Category: Rated G

EP186: Chrysalis

By Mary Robinette Kowal.
Read by Cunning Minx (of Polyamory Weekly).

Sponsored by CONTAGIOUS, by Scott Sigler.

People ask me if I ever get involved with the subjects of my
documentaries. I have a difficult time imagining that they would ask
my male colleagues the same question, but they seem to expect women to
be more emotional. In response, I tend to grit my teeth and answer
very patiently with another question. How could I do my job if I were
part of the story? Only by maintaining a sacred distance could I have
any hope of understanding someone’s life. A documentarian records, but
does not participate.

Rated G. Contains alien emotional drama.

 

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EP184: As Dry Leaves That Before the Wild Hurricane Fly

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.

 

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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.

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Referenced Sites:

Wiscon 2008

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

 

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EP133: Other People’s Money

By Cory Doctorow.
Read by Amanda Fitzwater.
First appeared in Forbes Magazine, October 2007.

Which is why she was hoping that the venture capitalist would just leave her alone. He wasn’t a paying customer, he wasn’t a fellow artist — he wanted to *buy* her, and he was thirty years too late.

“You know, I pitched you guys in 1999. On Sand Hill Road. One of the founding partners. Kleiner, I think. The guy ate a salad all through my slide-deck. When I was done, he wiped his mouth, looked over my shoulder, and told me he didn’t think I’d scale. That was it. He didn’t even pick up my business card. When I looked back as I was going out the door, I saw his sweep it into the trash with the wrapper from his sandwich.”

The VC — young, with the waxy, sweaty look of someone who ate a lot of GM yogurt to try to patch his biochemistry — shook his head. “That wasn’t us. We’re a franchise — based here in LA. I just opened up the Inglewood branch. But I can see how that would have soured you on us. Did you ever get your VC?”

Rated G. Contains Byzantine finance and potentially disturbing art.

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