Fictional Worlds

PodCastle 597: The Satyr of Brandenburg — Part 2 Author : Charlotte Ashley Narrator : Setsu Uzume Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Peter Behravesh Discuss on Forums Originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, March-Apr… Donshead Doombellows accompanied La Héron to confront Piacere, for she knew better than to go alone. “Witnesses,” she told the ogre. “We can remember each other. That will help.” via Pocket

The spokesman for the Nui, Jesús the Giant, considered me with a foreboding and weakly threatening glare. “I have negotiated successfully with races on twenty planets. I know you have something to tell me, Gloria.” via Pocket

Perhaps the most famous planet in the colonized Galaxy– aside from Earth, of course– Centauri B Prime may have the highest standard of living in the Milky Way. via Pocket

PodCastle 598: The Sound of His Voice Like the Colour of Salt Author : L. Chan Narrator : Leeman Kessler  Host : Setsu Uzume Audio Producer : Peter Behravesh Discuss on Forums Previously published by The Dark. Rated PG-13 for ghosts and the t… The Sound of His Voice Like the Colour of Salt By L. Chan The ghost boy was the colour of bone, of gossamer spider web, of salt trails of dried tears. He still had his shape, his outline. via Pocket

I make the coffee in the French press like I do every morning. Then, I regret it by the time I reach the City Freezing Works. A doubled edged elixir, the coffee rouses me from my bed and then inspires uninhibited vomiting by the time I reach downtow…

PodCastle 599: The Two-Choice Foxtrot of Chapham County Author : Tina Connolly Narrator : Julie Hoverson Host : Setsu Uzume Audio Producer : Peter Behravesh Discuss on Forums Previously published by The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, S… There were two things we girls all knew that summer. One, that Tony Latham had turned into the finest drink of water ever to strut this two-bit one-horse no-account town. via Pocket

PodCastle 600: Flash Fiction Extravaganza — Flash Fiction Contest V Authors : Nathan Susnik, Michelle Muenzler, KT Bryski and R. K. Duncan Narrators : Kai Hudson, Philippa Ballantine, Jen R. Albert and Wilson Fowlie Host : Craig Jackson Discuss … The Cost of the Revolution in Three Marvelous Confections By R. K. Duncan . . . Do you know what we really lost when Tarvagost’s corpse went over the railing and we got the republic? I managed an invitation to the Spire that last night. I was out on…

Red emergency lighting makes more shadows than seem possible. President Booker leans back from the table and looks sideways at the one shadow he knows. “Clarence Dimitri. via Pocket

From the couch, engineer Stanislaw Hast looked past the grey-suited, female psychiatrist and through the broad window. The star, a long dying sub-giant, threw a dusk of burnt ochre over the orbiting city, its rays painting the sunward face of tall b…

PodCastle 591: His Giant Heartbeat Author : Natalia Theodoridou Narrator : C. A. Yates Host : Jen R. Albert Audio Producer : Peter Behravesh Discuss on Forums PodCastle 591: His Giant Heartbeat is a PodCastle original. Rated PG-13. His Giant… I smoke with my back to the caravan while I wait for B and his client to finish. It’s a drippy afternoon, deep in the fenlands. We’ve parked the caravan next to a mere, marshy and rotten green. via Pocket

Author : Steve Smith, Staff Writer “It’s a pure stroke of genius that I was able to downsize the stabilizer assembly in time for the conference.” Stuart fiddled with his bowtie with his free hand while piloting the sedan with the other. via Pocket

PodCastle 592: TALES FROM THE VAULTS — The Axiom of Choice Author : David W. Goldman Narrator : Eric Luke Host : Craig Jackson Audio Producer : Peter Behravesh Discuss on Forums Originally appeared in The New Haven Review, Winter 2011. Rated … The three of you have lingered outside the darkened club an hour beyond the show’s end. Your palms rest atop your guitar case, which stands vertical before you on the cracked sidewalk. via Pocket

It emerges from whatever variety of nowhere that allowed it to traverse the vast distances between the worlds of the Beacon, and I know that it’s a Stranger. via Pocket

A software bug killed 64 people this month before it was discovered. The administrators have brought the system down and a patch is working its way through the emergency release process. via Pocket

PodCastle 590: Labyrinth, Sanctuary Author : A.E. Prevost Narrator : Lisa Hicks Host : Setsu Uzume Audio Producer : Peter Behravesh Discuss on Forums Previously published in Sword and Sonnet, edited by E Catherine Tobler, Aidan Doyle and Racha… Labyrinth, Sanctuary By A.E. Prevost Constance carves her timeworn tracks into the thirsty rock. With silent steps her footfalls smooth the stone, century into century, grooves and gullies growing green as time and seed take hold. via Pocket

PodCastle 593: Balloon Man Balloon Man By Shiv Ramdas If it hadn’t been for the camel, Mithun might never have noticed the old balloon seller at all. He almost didn’t notice the camel either. If he’d been looking for it, he probably wouldn’t have… If it hadn’t been for the camel, Mithun might never have noticed the old balloon seller at all. He almost didn’t notice the camel either. If he’d been looking for it, he probably wouldn’t have. via Pocket

Slumped in the alley, the woman repeated the name like a prayer, mostly forgotten long ago. No, that wasn’t it. Passersby ignored her: just another failed rebel unable to move on. via Pocket

PodCastle 581: Fathoms Deep and Fathoms Cold Author : Merc Fenn Wolfmoor Narrator : Brian Murphy Host : Setsu Uzume Audio Producer : Peter Behravesh Discuss on Forums Submerged anthology, edited by S.C. Butler and Joshua Palmatier.  Content w… Fathoms Deep and Fathoms Cold By A. Merc Rustad Tage lights a cigarette and watches the man in the scarlet fedora come nearer. Hat like that’s hard to miss. This one’s his contact. His heartbeat gets quick. The docks are loud, briny, thick with bodi…

It’s the lack of sleep that’s the worst. I can live with the brutal beatings, the agony of untreated broken bones, the drugs that fuck with your head, the insidious cold, the gnawing hunger, the burning thirst and the routine rape, but I would liter…

PodCastle 582: Life in Stone, Glass, and Plastic Author : José Pablo Iriarte Narrator : Karlo Yeager Rodríguez Host : Setsu Uzume Audio Producer : Peter Behravesh Discuss on Forums Previously published by Strange Horizons. Rated: PG-13, for h… Cleaning up graffiti was an everyday job for Sergio, pero esto . . . Could you even call this graffiti? Graffiti normally was spray-painted. Wait — that wasn’t true. Indoor graffiti typically was done in permanent marker. via Pocket

“He’s up. Turn it on,” someone says. The doctor. As I open my eyes, the whiteness hits. It’s like I’m having an idea, but it’s too much for my brain to hold. I squeeze my eyes shut and gasp, trying to… via Pocket

PodCastle 583: The Resurrectionist Author : J. P. Sullivan Narrator : Wilson Fowlie Host : Setsu Uzume Audio Producer : Peter Behravesh Discuss on Forums Previously published in the August 2017 issue of Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicin… The Resurrectionist “Yes, I can bring your wife back from the dead,” I told the farmer, who had reasonable doubts about my abilities. “Just realize that it might not be what she wants.” “She wants to see her children again,” he said. He’d told me hi…

Author : Jae Miles, Staff Writer Doctor Jessup is terribly polite. We’re stirring our coffees before he asks his first question. “What started it?” I smile: “Why do they all add up to six?” “Pardon…

PodCastle 584: TALES FROM THE VAULTS — In Metal, In Bone Author : An Owomoyela Narrator : MarBelle Host : C. L. Clark Audio Producer : Peter Behravesh Discuss on Forums Originally published in Eclipse Online. You can read it here! Rated R, fo… Colonel Gabriel met him in a circle of canvas-topped trucks, in an army jacket despite the heat of the sun.  he stood a head taller than Benine, with skin as dark as peat coal, with terrible scarring on one side of his jaw. via Pocket

Author : Jae Miles, Staff Writer You had to fall into mine. Lord, but you are a sight for jaded eyes. Hair like liquid night, eyes a man could drown in, lips that form a bow Robin Hood would kill f…

British Fantasy Award Shortlist! The dragon is getting stuffed on celebratory cake this week! The British Fantasy Society shortlist has been announced and PodCastle and PseudoPod have both been nominated under the Best Audio category! Also, Alasda… The dragon is getting stuffed on celebratory cake this week! The British Fantasy Society shortlist has been announced and PodCastle and PseudoPod have both been nominated under the Best Audio category! via Pocket British Fantasy Award Shortlist! - PodCastle via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2LF9GjY

We’re glaring at each other across a gap that is – as we have repeatedly tested – exactly nine metres wider than either of our best reaches. The ground for kilometres around us is nothing but churned mud and scoured rock. Not a leaf, not a lifeform.…

Lieutenant Tann wiped his fuzzy torso. Months in a Chrono-tube caused the growth of a downy hair that matted together on the backs of his legs and arse. The computer suggested both Lieutenant Tann and Major Spar rub themselves with oil before taking…

PodCastle 585: Getaway Author : Jennifer Hudak Narrator : Jen R. Albert Host : Setsu Uzume Audio Producer : Peter Behravesh Discuss on Forums PodCastle 585: Getaway is a PodCastle original. Content warnings for disordered eating, body dysmorp… Ten days after her family installed themselves in their summer cottage on Greenpenny Lake, Leena separated from her body for the first time. She peeled from herself like a sticker from its backing, and hovered inches from the ceiling. via Pocket