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.

Escape Pod 81: Margin of Error

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 23:15 — 16.0MB)

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Show Notes

Rated PG. Contains minor profanity, explicit bodily functions, and people being very, very mean..

Margin of Error

By Nancy Kress

She said, “What the project needs is for you to come back and work on the same small area you did originally. Looking for something–anything–you might have missed in the protein-coded instructions to successive generations of nanoassemblers.”

“No,” I said.

PodDisc.com is live!

As promised in the past couple of episodes, our online storefront for selling podcast archive CDs is (finally!) up and running at PodDisc.com. This is your chance to get all of your holiday shopping done in one place — provided everyone you know wants over 45 hours of science fiction short stories on CD.

What do the discs look like? I’m glad you asked. They look like this:

Escape Pod Collection 3

Beautiful, isn’t it? And for a very slight fee, you can have your own personal message put on the CD. You can buy each disc for $10 or a bundle of all three collections for $25. Shipping is a cheap flat rate in the U.S. (and tolerable everywhere else), and satisfaction is guaranteed.

Right now only Escape Pod CDs are available, but once the business model proves viable I plan to open this up to producing archive discs for other podcasters. If that’s a service you’d be interested in, drop me a line and I’ll give you more details.

And remember: If you’ve donated $20 or more to Escape Pod this year, or if you’re a subscriber, don’t buy yet! I’ll be sending details to you in e-mail on how you can get this stuff for free.

…Right after I get some sleep.