Escape Pod 70: Squonk the Dragon

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 40:32 — 27.9MB)

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Show Notes

Rated G. This is a children’s story. Have Fun.

Referenced sites:
Variant Frequencies

(Technical Note: This is a corrected version of the sound file; my original one had a cut-and-paste glitch in the outro. Apologies to anyone who gets a duplicate, and thanks to Tony Mast of the Fanboy Smackdown podcast for pointing out the error.)

Squonk the Dragon

By Pete Butler

Squonk lived with his mother, who was definitely not a dragon–she was a small blue bird named Mrs. Tweedle-Chirp. Now, it is true that birds generally cannot lay dragon eggs, and Mrs. Tweedle-Chirp was no exception. But, they can care for dragon eggs that they happen to find lying untended in the middle of the forest, assuming they are suitably ambitious.

Escape Pod 69: Her

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 18:25 — 12.7MB)

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Show Notes

Rated R. Contains explicit anatomical imagery. On a very large scale.

Referenced sites:
Podrunner Podcast
Daily Dragon Podcast
Dragon*Con: Atlanta, GA, September 1–4

Her

by Tobias S. Buckell

“It’s fascinating,” Jo said, now that she had what she wanted out of me, “that the inhabitants here are the only race we know of that has their mythology dead on.”

“Huh?” I looked down at the table. I needed more beer.

“They believe they live on the corpse of a giant.”

“Maybe it’s because they do,” I said, sneaking another look back down the inner thigh that dominated the western hemisphere.

Escape Pod 68: Depth of Field

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:30 — 20.3MB)

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Show Notes

Rated R. Contains profanity, brief scenes of graphic violence, and questionable filmmaking.

Referenced sites:
Worldcon 2006: Anaheim, CA, August 23–27
Dragon*Con: Atlanta, GA, September 1–4

Depth of Field

by Stephen Dedman

One of the governor’s advisers had recommended appointing a committee of science fiction writers to investigate the saucer sightings as a way of diverting the public, and the governor had agreed. However, as none of the selection committee were SF readers, Project Birdwatch was dominated by screenwriters, writer-directors, writer-director-producers, and the occasional typecast actor. Few of them were brilliant, but they knew one side of a television camera from the other, and at least none of them had been blacklisted. The novelists and short story writers who had joined Birdwatch had soon given up in disgust. Ed had signed up for the same reasons as most of the others; the possibility of publicity, and the badly-needed fifty dollars a month. Besides, seven pretty blonde women had been abducted, and someone was responsible!

Escape Pod 67: Life in Stone

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 35:30 — 24.4MB)

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Show Notes

Rated R. Contains strong violent imagery, some sexual content, and themes of immor(t)ality.

Referenced sites:
Invasion: The Complete Series on DVD
Obsidian River
Spaceship Radio
Decoder Ring Theatre – Main Site
Decoder Ring Theatre – Podcast Site
Sonic Society – Main Site
Sonic Society – Podcast Site
Amazing Pulp Adventures
Pseudopod – The Sound of Horror
Worldcon 2006: Anaheim, CA, August 23–27
Dragon*Con: Atlanta, GA, September 1–4

Life in Stone

by Tim Pratt

After ascending 72 flights of iron stairs, creeping past tentacled sentinels lurking in pools filled with black water, and silently dispatching wizened old warriors armed with glaives and morningstars that proved a close match for his pistols and poisoned glass knives, Mr. Zealand at last stumbled into the uppermost room of Archibald Grace’s invisible tower. All Zealand’s earlier murders were mere journeyman work compared to this final assassination, the murder of a man who’d lived for untold centuries, who’d come to America and enslaved Buffalo spirits, who’d built this tower of ice and iron on the far side of the Rockies as a sanctuary and stronghold for his own precious life.

EP Flash: The Uncanny Valley

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 3:00 — 2.1MB)

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Show Notes

Rated G. (Anything that isn’t G-rated in this story is entirely the product of your imagination.)

The Uncanny Valley

By Jared Axelrod

“I’m sorry,” Purby said, reshuffling the papers on his desk. “What was the problem with her?”

“Her breathing. She breathes. She doesn’t stop.”

“Yes, and?”

“It’s unnerving.”

Escape Pod 66: The King’s Tail

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 24:30 — 16.8MB)

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Show Notes

Rated PG. Contains slavery, heavy moral themes, and some violence.

Referenced sites:
Invasion: The Complete Series on DVD
Gradients of Sight
Dragon*Con: Atlanta, GA, September 1–4

The King’s Tail

by Constance Cooper

On one occasion–he flinched to remember it–the invaders had brought him Cthara eggs. Warm, fertilized eggs, likely ripped just that day from the hatching burrow of some poor herder family. It had been the greatest challenge the Creator had ever sent him. His fangs had unfolded without his conscious will, and only a lifetime of piety and self-control had kept him from sinking them into the small bodies of the terrified guards.

His venom had dripped onto the filthy floor, and after the guards left he had lain shuddering in the dampness, feeling the leathery eggs by his flank gradually cool and die. Over and over he repeated the litany of the Prophet: “People shall not sink fang into other speaking people. People shall not eat the flesh of other speaking people. People shall not make war…”