Painter Sarah takes in an alien who she calls Spider on what amounts to an exchange program. She teaches him how to paint like a human. A lot of the human-alien interaction is standard movie exchange student fare. Sarah is a little disconnected from the world after a bad marriage. Spider needs to learn to see like humans, not a camera. But the two develop a bond.

I thought Sarah was a likable character. She captures the distress of an amicable parting pretty well. Despite how often these semi-amicable partings happen, I don’t see much fiction or movies even that involves such breakups. The supposed afterward, sure. So it’s nice to see that as part of the story. Spider doesn’t have much personality of his own, but he serves as a foil for Sarah to reflect on her own situation. I did feel like the interaction between Sarah and Spider and painting could have been more substantial though. Something just felt like it was missing there. But maybe that’s because I’m not an artist.

Title: Little Ambushes
Author: Joanne Mirriam
Narrator: Rachel Swirsky
Publisher: Escape Pod
Format: MP3 podcast download
Length: 21 minutes

Catholic Church puts a priest on Mars colony despite Mars having almost no Christians figuring if they don’t establish their presence at the beginning, they won’t ever. Charlatan Catholic televangelist claims to have seen the Virgin Mary on the surface of Mars via telescope in fulfillment of the third secret of Our Lady of Fatima. Being the only priest on Mars, the Catholic hierarchy asks our protagonist to investigate.

Here’s why I don’t like the story: the ending is not plausible. For instance, after investigating, the priest sends a message back to Earth but waits for the message to be sent when it can be received by both the Vatican and CNN headquarters in Atlanta. As if a city being on the dark side would mean it can’t receive communications from Mars. Hello, satellites. Hello, Internet. The Catholic Church also does not take the word of one person on miracles. Depending on your religious views you might consider that the church could be taken in, but they never have one person investigate and take their word for it. They set up committees and the process takes years. Even the miracles of Our Lady of Fatima are not recognized as official miracles, just as worthy of belief. There’s a bureaucracy to satisfy.

Title: Come All Ye Faithful
Author: Robert J. Sawyer
Narrator: Mike Boris
Publisher: Escape Pod
Format: MP3 podcast download
Length: 34 minutes