http://escapepod.org The Science Fiction Podcast Magazine. Each week Escape Pod delivers science fiction short stories from today's best authors. Listen today, and hear the new sound of science fiction! Fri, 25 May 2012 21:12:36 +0000 en hourly 1 2005-2012 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0 editor@escapepod.org (Mur Lafferty) editor@escapepod.org (Mur Lafferty) science fiction 1440 http://escapepod.org/wp-content/images/pod-org-icon300.jpg http://escapepod.org 144 144 The Science Fiction Podcast Magazine The Science Fiction Podcast Magazine. Each week Escape Pod delivers science fiction short stories from today's best authors. Listen today, and hear the new sound of science fiction! science fiction, sf, stories, audiobooks, storytelling, fiction, short fiction, short story Mur Lafferty Mur Lafferty editor@escapepod.org no no http://escapepod.org/2012/05/17/ep345-the-paper-menagerie/ http://escapepod.org/2012/05/17/ep345-the-paper-menagerie/#comments Thu, 17 May 2012 19:08:48 +0000 Mur Lafferty http://escapepod.org/?p=3372 http://escapepod.org/2012/05/17/ep345-the-paper-menagerie/feed/ 0 0:35:19 By Ken Liu Read by Rajan Khanna Discuss on our forums. Originally appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction All stories by Ken Liu All stories read by Rajan Khanna Rated 10 and up  The Paper Menagerie by Ken Liu One of my earliest m[...] By Ken Liu Read by Rajan Khanna Discuss on our forums. Originally appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction All stories by Ken Liu All stories read by Rajan Khanna Rated 10 and up  The Paper Menagerie by Ken Liu One of my earliest memories starts with me sobbing. I refused to be soothed no matter what Mom and Dad tried. Dad gave up and left the bedroom, but Mom took me into the kitchen and sat me down at the breakfast table. “Kan, kan,” she said, as she pulled a sheet of wrapping paper from on top of the fridge. For years, Mom carefully sliced open the wrappings around Christmas gifts and saved them on top of the fridge in a thick stack. She set the paper down, plain side facing up, and began to fold it. I stopped crying and watched her, curious. She turned the paper over and folded it again. She pleated, packed, tucked, rolled, and twisted until the paper disappeared between her cupped hands. Then she lifted the folded-up paper packet to her mouth and blew into it, like a balloon. “Kan,” she said. “Laohu.” She put her hands down on the table and let go. A little paper tiger stood on the table, the size of two fists placed together. The skin of the tiger was the pattern on the wrapping paper, white background with red candy canes and green Christmas trees. I reached out to Mom’s creation. Its tail twitched, and it pounced playfully at my finger. “Rawrr-sa,” it growled, the sound somewhere between a cat and rustling newspapers. I laughed, startled, and stroked its back with an index finger. The paper tiger vibrated under my finger, purring. “Zhe jiao zhezhi,” Mom said. This is called origami. I didn’t know this at the time, but Mom’s kind was special. She breathed into them so that they shared her breath, and thus moved with her life. This was her magic. # Dad had picked Mom out of a catalog. One time, when I was in high school, I asked Dad about the details. He was trying to get me to speak to Mom again. He had signed up for the introduction service back in the spring of 1973. Flipping through the pages steadily, he had spent no more than a few seconds on each page until he saw the picture of Mom. I’ve never seen this picture. Dad described it: Mom was sitting in a chair, her side to the camera, wearing a tight green silk cheongsam. Her head was turned to the camera so that her long black hair was draped artfully over her chest and shoulder. She looked out at him with the eyes of a calm child. “That was the last page of the catalog I saw,” he said. The catalog said she was eighteen, loved to dance, and spoke good English because she was from Hong Kong. None of these facts turned out to be true. He wrote to her, and the company passed their messages back and forth. Finally, he flew to Hong Kong to meet her. “The people at the company had been writing her responses. She didn’t know any English other than ‘hello’ and ‘goodbye.’” What kind of woman puts herself into a catalog so that she can be bought? The high school me thought I knew so much about everything. Contempt felt good, like wine. Instead of storming into the office to demand his money back, he paid a waitress at the hotel restaurant to translate for them. “She would look at me, her eyes halfway between scared and hopeful, while I spoke. And when the girl began translating what I said, she’d start to smile slowly.” He flew back to Connecticut and began to apply for the papers for her to come to him. I was born a year later, in the Year of the Tiger. # At my request, Mom also made a goat, a deer, and a water buffalo out of wrapping paper. They would run around the living room while Laohu chased after them, growling. When he caught them he would press down until the air went out of them and they became just flat, folded-up pieces of paper. I would then have to blow into them to re-inflate them so they could r[...] Podcasts Ken Liu no no http://escapepod.org/2012/05/03/ep343-the-cartographer-wasps-and-the-anarchist-bees/ http://escapepod.org/2012/05/03/ep343-the-cartographer-wasps-and-the-anarchist-bees/#comments Thu, 03 May 2012 10:00:54 +0000 Mur Lafferty http://escapepod.org/?p=3335 http://escapepod.org/2012/05/03/ep343-the-cartographer-wasps-and-the-anarchist-bees/feed/ 0 0:29:15 By E. Lily Yu Read by Mur Lafferty Discuss on our forums. Originally appeared in Clarkesworld All stories by E. Lily Yu All stories read by Mur Lafferty Rated 10 and up The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees By E. Lily Yu For longer than any[...] By E. Lily Yu Read by Mur Lafferty Discuss on our forums. Originally appeared in Clarkesworld All stories by E. Lily Yu All stories read by Mur Lafferty Rated 10 and up The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees By E. Lily Yu For longer than anyone could remember, the village of Yiwei had worn, in its orchards and under its eaves, clay-colored globes of paper that hissed and fizzed with wasps. The villagers maintained an uneasy peace with their neighbors for many years, exercising inimitable tact and circumspection. But it all ended the day a boy, digging in the riverbed, found a stone whose balance and weight pleased him. With this, he thought, he could hit a sparrow in flight. There were no sparrows to be seen, but a paper ball hung low and inviting nearby. He considered it for a moment, head cocked, then aimed and threw. Much later, after he had been plastered and soothed, his mother scalded the fallen nest until the wasps seething in the paper were dead. In this way it was discovered that the wasp nests of Yiwei, dipped in hot water, unfurled into beautifully accurate maps of provinces near and far, inked in vegetable pigments and labeled in careful Mandarin that could be distinguished beneath a microscope. The villagers’ subsequent incursions with bee veils and kettles of boiling water soon diminished the prosperous population to a handful. Commanded by a single stubborn foundress, the survivors folded a new nest in the shape of a paper boat, provisioned it with fallen apricots and squash blossoms, and launched themselves onto the river. Browsing cows and children fled the riverbanks as they drifted downstream, piping sea chanteys. At last, forty miles south from where they had begun, their craft snagged on an upthrust stick and sank. Only one drowned in the evacuation, weighed down with the remains of an apricot. They reconvened upon a stump and looked about themselves. “It’s a good place to land,” the foundress said in her sweet soprano, examining the first rough maps that the scouts brought back. There were plenty of caterpillars, oaks for ink galls, fruiting brambles, and no signs of other wasps. A colony of bees had hived in a split oak two miles away. “Once we are established we will, of course, send a delegation to collect tribute. “We will not make the same mistakes as before. Ours is a race of explorers and scientists, cartographers and philosophers, and to rest and grow slothful is to die. Once we are established here, we will expand.” It took two weeks to complete the nurseries with their paper mobiles, and then another month to reconstruct the Great Library and fill the pigeonholes with what the oldest cartographers could remember of their lost maps. Their comings and goings did not go unnoticed. An ambassador from the beehive arrived with an ultimatum and was promptly executed; her wings were made into stained-glass windows for the council chamber, and her stinger was returned to the hive in a paper envelope. The second ambassador came with altered attitude and a proposal to divide the bees’ kingdom evenly between the two governments, retaining pollen and water rights for the bees—”as an acknowledgment of the preexisting claims of a free people to the natural resources of a common territory,” she hummed. The wasps of the council were gracious and only divested the envoy of her sting. She survived just long enough to deliver her account to the hive. The third ambassador arrived with a ball of wax on the tip of her stinger and was better received. “You understand, we are not refugees applying for recognition of a token territorial sovereignty,” the foundress said, as attendants served them nectars in paper horns, “nor are we negotiating with you as equal states. Those were the assumptions of your late predecessors. They were mistaken.” “I trust I will do better,” the diplomat said stiffly. She was older than[...] Podcasts E. Lily Yu no no http://escapepod.org/2011/07/02/soundproof-9/ http://escapepod.org/2011/07/02/soundproof-9/#comments Sun, 03 Jul 2011 03:05:10 +0000 Bill Peters http://escapepod.org/?p=2391 http://escapepod.org/2011/07/02/soundproof-9/feed/ 0 0:00:01 Click here to download the ePub version. This month we’re bringing you short story and novella nominees for the Hugo awards, one of the two big Science Fiction and Fantasy awards alongside the Nebula. The Nebulas are awarded by members of the Scienc[...] Click here to download the ePub version. This month we’re bringing you short story and novella nominees for the Hugo awards, one of the two big Science Fiction and Fantasy awards alongside the Nebula. The Nebulas are awarded by members of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, and the Hugos by the attendees of Worldcon. The Nebula’s were awarded in May, and we’ll find out who wins the Hugos next month at Renovation in Reno, Nevada. It’s always been more than a bit amusing to me to see the inevitable ‘That got nominated? The [insert award name] is losing it’ comments cropping up on our forums and elsewhere. As if the Nebulas and Hugos are awarded by some wise men up on the crags, parsing the year’s crop of stories against the award’s prior canon. The nominations and awards come from a large swath of fandom or one’s fellow writers, and there’s always going to be elements of friendship, politics, fervent loyalty, and emotion in these endeavors. And yet, the nominating crowds for both pick stories that are good, and worth reading. You won’t like all of them, but you’ll like a lot of them, and that is really the best you can hope for. Fiction is not nearly so varied as fiction readers, and the point of these things is to make sure good stories get the biggest audience then can. Which is also the point of Soundproof. People write into us about having friends that can’t stand hearing stories, or who have a deaf spouse, or they just prefer to read. The point of Escape Pod is getting as many good stories out to as many ears and eyes (or fingers, if anyone’s feeding this into one of those Braille boxes) as possible, which is why we’ve worked hard to keep things free, taking advertising when we like the advertiser, and being ever thankful to those of you who donate. We couldn’t do it without you. (Which is why Dave Thompson and Wilson Fowlie have been working hard to bring those who donate the Alphabet Quartet as a thank you.) Hopefully one of the Hugo nominees in this issue will get the shiny, shiny rocket ship next month. They’re all worthy of it, even if they are [insert ghastly sub-genre]. –Bill E-pub, Podcasts, TheSoundproofEscapePod Mur Lafferty no no http://escapepod.org/2011/06/30/plus_or_minus/ http://escapepod.org/2011/06/30/plus_or_minus/#comments Thu, 30 Jun 2011 16:00:53 +0000 Mur Lafferty http://escapepod.org/?p=2386 http://escapepod.org/2011/06/30/plus_or_minus/feed/ 0 1:20:10 By James Patrick Kelly Read by: Christiana Ellis Originally appearing in Asimov’s Discuss on our forums. All stories by James Patrick Kelly All stories read by Christiana Ellis Nominated for the Hugo Award for Novelette, 2011 Rated appropriate[...] By James Patrick Kelly Read by: Christiana Ellis Originally appearing in Asimov’s Discuss on our forums. All stories by James Patrick Kelly All stories read by Christiana Ellis Nominated for the Hugo Award for Novelette, 2011 Rated appropriate for older teens and up for sexual situations and violence. Plus Or Minus By James Patrick Kelly Everything changed once Beep found out that Mariska’s mother was the famous Natalya Volochkova.   Mariska’s life aboard the Shining Legend went immediately from bad to awful.  Even before he singled her out, she had decided that there was no way she’d be spending the rest of her teen years crewing on an asteroid bucket.  Once Beep started persecuting her, she began counting down the remaining days of the run as if she were a prisoner.  She tried explaining that she had no use for Natalya Volochkova, who had never been much of a mother to her, but Beep wouldn’t hear it.  He didn’t care that Mariska had only signed on to the Shining Legend to get back at her mother for ruining her life. Somehow that hadn’t worked out quite the way she had planned. For example, there was crud duty.  With a twisting push Mariska sailed into the command module, caught herself on a handrail, and launched toward the starboard wall.  The racks of  instrument screens chirped and beeped and buzzed; command was one of the loudest mods on the ship.  She stuck her landing in front of navigation rack and her slippers caught on the deck burrs, anchoring her in the ship’s  .0006 gravity.   Sure enough, she could see new smears of mold growing from the crack where the nav screen fit into the wall.  This was Beep’s fault, although he would never admit it.  He kept the humidity jacked up in Command, said that dry air gave him nosebleeds.  Richard FiveFord claimed they came from all the drugs Beep sniffed but Mariska didn’t want to believe that.  Also Beep liked to sip his coffee from a cup instead sucking it out of a bag, even though he slopped all the time.  Fungi loved the sugary spatters.  She sniffed one particularly vile looking smear of mold.  It smelled faintly like the worms she used to grow back home on the Moon.  She wiped her nose with the sleeve of her jersey and reached to the holster on her belt for her sponge. As she scrubbed, the bitter vinegar tang of disinfectant gel filled the mod.  Not for the first time, she told herself that this job stunk. She felt the tingle of Richard FiveFord offering a mindfeed and opened her head.  =What?= His feed made a pleasant fizz behind her eyes, distracting her. =You done any time soon?=  Distraction was Richard’s specialty =No.= =Didit is making a dream for us.= She slapped her sponge at the wall in frustration.  =This sucks.=  Mariska couldn’t remember the last time Didit or Richard FiveFord had pulled crud duty. =Should we wait for you?= =If you want.=  But she knew they wouldn’t. =Might be another hour.= “You’re working, Volochkova.” Beep’s voice crackled over the loudspeaker.  One of his quirks was snooping their private feeds and then yelling at them over the ship’s com. “Yes, sir,” she said.  Beep liked to be called sir.  It made him feel like the captain of the Shining Legend instead of senior monkey of its maintenance crew. “She’s working, FiveFord.  Leave our sweet young thing alone.” She felt Richard’s feed pop like a bubble.  He was more afraid of Beep than she was even though the old crank hardly ever bullied Richard.  Mariska hated being called sweet young thing.  She wasn’t sweet and she wasn’t all that young.  She was already fifteen in conscious years, eighteen if you counted the time she had hibernated. When Mariska finished wiping the wall down, she paused at the navigation rack.  She let her gaze blur until all she saw was meaningless shimmer of green and blue light.  Not that she understood the rack much better once she focused again.  She had been job shadowing Beep for 410 million kilometers and eleven months now.  They had travelled all the w[...] Best-Of, Podcasts James Patrick Kelly no no http://escapepod.org/2011/06/29/ep296-for-want-of-a-nail/ http://escapepod.org/2011/06/29/ep296-for-want-of-a-nail/#comments Wed, 29 Jun 2011 12:09:38 +0000 Mur Lafferty http://escapepod.org/?p=2297 http://escapepod.org/2011/06/29/ep296-for-want-of-a-nail/feed/ 0 0:51:25 By Mary Robinette Kowal Read by: Mur Lafferty Originally appearing in Asimov’s Discuss on our forums. All stories by Mary Robinette Kowal All stories read by Mur Lafferty Nominated for the Hugo Award for Short Story, 2011 Rated appropriate for[...] By Mary Robinette Kowal Read by: Mur Lafferty Originally appearing in Asimov’s Discuss on our forums. All stories by Mary Robinette Kowal All stories read by Mur Lafferty Nominated for the Hugo Award for Short Story, 2011 Rated appropriate for teens and up for language. For Want of a Nail By Mary Robinette Kowal With one hand, Rava adjusted the VR interface glasses where they bit into the bridge of her nose, while she kept her other hand buried in Cordelia’s innards. There was scant room to get the flexible shaft of a mono-lens and her hand through the access hatch in the AI’s chassis. From the next compartment, drums and laughter bled through the plastic walls of the ship, indicating her sister’s conception party was still in full swing. With only a single camera attached, the interface glasses didn’t give Rava depth perception as she struggled to replug the transmitter cable. The chassis had not been designed to need repair. At all. It had been designed to last hundreds of years without an upgrade. If Rava couldn’t get the cable plugged in and working, Cordelia wouldn’t be able to download backups of herself to her long-term memory. She couldn’t store more than a week at a time in active memory. It would be the same as a slow death sentence. The square head of the cable slipped out of Rava’s fingers. Again. “Dammit!” She slammed her heel against the ship’s floor in frustration. “If you can’t do it, let someone else try.” Her older brother, Ludoviko, had insisted on following her out of the party as if he could help. “You know, this would go a lot faster if you weren’t breathing down my neck.” “You know, you wouldn’t be doing this at all if you hadn’t dropped her.” Rava resisted the urge to pull the mono-lens out of the jack in her glasses and glare at him. He might have gotten better marks in school, but she was the AI’s wrangler. “Why don’t you go back to the party and see if you can learn something about fertility?” She lifted the cable head and tried one more time. “Why, you little—” Rage choked his voice, more than she had expected from a random slam. She made a guess that his appeal to the repro-council didn’t go well. Cordelia’s voice cut in, stopping what he was going to say. “It’s not Rava’s fault. I did ask her to pick me up.” “Yeah.” Rava focused on the cable, trying to get it aligned. “Right.” Ludoviko snorted. “And then you dropped yourself.” Cordelia sighed and Rava could almost imagine breath tickling her skin. “If you’re going to blame anyone, blame Branson Conchord for running into her.” Rava didn’t bother answering. They’d been having the same conversation for the last hour and Cordelia should know darn well what Ludoviko’s answer would be. Like programming, he said, “It was irresponsible. She should have said no. The room was full of intoxicated, rowdy people and you are too valuable an asset.” Rava rested her head against the smooth wood side of the AI’s chassis and closed her eyes, ignoring her brother and the flat picture in her goggles. Her fingers rolled the slick plastic head of the cable, building a picture in her mind of the white square and the flat gold cord stretching from it. She slid the cable forward until it jarred against the socket. Rotating the head, Rava focused all her attention on the tiny clues of friction vibrating up her arm. This was a simple, comprehensible problem. She didn’t want to think about what would happen if she couldn’t repair the damage. Being unable to download her old memories meant Cordelia would have to delete herself bit by bit to keep functioning. All because Rava had asked if she wanted to dance. At least Ludoviko hadn’t heard that part of the accident. Rava rotated the head a fraction more and felt that sweet moment of alignment. As she pushed the head forward, the pins slid into their sockets, as if they were taunting her with the ease of the connection. The head thunked into place. “Oh, yes. That’s good.” She opened her eyes to the gorgeous vision o[...] Podcasts Mary Robinette Kowal no no http://escapepod.org/2011/06/23/ep298-the-things/ http://escapepod.org/2011/06/23/ep298-the-things/#comments Fri, 24 Jun 2011 02:21:46 +0000 Mur Lafferty http://escapepod.org/?p=2367 http://escapepod.org/2011/06/23/ep298-the-things/feed/ 0 0:56:11 By Peter Watts Read by: Kate Baker (Thanks to Kate and Clarkesworld for the audio!) Originally appearing in Clarkesworld Discuss on our forums. All stories by Peter Watts All stories read by Kate Baker Nominated for the Hugo Award for Short Story, 2[...] By Peter Watts Read by: Kate Baker (Thanks to Kate and Clarkesworld for the audio!) Originally appearing in Clarkesworld Discuss on our forums. All stories by Peter Watts All stories read by Kate Baker Nominated for the Hugo Award for Short Story, 2011 Rated appropriate for older teens and up for language and disturbing imagery. The Things By Peter Watts I am being Blair. I escape out the back as the world comes in through the front. I am being Copper. I am rising from the dead. I am being Childs. I am guarding the main entrance. The names don’t matter. They are placeholders, nothing more; all biomass is interchangeable. What matters is that these are all that is left of me. The world has burned everything else. I see myself through the window, loping through the storm, wearing Blair.  MacReady has told me to burn Blair if he comes back alone, but MacReady still thinks I am one of him. I am not: I am being Blair, and I am at the door. I am being Childs, and I let myself in. I take brief communion, tendrils writhing forth from my faces, intertwining: I am BlairChilds, exchanging news of the world. The world has found me out. It has discovered my burrow beneath the tool shed, the half-finished lifeboat cannibalized from the viscera of dead helicopters. The world is busy destroying my means of escape. Then it will come back for me. There is only one option left. I disintegrate. Being Blair, I go to share the plan with Copper and to feed on the rotting biomass once called Clarke ; so many changes in so short a time have dangerously depleted my reserves. Being Childs, I have already consumed what was left of Fuchs and am replenished for the next phase.  I sling the flamethrower onto my back and head outside, into the long Antarctic night. I will go into the storm, and never come back. # I was so much more, before the crash. I was an explorer, an ambassador, a missionary. I spread across the cosmos, met countless worlds, took communion: the fit reshaped the unfit and the whole universe bootstrapped upwards in joyful, infinitesimal increments. I was a soldier, at war with entropy itself. I was the very hand by which Creation perfects itself. So much wisdom I had. So much experience. Now I cannot remember all the things I knew. I can only remember that I once knew them. I remember the crash, though. It killed most of this offshoot outright, but a little crawled from the wreckage: a few trillion cells, a soul too weak to keep them in check. Mutinous biomass sloughed off despite my most desperate attempts to hold myself together: panic-stricken little clots of meat, instinctively growing whatever limbs they could remember and fleeing across the burning ice. By the time I’d regained control of what was left the fires had died and the cold was closing back in. I barely managed to grow enough antifreeze to keep my cells from bursting before the ice took me. I remember my reawakening, too: dull stirrings of sensation in real time, the first embers of cognition, the slow blooming warmth of awareness as body and soul embraced after their long sleep. I remember the biped offshoots surrounding me, the strange chittering sounds they made, the odd uniformity of their body plans. How ill-adapted they looked! How inefficient their morphology! Even disabled, I could see so many things to fix. So I reached out. I took communion. I tasted the flesh of the world— —and the world attacked me. It attacked me. I left that place in ruins. It was on the other side of the mountains—the Norwegian camp , it is called here—and I could never have crossed that distance in a biped skin. Fortunately there was another shape to choose from, smaller than the biped but better adapted to the local climate. I hid within it while the rest of me fought off the attack. I fled into the night on four legs, and let the rising flames cover my escape. I did not stop running until I arrived here. I walked among these new offshoots wearing the skin of a qua[...] Podcasts Peter Watts no no http://escapepod.org/2011/06/16/ep297-amaryllis/ http://escapepod.org/2011/06/16/ep297-amaryllis/#comments Fri, 17 Jun 2011 00:42:46 +0000 Mur Lafferty http://escapepod.org/?p=2327 http://escapepod.org/2011/06/16/ep297-amaryllis/feed/ 0 0:47:21 By Carrie Vaughn Read by: Gabrielle De Cuir Originally appearing in Lightspeed Discuss on our forums. All stories by Carrie Vaughn All stories read by Gabrielle De Cuir Nominated for the Hugo Award for Short Story, 2011 Rated appropriate for all you[...] By Carrie Vaughn Read by: Gabrielle De Cuir Originally appearing in Lightspeed Discuss on our forums. All stories by Carrie Vaughn All stories read by Gabrielle De Cuir Nominated for the Hugo Award for Short Story, 2011 Rated appropriate for all young teens and up for reproductive concerns. Amaryllis By Carrie Vaughn I never knew my mother, and I never understood why she did what she did. I ought to be grateful that she was crazy enough to cut out her implant so she could get pregnant. But it also meant she was crazy enough to hide the pregnancy until termination wasn’t an option, knowing the whole time that she’d never get to keep the baby. That she’d lose everything. That her household would lose everything because of her. I never understood how she couldn’t care. I wondered what her family thought when they learned what she’d done, when their committee split up the household, scattered them—broke them, because of her. Did she think I was worth it? # It was all about quotas. “They’re using cages up north, I heard. Off shore, anchored,” Nina said. “Fifty feet across—twice as much protein grown with half the resources, and we’d never have to touch the wild population again. We could double our quota.” I hadn’t really been listening to her. We were resting, just for a moment; she sat with me on the railing at the prow of Amaryllis and talked about her big plans. Wind pulled the sails taut and the fiberglass hull cut through waves without a sound, we sailed so smooth. Garrett and Sun hauled up the nets behind us, dragging in the catch. Amaryllis was elegant, a 30-foot sleek vessel with just enough cabin and cargo space—an antique but more than seaworthy. She was a good boat, with a good crew. The best. “Marie—” Nina said, pleading. I sighed and woke up. “We’ve been over this. We can’t just double our quota.” “But if we got authorization—” “Don’t you think we’re doing all right as it is?” We had a good crew—we were well fed and not exceeding our quotas; I thought we’d be best off not screwing all that up. Not making waves, so to speak. Nina’s big brown eyes filled with tears—I’d said the wrong thing, because I knew what she was really after, and the status quo wasn’t it. “That’s just it,” she said. “We’ve met our quotas and kept everyone healthy for years now. I really think we should try. We can at least ask, can’t we?” The truth was: No, I wasn’t sure we deserved it. I wasn’t sure that kind of responsibility would be worth it. I didn’t want the prestige. Nina didn’t even want the prestige—she just wanted the baby. “It’s out of our hands at any rate,” I said, looking away because I couldn’t bear the intensity of her expression. Pushing herself off the rail, Nina stomped down Amaryllis’ port side to join the rest of the crew hauling in the catch. She wasn’t old enough to want a baby. She was lithe, fit, and golden, running barefoot on the deck, sun-bleached streaks gleaming in her brown hair. Actually, no, she was old enough. She’d been with the house for seven years—she was twenty, now. It hadn’t seemed so long. “Whoa!” Sun called. There was a splash and a thud as something in the net kicked against the hull. He leaned over the side, the muscles along his broad, coppery back flexing as he clung to a net that was about to slide back into the water. Nina, petite next to his strong frame, reached with him. I ran down and grabbed them by the waistbands of their trousers to hold them steady. The fourth of our crew, Garrett, latched a boat hook into the net. Together we hauled the catch onto the deck. We’d caught something big, heavy, and full of powerful muscles. We had a couple of aggregators—large buoys made of scrap steel and wood—anchored fifty miles or so off the coast. Schooling fish were attracted to the aggregators, and we found the fish—mainly mackerel, sardines, sablefish, and whiting. An occasional shark or marlin found its way into the nets, but those we let go; they were rare and outside our quotas. That was what I[...] Podcasts Carrie Vaughn no no http://escapepod.org/2010/07/22/ep250-eros-philia-agape/ http://escapepod.org/2010/07/22/ep250-eros-philia-agape/#comments Thu, 22 Jul 2010 14:52:01 +0000 Mur Lafferty http://escapepod.org/?p=820 http://escapepod.org/2010/07/22/ep250-eros-philia-agape/feed/ 0 1:15:44 By Rachel Swirsky Discuss on our forums. Originally published in: Tor.com All stories by Rachel Swirsky All stories read by Mur Lafferty The objects belonged to them both, but Adriana waved her hand bitterly when Lucian began packing. “Take whatever[...] By Rachel Swirsky Discuss on our forums. Originally published in: Tor.com All stories by Rachel Swirsky All stories read by Mur Lafferty The objects belonged to them both, but Adriana waved her hand bitterly when Lucian began packing. “Take whatever you want,” she said, snapping her book shut. She waited by the door, watching Lucian with sad and angry eyes. Their daughter, Rose, followed Lucian around the house. “Are you going to take that, Daddy? Do you want that?” Wordlessly, Lucian held her hand. He guided her up the stairs and across the uneven floorboards where she sometimes tripped. Rose stopped by the picture window in the master bedroom, staring past the palm fronds and swimming pools, out to the vivid cerulean swath of the ocean. Lucian relished the hot, tender feel of Rose’s hand. I love you, he would have whispered, but he’d surrendered the ability to speak. Rated PG for marital strife and implied child abuse. Show Notes: This is a long one, we’re bringing occasional novelettes to Escape Pod now, and what better to launch the effort than a Hugo nominee? Next week… Escape Pod looks at an alternate history with alternate aliens. Podcasts Rachel Swirsky no no http://escapepod.org/2010/07/08/ep248-spar/ http://escapepod.org/2010/07/08/ep248-spar/#comments Thu, 08 Jul 2010 04:01:40 +0000 Mur Lafferty http://escapepod.org/?p=672 http://escapepod.org/2010/07/08/ep248-spar/feed/ 0 0:22:59 By Kij Johnson. Read by: Kate Baker of Clarkesworld Magazine. Discuss on our forums. Originally published in: Clarkesworld — Download and read the text. All stories by Kij Johnson. All stories read by Kate Baker. The alien is not humanoid. It [...] By Kij Johnson. Read by: Kate Baker of Clarkesworld Magazine. Discuss on our forums. Originally published in: Clarkesworld — Download and read the text. All stories by Kij Johnson. All stories read by Kate Baker. The alien is not humanoid. It is not bipedal. It has cilia. It has no bones, or perhaps it does and she cannot feel them. Its muscles, or what might be muscles, are rings and not strands. Its skin is the color of dusk and covered with a clear thin slime that tastes of snot. It makes no sounds. She thinks it smells like wet leaves in winter, but after a time she cannot remember that smell, or leaves, or winter. Its Ins and Outs change. There are dark slashes and permanent knobs that sometimes distend, but it is always growing new Outs, hollowing new Ins. It cleaves easily in both senses. It penetrates her a thousand ways. She penetrates it, as well. Rated X – Graphic language and sexual situations. Not for kids. Seriously. Show Notes: This particular story and narration were originally recorded by Kate Baker for Clarkesworld Magazine, and is used here with their expressed permission. Thanks very much to Baker and Clarkesworld. The Escape Pod Flash Contest is over! now check out the judging! Editor’s note: Thanks so much to Dave Thompson and Peter Wood for taking on this project of securing all five Hugo stories during the hiatus of Escape Pod. Most of the work was done before I joined, and this wouldn’t have happened without them stepping up. Next week… We’re back to our regularly scheduled programming with a story from Heather Shaw! Podcasts Kij Johnson no no http://escapepod.org/2010/07/01/ep247-bridesicle/ http://escapepod.org/2010/07/01/ep247-bridesicle/#comments Thu, 01 Jul 2010 04:01:50 +0000 Mur Lafferty http://escapepod.org/?p=668 http://escapepod.org/2010/07/01/ep247-bridesicle/feed/ 0 0:52:22 By Will McIntosh Read by: Amy H. Sturgis of StarShipSofa Discuss on our forums. Originally published in: Asimov’s — Download and read the text Guest Host: Ben Phillips of Pseudopod All stories by Will McIntosh All stories read by Amy H. [...] By Will McIntosh Read by: Amy H. Sturgis of StarShipSofa Discuss on our forums. Originally published in: Asimov’s — Download and read the text Guest Host: Ben Phillips of Pseudopod All stories by Will McIntosh All stories read by Amy H. Sturgis “Aw, I know you’re awake by now. Come on, sleeping beauty. Talk to me.” The last was a whisper, a lover’s words, and Mira felt that she had to come awake and open her eyes. She tried to sigh, but no breath came. Her eyes flew open in alarm. An old man was leaning over her, smiling, but Mira barely saw him, because when she opened her mouth to inhale, her jaw squealed like a sea bird’s cry, and no breath came, and she wanted to press her hands to the sides of her face, but her hands wouldn’t come either. Nothing would move except her face. Rated PG Show Notes: Starship Sofa is the first podcast ever to be nominated for a Hugo award, in the “Best Fanzine” category. If you’re eligible to vote in the Hugos, you have less than a month left to put in your vote! Please consider Starship Sofa – it’s a fantastic show on its own merit, and it’s a HUGE credibility booster for all podcasts if it wins! The Escape Pod Flash Contest ends soon! It runs June 1- July 4, stories must be under 500 words. More information at the link. Editor’s note: Thanks so much to Dave Thompson and Peter Wood for taking on this project of securing all five Hugo stories during the hiatus of Escape Pod. Most of the work was done before I joined, and this wouldn’t have happened without them stepping up. Next week… Our final Hugo-nominated story! Podcasts Will McIntosh no no http://escapepod.org/2010/06/24/ep246-bride-of-frankenstein/ http://escapepod.org/2010/06/24/ep246-bride-of-frankenstein/#comments Thu, 24 Jun 2010 04:01:26 +0000 Mur Lafferty http://escapepod.org/?p=659 http://escapepod.org/2010/06/24/ep246-bride-of-frankenstein/feed/ 0 0:38:40 By Mike Resnick Read by: Julie Davis of the Forgotten Classics podcast Discuss on our forums. Originally published in: Asimov’s — Download and read the text Guest Host: Alasdair Stuart of Pseudopod All stories by Mike Resnick All stories[...] By Mike Resnick Read by: Julie Davis of the Forgotten Classics podcast Discuss on our forums. Originally published in: Asimov’s — Download and read the text Guest Host: Alasdair Stuart of Pseudopod All stories by Mike Resnick All stories read by Julie Davis Victor can be so annoying. He constantly whistles this tuneless song, and when I complain he apologizes and then starts humming it instead. He never stands up to that ill-mannered little hunchback that he’s always sending out on errands. And he’s a coward. He can never just come to me and say “I need money again.” Oh, no, not Victor. Instead he sends that ugly little toady who’s rude to me and always smells like he hasn’t washed. And when I ask what the money’s for this time, he tells me to ask Victor, and Victor just mumbles and stammers and never gets around to answering. Rated PG: for spousal annoyances Show Notes: The Escape Pod Flash Contest ends soon! It runs June 1- July 4, stories must be under 500 words. More information at the link. Editor’s note: Thanks so much to Dave Thompson and Peter Wood for taking on this project of securing all five Hugo stories during the hiatus of Escape Pod. Most of the work was done before I joined, and this wouldn’t have happened without them stepping up. Next week… Another Hugo-nominated story! Podcasts Mike Resnick no no http://escapepod.org/2010/06/17/ep245-the-moment/ http://escapepod.org/2010/06/17/ep245-the-moment/#comments Thu, 17 Jun 2010 04:01:21 +0000 Mur Lafferty http://escapepod.org/?p=642 http://escapepod.org/2010/06/17/ep245-the-moment/feed/ 0 0:00:01 By Lawrence M. Schoen Read by: Graeme Dunlop Discuss on our forums. Originally published in: Footprints Guest Host: Norm Sherman of Drabblecast All stories by Lawrence M. Schoen All stories read by Graeme Dunlop One of the first generation of Krenn [...] By Lawrence M. Schoen Read by: Graeme Dunlop Discuss on our forums. Originally published in: Footprints Guest Host: Norm Sherman of Drabblecast All stories by Lawrence M. Schoen All stories read by Graeme Dunlop One of the first generation of Krenn had lived long enough to reach the site, though none had expected to. The very first Krenn had conceived of this journey in the distant past, dedicating his life and his posterity to the pilgrimage with an ever recycling population of clones. Like their clone-father, each was an optimized collection of smart matter no bigger than a speck. Hundreds of generations of Krenn had lived and died during the voyage, their remains enshrined into niches in the very walls of the vessel that now lay shattered at its destination. The survivors flooded out upon the steppes of the heel, rejoicing despite the crushing weight that gravity forced upon them. They settled in, constructing mansions of haze and shadow, and waited for enlightenment to come. The mission and purpose of the first Krenn remained with each of them. This place had been the site of the greatest triumph of the greatest archaeocaster in all of history. Before the beginning of the quest, Krenn—the original Krenn—had felt drawn to it. He had cultivated the tales, sifted myth from coincidence, mastered the lost language of the interview-eschewing, spatial curmudgeons of the ancient dark times, and recreated the route through dimensional puzzles to this theoretical location. The odds of success had been so absurd not a single entelechy of Krenn’s crèche dared invest time or expense in the project. And yet, here they were, nearly three hundred unique individuals sharing the template of Krenn. Rated PG: for Space Exploration and Looking into the Abyss Show Notes: Enter the Escape Pod Flash Contest! It runs June 1- July 4, stories must be under 500 words. More information at the link. Editor’s note: Thanks so much to Dave Thompson and Peter Wood for taking on this project of securing all five Hugo stories during the hiatus of Escape Pod. Most of the work was done before I joined, and this wouldn’t have happened without them stepping up. Next week… Another Hugo-nominated story! Podcasts Lawrence M. Schoen no no http://escapepod.org/2010/06/10/ep244-non-zero-probabilities/ http://escapepod.org/2010/06/10/ep244-non-zero-probabilities/#comments Thu, 10 Jun 2010 05:01:33 +0000 Mur Lafferty http://escapepod.org/?p=640 http://escapepod.org/2010/06/10/ep244-non-zero-probabilities/feed/ 0 0:00:01 By N.K. Jemisin Originally recorded by Kate Baker for Clarkesworld Magazine, and is used here with their expressed permission. Discuss on our forums. Guest Host: Dave Thompson of Podcastle All stories by N.K. Jemisin All stories read by Kate Baker H[...] By N.K. Jemisin Originally recorded by Kate Baker for Clarkesworld Magazine, and is used here with their expressed permission. Discuss on our forums. Guest Host: Dave Thompson of Podcastle All stories by N.K. Jemisin All stories read by Kate Baker Her neighbor — the other one, across the hall — helped her figure it out, long before the math geeks finished crunching their numbers. “Watch,” he’d said, and laid a deck of cards facedown on her coffee table. (There was coffee in the cups, with a generous dollop of Bailey’s. He was a nice-enough guy that Adele felt comfortable offering this.) He shuffled it with the blurring speed of an expert, cut the deck, shuffled again, then picked up the whole deck and spread it, still facedown. “Pick a card.” Adele picked. The Joker. “Only two of those in the deck,” he said, then shuffled and spread again. “Pick another.” She did, and got the other Joker. “Coincidence,” she said. (This had been months ago, when she was still skeptical.) Rated R: for Lucky Streaks and Getting Lucky. Show Notes: Enter the Escape Pod Flash Contest! It runs June 1- July 4, stories must be under 500 words. More information at the link. Editor’s note: Thanks so much to Dave Thompson and Peter Wood for taking on this project of securing all five Hugo stories during the hiatus of Escape Pod. Most of the work was done before I joined, and this wouldn’t have happened without them stepping up. Next week… Another Hugo-nominated story! Featured, Podcasts N.K. Jemisin no no http://escapepod.org/2009/04/30/episode-197-from-babels-falln-glory-we-fled/ http://escapepod.org/2009/04/30/episode-197-from-babels-falln-glory-we-fled/#comments Thu, 30 Apr 2009 19:59:54 +0000 JeremyT http://escapepod.org/?p=365 http://escapepod.org/2009/04/30/episode-197-from-babels-falln-glory-we-fled/feed/ 30 0:59:00 By Michael Swanwick Read by Sarah Tolbert First appeared in Asimov’s Feb 2008 Imagine a cross between Byzantium and a termite mound. Imagine a jeweled mountain, slender as an icicle, rising out of the steam jungles and disappearing into the [...] By Michael Swanwick Read by Sarah Tolbert First appeared in Asimov’s Feb 2008 Imagine a cross between Byzantium and a termite mound. Imagine a jeweled mountain, slender as an icicle, rising out of the steam jungles and disappearing into the dazzling pearl-grey skies of Gehenna. Imagine that Gaudí—he of the Segrada Familia and other biomorphic architectural whimsies—had been commissioned by a nightmare race of giant black millipedes to recreate Barcelona at the height of its glory, along with touches of the Forbidden City in the eighteenth century and Tokyo in the twenty-second, all within a single miles-high structure. Hold every bit of that in your mind at once, multiply by a thousand, and you’ve got only the faintest ghost of a notion of the splendor that was Babel. Now imagine being inside Babel when it fell. Rated PG. Contains the destruction of cities, a lack of trust, and sentient suits. Flash, Podcasts Mur Lafferty no no http://escapepod.org/2009/04/23/ep196-evil-robot-monkey/ http://escapepod.org/2009/04/23/ep196-evil-robot-monkey/#comments Thu, 23 Apr 2009 12:42:21 +0000 JeremyT http://escapepod.org/?p=364 http://escapepod.org/2009/04/23/ep196-evil-robot-monkey/feed/ 17 0:20:10 By Mary Robinette Kowal Read by Stephen Eley First appeared in the Solaris Book of New Science Fiction, vol. 2 edited by George Mann. Special closing monkey music by George Hrab Sliding his hands over the clay, Sly relished the moisture oozing aroun[...] By Mary Robinette Kowal Read by Stephen Eley First appeared in the Solaris Book of New Science Fiction, vol. 2 edited by George Mann. Special closing monkey music by George Hrab Sliding his hands over the clay, Sly relished the moisture oozing around his fingers. The clay matted down the hair on the back of his hands making them look almost human. He turned the potter’s wheel with his prehensile feet as he shaped the vase. Pinching the clay between his fingers he lifted the wall of the vase, spinning it higher. Someone banged on the window of his pen. Sly jumped and then screamed as the vase collapsed under its own weight. He spun and hurled it at the picture window like feces. The clay spattered against the Plexiglas, sliding down the window. Rated PG. Contains one angry chimp with a potty mouth. Sort of. Podcasts Mary Robinette Kowal no no http://escapepod.org/2009/04/18/ep195-26-monkeys-also-the-abyss/ http://escapepod.org/2009/04/18/ep195-26-monkeys-also-the-abyss/#comments Sat, 18 Apr 2009 18:30:24 +0000 SFEley http://escapepod.org/?p=363 http://escapepod.org/2009/04/18/ep195-26-monkeys-also-the-abyss/feed/ 23 0:32:40 By Kij Johnson. Read by Diane Severson (of The Diva’s Divine Days). Discuss on our forums. First appeared in Asimov’s Science Fiction, July 2008. All stories by Kij Johnson. All stories read by Diane Severson. Narration first appeared at[...] By Kij Johnson. Read by Diane Severson (of The Diva’s Divine Days). Discuss on our forums. First appeared in Asimov’s Science Fiction, July 2008. All stories by Kij Johnson. All stories read by Diane Severson. Narration first appeared at and produced by Starship Sofa. Special thanks to Tony Smith and Diane Severson for their kind permission to resyndicate this award nominee. She sets a stepladder next to it. She claps her hands and the 26 monkeys onstage run up the ladder one after the other and jump into the bathtub. The bathtub shakes as each monkey thuds in among the others. The audience can see heads, legs, tails; but eventually every monkey settles and the bathtub is still again. Zeb is always the last monkey up the ladder. As he climbs into the bathtub, he makes a humming boom deep in his chest. It fills the stage. And then there’s a flash of light, two of the chains fall off, and the bathtub swings down to expose its interior. Empty. Rated PG. Contains 26 monkeys. Also, the abyss. Podcasts Kij Johnson no no http://escapepod.org/2009/04/10/ep194-exhalation/ http://escapepod.org/2009/04/10/ep194-exhalation/#comments Fri, 10 Apr 2009 05:00:49 +0000 SFEley http://escapepod.org/?p=362 http://escapepod.org/2009/04/10/ep194-exhalation/feed/ 51 0:51:24 2009 Hugo Nominee! By Ted Chiang. Read by Ray Sizemore (of X-Ray Visions). First appeared in Eclipse 2, ed. Jonathan Strahan. Narration first appeared at and produced by Starship Sofa. Special thanks to Tony Smith and Ray Sizemore for their kind per[...] 2009 Hugo Nominee! By Ted Chiang. Read by Ray Sizemore (of X-Ray Visions). First appeared in Eclipse 2, ed. Jonathan Strahan. Narration first appeared at and produced by Starship Sofa. Special thanks to Tony Smith and Ray Sizemore for their kind permission to resyndicate this award nominee. Audible.com Promotion! Get your free audiobook at: http://audiblepodcast.com/escapepod But in the normal course of life, our need for air is far from our thoughts, and indeed many would say that satisfying that need is the least important part of going to the filling stations. For the filling stations are the primary venue for social conversation, the places from which we draw emotional sustenance as well as physical. We all keep spare sets of full lungs in our homes, but when one is alone, the act of opening one’s chest and replacing one’s lungs can seem little better than a chore. In the company of others, however, it becomes a communal activity, a shared pleasure. Rated PG. Contains entropy, eschatology, and empirical evisceration. Best-Of, Podcasts Mur Lafferty no no http://escapepod.org/2009/04/02/ep193-article-of-faith/ http://escapepod.org/2009/04/02/ep193-article-of-faith/#comments Fri, 03 Apr 2009 02:30:36 +0000 SFEley http://escapepod.org/?p=351 http://escapepod.org/2009/04/02/ep193-article-of-faith/feed/ 39 0:41:40 By Mike Resnick. Read by Stephen Eley. Discuss on our forums. First appeared in Baen’s Universe, October 2008. All stories by Mike Resnick. All stories read by Stephen Eley. “I’m sure,” I said. “Somehow, lunch seems pre[...] By Mike Resnick. Read by Stephen Eley. Discuss on our forums. First appeared in Baen’s Universe, October 2008. All stories by Mike Resnick. All stories read by Stephen Eley. “I’m sure,” I said. “Somehow, lunch seems pretty trivial after you’ve been thinking about God all morning.” “God, sir?” “The Creator of all things,” I explained. “My creator is Stanley Kalinovsky, sir,” said Jackson. “I was not aware that he created everything in the world, nor that his preferred name was God.” I couldn’t repress a smile. Rated PG. Contains religious themes and some violence. Podcasts Mike Resnick no no http://escapepod.org/2008/05/15/ep158-whos-afraid-of-wolf-359/ http://escapepod.org/2008/05/15/ep158-whos-afraid-of-wolf-359/#comments Fri, 16 May 2008 01:15:11 +0000 SFEley http://escapepod.org/?p=282 http://escapepod.org/2008/05/15/ep158-whos-afraid-of-wolf-359/feed/ 32 0:40:17 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 [...] 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 Podcasts Mur Lafferty no no http://escapepod.org/2008/05/08/ep157-a-small-room-in-koboldtown/ http://escapepod.org/2008/05/08/ep157-a-small-room-in-koboldtown/#comments Fri, 09 May 2008 03:58:39 +0000 SFEley http://escapepod.org/?p=280 http://escapepod.org/2008/05/08/ep157-a-small-room-in-koboldtown/feed/ 34 0:35:20 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 [...] 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 by Walter Jon Williams Podcasts Michael Swanwick no no http://escapepod.org/2008/05/01/ep156-distant-replay/ http://escapepod.org/2008/05/01/ep156-distant-replay/#comments Fri, 02 May 2008 03:59:39 +0000 SFEley http://escapepod.org/2008/05/01/ep156-distant-replay/ http://escapepod.org/2008/05/01/ep156-distant-replay/feed/ 43 0:35:00 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 s[...] 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) Podcasts Mur Lafferty no no http://escapepod.org/2008/04/24/ep155-tideline/ http://escapepod.org/2008/04/24/ep155-tideline/#comments Thu, 24 Apr 2008 16:19:49 +0000 SFEley http://escapepod.org/2008/04/24/ep155-tideline/ http://escapepod.org/2008/04/24/ep155-tideline/feed/ 52 0:36:47 2008 Hugo Nominee! By Elizabeth Bear. Read by Stephen Eley. Closing Music: “The Fall” by Red Hunter. They would have called her salvage, if there were anyone left to salvage her. But she was the last of the war machines, a three-legged o[...] 2008 Hugo Nominee! By Elizabeth Bear. Read by Stephen Eley. Closing Music: “The Fall” by Red Hunter. They would have called her salvage, if there were anyone left to salvage her. But she was the last of the war machines, a three-legged oblate teardrop as big as a main battle tank, two big grabs and one fine manipulator folded like a spider’s palps beneath the turreted head that finished her pointed end, her polyceramic armor spiderwebbed like shatterproof glass. Unhelmed by her remote masters, she limped along the beach, dragging one fused limb. She was nearly derelict. The beach was where she met Belvedere. Rated PG. Contains implied violence and themes of death. Referenced Sites: 2008 Hugo Awards WisCon May 23-26, Madison, WI Podcasts Elizabeth Bear no no http://escapepod.org/2007/05/31/ep108-kin/ http://escapepod.org/2007/05/31/ep108-kin/#comments Thu, 31 May 2007 19:45:06 +0000 SFEley http://escapepod.org/?p=219 http://escapepod.org/2007/05/31/ep108-kin/feed/ 23 0:31:30 2007 Hugo Nominee! By Bruce McAllister. Read by Stephen Eley. First appeared in Asimov’s Science Fiction, February 2006. The alien and the boy, who was twelve, sat in the windowless room high above the city that afternoon. The boy talked and t[...] 2007 Hugo Nominee! By Bruce McAllister. Read by Stephen Eley. First appeared in Asimov’s Science Fiction, February 2006. The alien and the boy, who was twelve, sat in the windowless room high above the city that afternoon. The boy talked and the alien listened. The boy was ordinary‚Äîthe genes of three continents in his features, his clothes cut in the style of all boys in the vast housing project called LAX. The alien was something else, awful to behold; and though the boy knew it was rude, he did not look up as he talked. He wanted the alien to kill a man, he said. It was that simple. Rated PG. Contains implied violence and morally complex themes. Referenced Sites: The Girl Who Loved Animals and Other Stories by Bruce McAllister Balticon 2007 Trip Report Podcasts Mur Lafferty no no http://escapepod.org/2007/05/24/ep107-eight-episodes/ http://escapepod.org/2007/05/24/ep107-eight-episodes/#comments Thu, 24 May 2007 08:20:10 +0000 SFEley http://escapepod.org/?p=218 http://escapepod.org/2007/05/24/ep107-eight-episodes/feed/ 31 0:32:00 2007 Hugo Nominee! By Robert Reed. Read by MarBelle (of Director’s Notes). First appeared in Asimov’s Science Fiction, June 2006. Eighteen months later, the fledging Web network declared bankruptcy, and a small consortium acquired its as[...] 2007 Hugo Nominee! By Robert Reed. Read by MarBelle (of Director’s Notes). First appeared in Asimov’s Science Fiction, June 2006. Eighteen months later, the fledging Web network declared bankruptcy, and a small consortium acquired its assets, including Invasion of a Small World. Eager to recoup their investment, the new owners offered all eight episodes as a quick-and-dirty DVD package. When sales proved somewhat better than predicted, a new version was cobbled together, helped along by a genuine ad budget. The strongest initial sales came from the tiny pool of determined fans‚Äîyoung and well educated, with little preference for nationality or gender. But the scientists in several fields, astronomy and paleontology included, were the ones who created a genuine buzz that eventually put Invasion into the public eye. Rated PG. Contains some suggestive imagery, references to infidelity, and not very good television. Referenced Sites: World Science Fiction Society Steve’s LiveJournal Podcasts Mur Lafferty no no http://escapepod.org/2007/05/17/ep106-the-house-beyond-your-sky/ http://escapepod.org/2007/05/17/ep106-the-house-beyond-your-sky/#comments Thu, 17 May 2007 19:31:05 +0000 SFEley http://escapepod.org/?p=216 http://escapepod.org/2007/05/17/ep106-the-house-beyond-your-sky/feed/ 27 0:38:50 2007 Hugo Nominee! By Benjamin Rosenbaum. Read by Paul Tevis (of Have Games Will Travel). First appeared in Strange Horizons, September 2006. The simulations, while good, are not impenetrable even to their own inhabitants. Scientists teaching baboon[...] 2007 Hugo Nominee! By Benjamin Rosenbaum. Read by Paul Tevis (of Have Games Will Travel). First appeared in Strange Horizons, September 2006. The simulations, while good, are not impenetrable even to their own inhabitants. Scientists teaching baboons to sort blocks may notice that all other baboons become instantly better at block-sorting, revealing a high-level caching mechanism. Or engineers building their own virtual worlds may find they cannot use certain tricks of optimization and compression‚Äîfor Matthias has already used them. Only when the jig is up does Matthias reveal himself, asking each simulated soul: what now? Most accept Matthias’s offer to graduate beyond the confines of their simulation, and join the general society of Matthias’s house. You may regard them as bright parakeets, living in wicker cages with open doors. The cages are hung from the ceiling of the priest’s clay hut. The parakeets flutter about the ceiling, visit each other, steal bread from the table, and comment on Matthias’s doings. Rated R. Contains some profanity and child abuse. It’s probably too complex for young children as well. Referenced Sites: Diversity in SF Markets (blog post by Tobias S. Buckell) Finis: A Book of Endings Nina Kimberly the Merciless SciFi Smackdown Podcasts Mur Lafferty no no http://escapepod.org/2007/05/10/ep105-impossible-dreams/ http://escapepod.org/2007/05/10/ep105-impossible-dreams/#comments Thu, 10 May 2007 09:26:33 +0000 SFEley http://escapepod.org/?p=215 http://escapepod.org/2007/05/10/ep105-impossible-dreams/feed/ 101 0:47:15 2007 Hugo Nominee! By Tim Pratt. Read by Matthew Wayne Selznick (of Brave Men Run and Writers Talking). First appeared in Asimov’s Science Fiction, July 2006. All stories by Tim Pratt. All stories read by Stephen Eley. He went to the Sci-Fi sh[...] 2007 Hugo Nominee! By Tim Pratt. Read by Matthew Wayne Selznick (of Brave Men Run and Writers Talking). First appeared in Asimov’s Science Fiction, July 2006. All stories by Tim Pratt. All stories read by Stephen Eley. He went to the Sci-Fi shelf‚Äîand had another shock. I, Robot was there, but not the forgettable action movie with Will Smith‚Äîthis was older, and the credits said “written by Harlan Ellison.” But Ellison’s adaptation of the Isaac Asimov book had never been produced, though it had been published in book form. “Must be some bootleg student production,” he muttered, and he didn’t recognize the name of the production company. But‚Äîbut‚Äîit said “winner of the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.” That had to be a student director’s little joke, straight-facedly absurd box copy, as if this were a film from some alternate reality. Worth watching, certainly, though again, he couldn’t imagine how he’d never heard of this. Maybe it had been done by someone local. He took it to the counter and offered his credit card. She looked at the card dubiously. “Visa? Sorry, we only take Weber and FosterCard.” Rated G. Contains excessive movie trivia; some of it true. Today’s Sponsor: Referenced Sites: Balticon 2007 Podcasts Mur Lafferty no no http://escapepod.org/2006/06/01/ep056-the-clockwork-atom-bomb/ http://escapepod.org/2006/06/01/ep056-the-clockwork-atom-bomb/#comments Thu, 01 Jun 2006 08:00:22 +0000 SFEley http://escapepod.org/?p=131 http://escapepod.org/2006/06/01/ep056-the-clockwork-atom-bomb/feed/ 17 0:00:01 By Dominic Green. Read by Dr. Jonathon Sullivan. The wind in here was deafening. The girl had to shout. “THERE IS MORE THAN ONE IN HERE. THEY LIVE IN THE MACHINES. THE GOVERNMENT MADE THE MACHINES, BUT NOT WITH TECHNICIANS AND ELECTRICIANS[...] By Dominic Green. Read by Dr. Jonathon Sullivan. The wind in here was deafening. The girl had to shout. “THERE IS MORE THAN ONE IN HERE. THEY LIVE IN THE MACHINES. THE GOVERNMENT MADE THE MACHINES, BUT NOT WITH TECHNICIANS AND ELECTRICIANS. WITH SORCERY.” The machines did not look made by sorcery. They were entirely silent, looking like rows of gigantic, rusted steel chess pawns twice the height of a man, with no pipes or wires entering or leaving them, apparently sitting here unused for any purpose. Mativi felt an urgent, entirely rational need to be in an another line of employment. Rated R. Contains profanity and some violence. Referenced sites: 2006 Hugo Nominees The Balticon Podcast Michael & Evo’s Slice of SciFi Rock & Roll Monster Bash Podcasts Mur Lafferty no no http://escapepod.org/2006/05/25/ep055-down-memory-lane/ http://escapepod.org/2006/05/25/ep055-down-memory-lane/#comments Thu, 25 May 2006 09:35:15 +0000 SFEley http://escapepod.org/?p=128 http://escapepod.org/2006/05/25/ep055-down-memory-lane/feed/ 31 0:00:01 By Mike Resnick. Read by Alex Wilson (of Telltale Weekly). Discuss on our forums. All stories by Mike Resnick. All stories read by Alex Wilson. I don’t know where I was when Kennedy was shot. I don’t know what I was doing when the World [...] By Mike Resnick. Read by Alex Wilson (of Telltale Weekly). Discuss on our forums. All stories by Mike Resnick. All stories read by Alex Wilson. I don’t know where I was when Kennedy was shot. I don’t know what I was doing when the World Trade Center collapsed under the onslaught of two jetliners. But I remember every single detail, every minute, every second, of the day we got the bad news. “It may not be Alzheimer’s,” said Dr. Castleman. “Alzheimer’s is becoming a catchword for a variety of senile dementias. Eventually we’ll find out exactly which dementia it is, but there’s no question that Gwendolyn is suffering from one of them.” Rated G. Referenced sites: 2006 Hugo Nominees World Science Fiction Convention L.A.Con IV TellTale Weekly — Clarion Foundation Fundraiser Hooting Yard Benevolent Fund for Distressed Out of Print Pamphleteers Podcasts Mur Lafferty no no http://escapepod.org/2006/05/18/ep054-tktktk/ http://escapepod.org/2006/05/18/ep054-tktktk/#comments Thu, 18 May 2006 12:00:24 +0000 SFEley http://escapepod.org/?p=125 http://escapepod.org/2006/05/18/ep054-tktktk/feed/ 12 0:00:01 By David D. Levine. Read by Paul Tevis (of Have Games Will Travel). Shkthh pth kstphst, the shopkeeper said, and Walker’s hypno-implanted vocabulary provided a translation: “What a delightful object.” Chitinous fingers picked up th[...] By David D. Levine. Read by Paul Tevis (of Have Games Will Travel). Shkthh pth kstphst, the shopkeeper said, and Walker’s hypno-implanted vocabulary provided a translation: “What a delightful object.” Chitinous fingers picked up the recorder, scrabbling against the aluminum case with a sound that Walker found deeply disturbing. “What does it do?” It took him a moment to formulate a reply. Even with hypno, Thfshpfth was a formidably complex language. “It listens and repeats,” he said. “You talk all day, it remembers all. Earth technology. Nothing like it for light-years.” The word for “light-year” was hkshkhthskht, difficult to pronounce. He hoped he’d gotten it right. Rated PG. Contains scatology and crimes against pronunciation. Referenced sites: 2006 Hugo Nominees Shelley the Republican CAP Alert System Bento Fanzine National PTA Rescuing Recess Podcasts Mur Lafferty no no http://escapepod.org/2006/05/11/ep053-seventy-five-years/ http://escapepod.org/2006/05/11/ep053-seventy-five-years/#comments Thu, 11 May 2006 22:00:10 +0000 SFEley http://escapepod.org/?p=124 http://escapepod.org/2006/05/11/ep053-seventy-five-years/feed/ 21 0:00:01 By Michael A. Burstein. Read by Deborah Green. Isabel turned the handheld on and read to herself briefly. “According to this, your bill would push the date of release of the individual Census forms from seventy-two to seventy- five years.[...] By Michael A. Burstein. Read by Deborah Green. Isabel turned the handheld on and read to herself briefly. “According to this, your bill would push the date of release of the individual Census forms from seventy-two to seventy- five years.” “It makes sense, Isabel.” “It does?” He pointed to her handheld. “You say you have my argument in there.” “I do. And I find it specious.” Rated G. Contains politics and reference to moral issues. (Your kids may not get it, but it shouldn’t offend.) Referenced sites: 2006 Hugo Nominees Wikipedia on the Hugo Award Hugo History at a Glance Novel Nominees – Electronic Editions Rock ‘N’ Roll Monster Bash 2006 Podcasts Mur Lafferty no no