This week on the Drabblecast– mutant hillbillies!
Cover art by Bo Kaier
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Tag: super-heroes
Captain Confederation was annoyed when he got off the elevator and it showed. It would have been so simple and logical for him to land on the roof of the Superhero Administration Centre, or in the ample grounds surrounding it, but these alternatives were no longer open to him. Last month Transport Canada had proposed a regulation requiring superheroes to take off and land from helipads unless actually fighting crime, and for some inexplicable reason the Department of Superhero Affairs had gone along with it.
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John was born with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men, and he often wondered why. But as a boy, it was simply wonderful to have those abilities. He could lift his father’s tractor overhead before he learned to read. He could outrace a galloping horse. He couldn’t be cut or bruised or burned. He could fly…
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I can’t fly faster than a speeding bullet. I can’t lift a car. I can’t climb slick surfaces with my bare hands or breath underwater or stop time. All I can do is change blue things to yellow. I didn’t bother to buy a cape or a spandex suit like the others. I just bought a blouse and some slacks and went into interior design…
This episode of the Drabblecast explores the idea of being happy with yourself as a unique individual. In the drabble, the titular imaginary runner is invented as part of a game to pass time in the car, but meets a tragic end. In the feature, a woman with a minor Gift (turning blue things yellow) in a world of high-powered superheroes struggles to find a niche.
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“Wow.” Tiny Tim shakes his head slowly. Peels off his crimson domino mask and slaps it down on the meeting table. “That makes three of us.”
“We’re marked men….” Dust Mite’s voice trembles. He tugs at the hood of his pale gray body suit. “Every costumed avenger with the power to shrink…”
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“Your work does sound most commendable, but I’m afraid there’s nothing I can do. Volunteer work, no matter how worthy, doesn’t pay taxes. There’s no such thing as a free lunch…”
Building on last episode’s interest in a Nigerian scam spame e-mail, Norm announces the first annual “Nigerian Scam Spam E-mail Contest,” arising from listener Strawman’s suggestion. We move on to the feature story, whose author Tom Williams appeared before on episode #30, “2084.” This week, Mr. Williams writes about a cynical Social Security officer who tires of the hard-luck cases he hears on a daily basis, deciding “there ain’t nobody but workers and slackers.” A special individual arrives to remind our protagonist of the truth of the social contract.
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Some things are just too precious to leave behind…
Episode 4 of the Drabblecast brings us “Uncle Ollie’s Gift,” a story of keeping your family close, and your prized possessions closer. The story’s author Kendall Marchman joins Norm to provide sound effects and records a moral for the story’s conclusion.
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