Feedback: Michael Bishop feature on StarShipSofa

A few weeks ago the StarShipSofa ran a shorter than normal Aural Delights show which featured SF writer Michael Bishop (No. 82). I did the narration for the main fiction story, Vinegar Peace - or the Wrong-Way, Used-Adult Orphanage.

In the course of working on the narration I had the chance to correspond with Mike and learned that his internet connection is too slow to stream the podcast or download it, so I offered to burn him a CD of the show and send it when it came out. He must have listened to the show the minute he'd opened the envelope, because I received the loveliest of thank you emails I think I've ever gotten. It made me get teary. Here is an excerpt:

Dear Diane,

Your recording of "Vinegar Peace," along with your letter, arrived yesterday, not long after I'd sent you an e-mail. Please know that everything arrived intact and that we are heartily grateful to you for your thoughtfulness and generosity in providing us with a CD of your narration of the story and my introduction, a CD that also contains lead-in music, Tony Smith's extraordinarily kind remarks about the "privilege" of presenting the story, and a sensitive reading of "Jamie's Hair" by Jim Wilson (a.k.a. Dale Manley).

If you would, I'd appreciate your telling Tony Smith how much this episode of "StarShipSofa" (or "Audio Delights"?) means to us and to apologize to him for my not getting back to him sooner with a positive response to every aspect of the program. ... In any case, a bravo to everyone for every aspect of this show and to the artist who did the powerful online cover for it.

Diane, your reading is pitch perfect, as is your singing of the lullaby "All the Pretty Horses" -- I really like the way that, at a certain point, your narration resumes over the singing -- and your rendition of the "hymn" "Bold Gory." These touches, along with your credible impersonations of various characters throughout, animate and lend what seems to me heartfelt emotional depth to the piece. Thank you so much.

...

In any case, Diane, I have no doubt at all that you were the right person to narrate "Vinegar Peace." Bless you.

Sincerely,

Mike

I am grateful for his kind words.

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Michael Bishop featured on StarShipSofa (I narrated the main fiction)

I narrated Vinegar Peace, a SF story written by Michael Bishop for his son Jamie Bishop who died two years ago at the Virginia Tech shootings.

" "Vinegar Peace" grew from this disaster and from a grief that I can't imagine ever laying totally aside. Jeri and I mourn Jamie's loss every day in some private way, and we think continually of all the other parents and loved ones of the slain and injured who will carry a similar burden with them until they die. We think, too, of the parents and loved ones of the dead and wounded from the United States' optional war in Iraq, who long for their dead and who pray for their injured with an intensity not a whit different from our own. How ironic that our son died on American soil. How sad the wasted potential and disfigured lives resulting from violence everywhere. And forgive me the inadequacy of these remarks. Clearly, I wrote a story because I could not address either my outrage or my grief in any other way." - Michael Bishop

StarShipSofa - http://www.starshipsofa.com - is very honoured and humbled to be allowed to bring this story to a wider audience. I know I speak for the SF community when I say our hearts and prayers go out to Mike and Jeri and all the families who have to live with this grief every day.