Archives for June 2007
EP112: The Giving Plague
Published on 28 Jun 2007 at 12:01 am.
28 Comments.
Filed under Podcasts, Rated PG.
Read ‘EP112: The Giving Plague’
-->By David Brin.
Read by Dr. Jonathon Sullivan.
First appeared in Interzone #23, 1988.
Now available at DavidBrin.com.
Yeah, you viruses need vectors, don’t you. I mean, if you kill a guy, you’ve got to have a life raft, so you can desert the ship you’ve sunk, so you can cross over to some new hapless victim. Same applies if the host proves tough, and fights you off — gotta move on. Always movin’ on.
Hell, even if you’ve made peace with a human body, like Les suggested, you still want to spread, don’t you? Big-time colonizers, you tiny beasties.
Oh, I know. It’s just natural selection. Those bugs that accidentally find a good vector spread. Those that don’t, don’t. But it’s so eerie. Sometimes it sure feels purposeful….
Rated PG. Contains intended violence, epidemics, and deep technical dialogue.
Referenced Sites:
Geek Fu Action Grip
Heinlein Society Blood Drives
EP111: Mayfly
Published on 21 Jun 2007 at 5:15 am.
17 Comments.
Filed under Podcasts, Rated R.
By Heather Lindsley.
Read by The Word Whore (of Air Out My Shorts).
First appeared in Strange Horizons, September 2006.
The reflection of what appears to be a girl of eleven looks back at me from the full-length mirror in the bedroom that was my mother’s. Together we spit out yet another baby tooth, which reminds me I need to drink another calcium-enriched protein shake. Either that, or eat what remains of my mother.
She’s the pile of coarse dust scattered across the bedsheets. Some of my kind swear by mother dust, the way certain factions among the rest of the population swear by breast feeding. And there are benefits, whether you’re still a kid with growing bones or an adult woman facing osteoporosis by the end of the week.
But my mother is not strawberry-flavored, so I opt for the shake.
Rated R. Contains sexual scenes and other deep biological imperatives.
EP110: Frankie the Spook
Published on 14 Jun 2007 at 4:30 am.
11 Comments.
Filed under Podcasts, Rated PG.
Read ‘EP110: Frankie the Spook’
-->By Mike Resnick.
Read by Stephen Eley.
Marvin leaned forward and squinted at Bacon’s image on his computer screen. “Will you do it?”
“Will the greatest writer in the history of the human race ghostwrite your pitiful little novel?” sneered Bacon. “Absolutely not.”
“But you ghosted for Shakespeare!” protested Marvin. “That’s why I had my computer assemble you.”
“Marvin, go write limpware and leave me alone.”
“It’s called software.”
Rated PG. Contains some coarse language and imagery, and potentially offensive literary theories.
EP109: Squonk the Apprentice
Published on 7 Jun 2007 at 2:30 am.
18 Comments.
Filed under Podcasts, Rated G.
Read ‘EP109: Squonk the Apprentice’
-->By P.M. Butler.
Read by Stephen and Anna Eley.
“What’s a ‘prentice?”
Without thinking, Wendel answered. “An apprentice is young person who wants to be a wizard, so they find an older wizard to teach them.”
The moment the words left his mouth, Wendel’s heart stopped and his eyes went wide. If he’d known a spell that could grab those words and stuff them back down his throat, he would have cast it.
Instead, those words scampered all the way across his bedroom, as words are inclined to do, and rushed into the ears of the dragon in the window. Wendel watched in horror as the words sunk into Squonk’s brain. Squonk’s eyes grew wide, his mouth dropped open, and before Wendel could think of anything to say–
“You can learn to be a wizard?! That’s awesome! I wanna be a wizard! Lemme be your ‘prentice!”
Rated G. It’s a children’s story about a dragon raised by a bluebird. Set content expectations accordingly.
Referenced Sites:
EP070: Squonk the Dragon
“How to Talk to Girls at Parties” by Neil Gaiman
2007 Hugo Nominees
