The Drabblecast ~ #216 "The Book Of Eternity" by Mike Resnick

Art by Jan Dennison

This week’s episode #216 concludes Lovecraft month for the Drabblecast. The weekly audio fiction magazine had some difficulties getting finished up, but for those who couldn’t get their tentacles on the episode from the www.Drabblecast.org, could have swung over to iTunes (provided you own an iPod) and updated the feed. Anyhow I got it and I want to let you know about it.

First let me say that this is the first post Unspeakable Gibberer has done for any Podcast, and will not be the last, nor will it be the only Podcast we talk about. Second, this week’s episode was a great way to close out Lovecraft month on Drabblecast!

For the last couple months, Drabblecast has periodically produced an ongoing crypto zoology series entitled – In Search of The Brain-Eating Nandi Bear in which protagonist, Connor Choadsworth, teams up with his taintilizing competition, Von Tainthammer, to find a live Nandi Bear. So far we’ve seen boobs that look like floppy PVC pipes, tar-babys, a Cheshire cat, and mad cow disease, but still no Nandi bears. It’s been fun and this addition didn’t disappoint. Next week will be the sixth episode and the dramatic conclusion.

This week’s story is obviously based around a certain theme, or at least an item in particular, books. So I felt it was a nice path to be set on after hearing this week’s Drabble – My Secret Co-Author, by Evan Quinlan. A great short to make the hairs on the back of your hand stand up. Evan Quinlan lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts and has quite the knack for writing 100 word stories. Check him out at http://drabbleshire.org.

Now onto the main feature - The Book of Eternity by Mike Resnick. Im not one to give away the story, so I won’t dig too much into it. I do want to say however, that this story kinda freaked me out. For some it may not be much of a twist in the end, but I was doing mental flips when I heard this tale progress. I liked it so much I listened to it again. I am an aspiring weird fiction writer, and to hear someone with the smooth grace of Mike Resnick pulling off the style he loves to show is an honor. When Norm was reading off evil tome after evil tome, I was baffled on how someone is able to come up with such names and to write them in so neatly without the whole story sounding like a Barnes and Noble catalog on the occult section. Mike, has won 5 Hugo awards, 34 nominations for the award, and has also won a Nebula award. Check more of his stuff out at www.MikeResnick.com and please give this a listen on the Drabblecast!