Stories

PodCastle 617: The Dead-Wagon Author : Greye La Spina Narrator : Wilson Fowlie Host : Setsu Uzume Audio Producer : Peter Behravesh Discuss on Forums CW: illness and plague; references to violence and sexual assault Rated R. The Dead-Wagon G… The Dead-Wagon Greye La Spina “Someone’s been chalking up the front door.” The speaker stepped off the terrace into the library through the open French window. From his padded armchair Lord Melverson rose with an involuntary exclamation of startled … PodCastle 617 The Dead-Wagon - PodCastle via Instapaper https://ift.tt/3cIkbxb

The cryocrate rested unobtrusively in the corner of Sanitation Engineer Edward Holmes’s broom closet. It was metal, like most cryocrates, and marked only by the blinking temperature meter and a yellow sticker declaring CAUTION: MAN-EATING SNAKES to …

PodCastle 618: Odd and Ugly Author : Vida Cruz Narrator : Don Pizarro Host : Setsu Uzume Audio Producer : Peter Behravesh Discuss on Forums Previously published by Writers of the Future vol. 34. Rated PG-13. Odd and Ugly By Vida Cruz I. Y… You come to my tree at high noon in July, sweating, panting, young. So very, very young. I can’t help staring at you: it’s like watching a walking, talking circular window with square glass stuck through it. via Pocket

I am sitting outside the Department of Surgery & Smart Implants and I can see the operation theatre beyond the glass door. Radha is clasping my palm tightly. via Pocket

PodCastle 619: The Tale of Mahliya and Mauhub and the White-Footed Gazelle Author : Sofia Samatar Narrator : C. L. Clark Host : Peter Behravesh Audio Producer : Peter Behravesh Discuss on Forums Originally published in The Starlit Wood. Rated… This story is at least a thousand years old. Its complete title is “The Tale of Mahliya and Mauhub and the White-Footed Gazelle: It Contains Strange and Marvelous Things.” A single copy, probably produced in Egypt or Syria, survives in Istanbul; the…

Are you familiar with the musical composition called a canon? It’s a piece where the main melody is repeated over and over in counterpoint, with some kind of transformation. Sometimes, it’s delayed in time. Sometimes, it’s played backwards. via Pock…

March 2020 Metacast Transcript (Alasdair) Hi everyone, Alasdair here. We’re not going to ask how you are right now, because we have a pretty good idea. You’re fine. You’re FINE. You’re the same version of fine as everyone right now, the one Aeros… We’re not going to ask how you are right now, because we have a pretty good idea. You’re fine. You’re FINE. You’re the same version of fine as everyone right now, the one Aerosmith sang about. The one where you’re alternately anxious, terrified, fur…

For centuries clever clever men have sought in vain to authenticate the future invention of time travel. But I have proof. via Pocket

PodCastle 620: When Hope Is Lost, Touch Remains Author : Nin Harris Narrator : Chang Yiun Yee Host : Setsu Uzume Audio Producer : Peter Behravesh Discuss on Forums PodCastle 620: When Hope Is Lost, Touch Remains is a PodCastle original. Conte… When Hope Is Lost, Touch Remains By Nin Harris Chowrasta Market was where Maria had learned to love books — upstairs in the claustrophobic crush of second-hand book stalls, where the musty smell of old paperbacks was drowned in a panoply of aromas f…

The prisoner was marched across Swan Bridge. It was the pride of space station Methuselah-3, a crystal bridge designed to resemble the curve of a swan’s neck. It was not actually structurally possible and was held in place by a force field. via Pock…

CatsCast 289: The Thing in the Basement Author : Gerri C. Leen Narrator : Tina C. Connolly Host : Laura Pearlman Audio Producer : Peter Behravesh Artist : Matt Dovey The Thing in the Basement by Gerri Leen You can hear it, in the basement, b… CatsCast 289 The Thing in the Basement - PodCastle via Instapaper https://ift.tt/3bDT0Cf You can hear it, in the basement, behind the metal boxes that your human puts her outer-coverings in just when they start to smell good—when the boxes are done, she brings out her things stinking of flowers or fruit. via Pocket

He spins round, leveling a huge pistol. The pursuers halt in disarray. A breeze whips between silent vehicles, picking up litter and dust. His enhanced eyes blaze red in the muzzle flash. A deafening report echoes as Sven backflips to land in an unt…

PodCastle 621: A Salt and Sterling Tongue A Salt and Sterling Tongue By Emma Osborne I found my dying boy curled up in a pile of straw wet with his blood. Seamus rolled over as I entered the barn, and I saw then that he’d chewed his fingers down … I found my dying boy curled up in a pile of straw wet with his blood. Seamus rolled over as I entered the barn, and I saw then that he’d chewed his fingers down to the first knuckle. “I can taste my King in my wet,” he said, rocking forward, naming …

The rolling hills and grassy fields glowed beneath the soft light of the full moon. The air was cool and clear, the breeze hardly noticeable as it brushed against the long grass. Stars lay scattered across the deep blue sky, twinkling and reflecting…

PodCastle 622: Spoken For Author : Evan Kennedy Narrator : Khaalidah Muhammad-Ali Host : Jen R. Albert Audio Producer : Peter Behravesh Discuss on Forums PodCastle 622: Spoken For is a PodCastle original. Rated PG-13. Spoken For by Evan Ken… Twenty-five years after the magic came back, Auden’s wife got turned to stone. It was the dog’s fault. A cockatrice had been wandering Harlan County for the past few weeks, ever since some damn fool two towns over let a cock’s egg hatch instead of c…

Meetings downtown were always a bore and as the driverless cab pulled up, I began mentally preparing for what lay ahead. I blackened the windows to stop the view of the street beggars and urban decay. They always brought me down. “Good morning Sir. …

PodCastle 623: Caring For Dragons and Growing a Flower Author : Allison Thai Narrator : Jennifer Tran Host : Setsu Uzume Audio Producer : Peter Behravesh Discuss on Forums PodCastle 623: Caring For Dragons and Growing a Flower is a PodCastle o… Sleep easy tonight, darling. I’m well and alive at the barracks the Party had seized in Sóc Trăng. Because I had sided with the enemy, I expected to be shot, or be assigned to clear the mines. via Pocket PodCastle 623 Caring For Dragons and Growing a Flower - PodCastle via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2KpwscY

Drop pods are not made for comfort. They are made to launch a soldier at supersonic speed from a dropship, fly him into position and decelerate fast enough to prevent impact from killing but at the same time not so fast that the g-forces from decele…

PodCastle 624: TALES FROM THE VAULTS — Crickets Sing for Naomi Author : Eden Royce Narrator : Khaalidah Muhammad-Ali Host : Eleanor Wood Audio Producer : Peter Behravesh Discuss on Forums This story was a PodCastle original back when we ran it… “If these danggone crickets don’t stop following me,” Naomi grumbled as the insect bounded out of the path of her wedge heel. Another of the bugs scuttled across the top of her foot, its spiny legs pricking her exposed skin. via Pocket

“The treatments aren’t working,” I tell my assistant, Marcy. From the observation window, we watch our prisoner writhe on the sterile bed. Marcy increases the output and the patient screams. His tortured body begins to convulse. His eyes are wide op…

PodCastle 601: A Thousand Tongues of Silver Author : Kate Heartfield Narrator : Alyson Grauer Host : Setsu Uzume Audio Producer : Peter Behravesh Discuss on Forums Originally published in Lackington’s. Rated PG-13. A Thousand Tongues of Silv… PodCastle 601 A Thousand Tongues of Silver - PodCastle via Instapaper https://ift.tt/332TgWL I am a book. My pages are purple. This is how they made me. First, they flayed the calves, stretched and scraped their wet skins. Then they mixed lichen and leaves, rotted in human urine, to mimic the purple that comes of torturing sea snails to for… via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io

Randall disengages from his charging port when Director Gravasin of the Institute for Research on Eternal Life enters the office. “Good morning, Director. It’s early. Are you getting enough sleep?” via Pocket

PodCastle 602: Franken-Puppy Author : Derek Künsken Narrators : Jay Odjick, Charlotte Ashley, J. M. Frey, Rati Mehrotra, Sylvain Neuvel, KT Bryski and Brandon Crilly Host : Jen R. Albert Audio Producer : KT Bryski Discuss on Forums PodCastle 6… In the third yard, the puppy darted a suspicious look back at its tail. Then, as if remembering what he’d been doing, he swung his head forward, panted, and sat in the grass. Beyond the ratty picket fence, patched skyscrapers stood in the hazy blue …

Grampa Leg heaved his large, square frame from the floor and trundled across the family room to where the youngster sat. Deep in concerned thought, the child twiddled his long fingers, picking at the rubbery fingertips. Ma watched from the corner of…

PodCastle 603: Copy Cat Authors : K. A. Teryna and Alex Shvartsman Narrator : Yaroslav Barsukov Host : Setsu Uzume Audio Producer : Peter Behravesh Discuss on Forums Originally published in Strange Horizons. Rated PG-13 for cunning felines an… Imagine a Russian cat. Not just any Russian cat, but a cat from Leningrad. Those who claim passing familiarity with Russian literature might imagine a cat straight off the pages of Pushkin or Bulgakov. via Pocket

Captain Agnes Parker rubbed the back of her sore neck and rolled her shoulders. If anyone had told her how many tedious tasks a captain had to deal with every week… Currently, she was examining the ship supply lists as certain items kept going astra…

PodCastle 604: No Mercy to the Rest Author : Bennett North Narrator : C. L. Clark Host : Setsu Uzume Audio Producer : Peter Behravesh Discuss on Forums PodCastle 604: No Mercy to the Rest is a PodCastle original. Rated PG-13 for super-villain… Sadie parked in the lee of Castle Inferno, where she would be spared from the wind, and sat while the engine ticked, trying to convince herself to let go of the steering wheel. The castle stood stark against the sky, dark stone walls leaching the sa… PodCastle 604 No Mercy to the Rest - PodCastle via Instapaper https://ift.tt/36pB6ka

We came to their planet to study them. But we found their understanding of the universal mechanisms to be shockingly limited. We’ve managed to locate only one man, thus far, among billions, who possesses any true grasp of the situation. His name is …

PodCastle 607: TALES FROM THE VAULTS — Who in Mortal Chains Author : Claire Humphrey Narrator : Julia Rios Hosts : Jen R. Albert and KT Bryski Audio Producer : KT Bryski Discuss on Forums Originally published by Strange Horizons. Previously a… Ryder was a brewer in those days, when brewing was a thing no one much cared to do. He was well loved among a circle of twenty or so, every one with a lost art. Mylene was a weaver; Tom worked leather; Eskil kept bees. via Pocket

Since I woke up in the base hospital, there’s been a steady stream of people coming and going and being nice to me in between. The burns on my hands are being dealt with: they don’t hurt at all now. The skin just feels tight under the bandages. via …