Archives for September 2008
EP177: Usurpers
Published on 27 Sep 2008 at 3:15 pm.
71 Comments.
Filed under Podcasts, Rated PG.
By Derek Zumsteg.
Read by Stephen Eley.
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King spots a knock-off cluster, glowing sunny in the rain, too fit, perfectly proportioned. Tear off some burnished bronze, never-burning skin. Shove it under a microscope, see the designer signature, Chinese characters like tattoos on the necks of college girls.
All ten ranked cross-country runners this season took family trips to China after school let out last year. When they’d returned and established dominance, King took the Asics guy up on his offer to join the experimental training program. Found himself running by himself, following daily instructions from an email address. King knows there’s a machine on the other end, some oracle in some data center chewing on his performance data full time. Responds only to email, immediately, all hours.
Rated R. Contains strong language, strong emotions, and moderate violence.
EP176: How The World Became Quiet: A Post-Human Creation Myth
Published on 20 Sep 2008 at 3:30 am.
43 Comments.
Filed under Podcasts, Rated PG.
Read ‘EP176: How The World Became Quiet: A Post-Human Creation Myth’
-->By Rachel Swirsky.
Read by Frank Key (of Hooting Yard).
Humans laid the foundation for the sixth apocalypse in much the same way they’d triggered the previous ones. Having recovered their ambition after the Apocalypse of Serotonin and rebuilt their populations after the Apocalypse of Grease, they once again embarked on their species’ long term goal to wreak as much havoc as possible on the environment through carelessness and boredom. This time, the trees protested. They devoured buildings, whipped wind into hurricanes between their branches, tangled men into their roots and devoured them as mulch. In retaliation, men chopped down trees, fire-bombed jungles, and released genetically engineered insects to devour tender shoots.
The pitched battle decimated civilians on both sides, but eventually — though infested and rootless — the trees overwhelmed their opposition. Mankind was forced to send its battered representatives to a sacred grove in the middle of the world’s oldest forest and beg for a treaty.
Rated PG. Contains war, invasion, exodus, mass extinction, religious revival, and a lot of mud.
Referenced Sites:
Resonance FM
Reality Break Podcast
EP175: Reparations
Published on 11 Sep 2008 at 4:10 pm.
50 Comments.
Filed under Podcasts, Rated PG.
By Merrie Haskell.
Read by Mary Robinette Kowal.
Audible.com Promotion!
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I just swab my arm and administer the cocktail, a booster for my radiation immunization. The taste of brass fills my mouth in seconds, and I know that the cocktail has flooded my system. With this stuff burbling inside, I can stare down three sieverts without blinking, or, more importantly, losing my immune system, teeth, hair, and intestines.
When I finish with my dose, I grab the skin on the newbie’s arm, swab her and shoot her up, too. “Ow!” She jumps and rubs her arm. I watch carefully to see her smack her lips at the taste. “You could’ve warned me.”
“No time,” I say, doctoring Ken and the others just as abruptly. We’re pressed, and they know it.
We’re all nice and anodized on the inside at 8:12. We’re waiting for 8:16, or thereabouts. There aren’t any atomic clocks in 1945, so all times are approximate, internally speaking. And from here on in, there’s no point speaking any other way.
Rated PG. Contains mass destruction and graphic descriptions of the wounded.
EP174: Private Detective Molly
Published on 6 Sep 2008 at 1:32 am.
37 Comments.
Filed under Podcasts, Rated PG.
Read ‘EP174: Private Detective Molly’
-->By A.B. Goelman.
Read by Anna Eley.
That’s when I see my new boss. Four feet of trouble. Brunette variety. Tear tracks cutting through the dirt on her face, wearing jeans that were already old when Molly Dolls were nothing more than molded plastic and fantasy homes.
She’s no idiot, though. “I want the Debutante persona,” she says. “You’re still not Debutante Molly are you?”
I like a girl who doesn’t need me to explain everything. “That’s right, kid,” I pull my blonde hair back into a pony tail and cover it with my fedora.
“Why do you keep coming out as a Petey persona?” Poor kid sounds like she’s about to cry. Don’t blame her for wanting Debutante Molly. Debbie’s the kind of girl who reminds me why God bothered with Adam’s rib in the first place. As wholesome and satisfying as a virgin daiquiri on a hot day. Everything I’m not. “Petey’s not even a girl’s name,” the kid says.
Rated PG. A somewhat dark kid’s story; contains parental tragedy and complex social issues.
