The Long Rain with Marco Serrano

This Book I Read...

00:00 / 37:27

This month CM Lowry is talking to Graphic Designer and RPG Creator Marco Serrano about The Long Rain by Ray Bradbury in ‘This Book I Read…’

Topics covered include:

Kansas being scientifically flatter than a pancake!
The Long Rain is a short story by Ray Bradbury, which is a sci-fi psychological thriller. It’s only 12 pages long and takes the reader on a real jaunt in that short space of time.
Marco reads a quote from the story for us which illustrates how relentless Bradbury’s writing is in the story- an intensity that illustrates the persistent rain on Venus and how it gradually drives the inhabitants crazy.
CM asks Marco what his favourite thing is about the story
- The psychological aspects of the story are really interesting – observing all hope being stripped away from a platoon of soldiers who are trying desperately to find shelter and one by one loosing all hope and succumbing to the rain and the madness and death it brings.
CM asks Marco to share some of the most haunting aspects of the story
- The band of soldiers has 4 members to start with – they are trying to find the Sundome, a safe place. They walk in circles and return to their ship to find two of their members already dead. The deaths and descriptions of these men going insane are really deeply sad.
CM asks Marco if there is anything problematic with The Long Rain
- Marco doesn’t, as he tried not to overanalyse books he reads but CM points out that, from a hard Sci-Fi perspective, there are part of the science in this story that just don’t work. That said, from a fiction perspective it’s phenomenal
CM asks Marco to share some recommended reading for any listeners who enjoy The Long Rain
- Marco recommends Kaleidoscope by Ray Bradbury, as it shares some of the same psychological and philosophical themes as The Long Rain
- CM recommends The Jaunt by Stephen King, another sci-fi horror with a psychological twist
- Marco and CM discuss how much they enjoy short stories – they give the author the opportunity to explore different and interesting story ideas
Chris asks Marco to chat with us about Constant Downpour, which is inspired by The Long Rain. It’s a ‘stress-crawl’ campaign for the Mothership roleplay game that Marco wrote
Chris encourages listeners who might be interested in roleplaying games to check out our other Podcast, What Is Roleplay. Marco features on Episode 24 to discuss Space
Check out our fiction collections The Die Decides and ISBN Coffee available in the Beyond Cataclysm webstore now!