Escape Pod 88: Blood of Virgins

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 33:40 — 23.1MB)

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Show Notes

Rated R. Contains sexual themes, third-world exploitation, and awkward freshmen.

Referenced sites:
Foster on Film (Pre-screening giveaway)

Blood of Virgins

by David Barr Kirtley

Other dragons cavorted on the airy currents. Those dragons were cherry red or lime green or creamy brown. Their riders steered them up the beach, or inland toward the mall, or back to campus.

A slender girl on a pink dragon passed us going the opposite way, her blond hair billowing. Matt waved to her. He said over his shoulder, “I met that girl last night. Hold on, I want to say hi.” He yanked the reins and we banked sharply. My stomach lurched. We swept around in an arc and came up alongside the girl. Her dragon had the guileless beady eyes and scrunched up cheeks of a lap dog. Matt said, “Hi. Dora, right?”

“Deirdre,” she corrected. “And you’re … Matt?” He grinned, and she said, “I like your dragon.”

Escape Pod Flash: Printcrime

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 5:35 — 3.9MB)

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Show Notes

Rated PG. Contains moderate violence and very slippery slopes.

Printcrime

by Cory Doctorow

Da. What they did to him. When he was done, he looked like he’d been brawling with an entire rugby side. They brought him out the door and let the newsies get a good look at him as they tossed him in the car. All the while a spokesman told the world that my Da’s organized-crime bootlegging operation had been responsible for at least 20 million in contraband, and that my Da, the desperate villain, had resisted arrest.

300 Word Flash Contest!

Hi all,

I announced this in the intro to last week’s episode, but got distracted and didn’t put it into written form here. Until now.

With the aid of an anonymous donor, Escape Pod is presenting a contest for the best SF story of 300 words or less. There are no restrictions on theme, plot, or structure. The goal is simply to present a strong idea-based story in the minimum space possible.
(Continue Reading…)

Escape Pod 87: Authorwerx

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 37:00 — 25.4MB)

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Show Notes

Rated R. Contains profanity and a disturbing resemblance to Philip K. Dick.

Referenced sites:
Eley’s writing progress
New forums (finally!)

Authorwerx

by Greg van Eekhout

I launched into my next bit, which I’d rehearsed that morning on the tram. “What I liked about your stories is that you never knew where they were going. It’d start off as a World War II military adventure, but then it would wind up being about android worms from another dimension out to steal Earth’s dirt. It’s like other writers’ stories are bridges: There’s a beginning, there’s an end, and it’s a pretty straight shot through. It might be a long bridge, or curvy, maybe, so you can’t quite see the ending coming. But the trip basically makes sense. Your stories were different, though. You always blew up your bridges halfway across, and you’d have to swim for the banks, and you’d end up on some rock with weird lizards.”

On the verge of laughter, he looked at me. “You’re kidding, right?”

Escape Pod 86: When We Went to See the End of the World

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:10 — 18.0MB)

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Show Notes

Rated R. Contains drugs, swinging, and frequent gratuitous apocalypses.

Referenced sites:
Podiobooks.com
Starship Sofa (incl.: Robert Silverberg)

When We Went to See the End of the World

by Robert Silverberg

Mike offered Nick some pot. “That’s really something,” he said. “To have gone to the end of the world. Hey, Ruby, maybe we’ll talk to the travel agent about it.”

Nick took a deep drag and passed the joint to Jane. He felt pleased with himself about the way he had told the story. They had all been very impressed. That swollen red sun, that scuttling crab. The trip had cost more than a month in Japan, but it had been a good investment. He and Jane were the first in the neighborhood who had gone. That was important.

Genres:

Escape Pod 85: Merry Christmas from the Heartbreakers

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 47:38 — 32.7MB)

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Show Notes

Rated R. Contains profanity, violence, and the puncturing of childhood myths. Merry Christmas!

Referenced sites:
Reading is Fundamental
Child’s Play
I Should Be Writing
Geek Fu Action Grip
Podsafe Music Network (Terms of Use)

Musical guest: Twisted Sister.

Merry Christmas from the Heartbreakers

by Mur Lafferty

“Look, I think I know where this is going,” Kris Kringle said, but Gingermuffin cut him off.

“Do you? The Heartbreakers have been making Tom Petty sound good for years, and no one gives a damn. Tom Petty gets all of the credit.”

Kris wondered if he was sober enough to have this discussion. “You’re not talking about Tom Petty.”

Gingermuffin slammed his hand down on the table. “Damn right I’m not!” Kris’s carefully stacked poker chips fell over in a clatter of Christmas.

Escape Pod 84: Smooth Talking

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 49:52 — 34.3MB)

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Show Notes

Rated R. For profanity and somewhat wooden anatomical descriptions.

Today’s Sponsor:

Smooth Talking

by Tobias S. Buckell

Roger sighed, shifted his position on the stump, and then turned back away from Marcus.

“What I’m trying to do, Marcus, is talk that tree into moving.”

Marcus didn’t say anything. He stood behind someone he thought he once knew and tried to figure what to say next. Not a man normally tied for words, Marcus found himself in the very surreal position of being speechless.

Escape Pod 83: Ulla

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 33:28 — 23.0MB)

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Show Notes

Rated PG. Contains violence, chemical warfare, and heavy moral themes.

Today’s Sponsor:

Ulla

by Daniel Schwabauer

The world we now occupy is red, fourth from its sun, and extreme in its temperature. The atmosphere is lethal. Without our shelters we would die. But we will not be here long. Already the attack-cylinders, loaded with machinery and the weapons of destruction, stand ready in the firing tubes. Soon I shall be sending you thoughts from the third planet.

I have loved you.

Escape Pod 82: Travels With My Cats

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 49:00 — 33.7MB)

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Show Notes

Rated PG. This product may be too disillusioning for young children.

2005 Hugo Winner!

Referenced sites:
PodDisc.com
DragonHearth Productions (by Tracy and Laura Hickman)

Travels With My Cats

by Mike Resnick

That night I was faced with a major decision. I didn’t want to read a book called Travels With My Cats by a woman called Miss, but I’d spent my last nickel on it — well, the last until my allowance came due again next week — and I’d read all my other books so often you could almost see the eyetracks all over them.

So I picked it up without much enthusiasm, and read the first page, and then the next — and suddenly I was transported to Kenya Colony and Siam and the Amazon. Miss Priscilla Wallace had a way of describing things that made me wish I was there, and when I finished a section I felt like I’d been there.