I don’t want to get into unspeakable navel-gazing, but cannot let slip one of the comments on the Drabblecast* reading of Boiled Black Broth And Cornets. One of the pleasures of having stories read there – apart from the fact that I was paid thirteen quid for this one – is the nature of some of the contributions to the discussion forum. The audience is, I suspect, at something of a tangent to the Hooting Yard listenership.
Consider this, from “delfeddâ€: “What the bleep happened in that story? I got the voodoo zombie part. But why did she go absolutely insane?†Perhaps I am reading it wrong, but “delfedd†appears to be suggesting that to ply your friends with voodoo zombie soup is perfectly normal behaviour. Only later does Becke Beiderbix go “completely insaneâ€. I find this quite a worrying attitude, the more so because “delfeddâ€â€™s location is given as “Everywhereâ€, meaning that s/he could barge in through my door at any moment, in full voodoo zombie mode.
* NOTE : Incidentally, I have been wondering what the connection is between Norm Sherman’s podcast and our own dear Margaret Drabble. And does he have plans to launch another podcast named after her sister A S Byatt?
Have you read the comments about “far far away”? They make for interesting reading. I was taken aback to read that some find you too absurd. I wonder around recommending Hooting Yard to all and sundry as an antidote to the everyday quotidian silliness that we have to put up what with reality TV and rewards cards. I never for one moment thought that people couldn’t understand it.
Mr. Key,
As luck would have it I think I may have a solution to your Voodoo Zombie concerns…
Here at O.S.M. Towers we have a lodger who spends a good proportion of his waking hours killing Zombies that appear on his televisual simulacramating device…
His rates are reasonable, he asks nothing more than a constant supply of tea and Smokers Pop-Tarts (maybe an occasional dial-a-pizza delivery for variety…)
An economical method of ensuring your peace of mind I feel..
O.S.M.
Can somebody confirm the correct way to say Beiderbecke? I always thought it rhymed with “neck” rather than “becky” as Norm pronounced it.
Phil, I read the comments from Far Far Away… some of them demonstrated alarming levels of incomprehension.
Mr Wellington : Norm Sherman pronounces it “Beeder-becky”. When I read the story on the radio shortly you will discover it ought to be pronounced “Bye-der-beck-er”.
Dear Mr. Key
How is that you are such a fount of Muggletonian knowledge? Could it be that you were passed on some esoteric commission by the last Muggletonian – who died in Kent in 1979? Are you preparing to reveal your prophetic mission to the world? Am I going to end this sentence with a question mark too? Does any one care?
wst : Alas, I never did get to meet the Kent fruit farmer Philip Noakes, the Last Muggletonian.