Mon 20 Aug 2007
In which The Corridor concludes.
Book 8: The Inosculum; Chapter Fourteen: The Closing of the Corridor, Chapter Fifteen: Aftermath, and Epilogue. [19:07m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download Book 8: The Inosculum; Chapter Fourteen: The Closing of the Corridor, Chapter Fifteen: Aftermath, and Epilogue. [19:07m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
August 20th, 2007 at 10:55 pm
Thank you, Zan. Please post a blog entry soon.
August 21st, 2007 at 11:51 am
Wonderful, Zan. Many, many sincere thanks. I signed up for podiobooks.com and left what I hope is an adequate note:
———
I loved it. The author shows great talent. His interweaving of plot threads was masterful–I had no idea what was going to happen next, nor how or when it would all end. His descriptions and writing style were vivid and engaging. And he seems to have created a genre, new to me at least: modern-day fantasy with mystery and even some horror mixed in. I anxiously awaited each new episode.
Very, very highly recommended. A jewel waiting to be discovered.
————–
I do hope we hear from you and Jana again, and soon. You have me worried something bad has happened!
In the meantime, I’m up to my ears in work for a week, but I’ll try and email or record a few questions for a followup show.
Warmly,
V
August 21st, 2007 at 3:49 pm
Zan,
Sorry to have it end, but glad for the resolution. _The Corridor_ was a quick like for me. I have left many podcast stories/novels for different reasons, but you drew me in instantly. It is we who owe you thanks for the time and work and imagination to share with us. Looking forward to your continuing work and
Best Regards
August 21st, 2007 at 5:28 pm
Podiobooks rating - check
Comments
Podiobooks “The Corridor” page - check
Podiobooker “The Corridor” ends - check
iTunes - check
I was not the first person to post at any of these venues today, I am proud of us fans. Don’t stop, fellow fans, I’m sure there are more than five of us. Did I miss any places to post reviews?
This last episode did not leave me with any questions, but I’m sure I’ll think of more in a day or two.
August 21st, 2007 at 9:14 pm
Zan, Thanks for the story of The Corridor.I really enjoyed all the twists and turns.It was a wild ride and I have enjoyed the weekly installments.I hope there will be a part 2.I’m going now to podiobooks.com to leave a feedback and look for something else to fill the slot now that “The Corridor” has ended.
Thanks again,
Chris
August 22nd, 2007 at 6:31 pm
Extraordinary. I can only imagine you must have roughed out the whole story long before you wrote it, as it hangs together so well.
The introduction of several quite unique scenarios - particularly the horror - shows an almost pathological depth of imagination that I would be worried about if I did not already know your work from Bob’s Yer Uncle. It’s a bit like unexpectedly stumbling upon your first Japanese horror film…
Thanks a lot for sharing what must have been a labour of love with us. That’s an awful lot of hours in the studio, and it is much appreciated. A great pleasure to follow week by week.
And so to questions:
If the whispering stone is unable to move by itself, how did it originally get to the altar at the end of the deepest darkest tunnel under the Castle Gurgoom? Were the tunnels there before the castle was built? Who dug the tunnels and built the altar? Why?
The principle of good reliable design is no single point of failure. The Inosculum is such a point. If the Corridor and everything that entails depended on the Inosculum to keep it working, surely some sort of backup would have been prudent?
Isn’t it a bit much to hope that a new lens will appear ready for harvesting just as the old lens is wearing out? Wouldn’t a selective breeding programme for a lens have been a better option?
The passage at the banquet where the Prodromos has the entire universe, the Corridor and all the Facets to draw on, and all he can manage to produce is a very mediocre banquet. A disinct lack of imagination on the Prodromos’s part. And yet he is in such a position of power - how did he get his start so he could become the ruler of the cosmos? I understand that once he was the Prodromos, he would accumulate all sorts of hangers-on, but first he had to grasp control. How did he do that?
August 23rd, 2007 at 10:07 am
I can not tell you how much I loved this story and how I really, really hope you do another as soon as you can. So many good things to say, so little room. From beginning to end it never let up, it never slowed down and the quality of the narration only get better and better. A story of this length had to have been a major undertaking so, my hats off to you! I really hope to see more from you, maybe not just the Corridor but some of your other work as well. In other words, I hope we haven’t seen the end of ya Zan, keep up the great work!
August 23rd, 2007 at 11:06 am
Zebulon -
I am in no way trying to usurp Zan’s reply to your questions - but I wanted to say quickly that the Prodromos’ banquet was, in my humble opinion, one of Zan’s best scenes. I would very much like to see this scene adapted to screen by, say, Peter Greenaway. To me it illustrates 1) how far removed from reality the P is and 2) how disintegrated his power has become.
August 23rd, 2007 at 9:45 pm
Once I got started, it was easy to think of questions, so I sent them straight to Zan. Somewhere between 20 and 30, depending on how you count. Oh, I forgot to tell Zan that I can probably think up a few more if he needs them as encouragement.
Maybe he’ll read it here. Topics addressed were The Music, The Story, Recording, and The Parsec Awards. I did not try to ask specific questions about characters or plot lines, as I do not see it as a whole in my head yet, so I’ll have to leave that to others. Plus, I did not feel equal to all the spelling involved.
Looking forward to one more cast!
August 24th, 2007 at 8:59 am
Zan,
A few questions come to mind. Is Durrin dead? Regardless, did the damage he inflicted on himself affect his other aspects (e.g, the Prodromos)?
What was the bone, and how was it powerful enough to injure the Prodromos and Durrin? How could an artifact like it go missing without anyone’s notice? What were they typically used for, since it seems they were created with some regularity?
What happened to all the inhabitants of the Corridor at the end, since a fresh lens would have made the place inhospitable? Is Julie a girl or a woman (beyond physically)? Does the stone have other aspects, too? If not, what’s so special about its facet?
What do you think about this rash? Should I see a doctor? Oh… wrong questions…
Have you written other novels? Are they same cosmos? Will we ever hear Jana’s pretty voice again?
That seems like a good place to stop. -V
August 24th, 2007 at 10:23 pm
Wow, guys, I’m really impressed with the response so far! In my message I said that asking for feedback wasn’t about my vanity, but all these comments here and on Podiobooks certainly aren’t doing my vanity any harm.
The Corridor still isn’t in the Podiobooks charts by rating, which surprised me, but it got a couple of low ratings from listeners who dropped out in the early days, and I think it’s very hard to bring the average up to the level needed now. Still, it can’t be too far off. It is in the charts for most new subscriptions by day, though, so all these positive ratings and comments are clearly generating interest amongst potential listeners, which is great.
I’m filing away all the questions I’m getting and will definitely do a Q&A episode, so keep them coming in. In the meantime, however, I’m a bit mystified about your question re: Julie, Vibeeen. Did you mean Golly?
I’m also surprised that no-one’s asked questions fishing for information about the proposed sequel …
August 25th, 2007 at 12:35 am
Whoops! Yes, Golly. Sorry! Will she become mortal and lose her strength and speed now that the currents have stopped flowing?
So, how could an incantation woven by a mutant whore, and which took a man’s life by dissolving his flesh, have such power over the ruler of the cosmos? Is there any significance to the Prodromos’ era beginning and ending with a the Whispering Stone in the mouth/throat? And why did the stone attempt to hide with Stuart initially, when it deceived Stuart about Elauthir’s death, when it later criticized him for not helping the Stone get to Castle Gurgoom? Its motivations seem contradictory. Why was it said the Stone couldn’t be trusted, when it simply wanted the Prodromos’ reign to end?
What is the Portalogist up to now? Since Castle Gurgoom was already turning murderous with the reduced flow of incoming curents, will it be at all habitable after the end of the story? Is there anything else in that facet beside the castle and a vast wasteland of old bones?
I’m surprised Cheruvia Spim wasn’t allied with… I forgot his name. Harko’s live brother, and tutor to Stuart. They both seemed to understand the Prodromos was vulnerable, and had to be stopped. Also, how did Stuart become such an adept at combative current-craft with so little time and training? I’m sure Gail asked if the harp consciously killed the Vivisector–I’m curious, too. I think it did.
Ah, and how does the sequel end?
-V
August 25th, 2007 at 6:19 pm
“I’m also surprised that no-one’s asked questions fishing for information about the proposed sequel …”
Would you tell us if we did? I was so unable to see what was coming in The Corridor that it would be fairly useless to speculate on the sequel. Ahem. Proposed sequel.
You will tell us when you are ready. Maybe.
In the meantime it’s a lot of fun to wonder about what we already know, or think we know.
(Hsst! Vibeeen! It was Groon! The living ‘brother’ was Harwald Groon! Allowing for spelling.)
August 25th, 2007 at 9:58 pm
(Pssst.. Gail! Thanks! I always got Groon and Gurgoom mixed in my head. OK, good, Groon. Groon. Hey, you don’t think Zan can hear us, do you? :D)
August 25th, 2007 at 10:02 pm
Hi Zan, I just got here. Yeah, that’s right… Anyway another questions came to mind. Your quote “Grief is like longing, only much more painful.” That was the first quote you put in the sidebar, months before a character would utter it. Is there a story or hidden meaning behind it?
V
August 25th, 2007 at 10:36 pm
V - I’d have to go check, but I think it’s the first line of episode one.
August 26th, 2007 at 9:00 am
Harwog Groon? something like that.
August 27th, 2007 at 8:15 pm
In looking back over the questions I have written so far, I’m mostly satisfied, but change this one: What other stories have you written?
to:
What else have you written? (Novels, plays, short stories, screen plays, you get the idea.) What else do you plan to write?
What is your day job? What other jobs have you had?
Would you be able to promote your work the way some of the other Podiobooks authors do, such as JC Hutchins, Scott Sigler, and Seth Harwood, to name a few?
August 29th, 2007 at 5:46 pm
or are you too shy and retiring? or possibly that would be hard to do while preserving your anonymity?
Are you preserving your anonymity? I got that impression somewhere, but it could be wrong.
Wait a minute – Cheruvia Spim had no heads on her belt like Groon! What’s up with that? How many ways are there to deal with your other selves? Groon killed his, and preserved their heads for knowledge; the Prodromos put his to work. How did Cheruvia deal with her other selves, or is this getting into sequel territory?
August 31st, 2007 at 11:48 pm
Maybe she turned them into exotic makeup?
September 1st, 2007 at 8:45 am
or Corridor ships?
September 2nd, 2007 at 11:19 am
How come little Arthur spoke so infrequently? No doubt his stash will cause reverberations in the slow facet.
Eventually.
Arthur must have been relieved to find an adult to take care of him. How exactly did Cheruvia Spim’s personality change so much from first sight to last? (Little boys don’t have that effect on most people, in my experience.)
September 3rd, 2007 at 12:43 pm
Stuart’s energy sucking ability was never really expanded upon. I was wondering if that was a talent specific to a Unique or if anyone can do such a thing?
Regardless, Stuart is in for some serious moral dilemmas as he tries to get back into the corridor.
Maybe he’ll get a job on death row….
Also, I was thinking about the purger’s and other people “touched” by the corridor. If they all have aspects in other facets, do their aspects exhibit any shadow symptoms?
September 4th, 2007 at 7:16 am
Now that Labor Day weekend is over, what’s the scoop?
September 4th, 2007 at 1:13 pm
The September holiday Labor Day is purely American and isn’t observed by anyone else. The equivalent holiday for the rest of the world is May Day. Apparently America wouldn’t recognise May Day as a holiday like the rest of us as it was regarded being too Commie.
In that case, why it would be OK to have a Labor Day in the US at all? Or perhaps the date of the US Labor Day was specifically chosen to demonstrate a lack of solidarity between the American working classes and all other working classes?
And ’scoop’ is an undesirable singing habit, a street name for gamma hydroxybutyrate, a wedding gown neckline, a hollowed-out half-log for draining water off the roof, equipment designed for cleaning runways and a gentle light used in Hollywood.
Mix all those things up and maybe there’s a story in the making?
September 4th, 2007 at 7:41 pm
uncle!
September 4th, 2007 at 7:45 pm
For the answers to these questions, Zebulon, listen to the Monday September 3 edition of podictionary by Charles Hodgson.
September 4th, 2007 at 7:52 pm
Holidays and etymologies aside, the situation is that I’m planning on recording the Q&A podcast some time in the next two weeks. I want to give everyone plenty of time to ask questions (no surprises for guessing which three listeners have provided the bulk of the questions so far), and I’m also working on a promo clip. I’ll most likely post a draft of that clip in the next week or so for feedback, as well.
September 5th, 2007 at 4:46 am
Thanks for the update, Zan. Looking forward to it!
(and Gail - Podictionary - how could I not have known about this lovely site?)
September 5th, 2007 at 8:41 am
Zebulon has an excellent response so I repeat it: “Thanks for the update, Zan. Looking forward to it!”
(Zebulon - Rob at podcast411 asks all his guests what they are listening to, it’s a great resource for when I run out of listening material.)
In fact, Rob at podcast411 might be someone for you to talk to, Zan, publicitywise.
September 7th, 2007 at 8:47 am
Well, peoples, it’s the end of an era.
I have come first to The Corridor page every day for months, and soon there will be nothing new to find. No more episodes, no more comments.
I miss it already!
September 11th, 2007 at 8:16 am
–bookmark updated/corrected and works fine–
September 13th, 2007 at 5:33 am
I haven’t recorded the Q&A yet - it looks like it’ll have to be next week. However, I have put together a promo which I plan to officially present in that episode. I hope it’s coherent - if you want you can listen to it HERE and give constructive criticism before its release.
September 13th, 2007 at 8:03 am
It’s great! It might be a bit long for a promo.
Zan, you did an incredible job compressing the essence of The Corridor into such a small amount of time. I like the choice of music, and how you use it. I especially like the end, where the music stops, but the quietly intense voice continues.
September 18th, 2007 at 12:17 am
You’re right, Gail. I’d aimed for a minute and a half, but it blew out. I’ve tried to reduce it a bit, although it’s still longer than 1:30. The result is HERE.
September 18th, 2007 at 9:12 am
Zan–
I like the promo in #33 as the blowout, blockbuster promotional from which all other promos are born. It would have made an excellent entry for the Parsec Award (if not for that pesky no new recordings rule).
#35 is not essentially different. Offer them both, time constraints are different for everybody.
Then may I suggest you start with four bars of music and the credits at the end as given. Make several. Then put voice over the music, whatever fits. Describe a character, an episode, a story line. Hooks don’t need to be big.
In only seconds, a listener will have the essence, which is: you sound good.
Heck, you’d have a serviceable promo with a single guitar note and the credits.
Some very fine minds have already tried to distill this story. If it could be told in ten minutes, it wouldn’t be 72 episodes long.