Escape Pod 862: The Pill (Part 2 of 2)

Escape Pod

Escape Artists Foundation

Fiction, Drama, Science Fiction

4.7 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 10 November 2022

⏱️ 39 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

By Meg Elison (Continued from Part 1) The Pill sold like nothing had ever sold before. The original, the generic, the knockoffs, the different versions approved in Europe and Asia that met their standards and got rammed through their testing. There was at last a cure for the obesity epidemic. Fat people really were an endangered species. And everybody was so, so glad. One in ten kept dying. The average never improved, not in any corner of the globe. There were memorials for the famous and semi-famous folks who took the gamble and lost. A congressman here and a comedian there. But everyone was so proud of them that they had died trying to better themselves that all the obituaries and eulogies had this weird, wistful tone to them. As if it was the next best thing to being thin. At least they didn’t have to live that fat life any more. And every time it was on the news, we sat in silence and didn’t talk about Dad.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Escape Part. Episode 862. The Pill. Part 2 of 2. By Meg Ellison.
0:30.0	Hello and welcome to Escape Part, your weekly science fiction podcast. I am your host
0:45.4	this week, Tina Connolly, and I am here to bring you Part 2 of The Pill by Meg Ellison.
0:53.1	This story first appeared in the collection Big Girl with PM Press, which was part of the
0:57.0	Outspoken Author series. Now, yes, again, we are bringing this novel to you in two parts,
1:02.6	and Part 1 was last week. That's right, this week is Part 2. So, if you're here with
1:07.4	us now without having heard Part 1, please stop your track, do not pass go, and go listen
1:12.6	to Part 1 first. I promise, this will greatly enhance your listening experience.
1:20.8	Meg Ellison is a Philicate Dick and Locus Award-winning author, as well as a Hugo Nebulous
1:25.1	surgeon and otherwise awards-finals. A prolific short story writer and essayist, Ellison has
1:30.7	been published in sleep, mixed-weenies, fantasy and science fiction, fengoria, and canny
1:34.7	lightspeed nightmare in many other places. Ellison is a high school dropout and a graduate
1:39.8	of UC Berkeley. You can find her on Twitter and TikTok at Meg Ellison, and on Instagram at
1:45.0	Meg and Ellison. Be sure to check out their most recent book, Number One Fan, as well.
1:53.0	To our narrator, this week is Sandy Parsons. Sandy Parsons fiction can be read in analog,
1:57.6	science fiction in fact, escape pod and reckoning among others. In addition to writing
2:02.3	fiction, Sandy also narrates audio fiction. When not writing, Sandy works as an anesthetist
2:08.6	in Georgia. More information and links to stories can be found at sandyparsons.com.
2:15.8	Your audio producer this week is Adam Perant.
2:20.3	Just like last week, this absolutely fabulous story's content includes discussion of dieting,
2:25.6	disordered eating, and anti-fot bias. And also, again, there's some swearing.
2:32.4	So get ready to think deeply about the odds, because it's story time.
	...

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