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« Reply #1 on: August 17, 2011, 01:16:11 PM » |
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SPOILER ALERT
It's actually a little play on Aristophanes' The Clouds, the bit about how Zeus was sucked up by the Vortex. Then there's this stopover in Copenhagen and this mysterious smell, then the protagonists transit the solar orb to reach Bimini, grab some rum, end up in jail for the night but catch their flight to Connecticut the next morning, thanks to an ingenious hologram. Oops. I should've said SPOILER ALERT first. In the end they burn down Plato's salon, there is some missing time, and an awkward cooked explanation of where a certain nubile young man spent his Christmas holidays.
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We live on a placid Rhode Island and Providence Plantations of ignorance in the midst of the black seas of an infinity of dark foreigners, and it was not meant that we should voyage too far.
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kulain
Blissfully Ignorant
Posts: 42
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« Reply #2 on: August 17, 2011, 01:56:31 PM » |
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wow this is the third time I've tried to read this story and my eyes just glaze over half way through. I had no idea Lovecraft had a hand in it, it seems to come up in the "related" anthologies more often than not. It kind of reminds me of The Mound in that some interesting stuff happens but the overly complicated explanation makes it really dull and uninteresting.
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Cloven Sunfish
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« Reply #3 on: August 20, 2011, 12:28:15 PM » |
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"The Trap" hits the same pitfall as "The Mound" in over-explaining the phenomena hinted at early in the story. I love this passage though. It made me laugh out loud when I read it: Near the close of an already long life the idea of a glass of immortality appears to have entered his mind. That he had acquired an enchanted mirror of inconceivable antiquity was a matter of common whispering; it being alleged that he had purloined it from a fellow-sorcerer who had entrusted it to him for polishing. "Excuse me, sir. My Nordic inter-dimensional mirror could use some polishing. Would you mind?" |
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old book
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« Reply #5 on: August 23, 2011, 03:47:31 PM » |
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"The Trap" hits the same pitfall as "The Mound" in over-explaining the phenomena hinted at early in the story. I love this passage though. It made me laugh out loud when I read it: Near the close of an already long life the idea of a glass of immortality appears to have entered his mind. That he had acquired an enchanted mirror of inconceivable antiquity was a matter of common whispering; it being alleged that he had purloined it from a fellow-sorcerer who had entrusted it to him for polishing. "Excuse me, sir. My Nordic inter-dimensional mirror could use some polishing. Would you mind?" In certain countries that line will get you 20 years behind bars. I laughed at the same spot in the text. What a creep. Not only does he seal his Negro slaves up for eternity in a shitty place that looks like an old television screen turned down to the darkest level possible and then entice random passers-by to their doom over the centuries, he ripped off a fellow sorceror to do it. No honor among sorcerors anymore. Of course the best part is what to do when you discover the trap: carefully isolate it from extraneous newer mirror, then hit it with a hammer. Poof, everyone turns to smoke except reverso-boy, whose colors are restored to normal but not his spleen. Do you suppose he can digest left-handed sugar now, too? All I know is, someone's got some 'splainin' to do. Abducted to Canada by rubbernecks in a fast car might work if no one really looks into it. Upon reflection the story will fall apart and the natural suspicion will be he was in the teacher's pad the whole time, and some sort of spat took place, witness the broken mirror. At least it wasn't on the ceiling over the bed. |
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We live on a placid Rhode Island and Providence Plantations of ignorance in the midst of the black seas of an infinity of dark foreigners, and it was not meant that we should voyage too far.
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adriftthoughts
Blissfully Ignorant
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« Reply #6 on: August 24, 2011, 06:12:21 AM » |
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I went into this story not knowing what to expect. On its own I like it well enough as just an short story to read when bored. If I had expected something scary or suspenseful I would have been disappointed.
I was wondering how believable the story of being kidnapped would have been at the time. I would have gone with something like the boy when exploring in the woods and got lost, simple and doesn't involved other people like being at someones home.
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old book
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« Reply #7 on: August 24, 2011, 08:37:33 AM » |
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August Derleth used the mirror idea in some of the tales he "co-authored" with Lovecraft's ghost. They're not bad. I think the stories to look for in this regard are The Gable Room and The Watchers Out of Time.
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We live on a placid Rhode Island and Providence Plantations of ignorance in the midst of the black seas of an infinity of dark foreigners, and it was not meant that we should voyage too far.
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old book
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« Reply #8 on: August 25, 2011, 06:47:29 AM » |
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Good podcast. I wasn't keen on picking up the pedo vibe either, but it seems to be there. I forgot he melted down the glass into a paper weight at the end. Wasn't there some tale by another author about buying an antique paper weight and discovering a black imp inside?
Derleth's mirror stories seem better than this one, which is strange.
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We live on a placid Rhode Island and Providence Plantations of ignorance in the midst of the black seas of an infinity of dark foreigners, and it was not meant that we should voyage too far.
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Ruth - CthulhuChick
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« Reply #9 on: August 25, 2011, 12:46:20 PM » |
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I'm on vacation, so I won't get to the podcast for another few days...but I just read it today and laughed my butt off. All in all, it's a reasonably solid story concept. But the execution kept making me giggle.
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Bob Lovecraft
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« Reply #10 on: August 25, 2011, 01:26:59 PM » |
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See, now I remember why I didn't bother to reread this piece. And by piece, I mean piece of shit. This story sucked big time. I have no real literary criticisms here to back up my statement; I just thought it was crap.
Bob
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If someone ever dares you to read the Necronomicon out loud... just say no.
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osyrisdiamond
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« Reply #11 on: August 25, 2011, 02:03:46 PM » |
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The lesson here, friends, is this: if anyone tries to fool others by saying this is a good story, it is your duty to to inform them that, "It's a trap!"
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"It is good to be a cynic... better to be a contented cat... best not to exist at all. Universal suicide is the most logical thing... we reject it only because of our primitive cowardice... If we were sensible we would seek death—the same blissful blank which we enjoyed before we existed." -HPL
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snap-hiss
Blissfully Ignorant
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« Reply #12 on: August 25, 2011, 02:26:08 PM » |
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After listening to this episode this story struck me as having possibly inspired the 2008 film The Broken with Lina Headey. It's currently on Netflix instant, and it deals directly with a lot of the same story elements and concepts. |
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Bulbatron
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« Reply #13 on: August 25, 2011, 05:39:27 PM » |
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My favourite bit was the made-up reason why the student was missing! It sounded like something out of The Simpsons!
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old book
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« Reply #14 on: August 26, 2011, 06:38:38 AM » |
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I can see the bodies inside turning to dust upon contact with air and time, like David Bowie falling apart in the waiting room in The Hunger, but where did the books and furniture go? Did a dresser suddenly appear in Copenhagen, and a pile of forbidden books do the same across town? Were the books written upside down and backwards, or just backwards? I can see weird little random objects sucked up by the mirror vortex appearing in Europe and the Danish West Indies. "Oh, there's that pocket knife I lost in 1854! I was looking all over for that!"
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We live on a placid Rhode Island and Providence Plantations of ignorance in the midst of the black seas of an infinity of dark foreigners, and it was not meant that we should voyage too far.
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