{"id":11835,"date":"2018-06-24T18:34:58","date_gmt":"2018-06-24T22:34:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lawrencecconnolly.com\/archive\/?p=11835"},"modified":"2023-07-07T22:43:30","modified_gmt":"2023-07-08T02:43:30","slug":"gone-scoppingkeeping-the-oral-tradition-alive-kgb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lawrencecconnolly.com\/archive\/2018\/06\/24\/gone-scoppingkeeping-the-oral-tradition-alive-kgb\/","title":{"rendered":"Gone Scopping:<\/i>
Keeping the Oral Tradition Alive @ KGB<\/br>"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"If you\u2019re like me, you spend a lot of time reading screens. When it comes to accessibility, the digital format is hard to beat. But is it the best format for sharing stories?<\/p>\n

I recall an article at\u00a0CNN.com<\/a>\u00a0in which a writer lamented the loss of print: \u201cI miss the edges \u2013 physical and psychological. I miss the start of reading a print magazine, but mostly, I miss the finish. I miss the satisfaction of putting the bundle down, knowing I have gotten through it all.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

For those of us who came of age with print media, it\u2019s hard not to sympathize. Yet, it\u2019s worth remembering that the art of story existed long before ink and paper. Which brings us to one of the recurring themes of this blog site — story as performance.<\/p>\n

Live storytelling may not be as convenient as digital or print media. You need to go to it, enter a physical space, remain there for the duration. And it isn\u2019t as durable as print. It\u2019s ephemeral, existing only for the moment. But it remains my preferred platform for sharing stories.<\/p>\n

And that brings us to Fantastic Fiction at KGB<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This past Wednesday, I\u00a0again got the chance to experience live storytelling on both sides of the KGB stage. And once again, I came away convinced that spoken-word storytelling still has an important place in the digital age.<\/p>\n

\"\"This time out, I had the chance to read with multiple Hugo Award winner Mary Robinette Kowal. Although best known as a fantasy writer, Mary proved she is equally adept at science fiction by reading the opening chapter of The Calculating Stars<\/em><\/a>, the soon-to-be-released first book of her Lady Astronaut duology. The excerpt features a gripping account of a catastrophic meteorite strike as experienced by a narrator far removed from the point of impact \u2013 a narrative device that amps up the tension as the character comes to realize what has happened. A seasoned reader (Wednesday\u2019s performance was her fifth at KGB), Mary effectively brought the story to life in a manner that transcended the printed page. A stellar performance.<\/p>\n

\"\"For my presentation, I had originally planned on sharing the bonus story from the newly released second-edition of Voices: Tales of Horror<\/em><\/a>. The story first appeared as \u201cHuman Caverns\u201d in Fear the Abyss<\/em><\/a> (Post-Mortem Press<\/a>, 2013). Revised and retitled as \u201cSiren\u201d for the new edition of Voices<\/em>, the story is one of my personal favorites. But as the performance date approached, I began toying with the notion of framing the performance as a vintage anthology show (ala The Outer Limits<\/em><\/a>) complete with a control-voice intro and several stand-alone stories (ala Night Gallery<\/em><\/a>).<\/p>\n

I felt the format might make for a fun presentation, and I like the way it provided a kind of homage to the upcoming anthology film Nightmare Cinema<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"The resulting presentation featured the control-voice story \u201cAberrations\u201d and the flash-fiction tales \u201cStep on a Crack\u201d and \u201cPrime Time!\u201d (all three taken from Visions: Short Fantasy & SF.<\/em><\/a>\u00a0I then concluded with an excerpt from \u201cSiren\u201d (the story I had originally planned to present in its entirety) and a control-voice outro.<\/p>\n

How did it go? Did I make the right call? You\u2019ll soon be able to judge for yourself. Fantastic Fiction<\/a> will be posting the audio of the performance (expertly recorded and mastered by Gordon Linzer) at their website<\/a>. Naturally, the digital recording will be one-step removed from the physical experience, but it should nevertheless give a sense of the oral tradition that hosts Ellen Datlow<\/a> and Matthew Kressel<\/a> are keeping alive at Fantastic Fiction at KGB<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For now, thanks for reading these digital words. Until we meet again (whether in person, print, or pixels) \u2026 scop on!<\/p>\n

Images:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n