EP185: Union Dues - All About the Sponsors
Published by SFEley on 2 Jan 2009 at 3:00 am.
12 Comments.
Filed under Podcasts, Rated PG.
By Jeffrey R. DeRego.
Read by Stephen Eley.
Sponsored by CONTAGIOUS, by Scott Sigler.
I suck in my chest and tighten the buckles before getting lightheaded. I don’t have to wear the costume anymore, but it seems disrespectful to leave it in the closet for this one last mission. I get the boots on and struggle with the leather straps and silver buckles until my fingers feel like they’re ready to fall off. I surrender and creak back up to standing position. “Ok screw the boot buckles, Jim,” I whisper. “This is it.”
I glance at the open briefcase laid across the corner of my desk but I’ve got everything I need. I pick up the silver frame with the little black and white photo of me, Frida, Alex, Paul, and Steve in our original Liberty League getup. Frida Freedom called me four hours ago. Her voice broke when she said the words, “Alex is dead.” I drop the frame into the case atop a weathered manila folder then close the whole thing up before hobbling out towards the waiting jet.
Rated PG. Contains some profanity, some violence, and strong rhetoric.
Escape Pod Flash: Standards
Published by Rachel on 29 Dec 2008 at 9:26 pm.
5 Comments.
Filed under Flash, Podcasts, Rated G.
by Richard K. Lyon
Read by Frank Key (of Hooting Yard)
After careful examination of your manuscript no 113785, Corbamite, An Insulator Against Gravity, the editors of Review of Physics have concluded that it is not suitable for publication in this journal. This decision is final and further correspondence on this subject will serve no useful purpose.
Since the above may seem somewhat harsh, let me say what I can to mitigate it. The editors do appreciate that you are working under difficult circumstances: when the senior author of a paper is deceased, it is always hard for the junior author to complete the work in an appropriate manner. Also let us assure you that we do believe you. You have told us that with his dying breath Professor Steinhardt handed you his notebook and said, “Have this published in Review of Physics.” Such an action would be completely in character for Steinhardt since he was a true scientist.
As for your claim that Professor Steinhardt made this statement as he was expiring from disintegrator rays wounds suffered during your escape from the City of Disembodied Brains on Altair IV, our believing that is a somewhat different matter but we need to go into that.
Rated G. Contains proven impossibilities.
Statement from Rachel Swirsky:
Richard K. Lyon died on November 21. When I contacted him last month to ask if he still wanted this piece to run on our podcast, he said that the doctors didn’t give him long, but that he hoped this would give the world “one last laugh.”
Escape Artists dedicates this production to his memory. We wish the best to him, and to his family.
EP184: As Dry Leaves That Before the Wild Hurricane Fly
Published by SFEley on 25 Dec 2008 at 12:01 am.
27 Comments.
Filed under Podcasts, Rated G.
By Mur Lafferty.
Read by Christiana Ellis (of Christiana’s Shallow Thoughts, et al.).
Special Closing Music: “Chiron Beta Prime,” by Jonathan Coulton.
Comet and Cupid were fifteen, and took after their father, both spending the most time in the workshop tinkering with Father’s tools. Christmas was coming soon and they were preparing their yearly trip to the same orphanage that had cared for them. With nine children to raise on his own, Claus could no longer adopt, but he still found it very important to care for the children in any way he could. So he took a load of toys to the children every year, with his children helping him distribute.
Their siblings sat around their great sitting room, some crowding on sofas, some sitting on chair cushions or arms, and Rudolph, the baby at eleven, sat at his father’s feet. He was an imposing man with a barrel chest and wild white hair and beard. When he would get excited about a project, his blue eyes would twinkle and he’d look like a madman.
Rated G. Contains Santa revisionism and aerial combat.
Escape Pod Flash Fiction Contest, Honorable Mention: Silence
Published by Rachel on 6 Dec 2008 at 1:00 am.
9 Comments.
Filed under Flash, Podcasts, Rated PG, Uncategorized.
by Rachel Swirsky. Read by Ann Leckie.
Whatever the midwife told you, it’s not true.
I cannot walk through walls. I cannot conjure a chicken and make it dance or start a fire with my fingers. I cannot shape familiars from fog or examine entrails to see if a man will die. I cannot resurrect your son.
Rated PG.
Escape Pod Flash Fiction Contest, Honorable Mention: Hello, I Love You
Published by Rachel on 5 Dec 2008 at 1:00 am.
5 Comments.
Filed under Flash, Podcasts, Rated PG.
by Katherine Sparrow. Read by Rachel Swirsky.
“Junk DNA? I’ll junk your DNA!” Sofia glared at Zorg.
“Apologies. It is only, don’t you find it interesting? Most of it is unused–”
“Junk? You supercilious aliens come to Earth to rein snottiness on us lowly humans? How sublime. I suppose your DNA is full of Porsches?”
Rated PG.
Escape Pod Flash Fiction Contest, Honorable Mention: The Way Before
Published by Rachel on 4 Dec 2008 at 1:00 am.
4 Comments.
Filed under Flash, Podcasts, Rated G.
By Anna Schwind Read by Ann Leckie
When Chasca turned eleven, her father took her to a ship farm, to choose her vessel. She stood on the observation deck, evaluating the herd. Chasca selected the farthest ship. It faced away from the others and bumped the edges of the corral. She understood.
Rated G.
Escape Pod Flash Fiction Contest, Honorable Mention: Hoarding Colored Rags
Published by Rachel on 2 Dec 2008 at 10:00 pm.
8 Comments.
Filed under Flash, Podcasts, Rated PG.
by Jared Axelrod (of The Voice of Free Planet X). Read by Mike Swirsky.
I remember your touch, your taste, the way your mouth curled slightly when you said my name.
Rated PG.
Escape Pod Flash Fiction Contest, Honorable Mention: From Liquid to Glass
Published by Rachel on 1 Dec 2008 at 1:00 am.
7 Comments.
Filed under Flash, Podcasts, Rated R.
By J. R. Blackwell.
Read by Rachel Swirsky (of PodCastle).
He smelled like new cars and cologne, he moved with a measured rhythm. His mouth tasted like mint toothpaste. She looked over his shoulder through the white light of the window. She was sweating into her sheets, her breath silent, and her lips thin and tight.
Rated R. Contains sex and melancholia.
Escape Pod Flash Fiction Contest, Third Place: Karakuri
Published by Rachel on 29 Nov 2008 at 9:00 am.
5 Comments.
Filed under Flash, Podcasts.
By Gideon Fostick.
Read by Dave Leckie.
Bill had no heart for this Karakuri, left behind in the empty house when his love had gone. Small and exquisite, propped at an angle on the tatami floor mat, it was the toughest puzzle he’d known.
Rated PG. Contains puzzles.
Escape Pod Flash Fiction Contest, Second Place: Skyscrapers
Published by Rachel on 28 Nov 2008 at 2:00 pm.
5 Comments.
Filed under Flash, Podcasts, Rated PG, Shoutouts, Site News.
by Rachel Swirsky
read by Ann Leckie
Summers, I sleep on rooftops. Under smokestacks, beside stairs, in the sudden green of precarious gardens.
Rated PG. Contains mythical figures.
