When Shakko Did Not Lie by Eugie Foster The maiden’s amber eyes glowed in the moonlight. A single tear glistened and rained down her moon-white face. “Don’t cry, lovely one,” Shakko barked, alarmed. The maiden lifted the sleeve of her jasmine-yellow kimono and dabbed at her eyes. “Why should I not cry?” she asked. “My champion says …

Black Swan, White Swan by Eugie Foster Concentric circles lap beneath the dock’s wooden planks. A swan floats out, its shining plumage driving the water’s void back. “There’s a man across the way.” The swan fixes Delia with polished onyx eyes. “Sometimes he’s a lighthouse and sometimes he’s a train, but silence doesn’t scare him.” …

Honored Guest by Ellen Kushner I have met very few evil people in my life, but my grandmother is one of them. When my mother died, Omama told my father that she would support him and my brother and me, but only if he gave up all his and my mother’s friends, her family and …

By Eugie Foster. Read by Diane Severson. When we reached the south entrance, Nai-nai stopped. “An-ying, there is great passion in you,” she said. “A blessing and a curse, I have always maintained, that you were born in both the year and the hour of the rabbit but also beneath the auspice of fire. Fire …

The Tanuki-Kettle by Eugie Foster As she opened the door, Hisa was surprised to see an iron kettle sitting on her step. It had a large, round belly and four stumpy legs. The spout was wide and curved like a fox’s mouth with two round, black eyes above it. And most curious, a pair of …

By Eugie Foster Read by Mur Lafferty Discuss on our forums. For a list of all Escape Pod stories, authors and narrators, visit our sortable Wikipedia page Trixie and the Pandas of Dread by Eugie Foster Trixie got out of her cherry-red godmobile and waved away the flitting cherubim waiting to bear her to her sedan …

By Eugie Foster Read by: Jason Adams First appeared in Anaisdotmfk Discuss on our forums. All stories by Eugie Foster All stories read by Jason Adams “A takeover of your company with the state your market shares are in is not unreasonable.” Although Soaces was right, there’d be precious little profit, even after he’d liquidated …

by Eugie Foster Narrated by Lawrence Santoro Each morning is a decision. Should I put on the brown mask or the blue? Should I be a tradesman or an assassin today? Whatever the queen demands, of course, I am. But so often she ignores me, and I am left to figure out for myself who …

By Eugie Foster. Read by cunning minx (of Polyamory Weekly). First appeared in Cricket magazine, February 2007. When I was a little girl, I thought my mother’s name was Yuki, which means snow. That was part of her name, but I didn’t learn the rest of it until the night my father died. My mother …

By Eugie Foster. Read by Mur Lafferty (of Geek Fu Action Grip). Penguin listened raptly to the new voice. He knew this was his guardian angel, she who would guard and protect him forever. Sure enough, the Creator set him gently into his angel’s hand. Her hands, much smaller than the Creator’s–which was fitting since …

By Eugie Foster. Read by the Word Whore (of Air Out My Shorts). I don’t know how it happened. I’m the last person I’d go to if I were a zombie; I’m not into the occult thing at all. But I was the only friend Mandy had in this city, so she came to me …

AUTHOR: Nancy Fulda NARRATOR: Trendane Sparks HOST: Alasdair Stuart Recollection originally appeared in CARBIDE-TIPPED PENS, an anthology edited by Eric Choi and Ben Bova, TOR Books, December 2014. Discuss on our forums. For a list of all Escape Pod stories, authors and narrators, visit our Wikia Thank you for visiting us on Facebook and Twitter about the author… Nancy Fulda is […]

Hello everyone, Alasdair here. We tend to do a metacast every year around this time, and this year we’ve done something a bit different. This one was recorded LIVE at WorldCon in Spokane in August 2015! In the past, you’ve let us know our metacasts are too long, so we’ve split this one into three parts: …