Archive for May, 2008

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EP160: Kallakak’s Cousins

(Updated 5/30: Corrected misspelled name in the title. Sorry, Cat.)

By Cat Rambo.
Read by Stephen Eley.

First appeared in Asimov’s Science Fiction, March 2008.

“Sometimes we don’t realize that what we want isn’t good for us,” the man said, speaking for the first time. He stared intently at Kallakak.

“Dominance rituals do not work well on me,” Kallakak said, roughening his voice to rudeness. “I will see you in five days in the court.” He decided not to burn his bridges too far. “I will tally up the cost of my goods by then and will have a definite figure.” Let them think him acquiescent while he tried to find another way to save his shop. He stepped into the lift, but they did not follow him, simply watched as the doors slid closed and he was carried away.

Making his way back to his quarters, he saw three figures standing before it. He paused, wondering if the Jellidoos had decided to lean on him further. The trio turned in unison to face him, and he recognized them with a sinking heart. The cousins.

Rated G. Contains shady commerce and dim relations.

Audible.com Promotion!

Receive your free audiobook at: http://audible.com/escapepodsff

Referenced Sites:

Wiscon 2008

The Surgeon’s Tale and Other Stories by Cat Rambo & Jeff Vandermeer

 
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May 29, 2008 | 25 comments View Post
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EP159: Elites

By Kristine Kathryn Rusch.
Read by Máia Whitaker (of KnitWitch’s SciFi/Fantasy Zone and Superior Audioworks).

First appeared in Women of War, ed. Tanya Huff & Alexander Potter.

I could’ve followed the sounds. The closer I get, the louder voices grow—yelling obscenities, cheering, clapping in approval.

These women love fights.

I used to let them do it too, without interference, until the repair bills got too much. Then the House shrink told me about the added toll of repeated trauma—the fights would often replicate something that happened Out There—and I realized that no matter how much steam got blown off, the fights weren’t worth the expense.

Still, I wished for those old days sometimes.

Rated R. Contains violence, profanity, and strong themes of war and psychological trauma.

Referenced Sites:

“Recovering Apollo 8″ by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

7th Son: OBSIDIAN, ed. J.C. Hutchins

 
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May 22, 2008 | 36 comments View Post
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EP BONUS: J.C. Hutchins OBSIDIAN Poster

If you’re as much a fan as I am of J.C. Hutchins’s SF thriller trilogy 7th Son, you’ll be jazzed to hear about 7th Son: OBSIDIAN, the new short fiction audio anthology set in the 7th Son universe. The anthology has stories from some of the top names in podcasting, including Mur Lafferty, Scott Sigler, Matt Wallace, Christiana Ellis and Evo Terra.

J.C. has an innovative promotional strategy to spread the word: he’s distributing a series of collectible posters across some of the top podcasts in the ‘verse. These are high-quality printable 8″x10″ images suitable for your cubicle, campus bulletin board, or fallout shelter. I was honored to be approached to host one of those posters. You can download ours here, or get it on our feed:

7th Son: OBSIDIAN Poster #5

If you want to collect the entire set of posters, you’ll have to visit each of these fine podcasts and Web sites. They’re all worth taking at least a couple of minutes to check out:

Good hunting!

icon for podpress  7th Son: OBSIDIAN Poster #5: Download

May 20, 2008 | 1 comment View Post
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EP158: Who’s Afraid of Wolf 359?

2008 Hugo Nominee!

By Ken MacLeod.
Read by Stephen Eley.

First appeared in The New Space Opera, ed. Gardner Dozois & Jonathan Strahan.

When you’re as old as I am, you’ll find your memory’s not what it was. It’s not that you lose memories. That hasn’t happened to me or anyone else since the Paleocosmic Era, the Old Space Age, when people lived in caves on the Moon. My trouble is that I’ve gained memories, and I don’t know which of them are real. I was very casual about memory storage back then, I seem to recall. This could happen to you too, if you’re not careful. So be warned. Do as I say, not as I did.

Some of the tales about me contradict each other, or couldn’t possibly have happened, because that’s how I told them in the first place. Others I blame on the writers and tellers. They make things up. I’ve never done that. If I’ve told stories that couldn’t be true, it’s because that’s how I remember them.

Here’s one.

Rated R. Contains profanity, nudity, and in flagrante delicto.

Audible.com Promotion!

Receive your free audiobook at: http://audiblepodcast.com/escapepod

Referenced Sites:

2008 Hugo Awards

Free Novels for Worldcon Members

 
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May 15, 2008 | 32 comments View Post
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EP157: A Small Room in Koboldtown

2008 Hugo Nominee!

By Michael Swanwick.
Read by Cheyenne Wright (of Arcane Times and Girl Genius).

First appeared in Asimov’s Science Fiction, April/May 2007.

That Winter, Will le Fey held down a job working for a haint politician named Salem Toussaint. Chiefly, his function was to run errands while looking conspicuously solid. He fetched tax forms for the alderman’s constituents, delivered stacks of documents to trollish functionaries, fixed L&I violations, presented boxes of candied John-the-Conqueror root to retiring secretaries, absent-mindedly dropped slim envelopes containing twenty-dollar bills on desks. When somebody important died, he brought a white goat to the back door of the Fane of Darkness to be sacrificed to the Nameless One. When somebody else’s son was drafted or went to prison, he hammered a nail in the nkisi nkonde that Toussaint kept in the office to ensure his safe return.

He canvassed voters in haint neighborhoods like Ginny Gall, Beluthahatchie, and Diddy-Wah-Diddy, where the bars were smoky, the music was good, and it was dangerous to smile at the whores. He negotiated the labyrinthine bureaucracies of City Hall. Not everything he did was strictly legal, but none of it was actually criminal. Salem Toussaint didn’t trust him enough for that.

Rated PG. Contains dark, seedy places and dark, seedy characters, only a few of them alive.

Today’s Sponsor:

Implied Spaces

Implied Spaces by Walter Jon Williams

 
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May 08, 2008 | 34 comments View Post
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EP156: Distant Replay

By Mike Resnick.
Read by Steve Anderson (of SGA Creative and Great Tales Live).
Discuss on our forums.
First appeared in Asimov’s Science Fiction, April/May 2007.
All stories by Mike Resnick.
All stories read by Steve Anderson.

“Let me show you,” I said, pulling out my wallet. I took my Deirdre’s photo out and handed it to her.

“It’s uncanny,” she said, studying the picture. “We even sort of wear our hair the same way. When was this taken?”

“Forty-seven years ago.”

“Is she dead?”

I nodded.

Rated PG. Contains mature themes and wistfulness.

Referenced Sites:

2008 Hugo Awards

“First of May” by Jonathan Coulton (Not work-safe)

 
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May 01, 2008 | 43 comments View Post