Escape Pod 941: The Concept Shoppe: A Rocky Cornelius Consultancy

Escape Pod

Escape Artists Foundation

Fiction, Drama, Science Fiction

4.7 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 16 May 2024

⏱️ 48 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The Concept Shoppe: A Rocky Cornelius Consultancy By Andrew Dana Hudson “This place is trash, garbágio, blechalicious,” Rocky Cornelius said appreciatively. “All we gotta do is, as they say, sublevel the vibe.” “Really? You think so?” The greengrocer, Franklyn, wrung his hands—still caked with black soil from showing her the beet rows in aisle five—a sure sign that Rocky’s negging, one of the most reliable techniques in her consultant toolbox, was working. They stood in the canned goods section of Primal, soon to be Westwood’s newest and hippest boutique bodega slash survival goods retailer. The paper labels on the tins had been artfully patinated by some design school dropout, ripped and torn to leave just a slash of Roma tomato picture here, a glimpse of fava bean logo there. The shelves looked half-caved in, but were in fact quite secure, welded into place at zig-zag angles. Simulated California sun streamed, dappled, through an ivy-frosted, hole-in-the-roof-shaped skylight. The idea of this ‘concept shoppe’ was to make shoppers feel like they were looting an abandoned store in a post-apocalyptic, collapseporn paradise. Rocky quite liked the idea. No one wanted to be a “consumer” these days. People—especially Californians, who had lately been through so much—wanted to think of themselves as “survivors,” disaster-hardened protagonists in a return-to-their-roots story of rebuilding and social rejuvenation. It’s just that, if they could afford one of the new quake-proof condos springing up in Westwood, they wanted to do so without having to worry about tetanus, botulism, scurvy, or gluten.

Transcript

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0:00.0	EA is now on Twitch.
0:03.0	Join us Wednesday nights when Alister reads a bedtime story
0:06.8	and Sunday mornings for a few hours of chill casual gaming,
0:10.6	plus interviews, special guests, pick up streams, and more.
0:14.7	Visit twitch. TV slash EA Podcasts, and follow us to be notified when we go live,
0:21.6	plus access VODs of past broadcasts. Escape Odd, episode 941.
0:39.4	The Concept Shop, a Rocky Cornelius consultancy, by Andrew Dana Hadson. Oh, Hello and welcome to Escape Pod your weekly science fiction podcast. I'm Mur Laverdy, your weekly Science Fiction Podcast.
1:12.8	I'm Mer Laverdy, your host and co-editor.
1:15.8	Our story this week is The Concept Shop, A Rocky Cornelius Consultancy, by Andrew Dana Hudson.
1:23.0	is the author of Our Shared Storm, a novel of Five Climate Futures.
1:27.2	His short stories have appeared in Light Speed, Analog, Slate, and of course, Escape Pot.
1:32.0	He lives in Arizona where he works as a sustainability researcher,
1:36.1	futurist, and teacher. Follow his work through his newsletter, Solar Shades Club.
1:41.4	It's narrated for us by her own Valerie Valdez, co-editor of a skate pod and
1:45.4	Twitch streamer. Valerie lives in an elaborate mean palace with her husband and
1:50.0	kids where she writes edits and moonlights as a muse.
1:53.6	She enjoys crafting, bespoke artisanal curses, playing with swords, and admiring the
1:58.6	outdoors from the safety of her living room.
2:01.1	Her short fiction and poetry have been featured in uncanny, time travel
2:04.7	short stories, and Nightmare magazine. Her debut novel Chilling Effect was shortlisted for
2:09.8	the 2021 Arthur C. Clark Award and was also named one of Library Journal's best science fiction
2:15.3	fantasy novels of 2019. This is an Escape Pot Original. Get ready to experience the experience of an experience.
	...

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