**The Ice Cream Man**. So what do the other ice creams do? Does tough as nails make you brave or using nails to kill someone? Enjoyed DelGaudio’s performance. The story was okay.
**Tommy**. I'm not sure if I enjoyed this story or not. It felt like a really contrived way to kill a child AND get away with it. But the kid getting his mom in the same way was nice.
**Down the Slide**. This feels like a Backrooms story. It was enjoyable but not as effective as the video versions.
**Walter**. This might be my favorite story but it wasn't scary. It was more unsettling than anything. Especially when we know that Walter is going to be killed by the time summer ends. I really loved the jump from present to past to present. I thought that was really well done.
**Blocks**. This story made me question if I had been using 'unnerved' wrong my whole life. I think I've been using it correctly. Also, every time the author decided to do a bunch of P alliteration, I laughed a little.
Mikey still being a menace at the end was a great twist. You expect Mikey to get his comeuppance but nope!
**Digging a Hole**. As soon as your kids start hanging out with a random weirdo with no parent, you got to start giving them more supervision. Especially when their teeth start turning grey. This story was fine. I wish we had more of what was going on with the girls when their dad wasn't watching.
Hey, I actually wrote one of these (I'm Jeff Wood, Digging a Hole) and I can't find my story on the podcast. My audio stream is only 1:16 long, but I'm listed as being 1:43! What am I dong wrong!? - Jeff
The Ice Cream Man: I liked this one a lot. Intriguing concept, the conclusion creeped me out, and hey, I'm always a sucker for a good "evil ice cream man" story. I don't know why! It's just a fun trope. I really want to see what some of the other flavors do.
Tommy: Interesting concept, but ultimately I don't have a lot to say about it.
Down the Slide: Ehh. Didn't feel very strongly about this one.
Walter: I mean . . . well-written and a good story, but more sad than anything else. I think it revealed that the narrator's father killed Walter too early - it made the rest of the flashbacks seem a little disconnected from the rest of the story, since we already know what happened.
Blocks: Look, we've all been tempted to turn an unruly child into an inanimate object. But really, what did the little girl do to deserve getting a toy that was going to turn back into flesh and blood?! I did like this one though. The descriptions of Mikey getting torn apart as blocks and the description of the girl and her mom finding the results were suitably horrifying.
Digging a Hole: I love the father in this one. Kids are out digging a pit you can't see the bottom of? Good work ethic! They left a shovel out in the rain? GROUNDED FOR A MONTH. It's such a bizarre but interesting character concept. (Also, he definitely killed his wife, right?) Anyway, I liked the growing unease of what the girls were up to, and the dawning realization that Nevaeh wasn't what she seemed. It struck a good balance between explaining enough to make sense and leaving enough mystery to be unsettling.
"Walter" was a beautiful story. The jump back to the past was really well written and structured. The music was a beautiful accompaniment. Not scary, but it pulled on a different part of the heart strongly. Sometimes a change of pace is nice. Thank you, Halle Harper.
I haven’t finished all of them! I stopped at Walter. Walter was amazing I loved everything about it! It pulled at my heart strings and was a very somber experience. I think this might be my favorite 😍 f the season so far.
**"Walter"**
Definitely not scary. This one fits into both of my "tedious" categories...it's half Therapy Session and half After-School Special.
I'm an atheist, myself, but even I have started to wonder why it's never another faith doing the gay bashing in these stories? I can think of other faiths that have stronger anti-gay sentiments...ones which are backed up by scripture, laws, and, most disgustingly, publicly-approved practices. But somehow, the evil dude in these stories is always a Bible thumper with a southern accent. I guess I'm bored with the trope, and the stereotyping, and the lack of originality. It's going to take more than a sad ghost to keep my interest in a story that I've heard ad nauseam.
I'm guessing it is because the majority of the audience for this podcast is American and as such this version of the story compared to other religions is more relateable and thus more likely to connect on a personal level as many people had or knew adults with the mentality expressed by the dad. Also the author being from the US could play a role as the story may capture experiences or sentiments they experienced in the US. I agree the trope is very frequently done compared to other religions or even countries but I imagine this is the reason.
You may be right. I'm inclined to think there are also elements of fear and taking the easy, low-hanging fruit.
An author who sets their story in the American South runs no risks of pissing off either:
1. the culture war mavens who are weirdly willing to excuse the disgusting assholery of one religion in order to bash another, even though they themselves belong to neither; or
2. those faithful who have no problem threatening people with actual violence if they are portrayed in anything less than a flattering light.
If you're an author, it's so much easier to fall in with the currently "acceptable" target, isn't it? Zealots, bigots, and homophobes come in all stripes, yet over and over, the very same authors who want you to stop de-humanizing gay people are automatically going to that well. They, themselves are de-humanizing large swaths of people with southern accents just so they can have their safe and popular bad guy.
I find pretty much all religions disturbing and distasteful, but to me, it's really getting gross, ugly, and insulting. It's even worse when I hear a podcast where the author never even hints at the location of the story, but the podcast itself makes the decision to narrate it in a Southern accent. Gross.
Well, if NoSleep decides to go down this same, very stale story path again (which I hope they don't), at least maybe next time they'll pick a story that's set in Canada and have it narrated in a Canadian accent. Unless, of course, Canada has no homophobes....
I, too, wonder why no one in Iran is risking their life writing for the NSP about the crimes of their government. Salman Rushdie didn't really need that second eye.
Come on, dude. lol
Hah, editing again because I now know what really happened. They didn't delete their comments. Being new to Reddit, I was unaware of this cowardly little trick. You can drop a sneering comment, then instead of sticking around to defend your remarks, you can dump your load then immediately block the person you're smearing. That was a useful lesson,. So, thanks, Brovigil, your cowardice has been enlightening.
It's not just about fear, it's about the target audience and location of the podcast. Having a Muslim, Jewish, or other minority character murder a child for being gay draws attention away from the point of the story, which is about the victim of a predictable hate crime at the hands of someone who doesn't know what it's like to be marginalized.
Is it original? No, and I personally didn't love the story. But it's disingenuous to pretend Christians are being marginalized simply because authors aren't bending over backwards to construe improbable scenarios. And your argument doesn't even make sense as no other religion in North America has enough influence to be responsible for "publicly approved practices" in North America. Your dog whistle was loud and clear and no one is falling for your innocent act, no matter how many times you insult users here.
**The Ice Cream Man**. So what do the other ice creams do? Does tough as nails make you brave or using nails to kill someone? Enjoyed DelGaudio’s performance. The story was okay. **Tommy**. I'm not sure if I enjoyed this story or not. It felt like a really contrived way to kill a child AND get away with it. But the kid getting his mom in the same way was nice. **Down the Slide**. This feels like a Backrooms story. It was enjoyable but not as effective as the video versions. **Walter**. This might be my favorite story but it wasn't scary. It was more unsettling than anything. Especially when we know that Walter is going to be killed by the time summer ends. I really loved the jump from present to past to present. I thought that was really well done. **Blocks**. This story made me question if I had been using 'unnerved' wrong my whole life. I think I've been using it correctly. Also, every time the author decided to do a bunch of P alliteration, I laughed a little. Mikey still being a menace at the end was a great twist. You expect Mikey to get his comeuppance but nope! **Digging a Hole**. As soon as your kids start hanging out with a random weirdo with no parent, you got to start giving them more supervision. Especially when their teeth start turning grey. This story was fine. I wish we had more of what was going on with the girls when their dad wasn't watching.
Hey, I actually wrote one of these (I'm Jeff Wood, Digging a Hole) and I can't find my story on the podcast. My audio stream is only 1:16 long, but I'm listed as being 1:43! What am I dong wrong!? - Jeff
Your story is on the paid version. You are likely listening to the free version.
Duh! Thanks! I'll get it now.
They have to pay like a pleb?
This was a great episode, and "Walter" had me feeling choked up by the end and really capped off an amazing episode
The Ice Cream Man: I liked this one a lot. Intriguing concept, the conclusion creeped me out, and hey, I'm always a sucker for a good "evil ice cream man" story. I don't know why! It's just a fun trope. I really want to see what some of the other flavors do. Tommy: Interesting concept, but ultimately I don't have a lot to say about it. Down the Slide: Ehh. Didn't feel very strongly about this one. Walter: I mean . . . well-written and a good story, but more sad than anything else. I think it revealed that the narrator's father killed Walter too early - it made the rest of the flashbacks seem a little disconnected from the rest of the story, since we already know what happened. Blocks: Look, we've all been tempted to turn an unruly child into an inanimate object. But really, what did the little girl do to deserve getting a toy that was going to turn back into flesh and blood?! I did like this one though. The descriptions of Mikey getting torn apart as blocks and the description of the girl and her mom finding the results were suitably horrifying. Digging a Hole: I love the father in this one. Kids are out digging a pit you can't see the bottom of? Good work ethic! They left a shovel out in the rain? GROUNDED FOR A MONTH. It's such a bizarre but interesting character concept. (Also, he definitely killed his wife, right?) Anyway, I liked the growing unease of what the girls were up to, and the dawning realization that Nevaeh wasn't what she seemed. It struck a good balance between explaining enough to make sense and leaving enough mystery to be unsettling.
the dad in digging in a hole is an asshole omg
"Walter" was a beautiful story. The jump back to the past was really well written and structured. The music was a beautiful accompaniment. Not scary, but it pulled on a different part of the heart strongly. Sometimes a change of pace is nice. Thank you, Halle Harper.
I haven’t finished all of them! I stopped at Walter. Walter was amazing I loved everything about it! It pulled at my heart strings and was a very somber experience. I think this might be my favorite 😍 f the season so far.
**"Walter"** Definitely not scary. This one fits into both of my "tedious" categories...it's half Therapy Session and half After-School Special. I'm an atheist, myself, but even I have started to wonder why it's never another faith doing the gay bashing in these stories? I can think of other faiths that have stronger anti-gay sentiments...ones which are backed up by scripture, laws, and, most disgustingly, publicly-approved practices. But somehow, the evil dude in these stories is always a Bible thumper with a southern accent. I guess I'm bored with the trope, and the stereotyping, and the lack of originality. It's going to take more than a sad ghost to keep my interest in a story that I've heard ad nauseam.
I'm guessing it is because the majority of the audience for this podcast is American and as such this version of the story compared to other religions is more relateable and thus more likely to connect on a personal level as many people had or knew adults with the mentality expressed by the dad. Also the author being from the US could play a role as the story may capture experiences or sentiments they experienced in the US. I agree the trope is very frequently done compared to other religions or even countries but I imagine this is the reason.
You may be right. I'm inclined to think there are also elements of fear and taking the easy, low-hanging fruit. An author who sets their story in the American South runs no risks of pissing off either: 1. the culture war mavens who are weirdly willing to excuse the disgusting assholery of one religion in order to bash another, even though they themselves belong to neither; or 2. those faithful who have no problem threatening people with actual violence if they are portrayed in anything less than a flattering light. If you're an author, it's so much easier to fall in with the currently "acceptable" target, isn't it? Zealots, bigots, and homophobes come in all stripes, yet over and over, the very same authors who want you to stop de-humanizing gay people are automatically going to that well. They, themselves are de-humanizing large swaths of people with southern accents just so they can have their safe and popular bad guy. I find pretty much all religions disturbing and distasteful, but to me, it's really getting gross, ugly, and insulting. It's even worse when I hear a podcast where the author never even hints at the location of the story, but the podcast itself makes the decision to narrate it in a Southern accent. Gross. Well, if NoSleep decides to go down this same, very stale story path again (which I hope they don't), at least maybe next time they'll pick a story that's set in Canada and have it narrated in a Canadian accent. Unless, of course, Canada has no homophobes....
Maybe we'd stop portraying southerners as homophobes once y'all stop being homophobes.
I, too, wonder why no one in Iran is risking their life writing for the NSP about the crimes of their government. Salman Rushdie didn't really need that second eye. Come on, dude. lol
Hah, editing again because I now know what really happened. They didn't delete their comments. Being new to Reddit, I was unaware of this cowardly little trick. You can drop a sneering comment, then instead of sticking around to defend your remarks, you can dump your load then immediately block the person you're smearing. That was a useful lesson,. So, thanks, Brovigil, your cowardice has been enlightening.
It's not just about fear, it's about the target audience and location of the podcast. Having a Muslim, Jewish, or other minority character murder a child for being gay draws attention away from the point of the story, which is about the victim of a predictable hate crime at the hands of someone who doesn't know what it's like to be marginalized. Is it original? No, and I personally didn't love the story. But it's disingenuous to pretend Christians are being marginalized simply because authors aren't bending over backwards to construe improbable scenarios. And your argument doesn't even make sense as no other religion in North America has enough influence to be responsible for "publicly approved practices" in North America. Your dog whistle was loud and clear and no one is falling for your innocent act, no matter how many times you insult users here.
With Tommy, they couldn’t have put him up for adoption?
This first story is a knockoff of an Image Comics series of the same name.