Far Fetched Fables

“The Penitent Damned" by Django Wexler(Originally published on io9.)Duke Mallus Kengire Orlanko, Royal Minister of Information — sometimes called the Last Duke, though not in his hearing — did not look particularly dangerous. He was short, balding, and tended toward the portly, a roly-poly little man with an unfortunate taste for rich purples that gave him the look of a ripe plum.Nevertheless, it was widely agreed that the Duke was the most dangerous man in Vordan, if not beyond. This was not simply because he was the inheritor of the most powerful fiefdom in the kingdom (though he was), or even because as Minister of Information his secret police, the all-seeing, all-knowing Concordat, had an informer in every shadow (though they did). What gave Orlanko his aura of terror was the certain knowledge that he had merely to crook a finger, and grim-faced men in long black coats would go to the home of the object of his displeasure in the middle of the night and haul the unfortunate away; and more importantly that no one would ever say a word about it, whether the prisoner was a beggar or a peer of the realm. Even the other Ministers of the Cabinet walked with care around the Last Duke.Django Wexler graduated from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, with degrees in Creative Writing and Computer Science, and worked for the university in artificial intelligence research. He eventually migrated to Microsoft in Seattle, where he now lives with two cats and a teetering mountain of books. When not writing, he wrangles computers, paints tiny soldiers, and plays games of all sorts. He can be found online at djangowexler.com and via Twitter: @DjangoWexler.About the Narrator:Nikolle Doolin is a voice actor and a writer of fiction, scripts, and poetry. She has performed narrations for a number of popular and award-winning podcasts, such as The NoSleep Podcast, Tales to Terrify, and StarShip Sofa. She also narrates classic literature in her own podcast Audio Literature Odyssey. To learn more about Nikolle, visit her website at nikolledoolin.com."

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Flash Fiction: “The Choochoomorphosis” by Oliver Buckram(Originally published in Unidentified Funny Objects 3.)As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed into Neville, the Crime-Fighting Locomotive. Neville was a funny little blue engine with six small wheels and a stumpy smokestack. He lived in the Big Station with the other steam engines of the Happyville Railroad, and spent his days cheerfully bustling up and down the railroad tracks, solving crimes and getting into mischief.Oliver Buckram Ph.D., lives in the Boston area where (under an assumed name) he teaches social science to undergraduates. His work has appeared in Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Interzone, and The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (F&SF), among other places. Find out more about him at oliverbuckram.com.Main Story: “The Mermaid's Purse” by Lynn Hardaker(Originally published in Cabinet des Feés' Scheherezade's Bequest: Something Rich and Strange.)“Look, Mummy, I’ve found another one.” The girl came running over. Claire watched her daughter with quiet detachment. Combing the beach for shells and feathers and mermaids’ purses was one of Lily’s favourite things to do.Her polka-dotted rubber boots made her steps awkward, but she didn’t seem to notice.With a look of triumph, she dropped the mermaid’s purse into Claire’s lap then pirouetted away, her long red hair catching the sea-wind as she ran back to the shore.Without taking her eyes off the girl, Claire picked up the purse, feeling the smooth black casing under her finger tips. Once, in a moment of doing what she thought a mother ought to do, she had told Lilly that they were actually cases for the eggs of skates or sharks. Lilly refused to believe it.Claire looked at the one she had now, alien and beetle-like. She squeezed it gently. Empty.“Mummy,” Lily had reappeared suddenly, “I think there’s one out there.” She pointed to the silver-gilded waves.“One what?”“A mermaid.”Lynn Hardaker is a Canadian writer and artist currently living in Regensburg, Germany. Her poems and short stories have appeared in such journals as Mythic Delirium, Scheherezade's Bequest, and Goblin Fruit. She's this close to finishing the third draft of her YA historical fantasy novel set in early 18th-century London. Her blog can be found at Beneath the Bracken.About the Narrators:Geoffrey Welchman writes, produces, and voices The Reigning Lunatic podcast, a medieval sitcom (and 2016 Parsec Awards finalist). He lives in Baltimore, Maryland. You can find him online at geoffreywelchman.com.Summer Brooks is a bit of a television addict, and enjoys putting her sci-fi media geek skills to good use in interviewing guests. She had been a co-host for Slice of SciFi from 2005-2009, the co-host for The Babylon Podcast from 2006-2012, and host of Kick-Ass Mystic Ninjas, before returning to Slice of SciFi full time as host and producer in August 2014.She is an avid reader and writer of scifi, fantasy and thrillers, with a handful of publishing credits to her name. Next on her agenda is writing an urban fantasy tale, and a B-movie monster extravaganza.Currently, Summer designs and maintains websites for clients in addition to having fun with the Slice of SciFi websites, and also does voiceover & narrations for Tales to Terrify, StarShipSofa and Escape Pod, among others.

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Flash Fiction: “Papagena” by Jay lake and Ruth Nestvold("Tales of the Rose Knights" #8, originally published in Daily Science Fiction.)Papagena was born on the Borderlands, between the sere landscape of the south and the orange plains to the north, a child of two homes, and when she chose to become a Rose Knight, her allegiance was to the plains as well as the desert, to the fertile land of Osverio as well as the harsher but warmer beauty of the Desertlands.She did not wear only one color. Some said her loyalties were divided, but she was true to both, orange and yellow, fighting with an ancient heart for both armies, giving the strength of her sword arm when the orange knights went to battle and the strength of her shield when the yellow knights needed to defend Sandbridge from intruders. As with all of the Rose Knights about whom the tales are told, Papagena was her own agent, free to go where she would and fight with whom she chose, living off booty and the pay from the campaigns in which she fought. Nonetheless, most Rose Knights fought for only one army.Papagena went a different way.Jay Lake lived in Portland, Oregon until his death in 2014, shortly before his 50th birthday. His books include Kalimpura from Tor and Love in the Time of Metal and Flesh from Prime. His short fiction appeared regularly in literary and genre markets worldwide. Jay was a winner of the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and a multiple nominee for the Hugo and World Fantasy Awards. In 2015, he posthumously received the Locus Award for his collection Last Plane to Heaven.Learn more about him and his work at jlake.com.Ruth Nestvold has published widely in science fiction and fantasy, her fiction appearing in such markets as Asimov's, F&SF, and Gardner Dozois' Year's Best Science Fiction. Her work has been nominated for the Nebula, Tiptree, and Sturgeon Awards. In 2007, the Italian translation of her novella Looking Through Lace won the Premio Italia award for best international work. She maintains a web site at ruthnestvold.com and blogs at ruthnestvold.wordpress.com.Jay and Ruth's collection of short stories, Almost All the Way Home from the Stars, is available at Amazon and via iTunes.Main Story: “She-Who-Thinks-For-Herself” by Juliet E. McKenna(Originally published in Resurrection Engines.)My beloved aunt, Phyllis Charteris, has received none of the plaudits lavished on the laurel-garlanded heroes who explore the remote heart of Africa. The Royal Geographic Society might deign to acknowledge Mary Kingsley after the success of her publication, ‘Travels in West Africa’ but there is not one quarter-inch of a newspaper column recording my aunt’s achievements.Such injustice has galled me ever since my return from the trackless swamps of the upper Zambesi. However I was sworn to secrecy for reasons which this narrative will soon explain.Now Mr. H. Rider Haggard has published the reminiscences of his Cambridge acquaintance sheltering beneath the pseudonym “Horace Holly”. Consequently I am free to share my aunt’s achievements with the world.But I am outstripping my story’s proper order.Juliet E. McKenna is a British fantasy author living in the Cotswolds, UK. Loving history, myth, and other worlds since she first learned to read, she has written fifteen epic fantasy novels, from The Thief’s Gamble which began The Tales of Einarinn in 1999, to Defiant Peaks concluding The Hadrumal Crisis trilogy. Exploring new opportunities in digital publishing, she’s re-issuing her backlist as ebooks as well as bringing out original fiction. She also writes diverse shorter fiction, reviews for web and print magazines and promotes science fiction and fantasy by blogging, attending conventions, and teaching creative writing. You can learn more about all of this at julietemckenna.com, and you can find Juliet on Facebook and on Twitter via @JulietEMcKenna.About the Narrators:Kat Merkulova is a multilingual, multi-national human. Born in the USSR, she currently lives in Paris, France. In the past she’s written a doctorate in plant biology, been an electro-grunge singer, and reported “LIVE!” on Russian national television. She’s recently decided to give web development a chance. As fascinating a person as she may be by day, she has zero literary credentials apart from being a fan of genre literature and podcasting. If you really want to, you can follow her on Instagram at @katlarusse.Nicola Seaton-Clark lives in the wilds of (almost) Eastern Europe with her long-suffering husband, phenomenal children and a grumpy cat. Trained as an actress and singer, she has worked in entertainment for over 20 years and currently splits her time between writing speculative fiction, helping her husband run their voice-over company, Offstimme, and voicing everything from commercials and documentaries to public transport announcements. She also hosts this podcast..."

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“Reckoning” by David Steffen(Originally published in Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine, September 2013.)"The Day of Reckoning is upon us," Preacher Paul said."You reckon?""I reckon."Paul watched Jake for telltale signs of guilt, but his friend only nodded and went on rocking his chair on the general store's porch."You'd best do everything you can to prepare," Paul added. "I'm here to offer you counsel if you need it.""Before you get too far in that sermon of yours, you ought to know I don't have any money for you, Preacher."Paul shook his head and stroked his beard. "That's just what the Devil's telling you to say."David Steffen is a writer, editor, and software engineer. He edits Diabolical Plots, which began publishing original fiction in 2015. He runs the Submission Grinder, a tool for writers to find markets for their work. He recently published The Long List Anthology, which is a collection of 21 stories from the longer Hugo Award nomination list last year. His own stories have been published in many nice places, including Escape Pod, Podcastle, Daily Science Fiction, and StarShipSofa.“Four Wizards and a Funeral” by Michael Rimar(Originally published in Orson Scott Card's InterGalactic Medicine Show #23.)True to her reputation, Simone the Starling was positively ravishing for a wizard.With her black satin robe accentuating her long, free-flowing hair, she moved like wavelets across a pond at midnight.In contrast, her face was paler than the dead man laying between us, a slash of crimson across her full lips the only suggestion she retained any membership to the living.Remembering my station, I folded my hands in a functionary manner and half-smiled, half-frowned my condolence. "Did you know him well, madame?" A standard if officious question. A blind man would recognize the only female member of the Cabal, or that Carmichael the Ferret, the leader of that notorious quintet of mages lay prone upon my preparation table.Michael Rimar no longer writes witty bios with clever puns and cute references to his pets. He has since matured. Also, he has no pets -- just two daughters, which is kind of the same thing. Furthermore, he sees nothing funny about writing science fiction, fantasy, and some horror, although many of his stories might be considered humorous. And purposefully humorous, not this-is-so-bad-it’s-funny kind of humorous. As proof, his story, A Bunny Hug for Karl, was nominated for the 2014 Prix Aurora for the best in Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy. He is also an associate publisher of Bundoran Press and co-editor of the anthology Second Contacts, which was also nominated for the 2016 Aurora award. He has been published in Writers of the Future XXI and On Spec, both serious publications despite having the occasional humorous story. Learn more about Mike at mikerimar.com. Seriously.About the Narrators:Eric Luke is the screenwriter of the Joe Dante film Explorers, which is currently in development as a remake; has written for the comic books Ghost and Wonder Woman; and wrote and directed the Not Quite Human films for Disney TV. His current project, Interference (a meta horror audiobook about an audiobook... that kills), is a bestseller on Audible.com. His website for creative projects is Quillhammer.com.Seth Williams is the avatar for a three-kilometer sentient starship that is parked (probably uncomfortably) close to the third planet. Surprisingly he has not yet been discovered. He is very happy that the inhabitants have discovered enough technology to that he can communicate in this limited fashion. Any communications can be directed to theboojum.org.

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“First and Last and Always” by Thana Niveau(Originally published in Magic: An Anthology of the Esoteric and Arcane.)Tamsin placed her hands on either side of her phone and gazed intently at the picture of Nicky she’d taken the day before. Her heart soared as she said his name aloud.“Nicky.”The flickering candlelight gave him the illusion of movement and Tamsin could almost believe she was watching him through a portal, seeing him as he was right at this moment. After a few seconds the picture faded and the screen went dark. She peered into the smooth black surface, focusing on the afterimage – Nicky in negative, overlaid by the reflection of her eyes and the ghostly glow of the flame.“Nicky.”When the image behind her eyes finally faded too she tried to see beyond the scrying glass of the phone’s screen, into whatever dimension the emptiness might reveal. Past, present, future – she didn’t care as long as she saw him.Thana Niveau is a horror and science fiction writer. Originally from the States, she now lives in the UK, in a Victorian seaside town between Bristol and Wales. She has twice been nominated for the British Fantasy Award – once for her debut short story collection From Hell to Eternity and once for her story “Death Walks En Pointe”. She has been writing all her life, but only began to publish after winning first place in a Jack the Ripper short story competition in 2010. Many others stories followed, in such diverse publications as Interzone, Black Static, Darker Companions (a tribute to Ramsey Campbell), Steampunk Cthulhu, Zombie Apocalypse Endgame, several volumes of both the Black Book of Horror series and the Terror Tales series. Her Lovecraftian novella Not to Touch the Earth appears in Whispers in the Dark. Her work has been reprinted in The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror, as well as Best British Horror.About the Narrator:Summer Brooks is a bit of a television addict, and enjoys putting her scifi media geek skills to good use in interviewing guests. She had been a co-host for Slice of SciFi from 2005-2009, the co-host for The Babylon Podcast from 2006-2012, and host of Kick-Ass Mystic Ninjas, before returning to Slice of SciFi full time as host and producer in August 2014.She is an avid reader and writer of scifi, fantasy and thrillers, with a handful of publishing credits to her name. Next on her agenda is writing an urban fantasy tale, and a B-movie monster extravaganza.Currently, Summer designs and maintains websites for clients in addition to having fun with the Slice of SciFi websites, and also does voiceover & narrations for Tales to Terrify, StarShipSofa and Escape Pod, among others.

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“The Ifrit's Trial” by Spencer Ellsowrth(Originally published in Human Tales.)Noble courtiers, wazirs, Sultan and lovely Sultana, salaam. Such fanfare for a poor Ifrit you have brought! I see you have seven red-robed sorcerers arrayed about the room, and seven white-robed holy men, each holding the seal of Suleyman whom the Hebrews called Solomon the Wise, and chanting the psalms of David, may peace fall upon him. In the yards of the palace you have arrayed seven times seven of these fork-bearded sorcerers, and seven times seven of these shaven holy men, and they each hold the seal and speak psalms and suras. After the time I have spent in your service, noble Sultan, do you think that I would be so foolish to not stand at my trial? I am a foolish Ifrit, this much is true, but there is enough sense in my head of air and fire to know that I owe you an explanation.This is the crime of which I stand accused: of my own malicious nature, I cast a wicked spell upon the Sultana Jalima and caused her to love me.Spencer Ellsworth lives in the top left corner of the USA, the Pacific Northwest, with his wife and three children. By day he works as a faculty/admin combo at a tribal college on a Native American reservation; by night he writes fiction. His short fiction has appeared and is forthcoming at Tor.com, Lightspeed Magazine, F&SF, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, and many other places. His first novels, a space opera trilogy called Starfire, will be released in short increments by Tor.com in 2017.“Last Age of Kings” by Jeremy Szal(Originally published in Fantasy Scroll Magazine #10.)Fog approached the town.Roshar knew it would happen, but it was still unsettling to see it touch the outskirts of his home. The day before, you could still see the fields. And the week before that Lithgard was still visible if you looked hard enough. But they had all been swallowed up by the spectral fog that scrubbed them out of existence.And soon it would be Northam’s turn.He was almost glad that Robin would never have to see this.Born in 1995 with a twisted sense of humor and a taste for craft beer, Jeremy Szal’s fiction and nonfiction has appeared or is forthcoming in such venues as Nature, Nature: Physics, Abyss & Apex, Lightspeed, Strange Horizons, and others. He is the fiction editor for a rubbish little-known podcast you probably haven't heard of called StarShipSofa, a Writers of the Future Finalist, and also has a useless BA in Film Studies and Creative Writing. He’s written multiple novels and is on the hunt for literary representation. He carves out a living in Sydney, Australia. Find him on Twitter at @jeremyszal or at his blog, jeremyszal.com.About the Narrators:Heath Miller is an actor from Perth, Western Australia. Often found in theaters, recording studios, comedy clubs, television sets, convention centers, and YouTube videos, Heath currently finds himself living on an island off the coast of Maine with two improbably large cats, one improbably large dog, one rather small puppy, and a brace of regular-sized chickens. You can follow him on Twitter at @zaboots or at heathmiller.net.Mark "The Encaffeinated One" Kilfoil loves fiction, so much so that he's written some (such as the Parsec-nominated Tainted Roses), read quite a lot (a library of over a thousand half-read books and growing), and now narrates it (sometimes actually recorded for others). He's found that volunteering for a dozen years in radio was a decent way to get a full-time job as a Program Director at a community radio station in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, but not such a great way to finish his thesis, so he stopped at a Masters in Computer Science. He can be heard frequently on CHSRfm.ca, and two of his shows regularly appear as podcasts, and can be found at encaffeinated.ca and theweirdshow.com. He likes cats enough to pet them but not enough to own one, and computers enough to own several but pet none of them. He will someday write a million words, but at this rate, that will require life extension, so he eagerly awaits the ability to upload into a computer, if that hasn't already happened and this is all only a simulation.

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"Flash Fiction: “Eden Rose” by Jay Lake & Ruth Nestvold("Tales of the Rose Knights" #7, originally published in Daily Science Fiction.)When the Rose Knight Graham Thomas first fell in love with Eden Rose, he knew the two of them would not have an easy time of it. He was a Yellow Rose of the old guard in the service of the Sun, while she was a White Rose, a servant of the Moon, her colors white and the faintest pink blush. The Sun and the Moon had long been at war, but in the way of youth, Eden and Graham knew that their individual fates would be strong enough to overcome history.Jay Lake lived in Portland, Oregon until his death in 2014, shortly before his 50th birthday. His books include Kalimpura from Tor and Love in the Time of Metal and Flesh from Prime. His short fiction appeared regularly in literary and genre markets worldwide. Jay was a winner of the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and a multiple nominee for the Hugo and World Fantasy Awards. In 2015, he posthumously received the Locus Award for his collection Last Plane to Heaven.Learn more about him and his work at jlake.com.Ruth Nestvold has published widely in science fiction and fantasy, her fiction appearing in such markets as Asimov's, F&SF, and Gardner Dozois' Year's Best Science Fiction. Her work has been nominated for the Nebula, Tiptree, and Sturgeon Awards. In 2007, the Italian translation of her novella Looking Through Lace won the Premio Italia award for best international work. She maintains a web site at ruthnestvold.com and blogs at ruthnestvold.wordpress.com.Jay and Ruth's collection of short stories, Almost All the Way Home from the Stars, is available at Amazon and via iTunes.Main Story: “Asmodeus Flight” by Siobhan Carroll(Originally published in Ghost in the Cogs)The day she turned eleven, Effie's father showed her how to die."Even the best aeronaut can be taken down by a spark" he said, his hand tracing the air between the Asmodeus engine and the oil-varnished paper over their heads. Effie swallowed. The ground below the air balloon looked unreal now, falling away into a picture of farmland and houses. But the hot flame that licked and danced before her — that threat seemed real.When not globetrotting in search of dusty tomes, Siobhan Carroll lives and lurks in Delaware. She is a graduate of Clarion West, the indefatigable OWW, and the twin ivory towers of Indiana University and U.B.C. Her fiction can be found in such magazines as Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Realms of Fantasy, and Lightspeed. Sometimes she writes under the byline "Von Carr". Both versions of herself firmly support the use of the Oxford Comma. For more, visit voncarr-siobhan-carroll.blogspot.com.About the Narrators:Heidi Hotz is a voiceover artist with a range of personalities who has been in the industry for more than 10 years, and has worked on TV commercials, radio, documentaries, audio fiction, and narration in general. She can be found at Voices.com.Andrea Richardson is a British singer and actress. With extensive stage and film performances to her name, she began narration and voiceover work in 2014 but enjoys using her existing skills in a different way. You can find Andrea at andrea-richardson.co.uk and on Facebook."

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“The Forever People” by Robert V.S. Redick(Originally published in Fearsome Journeys.)When Majka stepped out through the kitchen door at dusk she found a huge white weasel in the garden. Brazen, it locked eyes with her: a rare chelu, a ghost weasel, halfway between the garden wall and the little ramp by which the chickens entered the barn. Majka hissed. The chelu answered with a growl. The animal was nearly the size of a wolverine.The door stood open behind her. From within came the eager thok thok of her mother-in-law’s knife as she battled a turnip, then a chord from the mandolin her son was learning to play. They had borrowed the instrument from a neighbor; it was scratched and worn, and the neck felt slightly loose, but the family treated it like the relic of a saint. It had changed their evenings, brought life to those shadow-swamped rooms.Majka closed the door. She would face the chelu with the axe from the wood-splitting stump. Never taking her eyes from the creature, she backed along the side of the whitewashed house. A fierce wind was rising. The warmth of the day was ebbing fast.Robert V.S. Redick is the author of the critically acclaimed epic fantasy series The Chathrand Voyage Quartet. His new trilogy, The Fire Sacraments, launches in the fall of 2017 with Master Assassins. For twenty years he has combined fiction and international social and environmental justice work. Robert has lived and worked in Indonesia, Colombia, Argentina, and the UK. He now lives in Massachusetts with his partner, Kiran Asher, where they raise mud turtles. He can be found online at robertvsredick.com.About the Narrator:Amy Robinson is a voice artist with a wide range of vocal styling, inflections, and accents. She can be heard in a wide array of radio announcer spots, audiobook narrations, animated series, and even telephone IVR systems, and is a featured player on the Rookery Radio Hour Podcast. You can find her online at amyrobinsonvo.com.

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Flash Fiction: “Black Baccara” by Jay Lake & Ruth Nestvold("Tales of the Rose Knights" #6, originally published in Daily Science Fiction.)Baccara is one of the dark ones from among the ranks of the Rose Knights. She is a pale woman, needle-thin with large eyes dark as bruises. She always goes clad in satin of a color that falls somewhere between maroon and leaf mold. Baccara follows battle rather than leading it like most of her fellows, always in the service of the Armies of the Moon.Baccara can hear the whispers of the departing souls of the dead. From them she bargains for secrets. And the Velvet Knight always keeps her bargains.Jay Lake lived in Portland, Oregon until his death in 2014, shortly before his 50th birthday. His books include Kalimpura from Tor and Love in the Time of Metal and Flesh from Prime. His short fiction appeared regularly in literary and genre markets worldwide. Jay was a winner of the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and a multiple nominee for the Hugo and World Fantasy Awards. In 2015, he posthumously received the Locus Award for his collection Last Plane to Heaven.Learn more about him and his work at jlake.com.Ruth Nestvold has published widely in science fiction and fantasy, her fiction appearing in such markets as Asimov's, F&SF, and Gardner Dozois' Year's Best Science Fiction. Her work has been nominated for the Nebula, Tiptree, and Sturgeon Awards. In 2007, the Italian translation of her novella Looking Through Lace won the Premio Italia award for best international work. She maintains a web site at ruthnestvold.com and blogs at ruthnestvold.wordpress.com.Jay and Ruth's collection of short stories, Almost All the Way Home from the Stars, is available at Amazon and via iTunes.Main Story: “In the Quiet and In the Dark” by Alison Littlewood(Originally published in The Best British Fantasy 2013.)The street was dead. Steph looked up and down it and saw honey-coloured houses, a quiet church, and behind everything, sleeping fields. She wrinkled her nose. ‘Street’ didn’t seem the right word for it, not really; she didn’t know what was. ‘Lane’ was too small – this was the centre of Long Compton – and ‘road’ implied it was going somewhere. Anywhere.She thought again of the way her mother had said goodbye, walking down the platform after the train as if she hadn’t wanted Steph to go. Then she’d turned before she was quite out of sight, taken her new husband’s arm and walked away, a spring to her step, off to live in some cheap bar on an unfashionable stretch of Italian coastline. Steph scowled. She had asked if she could go too – just once – and she didn’t really remember the words her mother had used, but she remembered the look in her eyes. Steph knew, when she saw that look, that it wasn’t any use. The flat in London was already sold – the one that lay on a street, a proper street – and now she was here in the Cotswolds with her dad, nowhere to go and nothing to do, in the far reaches of the back of beyond.Alison Littlewood is the author of A Cold Season (published by Jo Fletcher Books), which was selected for the Richard and Judy Book Club, where it was described as "perfect reading for a dark winter’s night". Her sequel, A Cold Silence, has recently been published. Her next book, The Hidden People, is about the little folk and the fate of a suspected changeling. Alison won the 2014 Shirley Jackson Award for Short Fiction and her short stories have been picked for several Year’s Best anthologies. Alison lives with her partner Fergus in Yorkshire, England, in a house of creaking doors and crooked walls. She has a penchant for books on folklore and weird history, Earl Grey tea, and semicolons. You can talk to her on Twitter via @Ali__L, find her on Facebook, or visit her at alisonlittlewood.co.uk.About the Narrators:Nikolle Doolin is a writer and a voice actor. Her fiction, poetry, and plays have been published and presented; and her voice has appeared in various mediums. Nikolle has performed numerous narrations for a number of popular and award-winning podcasts, such as The NoSleep Podcast, Tales to Terrify, and Far-Fetched Fables. She also narrates classic literature by the likes of Austen, Poe, James, and more in her own podcast, Audio Literature Odyssey. To learn more about Nikolle, visit her website at nikolledoolin.com.Catherine Logan had many years of training in theatre and voice in her youth, and then many years of teaching acting, drama, writing, and English literature as a grown-up. She has taken plenty of workshops and has studio experience in narration, commercial and animation voiceover work. Catherine is now involved in a second career which takes her back to her first love. She can be reached at catherineloganvoice.com.

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Flash Fiction: “The Quest You Have Chosen Defies Your Fate” by Beth Cato(Originally published in Daily Science Fiction.)You are reading a book, and within that book you now walk through the iron gates of the junior high school of your youth. You don't understand how you are reading of a real place within this old fantasy book of adventures you found in the closet of your childhood bedroom. These particular pages didn't exist before, here in this volume that you read until its white spine was bowed, swaybacked, broken. Today you have fallen between the plot lines, the inked illustrations, the bookmarks you once placed at the major decisions you were asked to make--yes, your cheating is known. The bookmarks are gone. You can no longer flip back to choose between releasing the unicorn on page 32, or continuing into the forest on page 210, or the various other forks in your literary path. Main Story: “Cartographer's Ink” by Beth Cato(Originally published in Daily Science Fiction.)Not even the soothing heat of a full cup of tea could ease the agony in Sir Oren's hands. Each finger joint throbbed as if it contained a burning coal. He cursed, trying to cradle the cup between his palms, but the brew sloshed and speckled his velvet housecoat. Oren exhaled in frustration and set the cup aside.If he couldn't drink tea, how in the ten hells was he supposed to manage pen and ink? The secret of his pained hands had been kept this long because the king had no immediate need of him, and his other commissions had far-off deadlines. Oren claimed headaches, avoided the map room entirely, and tried every available concoction to heal his hands. Nothing worked.If King Atsu didn't see an update on his linked palace map soon, there'd be another messenger. His Majesty would already be marshaling his soldiers to march on Jal and reinforce the Grey Watchtower, so recently cut off by the meandering river. He must draw the new map lines to assert their claim against those Jalian ingrates.Beth Cato hails from Hanford, California, but currently writes and bakes cookies in a lair west of Phoenix, Arizona. She shares the household with a hockey-loving husband, a numbers-obsessed son, and a cat the size of a canned ham. She's the author of The Clockwork Dagger (a 2015 Locus Award finalist for First Novel) and The Clockwork Crown from Harper Voyager. Follow her at BethCato.com and on Twitter at @BethCato.About the Narrators:Geoffrey Welchman writes, produces, and voices The Reigning Lunatic podcast, a medieval sitcom. He lives in Baltimore, Maryland. You can find him online at geoffreywelchman.com.Martin Reyto is an educator, writer, and musician. He has worked in an eclectic variety of fields, including 18 years as a technical writer and software developer; 16 years as a teacher of creative writing, computer science, and business communication; and shorter stints as a symphony musician and audiobook narrator. He has published short fiction and two collections of his poetry.

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