Comments on: Hey, You

By: Andrew Janssen

Andrew Janssen — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 06:58:59 +0000

Peter Watts is an extremely good author, possibly a great one . . . and after reading this story, I’m convinced I should have stuck to my resolution after reading Blindsight to never read anything he writes again. His stuff scares the crap out of me, and not in a good way.

By: Kate Baker

Kate Baker — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 17:35:37 +0000

John — You rock for putting up the links. Thank you!

I really appreciate the wonderful comments regarding the podcast. The overwhelmingly positive reactions have blown my mind.

As for the last line which seems to be getting some attention, Peter explains it in the comments of his story over at Clarkesworld.

Ultimately, if you pay attention to one particular scene in his story, the last line makes total sense. I don’t want to put up spoilers, but if you reread or listen again, you’ll catch it.

By: PrivateIron

PrivateIron — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 13:42:57 +0000

I loved the story, as I have loved most of what Watts has written, even though I think he can be justifiably labelled as “icky” (and the appelation would most likely please him.) The one thing I am not sure about was the last line: it works for us, but I am not sure the alien would say/think that. You could argue it has absorbed some of our concepts into its new gestalt and the metaphor is a way of showing that; I am just not sure I buy it. But it is a testimony to Watt’s writing skill that I even ask the question: he made the Thing(s) so believeable a character(s). By the way I think his working title was “Rosencranz and Gilderstern are Things” which would have been way too trite for the material.

By: Rick York

Rick York — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 00:24:39 +0000

Watts has one of the wildest imaginations I’ve ever encountered. What’s so great is that he can translate that wildness to words that we all can get. He has answered the question “Who Goes There?”.

For those who haven’t read it, Blindsight is one of the most brilliant intellectual exercises of the las half century.

By: stevem

stevem — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 00:02:10 +0000

For those who are sympathetic to Peter Watts border issue, Michael Yon, an award winning blogger, has also encountered difficulties with the TSA.

http://biggovernment.com/2010/01/05/exclusive-interview-military-blogger-michael-yon-detained-by-tsa-in-seattle-airport/

I obtained the link from Instapundit.

By: John Scalzi

John Scalzi — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 23:05:42 +0000

It probably helps to see the film, yes.

By: rejiquar

rejiquar — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 22:51:10 +0000

A rape story. How nice.

There are six comments over there, plus 19 folks here including Mr Scalzi, who love this. Can someone plz explain?

I mean, I got that it was a retelling of The Thing and mebbe my problem was I never saw the film, only read about it, but this to my mind is icky. Er, for someone whose works are supposed to be philosophical, more than icky.

Nasty.

Even if the point is for us to feel horror and pity for the viewpoint character because its initial goodness was changed by the men’s behavior towards it to evil, I can’t say I find the metaphor particularly innovative, or excusable.

By: DED

DED — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 21:41:22 +0000

Wow! Thanks for fwding that along. Carpenter's "The Thing" is one of my all time fav sf-horror movies and Watts just made the whole experience better.

By: Thomas M. Wagner

Thomas M. Wagner — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 17:52:51 +0000

That. Rocked.

By: ioresult

ioresult — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 16:41:46 +0000

Jeff @3, I was there too! I didn’t recognize the story immediately, but for some reason I had a specific voice reading it in my mind and I realized where I heard this voice before. Amazing.