Escape Artists Flash Fiction Contest V The Escape Artists Flash Fiction Contest is back for a fifth time, and it’s PodCastle’s turn! The contest will be taking submissions beginning April 15, 2019, and ending on April 30, 2019, at 11:59 p.m. EST. E… The Escape Artists Flash Fiction Contest is back for a fifth time, and it’s PodCastle’s turn! The contest will be taking submissions beginning April 15, 2019, and ending on April 30, 2019, at 11:59 p.m. EST. Each author may submit one original fanta…

PodCastle Has Been Nominated for a Parsec Award! The finalists for the Parsec Award have been announced and PodCastle is twice-nominated! Both “A Non-Hero’s Guide to the Road of Monsters” by A. T. Greenblatt, narrated by Mike Flinchum, and “Six Job… The finalists for the Parsec Award have been announced and PodCastle is twice-nominated! Both “A Non-Hero’s Guide to the Road of Monsters” by A. T. via Pocket PodCastle Has Been Nominated for a Parsec Award! - PodCastle via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2NBT8ph

PodCastle has won, and is declining, the Parsec Award PodCastle has had an extraordinary year. We’ve published some amazing stories. We ran our fourth Artemis Rising. We were nominated for a World Fantasy Award. And just this week, we learned that … PodCastle has won, and is declining, the Parsec Award - PodCastle via Instapaper http://bit.ly/2BA5FWa PodCastle has had an extraordinary year. We’ve published some amazing stories. We ran our fourth Artemis Rising. We were nominated for a World Fantasy Award. via Pocket

ARTEMIS RISING 5: Call for Submissions In March 2019, Escape Artists will bring you ARTEMIS RISING for a fifth year. This special month-long event across all four Escape Artists podcasts is a celebration of stories written by women, in the broadest… In March 2019, Escape Artists will bring you ARTEMIS RISING for a fifth year. This special month-long event across all four Escape Artists podcasts is a celebration of stories written by women, in the broadest definition of the word. via Pocket

Call for Associate Editors! We’re recruiting! PodCastle is looking to add additional associate editors (also referred to as slush readers) to our team. PodCastle is an SFWA short fiction market. We’re in need of associate editors who can read and … We’re recruiting! PodCastle is looking to add additional associate editors (also referred to as slush readers) to our team. PodCastle is an SFWA short fiction market. via Pocket

I should tell you about the gods, yes? Good setting for it. Here in the desert, hunger and thirst sharpen the soul. Sharpens it enough to poke right through the side of your mind to let in the second sight. via Pocket via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io

Osnat went back to talk to the dybbuk again. Usually she liked walking up from the subway station, so close the pulsating holiness of 770. Different though Osnat’s own traditions were, the pull of the Lubavitch synagogue was impossible to ignore. vi… via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io Strange Horizons - Whom My Soul Loves By Rivqa Rafael via Instapaper https://ift.tt/33XByFb

That’s his name. That might be him, so I may as well say it. I know he promised, and I promised, that we’d only come here together. That in this place, we’d never have to be alone. But she’s right, if that’s him, maybe nothing’s broken. via Pocket via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io Strange Horizons - Promise Me This Is Ours By Omar William Sow, Art by Sarah Gonzales via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2MZN5fV

Two in the morning in the booth of an all-night diner a block off Santa Monica Boulevard, and I was trying to convince the Great Mandini to tell me his secrets. via Pocket via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io Strange Horizons - The Great Mandini and the Dead Man's Hand By Kevin Wabaunsee via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2VDW3nc

Aboard the ghost ship Nine Lives there are the living, the dead, and a great many cats. And Jourdain, who likes to sleep in the observation nest, body caught somewhere between ship and stars—between everything. via Pocket via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io Strange Horizons - The Sloppy Mathematics of Half-Ghosts By Charles Payseur via Instapaper https://ift.tt/30RPfDu

When that summer ended, Brazilians felt nothing but joy. Flying cars were finally here, and as nobody could afford one, they happily rented them, in the colours of their favourite brands. The flying cars drove themselves; pedestrians now had the str… via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io

On a scalding morning of 1983, father and son walked side by side. They were similar in many ways—light olive skin, mousy hair, a thin nose—but only the father wore glasses, carrying a heavy binder under his arm. “If there’s something your old man c… via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io

He promised he’d keep his heart, but circumstances have changed. via Pocket via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io

It was during the time the Angel lived with us. I could no longer bear sweeping the feathers. I didn’t mind the intoxicating celestial scent his nesty-nasty room exhaled. It only started to bother me when I took a guy home to spend the night and a f… via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io CONTENT WARNING: “There is the past and the not-past,” Heron said, blood dripping from their arm onto the nightingale floor. “Which is this?” “The not-past, you idiot.” Dog grunted as he peeled back Heron’s sleeve. via Pocket

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io “It makes it hard to give good advice, you know?” The air in the occult store is close, dim. Patchouli coats Cassandra’s lungs, familiar as disdain. via Pocket

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io 1.  The first time you meet a murderer, you are in kindergarten. via Pocket

Amaya sits among empty armchairs and fading curtains in a room brightened by plastic flowers. On each wall there’s a still life, and a grey carpet covers the floor. She stares at her yellowing copy of Bleak House until the words become black insects… via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io Strange Horizons - The Weather Dancer By Aisha Phoenix via Instapaper https://ift.tt/33d7NAr

I woke up that morning in the mood for curry, so I ended up at the supermarket. I was pushing a shopping cart down the ethnic aisle, scanning the shelves of spices, when you appeared beside me. I didn’t have to turn to know you were staring. The sid… via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io Strange Horizons - Someday We'll Embrace This Distance By Niyah Morris, Art by Em Allen via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2KwwAYQ

It’s no secret that Carrie’s been having trouble starting her thesis. And, okay, maybe she has been complaining for weeks, and maybe Professor Kawamura has started breathing down her neck, and maybe Yumi and Kazu have been bearing the brunt of it al… via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io Strange Horizons - Invisible and Dreadful By S. R. Mandel via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2TRH2NK

When the first breeze of the morning whistles over the green tips of the paddy-stalks to kiss the tawny jute thatching of the bungalow roof, Apa is already out on the verandah. It’s still dark but that doesn’t matter, it’s been more than twoscore ye… via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io Strange Horizons - And Now His Lordship Is Laughing By Shiv Ramdas via Instapaper https://ift.tt/301dTB7

I heard about the story from the friend of a friend of an acquaintance, and didn’t put any stock in it at first. In my profession, you hear things like this with some frequency. You’d be a fool if you went running every time you heard someone cry fi… via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io Strange Horizons - Notes on a Resurrection By Natalia Theodoridou via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2J24rId

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io This story is also available for download from major ebook retailers. Matsumoto Miho had seen ten thousand hospital rooms on the feeds, and not one had looked like this. via Pocket

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io The party was going swimmingly. Adé stood in a corner of her sitting room, presently doubling as an exhibition space, and took cautious sips from the glass in her hand, eyes following Nkem’s butterfly movements around the room. via Pocket

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io First, the egusi seeds were roasted and ground in a paste. Gherek worked slivers of onions sliced into half moons and pepper seeds into the paste then pounded it some more. The dried white hibiscus flowers boiled in water with a little bit of salt, …

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io Where I’m from, it bodes ill to announce that you’re going somewhere. It’s a nuance of the language I was born into, where the word ‘go’ is swept under, reserved for foes and fiends while ‘return’ is extolled as a treasure. via Pocket Strange Horizons - Tessellations, In A Greater Hand By Artyv K via Instapaper http://bit.ly/2D5zyPV

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io This story is part of our 2015 fund drive bonus issue! Read more about Strange Horizons' funding model, or donate, here. Eyes, eyes, eyes. So many eyes on my long arms. via Pocket Strange Horizons - Hundred Eye By Yukimi Ogawa via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2Uh15rz

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io When the bomb hit, I was almost inside the ladies' clothing store where I work. If I hadn't paused to check out a cute bicycle courier I would have been safe. The bomb detonated silently, coating the street with a brief yellow burst like the mother … Samovar - The Knack Bomb | De foefbom By Bo Balder, Translated by Bo Balder via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2JTtC2s

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io Cesária Escobar was sixteen when she walked down the aisle, arm in arm with a man she had only met once. Her seven brothers and sisters watched in dismay, but her widowed mother wished her well. via Pocket Samovar - Saligia | English Translation By H. Pueyo, Translated by H. Pueyo via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2JVdk97