The Drabblecast ~ #227 ~ The Star, by Arthur C. Clarke

Art by Adam S. Doyle

Happy late boxing day folks! I hope all of your boxes were happy and well-tended, and I also hope you all had a merry Christmas too. Here it is December 27th and this guy cant help but have the blues. No, no, I got all the things I wanted, sure, I just can’t help but feel the warmth that only a Christmas season can bring slipping away. It begins right after presents are opened, you feel this string of uneasiness beginning to creep into your head. Then the classic Christmas breakfast, were it doesn’t matter how many home-made biscuits you eat, you realize that emptiness is the feeling of awesomeness leaving you slowly. The day trickles on with family visitations, and chatty banter about how you’re so happy to be with everyone today. It’s true too, you are happy, at this point you think the food, or the eggnog is the cause of the uneasiness. Like a dying lite inside that you can’t help but let go out.

You go to bed, reminding your self the whole time that today was great, the food was great, the family is great, and the presents were great. Then as you abruptly wake up in the middle of the night and strain your ears for the yuletide music that you left playing on your clock radio, you scowl as you see the time is 1:15 and the station has switched to its normal playlist, why couldn’t they just play it through Boxing day?

The warning signs are there when things begin to die out or slip away, and when those signs are left without notice, people feel hurt and broken from the sudden change. The jolliness has left us, like some life has left us. And that is what I felt before I began to listen to this weeks Drabblecast, episode 227, The Star by Arthur C. Clarke.

Due to holiday obligations I was unable to listen to this episode until only yesterday. I was feeling those blues begging to really sink in, until the dulcet tones of Norm Sherman’s voice perked me up, as I knew I was in store for a great story. But the show isn’t complete with out Norm’s witty banter, and the talented Drabbles and Twabbles that are featured every week. The Drabble this week, Creator by Nathan Lee, went very well with the main feature, and the twabble by Algernon Sydney is Dead went like this:  “Joy to the World the Beast is come! It’s time for reckoning. Let every heart prepare for doom and crime upon nature bring.”

He, he, he good one. The Star, by Arthur C. Clarke was a fabulously futuristic story that got me to thinking pretty heavily. I am no atheist, yet I would not consider myself a devout christian either. I have never been baptised, yet I believe in a higher power. Whether I believe in a buff aged bearded fellow in the clouds, or in something that flies around in space ships, hell maybe Lovecraft had it right and we were spawned by a race of aliens that created us as a joke! Either way, like Norm says, it gets you thinking, wondering, that if there is a God then what are we to him? What stops him from smiting us or destroying our civilization?

Something else I got out of this one is that miracles are miraculous, yes, but what may have been sacrificed to become that guiding light, or that miracle.

Good to have some thought-provoking fiction to make us think, and that’s why The Drabblecast is a great charm to add to that bracelet your sister gave you this Christmas. They’re always there folks, plain and simple. Week in and week out delivering not only thought-provoking fiction, but the kind of stuff that turns you on to new things, concepts, ideas. So that’s why if you enjoyed this weeks episode or just like the pretty art, done this week by Adam S. Doyle then you should drop on by the donations page of The Drabblecast and show some love.

Good stuff this week topping off an awesome christmas weekend. Unspeakable Gibberer gives this one 4 out of 5 stars in alignment.