Escape Pod 220: Come All Ye Faithful

Escape Pod 220: Come All Ye Faithful is an Escape Pod original.

Rated PG

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 34:05 — 23.4MB)

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Come All Ye Faithful

By Robert J. Sawyer

“Damned social engineers,” said Boothby, frowning his freckled face. He looked at me, as if expecting an objection to the profanity, and seemed disappointed that I didn’t rise to the bait.

“As you said earlier,” I replied calmly, “it doesn’t make any practical difference.”

He tried to get me again: “Damn straight. Whether Jody and I just live together or are legally married shouldn’t matter one whit to anyone but us.”

I wasn’t going to give him the pleasure of telling him it mattered to God; I just let him go on. “Anyway,” he said, spreading hands that were also freckled, “since we have to be married before the Company will give us a license to have a baby, Jody’s decided she wants the whole shebang: the cake, the fancy reception, the big service.”

Escape Pod 219: Sleepy Joe

Originally appeared in The Infinite Matrix

Rated R for adult situations, a smattering of violence, and overly friendly chairs.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 36:44 — 25.2MB)

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Sleepy Joe

By Marc Laidlaw

The plan must have come to Rog fully formed that first morning, as he stepped off the elevator into the lobby of Szilliken Sharpenwright and saw the old soldier newly stationed there in his omnichair between the potted silk ferns and the coffee tables.

“Oh. My. God. I am in love.”

Megan, her arms loaded with Rog-House props and paraphernalia she hadn’t had time to ditch yet, said, “You say that an awful lot for someone who styles himself completely asexual. Not to mention atheistic.”

Escape Pod 218: Ode To Katan Amano

Originally appeared in the author’s collection, Frog Toes and Tentacles from Subterranean press.

Rated X for violence and strong sexual situations.  As Steve says in the intro, this one isn’t for the kids.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:16 — 18.1MB)

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Ode To Katan Amano

By Caitlin R. Kiernan

No one hears when I ease the heavy steel door shut behind me. All the ears in the darkened workshop, all those hundreds and hundreds of ears, but still no one hears a thing. And I stand there for a while, as unmoving as they, not exactly frightened and not exactly uncertain if I should see this through — I think I stand there in reverence. I be-lieve that’s the word that people use for what I feel in that moment, standing there alone, alone with that assembled crowd.

Escape Pod 217: The Kindness of Strangers

Escape Pod 217: The Kindness of Strangers is an Escape Pod original.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 52:00 — 35.7MB)

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Show Notes

Rated R for sexual situations and alien-caused genocide.

The Kindness of Strangers

by Nancy Kress

When morning finally dawns, Rochester isn’t there anymore.

Jenny stands beside Eric, gazing south from the rising ground that yesterday was a fallow field. Maybe the whole city hasn’t vanished. Certainly the tall buildings are gone, Xerox Square and Lincoln Tower and the few others that just last night poked above the horizon, touched by the red fire of the setting September sun. But, unlike Denver or Tokyo or Seattle, Rochester, New York sits – sat – on flat ground and there’s no point from which the whole city could be seen at once. And it was such a small city.

“Maybe they only took downtown,” Jenny says to Eric, “and Penfield is still there or Gates or Brighton…”

Escape Pod 216: βoyfriend

Originally appeared at Worldchanging.ca

Rated R for language, teen-adult situations, and virtual steadies. Also, Norm’s sexy talk.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 45:20 — 31.1MB)

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βoyfriend

By Madeline Ashby

Violet snapped three photos of herself from various angles, sent them, and waited for her boyfriend’s response. He rang her up—a slow vibrating purr, unlike the staccato door-knocking of her mother’s ringvibe—and said: “Me likey. Now take it off.”

Violet frowned. “You were _supposed_ to dig up the backstory on the dress.”

“Well, you can’t blame me for getting a little distracted. Besides, isn’t it bad luck for me to see?”

“That’s only for weddings, not prom.”

Escape Pod 215: Mr. Penumbra’s Twenty-Four-Hour Book Store

First appeared at Robin Sloan’s blog, June 8, 2009.

Rated G. May contain creepy imagery and disturbing data visualizations.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 46:36 — 32.0MB)

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Mr. Penumbra’s Twenty-Four-Hour Book Store

By Robin Sloan

IT’S 2:02 A.M. ON A COLD SUMMER NIGHT.

I’m sitting in a book store next to a strip club.

Not that kind of book store. The inventory here is incredibly old and impossibly rare. And it has a secret—a secret that I might have just discovered.

I am alone in the store. And then, tap-tap, suddenly I’m not.

And now I’m pretty sure I’m about to snap my laptop shut, run screaming out the front door, and never return.

Dragon*Con Meetup

For anyone among the tens of thousands of SF fans attending Dragon*Con in Atlanta this weekend: for the third year, we’re hosting a meetup along with Cunning Minx of the Polyamory Weekly podcast.

The meetup’s at 11 AM on Sunday, September 6 at the Gordon Biersch Brewpub at 848 Peachtree Street:


View Larger Map

Minx has an RSVP list for headcount purposes at:
http://twtvite.com/cz4lk4

The brewpub’s about a mile north of the con, which makes for a long walk; but it’s an easy taxi ride, and we’re talking about bringing some people to carpool together as well. Drop me a line at sfeley@gmail.com with your cell number or post in the forum thread if you need to coordinate transportation.

We look forward to seeing many of you there!

Escape Pod 214: Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast

First published in Interzone #220 (Feb 2009).

Rated R for sex, masks, and violence

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 57:51 — 39.7MB)

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Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast

By Eugie Foster

Each morning is a decision. Should I put on the brown mask or the blue? Should I be a tradesman or an assassin today?

Whatever the queen demands, of course, I am. But so often she ignores me, and I am left to figure out for myself who to be.

Dozens upon dozens of faces to choose from.

1. Marigold is for murder.

Genres:

Escape Pod 213: A Monkey Will Never Get Rid of Its Black Hands

Escape Pod 213: A Monkey Will Never Get Rid of Its Black Hands is an Escape Pod original.

Rated R for amputation fads.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 50:40 — 34.8MB)

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A Monkey Will Never Get Rid of Its Black Hands

By Rachel Swirsky

Papa and Uncle Fomba told me if I didn’t join the army, they’d kill me. They didn’t. They cut off my hands.

This was after U.S. forces marched on Syria, but before we invaded Lebanon. On every city block, posters of Uncle Sam entreated every Tom, Duc, and Haroun to get blown up in the name of freedom. Papa and Fomba gave me two weeks to enlist. I ran for Canada instead. They caught me.