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, 03 Feb 2012 01:55:58 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=7542 2005-2011 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0 editor@escapepod.org (Mur Lafferty) editor@escapepod.org (Mur Lafferty) science fiction 1440 science fiction, sf, stories, audiobooks, storytelling, fiction, short fiction, short story The Science Fiction Podcast Magazine The Science Fiction Podcast Magazine. Each week Escape Pod delivers science fiction short stories from todayapos;s best authors. Listen today, and hear the new sound of science fiction! Mur Lafferty Mur Lafferty editor@escapepod.org No no http://escapepod.org/wp-content/images/pod-org-icon300.jpg http://escapepod.org 144 144 http://escapepod.org/2012/02/02/ep330-the-ghost-of-a-girl-who-never-lived/ http://escapepod.org/2012/02/02/ep330-the-ghost-of-a-girl-who-never-lived/#comments Fri, 03 Feb 2012 01:55:58 +0000 Mur Lafferty http://escapepod.org/?p=3087 http://escapepod.org/2012/02/02/ep330-the-ghost-of-a-girl-who-never-lived/feed/ 0 00:01:01 By Keffy R. M. Kehrli Read by Mur Lafferty Discuss on our forums. Originally appeared in InterGalactic Medicine Show. All stories by Keffy R. M. Kehrli All stories read ... By Keffy R. M. Kehrli Read by Mur Lafferty Discuss on our forums. Originally appeared in InterGalactic Medicine Show. All stories by Keffy R. M. Kehrli All stories read by Mur Lafferty Rated 13 and up The Ghost of a Girl Who Never Lived By Keffy R. M. Kehrli I am Sara's second body. My first memory is of Sara's resurrection in a room that smelled of cotton balls and hydrogen peroxide. "That's funny," a man said. The world felt raw, sore, and new. Under my back, my butt, my fingertips, I could feel every thread in the sheets beneath me. The blanket over my stomach scratched. Padded straps crossed my arms. "What's funny?" This voice was a woman's. "Got another error message," the man answered. "Have you ever seen that one before?" I felt the sheets with Sara's fingers, and the texture conjured memories I didn't have. I should have known where I was and what I was there for, but I couldn't catch hold of the fleeting thoughts. In the dim light of the room I could only see the ceiling. "Let me see." I heard a frenzied clicking. "It failed twice?" "Nothing copied the first time, so I started over. It got about halfway through, and then it gave me this." "Error two-one-five-two. Copy error," the woman said. "I've never seen that before. I've never even seen an error in the middle of a transplant. Did you check the manual?" "It didn't list this one." The woman sighed and said, "The only thing I can think of is if we wipe everything back out and start over." Operating tables, and the anestheticianrsquo;s face. Tissue paper examining tables, candles in a church. "She's conscious, though," the man said. "When the machine aborted, it sent the Copy Completed code. Don't look at me like that! I don't know if I ought to mess around with it anymore, or..." The woman interrupted, "You know we canrsquo;t do that without contacting the parents. Come on, we might as well go see what the damage is." They stood over me. The man was the younger of the two, and he looked down at me from behind thick glasses. He held his clipboard tight against his chest like a shield. The woman stood closer to me; her hair was light, either blond or grey. She frowned like it was my fault. "Can you hear and understand me?" she asked. The man wrote something on his clipboard. I could hear graphite rubbed free, caught in the paper. My mouth felt dry, and my lips did too, as though if I tried to speak they would break apart. "Yes," I managed. She unhooked the straps on my arms. I lifted my left arm and looked at the fingers, hand, wrist. Clean, and smooth, unmarked. Cat-scratch scar near my first knuckle, angry red and faded pink. "Do you know why you're here?" I wanted to say the right thing, but I didnrsquo;t know what that would be. "I don't know," I said. "I don't." "She's coherent," the woman said. "We'll have to call the parents." The man nodded, and he was still writing. Scratch scratch scratch. He didn't answer her. The woman disconnected something that slid out from under the skin of my scalp, and I didn't like how it rubbed against my skull. "Make sure you tell them that we won't require the final payment until we get this sorted." "Copy error," I said. "Is that why I don't know where we are?" "Yes, Sara," she said. "I think." # I walk until I find a cabin in the woods, the windows broken out by tree branches, by wind and rain and thrown rocks. The door hangs far on its hinges. Shotgun shells, wet with rain. Raccoon droppings. These are the things that litter the floor inside. I step over them in Sara's boots, into a cabin soggy and ruined from disuse. A dirty orange vest hangs on the wall over a stained and rotten mattress. Sara has been here before. I know this the way I know so many things. They are the ghosts of objects that live in my brain. I am alone. The house is alone. I wonder if the raccoons still come in and I wonder who owns what is lef... 13,and,Up,,Podcasts Keffy R. M. Kehrli no No http://escapepod.org/2012/02/02/soundproof-16/ http://escapepod.org/2012/02/02/soundproof-16/#comments Thu, 02 Feb 2012 05:03:19 +0000 Bill Peters http://escapepod.org/?p=3083 http://escapepod.org/2012/02/02/soundproof-16/feed/ 0 00:01:01 Hello everyone, Can we talk about Fringe for a second? Itrsquo;s somehow managed to survive to a fourth season on Fox, which is a feat in and of itself. But itrsquo;s also managed to keep the monsters of the week new and interesting, even when theyrsquo;re new Hello everyone, Can we talk about Fringe for a second? Itrsquo;s somehow managed to survive to a fourth season on Fox, which is a feat in and of itself. But itrsquo;s also managed to keep the monsters of the week new and interesting, even when theyrsquo;re new iterations of the same monsters of the week because wersquo;re now in a slightly more adjacent parallel universe than the one wersquo;d gotten used to. And when the new monsters are the old good guys. Itrsquo;s also notable for surviving because wersquo;re kind of awash in fantasy on the (American) teevee right now. Grimm, Being Human, and Once Upon a Time are the new-ish lsquo;genrersquo; shows, and SyFy, which some of you elderly folks may remember as the SciFi channel, doesnrsquo;t have a science fiction series that isnrsquo;t imminently headed for the grave. Which is kind of a show of how fickle the fates of TV production is, and how swiftly the tide can shift away once a new shiny happy fun ball enters the room. But Fringe continues to turn in the solid mediations on the endless strange that lurks in the corners of space-time, while keeping you caring about characters even as many of them permutate as the show moves from universe to universe. This month we bring you a trio of stories from Judith Tarr, Randy Henderson, and Zachary Jernigan. They contain dinosaurs, a future of literature or at least novels, and the souls of Earth mdash; in a convenient travel cube. mdash;Bill Bill Peters Assistant Editor Escape Pod Uncategorized Mur Lafferty no No http://escapepod.org/2012/02/01/still-alive-online-sf-for-january/ http://escapepod.org/2012/02/01/still-alive-online-sf-for-january/#comments Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:28:25 +0000 Michael Ray http://escapepod.org/?p=3064 http://escapepod.org/2012/02/01/still-alive-online-sf-for-january/feed/ 0 http://escapepod.org/2012/01/31/three-dragons-three-tattoos-2-of-2/ http://escapepod.org/2012/01/31/three-dragons-three-tattoos-2-of-2/#comments Tue, 31 Jan 2012 17:23:01 +0000 Josh Roseman http://escapepod.org/?p=3020 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, has been adapted into two films -- a Swedish one and an American one. Despite having the same source material, they're very different movies. Find out just how different in the second part of this two-part review.]]> http://escapepod.org/2012/01/31/three-dragons-three-tattoos-2-of-2/feed/ 0 http://escapepod.org/2012/01/30/three-dragons-three-tattoos-1-review-of-the-girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo/ http://escapepod.org/2012/01/30/three-dragons-three-tattoos-1-review-of-the-girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo/#comments Mon, 30 Jan 2012 17:22:45 +0000 Josh Roseman http://escapepod.org/?p=2965 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, has been adapted into two films -- a Swedish one and an American one. Despite having the same source material, they're very different movies. Find out just how different in this two-part review.]]> http://escapepod.org/2012/01/30/three-dragons-three-tattoos-1-review-of-the-girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo/feed/ 1 http://escapepod.org/2012/01/26/ep329-pairs/ http://escapepod.org/2012/01/26/ep329-pairs/#comments Thu, 26 Jan 2012 22:55:13 +0000 Mur Lafferty http://escapepod.org/?p=3075 http://escapepod.org/2012/01/26/ep329-pairs/feed/ 0 00:01:01 By Zachary Jernigan Read by Matt Franklin of Fly Reckless Discuss on our forums. Originally appeared in Asimov's, April 2011 All stories by Zachary Jernigan All stories read by ... By Zachary Jernigan Read by Matt Franklin of Fly Reckless Discuss on our forums. Originally appeared in Asimov's, April 2011 All stories by Zachary Jernigan All stories read by Matt Franklin Rated 17-and-up for violence, language, and sexual imagery. Pairs by Zachary Jernigan I had been practicing turning myself into a knife. Between star systems I gathered and focused my particles into a triangle, a sharp shape. Hurling myself against the diamond-hard walls of my small ship, the point of the weapon hardened. I honed myself. You see, I had decided to murder my employer. I had studied his weaknesses and come to believe myself capable of the act. I did not know when and where, nor did I know what would trigger it. I simply knew it had to happen. On that day I would either die or buy myself a measure of freedom. Originally, this was the extent of my plan: To serve myself. My name is Arihant. I am one of two humans still inhabiting a physical form, diminished though it is. Outside the walls of my ship, I am in form a faintly translucent white specter, strong and powerfully builtmdash;an artistrsquo;s anatomical model. Over the years it has become difficult to remember what my face looked like, and thus my features are only approximately human, my head bare. My eyes glow the color of Earthrsquo;s sun. I am quite beautiful, Louca tells me. On more than one occasion she has run her hands over the ghostly contours of my body. ldquo;I wish you were solid,rdquo; she once said. ldquo;Oh, Ari. The things I would do to you.rdquo; Louca is the one I am forced to follow and observe. Her name means crazymdash;an appropriate name. She is the second human possessing a body. Technically, her body is a black, whale-shaped ship one hundred meters long, but her avatars take the forms of anything she imagines. Very rarely, she is human, and never the same person twice. More often, she wears the bodies of flying animals. She dreams of flying, which is appropriate. Our profession is transport. For three centuries we have hauled the disembodied souls of Earthmdash;each stored in a projection cubemdash;from star to star to be sold. They are quite expensive, I am told, but I have no understanding of the means of exchange. Nearly everything is hidden from me, and Louca sees nothing. The reason souls are bought varies. Often they are kept as curios. Sometimes they are used to attract customers to the buyerrsquo;s business. My employer used to goad me on these points: ldquo;Is it not wonderful to know your people are put to such good use? Imagine how happy it must make them!rdquo; But I know the truth. Even without physical bodies, men become lonely. They despair and I feel it. Surely Louca feels it; she goes crazier and crazier in such close proximity to ghosts. Before the events of this story, only the luckiest souls were bought in pairs or groups, a rare occurrence. Now, because of Louca and I, it is the rule that souls must be sold in pairs. It is my one accomplishment, making men marginally less alone. Still, I arrange nothingmdash;I have no power over the situation. I follow Louca from a distance of one hundred thousand kilometers, never any closer, and report anything unusual. I need not watch very closely. Loucarsquo;s duty is to dream violent dreams, to defend and deliver her payload. Hopefully, her capacity for violence will never be tested. She is categorically insanemdash;a fact that, my employer insists, makes her uniquely suited to the job of protector. Employer. Job. The terms are ridiculous, for Louca and I are not paid. Our terms of service are not negotiable. I am no onersquo;s employee, but I prefer not to use the word slave. Or master. I cling to life. I value it, though what value it has is measured in a mere handful of molecule... 17,and,Up,,Podcasts Zachary Jernigan no No http://escapepod.org/2012/01/25/change-to-submission-guidelines/ http://escapepod.org/2012/01/25/change-to-submission-guidelines/#comments Wed, 25 Jan 2012 19:08:12 +0000 Mur Lafferty http://escapepod.org/?p=3069 http://escapepod.org/2012/01/25/change-to-submission-guidelines/feed/ 0 http://escapepod.org/2012/01/23/book-review-out-of-oz-by-gregory-maguire/ http://escapepod.org/2012/01/23/book-review-out-of-oz-by-gregory-maguire/#comments Mon, 23 Jan 2012 16:25:45 +0000 Josh Roseman http://escapepod.org/?p=2953 Wicked, I didn't really care for the next two books in Gregory Maguire's "Wicked Years" series. The conclusion, Out of Oz, just came out, and I figured it was worth taking a look. Perhaps I should've just learned my lesson.]]> http://escapepod.org/2012/01/23/book-review-out-of-oz-by-gregory-maguire/feed/ 0 http://escapepod.org/2012/01/19/ep328-surviving-the-ebookalypse/ http://escapepod.org/2012/01/19/ep328-surviving-the-ebookalypse/#comments Thu, 19 Jan 2012 16:20:54 +0000 Mur Lafferty http://escapepod.org/?p=3051 http://escapepod.org/2012/01/19/ep328-surviving-the-ebookalypse/feed/ 1 44:02 By Randy Henderson Read by Roberto Suarez Discuss on our forums. An Escape Pod Original! All stories by Randy Henderson All stories read by Roberto Suarez Rated 13-and-up for language. Surviving ... By Randy Henderson Read by Roberto Suarez Discuss on our forums. An Escape Pod Original! All stories by Randy Henderson All stories read by Roberto Suarez Rated 13-and-up for language. Surviving the eBookalypse by Randy Henderson I entered the City Public Library wearing my plastic replica chainmail and sword, and my suede "book jacket" with a laminated author's license clipped to the collar. Before me stood a fully automated checkout kiosk for scheduling author recitals. The library floor beyond that was filled with neat rows of author cubicles, each with a desk and chair. Most were occupied. The air was filled with the soft tickity-ticking of keyboards, and the smells of coffee, "New Book" scented air fresheners, and Cup orsquo; Soup. Heads popped up over cubicle walls in response to the clacking of the door, then disappeared again when they saw I was no customer or potential patron. I understood their disappointed expressions too well. This was not at all where I thought I would be two years after publishing my first e-book. A womanrsquo;s smile caught my attention. It was like cherry-haloed sunshine, floating between her neon blue hair and her black lace dress. She emerged from a cube in the Romance section, walked up to me, leaned in close and sniffed at the air. Then she said with the hint of a Mexican accent, "I smell a transfer from Bainbridge library, no? An MFA boy, if I'm not mistaken?" "That obvious?" I asked. "Lucky guess." She laughed, and flicked my author's license. "Says so right here." "Oh. Yes." I felt the fool. I glanced at her authorrsquo;s license. "Myra Sweet." "That's me," she said. "So, the great literary novel didn't work out like you thought it would, eh?" "Yoursquo;ve heard of my book?" "No, but itrsquo;s the same old story. Follow me. I'll show you around." She turned and walked away. I followed in the wake of her sugary perfume, and my eyes were drawn down to the swaying of her hips. There lie danger, I felt certain, but tempting danger. On the back of her black suede book jacket were reviews of her work. "Myra Sweet's recital style would make an audience in Antarctica sweat." ndash; Romance Recitals Monthly "Sweet lives up to her name with The Bride Wore Pistols. This one has to be heard to be believed." ndash; Jenna Johnson, Amazon-Random House "Myra Sweet blends sex and action so seamlessly her work deserves a new genre ndash; sextion? Sacxy? Whatever, she's smoking hot." ndash; Phoenix Jones I wondered if the reviews were real. I hoped they werenrsquo;t. If someone with reviews like that didnrsquo;t have a patron supporting her, what chance did I have? I reached back to make sure the blurb for my own book, "Magic Daze and Dark Knights," was still Velcroed securely to the back of my jacket. We walked past the row of thriller authors, almost exclusively men with crew cuts dressed in various colored jumpsuits and bomber-style book jackets. A few of them gave me an informal salute or a cursory nod as we passed, and their musk cologne made me cough in response. We passed the row of horror authors, with their all-black clothing, red or black hair, and pale skin. Most of them arched a single eyebrow at me, or stared at me until I looked away. Further off I saw cowboys and cowgirls, Renaissance-garbed folks, and business-casual attire. Seeing so many authors of the same genre together just reinforced my opinion that "dressing to genre" was not a good idea for everyone. One man's mustachio was another man's weasely whiskers. One woman's ghostly was another woman's sickly. It reminded me to straighten my posture and suck in my modest gut. At the back of the library was a "timeline of books" displayed across the wall. We walked along it, following the growth and fall of the book, from Guttenberg and Cervantes to e-books and the print-a-book kiosks. At the end was a glass case with a collection of outd... 13,and,Up,,Podcasts Randy Henderson no No http://escapepod.org/2012/01/12/ep327revenants/ http://escapepod.org/2012/01/12/ep327revenants/#comments Fri, 13 Jan 2012 03:45:25 +0000 Bill Peters http://escapepod.org/?p=2957 http://escapepod.org/2012/01/12/ep327revenants/feed/ 0 00:01:01 By Judith Tarr Read by Mur Lafferty Discuss on our forums. First published innbsp;DINOSAURFANTASTIC fromnbsp;DAWnbsp;edited by Mike Resnick and Martin H. Greenberg, 1993 All stories bynbsp;Judith Tarr All stories ... By Judith Tarr Read by Mur Lafferty Discuss on our forums. First published innbsp;DINOSAURFANTASTIC fromnbsp;DAWnbsp;edited by Mike Resnick and Martin H. Greenberg, 1993 All stories bynbsp;Judith Tarr All stories read bynbsp;Mur Lafferty REVENANTS by Judith Tarr Janie wanted to pet the pterodactyl. ldquo;Herersquo;s the auk,rdquo; I said. ldquo;Look how soft his feathers are. Look at the dodo, isnrsquo;t he funny? Donrsquo;t you want to give the quagga a carrot?rdquo; Janie wouldnrsquo;t even dignify that with disgust. It was the pterodactyl or nothing. Janie is four. At four, all or nothing isnrsquo;t a philosophy, itrsquo;s universal law. A very intelligent four can argue that this is the Greater Metro Revenantsrsquo; Zoo, yes? And this is the room where they keep the ones that can be petted, yes? So why canrsquo;t a person pet the pterodactyl? No use explaining that everything else was inoculated and immunized and sterilized and rendered safe for children to handle. Everything but the pterodactyl. Theyrsquo;d just made it, and it was supposed to be pettable when they were done, but not yet. Therersquo;d been plenty of controversy about putting it on display so soon, but public outcry won out over scientific common sense. So the thing was on display, but behind neoglas inlaid with the injunction: No, Irsquo;m Not Ready Yet. Look, But Donrsquo;t Touch. Janie reads. I should know. Itrsquo;s one of the chief points of debate between her father and me. She could read the warning as well as I could. ldquo;So why canrsquo;t I touch? I want to touch!rdquo; She was fast winding up to a tantrum. I could stop it now and risk an injunction for public child abuse, or wait till it became a nuisance and we were both shuffled off the premises. Inside its enclosure, the pterodactyl stretched its wings and opened its beak and hissed. Neoglas is new, about as new as revenants; itrsquo;s one-way to sound as well as sight. The pterodactyl couldnrsquo;t see us or hear us, which was lucky for Janie. I wished we couldnrsquo;t see or hear it, either. It wasnrsquo;t particularly ugly, just strange. One whole faction of paleontologists had been thrown out into the cold when the thing came out of its vat warm-blooded and covered with soft silvery-white fur. Without the fur it would have been a leathery lizardlike thing with batwings. With the fur it looked like a white bat with a peculiar, half-avian, half-saurian head, and extremely convincing talons. Janiersquo;s fixation and the thingrsquo;s furriness notwithstanding, it didnrsquo;t look very pettable. Its eyes were a disturbing shade of red, with pinpoint pupils. I wondered if it was hungry, or if it wanted to stretch its wings and fly. Janie had stopped whining. She was going to howl next. Something bellowed in the bowels of the building. Janiersquo;s mouth snapped shut. ldquo;There,rdquo; I said. ldquo;Look what you did.rdquo; If that got me cited, let it. It cut off Janiersquo;s howl before it started. ldquo;Theyrsquo;ve got something big down there,rdquo; somebody said. ldquo;Probably the aurochs,rdquo; said somebody else. ldquo;Mammoths trumpet like elephants.rdquo; ldquo;Maybe itrsquo;s a T. Rex,rdquo; said a kidrsquo;s voice. ldquo;They donrsquo;t have one of those yet,rdquo; said the one who knew it all. ldquo;Theyrsquo;d need a bigger enclosure than they can afford to build, with a stronger perimeter field. So theyrsquo;re bringing back later things, because theyrsquo;re smaller.rdquo; ldquo;But if theyrsquo;ve got the mammothsmdash;rdquo; ldquo;Mammoths donrsquo;t have teeth as long as your arm. They donrsquo;t eat people.rdquo; Janiersquo;s eyes were as big as they can get. I got her out of there before she decided she wanted to howl after all. Ice cream distracted her. So did a pony ride in the zoorsquo;s parkmdash;the pony was a Merychippus, a handsome little dun that looked perfectly ponylike except for the pair of vestigial toes flanking each of its... Podcasts Mur Lafferty no No http://escapepod.org/2012/01/06/ep326-flash-fiction-special/ http://escapepod.org/2012/01/06/ep326-flash-fiction-special/#comments Fri, 06 Jan 2012 11:55:35 +0000 Mur Lafferty http://escapepod.org/?p=2949 http://escapepod.org/2012/01/06/ep326-flash-fiction-special/feed/ 0 45:58 Poppies and Chrome by Sylvia Hiven Rabbi Aaron Meets Satan by Tim Lieder Fine-Tuning the Universe by Merrie Haskell narrated by Mat Weller, author Richard E. Dansky, and ... Poppies and Chrome by Sylvia Hiven Rabbi Aaron Meets Satan by Tim Lieder Fine-Tuning the Universe by Merrie Haskell narrated by Mat Weller, author Richard E. Dansky, and Mur Lafferty Discuss on our forums. Appropriate for teens and up due to erotic imagery and language. 13,and,Up,,Flash,,Podcasts Mur Lafferty no No http://escapepod.org/2012/01/03/closed-to-submissions/ http://escapepod.org/2012/01/03/closed-to-submissions/#comments Tue, 03 Jan 2012 20:48:17 +0000 Mur Lafferty http://escapepod.org/?p=2941 http://escapepod.org/2012/01/03/closed-to-submissions/feed/ 0 http://escapepod.org/2012/01/02/soundproof-15/ http://escapepod.org/2012/01/02/soundproof-15/#comments Tue, 03 Jan 2012 04:33:38 +0000 Mur Lafferty http://escapepod.org/?p=2922 http://escapepod.org/2012/01/02/soundproof-15/feed/ 1 00:01:01 Dear Faithful Listeners And Readersmdash; Happy 2012! It's looking to be a very exciting year at Escape Pod, and we're delighted you're still hanging out with ... Dear Faithful Listeners And Readersmdash; Happy 2012! It's looking to be a very exciting year at Escape Pod, and we're delighted you're still hanging out with us! We had a lot of fun bringing you different things in 2011, from our first audio drama at the end of the year to the various story collections to our supporters. And thanks to your supporters, by the way. It's amazing to realize we're in our seventh year doing this, and we've operated in the black the entire time. We couldn't have done that without you, so thank you. To be completely honest, it hasn't been smooth sailing. We got behind in submissions this year, even with some time off to catch up. Authors got angry, as they should have done, and we've figured out where things went wrong and are working on fixing it. I won't offer excuses, only that I'm responsible for this magazine and I let down our authors, and I'm very sorry for this. We're closing our doors to submissions in January in order to get everything organized. Hugo voting is open, from now until March 31! I'll have a blog post soon about what Escape Pod has offered that is eligible, and we're appreciate a consideration if you're eligible to nominate. Resolutions are promises to fail, so we won't make any, but we do promise to continue to bring you weekly SF that will be fun. And lose those 10 pounds, of course. Have a safe and happy 2012. Be mighty, and have fun! Mur Lafferty Editor E-pub,,TheSoundproofEscapePod Mur Lafferty no No http://escapepod.org/2011/12/31/myths-of-origin-by-catherynne-m-valente/ http://escapepod.org/2011/12/31/myths-of-origin-by-catherynne-m-valente/#comments Sun, 01 Jan 2012 01:39:17 +0000 Sarah Frost http://escapepod.org/?p=2904 http://escapepod.org/2011/12/31/myths-of-origin-by-catherynne-m-valente/feed/ 1 http://escapepod.org/2011/12/29/ep325-bad-dogs-escape/ http://escapepod.org/2011/12/29/ep325-bad-dogs-escape/#comments Fri, 30 Dec 2011 01:52:26 +0000 Mur Lafferty http://escapepod.org/?p=2910 http://escapepod.org/2011/12/29/ep325-bad-dogs-escape/feed/ 0 00:01:01 By James Patrick Kelly Cast: Becca- AB Kovacs Sam- Pamela L. Quevillon Mel Gibson- John Cmar Discuss on our forums. An Escape Pod Original! All stories by ... By James Patrick Kelly Cast: Becca- AB Kovacs Sam- Pamela L. Quevillon Mel Gibson- John Cmar Discuss on our forums. An Escape Pod Original! All stories by James Patrick Kelly All stories read by AB Kovacs, Pamela L. Quevillon, John Cmar Appropriate for older teens and up due to erotic imagery and war criminal comeuppance. Bad Dogs Escape By James Patrick Kelly /SFX/ CLOCK TICKING, FADE TO /SFX/ DOGS BARKING IN DISTANCE SAM: Like? BECCA: Like. SAM: (growls like a dog, sexy) BECCA: Like? SAM: Like. /SFX/ DOGS BARKING IN DISTANCE BECCA: Lick? SAM: (giggles) Like. BECCA: (howls like a dog) /SFX/ DOGS BARKING CLOSER SAM: Theyrsquo;re busy today. BECCA: Manrsquo;s best friend. (SAM and BECCA laugh) MEL: (in distance) Help! SAM: Uh-oh. BECCA: Company. /SFX/ DOGS BARKING, CLOSER MEL: (outside) Open up. Help! /SFX/ PANICKY KNOCKING ON DOOR MEL: (outside) For Godrsquo;s sake, let me in! SAM: Already with God. Leave him. BECCA: No, letrsquo;s take a look. I could use a laugh. /SFX/ FOOTSTEPS. WINDOW SLIDES OPEN. SAM: Good enough to eat? BECCA: Yoursquo;re bad. /SFX/ DOGS BARKING MEL: I can see you in there. Hurry. Please. BECCA: Wherersquo;s the controller? SAM: Yoursquo;re not letting him in? /SFX/ DOGS BARKING /SFX/ MORE KNOCKING BECCA: Thisrsquo;ll be fun. Is the taser charged? SAM: Letrsquo;s see. /SFX/ TASER ZAP SAM: Yep. BECCA: I bet nine minutes. SAM: Not fair. You can see him. /SFX/ GARAGE DOOR OPENING BECCA: Nine is my bet. Yours? SAM: Way too quick. Ten minutes. No, eleven. BECCA: Done. (calls to Mel) Itrsquo;s an overhead door. You have to crawl. MEL: (outside) What? Theyrsquo;re coming fast. SAM: Crawl under! /SFX/ CRAWLING, GRUNTING MEL: Shut it, shut it now! /SFX/ GARAGE DOOR CLOSING MEL: Thank you, thank you, thank you. You saved my life. /SFX/ STANDS, MORE GRUNTS, DUSTS HIMSELF OFF MEL: But who are you? BECCA: Me, Becca. She, Sam. You? SAM: Mel Gibson, maybe. BECCA: Our road warrior. (SAM and BECCA laugh) MEL: (confused) No, my name is Fish. Robert Fish. You can call me Bob. SAM: Or I can call you Mel Gibson. MEL: I beg your pardon, but thatrsquo;s not my name. My name is Bob. SAM: Mel. (beat) Gibson. BECCA: Yoursquo;re bad, Sam. (beat) So Mel, you must be from the vault. MEL: The vault? BECCA: The big underground storage thingy. All the fatcats snoozing away. MEL: You mean the Cultural Preservation Facility? That was top secret back when hellip; but I suppose you must know all about it by now. BECCA: Not all. SAM: Something about your old government. BECCA: You people wasted everything. And then millions died. SAM: Billions. MEL: We tried. We tried very hard. It wasnrsquo;t as if we couldnrsquo;t see what was coming. The droughts, tornados, the economy going south. But it didnrsquo;t happen all at once. Then the Raccoon flu, the antibiotics were useless. The wheat crop failed two years in a row. Then came riots, cities on fire, madness. When we lost control we gathered the best -- scientists, economists, engineers, architects into the CPF hellip;. SAM: CPF? MEL: The Cultural Preservation Facility. The vault. The Congressional Committee selected a hundred volunteers to enter suspended animation pods to sleep through all the disasters. Wait, how long has it been? SAM: Since when? MEL: I mean, what year is this? SAM: Pick one. Theyrsquo;re all available. BECCA: My mom never kept a calendar. Did yours, Sam? SAM: You met my mom. BECCA: Right. So anyway, Mel, you decided to snooze while the world went to the dogs. MEL: Everything was flying apart. We tried... 13,and,Up,,Podcasts James Patrick Kelly no No http://escapepod.org/2011/12/22/ep324-long-winters-nap/ http://escapepod.org/2011/12/22/ep324-long-winters-nap/#comments Fri, 23 Dec 2011 04:03:29 +0000 Mur Lafferty http://escapepod.org/?p=2902 http://escapepod.org/2011/12/22/ep324-long-winters-nap/feed/ 0 30:33 By Catherine H. Shaffer Read by Mur Lafferty Discuss on our forums. First published in Analog, 2006 All stories by Catherine H. Shaffer All stories read by Mur Lafferty Nothing ... By Catherine H. Shaffer Read by Mur Lafferty Discuss on our forums. First published in Analog, 2006 All stories by Catherine H. Shaffer All stories read by Mur Lafferty Nothing objectionable in this episode, except it may not be appropriate for the younger folk, as the story does discuss Santy Clawr. Long Winter's Nap by Catherine H. Shaffer ldquo;Eat,rdquo; said MooninMama, ldquo;You have a long winter ahead.rdquo; LittlestOne turned her head away as MooninMama lifted the spoon of raspberry pie dripping with honey and caribou fat. LittlestOne was sleepy, too sleepy, for what she planned. ldquo;I am already full,rdquo; said LittlestOne. Her stomach rumbled, giving away her lie. MooninMama shrugged and set the plate away. It was beginning to get cold in the cave as the crackling fire burned down to embers. Soon it would be time to sleep, time to dream of spring, when they would awaken, shivering, and find that Santy Clawr had visited them. MooninMama lay next to YediDaddy and pulled LittlestOne down between them, like a baby. All of the others had their own beds. The hardest part was lying still between MooninMama and YediDaddy without falling asleep. It wasnrsquo;t like going to sleep at night. There were no blankets to keep them warm, though they had soft beds. More than once, LittlestOne shook herself awake after accidentally nodding off. She wasnrsquo;t sure she could fight off the long sleep by simple force of will, not with the cold coming down into her bones. She peeked out from beneath her heavy lids and the cave was dark except for the thin, crackly lines of orange from the dying embers in the fire pit. The taste of sugar rose to her tongue and her hands and feet began to tingle. MooninMama was still, her breath coming softer and fainter each time. Her bright blue eyes were closed and her cheek as soft as a babyrsquo;s. Chestnut hair fanned around her shoulders. Her breasts rose and fell softly with her breath. YediDaddy wasnrsquo;t breathing at all. There was a faint beard of frost on his face, decorating the stubble on his chin. All around lay LittlestOnersquo;s brothers and sisters, their children, her aunts and uncles and cousins, her grandparents, and all the other people of the tribe. In the summer, when the tribe slept, there were all sorts of sounds in the night. People coughing, snoring, and sometimes laughing, but here there was nothing but a deep silence. LittlestOne stood up and shook the tingling out. She felt a pang of longing looking at her parents hibernating, but it wasnrsquo;t enough to keep her with them. She turned to sneak out. She felt dizzy and stumbled several times as she tiptoed across the sleeping bodies of her tribe. Nothing would wake them now but Spring. LittlestOne crawled out of the cave and went to the summer house that YediDaddy had built. She lit a fire and crouched beside it. When she felt completely awake, she went out into the night. It was snowing softly, and there werenrsquo;t any stars. She had never been so alone. But she resisted the temptation to go back to the cave with her family. She imagined what they would say when she told them she had met Santy Clawr. They wouldnrsquo;t think she was such a baby, then! # The days were lonely for LittlestOne. It grew colder and all she wanted to do was go to sleep. Many times she woke herself just on the verge of hibernation , and had to get warm again so she wouldnrsquo;t miss Santy. She knew where to find food, even under the snow. MooninMama and YediDaddy kept caches of meat and potatoes underground, where they wouldnrsquo;t go bad. There were some nuts and berries left on the bushes, and she didnrsquo;t need to eat much, since she was so small. Digging through the buried boxes, LittlestOne wondered why there was so much food, with the feast that Santy Clawr would be bringing. To fight off the loneliness, she sat up on top of the highest hill and looked out over the wa... 10,and,Up,,Podcasts Catherine H. Shaffer no No http://escapepod.org/2011/12/20/12-days-of-christmas-stories/ http://escapepod.org/2011/12/20/12-days-of-christmas-stories/#comments Tue, 20 Dec 2011 18:50:02 +0000 Paul http://escapepod.org/?p=2892 http://escapepod.org/2011/12/20/12-days-of-christmas-stories/feed/ 1 http://escapepod.org/2011/12/16/science-future-aggrandize-aptitude/ http://escapepod.org/2011/12/16/science-future-aggrandize-aptitude/#comments Sat, 17 Dec 2011 01:58:47 +0000 Nojh http://escapepod.org/?p=2861 http://escapepod.org/2011/12/16/science-future-aggrandize-aptitude/feed/ 0 http://escapepod.org/2011/12/15/ep323-marking-time-on-the-far-side-of-forever/ http://escapepod.org/2011/12/15/ep323-marking-time-on-the-far-side-of-forever/#comments Thu, 15 Dec 2011 22:41:18 +0000 Mur Lafferty http://escapepod.org/?p=2888 http://escapepod.org/2011/12/15/ep323-marking-time-on-the-far-side-of-forever/feed/ 0 34:13 By DK Latta Read by Josh Roseman Discuss on our forums. First published in Prairie Fire, 1999 All stories by DK Latta All stories read by Josh Roseman Marking Time ... By DK Latta Read by Josh Roseman Discuss on our forums. First published in Prairie Fire, 1999 All stories by DK Latta All stories read by Josh Roseman Marking Time on the Far Side of Forever by D.K. Latta I sit beneath the dark green sky, overlooking the valley that has changed much over the years.nbsp; What was once a stream has swelled into a river while, to the east, lush vegetation grows where I think there was once a shallow lake. I can't remember definitely. The information is stored inside me, filed, itemized; I'm merely unsure how to access it. It will come to me. Later, when a random search, an unrelated thought, cracks open the proper conduits and a pulse of electricity resurrects the knowledge, unbidden. Until then, I am content to wait. Below my knee, the dented brass-coloured metal becomes the red of a tree trunk, substituting as a shin and foot. Like an antiquated peg-leg, like a stereotypical pira...pi...pi- Pi is 3.1415926... The organic substance must be replaced occasionally, but the concept has served satisfactorily for almost two hundred years. It was easy to jury-rig. Not so my mnemonic core.nbsp; I lack the appropriate tools and diagnostic programs. Yes. There had been a lake, teeming with the hoorah-thet fish. I call them fish simply to provide a basis of comparative orientation. Fish only exist on earth, and this is not earth.nbsp; Earth is a long, long way away. "Gakha!" I turn my head left, but abruptly the joints seize up. The swivel mechanism has been malfunctioning for months. Fiffer comes bounding through the long red stalks that sprout to the height of a man. The sun is setting, and when night settles the stalks will curl up until the first rays of morning buss them with its solar kiss. I'm being florid. Dr. Fujiwama programmed me that way. She said it would make my information easier to digest for the scouting party. My left eye starts pixilating, turning everything into a multi-coloured grid. I slap my palm against my brow with a dull clang! and the image clears. Who is bounding toward me? Do I know him? Fiffer. He bounces along on his powerful tail, his four lower limbs atrophied to stumps. I've unearthed fossils indicating that his ancestors had well-developed hind limbs. I think the scouting party will be pleased with my report on paleozoology. There are some nice passages in it. Florid even. Fiffer calls me Gakha, which means 'shelled man'. They do not comprehend refined metals. Fiffer's people think I'm some sort of god. I've tried to disabuse them of that notion. Fiffer halts, his principle forelimb gesticulating. The limb is a tongue that has evolved through the chest cavity. I detail its evolution in my report on Comparative Anatomies of the Vertebrates of the Temperate Zone. It was my first completed essay. I'm proud to say my observations within it have not been contradicted by subsequent data collected in the ensuing years. I was very meticulous. "Gakha?" I focus, realizing I may have drifted. "Has a grubbling fallen into a well?" I rise, prepared to rescue the little creature. "No." His tongue waves excitedly. "A shell has fallen." My left eye pixilates momentarily. I ignore it. "What?" "A big shell. It was bright at its bottom as it fell from the sky. Then it landed and went dark." "Shell?" Slowly, I consider: shell equals refined metals. "Show me, please." *nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; *nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; * It's a ship. I don't recognize the design. I lurch toward it in fits and starts through the swamp. I have sent Fiffer back to the village, until I can ascertain whether the inhabitants of the shell -- I mean, ship -- whether they mean his people harm. It is important that no harm come to them. The scouting party will want to meet them. In the nightsky I recognize the purple glimmer of a planet that shares the same sun. It is uninhabited, though mig... 10,and,Up,,Podcasts DK Latta no No http://escapepod.org/2011/12/08/chicken-noodle-gravity/ http://escapepod.org/2011/12/08/chicken-noodle-gravity/#comments Fri, 09 Dec 2011 04:18:03 +0000 Mur Lafferty http://escapepod.org/?p=2869 http://escapepod.org/2011/12/08/chicken-noodle-gravity/feed/ 0 32:11 By J. Daniel Sawyer Read by Paul Haring Discuss on our forums. An Escape Pod original! All stories by J. Daniel Sawyer All stories read by Paul Haring Rated 17 ... By J. Daniel Sawyer Read by Paul Haring Discuss on our forums. An Escape Pod original! All stories by J. Daniel Sawyer All stories read by Paul Haring Rated 17 and up for language, and mild sexual situations Chicken Noodle Gravity by J. Daniel Sawyer I hate to start out this way, but before we get to the reason I'm standing on this stool with a fez on my head, in the middle of the night, in front of a double-cal-king bed in a furniture storemdash;which, yes, Officer, I swear I'll confess I broke into illegallymdash;before we get to any of that, there's something I have to tell you. I know it's awful, evil, and just plain wrong, but there's no way around it, and you won't understand anything else unless I say this right up front, so here goes: Stephen was stoned. And when I say ldquo;stonedrdquo; I mean he'd eaten enough brownies and smoked enough pot to put the economies of five or six minor countries into a severe, long-term deficit crisis. It was okay. It helped him cope with the chemo. Mellowed him out. We didn't have to fight over who got to hold the remote. He was better in bed toomdash;not as neurotic. Didn't complain about my mustache when I kissed him. Suits me right for shacking up with a clean freak. The weed was my revengemdash;well, the fact that the weed made it possible for him to eat. We had to grow our ownmdash;only way we could afford it, though I swear we probably spent as much on the electricity as we would have on the bud. Not a great climate for it, not in the winter. So, the revenge partmdash;that would be his appetite. When he smoked, it came back. It was the only time it came back. And there were only two things he could handle: Brownies. And chicken noodle soup. The really rancid stuff that came in a red and white can. I swear, by all that's good and holy and a bowl of Ex-Lax besides, that was all he could eat. And he hated chocolate almost as much as he hated the soup. Feeding him the soup and brownies was my revenge on him for getting sick in the first place. Not that I blamed him about the soup. A hundred forty years after it was invented, that stuff still smelled like salted famine and disease glopping out of the can. But after Stephen lost all his hair, for the third time, I got to love that smell. Not because it smelled any better, but because every time I smelled it I knew he'd be around at least long enough to eat it. Sometimes, a little bit of hope is all you need to keep going. When your life is filled with words like ldquo;pancreatic,rdquo; ldquo;stage four,rdquo; and ldquo;terminal,rdquo; you learn to live with what you can get. So we smoked like chimneys, screwed like carpenters, sang like sailors, and gambled like day-traders. I didn't give much of a damn that the money wouldn't last much longer than him. But he just. Kept. Lasting. He didn't want to let me go any more than I wanted to let him go. First it was the money. Then it was the house. Then it was the car. But it didn't matter. As long as I could keep growing the green, and opening those red and white cans. It went on like that all winter. When they diagnosed him, they said he'd last five weeks. We'd made it five months, and we weren't going to make it much longer without changingmdash;and whatever it was, we were going to have to get creative. I was still employed. My job at the casino paid enough in tips that we should have been okay, and my insurance covered all his doctor visits. But the meds killed us. Cancer drugs move so fast that the difference in survival comes down to what month you were diagnosed, now. That small-cell lung cancer you've got today will kill you, but the tumor your brother discovers in six weeks will be treatable, and the one your mom gets a month after that will be curable. If you can stay alive long enough, then you can stay alive period. That's the deal. And that's why every penny I earned in sal... Podcasts J. Daniel Sawyer no No http://escapepod.org/2011/12/07/book-review-bigfoot-i-not-dead-by-graham-roumieu/ http://escapepod.org/2011/12/07/book-review-bigfoot-i-not-dead-by-graham-roumieu/#comments Wed, 07 Dec 2011 20:02:49 +0000 Josh Roseman http://escapepod.org/?p=2844 http://escapepod.org/2011/12/07/book-review-bigfoot-i-not-dead-by-graham-roumieu/feed/ 3 http://escapepod.org/2011/12/04/myth-deadly-throwing-knives/ http://escapepod.org/2011/12/04/myth-deadly-throwing-knives/#comments Sun, 04 Dec 2011 20:00:45 +0000 Sarah Frost http://escapepod.org/?p=2849 http://escapepod.org/2011/12/04/myth-deadly-throwing-knives/feed/ 13 http://escapepod.org/2011/12/03/book-review-112263-by-stephen-king/ http://escapepod.org/2011/12/03/book-review-112263-by-stephen-king/#comments Sat, 03 Dec 2011 19:59:20 +0000 Josh Roseman http://escapepod.org/?p=2838 11/22/63, we learn that, no matter what we think should've happened, history is a pretty powerful force and it doesn't want to be changed.]]> http://escapepod.org/2011/12/03/book-review-112263-by-stephen-king/feed/ 0 http://escapepod.org/2011/12/02/ep321-honor-killing/ http://escapepod.org/2011/12/02/ep321-honor-killing/#comments Fri, 02 Dec 2011 21:59:09 +0000 Mur Lafferty http://escapepod.org/?p=2854 http://escapepod.org/2011/12/02/ep321-honor-killing/feed/ 0 19:33 By Ray Tabler Read by Mur Lafferty Discuss on our forums. An Escape Pod original! All stories by Ray Tabler All stories read by Mur Lafferty Rated 10 and up for ... By Ray Tabler Read by Mur Lafferty Discuss on our forums. An Escape Pod original! All stories by Ray Tabler All stories read by Mur Lafferty Rated 10 and up for blaster violence. Honor Killing by Ray Tabler You would think that after all the years I've spent schlepping cargoes around the galaxy I'd have learned not to get involved with the locals, especially when they're not humans. You would think. A Yanuleen sat down across the table from me in a bar at the edge of the landing field outside of Yanult's largest city. Yanuleen are furry little folk, bipedal and about a meter tall with six multi-jointed arms poking out at odd intervals around their middles. This one blinked beady, black eyes at me, "Greetings Sentient Being." "Uh, greetings." "Isn't it a glorious piece?" My new buddy pointed an arm at the artwork on display in the middle of the bar. Yanuleen are a bit nuts for that type of thing. They have artwork, mainly sculpture, everywhere, even in a bar. To me it just looked like a three-meter tall bundle of twigs with pieces of broken pottery tossed in at random. "Very nice." Being in a foul mood, I took a drink and stared at the Yanuleen. "Here is being Klonoon." He pointed all six arms at himself, in the manner of his kind. "Might here also being Captain Anne Katya Shim, who is having a cargo of entertainment modules impounded by the Port Authority?" "Yeah, that's me. What's it to ya, shorty?" This twerp was starting to get on my nerves. "Great amounts of good fortune we are both having. Klonoon is searching many establishments near the spaceport for Captain Anne Katya Shim." "Well, you found me. What next?" "Next is being Klonoon and Captain Anne Katya Shim discussing matters of mutual benefit." "And just what matters might those be?" Klonoon is having much influence with the official in charge of impounding cargoes." Suddenly, my old buddy Klonoon wasn't near as annoying as a few minutes ago. Captain Anne Katya Shim is helping Klonoon and Klonoon is helping Captain Anne--" "Just call me Anne, okay? And get to the point." Klonoon's whole body wriggled, which I think meant he was laughing, or maybe getting ready to vomit. I hadn't planned on being on that damned planet for more than a day or two, so I hadn't studied the culture much. "Klonoon is getting assets unfrozen so Anne is getting paid for delivery of cargo." "And what is Anne doing-- I mean, what is it you want me to do in return?" "Anne is killing Klonoon's cousin Jerbot." It was my turn to blink. "Anne is what?" "Klonoon's cousin Jerbot is needing to be killed. It is being a matter of honor." "I don't care if it is a matter of honor. Murder's illegal and I don't want to end up in prison." "No. No. Yes. Yes. Murder is being illegal. Honor killings are being different." Now, right here is when I should have stood up and stormed out. "If that's the case, why don't you just kill Jerbot yourself?" Klonoon pulled all three arms in on one side and stuck the others straight out. "Klonoon is not doing that! The one who is killing Jerbot is taking Jerbot's dishonor on himself." "Oh well, that's logical." "Yes, very. Off-worlders are having no honor. And, Humans are being particularly violent. Anne is probably killing sixes of sentient beings, perhaps sixes of sixes." "What do you mean we're violent?" "Humans are having many wars. You are having your War of First Contact, your Altair War, your War of the Outer Rift, your--" "All right, all right, we've had a lot of wars. At least we're not as bad as the Hestolians." "If any Hestolians are being on Yanult with impounded cargoes Klonoon is talking to them. Here is only being Anne on Yanult with an impounded cargo." Klonoon stood up and slid a data cube across the table top. "Time is being not much left. Here is where Jerbot is being. Anne is killing Jerbot. Klonoon is solving Anne's problem." Before I kne 10,and,Up,,OK,for,Kids,,Podcasts Mur Lafferty no No http://escapepod.org/2011/12/01/soundproof-14/ http://escapepod.org/2011/12/01/soundproof-14/#comments Fri, 02 Dec 2011 04:33:43 +0000 Bill Peters http://escapepod.org/?p=2926 http://escapepod.org/2011/12/01/soundproof-14/feed/ 0 00:01:01 Hello everyone, You know that column you run into every now and then on how time always seems like itrsquo;s going faster as you get older? ... Hello everyone, You know that column you run into every now and then on how time always seems like itrsquo;s going faster as you get older? The one where you can kind of tell that the columnist suddenly realized he hadnrsquo;t actually written their weekly twelve column inches and was asking themselves how exactly Tuesday afternoon had arrived on them already (or a TV columnnist for that matter mdash; the first time I ran into it I think I was 7 or 8 and my parents were watching 60 Minutes). Yeah, itrsquo;s kind of been like that lately. I think with Christmas/Hanukkah/[insert midwinter celebration of choice]/Festivus coming up and the rapid shortening of days ahead of the solstice, at least for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, breed a feeling of loss at the time we had, but really would like to have again. Not quite nostalia, more like (part of me wants to write now-stalgia, but that would be a horribly disqualifying pun) the loss of the recent past that you really wanted to have accomplished more in. Time travelrsquo;s usually all about meeting your grandkids to the nth degree and playing with their cool new gadgets/seeing the future dystopia/utopia/stealing a book of sports statistics, or going back and killing Hitler. But commercial and commoditized time travel would probably just be a bunch of people trying to optimize the days that didnrsquo;t go horribly wrong, but didnrsquo;t approach the theoretical ur-day that modern days rarely meet. Wersquo;d all make our deadlines, but would be 90 years old after 35 calendar years. And with that, Irsquo;ll let you peruse our fine stories this month. For those of you who NaNoWriMorsquo;d last month, I hope yoursquo;re recovering. mdash;Bill Bill Peters Assistant Editor Escape Pod mdash;30mdash; Podcasts,,TheSoundproofEscapePod Mur Lafferty no No http://escapepod.org/2011/11/24/ep320-thanksgiving-day/ http://escapepod.org/2011/11/24/ep320-thanksgiving-day/#comments Fri, 25 Nov 2011 02:53:10 +0000 Mur Lafferty http://escapepod.org/?p=2833 http://escapepod.org/2011/11/24/ep320-thanksgiving-day/feed/ 0 46:56 By Jay Werkheiser Read by Paul Haring Discuss on our forums. First appeared in Analog All stories by Jay Werkheiser All stories read by Paul Haring Thanksgiving Day By Jay Werkheiser Kev's stomach ... By Jay Werkheiser Read by Paul Haring Discuss on our forums. First appeared in Analog All stories by Jay Werkheiser All stories read by Paul Haring Thanksgiving Day By Jay Werkheiser Kev's stomach curled around emptiness, embracing it as a constant reminder that the colony's Earth food was almost gone. Another three months, four at the outside. Then what? How will we die? He bent down to look into the nearest cage. "Maybe you'll tell us why the food here is poisonous," he said to one of the rats inside. It rolled its dull eyes listlessly toward him. Rust-brown clumps matted its fur, and the metallic odor of dried blood hung in the air. Is that how I'll go, clutching helplessly at alien dirt, coughing up blood? His gut clenched tighter. "They are not going to tell you anything," Ahmet said from across the toxicology lab. Kev looked up from the cage at the short, dark-skinned man walking toward him. His circular glasses, perched atop a narrow nose, reminded Kev of an owl. "I thought I'd stop by on the way home from the analytical chem lab," Kev said. "One of the grunts said you were looking for me earlier." Ahmet nodded. "I was hoping you could run some samples for me. Give me a clue what's in them." Kev frowned. "The biochem team has me running Bradford assays day and night, looking for alien proteins. Did you come up with a new lead?" Hope flared in his chest, then died with Ahmet's reply. "I'm afraid I'm just grasping at straws. My subchronic rats keep developing the same symptoms -- nosebleed, bloody stools, and ultimately internal hemorrhaging." "Subchronic?" said Kev, quizzically. "My field's spectroscopy." "The subjects receive daily doses of an alien food source over ten percent of their life span, about three months for rats." "Three months?" Kev said. "The hydroponics tanks are dying, Ahmet." "Yes, I understand that. You're not the only one living on short rations." Anger flashed behind Ahmet's glasses, but quickly dissipated. "Toxicology is a slow business. I don't think we're going to have results in time." Ahmet seemed to deflate with his anger. "We came all this way, spent all those years on the ship, to fail before we even get started." Kev put his hand on Ahmet's shoulder. "We're not going down without a fight." Ahmet nodded, his eyes downcast. "I have learned that mycowood produced the most severe symptoms in the rats." "Mycowood? They're those mushroom-shaped tree things, right? Smell minty." "Yes. The organic team tells me the smell comes from salicylate esters. All the local plants produce them." Kev connected the dots. Salicylates. Aspirin. "Blood thinners?" he asked. Ahmet's head bobbled up and down. "But only dangerous in quantities much larger than we find here. Still, I think it could be important." "All right, send some of your mycowood samples over to the analyt lab. I'll squeeze them in first thing in the morning." "Thank you. Thank you!" Ahmet's Turkish accent was normally muted, but it thickened when he was excited. "That will be most helpful." "Save your enthusiasm for tomorrow." A thin smile curled Kev's lips, his first in a long time. "It's nearly fourteen o'clock, time to head home for a few hours' sleep." The short walk across the colony compound felt longer because Epsilon Indi, settling low on the horizon at this late hour, cast bright sunbeams into his eyes. Two long shadows moved through the glare ahead of him. Kev shielded his eyes with his hand to see who it was -- two grunts working late in the reactor building. He hated the way the word grunt had become a part of the colony's lexicon. He cringed inwardly, remembering that he'd used it himself in the tox lab. It's hard to fight human nature. But he could try. He waited until he could see the nearest worker. "Hi, Logan." Logan lifted his form straight upright, elevating his square jaw so that it was level with 10,and,Up,,Podcasts Jay Werkheiser no No http://escapepod.org/2011/11/22/podcast-review-astronomy-cast/ http://escapepod.org/2011/11/22/podcast-review-astronomy-cast/#comments Tue, 22 Nov 2011 13:00:40 +0000 Sarah Frost http://escapepod.org/?p=2817 http://escapepod.org/2011/11/22/podcast-review-astronomy-cast/feed/ 1 http://escapepod.org/2011/11/21/film-review-in-time/ http://escapepod.org/2011/11/21/film-review-in-time/#comments Mon, 21 Nov 2011 13:00:37 +0000 Josh Roseman http://escapepod.org/?p=2805 In Time to be an enjoyable film, but if you haven't seen it yet, I'd wait for it to come out on DVD. The genre hook, while interesting, isn't exactly new, and there's a bit too much heavy-handed moralizing about haves and have-nots.]]> http://escapepod.org/2011/11/21/film-review-in-time/feed/ 1 http://escapepod.org/2011/11/20/book-review-the-thackery-t-lambshead-cabinet-of-curiosities-edited-by-ann-and-jeff-vandermeer/ http://escapepod.org/2011/11/20/book-review-the-thackery-t-lambshead-cabinet-of-curiosities-edited-by-ann-and-jeff-vandermeer/#comments Sun, 20 Nov 2011 13:00:43 +0000 Sarah Frost http://escapepod.org/?p=2794 http://escapepod.org/2011/11/20/book-review-the-thackery-t-lambshead-cabinet-of-curiosities-edited-by-ann-and-jeff-vandermeer/feed/ 0 http://escapepod.org/2011/11/19/book-review-the-steerswoman-by-rosemary-kirstein/ http://escapepod.org/2011/11/19/book-review-the-steerswoman-by-rosemary-kirstein/#comments Sat, 19 Nov 2011 13:00:33 +0000 Sarah Frost http://escapepod.org/?p=2790 http://escapepod.org/2011/11/19/book-review-the-steerswoman-by-rosemary-kirstein/feed/ 1 http://escapepod.org/2011/11/18/the-gift-of-choice-unless-youre-a-borg/ http://escapepod.org/2011/11/18/the-gift-of-choice-unless-youre-a-borg/#comments Fri, 18 Nov 2011 13:00:30 +0000 Josh Roseman http://escapepod.org/?p=2767 Voyager episode "The Gift", I thought Janeway had done a good thing saving a human from the Borg. Now, fourteen years later, I wonder just what the hell Janeway -- and the writers -- were thinking.]]> http://escapepod.org/2011/11/18/the-gift-of-choice-unless-youre-a-borg/feed/ 15 http://escapepod.org/2011/11/17/ep319-driving-x/ http://escapepod.org/2011/11/17/ep319-driving-x/#comments Thu, 17 Nov 2011 20:02:18 +0000 Mur Lafferty http://escapepod.org/?p=2829 http://escapepod.org/2011/11/17/ep319-driving-x/feed/ 0 00:01:01 By Gwendolyn Clare Read by Mur Lafferty Discuss on our forums. First appeared in Warrior Wisewoman 3 All stories by Gwendolyn Clare All stories read by Mur Lafferty Driving X by Gwendolyn ... By Gwendolyn Clare Read by Mur Lafferty Discuss on our forums. First appeared in Warrior Wisewoman 3 All stories by Gwendolyn Clare All stories read by Mur Lafferty Driving X by Gwendolyn Clare Carmela wouldn't have stopped if she had known that the kid was still alive. She spotted the body lying under a creosote bush, maybe ten yards from the road, and she hit the brakes. nbsp;She grabbed the roll cage of the old dune buggy and pulled herself up, standing on the driver's seat to scan in both directions along the unpaved road. nbsp;A dust devil twirled a silent ballet off to the southeast, but hers was the only man-made dust trail in evidence for miles. nbsp;She raised her hand to cover the sun and squinted into the bleached, cloudless sky--no vultures yet, which was good, since vultures attract attention. nbsp;Minimal risk, she decided. The dune buggy itself wasn't that valuable, but the newer-model solar panels powering it would be enough to tempt any sane person, and the carboys of potable water were worth a small fortune out here. Carmela swung out of the dune buggy and jogged over to check out the body. nbsp;It was tall but skinny, with the not-yet-filled-out look of a teenager. nbsp;Pale skin, a tint of sunburn, brown hair cropped at chin-length. nbsp;The girl was lying face down in the dust, so Carmela rolled the body over and checked her front pockets for anything of interest. nbsp;A month ago, she would have felt ashamed, but scavenging was the norm down here; after all, dead people don't miss what you take from them. Carmela was rifling through the kid's backpack--shaking her head about the nearly empty water supply--when she heard the girl moan. She froze, one hand still buried in the bag. nbsp;She should gather up the loot and make a run for the dune buggy before the girl came around. The kid was probably a goner, anyway, she told herself. nbsp;Instead, she leaned in closer, looking at the face plastered with sand and sweaty clumps of brown hair. The girl's eyelids peeled back and stared up at Carmela with the glazed slowness of delirium. nbsp;Her cracked lips parted and she said, hoarsely, "Mom?" Nobody had ever called Carmela that before. nbsp;She slid her hands under the girl's shoulders to lift her. # Swinging her legs, nine-year-old Carmela knocked her heels lightly against the side of the exam table. nbsp;Mama sat in a plastic chair, flipping through a magazine the way she always did when she was getting impatient. nbsp;Carmela's test result had come in, and for some reason that was beyond her, Mama was really nervous about it. nbsp;And the doctor was running late. Carmela didn't know why Mama was all bent out of shape over the non-Mendelian genetic test. nbsp;To be fair, she wasn't entirely sure what "non-Mendelian" meant, except that it was something bad that your genes could be. nbsp;Driving X was a chromosome that was bad that way, and pretty much everybody had it, and for some reason you had to get tested for it anyway. nbsp;That's what Carmela knew. Dr. Tanaka entered the exam room, holding a manila folder to her chest. nbsp;"Afternoon Ms. Perez, Carmela. nbsp;Sorry to keep you waiting." Mama dropped the magazine on the floor next to her chair and stood, fingers knotted together nervously. nbsp;"Well?" Dr. Tanaka opened the folder, took out a single sheet of paper, and handed it to Mama. nbsp;Mama stared at it for a long minute, like she couldn't quite see it properly. nbsp;She made a choking noise. In her tight, mustn't-cry-in-public voice, she said, "I'll be right back." nbsp;She left the paper on her chair and hurried for the door. Carmela hopped off the exam table and picked up the sheet of paper. It had a lot of gobbledygook on it, but right in the middle, in bold, it read, "XDXD". She didn't understand what the big deal was. nbsp;Pretty much everybody had the Driving X allele on at least one o... 10,and,Up,,Podcasts Gwendolyn Clare no No http://escapepod.org/2011/11/10/ep318-the-prize-beyond-gold/ http://escapepod.org/2011/11/10/ep318-the-prize-beyond-gold/#comments Thu, 10 Nov 2011 13:00:01 +0000 Mur Lafferty http://escapepod.org/?p=2810 http://escapepod.org/2011/11/10/ep318-the-prize-beyond-gold/feed/ 0 00:01:01 By Ian Creasey Read by Josh Roseman Discuss on our forums. First appeared in Asimov's All stories by Ian Creasey All stories read by Josh Roseman The Prize Beyond Gold by Ian ... By Ian Creasey Read by Josh Roseman Discuss on our forums. First appeared in Asimov's All stories by Ian Creasey All stories read by Josh Roseman The Prize Beyond Gold by Ian Creasey Three days before the race, when Delroy had finished warming down from a training run, his coach summoned him for a talk. Delroy could tell it was something big. Michito's job -- assisted by his Enhanced empathy -- was to become exquisitely sensitive to his athlete's mood, so as to help get the best out of him. The attunement sometimes became mutual, and Delroy now discerned a rare eagerness in Michito's almost-natural face. "The weather forecast for race day has reached certainty," said Michito. "Temperature: perfect. Humidity: perfect. Wind speed: just below the permissible maximum. Wind direction --" "Perfect?" said Delroy. "Behind you all the way." Michito grinned in delight. "It's the final star in the constellation. You're in great shape, the weather will be ideal, we're two thousand metres above sea level" -- Michito made a sweeping gesture, encompassing the many other factors affecting performance -- "and it all adds up to one thing." "I'm going to win?" Delroy didn't understand Michito's glee: the weather would be the same for all the runners. "Yes, but never mind that. Forget winning -- you have a chance at the record!" Michito paused to let it sink in. Records were something that athletes and coaches normally never discussed, because they'd stood so long that they were effectively unbeatable. The record for the men's 100 metres had remained at 8.341 seconds for the past seventy years. A pulse of exhilaration surged through Delroy. His posture stiffened, as if already preparing for the starting gun. "Really? The world record?" "Yes, the one and only. The prize beyond gold." Michito's excitement spilled out, infecting Delroy, whose own excitement blazed in return and stoked a feedback loop. They were practically getting high on it. Indeed, this giddy rush was as close to getting high as Delroy had ever experienced. In his entire life he'd never once taken any kind of drug. The rules were strict on that, as on so many other things. Abruptly, Michito reverted to his habitual seriousness. "A chance, I said. A real chance. But only if everything's as smooth as an angel's feather. We need absolute perfection. There can be no deviations, no distractions." This was standard rhetoric for any important race. Yet Michito's demeanour indicated something beyond the usual rigorous regime. "I think it would be best if you stayed here at the training ground," Michito went on, "instead of going back to the villa tonight. This is a more controlled environment, with much less risk --" "What could possibly happen to me?" "I want to keep you away from other people, and it's easier to do that here. You'll be in purdah, seeing no-one except your coaching team. I know it'll be frustrating, but it's only three days." Delroy grimaced, though he didn't argue. Michito knew what was best. Aside from the usual health and attractiveness tweaks, Michito's main Enhancement was an uncanny empathy that let him predict Delroy's responses, and thus determine the optimum conditions for success. If he felt purdah was necessary, then it must be necessary. It was only another line in the script Delroy had been following all his life. The script had two phases, as familiar as his two legs. Sometimes, when he rehearsed stride patterns out on the track, the script echoed in his head with every step: left, right; left, right -- race, train; race, train.... Michito said, "This is bigger than any medal. The Olympics are like a moon that's always in the sky, waxing every four years; but the record is a comet that blazes just once across the heavens, before disappearing forever. This could be the only time in your career when all the right circumstances 10,and,Up,,Podcasts Ian Creasey no No http://escapepod.org/2011/11/05/book-review-snuff-by-terry-pratchett/ http://escapepod.org/2011/11/05/book-review-snuff-by-terry-pratchett/#comments Sun, 06 Nov 2011 00:52:23 +0000 Josh Roseman http://escapepod.org/?p=2776 Snuff, Commander Samuel Vimes goes on vacation and ends up doing a whole lot of it. Also, his son discovers the wonders of poo.]]> http://escapepod.org/2011/11/05/book-review-snuff-by-terry-pratchett/feed/ 0 http://escapepod.org/2011/11/03/ep317-boxed-in/ http://escapepod.org/2011/11/03/ep317-boxed-in/#comments Fri, 04 Nov 2011 01:15:37 +0000 Mur Lafferty http://escapepod.org/?p=2802 http://escapepod.org/2011/11/03/ep317-boxed-in/feed/ 0 00:01:01 By Marc-Anthony Taylor Read by Barry Haworth Discuss on our forums. First appeared in British Fantasy Society Winter Journal 2010/2011 All stories bynbsp;Marc-Anthony Taylor All stories read bynbsp;Barry Haworth This one ... By Marc-Anthony Taylor Read by Barry Haworth Discuss on our forums. First appeared in British Fantasy Society Winter Journal 2010/2011 All stories bynbsp;Marc-Anthony Taylor All stories read bynbsp;Barry Haworth This one isn't for the kids, because of references to sex workers and acts. Boxed In by Marc-Anthony Taylor My sister had me boxed when I was four. She said she would have had it done to herself but she didn't want to risk losing me, that it was the only way. I think she just hated the idea of renting her body out to the rich folk in the domes. Don't get me wrong, she did good by me, I didn't have to work till I was nine and in that time she studied hard and became a data-pimp herself. It was the only way she could keep us housed and fed after mum and dad had died. It must have been hard for her, if mum and dad had made it she might have made something of herself. If she hadnrsquo;t have had to look after me she would probably be in a dome herself by now. She once told me she had big plans; that she wanted to make things better. My only plan was to make enough cash to get us both out of the business. I never noticed the tiny implant at the base of my skull, the nano circuitry must be some of the best though, the tattoo circling my right eye is almost perfect. Kara controlled who, what, when and where. She made sure we got paid, and that I didn't do anything too bad. She was a clever cookie. My sister looked after me. She did good. * Black leaves hung limply from the trees, refusing to fall despite the time of year. We were lucky to have trees at all; there were places on the other side of the city that had nothing living, except perhaps the odd person. Or so I was told, I had never ventured that far out and thankfully none of my clients had ever requested it. Kara didnrsquo;t think it was right to use vehicles. Even if they were meant to be eco friendly now. We would only ever use them if it was an emergency, she said. Everywhere I went, I went by foot, and I had come to know the city just as well as the grubby little apartment that my sister and I shared. My boots left imprints in the fine black powder that coated everything. The sky ships were under way again, every six months they would come out for a week, their massive air scrubbers extracting the carbon from the COsup2;, supposedly leaving us with fresher air. Most people believed they took the oxygen and pumped it into the Eden-domes. The carbon was probably used to construct whatever they needed. The dust was excess that happened to shake loose from the giant machines. Already a couple of people were out with their vacuum cleaners, sucking up what they could of the carbon to sell on the black market. One or two had even rushed out with brush and pan in hand, carefully shaking their winnings into plastic bags. Kara had never done that, she said once we started collecting that stuff, it wouldn't be long till we started getting sloppy and before you know it our lungs would be coated in gunk, bringing us that much closer to death. My sister, always the optimist. The mask I was wearing was about three years old, long past its renewal date but Kara had kept it in good working order, another one of her many talents. She knew how to break the manufacturing codes so she could regulate the functions. She would probably have been some big-shot programmer or hacker back in the old days. Now, she was just a skin-flint. "We gotta save our cash kid. Money doesn't fall from the sky, no matter what the carbon monkeys think. And besides, we don't repeat the mistakes of the past Nate, that's what got us all into this mess. Recycling is the way to go baby bro, and if I can fix it, you'll use it. 'K?" She was always coming out with stuff like that. It might have helped if I had gone to school like her, but they stopped taking boxed kids not long after I got mine. Bad influence supposedly. Still, I could feel a rasp star... 13,and,Up,,Podcasts Marc-Anthony Taylor no No http://escapepod.org/2011/11/01/soundproof-13/ http://escapepod.org/2011/11/01/soundproof-13/#comments Wed, 02 Nov 2011 01:45:25 +0000 Mur Lafferty http://escapepod.org/?p=2784 http://escapepod.org/2011/11/01/soundproof-13/feed/ 0 00:01:01 You can download the ePub version here. Hello everyone, and happy November! Itrsquo;s NaNoWriMo month, and a lot of professionals donrsquo;t like it. They say itrsquo;s misleading to tell newbies that the career that pros have taken years to perfect can be You can download the ePub version here. Hello everyone, and happy November! Itrsquo;s NaNoWriMo month, and a lot of professionals donrsquo;t like it. They say itrsquo;s misleading to tell newbies that the career that pros have taken years to perfect can be achieved in 30 days. They say that December 1 marks the day that thousands of unedited, 50,000 word ldquo;novelsrdquo; hit the desks of agents and editors. Some of them are just cynics who hate the excitement people get as November draws near, since theyrsquo;re toiling on their own books. But I tend to think itrsquo;s a great thing. Writing well is difficult, yes. But writing is not. And most people just stop themselves at writing, thinking if their story isnrsquo;t flat out brilliant literature from word one, they will never improve, never learn, and never be a writer. NaNoWriMo tells people to turn off the horrid editor in our minds and just write- something thatrsquo;s difficult to do. Pros know for a fact that therersquo;s always a lurking voice saying, ldquo;This is crap, why are you wasting your time with tripe?rdquo; - they just know to tell that voice to shut up, that theyrsquo;ll get their opinion once the story is done. Most of all for me, NaNoWriMo encourages people to write - and write every day. And at the core of things, I really canrsquo;t see what kind of ogre thinks this is a bad idea. Writing is a great thing. More writers means more stories. And last I checked, we still liked stories. So participate in NaNoWriMo. Write a 50,000 word story in a month. Then let it sit. Then edit it. Then edit it again. Learn from every step. In other news, I just returned from World Fantasy Con, which was my first. It was a fantastic meeting of industry professionals, and I met a lot of great authors and narrators that have appeared in Escape Pod, Podcastle, and Pseudopod. (To name a few: Cat Rambo, K. Tempest Bradford, Keffy R. M. Kehrli, M. K. Hobson, Vylar Kaftan, and several more.) During the Escape Artistsrsquo; meetup, we managed to discuss fanfic, Elmo, and the Escape Artists forums. In retrospect perhaps we should have served alcohol. Ah well. It was fantastic meeting people, and cons are over too quickly. The last two months of the year have some really exciting stories planned, and I canrsquo;t wait to bring them to you. Be mighty! Mur E-pub,,Podcasts,,TheSoundproofEscapePod Mur Lafferty no No http://escapepod.org/2011/10/27/ep316-site-fourteen/ http://escapepod.org/2011/10/27/ep316-site-fourteen/#comments Thu, 27 Oct 2011 15:54:54 +0000 Bill Peters http://escapepod.org/?p=2781 http://escapepod.org/2011/10/27/ep316-site-fourteen/feed/ 0 00:01:01 By Laura Anne Gilman Read by Mat Weller Discuss on our forums. First appeared in ReVISIONS from Daw Boooks All stories bynbsp;Laura Anne Gilman All stories read bynbsp;Mat Weller This one ... By Laura Anne Gilman Read by Mat Weller Discuss on our forums. First appeared in ReVISIONS from Daw Boooks All stories bynbsp;Laura Anne Gilman All stories read bynbsp;Mat Weller This one isn't for the kids, because of language and heavy content. Site Fourteen "Nereus Shuttle Four to Gateway Station, you have control." Robinachec nodded confirmation as though the pilot could see him.nbsp;nbsp;"Roger that.nbsp;nbsp;Bringing you in."nbsp;Palming the flat-topped lever, I watched as he moved it gently back towards him, pulling the bullet-shaped transport into the shed, an external framework of metal beams just large enough to hold two minisubs, or one shuttle. Robinechec has nightmares sometimes about something going wrong here.nbsp;nbsp;Forget the fact that it's the safest maneuver in the entire procedure; he still talks about waking up in a cold sweat because he screwed up. You'd never know it to watch him. When you're six hundred feet down ndash; well below the twilight zone, in the bathypelagic or 'deep water' zone-- your perception shifts.nbsp;nbsp;Nothing as arcane as the chemical balance in your brain changing, although there's some of that, too.nbsp;nbsp;No, it's more the realization, slow sinking into your brain, that there's not damn-all between you and dying but a duraplas shield and some canned oxy-blend. You realize that, really process the concept, and you're okay.nbsp;nbsp;If you can't, you get the screamin' meemies and they cart you Topside where you spend the rest of your life on solid dirt, carefully looking anywhere but ocean-ward. Not everyone's cut out to be an aquanaut. No shame to it.nbsp;nbsp;Even now, only about a third of the applicants make it into training, and more than half of them dry out before graduation. 13,and,Up,,Podcasts Mur Lafferty no No http://escapepod.org/2011/10/25/book-review-changing-planes-by-ursula-k-le-guin/ http://escapepod.org/2011/10/25/book-review-changing-planes-by-ursula-k-le-guin/#comments Tue, 25 Oct 2011 20:49:03 +0000 Sarah Frost http://escapepod.org/?p=2729 http://escapepod.org/2011/10/25/book-review-changing-planes-by-ursula-k-le-guin/feed/ 1 http://escapepod.org/2011/10/24/science-future-insuring-intelligence/ http://escapepod.org/2011/10/24/science-future-insuring-intelligence/#comments Mon, 24 Oct 2011 20:48:32 +0000 Nojh http://escapepod.org/?p=2737 http://escapepod.org/2011/10/24/science-future-insuring-intelligence/feed/ 0 http://escapepod.org/2011/10/20/ep-315-clockwork-fagin/ http://escapepod.org/2011/10/20/ep-315-clockwork-fagin/#comments Thu, 20 Oct 2011 20:47:16 +0000 Mur Lafferty http://escapepod.org/?p=2757 http://escapepod.org/2011/10/20/ep-315-clockwork-fagin/feed/ 0 75:35 By Cory Doctorow Read by Grant Baciocco Discuss on our forums. First appeared in Steampunk! An Anthology of Fantastically Rich and Strange Stories Music by Clockwork Quartet All stories by ... By Cory Doctorow Read by Grant Baciocco Discuss on our forums. First appeared in Steampunk! An Anthology of Fantastically Rich and Strange Stories Music by Clockwork Quartet All stories by Cory Doctorow All stories read by Grant Baciocco This one is a long one! This is considered appropriate for kids 12 and up - it's a YA story with one murder. Clockwork Fagin By Cory Doctorow Monty Goldfarb walked into St Agatha's like he owned the place, a superior look on the half of his face that was still intact, a spring in his step despite his steel left leg. And it wasn't long before he *did* own the place, taken it over by simple murder and cunning artifice. It wasn't long before he was my best friend and my master, too, and the master of all St Agatha's, and didn't he preside over a *golden* era in the history of that miserable place? I've lived in St Agatha's for six years, since I was 11 years old, when a reciprocating gear in the Muddy York Hall of Computing took off my right arm at the elbow. My Da had sent me off to Muddy York when Ma died of the consumption. He'd sold me into service of the Computers and I'd thrived in the big city, hadn't cried, not even once, not even when Master Saunders beat me for playing kick-the-can with the other boys when I was meant to be polishing the brass. I didn't cry when I lost my arm, nor when the barber-surgeon clamped me off and burned my stump with his medicinal tar. I've seen every kind of boy and girl come to St Aggie's -- swaggering, scared, tough, meek. The burned ones are often the hardest to read, inscrutable beneath their scars. Old Grinder don't care, though, not one bit. Angry or scared, burned and hobbling or swaggering and full of beans, the first thing he does when new meat turns up on his doorstep is tenderize it a little. That means a good long session with the belt -- and Grinder doesn't care where the strap lands, whole skin or fresh scars, it's all the same to him -- and then a night or two down the hole, where there's no light and no warmth and nothing for company except for the big hairy Muddy York rats who'll come and nibble at whatever's left of you if you manage to fall asleep. It's the blood, see, it draws them out. So there we all was, that first night when Monty Goldfarb turned up, dropped off by a pair of sour-faced Sisters in white capes who turned their noses up at the smell of the horse-droppings as they stepped out of their coal-fired banger and handed Monty over to Grinder, who smiled and dry-washed his hairy hands and promised, "Oh, aye, sisters, I shall look after this poor crippled birdie like he was my own get. We'll be great friends, won't we, Monty?" Monty actually laughed when Grinder said that, like he'd already winkled it out. As soon as the boiler on the sisters' car had its head of steam up and they were clanking away, Grinder took Monty inside, leading him past the parlour where we all sat, quiet as mice, eyeless or armless, shy a leg or half a face, or even a scalp (as was little Gertie Shine-Pate, whose hair got caught in the mighty rollers of one of the pressing engines down at the logic mill in Cabbagetown). He gave us a jaunty wave as Grinder led him away, and I'm ashamed to say that none of us had the stuff to wave back at him, or even to shout a warning. Grinder had done his work on us, too true, and turned us from kids into cowards. Presently, we heard the whistle and slap of the strap, but instead of screams of agony, we heard howls of defiance, and yes, even laughter! "Is that the best you have, you greasy old sack of suet? Put some arm into it!" And then: "Oh, dearie me, you must be tiring of your work. See how the sweat runs down your face, how your tongue doth protrude from your stinking gob. Oh please, dear master, tell me your pathetic old ticker isn't about to pack it in, I don't know what I'd do if you dropped dead here on the floor before me!" And then: "Your chest heaves like a bell 10,and,Up,,Podcasts Cory Doctorow no No http://escapepod.org/2011/10/16/book-review-the-colorado-kid-by-stephen-king/ http://escapepod.org/2011/10/16/book-review-the-colorado-kid-by-stephen-king/#comments Sun, 16 Oct 2011 23:11:37 +0000 Josh Roseman http://escapepod.org/?p=2687 Haven being based upon Stephen King's The Colorado Kid.]]> http://escapepod.org/2011/10/16/book-review-the-colorado-kid-by-stephen-king/feed/ 1 http://escapepod.org/2011/10/13/ep314/ http://escapepod.org/2011/10/13/ep314/#comments Thu, 13 Oct 2011 14:36:43 +0000 Bill Peters http://escapepod.org/?p=2734 http://escapepod.org/2011/10/13/ep314/feed/ 0 00:01:01 By Nancy Fulda Read by Marguerite Kenner Discuss on our forums. First appeared in nbsp;Asimov's March 2011 issue All stories by Nancy Fulda All stories read by Marguerite Kenner Movement By Nancy ... By Nancy Fulda Read by Marguerite Kenner Discuss on our forums. First appeared in nbsp;Asimov's March 2011 issue All stories by Nancy Fulda All stories read by Marguerite Kenner Movement By Nancy Fulda It is sunset.nbsp; The sky is splendid through the panes of my bedroom window; billowing layers of cumulous blazing with refracted oranges and reds.nbsp; I think if only it werenrsquo;t for the glass, I could reach out and touch the cloudscape, perhaps leave my own trail of turbulence in the swirling patterns that will soon deepen to indigo. But the window is there, and I feel trapped. Behind me my parents and a specialist from the neurological research institute are sitting on folding chairs theyrsquo;ve brought in from the kitchen, quietly discussing my future.nbsp; They do not know I am listening.nbsp; They think that, because I do not choose to respond,nbsp; I do not notice they are there. ldquo;Would there be side effects?rdquo; My father asks.nbsp; In the oppressive heat of the evening, I hear the quiet Zzzapof his shoulder laser as it targets mosquitoes.nbsp; The device is not as effective as it was two years ago: the mosquitoes are getting faster. My father is a believer in technology, and that is why he contacted the research institute.nbsp; He wants to fix me.nbsp; He is certain there is a way. ldquo;There would be no side effects in the traditional sense,rdquo;the specialist says.nbsp; I like him even though his presence makes me uncomfortable.nbsp; He chooses his words very precisely.nbsp; ldquo;Wersquo;re talking about direct synaptic grafting, not drugs.nbsp; The process is akin to bending a sapling to influence the shape of the grown tree.nbsp; We boost the strength of key dendritic connections and allow brain development to continue naturally. Young neurons are very malleable.rdquo; ldquo;And yoursquo;ve done this before?rdquo;nbsp; I do not have to look to know my mother is frowning. My mother does not trust technology.nbsp; She has spent the last ten years trying to coax me into social behavior by gentler means.nbsp; She loves me, but she does not understand me.nbsp; She thinks I cannot be happy unless I am smiling and laughing and running along the beach with other teenagers. ldquo;The procedure is still new, but our first subject was a young woman about the same age as your daughter.nbsp; Afterwards, she integrated wonderfully.nbsp; She was never an exceptional student, but she began speaking more and had an easier time following classroom procedure.rdquo; ldquo;What about Hannahrsquo;s...talents?rdquo;my mother asks.nbsp; I know she is thinking about my dancing; also the way I remember facts and numbers without trying. ldquo;Would she lose those?rdquo; The specialistrsquo;s voice is very firm, and I like the way he delivers the facts without trying to cushion them.nbsp; ldquo;Itrsquo;s a matter of trade-offs, Mrs. Didier.nbsp; The brain cannot be optimized for everything at once.nbsp; Without treatment, some children like Hannah develop into extraordinary individuals. They become famous, change the world, learn to integrate their abilities into the structures of society.nbsp; But only a very few are that lucky. The others never learn to make friends, hold a job, or live outside of institutions.rdquo; ldquo;And... with treatment?rdquo; ldquo;I cannot promise anything, but the chances are very good that Hannah will lead a normal life.rdquo; I have pressed my hand to the window.nbsp; The glass feels cold and smooth beneath my palm.nbsp; It appears motionless although I know at the molecular level it is flowing.nbsp; Its atoms slide past each other slowly, so slowly; a transformation no less inevitable for its tempo.nbsp; I like glass -- also stone -- because it does not change very quickly.nbsp; I will be dead, and so will all of my relatives and their descendants, before the deformations will be visible without a microscope. I feel my motherrsquo;s hands... 10,and,Up,,Podcasts Mur Lafferty no No http://escapepod.org/2011/10/12/book-review-city-of-ruins-by-kristine-kathryn-rusch/ http://escapepod.org/2011/10/12/book-review-city-of-ruins-by-kristine-kathryn-rusch/#comments Wed, 12 Oct 2011 23:10:08 +0000 Sarah Frost http://escapepod.org/?p=2698 http://escapepod.org/2011/10/12/book-review-city-of-ruins-by-kristine-kathryn-rusch/feed/ 0 http://escapepod.org/2011/10/10/music-and-magic-the-harry-potter-soundtrack-retrospective-part-10-of-10-conclusion/ http://escapepod.org/2011/10/10/music-and-magic-the-harry-potter-soundtrack-retrospective-part-10-of-10-conclusion/#comments Mon, 10 Oct 2011 20:05:11 +0000 Josh Roseman http://escapepod.org/?p=2533 http://escapepod.org/2011/10/10/music-and-magic-the-harry-potter-soundtrack-retrospective-part-10-of-10-conclusion/feed/ 0 http://escapepod.org/2011/10/07/book-review-mechanique-a-tale-of-the-circus-tresault-by-genevieve-valentine/ http://escapepod.org/2011/10/07/book-review-mechanique-a-tale-of-the-circus-tresault-by-genevieve-valentine/#comments Fri, 07 Oct 2011 14:02:05 +0000 Sarah Frost http://escapepod.org/?p=2715 http://escapepod.org/2011/10/07/book-review-mechanique-a-tale-of-the-circus-tresault-by-genevieve-valentine/feed/ 1 http://escapepod.org/2011/10/06/ep313-playing-doctor/ http://escapepod.org/2011/10/06/ep313-playing-doctor/#comments Thu, 06 Oct 2011 15:14:21 +0000 Mur Lafferty http://escapepod.org/?p=2724 http://escapepod.org/2011/10/06/ep313-playing-doctor/feed/ 0 34:00 By Robert T. Jeschonek Read by Josh Roseman Discuss on our forums. First appeared in PS Showcase #3: Mad Scientist Meets Cannibal All stories by Robert T. Jeschonek All stories ... By Robert T. Jeschonek Read by Josh Roseman Discuss on our forums. First appeared in PS Showcase #3: Mad Scientist Meets Cannibal All stories by Robert T. Jeschonek All stories read by Josh Roseman Playing Doctor By Robert T. Jeschonek The problem with having a crush on your mad scientist boss is, every day she doesn't see how wonderful you really are seems like the end of the world. "This is all wrong!" says Dr. Hildegarde Medici, hurling the tray across her cavernous secret laboratory. nbsp;"You're a complete imbecile, Glue!" Her words sting, but at least she's paying attention to me. nbsp;I'll take what I can get from the woman I love. nbsp;"I'm sorry, Dr. M. nbsp;Please let me try again." "Everything is ruined." nbsp;With one arm, Dr. Medici sweeps notebooks and glass beakers from the table in front of her. nbsp;"Now I'll never finish the doomsday weapon today!" As Dr. Medici throws her head down onto her folded arms on the table, I cross the lab and pick up the silver tray that she threw. nbsp;I see myself reflected in its surface--thick glasses, big nose, bald head, pure geek...not her type. nbsp;"I thought you liked the crinkle-cut ones," I say as I pluck chicken fingers and french fries from the floor and drop them onto the tray. "Steak fries," says Dr. Medici without raising her head. nbsp;"How many times do I have to tell you, Glue?" She is such a drama queen, but what do you expect? nbsp;Her line of work attracts a certain type of personality--passionate, temperamental, creative, flamboyant. nbsp;To tell you the truth, it's one of the things I love most about her. "I could run to the store," I say, dumping the chicken and fries into a waste basket. nbsp;"By the time you're done building your doomsday weapon, I could have hot fries ready for you." Dr. Medici rolls her eyes like a disgusted teenager. nbsp;"I can't concentrate on building a doomsday weapon on an empty stomach." I know the feeling...the not being able to concentrate part, that is. nbsp;Most days, I can barely focus on my work instead of Dr. Medici's long black hair and bright green eyes. nbsp;Once, I was so distracted by Dr. M that I cross-wired the brain of a giant robot, which proceeded to rampage at a garbage dump instead of an army base. If only I could tell her I love her. nbsp;If only I could close that final mile that has always stood between us. If only I could finally set free the words that I've longed to speak, and she would turn to me and say the words I've longed to hear. "Don't just stand there, you putz!" nbsp;She spins away from me on her work-stool. nbsp;"Get me a TV dinner out of the freezer or something!" I don't take it personally. nbsp;I know it's just the stress talking. nbsp;She's been having a rough time lately, just like the rest of the mad scientist community. Thanks a lot, terrorists. # In the good old days, mad scientists weren't considered public enemies like they are now. nbsp;They were tolerated, in fact, because the government loved getting its hands on their way-out inventions after their crazy schemes were thwarted. But not anymore. nbsp;Not since the terrorists. What difference is there between a politically motivated insane genius and one who is motivated by greed? How can the government go after one group of people threatening to blow things up and not the other? It can't. As a result, business has dropped off considerably. nbsp;No one will negotiate in good faith with a mad scientist anymore. nbsp;Instead of musclebound private citizen thrill-seekers coming after us, we get black ops Special Forces and heat-seeking bunker-buster missiles courtesy of Homeland Security. It's a tough time to be a mad scientist. nbsp;Lots of them have quit already and become street people or college professors. But not my Hildegarde. nbsp;She won't give up that easily. Being a mad scientist has been her lifelong dream. I know, because I grew up with... 10,and,Up,,Podcasts Robert T. Jeschonek no No http://escapepod.org/2011/10/04/book-review-the-cloud-roads-by-martha-wells/ http://escapepod.org/2011/10/04/book-review-the-cloud-roads-by-martha-wells/#comments Tue, 04 Oct 2011 23:09:23 +0000 Sarah Frost http://escapepod.org/?p=2680 http://escapepod.org/2011/10/04/book-review-the-cloud-roads-by-martha-wells/feed/ 0 http://escapepod.org/2011/10/03/music-and-magic-the-harry-potter-soundtrack-retrospective-part-9-of-10-deathly-hallows-2/ http://escapepod.org/2011/10/03/music-and-magic-the-harry-potter-soundtrack-retrospective-part-9-of-10-deathly-hallows-2/#comments Mon, 03 Oct 2011 20:04:43 +0000 Josh Roseman http://escapepod.org/?p=2530 http://escapepod.org/2011/10/03/music-and-magic-the-harry-potter-soundtrack-retrospective-part-9-of-10-deathly-hallows-2/feed/ 0 http://escapepod.org/2011/10/02/book-review-h-i-v-e-higher-institute-of-villainous-education-by-mark-walden/ http://escapepod.org/2011/10/02/book-review-h-i-v-e-higher-institute-of-villainous-education-by-mark-walden/#comments Sun, 02 Oct 2011 23:11:10 +0000 Josh Roseman http://escapepod.org/?p=2694 Harry Potter and set it at a school for super-villains and you've got H.I.V.E., a young adult novel by Mark Walden. I found it pretty funny, and think it's worth a read.]]> http://escapepod.org/2011/10/02/book-review-h-i-v-e-higher-institute-of-villainous-education-by-mark-walden/feed/ 2 http://escapepod.org/2011/10/01/soundproof-12/ http://escapepod.org/2011/10/01/soundproof-12/#comments Sun, 02 Oct 2011 02:37:50 +0000 Bill Peters http://escapepod.org/?p=2710 http://escapepod.org/2011/10/01/soundproof-12/feed/ 1 00:01:01 You can download the ePub version here. This is the October issue, so I guess I should be sounding all spooky in the editorrsquo;s note, ... You can download the ePub version here. This is the October issue, so I guess I should be sounding all spooky in the editorrsquo;s note, but That Holiday Which Must Be Feared is a month away, so instead why donrsquo;t we talk about reinvention. Irsquo;m not that great at waiting out long serialized stories, and honestly with longer book series where the author is know for long stretches between novels (Cough-George-RR-Martin-Cough) I usually stop one before the last one out so I can at least control when Irsquo;ll restart the story. So comics have never been an ideal form for me, except for when the storylinersquo;s collected into a volume. Or, in the case of The Sandman, 10 volumes. But wersquo;re a bit into DCrsquo;s reboot, and their reinvention means a bit more critical eye is being cast over their crop than would be if they hadnrsquo;t resorted to remaking themselves in the great American tradition. And while there are highs in the new crop, the lows have been getting most of the attention, because, well, while any reboot is going to lose you fans, it shouldnrsquo;t do this to young female fans: http://io9.com/5844355/ On a happier note, this is one-year anniversary of Escape Pod reinventing a bit of itself into a text product in addition to the audio coming into your ear canals every week. I think itrsquo;s been a success, but this is as good a point as any to stop and ask for feedback, so hit up feedback@escapepod.org with your suggestions for what we can do different/better in Soundproof. This Soundproof is bringing you Lavie Tidharrsquo;s The Insurance Agent, Saladin Ahmedrsquo;s The Faithful Soldier, Prompted, and T. L. Morganfieldrsquo;s Night Bird Soaring. So itrsquo;s a strong issue. Hope you enjoy it, mdash;Bill P.S. SF Signal put together an awesome, awesome flowchart of NPRrsquo;s top 100 SF/F books. Go get lost in it here: http://www.box.net/shared/static/a6omcl2la0ivlxsn3o8m.jpg Uncategorized Mur Lafferty no No http://escapepod.org/2011/09/30/ep312_night_bird_soaring/ http://escapepod.org/2011/09/30/ep312_night_bird_soaring/#comments Fri, 30 Sep 2011 23:20:53 +0000 Mur Lafferty http://escapepod.org/?p=2704 http://escapepod.org/2011/09/30/ep312_night_bird_soaring/feed/ 0 48:52 By T. L. Morganfield Read by Mat Weller Discuss on our forums. First appeared in Greatest Uncommon Denominator #3 All stories by T. L. Morganfield All stories read by Mat ... By T. L. Morganfield Read by Mat Weller Discuss on our forums. First appeared in Greatest Uncommon Denominator #3 All stories by T. L. Morganfield All stories read by Mat Weller Rated appropriate for 15 and older due to language. Night Bird Soaring By T. L. Morganfield On his sixth birthday, Totyoalli's parents took him to the holy city to see the Emperor Cuauhtemoc, but the plane ride proved the most exciting part. He kept his nose to the window, taking in the vast lands of the One World, from the snow-capped mountains of his home in the northern provinces to the open plains of Teotihuacan. He marveled at the miniature cities and cars passing below. All his life he'd dreamt of flying, ever since the first time he'd seen a bird gliding through the air. From the airport, they took a cab to the royal palace on Lake Texcoco. Tenochtitlan, the single largest city in the world, sprawled around it for miles. The cab buzzed across one of the royal causeways, the water blue and shimmering in the hot sun. Inside the walled royal complex stood the Great Temple, meticulously maintained by a crew of thousands, its sacred Sun Stone keeping watch over the visiting crowds. At the palace, two genetically-engineered royal jaguar knights escorted Totyoalli's family to the Emperor's gardens. Totyoalli watched their tails swish behind them, fascinated. Their heads looked so soft he wished to pat them between the ears, but when he tried to talk to them, they bared their fangs and gripped their spears a little tighter. Ahead, a doorway opened onto a stone patio overlooking an expanse of grass and trees. Marigolds and birds of paradise choked the flower beds. Cranes stepped gingerly through the ponds while monkeys chattered in the trees. The Revered Speaker stood at the crest of the nearest hill, his hands behind him and his back to them. "Good of you to come, Totyoalli." He didn't turn. "Let me take a look at you." Unafraid, Totyoalli hurried to him. His friends claimed the Revered Speaker was seven hundred years old, that he'd been emperor when the Spanish Devil Corteacute;s tried to bring the One World to its knees. Some said Cuauhtemoc was the War God himself, or maybe the Fifth Sun incarnate, come to Earth to lead the Mexica through a thousand years of glory. Totyoalli had expected someone very old and wise. But in fact the Revered Speaker looked hardly out of his teens. He wore green robes with the sacred day symbols embroidered in gold and silver thread, and his long black hair was tied back in a complicated knot. Blue, red, white, and black tattooed lines formed the profile of an eagle on the right side of his face. Cuauhtemoc knelt and kissed the earth at Totyoalli's feet, quoting dedications and blessing him. He then took the boy's head in both hands and granted him the kiss of Divine Grace on his forehead. "Now that we have the formalities out of the way, walk with me." Cuauhtemoc took Totyoalli by the hand and they moved down the hill, past the egrets, until his mother and father vanished from sight. They sat on a stone bench under a grove of willow trees. "So, how is calmecac?" Totyoalli shrugged. The Revered Speaker's smile widened. "Haven't much interest in studying?" "I like the learning part, but the other boys say I should go to the telpochcalli with the rest of the poor kids, and they pick fights." "You haven't told them you're the Night Wind?" "Mother told me not to." Cuauhtemoc nodded. "She's not pleased with your destiny." Totyoalli shook his head. His mother wished he weren't the Night Wind; in fact, she'd gone to great lengths to plan a home delivery, so the priests and government augurs couldn't record the exact time of his birth. His father had thought her ridiculous, but respected her wishes, and studied the instructional books to prepare for delivering their baby himself. No doctor would attend; Totyoalli's mother susp... 10,and,Up,,Podcasts TL Morganfield no No http://escapepod.org/2011/09/26/music-and-magic-the-harry-potter-soundtrack-retrospective-part-8-of-10-deathly-hallows-1/ http://escapepod.org/2011/09/26/music-and-magic-the-harry-potter-soundtrack-retrospective-part-8-of-10-deathly-hallows-1/#comments Mon, 26 Sep 2011 20:04:16 +0000 Josh Roseman http://escapepod.org/?p=2527 http://escapepod.org/2011/09/26/music-and-magic-the-harry-potter-soundtrack-retrospective-part-8-of-10-deathly-hallows-1/feed/ 0 http://escapepod.org/2011/09/24/science-future-egregious-energy/ http://escapepod.org/2011/09/24/science-future-egregious-energy/#comments Sat, 24 Sep 2011 12:37:41 +0000 Nojh http://escapepod.org/?p=2655 http://escapepod.org/2011/09/24/science-future-egregious-energy/feed/ 1 http://escapepod.org/2011/09/22/ep311-the-faithful-soldier-prompted/ http://escapepod.org/2011/09/22/ep311-the-faithful-soldier-prompted/#comments Fri, 23 Sep 2011 02:31:07 +0000 Mur Lafferty http://escapepod.org/?p=2672 http://escapepod.org/2011/09/22/ep311-the-faithful-soldier-prompted/feed/ 0 00:01:01 By Saladin Ahmed Read by Rajan Khanna Discuss on our forums. First appeared in Apex Magazine All stories by Saladin Ahmed All stories read by Rajan Khanna Special thanks to ... By Saladin Ahmed Read by Rajan Khanna Discuss on our forums. First appeared in Apex Magazine All stories by Saladin Ahmed All stories read by Rajan Khanna Special thanks to Hugo award winning Starship Sofa for allowing us to use Rajan Khanna's narration that originally ran November 17, 2010. Rated appropriate for 15 and older due to language. The Faithful Soldier, Prompted by Saladin Ahmed If I die on this piece-of-shit road, Lubnarsquo;s chances die with me. Ali leveled his shotgun at the growling tiger. In the name of God, who needs no credit rating, let me live! Even when hersquo;d been a soldier, Ali hadnrsquo;t been very religious. But facing death brought the old invocations to mind. The sway of culture, educated Lubna would have called it. If she were here. If she could speak. The creature stood still on the split cement, watching Ali. Nanohanced tigers had been more or less wiped out in the great hunts before the Global Credit Crusade, or so Ali had heard. I guess this is the shit end of ldquo;more or less.rdquo; More proof, as if he needed it, that traveling the Old Cairo Road on foot was as good as asking to die. He almost thought he could hear the creaturersquo;s targeting system whir, but of course he couldnrsquo;t any more than the tiger could read the vestigial OS prompt that flashed across Alirsquo;s supposedly deactivated retscreens. God willing, Faithful Soldier, you will report for uniform inspection at 0500 hours. Ali ignored the out-of-date message, kept his gun trained on the creature. The tiger crouched to spring. Ali squeezed the trigger, shouted ldquo;God is greater than credit!rdquo; The cry of a younger man, from the days when hersquo;d let stupid causes use him. The days before hersquo;d met Lubna. A sputtering spurt of shot sprayed the creature. The tiger roared, bled, and fled. For a moment Ali just stood there panting. ldquo;Praise be to God,rdquo; he finally said to no one in particular. Irsquo;m coming, beloved. Irsquo;m going to get you your serum, and then Irsquo;m coming home. A day later, Ali still walked the Old Cairo Road alone, the wind whipping stinging sand at him, making a mockery of his old army-issued sandmask. As he walked he thought of homendash;of Free Beirut and his humble house behind the jade-and-grey-marble fountain. At home a medbed hummed quietly, keeping Lubna alive even though she lay dying from the Green Devil, which one side or the otherrsquo;s hover-dustings had infected her with during the GCC. At home Lubna breathed shallowly while Alirsquo;s ex-squadmate Fatman Fahrad, the only man in the world he still trusted, stood watch over her. Yet Ali had left on this madmanrsquo;s errandndash;left the woman who mattered more to him than anything on Earthrsquo;s scorched surface. Serum was her only hope. But serum was devastatingly expensive, and Ali was broke. Every bit of money he had made working the hover-docks or doing security for shops had gone to prepay days on Lubnarsquo;s medbed. And there was less and less work to be had. Hersquo;d begun having dreams that made him wake up crying. Dreams of shutting down Lubnarsquo;s medbed. Of killing himself. And then the first strange message had appeared behind his eyes. Like God-alone-knew how many vets, Alirsquo;s ostensibly inactive OS still garbled forth a glitchy old prompt from time to time God willing, Faithful Soldier, you will pick up your new field ablution kit after your debriefing today. God willing, Faithful Soldier, you will spend your leave-time dinars wiselyndash;at Honest Majoudirsquo;s! But this new message had been unlike anything Ali had ever seen. Blood-freezingly current in its subject matter. God willing, Faithful Soldier, you will go to the charity-yard of the Western Mosque in Old Cairo. She will live. Alirsquo;s attention snapped back to the present as the wind picked up and the air grew thick with san... 13,and,Up,,Podcasts Saladin Ahmed no No http://escapepod.org/2011/09/19/music-and-magic-the-harry-potter-soundtrack-retrospective-part-7-of-10-the-half-blood-prince/ http://escapepod.org/2011/09/19/music-and-magic-the-harry-potter-soundtrack-retrospective-part-7-of-10-the-half-blood-prince/#comments Mon, 19 Sep 2011 20:02:04 +0000 Josh Roseman http://escapepod.org/?p=2523 http://escapepod.org/2011/09/19/music-and-magic-the-harry-potter-soundtrack-retrospective-part-7-of-10-the-half-blood-prince/feed/ 0 http://escapepod.org/2011/09/15/ep310-flash-extravaganza/ http://escapepod.org/2011/09/15/ep310-flash-extravaganza/#comments Fri, 16 Sep 2011 01:10:07 +0000 Mur Lafferty http://escapepod.org/?p=2651 http://escapepod.org/2011/09/15/ep310-flash-extravaganza/feed/ 0 00:01:01 Another helping of flash! Jenna's Clocks by T. F. Davenport (narrator Jean Hilde-Fulghum) Wetware Woes by J. J. DeBenedictis (narrator Mur Lafferty) End of the World or Not, ... Another helping of flash! Jenna's Clocks by T. F. Davenport (narrator Jean Hilde-Fulghum) Wetware Woes by J. J. DeBenedictis (narrator Mur Lafferty) End of the World or Not, I Still Have Feelings by Daniel Morris (narrator- Barry Haworth) The Best Cover Band in the Universe by Andrew Fazzari (narrator- John Anealio) - Honorable Mention for the Escape Pod 2010 Flash Contest! Discuss on our forums. 10,and,Up,,Flash,,Podcasts Various Artists no No http://escapepod.org/2011/09/12/music-and-magic-the-harry-potter-soundtrack-retrospective-part-6-of-10-the-order-of-the-phoenix/ http://escapepod.org/2011/09/12/music-and-magic-the-harry-potter-soundtrack-retrospective-part-6-of-10-the-order-of-the-phoenix/#comments Mon, 12 Sep 2011 19:59:52 +0000 Josh Roseman http://escapepod.org/?p=2520 http://escapepod.org/2011/09/12/music-and-magic-the-harry-potter-soundtrack-retrospective-part-6-of-10-the-order-of-the-phoenix/feed/ 0 http://escapepod.org/2011/09/08/ep309-the-insurance-agent/ http://escapepod.org/2011/09/08/ep309-the-insurance-agent/#comments Fri, 09 Sep 2011 00:51:11 +0000 Mur Lafferty http://escapepod.org/?p=2648 http://escapepod.org/2011/09/08/ep309-the-insurance-agent/feed/ 0 00:01:01 By Lavie Tidhar Read by Christian Brady Discuss on our forums. First appeared in Interzone, 2010 All stories by Lavie Tidhar All stories read by Christian Brady Rated inappropriate for seventeen ... By Lavie Tidhar Read by Christian Brady Discuss on our forums. First appeared in Interzone, 2010 All stories by Lavie Tidhar All stories read by Christian Brady Rated inappropriate for seventeen and younger due to language and violence. The Insurance Agent By Lavie Tidhar The bar was packed and everyone was watching the Nixon-Reagan match. The fighters were reflected off the barrsquo;s grainy wood countertop and the tablesrsquo; gleaming surfaces and seemed to melt as they flickered down the legs of the scattered chairs. The bar was called the Godhead, which had a lot to do with why I was there. It was a bit of an unfair fight as Reagan was young, pre-presidency, circa-World War Two, while Nixon was heavy-set, older: people were exchanging odds and betting with the barrsquo;s internal gaming system and the general opinion seemed to be that though Reagan was in better shape Nixon was meaner. I wasnrsquo;t there for the match. The Godhead was on Pulau Sepanggar, one of the satellite islands off Borneo, hence nominally under Malaysian federal authority but in practice in a free zone that had stronger ties to the Brunei Sultanate. It was a convenient place to meet, providing easy access to the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and, of course, Singapore, which resented the islandrsquo;s role as a growing business centre yet found it useful at the same time. She wore a smart business suit and a smart communication system that looked like what it was, which was a custom-made gold bracelet on her left arm. She wore smart shades and I was taking a bet that she wasnrsquo;t watching the fight. She was drinking a generic Cola but there was nothing generic about her. I slid into a chair beside her and waited for her shades to turn transparent and notice me. lsquo;Drink, Mr. Turner?rsquo; I liked the name Turner. It was Anglo-Saxon generic, a mid-level executiversquo;s name, white as beige. lsquo;Call me James,rsquo; I said. I liked James too. You could tell what a James Turner did just by hearing his name. The rest of me was tailor-made for the name, had been for some time: I had the kind of tan that suggested I had been East for just long enough to have acquired it, black hair that was short but not too short and had a decent but not overly-expensive cut, pale blue eyes behind shades that cost a lot of money to look like a knock-off. There was a suggestion of a smile in the corners of her mouth and she said, lsquo;I donrsquo;t think I will.rsquo; lsquo;Mr. Turner, then,rsquo; I said. lsquo;One namersquo;s good as another.rsquo; lsquo;Quite,rsquo; she said. There was something dismissive in that single word. For the likes of you, was what it implied. lsquo;Thanks,rsquo; I said. lsquo;I think Irsquo;ll have that drink.rsquo; lsquo;Preference?rsquo; she said. I said lsquo;Orange juice,rsquo; wanted vodka. She didnrsquo;t say anything, didnrsquo;t have to. A moment later a waiter glided over and deposited the drink on the table, moisture condensing on the outer surface of the manifold that was the glass. I took a sip, put it down again into the ring of water that had immediately formed. Below, Nixon knocked out Reagan in the second round. I heard groans and shouts around me, tried to tune them out. lsquo;What can I do for you?rsquo; I said. I couldnrsquo;t quite tell where she was from. She had pale skin carefully kept out of the sun, an Oxford-acquired accent and eyes I couldnrsquo;t see. She said, lsquo;I would like to buy insurance.rsquo; lsquo;That,rsquo; I said, possibly a little stiffly, lsquo;is why wersquo;re here.rsquo; lsquo;Quite,rsquo; she said again, and I felt I won the round ndash; she did not like to waste her words and by answering me she had already thrown out six. lsquo;Is this personal insurance or ndash;?rsquo; I said and she said, a little too quickly, lsquo;Personal.rsquo; lsquo;Whorsquo;s the IE?rsquo; I said. She frowned for a moment and I could a... 17,and,Up,,Podcasts Lavie Tidhar no No http://escapepod.org/2011/09/05/music-and-magic-the-harry-potter-soundtrack-retrospective-part-5-of-10-the-goblet-of-fire/ http://escapepod.org/2011/09/05/music-and-magic-the-harry-potter-soundtrack-retrospective-part-5-of-10-the-goblet-of-fire/#comments Mon, 05 Sep 2011 19:59:19 +0000 Josh Roseman http://escapepod.org/?p=2517 http://escapepod.org/2011/09/05/music-and-magic-the-harry-potter-soundtrack-retrospective-part-5-of-10-the-goblet-of-fire/feed/ 0 http://escapepod.org/2011/09/04/book-review-the-magician-king-by-lev-grossman/ http://escapepod.org/2011/09/04/book-review-the-magician-king-by-lev-grossman/#comments Sun, 04 Sep 2011 15:27:27 +0000 Josh Roseman http://escapepod.org/?p=2625 The Magician King, Lev Grossman's return to the magical world of Fillory continues lampooning and lampshading the fantasy tropes we've all put in our fiction, and if the plot is a little weak, the storytelling makes up for that.]]> http://escapepod.org/2011/09/04/book-review-the-magician-king-by-lev-grossman/feed/ 0 http://escapepod.org/2011/09/02/soundproof-11/ http://escapepod.org/2011/09/02/soundproof-11/#comments Sat, 03 Sep 2011 02:42:37 +0000 Mur Lafferty http://escapepod.org/?p=2631 http://escapepod.org/2011/09/02/soundproof-11/feed/ 0 00:01:01 You can download the ePub version here. Greetings dear listeners! I just returned from WorldCon where I met several listeners, thanks to everyone who came by to ... You can download the ePub version here. Greetings dear listeners! I just returned from WorldCon where I met several listeners, thanks to everyone who came by to say hi! I was able to solicit stories from some pros and talk to some authors about their upcoming work - we've got an original piece from James Patrick Kelly coming up that I'm utterly thrilled about. But more on that another month... The Hugo awards were given out on Saturday, August 20, and the ceremony was a blast. Jay Lake and Ken Scholes brought their clever rapport to the stage and gave a good show with minimal hiccups (to my eyes, anyway. On Jay's blog he talks about how frantic it was when script pages went missing, etc.) Extra special congrats to Mary Robinette Kowal, who took the prize for Best Short Story (remember you can find "For Want of a Nail" at http://escapepod.org/2011/06/09/ep296-for-want-of-a-nail/ ) and Clarkesworld, the Best Semi-Pro winner that allowed us to use Kate Baker's fantastic narrations in our Hugo month! You can see the other winners at Escape Pod's home page. Awards always serve to split people. While people covet awards, they still manage to convince themselves that the system is rigged, or undeserving works win, or people band behind their friends to skew the voting. I've read flat-out boring Hugo winners. I've wondered why fantastic stories didn't make even a nomination. I've seen fandom get frothing at the mouth angry over things like websites and podcasts edging into their territory (SF fans afraid of technology and the future. Mind boggling....) This year the business part of WorldCon featured people that were so mad at last year's Starship Sofa win (and nomination this year, not to mention the excellent Writing Excuses got a nod for Best Related Work) that they decided to create a new category called Best FanCast. While this does show that they are accepting that the podcast is a medium that will not go away, it's somewhat sad that some people are now asking "are there enough podcasts to qualify?" Head, meet desk. What really worries me is that all podcasts will be pushed into Best Fancast just because of the medium. Escape Pod publishes stories and is a paying market (qualifying for Best Semi-pro Zine). Starship Sofa publishes stories and nonfic commentary/essays and qualifies (or qualified) for Best Fanzine. James Patrick Kelly's podcast novella Burn is a Nebula winner. Writing Excuses talks about writing and the SF craft, and it's done entirely by pro writers. Would all of these be pushed into the same category because of the podcast element? Why not put Blackout/All Clear, Asimov's, and Chicks Dig Time Lords in the same category because they're all on paper? I'm not a strong arguer, I admit. It's not in my nature. But I believe I'm going to have to hit the business meetings next year in order to speak up for podcasts, else we'll all be shoved to the kids' table, the one with the rickety leg, just because of our medium instead of our content. See you in Chicago next year, and at DragonCon this weekend! mdash;Mur Blog,,E-pub,,TheSoundproofEscapePod Mur Lafferty no No http://escapepod.org/2011/09/02/book-review-fade-to-black-by-josh-pryor/ http://escapepod.org/2011/09/02/book-review-fade-to-black-by-josh-pryor/#comments Fri, 02 Sep 2011 19:09:25 +0000 Josh Roseman http://escapepod.org/?p=2590 Fade to Black. But the main character we were supposed to like was the one I disliked the most, and there was just too much for me to overlook in terms of tropes and internal monologuing.]]> http://escapepod.org/2011/09/02/book-review-fade-to-black-by-josh-pryor/feed/ 2 http://escapepod.org/2011/09/01/ep308-kill-me/ http://escapepod.org/2011/09/01/ep308-kill-me/#comments Thu, 01 Sep 2011 15:40:22 +0000 Mur Lafferty http://escapepod.org/?p=2640 http://escapepod.org/2011/09/01/ep308-kill-me/feed/ 0 00:01:01 By Vylar Kaftan Read by Mur Lafferty Discuss on our forums. First appeared in Helix, 2007 All stories by Vylar Kaftan All stories read by Mur Lafferty Rated inappropriate for seventeen ... By Vylar Kaftan Read by Mur Lafferty Discuss on our forums. First appeared in Helix, 2007 All stories by Vylar Kaftan All stories read by Mur Lafferty Rated inappropriate for seventeen and younger due to language and violence. [Note- we do not have the ebook rights, but you can read it at Transcriptase!] Kill Me by Vylar Kaftan I'm sitting cross-legged on a rock in west Texas, somewhere north of El Paso, bleeding into the dirt. The pose feels like a meditation. I'm fascinated with the knife mark on my left thigh, a shallow slash from hip to knee. It's surrounded by bruise clusters that look like flowers of broken skin. In the silent desert, I hear only the soft clicking of the car cooling down. Then his urine splashes against the rock behind me, and I hear his zipper when he's done. The night breeze is icy on my back, drying the blood into clots. He did me well, I admit, glancing up at the full desert moon. If my body survived--which it wouldn't--I would be scarred, possibly disfigured. The welts on my back throb like electricity, and everything--the moon, the desert, the wind--is alive with me. He walks in front of me. I look up at the man who brought me all the way from Denver. He looks like a black dog, matted and angry, and growls like one too. My eyes travel to the cluster of thick hair springing from his shirt neck. He folds his arms over his chest. "The night's almost over," I remind him. He scowls. "Get in the trunk." I hesitate--he paid me to do the shy-girl act, a popular one--and he grabs my arm. He hauls me over the rear bumper into the trunk of his '33 Axis. He slaps me once across the face--not as hard as I expected--and crumples me into the tight compartment. He slams the trunk closed, catching my hair in the door. I try to pull free, but it's no use. I don't think he meant that part, but he doesn't seem to notice the long trail of hair hanging out of the trunk. The car door opens and the ignition starts. I tug on my hair once more and then relax, concentrating on where I hurt, where my body throbs with pain. As many times as I've done this, I still try to experience it all. Because it's not every day you experience death. Only every three months. 17,and,Up,,Podcasts Mur Lafferty no No http://escapepod.org/2011/08/30/book-review-river-of-gods-by-ian-mcdonald/ http://escapepod.org/2011/08/30/book-review-river-of-gods-by-ian-mcdonald/#comments Tue, 30 Aug 2011 19:07:07 +0000 Sarah Frost http://escapepod.org/?p=2461 http://escapepod.org/2011/08/30/book-review-river-of-gods-by-ian-mcdonald/feed/ 1 http://escapepod.org/2011/08/29/music-and-magic-the-harry-potter-soundtrack-retrospective-%e2%80%94-part-4-of-10-the-prisoner-of-azkaban/ http://escapepod.org/2011/08/29/music-and-magic-the-harry-potter-soundtrack-retrospective-%e2%80%94-part-4-of-10-the-prisoner-of-azkaban/#comments Mon, 29 Aug 2011 15:34:50 +0000 Josh Roseman http://escapepod.org/?p=2514 http://escapepod.org/2011/08/29/music-and-magic-the-harry-potter-soundtrack-retrospective-%e2%80%94-part-4-of-10-the-prisoner-of-azkaban/feed/ 0 http://escapepod.org/2011/08/27/book-review-low-town-by-daniel-polansky/ http://escapepod.org/2011/08/27/book-review-low-town-by-daniel-polansky/#comments Sat, 27 Aug 2011 19:06:30 +0000 Sarah Frost http://escapepod.org/?p=2606 http://escapepod.org/2011/08/27/book-review-low-town-by-daniel-polansky/feed/ 0 http://escapepod.org/2011/08/26/ep307-soulmates/ http://escapepod.org/2011/08/26/ep307-soulmates/#comments Fri, 26 Aug 2011 17:40:40 +0000 Mur Lafferty http://escapepod.org/?p=2616 http://escapepod.org/2011/08/26/ep307-soulmates/feed/ 0 60:48 By Mike Resnick and Lezli Robyn Read by Dave Thompson Discuss on our forums. First appeared in September, 2009 Asimov's All stories by Mike Resnick and Lezli Robyn All stories ... By Mike Resnick and Lezli Robyn Read by Dave Thompson Discuss on our forums. First appeared in September, 2009 Asimov's All stories by Mike Resnick and Lezli Robyn All stories read by Dave Thompson Rated appropriate for teens and up due to language, alcohol dependence, and discussing death of loved ones. Soulmates by Mike Resnick and Lezli Robyn Have you ever killed someone you love ndash; I mean, really love? I did. I did it as surely as if Irsquo;d fired a bullet into her brain, and the fact that it was perfectly legal, that everyone at the hospital told me Irsquo;d done a humane thing by giving them permission to pull the plug, didnrsquo;t make me feel any better. Irsquo;d lived with Kathy for twenty-six years, been married to her for all but the first ten months. Wersquo;d been through a lot together: two miscarriages, a bankruptcy, a trial separation twelve years ago ndash; and then the car crash. They said shersquo;d be a vegetable, that shersquo;d never think or walk or even move again. I let her hang on for almost two months, until the insurance started running out, and then I killed her. Other people have made that decision and they learn to live with it. I thought I could, too. Irsquo;d never been much of a drinker, but I started about four months after she died. Not much at first, then more every day until Irsquo;d reach the point, later and later each time, where I couldnrsquo;t see her face staring up at me anymore. I figured it was just a matter of time before I got fired ndash; and you have to be pretty messed up to be fired as a night watchman at Global Enterprises. Hell, I didnrsquo;t even know what they made, or at least not everything they made. There were five large connected buildings, and a watchman for each. Wersquo;d show up at ten orsquo;clock at night, and leave when the first shift showed up at seven in the morning ndash; one man and maybe sixty robots per building. Yeah, being sacked was imminent. Problem was, once yoursquo;ve been fired from a job like this, therersquo;s nothing left but slow starvation. If you canrsquo;t watch sixty pre-programmed robots and make sure the building didnrsquo;t blow up, what the hell can you do? I still remember the night I met Mose. I let the Spy Eye scan my retina and bone structure, and after it let me in I went directly to the bottle Irsquo;d hidden in the back of the washroom. By midnight Irsquo;d almost forgotten what Kathy looked like on that last day ndash; I suppose she looked pretty, like she always did, but innocent was the word that came to mind ndash; and I was making my rounds. I knew that Bill Nettles ndash; he was head man on the night shift ndash; had his suspicions about my drinking and would be checking up on me, so I made up my mind to ease off the booze a little. But I had to get rid of Kathyrsquo;s face, so I took one more drink, and then next thing I knew I was trying to get up off the floor, but my legs werenrsquo;t working. I reached out for something to steady myself, to lean against as I tried to stand, and what I found was a metal pillar, and a foot away was another one. Finally my eyes started focusing, and I saw that what I had latched onto were the titanium legs of a robot that had walked over when it heard me cursing or singing or whatever the hell I was doing. ldquo;Get me on my feet!rdquo; I grated, and two strong metal hands lifted me to my feet. ldquo;All you all right, sir?rdquo; asked the robot in a voice that wasnrsquo;t quite a mechanical monotone. ldquo;Shall I summon help?rdquo; rdquo;No!rdquo; I half-snapped, half-shouted. ldquo;No help!rdquo; ldquo;But you seem to be in physical distress.rdquo; ldquo;Irsquo;ll be fine,rdquo; I said. ldquo;Just help me to my desk, and stay with me for a few minutes until I sober up.rdquo; ldquo;I do not understand the term, sir,rdquo; it said. ldquo;Donrsquo;t worry about... 10,and,Up,,Podcasts Mike Resnick and Lezli Robyn no No http://escapepod.org/2011/08/22/music-and-magic-the-harry-potter-soundtrack-retrospective-part-3-of-10-the-chamber-of-secrets/ http://escapepod.org/2011/08/22/music-and-magic-the-harry-potter-soundtrack-retrospective-part-3-of-10-the-chamber-of-secrets/#comments Mon, 22 Aug 2011 19:57:14 +0000 Josh Roseman http://escapepod.org/?p=2510 http://escapepod.org/2011/08/22/music-and-magic-the-harry-potter-soundtrack-retrospective-part-3-of-10-the-chamber-of-secrets/feed/ 0 http://escapepod.org/2011/08/21/the-2011-hugo-winners/ http://escapepod.org/2011/08/21/the-2011-hugo-winners/#comments Sun, 21 Aug 2011 15:28:26 +0000 Bill Peters http://escapepod.org/?p=2601 http://escapepod.org/2011/08/21/the-2011-hugo-winners/feed/ 0 http://escapepod.org/2011/08/19/ep306-radio-nowhere/ http://escapepod.org/2011/08/19/ep306-radio-nowhere/#comments Fri, 19 Aug 2011 12:43:19 +0000 Bill Peters http://escapepod.org/?p=2593 http://escapepod.org/2011/08/19/ep306-radio-nowhere/feed/ 0 00:01:01 By Douglas Smith Read by Wilson Fowlie Discuss on our forums. All stories bynbsp;Douglas Smith All stories read bynbsp;Wilson Fowlie Rated Inappropriate for the younger ones, due to words of ... By Douglas Smith Read by Wilson Fowlie Discuss on our forums. All stories bynbsp;Douglas Smith All stories read bynbsp;Wilson Fowlie Rated Inappropriate for the younger ones, due to words of a naughty nature. Radio nbsp;Nowhere by Douglas Smith On the anniversary of the worst night of his life, Liam stood outside the darkened control room of the campus radio station. Over the speakers, the Tragically Hiprsquo;s ldquo;Boots and Heartsrdquo; was just winding down. Behind the glass in the studio, Ziggyrsquo;s small triangular face glowed like some night angel, lit from below by her laptop screen. She looked up, her eyes finding Liamrsquo;s in the darkness. Smiling, she wrinkled her nose at him. His own smile slid away, falling into the dark place inside him, the place that was always darker on this night. Ziggy turned back to the mike as the song ended. ldquo;Irsquo;m closing with a request from an old friend, to an old friend. This onersquo;s for Jackie, from Liam. A hurtinrsquo; song, cuz hersquo;s still hurtinrsquo;. Fifteen years ago tonighthellip;rdquo; She looked at him through the glass. Fifteen years. He closed his eyes. Fifteen years, and it still hurt this much. 13,and,Up,,Podcasts Mur Lafferty no No http://escapepod.org/2011/08/16/science-future-alternate-actual/ http://escapepod.org/2011/08/16/science-future-alternate-actual/#comments Wed, 17 Aug 2011 01:40:30 +0000 Nojh http://escapepod.org/?p=2565 http://escapepod.org/2011/08/16/science-future-alternate-actual/feed/ 0 http://escapepod.org/2011/08/15/music-and-magic-the-harry-potter-soundtrack-retrospective-part-2-of-10-the-sorcerers-stone/ http://escapepod.org/2011/08/15/music-and-magic-the-harry-potter-soundtrack-retrospective-part-2-of-10-the-sorcerers-stone/#comments Mon, 15 Aug 2011 19:56:40 +0000 Josh Roseman http://escapepod.org/?p=2506 http://escapepod.org/2011/08/15/music-and-magic-the-harry-potter-soundtrack-retrospective-part-2-of-10-the-sorcerers-stone/feed/ 0 http://escapepod.org/2011/08/11/ep305-midnight-blue/ http://escapepod.org/2011/08/11/ep305-midnight-blue/#comments Fri, 12 Aug 2011 02:43:16 +0000 Mur Lafferty http://escapepod.org/?p=2586 http://escapepod.org/2011/08/11/ep305-midnight-blue/feed/ 0 52:20 By Will McIntosh Read by Paul Haring First appeared in Asimov's Discuss on our forums. All stories by Will McIntosh All stories read by Paul Haring Rated appropriate for everyone! Midnight Blue by ... By Will McIntosh Read by Paul Haring First appeared in Asimov's Discuss on our forums. All stories by Will McIntosh All stories read by Paul Haring Rated appropriate for everyone! Midnight Blue by Will McIntosh Hersquo;d never seen a burgundy before.nbsp; Kim held it in her lap, tapped it with her finger.nbsp; She was probably tapping it to bring attention to it, and Jeff didnrsquo;t want to give her the satisfaction of asking to see it, but he really wanted to see it.nbsp; Burgundy (Kim had insisted on calling it burgundy red when she showed it at show and tell) was a rare one.nbsp; Not as rare as a hot pink Flyer or a viridian Better Looking, but still rare. A bus roared up, spitting black smoke.nbsp; It was the seven bus--the Linden Court bus, not his.nbsp; Kids rushed to line up in front of the big yellow doors as the bus hissed to a stop.nbsp; A second-grader squealed, shoved a bigger kid with her Partridge Family lunch box because hersquo;d stepped on her foot.nbsp; All the younger kids seemed to have Partridge Family lunch boxes this year. ldquo;What did you say it did when yoursquo;ve got all three pieces of the charm together?rdquo; nbsp;Jeff asked Kim.nbsp; He said it casually, like he was just making conversation until his bus came. ldquo;It relaxes time,rdquo; Kim said.nbsp; ldquo;When yoursquo;re bored you can make time pass quickly, and when yoursquo;re having fun you can make time stretch out.rdquo; Jeff nodded, tried to look just interested enough to be polite, but no more.nbsp; What must that be like, to make the hour at church fly by?nbsp; Or make the school day (except for lunch and recess) pass in an eyeblink? nbsp;Jeff wondered how fast or slow you could move things along.nbsp; Could you make it seem like you were eating an ice cream sandwich for six hours?nbsp; That would be sparkling fine. ldquo;Want to see it?rdquo; Kim asked. ldquo;Okay,rdquo; Jeff said, holding out his hands too eagerly before he remembered himself.nbsp; Kim handed it to him, looking pleased with herself, the dimples on her round face getting a little deeper. It was smooth as marble, perfectly round, big as a grapefruit and heavy as a bowling ball.nbsp; It made Jeffrsquo;s heart hammer to hold it.nbsp; The rich red, which hinted at purple while still being certainly red, was so beautiful it seemed impossible, so vivid it made his blue shirt seem like a Polaroid photo left in the sun too long. ldquo;Imagine finding this in the wild?nbsp; Pushing over a dead tree and seeing it sitting there under the root?rdquo; Jeff said. ldquo;Yeah, right,rdquo; Kim said.nbsp; ldquo;Not likely.rdquo;nbsp; She shook her long brown hair back over her shoulder.nbsp; She did that all day long in class.nbsp; She thought she was so gorgeous. A few of the other kids circled around to take a look.nbsp; Jeff spun it around until he found the hole where it would be fitted to one side of the staff, when someone got the whole charm together. ldquo;Will your father try to get the other two pieces, do you think?rdquo; Ricky Adamo asked, reaching to pet it once, probably just so he could say hersquo;d touched one. ldquo;Hersquo;s only keeping this as an investment,rdquo; Kim said, holding out her hands to take it back from Jeff, who passed it over, his fingers suddenly feeling much too light.nbsp; ldquo;My fatherrsquo;s going to buy me a whole chartreuse to absorb when Irsquo;m 18.nbsp; Irsquo;m going to be a doctor.rdquo; ldquo;He is not,rdquo; Jeff said.nbsp; ldquo;Most of the chartreuse ones thatrsquo;ve been found have already been absorbed.nbsp; The ones that havenrsquo;t, your father would have to give your whole house and everything in it just to get one sphere.rdquo; ldquo;What would you know about it?rdquo; Kim said, glaring.nbsp; ldquo;You donrsquo;t even know what it feels like to absorb one!nbsp; Yoursquo;ve probably never even owned a sphere, let alone absorbed a whole charm... Best-Of,,OK,for,Kids,,Podcasts Will McIntosh no No http://escapepod.org/2011/08/08/music-and-magic-the-harry-potter-soundtrack-retrospective-part-1-of-10-introduction/ http://escapepod.org/2011/08/08/music-and-magic-the-harry-potter-soundtrack-retrospective-part-1-of-10-introduction/#comments Mon, 08 Aug 2011 19:55:57 +0000 Josh Roseman http://escapepod.org/?p=2501 http://escapepod.org/2011/08/08/music-and-magic-the-harry-potter-soundtrack-retrospective-part-1-of-10-introduction/feed/ 0 http://escapepod.org/2011/08/05/book-review-spectyr-by-philippa-ballantine/ http://escapepod.org/2011/08/05/book-review-spectyr-by-philippa-ballantine/#comments Fri, 05 Aug 2011 19:51:26 +0000 Josh Roseman http://escapepod.org/?p=2490 Spectyr contains action, adventure, exotic locales, airships, and a good Boss Fight, all well-written and without the info-dumps many fantasy authors fall prey to. I just wish the book hadn't followed almost the exact same story arcs (albeit with different settings and characters) as its predecessor.]]> http://escapepod.org/2011/08/05/book-review-spectyr-by-philippa-ballantine/feed/ 0 http://escapepod.org/2011/08/04/ep304-union-dues-%e2%80%93-sidekicks-in-stockholm/ http://escapepod.org/2011/08/04/ep304-union-dues-%e2%80%93-sidekicks-in-stockholm/#comments Thu, 04 Aug 2011 20:59:38 +0000 SFEley http://escapepod.org/?p=2539 http://escapepod.org/2011/08/04/ep304-union-dues-%e2%80%93-sidekicks-in-stockholm/feed/ 0 44:00 By Jeffrey R. DeRego Read by Stephen Eley Special guest host: Stephen Eley An Escape Pod original! Discuss on our forums. All stories by Jeffrey R. DeRego All stories read by ... By Jeffrey R. DeRego Read by Stephen Eley Special guest host: Stephen Eley An Escape Pod original! Discuss on our forums. All stories by Jeffrey R. DeRego All stories read by Stephen Eley Rated appropriate for older teens and up for language and disturbing imagery. Union Dues: Sidekicks in Stockholm by Jeffrey R. DeRego Five of them at least, with submachine guns, body armor, and more dynamite than I've seen outside a Tom and Jerry cartoon. They all sound the same thanks to some digital vocal thing built into their black suits. They all look the same with black ski masks underneath a mesh sort of fencing helmet, black everything else right to the boots, and all about the same size, like someone took a picture of a terrorist and photocopied it. This whole drama seems like it began a million years ago by now. I was scheduled to come here and open a convention of business leaders and up-and-coming corporate types. My speech, Good Corporate Citizenship, with examples of how The Union gives back to the communities it serves, is a two year old piece worked up and updated by Marketing and Promotions to accommodate a new administration in Washington, and some new economic stuff that I don't really understand. I'd delivered only half of the text before these guys burst through the door. I froze at the first gunshot, not for long, just a few seconds, just long enough to be useless. The girl who sits beside me ndash; her name tag reads "Hello my name is Stacy" ndash; leans in close. She whispers, "What are you going to do, Adam?" I try and ignore her and watch the men. My wrist feels weirdly cool and light without the communicator gauntlet and beacon strapped around it. I glance down at my gloves and the tatters of honeycombed teflon-spandex straps where the gauntlet was stitched on. You're Adam Smasher! Goddamn it. Do something! I've only been in the orange suit and cape for three years. I had the physique and the right chin at the right time and until about and hour ago thought the role fit pretty well. My predecessor died of a heart attack in the New York Pyramid training room two days after his thirtieth birthday, the original Adam Smasher sits connected to a mechanical heart pump in The Village somewhere in Antarctica. He's the Adam Smasher everyone remembers from Saturday-morning TV, blonde and chiseled, his orange one piece suit and mask almost glowing, his tritium atom insignia a mark of galactic strength as he caught speeding, robber-filled cars, fought off robots and gangsters and the evil machinations of Dr. Destruction. Don't get me wrong, when people talk to me, they talk to Adam Smasher, but sometimes I want to scream out, "I used to watch 'The Adventures of Adam Smasher' on TV too, in syndication!" I should be thankful anyone remembers the show at all. Atom Comics' teen and adult readers have moved on to darker, grittier titles by competing publishers and, well, look at me? I'm like a smiling Day-Glo orange tree. The kid demographic wants the crazy soap opera stuff like Team Shikaragaki not a creaky old walking ethics lesson. So, The Union pulls Adam Smasher comics. My figure goes into the much less produced "classics" line. No playsets. No video game adaptations. No TV. Meanwhile, I wait for Marketing and Promotions to generate interest in Adam Smasher. Maybe I come back darker, or kiddier, or something completely different. Until then, my whole life is giving lectures about doing the right thing and leveraging the audience's nostalgia for a true-blue ndash; well, orange ndash; Union Superhero. "Adam, how are you going to get us out of this?" Stacy is maybe twenty five. Blue eyed, petite ndash; but then, everyone looks sort of petite to me as I'm just scraping seven-foot-three tall and thirty nine inches across the shoulders ndash; every time she looks at the terrorists her eyes widen with fear, and every time she looks at me they widen more, with hope. I try not to look at he... 17,and,Up,,Podcasts Jeffrey R. DeRego yes No http://escapepod.org/2011/08/03/soundproof-10/ http://escapepod.org/2011/08/03/soundproof-10/#comments Wed, 03 Aug 2011 04:16:12 +0000 Bill Peters http://escapepod.org/?p=2497 http://escapepod.org/2011/08/03/soundproof-10/feed/ 0 00:01:01 Download the ePub version here. Hey folksmdash; Short editorrsquo;s note this month to make sure this goes out reasonably on time to all you faithful listeners. Er, ... Download the ePub version here. Hey folksmdash; Short editorrsquo;s note this month to make sure this goes out reasonably on time to all you faithful listeners. Er, readers. Last month saw a bit of mopping-up action on the various nominees with Stone Wall Truth, which got nominated in the novella category for the Nebula, and the space-piratical Leech Run. But most importantly, we hit Episode 300 of the podcast that Steve built with Tim Prattrsquo;s We Go Back. Who Escape Pod goes pretty far back with. His stories are episodes 8, 31 (with Greg van Eekhout), 67, 105, 142, 190, 239, 251 and 276. Hersquo;s probably far and away the Escape Pod fan favorite, and Impossible Dreams is still the story I usually recommend as the entry point for new Escape Pod listeners. Itrsquo;s been a little over a year since Mur took over and I snuck in through an open side Escape Pod airlock (for closed values of open). Wersquo;re still adrift in space, same as it ever was, floating along scanning for the next story, and eventually a planet to set down on. Like many fiction journeys, the path laid out at the beginning is not the path you end up going down, because that would be boring. Until the next, mdash;Bill Uncategorized Mur Lafferty no No http://escapepod.org/2011/07/30/bomb_fire_caves/ http://escapepod.org/2011/07/30/bomb_fire_caves/#comments Sat, 30 Jul 2011 12:05:44 +0000 Mur Lafferty http://escapepod.org/?p=2471 http://escapepod.org/2011/07/30/bomb_fire_caves/feed/ 0 http://escapepod.org/2011/07/28/ep303-leech-run/ http://escapepod.org/2011/07/28/ep303-leech-run/#comments Fri, 29 Jul 2011 03:22:18 +0000 Mur Lafferty http://escapepod.org/?p=2480 http://escapepod.org/2011/07/28/ep303-leech-run/feed/ 0 37:04 By Scott W. Baker Read by: Alasdair Stuart Originally appearing in Zero Gravity: Adventures in Deep Space - Released July 27! Discuss on our forums. All stories by Scott ... By Scott W. Baker Read by: Alasdair Stuart Originally appearing in Zero Gravity: Adventures in Deep Space - Released July 27! Discuss on our forums. All stories by Scott W. Baker All stories read by Alasdair Stuart Rated appropriate for mid-teens and up for violence and mild adult language. Leech Run by Scott W. Baker The inhabitants of Galileo Station parted as Titan moved among them. Not one made eye contact, but all gawked furtively. One of Titan's dark eyes glared back down at the throng; the other eye remained hidden behind a curtain of stark white hair. Conspicuous appearance was his curse. What bystander would forget a snow-capped mountain of dark muscle? Memorability was not an asset for someone like him. One body in the crowd moved toward Titan rather than away. "The passengers is aboard, love," the man said. "Reif, call me 'love' in public and you'll find yourself very uncomfortable." Titan lowered his voice so it stayed within the wide berth granted by the populace. "How many passengers?" "Thirty-two, lo -- Captain." Titan shook his head. "Hemingway promised fifty." "If Hem flew so bad as he scored cargo--" "Any load of leeches will turn a profit," Titan assured the mechanic. "But small load doesn't mean small risk. I want you sharp." "As ever, love." They continued through the bustling station to their ship, a little cargo runner designed for intra-system transport at sub-light speeds. Of course, a mechanic of Reif's skill could make a ship reach speeds its designers never fathomed. Such deviant engineering demanded a pilot with a select set of skills and dubious moral character. Hemingway possessed both. He was waiting for them beside the ship with his ever-present, boastful grin. "I said there be takers on Galileo, didn't I?" Hemingway said as his crewmates entered earshot. "I done already told them the rules." Titan's brow furrowed. "Thirty-two? Don't dislocate anything patting yourself on the back. And there's just one rule on my ship." Titan brushed past his pilot into the cargo hold. It was a small hold, even for an intra-system runner, but it hadn't always been so. Reif's touch here made for ideal leech transport. The customized hold maintained a six-foot buffer from all electrical systems, enough of a gap that even a class-three leech couldn't siphon a single ampere. Despite his extensive precautions, Titan always felt uneasy with such capricious cargo. Titan surveyed the passengers perched shoulder to shoulder on the plank benches that were bolted to the hold's bare metal floor. Leeches, every last one of them. They didn't look dangerous. On a ship in deep space, they could be as lethal as any weapon. Aside from passengers and benches, the hold was barren: no amenities, no restraints, no personal possessions, no plumbing. These thirty-two leeches would spend the next two weeks in this metal tank. No normal human would accept such accommodations. Why should they when a starliner would take them all the way to Kilroth for a couple hundred cred? This kind of travel was for people the liners would never touch. Alpha System law guaranteed anyone foolish enough to transport a leech would spend the rest of his life laboring on a prison planet -- one too close to a sun for a proper settlement but too mineral-rich to resist exploiting. Such labor colonies' conditions were enough to make one envy the leeches' sentences; they were simply shot on sight. Of course Alpha was a big system, difficult to monitor. A captain could make a few thousand cred smuggling a leech between planets. Carrying them all the way to a friendlier system, as Titan did, could net a small fortune. Titan demanded twenty grand a head. Alpha's policies on leech-genocide made the price a bargain. "There is only one rule on my ship," Titan announced again, this time to his hold full of human contraband, "no one leaves the hold." He walked along the 10,and,Up,,Podcasts Scott W. Baker no No http://escapepod.org/2011/07/21/ep302-flash-extravaganza/ http://escapepod.org/2011/07/21/ep302-flash-extravaganza/#comments Fri, 22 Jul 2011 01:03:23 +0000 Mur Lafferty http://escapepod.org/?p=2457 http://escapepod.org/2011/07/21/ep302-flash-extravaganza/feed/ 0 35:59 Winners of our 2010 Flash Contest! London Iron by William R. Halliar (narrator Andrew Richardson) Wheels of Blue Stilton by Nicholas J. Carter (narrator Christian Brady) Light and ... Winners of our 2010 Flash Contest! London Iron by William R. Halliar (narrator Andrew Richardson) Wheels of Blue Stilton by Nicholas J. Carter (narrator Christian Brady) Light and Lies by Gideon Fostick (narrator- Mur Lafferty) All Escape Pod Originals! And we end with a grand "It's Storytime" montage put together by Marshal Latham! Discuss on our forums. 10,and,Up,,Best-Of,,Flash,,Podcasts Mur Lafferty no No http://escapepod.org/2011/07/20/book-review-osama-by-lavie-tidhar/ http://escapepod.org/2011/07/20/book-review-osama-by-lavie-tidhar/#comments Thu, 21 Jul 2011 02:37:39 +0000 Josh Roseman http://escapepod.org/?p=2416 Osama didn't really draw me in, which is a shame because it has a lot of good ideas and rich scenery.]]> http://escapepod.org/2011/07/20/book-review-osama-by-lavie-tidhar/feed/ 1 http://escapepod.org/2011/07/19/science-future-harking-hugos/ http://escapepod.org/2011/07/19/science-future-harking-hugos/#comments Wed, 20 Jul 2011 02:39:30 +0000 Nojh http://escapepod.org/?p=2396 http://escapepod.org/2011/07/19/science-future-harking-hugos/feed/ 0 http://escapepod.org/2011/07/18/one-more-hugo-post-ponies/ http://escapepod.org/2011/07/18/one-more-hugo-post-ponies/#comments Mon, 18 Jul 2011 16:27:53 +0000 Mur Lafferty http://escapepod.org/?p=2451 http://escapepod.org/2011/07/18/one-more-hugo-post-ponies/feed/ 2 http://escapepod.org/2011/07/17/update-on-the-alphabet-quartet/ http://escapepod.org/2011/07/17/update-on-the-alphabet-quartet/#comments Sun, 17 Jul 2011 20:35:56 +0000 Mur Lafferty http://escapepod.org/?p=2446 http://escapepod.org/2011/07/17/update-on-the-alphabet-quartet/feed/ 0 http://escapepod.org/2011/07/14/ep301-stone-wall-truth/ http://escapepod.org/2011/07/14/ep301-stone-wall-truth/#comments Fri, 15 Jul 2011 02:51:55 +0000 Mur Lafferty http://escapepod.org/?p=2441 http://escapepod.org/2011/07/14/ep301-stone-wall-truth/feed/ 0 00:01:01 By Caroline Yoachim Read by: Heather Welliver Originally appearing in Asimov's Discuss on our forums. All stories by Caroline Yoachim All stories read by Heather Welliver Nominated for the Hugo Nebula ... By Caroline Yoachim Read by: Heather Welliver Originally appearing in Asimov's Discuss on our forums. All stories by Caroline Yoachim All stories read by Heather Welliver Nominated for the Hugo Nebula Award for Novelette, 2011 Rated appropriate for older teens and up for adult imagery. Stone Wall Truth by Caroline M. Yoachim Njeri sewed the woman together with hairs from a zebra tail. Her deer-bone needle dipped under the womanrsquo;s skin and bobbed back out. The contrast of the white seams against her dark skin was striking. ldquo;The center seam makes a straight line,rdquo; Njeri told her apprentice, ldquo;but the others flow with the natural curves of the body, just as the Enshai River follows the curve of the landscape.rdquo; Odion leaned in to examine her work, his breath warm on the back of her neck. Foolish boy, wasting his attention on her. Njeri set her needle on the table and stood up to stretch. The job was nearly done -- shersquo;d repositioned the womanrsquo;s organs, reconstructed her muscles, sewn her body back together. Only the face was still open, facial muscles splayed out in all directions from the womanrsquo;s skull like an exotic flower in full bloom. ldquo;Why sew them back together, after the wall?rdquo; Odion asked. ldquo;Why not let them die?rdquo; Njeri sighed. The boy had steady hands and a sharp mind, but his heart was unforgiving. He had been eager to learn about the cutting, about the delicate art of preparing a patient to hang from the wall. What he questioned was the sewing, the part of the work that had drawn Njeri to this calling. She studied the woman on the table -- the last surviving grandchild of Radmalende, who had been king when the country was ruled by kings instead of warlords. The two of them had come of age the same spring, and had taken their adulthood rites together. That had been many years ago, but it was hard for Njeri not to think of her childhood friend by name. ldquo;You think I should leave her to die?rdquo; ldquo;Her bones were black as obsidian.rdquo; He traced the center seam with his finger. Njeri said nothing. She admired the woman for her strength; she hadnrsquo;t cried or protested or made excuses. Few women were put on the wall, but this one had faced it as bravely as any man, braver than some. And her shadowself had been like nothing Njeri had ever seen. Dark, of course, but a tightly controlled blackness, an army of ants marching out from her heart and along her bones. A constantly shifting shadow that never rested too long in any one place. ldquo;She made a play for the throne. Killed six Maiwatu guardsmen in the process. Her attack has opened the way for the Upyatu. I heard a rumor today the capitol is still under siege.rdquo; Odion masked the worry in his voice, but Njeri knew he was concerned. He had many friends in the upper echelons of the ruling class -- it was how he came to be apprenticed to the highest ranking surgeon at the longest stretch of wall. ldquo;There is always unrest in the capitol.rdquo; Njeri didnrsquo;t add that this woman had a stronger claim to the citrine throne than most. ldquo;Besides, itrsquo;s not our place to say what people deserve. General Bahtir pays us to take people apart and put them back together, not to judge them.rdquo; Njeri nudged Odion aside. She settled back into her stool, and he went outside to set some water boiling for tea. He didnrsquo;t appreciate being pushed away, didnrsquo;t understand why she didnrsquo;t want him the way he wanted her. She wanted to tell the boy to find someone his own age, someone who liked boys, but Odion wouldnrsquo;t listen. Njeri returned to her work. The womanrsquo;s jawbone hung slack below her skull, but her mouth still closed around the clear stone that held her mind while Njeri patched her body together. The womanrsquo;s eyes stared up at the thatched straw roof, empty, with nothing but bone surround... 13,and,Up,,Podcasts Caroline Yoachim no No http://escapepod.org/2011/07/07/ep300-we-go-back/ http://escapepod.org/2011/07/07/ep300-we-go-back/#comments Thu, 07 Jul 2011 14:59:38 +0000 Mur Lafferty http://escapepod.org/?p=2400 http://escapepod.org/2011/07/07/ep300-we-go-back/feed/ 0 44:29 By Tim Pratt Read by: Mur Lafferty An Escape Pod original! Discuss on our forums. All stories by Tim Pratt All stories read by Mur Lafferty Rated appropriate for younger teens ... By Tim Pratt Read by: Mur Lafferty An Escape Pod original! Discuss on our forums. All stories by Tim Pratt All stories read by Mur Lafferty Rated appropriate for younger teens and up - occasional adult language. Episode 300! Wow! We Go Back Tim Pratt My best friend Jenny Kay climbed in through my window and nearly stepped on my head. If I'd been sleeping a foot closer to the wall, I would've gotten a face full of her boot, but instead I just snapped awake and said "What who what now?" and blinked a lot. "Oh damn," Jenny said in a loudish whisper. "When did you move your bed under the window?" "Last week," I said, sitting up in bed. "I wanted a change." If you can't rearrange your life, you can at least rearrange yourself, and if your mom won't let you dye your hair blue, you can make do with rearranging your rooms. Jenny Kay dropped from standing to sitting in one motion, making my mattress bounce, and landed cross-legged and totally comfortable. "Hey," she said. "So I need to borrow your ring." I couldn't read her expression in the dim moonlight from the window. I looked at my right hand, where a thin silver ring looped my index finger, catching what light there was in the room and giving back twinkles. The metal grew cold against my skin and tightened a fraction, almost a friendly little squeeze. The ring -- which wasn't really a ring -- could tell when I was thinking about it. "Uh," I said. Jenny nodded vigorously, a motion I felt in the jostling of the mattress more than I saw. "I know! I know. But I wouldn't ask if it wasn't important. I mean, you've had the thing for more than a year, and I've never asked once if I could use it, right?" I glanced at my closed door -- no glow under the crack at the bottom, which meant my parents had gone to their separate beds and turned out the hall light -- and switched on my bedside lamp. Jenny was dressed in jeans and a sweater, all in dark grays and blacks, not her usual aggressively flamboyant colorful mishmash style at all. Good for sneaking into people's windows, I guessed. I sat up against the headboard, because when you're about to annoy your best friend, it's better not to be flat on your back at the time. "I wish I could," I said -- not one hundred percent true, but Jenny was a fourteen-year-old genius, not a human lie detector. "But it's, like... part of me. You know? I'm part of the mechanism. I can't just take it off. It's linked into my, what's it called, socratic nervous system?" "Somatic," Jenny said gloomily. She was almost as good at biology as she was at math. "The part of your nervous system that controls movement, which sort of halfway makes sense, I guess." I shrugged. "So, there you go. The ring's not something I wear. It's something that wears me. Or we wear each other. What did you want it for?" She looked away. "Nothing. An errand." I sighed. "Tell me, Jay Kay. Maybe I can help. Is it about a boy?" Jenny just bit her lip. Good enough. The past few months it's pretty much always been about a boy. I took her hand. Me and Jenny go way back, and whenever I say that, older people laugh, because I'm fifteen and she's fourteen, and they're like, you're too young to even have a "way back." But I've known Jenny since she skipped first grade and ended up in my second-grade class, which means I've been her best friend for about half my life, and how many of you old people have a friendship with that kind of percentage? She used to hide me in her basement when things got too bad and I ran away from home, and she's the reason I've never failed a math or science class. I owe her. I'm not saying I'd kill for her or anything, but I mean, I like to think I'd help her bury the bodies. "Okay," I said. "I'll help. Where are we going?" "I don't want to get you into any trouble," she said. "It's my problem, I should really deal with it myself." I shrugged. "Mom stopped doing the middle-of-the-night spot checks mo 10,and,Up,,OK,for,Kids,,Podcasts Tim Pratt no No http://escapepod.org/2011/07/05/book-review-pirates-by-nobilis-reed/ http://escapepod.org/2011/07/05/book-review-pirates-by-nobilis-reed/#comments Tue, 05 Jul 2011 21:08:37 +0000 Josh Roseman http://escapepod.org/?p=2373 Scouts are back in Pirates -- worldbuilding, characterization, and wry humor -- but I didn't feel the sense of discovery with Pirates that I had with the previous book, and, for me, that's its downfall.]]> http://escapepod.org/2011/07/05/book-review-pirates-by-nobilis-reed/feed/ 1 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 00:01:01 Click here to download the ePub version. This month wersquo;re bringing you short story and novella nominees for the Hugo awards, one of the two big ... Click here to download the ePub version. This month wersquo;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 Nebularsquo;s were awarded in May, and wersquo;ll find out who wins the Hugos next month at Renovation in Reno, Nevada. Itrsquo;s always been more than a bit amusing to me to see the inevitable lsquo;That got nominated? The [insert award name] is losing itrsquo; 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 yearrsquo;s crop of stories against the awardrsquo;s prior canon. The nominations and awards come from a large swath of fandom or onersquo;s fellow writers, and therersquo;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 wonrsquo;t like all of them, but yoursquo;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 canrsquo;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 anyonersquo;s feeding this into one of those Braille boxes) as possible, which is why wersquo;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 couldnrsquo;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. Theyrsquo;re all worthy of it, even if they are [insert ghastly sub-genre]. --Bill E-pub,,Hugo,Awards,,Podcasts,,TheSoundproofEscapePod Mur Lafferty no No http://escapepod.org/2011/07/01/book-review-%e2%80%9cgeist%e2%80%9d-by-philippa-ballantine/ http://escapepod.org/2011/07/01/book-review-%e2%80%9cgeist%e2%80%9d-by-philippa-ballantine/#comments Fri, 01 Jul 2011 17:51:41 +0000 Josh Roseman http://escapepod.org/?p=2333 Geist, by Philippa Ballantine, combines the best of what I like in 1990s fantasy fiction with the scope of a doorstop novel... and then pares out all the extraneous crap that makes a fantasy novel into a doorstop. It's an enjoyable book to read, even if it's got a few too many tropes that we've all read before.]]> http://escapepod.org/2011/07/01/book-review-%e2%80%9cgeist%e2%80%9d-by-philippa-ballantine/feed/ 0 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 80:10 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 ... 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 Mariskarsquo;s mother was the famous Natalya Volochkova.nbsp;nbsp; Mariskarsquo;s life aboard the Shining Legend went immediately from bad to awful.nbsp; Even before he singled her out, she had decided that there was no way shersquo;d be spending the rest of her teen years crewing on an asteroid bucket.nbsp; Once Beep started persecuting her, she began counting down the remaining days of the run as if she were a prisoner.nbsp; She tried explaining that she had no use for Natalya Volochkova, who had never been much of a mother to her, but Beep wouldnrsquo;t hear it.nbsp; He didnrsquo;t care that Mariska had only signed on to the Shining Legend to get back at her mother for ruining her life. Somehow that hadnrsquo;t worked out quite the way she had planned. For example, there was crud duty.nbsp; With a twisting push Mariska sailed into the command module, caught herself on a handrail, and launched toward the starboard wall.nbsp; The racks ofnbsp; instrument screens chirped and beeped and buzzed; command was one of the loudest mods on the ship.nbsp; She stuck her landing in front of navigation rack and her slippers caught on the deck burrs, anchoring her in the shiprsquo;snbsp; .0006 gravity.nbsp;nbsp; Sure enough, she could see new smears of mold growing from the crack where the nav screen fit into the wall.nbsp; This was Beeprsquo;s fault, although he would never admit it.nbsp; He kept the humidity jacked up in Command, said that dry air gave him nosebleeds.nbsp; Richard FiveFord claimed they came from all the drugs Beep sniffed but Mariska didnrsquo;t want to believe that.nbsp; Also Beep liked to sip his coffee from a cup instead sucking it out of a bag, even though he slopped all the time.nbsp; Fungi loved the sugary spatters.nbsp; She sniffed one particularly vile looking smear of mold.nbsp; It smelled faintly like the worms she used to grow back home on the Moon.nbsp; 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.nbsp; 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.nbsp; =What?= His feed made a pleasant fizz behind her eyes, distracting her. =You done any time soon?=nbsp; Distraction was Richardrsquo;s specialty =No.= =Didit is making a dream for us.= She slapped her sponge at the wall in frustration.nbsp; =This sucks.=nbsp; Mariska couldnrsquo;t remember the last time Didit or Richard FiveFord had pulled crud duty. =Should we wait for you?= =If you want.=nbsp; But she knew they wouldnrsquo;t. =Might be another hour.= ldquo;Yoursquo;re working, Volochkova.rdquo; Beeprsquo;s voice crackled over the loudspeaker.nbsp; One of his quirks was snooping their private feeds and then yelling at them over the shiprsquo;s com. ldquo;Yes, sir,rdquo; she said.nbsp; Beep liked to be called sir.nbsp; It made him feel like the captain of the Shining Legend instead of senior monkey of its maintenance crew. ldquo;Shersquo;s working, FiveFord.nbsp; Leave our sweet young thing alone.rdquo; She felt Richardrsquo;s feed pop like a bubble.nbsp; He was more afraid of Beep than she was even though the old crank hardly ever bullied Richard.nbsp; Mariska hated being called sweet young thing.nbsp; She wasnrsquo;t sweet and she wasnrsquo;t all that young.nbsp; She was already fifteen in conscious years, eighteen if you counted the time she had hibernated. When Mariska finished wiping th... 10,and,Up,,Hugo,Awards,,Podcasts James Patrick Kelly no No http://escapepod.org/2011/06/28/book-review-hit-list-by-laurell-k-hamilton/ http://escapepod.org/2011/06/28/book-review-hit-list-by-laurell-k-hamilton/#comments Tue, 28 Jun 2011 21:15:55 +0000 Josh Roseman http://escapepod.org/?p=2356 Hit List is better than the three Anita Blake books that preceded it, it still suffers from the same problems that bothered me about the others -- specifically, even though the action is well-written, none of the characters will just shut up and let the action happen.]]> http://escapepod.org/2011/06/28/book-review-hit-list-by-laurell-k-hamilton/feed/ 1 http://escapepod.org/2011/06/25/deathless-by-catherynne-m-valente/ http://escapepod.org/2011/06/25/deathless-by-catherynne-m-valente/#comments Sat, 25 Jun 2011 21:15:11 +0000 Sarah Frost http://escapepod.org/?p=2342 http://escapepod.org/2011/06/25/deathless-by-catherynne-m-valente/feed/ 0 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 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 ... 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. nbsp;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. nbsp;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 worldmdash; mdash;and the world attacked me. It attacked me. I left that place in ruins. It was on the other side of the mountainsmdash;the Norwegian camp , it is called heremdash;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... 17,and,Up,,Podcasts Peter Watts no No http://escapepod.org/2011/06/22/science-future-maintaining-memory/ http://escapepod.org/2011/06/22/science-future-maintaining-memory/#comments Wed, 22 Jun 2011 14:31:34 +0000 Nojh http://escapepod.org/?p=2307 http://escapepod.org/2011/06/22/science-future-maintaining-memory/feed/ 1 http://escapepod.org/2011/06/20/science-future-seaching-space/ http://escapepod.org/2011/06/20/science-future-seaching-space/#comments Mon, 20 Jun 2011 17:56:12 +0000 Nojh http://escapepod.org/?p=2225 http://escapepod.org/2011/06/20/science-future-seaching-space/feed/ 2 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 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 ... 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 wasnrsquo;t an option, knowing the whole time that shersquo;d never get to keep the baby. That shersquo;d lose everything. That her household would lose everything because of her. I never understood how she couldnrsquo;t care. I wondered what her family thought when they learned what shersquo;d done, when their committee split up the household, scattered themmdash;broke them, because of her. Did she think I was worth it? # It was all about quotas. ldquo;Theyrsquo;re using cages up north, I heard. Off shore, anchored,rdquo; Nina said. ldquo;Fifty feet acrossmdash;twice as much protein grown with half the resources, and wersquo;d never have to touch the wild population again. We could double our quota.rdquo; I hadnrsquo;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 spacemdash;an antique but more than seaworthy. She was a good boat, with a good crew. The best. ldquo;Mariemdash;rdquo; Nina said, pleading. I sighed and woke up. ldquo;Wersquo;ve been over this. We canrsquo;t just double our quota.rdquo; ldquo;But if we got authorizationmdash;rdquo; ldquo;Donrsquo;t you think wersquo;re doing all right as it is?rdquo; We had a good crewmdash;we were well fed and not exceeding our quotas; I thought wersquo;d be best off not screwing all that up. Not making waves, so to speak. Ninarsquo;s big brown eyes filled with tearsmdash;Irsquo;d said the wrong thing, because I knew what she was really after, and the status quo wasnrsquo;t it. ldquo;Thatrsquo;s just it,rdquo; she said. ldquo;Wersquo;ve met our quotas and kept everyone healthy for years now. I really think we should try. We can at least ask, canrsquo;t we?rdquo; The truth was: No, I wasnrsquo;t sure we deserved it. I wasnrsquo;t sure that kind of responsibility would be worth it. I didnrsquo;t want the prestige. Nina didnrsquo;t even want the prestigemdash;she just wanted the baby. ldquo;Itrsquo;s out of our hands at any rate,rdquo; I said, looking away because I couldnrsquo;t bear the intensity of her expression. Pushing herself off the rail, Nina stomped down Amaryllisrsquo; port side to join the rest of the crew hauling in the catch. She wasnrsquo;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. Shersquo;d been with the house for seven yearsmdash;she was twenty, now. It hadnrsquo;t seemed so long. ldquo;Whoa!rdquo; 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. Wersquo;d caught something big, heavy, and full of powerful muscles. We had a ... 10,and,Up,,Hugo,Awards,,OK,for,Kids,,Podcasts Carrie Vaughn no No http://escapepod.org/2011/06/14/book-review-embassytown-by-china-mieville/ http://escapepod.org/2011/06/14/book-review-embassytown-by-china-mieville/#comments Tue, 14 Jun 2011 12:00:19 +0000 Josh Roseman http://escapepod.org/?p=2289 Embassytown explores that theme and others, and is a smashing success at doing so.]]> http://escapepod.org/2011/06/14/book-review-embassytown-by-china-mieville/feed/ 0 http://escapepod.org/2011/06/11/science-future-portable-power/ http://escapepod.org/2011/06/11/science-future-portable-power/#comments Sat, 11 Jun 2011 17:26:43 +0000 Nojh http://escapepod.org/?p=2235 http://escapepod.org/2011/06/11/science-future-portable-power/feed/ 1 http://escapepod.org/2011/06/09/ep296-for-want-of-a-nail/ http://escapepod.org/2011/06/09/ep296-for-want-of-a-nail/#comments Thu, 09 Jun 2011 18:01:38 +0000 Mur Lafferty http://escapepod.org/?p=2297 http://escapepod.org/2011/06/09/ep296-for-want-of-a-nail/feed/ 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 ... 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 Cordeliarsquo;s innards. There was scant room to get the flexible shaft of a mono-lens and her hand through the access hatch in the AIrsquo;s chassis. From the next compartment, drums and laughter bled through the plastic walls of the ship, indicating her sisterrsquo;s conception party was still in full swing. With only a single camera attached, the interface glasses didnrsquo;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 couldnrsquo;t get the cable plugged in and working, Cordelia wouldnrsquo;t be able to download backups of herself to her long-term memory. She couldnrsquo;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 Ravarsquo;s fingers. Again. ldquo;Dammit!rdquo; She slammed her heel against the shiprsquo;s floor in frustration. ldquo;If you canrsquo;t do it, let someone else try.rdquo; Her older brother, Ludoviko, had insisted on following her out of the party as if he could help. ldquo;You know, this would go a lot faster if you werenrsquo;t breathing down my neck.rdquo; ldquo;You know, you wouldnrsquo;t be doing this at all if you hadnrsquo;t dropped her.rdquo; 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 AIrsquo;s wrangler. ldquo;Why donrsquo;t you go back to the party and see if you can learn something about fertility?rdquo; She lifted the cable head and tried one more time. ldquo;Why, you littlemdash;rdquo; Rage choked his voice, more than she had expected from a random slam. She made a guess that his appeal to the repro-council didnrsquo;t go well. Cordeliarsquo;s voice cut in, stopping what he was going to say. ldquo;Itrsquo;s not Ravarsquo;s fault. I did ask her to pick me up.rdquo; ldquo;Yeah.rdquo; Rava focused on the cable, trying to get it aligned. ldquo;Right.rdquo; Ludoviko snorted. ldquo;And then you dropped yourself.rdquo; Cordelia sighed and Rava could almost imagine breath tickling her skin. ldquo;If yoursquo;re going to blame anyone, blame Branson Conchord for running into her.rdquo; Rava didnrsquo;t bother answering. Theyrsquo;d been having the same conversation for the last hour and Cordelia should know darn well what Ludovikorsquo;s answer would be. Like programming, he said, ldquo;It was irresponsible. She should have said no. The room was full of intoxicated, rowdy people and you are too valuable an asset.rdquo; Rava rested her head against the smooth wood side of the AIrsquo;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 didnrsquo;t want to think about what would happen if she couldnrsquo;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 hadnrsquo;t heard that part... 10,and,Up,,Hugo,Awards,,Podcasts Mary Robinette Kowal no No http://escapepod.org/2011/06/08/book-review-the-hundred-thousand-kingdoms-by-n-k-jemisin/ http://escapepod.org/2011/06/08/book-review-the-hundred-thousand-kingdoms-by-n-k-jemisin/#comments Wed, 08 Jun 2011 14:00:19 +0000 Josh Roseman http://escapepod.org/?p=2188 The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, Yeine Darr must fight a battle of political succession to determine the next ruler of the world. The problem is: I've read this book before, and I'm not sure this one brings anything new to the telling of the tale.]]> http://escapepod.org/2011/06/08/book-review-the-hundred-thousand-kingdoms-by-n-k-jemisin/feed/ 1