via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io Aulis shuts out the frenetic buzz of the arena where she’s competing for an Oikotekt placement in the space navy. Only an Oikotekt, a person of powerful imagination, can hold onto a picture of the universe as it is supposed to be against the reality…

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io Only Clarice would ask such a forthright question. “Leave her alone,” Jake drains his beer. Only he would dare contradict his sister. via Pocket

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io Murmurs ripple through the assembled cadets. Not because they’re shocked—everyone knew what they were signing up for—but because it all happened without fanfare, a jump across light-years of space unaccompanied by any grand orchestral swell or roari… Escape Pod 679 An Ever-Expanding Flash of Light - Escape Pod via Instapaper http://bit.ly/30aVVx6

The fire crackles, and Sirella watches as Kai lies with his eyes closed, pretending to sleep. She knows he’s pretending because his breathing is too soft. She’s heard his almost snores since the second night, when they’d both finally relaxed enough … Escape Pod 633 Lucky Shot (Part 2) - Escape Pod via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2K0oklh via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io Sometimes at night when my mind is calm, I think I hear the octopuses. Around the world, the great network of molluscan philosophers. I had many reasons for moving to the Pacific Northwest –  weather, closeness to potential clients and my big brothe…

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io The little cleanerbot whirrs as it crisscrosses the arena, sucking up the robot dust with the vacuum chute on its right and picking up strewn robot parts with the multi-hinged arm on its front. via Pocket Escape Pod 673 Optimizing the Verified Good (Artemis Rising) - Escape Pod via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2CIrft3

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io And Yet A. T. Greenblatt Only idiots go back to the haunted houses of their childhood. And yet. Here you are. Standing on the sagging, weed-strangled front porch that hasn’t changed in twenty years. Every dip in the floorboards, every peeling strip … Escape Pod 674 And Yet - Escape Pod via Instapaper http://bit.ly/2Vxspir

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io It was the middle of the night and everybody was knocked out. Marcus, my big brother who died the week before last, had his door cracked. I heard him snoring under the hum of the refrigerator. The carpet creaked under my feet as I stepped into the d…

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io Escape Pod 676 Ulissa - Escape Pod via Instapaper http://bit.ly/2UnhIha The old woman they called Ulissa pointed south. “There’s the ship.” Edoardo raised the binoculars. “Mio dio, it’s huge,” he said. via Pocket

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io Escape Pod 677 Valedictorian (Flashback Friday) - Escape Pod via Instapaper http://bit.ly/2UYueJ2 There are three things Zinhle decides, when she is old enough to understand. The first is that she will never, ever, give less than her best to anything she tries to do. The second is that she will not live in fear. via Pocket

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io During the day, James A. Miller works on Milking Robots in the Madison Wisconsin area. At night, he spends time with his family and does his best to come up with fun and creative fiction. He is a first reader for Allegory e-zine and member of the Co… EP540 The Right Answer - Escape Pod via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2catQQy

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io Erin Cashier is fond of the unreliable narrator. The things that interest me most are Disneyland (not kidding), esoteric philosophy books, alchemy as it relates to Jungian theories, William Blake, and Super Paper Mario. via Pocket EP537 Honeycomb Girls - Escape Pod via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2bi9Exq

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io “Congratulations, Mrs. Costa,” chirped the young Life Center nurse. “You’re ready to go home! Here’s your shield.” Maria raised the infant in her arms high enough for the nurse to slip the slim, silver band around her waist. via Pocket

The Last Stellar Death Metal Opera By Elly Bangs Raya eases power into the singularity engine and all her senses sharpen with the glorious, brutal reality of the moment: dead ahead there’s the blackli…

Points of Origin by Marissa Lingen Most people who have reached their eighties without raising children have every right to believe that they will go on not raising them, and Judith and I were no diff…

A Stretch of Highway Two Lanes Wide By Sarah Pinsker Andy tattooed his left forearm with Lori’s name on a drunken night in his seventeenth year. “Lori & Andy Forever and Ever” was the full text, all i…

Martian Chronicles by Cory Doctorow They say you can’t smell anything through a launch-hood, but I still smelled the pove in the next seat as the space-attendants strapped us into our acceleration cou…

Heart of Ash, Heart of Steam By Malon Edwards You squeeze through the doorway past the bouncer wearing the massive Conquest Knight XV exo and make way your over to Nyanza Swift. The Soul Queen’s blackout is spacious, but minimalist. Low sightlines. No shadowy alcoves. No jacks. No data exchange. No electricity. This is the best blackout in …

The Big So-So By Erika Satifka We’re both sitting on the rotting front porch one muggy July day when Dorcas asks me if I want to break into Paradise with her. I lace up my sneakers and we do the old huff-and-puff up Negley Avenue to the big Cygnian compound on the hill. It’s dark, which …

Hoping for Red by Adam Knight Vixen had just one question for the doctor: “Can you do it?” Doctor Fizzwinkle smiled and patted the fur on Vixen’s neck. Outside of the office, the winds whipped furiously, as they did most of the time north of the Arctic Circle. In the office, though, the glow of …

A Fine Night for Tea and Bludgeoning By Beth Cato Summer 1901 Upon my arrival at the Durham’s dance, it was quickly apparent to me that their daughter’s new purebred fiancé was not the evening’s star as gossip had foretold. Instead, a dashing green-skinned gentleman had garnered a pack of giggling admirers. I had never …

Some Remarks on the Reproductive Strategy of the Common Octopus By Bogi Takács So let’s do it this way. I’ll show you whatever I want and you’ll believe me, because I’m an octopus. I might as well get some benefit out of it, not that we ever had much – especially not since you left. Humans, …

Beatrix Released By Shaenon K. Garrity The lichen in the cupboard has at last begun to sing. It sings in two-part harmony, bel canto, essaying a faultless duet with itself. What a strange and lovely fairy! I am convinced more and more that my earlier theory was correct, that the lichen is a bipartite organism …

AUTHOR: Beth Goder NARRATOR: Amy H. Sturgis HOST: Alasdair Stuart Murder or a Duck is an Escape Pod original. 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… Beth Goder worked as an archivist at Stanford before becoming a full-time mom […]