Today’s story puts stories in your story, so that you can story while you … ahem.  Tune in for mythology, wit, and a public battle of oneupmareship with Pinkie Pie.

Telling Tales
[Comedy] [Adventure] • 21,723 words

Tall Tales didn’t intend to be in Ponyville for long. It was supposed to be a brief stop on the way to the storytellers’ gathering in Connemara, and nothing more. How was he to know he’d be offered the opportunity to show southerners real storytelling? More to the point, how was he supposed to refuse? And just what does this pink pony want with him, anyway?
Now he’s shanghaied himself into performing, and must use all his skill to stay on stage, on target, and within the bounds of sanity. So gather round, pull up a bollard, and listen to some proper Equestrian folk tales.
Or watch one stallion go slowly mad in public. Either way, you’re in for a treat.

FROM THE CURATORS: Art as a statement on art: as previously mentioned, a tricky balancing act.  But Telling Tales pulls it off with flair, giving us a remarkable look at the interplay between storyteller and audience.  “What sets this apart is the narrative voice — and I mean voice,” Benman said. “It perfectly captures the style of someone telling a tale aloud.” Horizon agreed: “The narrator’s voice was indeed remarkable.”

Telling Tales is also exemplary because it works on multiple levels — which was reinforced for us when we started discussing its strengths.  Chris dug in deeply: “The setup is an irate traveling storyteller getting harassed by Pinkie, but what’s really great here are the stories themselves, which show an incredible range and reflect multiple storytelling traditions.”  But Benman disagreed: “I liked … the really cool metanarrative of the storyteller using the tales to flail at his own problems … which utterly gets the main cast even though they’re mostly in supporting roles.”

Read on for our interview, in which James Washburn discusses nuclear friendship detente, petty victories, and the historical accuracy of a war waged over a bull.
Continue reading →