PodCastle 608: The Epic of Sakina — Part 1 Author : Shari Paul Narrator : Khaalidah Muhammad-Ali Host : Setsu Uzume Audio Producer : Peter Behravesh Discuss on Forums Previously published by Fiyah Lit Mag Issue 5. Rated PG-13. The Epic of Sa… The moon was a pale, golden disc in a lavender sky. Sakina, in a brilliant blue caftan that brought out the colour in her skin and eyes, strummed her kora a few times to check the tuning. via Pocket

Tomi Mura, a specialist in inter-planetary law, sat aboard a six-person capsule en route to Planet Arazan. The magnetic-field modulator of the small hyperbolically propulsed vessel gave her the sensation of gliding gently through the depths of an im…

PodCastle 608: The Epic of Sakina — Part 2 Author : Shari Paul Narrator : Khaalidah Muhammad-Ali Host : Setsu Uzume Audio Producer : Peter Behravesh Discuss on Forums Previously published by Fiyah Lit Mag Issue 5. Rated PG-13. The Epic of Sa… The ride back to her father’s house had never felt so long, doubly so under Naima’s interrogation. Sometime during the wait for Sakina’s return at the barracks, Naima had spoken to a few of the guards and decided that Leif was a djinn. via Pocket

The queue was massively long. Fridays were always the busiest. Everyone would clock off early so that they could get a decent night’s sleep. Garth was probably thirty people away from the check-in point and the building’s entrance. He checked his wa…

PodCastle 606: River’s Giving Authors : Heather Shaw, Tim Pratt and River Shaw Narrator : Kyle Akers Host : Setsu Uzume Audio Producer : KT Bryski Discuss on Forums PodCastle 606: River’s Giving is a PodCastle original. Rated PG for jolly old… Once upon a time, there was a boy named Alexander who lived in a village by a river in a valley in the shadow of a mountain. Every year when the days grew short and the air grew cold and the snow fell, the village would hold a celebration called Riv… PodCastle 606 River's Giving - PodCastle via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2ER9ngo

Author: Jae Miles, Staff Writer Where did your rock ‘n’ roll fable go, Ella May? Did it get lost way back amongst the evergreens, or did it get too close to the railroad tracks, and go under them drivin’ wheels? “Can I help you?” I remember when you…

Author: David C. Nutt The Bailiff stood and took a deep breath. Once he prided himself on being able to do his entire spiel in one breath. However, with the newest fad of rolling one’s last three past lives into one’s current name…well, breath frequ…

PodCastle 610: Charlemagne and Florent Author : Ranylt Richildis Narrator : Dominik Parisien Host : Setsu Uzume Audio Producer : Peter Behravesh Discuss on Forums First published by Myths Inscribed. Rated PG. Charlemagne and Florent By Rany… This is what happened to les deux bretons before I met them, back in the 70s when they were boys in Vannes. One was abandoned at nineteen months (no one knows why, or by whom), the other orphaned by a car wreck at age three. via Pocket

For Your Consideration: PodCastle Award Eligibility 2019 In 2019, PodCastle produced 15 original stories and 33 reprints. For your consideration, we present the Escape Artists stories which are eligible for nomination in the upcoming award season. … In 2019, PodCastle produced 14 original stories and 34 reprints. For your consideration, we present the Escape Artists stories which are eligible for nomination in the upcoming award season. PodCastle itself is eligible for the Best Semiprozine Hugo…

Author: Alex Z. Salinas I pressed my palm against the reinforced window in my bedroom. The glass felt cool, exactly like they felt in my previous life. The difference was that on the other side of this one, there was stretched before me an infinite …

Sean sighed as he leaned his head back against the tree. The good ones always left him with this amalgamation of thoughts and feelings, this clash of excitement and longing with the realization of routine and boredom. via Pocket

PodCastle 611: Yo, Rapunzel! Author : Kyle Kirrin Narrators : Alasdair Stuart, C. L. Clark, Setsu Uzume, Matt Dovey, Jen R. Albert, Peter Behravesh and Mur Lafferty Host : Setsu Uzume Audio Producer : Peter Behravesh Discuss on Forums PodCastl… Yo, Rapunzel! And lo, the Princess said: “Motherfucker, I am content.” “But Princess!” said the Knight, from the base of the Princess’ tower. His armor-clad ass was parked atop a huge black stallion, which the Princess found not only pompous, but en… PodCastle 611 Yo, Rapunzel! - PodCastle via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2U6ZNyz

It made headlines. It was the talk of social media for a week which is, like, forever. No one knew who and that was cause for amazement too; since World Citizenship came online there simply weren’t any unknowns left. It was crazy! via Pocket

PodCastle 612: She Searches for God in the Storm Within Author : Khaalidah Muhammad-Ali Narrator : Stephanie Malia Morris Host : Setsu Uzume Audio Producer : Peter Behravesh Originally published in Sword and Sonnet. Content warning: domestic v… When I arrived at my grandmother’s, in the stillness of predawn, like some restless cat stalking, she was waiting for me on the front porch. It was as if she’d been expecting me. I suppose if she had been watching the sky, she was, because I could b…

Rick saw the Universe in folds. He coded a program that could make anything in origami. You put in, say, a rhino, and it would make the plan, complete with lines for the folds, and when you were finished, it looked exactly like that rhino. Exactly. …

PodCastle 613: TALES FROM THE VAULTS — Hoywverch Author : Heather Rose Jones Narrator : Sarah Goleman Host : C. L. Clark Audio Producer : Peter Behravesh Discuss on Forums This story was a PodCastle original that aired back in 2015. Rated PG.… Elin verch Gwir Goch oed yn arglwydes ar Cantref Madruniawn wrth na bo i’w thad na meibion na brodyr. A threigylgweith dyvot yn y medwl vynet y hela. Ac wrth dilyt y cwn, hi a glywei llef gwylan. Ac edrych i fyny arni yn troi, a synnu wrthi. A’y the…

PodCastle 614: White Noon Author : Aidan Doyle Narrator : Julie Hoverson Host : Setsu Uzume Audio Producer : Peter Behravesh Discuss on Forums PodCastle 614: White Noon is a PodCastle original. Rated PG-13. White Noon By Aidan Doyle The do… The dogs’ barking let me know I had visitors. I reluctantly left my chair by the fire, pulled on my boots, and took my thundergun from its place on the wall. I rarely had any visitors apart from Magnus, which was how the dogs and I liked it. via Poc…

Author: David C. Nutt “How’d did your last trip go Vincent?” (Sigh) “Not good Director. We keep hitting the same walls. No matter what we do, nothing has an effect.” “Nothing?” “You heard it right chief, nothing.” “Maybe we should go for a larger ef…

Tapestries hang on the walls of a room where anatomical diagrams and scientific charts would have been, centuries ago. Two men stand reading a display that floats above the supine form on the chrome table at the centre of the room. via Pocket

Rated R for adult themes. The stagecoach lurches to a halt in a clearing beside the road. Four wild-eyed black geldings rear up and whinny as the top-hatted stage driver cracks a whip over their heads. via Pocket

The year I turned ten, the war almost ended. The Chinese army fell back beyond the northern border of Cao Bằng, leaving behind thousands of widows, wide swathes of burned ground, and their great war bells in their haste. via Pocket

‘So, what’s your star sign?’ Mary asked, and took a sip from her glass, she watched him closely over the rim. It was one of her stock questions on first dates. You could tell a lot about a man, depending on how he reacted. His actual star sign was i…

PodCastle 589: The Horrible Deaths of Helga Hrafnsdóttir Author : Christine Tyler Narrator : Sigríður Gunnarsdóttir Host : Setsu Uzume Audio Producer : Peter Behravesh Discuss on Forums PodCastle 589: The Horrible Deaths of Helga Hrafnsdóttir … The day Helga Hrafnsdóttir went up the Ævilok tree, the entire village held its breath. From the time of her birth, the Ævilok that grew beside Helga’s home had sprouted the most horrible flowers. via Pocket

Two neutron stars, ten times the mass of the sun collided, unleashing a cataclysm—an explosive kilonova, whose massive gravitational waves undulated through the dark mantle of spacetime, forging in their course a planetary system composed of fifteen…

PC 594: The Deliverers of Their Country The Deliverers of Their Country By E. Nesbit It all began with Effie’s getting something in her eye. It hurt very much indeed, and it felt something like a red-hot spark — only it seemed to have legs as wel… The Deliverers of Their Country By E. Nesbit It all began with Effie’s getting something in her eye. It hurt very much indeed, and it felt something like a red-hot spark — only it seemed to have legs as well, and wings like a fly. via Pocket

The disease passed quickly and no one was spared. First, it neutered the men. Women became infertile. Men atrophied and women thickened. Hair sloughed off and torsos turned flat. The two sexes equalized and thus division was lost. via Pocket

PodCastle 595: The Feast Author : K.C. Mead-Brewer Narrator : Jen R. Albert Host : Setsu Uzume Audio Producer : Peter Behravesh Discuss on Forums Previously published by Carve Magazine. Content warning for violence against women, suicide, and… The Feast By K.C. Mead-Brewer We took Emmaline on what promised to be a particularly stormy night. It wasn’t hard to do, especially since all the police and alarm company people were right there in the mob with us. via Pocket

In the beginning, humanity looked to the stars, and saw gods. In their golden age, they went among the stars, as if they were gods. via Pocket

PodCastle 596: The Satyr of Brandenburg — Part 1 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… By the inebriated light of dawn, October the 23rd, 1700, a swarthy figure skulked in the rosebushes lining the Villa del Sulcis, outside the Sardinian town of Soleminis. The lurker clambered onto the tavern’s windowsill muttering badly hushed curses… via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io PodCastle 596 The Satyr of Brandenburg — Part 1 - PodCastle via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2MMfDt9

Miriam opened the door of the caravan-turned-time machine. Dry, hot air blew in. She shaded her eyes against the brightness. They had landed where they had planned: at the base of a range of hills, nothing around them but arid land that matched the …