second place in the Chicago area, relocate, a fundamental science fiction idea, the consequences of technological change, time travel is real rather than cradle technology, expanding universe isn’t just space between stars, the size of everything grows, he buries it, the title, buried by it’s own garbage, done as kind of a joke, vitriol, by having this discussion, the worst time travel story, pretty silly, it’s an idea, Robert J. Sawyer in a dinosaur novel, Shadow In Space by Philip Jose Farmer, any female characters?, liliputian female, not even a quivering look at her boobs, meat and potatoes make money mode, my beating heart, no emotions in this story, don’t care, things I should hate, Jesse hates characters and emotions, character makes you read big long series, Dragons Of Autumn Twilight, Dragons Of Winter Dawn, Dragons of Summer Festing, Time Of The Twins, reading for character, the death of Sturm Brightblade!, a way of tricking people into reading, how their stories go, the Dresden Files, Dragonlance, Drizt?, high literature, we literally form a relationship, we like them, Tanis Half-Elven, Wolverine, half-girlfriend, anti-Cyclops feelings, the X-Men has science fiction ideas sometimes, a bit of both, a bit of allegory, the junk story, the gem has problems, you want to see what happens next, the guy dies, that’s awesome, dumb, naive, the grandmother ship coming along, leads to the possibility, this federation, drug smugglers and vaccines, also The Cold Equations, a plague on Woden, just like Balto, a dog one, our noble brawn, so fucking girl psychology, the relationship between and ugly girl or a disabled girl, maybe she’s got pimples, kids exposed to thalidomide, We Didn’t Start The Fire, Jesse is very suspicious of music, things that Jesse should be worried about: institutions, corruption, abuse, is she being abused?, “power seek”, these brainships, total slaves, they have agency, how limited is that agency, later sequels, pick her person, it felt backwards, having a party inside of her, a gang rape [gang bang], a man who doesn’t suck, all as good as you can get, top 1 percent in everything, good at everything, they’re all Rikers, they’re not Barkleys and not Picards, fine starfleet officer, an exploration of the borderlines of the idea, a ship’s counselor, understand emotions, looks good in her outfit, her role is expanded when you have characters like Barkley, fucking up at work, expansive, read the whole series, the next story will be more of the same, and largely girl fantasy, all the men coming into her, a crew choosing party, courted like Jane Austen, the song by Rebecca Black called Friday, immensely inane, kick it in the back seat, that’s her life, zionists?, the disparity, her major problem is which seat should she sit in?, hilarious and endearing and stupid and anti-intellectual, almost asexual, the central question of the story, some level of agency is nice, Pride And Prejudice, just brooding, scary eyebrows, happy for Elizabeth, filthy rich, a bonus, take pity, he likes her for her, not for her money, that’s nice, themes in there, she’s the one who makes things happen in the home, she invites a man into her, they go out adventuring, planted on the ground giving advice, goes and talks to the nuns, we’re running out, runs back, they all follow Riker back into the ship, heroic efforts, a manly hero, it has everything, woman being virginal, woman being sexual, so perfect with regards using a science fiction idea, to explore female psychology, so good at it, is there a scene wasted here?, usally to give us a little information, to allay fears of abuse, institutions being very dangerous, separating kids from their families, either than our she’s going to be euthanized, pick up that ball and run with it, her other option, the Jedi in Star Wars, force sensitive, taken from their families, they can be good monks, in Judge Dredd, indoctrinated from age 5, a kind of priesthood or nunhood, saving this colony of nuns, this handsome man, parallels, jealous, only has eyes for her shell, the alternatives, the modern equivalent, put in the incinerator, a reality, taken away from your parents immediately, how the Spartan system works, out in barracks, murder a Helot, horrible disciplinary stuff, the British Public School system, brainships are female, the singing, initial attraction, her reputation, a girl in a wheelchair, a girl with a birthmark on her face, a girl with a limp, so girl psychology, it exceeds its premise, an excellent science fiction story, less luke war, the totality of the storyline, one of the joys of discussion, this does do a lot of stuff, reverse discrimination, she’s in charge, more examples, not desired, not into her for her looks, who and what t