Escape Pod 13: The Once and Future Dentist

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Show Notes

Rated PG. Contains violence, alcohol, and gratuitous time travel.

The Once and Future Dentist

By D. Richard Pearce

“‘He was the most skillful gambler, and the nerviest, fastest, deadliest man with a six-gun I ever saw.’ Do you know who said that, Doctor?”

He coughed politely and sat in a nearby chair. “Begging your pardon, ma’am, I’d be more interested in who they were talking about.”

She laughed softly, and seemed to turn her attention to him fully for the first time. “Wyatt Earp said those words about you, Doctor. At your funeral, I suspect, though I don’t know for sure.”

EP Flash: Friday Night Gods

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 7:02 — 3.2MB)

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Friday Night Gods

By Josh Rountree

Brodie approached the line of scrimmage and both sides of the field erupted. The red-robed fans in the visitor’s stands surged like a crimson wave, swaying in unison as they began the  Rite of Interception. They stamped their feet against the aluminum bleachers, chanting as they drew gleaming blades across the bellies of countless doomed rattlesnakes. Their blood spilled, the snakes were then hurled onto the field. The rain of reptiles sounded like bacon burning in a skillet as the animals protested their own sacrifice.

Escape Pod 12: Clean Up Your Room!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 40:15 — 18.5MB)

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Show Notes

Rated G. Contains intense maternal nagging and disturbing chorework. May not be suitable for some adults.

Clean Up Your Room!

By Laura Anne Gilman

“Jessy, put that away and come eat breakfast. You won’t get anything useful done on an empty stomach.” The voice was the usual gender-neutral computer-generated drone, and yet it sounded different to her this morning. Obviously, the tone modifiers Gregory had suggested were working, too. That was going to be a selling point for everyone yelping about the dehumanization of home life. In a few generations, they’d be able to personalize the voice, maybe even to customer order.

EP Flash: Virus

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:56 — 936.6KB)

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Virus

By Greg van Eekhout

Drawn by the sound of the propellers, the lunchtime crowd looked to the sky. An airship passed over the skyscrapers, plumes of black, virus-laden smoke spewing behind it. Traffic below stopped. People paused on the sidewalks and watched the cloud sink slowly towards them.

Escape Pod 11: Herd Mentality

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 36:35 — 16.8MB)

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Show Notes

Rated G. Suitable for world-dominating clone armies of all ages.

Herd Mentality

By Jay Caselberg

Einstein was getting old now. All of them. Not so old that he was past it, but you had to wonder. When our troops liberated the Spemann Lab complex in 1945, the Einsteins had been just five years old. The Government had done the humanitarian thing and brought them back home. Eventually, someone had leaked the information and slowly, slowly, public pressure and outrage had grown. The big hush-hush operation our government had mounted was shut down and the Einsteins were released – or rather, they were integrated into society in a humanitarian manner. That was the wording the government press releases used. Two hundred and fifty is a lot of Einsteins.

EP Flash: Paradox

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Paradox

By Scott Janssens

I saw nothing when I looked through the eyepiece Franz handed me and told him so.

“Of course not,” said Franz. “Right now, the time sight is set to look into the future. From this point in time, the future doesn’t exist yet, not in any meaningful way, so it can’t be seen.”

Escape Pod 10: The Girlfriends of Dorian Gray

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 52:50 — 24.2MB)

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Show Notes

Rated R. Contains explicit sex, cruelty, and immoral dining.

The Girlfriends of Dorian Gray

By Gregory Frost

For all that, his manners were impeccable. It wasn’t that he sat slobbering and gnashing, drawing attention to himself as some deranged Neanderthal with a fork might have done. No, he ate demurely, quietly, chatting with her, truly interested in what she had to say (or at least feigning interest so well that she would never notice the difference). Dinner with him lasted the entire evening. The courses came and went — soups, hors-d’oeuvres, first course, main course, cheese course, desserts and coffee, liqueurs. She would not have noticed right away that he had eaten an extra course, or more than one dessert, or consumed an entire bottle of wine on his own and helped her with half of another. Simply, he ate. And ate. And ate. And ate.

EP Flash: Slicing

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 3:00 — 1.4MB)

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Slicing

By Greg van Eekhout

The fact is, almost any new knife can cut through an aluminum can and then slice a tomato with equal ease. Don’t believe me, buy a new cheap knife and try it yourself. The pitch man hacks through a tree branch. He cuts a radiator hose. And this ho-hum humbug works. If he hammered a nail with his shoe people would buy nine pair, as long as they came with a free shoehorn and an extra pair of laces.

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Escape Pod Forum

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