Far Fetched Fables

This month’s cover art is “Abyssal” by Jason Deem, a designer, art director, and illustrator who mostly creates fantasy and horror art, and is the resident cover artist for Grimdark Magazine. You can find him online at spiralhorizonart.com, or in real life in Dallas, TX.

First Story: “Raikou and the Shi-Ten Doji” by Ed Ahern

(Originally published in Eternal Haunted Summer, Autumn Equinox 2013)

A long time ago the capital of Japan was Kyoto, the city of blossoms. The Mikado and his court lived in Kyoto, a place of beautiful shrines and temples. But the capital was troubled with many thieves and murderers who snuck through the city gates at night.

Even worse were the evil imps, called onis, with horns, and long fangs, and tiger skin loin cloths. These onis would prowl the Kyoto streets by night, grab people by their hair, drag them through the Rajo-mon gate into the mountains, rip the meat from their bones, and eat it. The young women they did not eat they kept as slaves.

The bravest captain of the Mikado’s city guard was Yorimitsu of the Minamoto family, called most often Raikou. And the bravest of Raikou’s guardsmen was Watanabé Tsuna. It was Tsuna that Raikou ordered to guard the Rajo-mon gate at night.

Ed Ahern resumed writing after forty-odd years in foreign intelligence and international sales. He has his original wife, but advises that after forty-eight years they are both out of warranty. Ed has had more than ninety stories and poems published so far, and two books. You can find him on Twitter as @bottomstripper and online at swampgasworks.com.

Second Story: “The Miscible Imp” by Tony Pi

(Originally published in When the Villain Comes Home.)

Treg’s new bottle was tall, narrow, and square, and he hated it. It was cramped inside, and the thick flint glass distorted his view of the outside world. But Myrina had been adamant: he must ride inside this bottle or not come at all. “I hain’t carrying a prissy vial that’ll break from a sneeze, and if it’s round it’ll roll underfoot when I set you down,” she said. “You don’t want to spill, do you?”

The magic that gave Treg life came with a curse that trapped his essence inside bottles and jars. Within the confines of a glass prison, he could possess and animate any liquid it held, but he could never hold thought or shape beyond the vessel’s mouth. Therefore he needed Myrina to retrieve Old Man Reeve’s notebook from its hiding place; without notes, he’d never learn how his former master made him. If he had the formula, he might discover how to halt the strange decline of his genius. To live simpleminded was a doom worse than death to Treg, and Myrina was living proof.

Tony Pi is a Canadian science fiction and fantasy writer whose short fiction has been thrice-nominated for the Aurora Awards, and was a finalist for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 2009. Visit his website at tonypi.com.

About the Narrators:

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.

Brian Rollins was born in California and grew up in and around the Western US. He currently resides in Highlands Ranch, Colorado, where he works as a voice artist primarily focused on audiobooks. He is best known as the voice of the “Glen and Tyler” series of audiobooks written by J.B. Sanders. You can find him onstage in the Denver area with Magic Moments, a non-profit theater group that brings theater professionals together with people with special needs to create an original show every year. You can hire Brian to narrate your next audiobook at TheVoicesInMyHead.com.

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Flash Fiction: “Old Blood” by Jeremy Szal

(Originally published in Saturday Night Reader, September 2015)

They said you couldn’t kill Old Blood, direct descants from the First Men, blessed with wisdom and the ability to peer into the future. It seemed that a blade between the ribs did just the trick. I doubted Lord Commander Roran had predicted that move.

I stood in the Commander’s place, leading the Amelleus army. My army.  There were thousands of men bathed in the morning’s pale glow, standing silently in the frosty fields as snow gathered on their helmets. They held shields of Dwenish metal, brandished their swords and flatbows, the arrow tips swathed in poison. They twisted spears that glinted in the sun, maces and warhammers from the far south of Ikbsah, where death was an art and red was the artist’s colour.

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.

Main Story: “A Fair Man” by Peter Orullian

(Originally published in Grimdark Magazine #6.)

Pit Row reeked of sweat. And fear.

Heavy sun fell across the necks of those who waited their turn in the pit. Some sat in silence, weapons like afterthoughts in their laps. Others trembled and chattered to anyone who’d spare a moment to listen. Fallow dust lazed around them all. The smell of old earth newly turned. Graves being dug constantly for those who died fighting in the pit. Mikel walked the row, one hand on his blade, the other holding the day’s list.

He passed a big man sitting in a spray of straw. The fellow wore several brands across his chest. A prisoner. More than forty fights. Each win burned into his flesh with a simple hash. He’d die in chains. Or die in the pit. Blood caked his left foot below an iron manacle that had torn up the flesh of his ankle. Dust clung to his sweaty skin. The prisoner didn’t look up at Mikel, any more than he blinked away the fly drinking at the corner of his eye. But there was something foreign about the man. And something menacing. Indifference?

Further down, a young man practiced thrust and parry combinations, his boots lifting more dust into the hot haze. The fellow narrated each movement, the tone of his voice like a man trying to convince himself he’d survive the pit. Mikel hated this type. Not because they sought glory. No one was that stupid. It was desperation. The pup had a bit of training and had almost certainly wagered on his own victory, hoping to turn a few thin plugs. The young man’s sad, nicked sword told the story of his need.

Peter Orullian has worked at Xbox for more than a decade, which is good, because he’s a gamer. He’s toured internationally with various bands and been a featured vocalist at major rock and metal festivals, which is good, because he’s a musician. He’s also learned when to hold his tongue, which is good, because he’s a contrarian. Peter has published several short stories, which he thinks are good. The Unremembered and Trial of Intentions are his first novels, which he hopes you will think are good. He lives in Seattle, where it rains all the damn time. He has nothing to say about that. Visit Peter at orullian.com.

About the Narrators:

Anthony Babington is a voice in the internet’s head. He looks almost, but not quite, exactly how you expect him to. He currently resides in Houston, Texas, but is in the process of relocating to Minnesota. He can be found on Google Plus.

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.

This month’s cover art is “Abyssal” by Jason Deem, a designer, art director, and illustrator who mostly creates fantasy and horror art, and is the resident cover artist for Grimdark Magazine. You can find him online at spiralhorizonart.com, or in real life in Dallas, TX.

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“Rosaraie de l’Hay” by Jay Lake & Ruth Nestvold

(“Tales of the Rose Nights” #3, originally published at Daily Science Fiction.)

In the steep-walled country of Hy Rugosa, where the women guard their swords and the men guard their tongues, dwelt a daughter of the fey named Roseraie de l‘Hay. She had been born to gentility, armored in beetle carapaces and twinkling magic while still in her willow-wood cradle, and grown slowly in the manner of the fair folk into a woman of subtle beauty and profound power.

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.

“The Immigrant” by Cherie Priest

(Originally published in Mythic 2.)

Found among the papers of Ryder Neal, on the day after his funeral, July 30, 1996, Jonesboro, Tennessee.

“Venez m’aider,” he said.

With a jaw like that, so long and underbitten like boxer dog, you wouldn’t have thought he could speak at all. His face wasn’t made for talking, but he forced the words out. He said it again, quiet-like.

“Venez m’aider.”

[Author’s note: “A number of years ago, an old and dear friend from Memphis shared a bit of family lore that stuck with me; and eventually (with her blessing) this lore became a story called ‘The Immigrant’. In short, according to my friend there was a farm in West Tennessee — and upon this farm was a dragon… or so the kids were told. They never saw this dragon, but they could leave it presents and it would leave them notes in return, singed around the edges from the fire it breathed when no one was looking. Apparently this dragon reigned over the valley sometime after the second World War, but beyond that, details were fuzzy. Even so, this skeleton of a tale was enough to build ‘The Immigrant’ upon. I do hope you enjoy it.”]

Cherie Priest is the author of 19 books and novellas, most recently I Am Princess X, Chapelwood, and the Philip K. Dick Award nominee Maplecroft; but she is perhaps best known for the steampunk pulp adventures of the Clockwork Century, beginning with Boneshaker. Her works have been nominated for the Hugo and Nebula awards for science fiction, and have won the Locus Award (among others) – and over the years, they’ve been translated into nine languages in eleven countries. Cherie lives in Chattanooga, TN, with her husband and a small menagerie of exceedingly photogenic pets. She can be found online at cheriepriest.com.

“All the Lovely Brides” by Kelly Sandoval

(Originally published in Grimdark Magazine #3.)

Sariana’s touch is gentle as she slides the last ruby pin into Lydra’s hair. Still, Lydra flinches. Soon, Sariana’s sure fingers will draw a blade across Lydra’s throat. Will she be so gentle then? The knife is more difficult, in Lydra’s experience. When she slit her own Mistress’s throat, her hands would not stop shaking.

That was five years ago. Her Wedding Day. She remembers the blood on her skin, warm as the Lord’s smile. She remembers believing he loved her. That she would be the one he kept.

For a time, he let her believe. He danced with her on the surface of Bride’s Lake and visited her bed. Everything bloomed. Now the farmers complain of their weak harvest, and she shrivels as his hunger consumes her. She believes very little, anymore.

Kelly Sandoval lives in Seattle, Washington, with her patient husband, demanding cat, and temperamental tortoise. She attended Clarion West in 2013 and lived to tell more tales. Her fiction has appeared in Shimmer, Asimov’s, and Flash Fiction Online. You can find her online at kellysandovalfiction.com.

About the Narrators:

Deanna Sanchez is a voiceover talent and actress who has performed professionally for 14 years. She has voiced various commercials, industrials, and characters, and specializes in the “sexy voice” of powerful female roles. Deanna also consults in Geographical Information Systems and develops custom mapping applications for real estate and other industries. Three-dimensional visualization of spatial data is a favorite pastime, and she has spent many hours translating real-Earth elevation data into unique 3D worlds. Deanna’s voice over demo can be heard at the Lambert Studios website, an outstanding full service recording studio.

Anthony Babington is a voice in the internet’s head. He looks almost, but not quite, exactly how you expect him to. He currently resides in Houston, Texas, but is in the process of relocating to Minnesota. He can be found on Google Plus.

Andrea Subissati is a sociologist, journalist, and podcaster. In 2010, her Master’s thesis on the social impact of zombie cinema was published under the title When There’s No More Room In Hell: The Sociology of the Living Dead. She joined the staff of Rue Morgue magazine in 2014, to which she is a frequent contributor. Her writing has also been published in The Undead and Theology (2012) and The Canadian Horror Film: Terror of the Soul (2015). In addition to writing, Andrea is the co-host and producer of The Faculty of Horror podcast with writer Alexandra West. She has made guest appearances on the Rue Morgue Podcast and Pseudopod, and is co-curator of The Black Museum, a Toronto-based monthly horror lecture series she founded with Canuxploitation creator Paul Corupe. Lady Hellbat lives and works out of Toronto, Ontario. Follow her on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

Heads up! Nominations are open for the 2016 Parsec Awards through May 31st. If you’ve been particularly impressed by one of stories we’ve presented over the past year, feel free to nominate it in the Best Speculative Fiction Story – Small Cast (Short Form) category. Visit the Parsec Awards website for details. Thanks for the support!

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“Wednesday’s Child” by Jon Michael Kelley

(Originally published in Father Grim’s Storybook.)

“Good morning, Miss M.”

The voice, lecherous as a dank cellar draft, seemed to travel low to the ground, as if slithering out from beneath a rock. She instantly froze, the spoon halfway to her mouth. She’d heard that voice once before, here on this very same glade, and knew that it originated from a primal and universally shared nightmare. Her skin, pupils, every follicle of hair reacted protectively as icy adrenaline surged to oil her limbs. She dared not turn around, as she knew with all certainty that what had crept upon her was a lethal, liquid-black grotesquery unparalleled in her world.

Highly venomous, but not a snake. Not any reptile.

“Sorry to interrupt your breakfast,” said the Spider, “but I‘ve again intentions to make you my own.”

Jon Michael Kelley resides in a gold-mining town in the mountains of Colorado, where he does his writing. His stories have recently appeared in such literary anthologies as Qualia Nous (winner of the IBPA’s Benjamin Franklin Gold Award for Best in Science Fiction and Fantasy, and a 2014 Bram Stoker Award Finalist for Best Anthology) and Chiral Mad 1 & 2 by Written Backwards Press; Sensorama by Eibonvale Press; Trigger Warning: Short Stories with Pictures edited by Neil Gaiman; and Triangulation: Lost Voices by Parsec Ink.

“The Right Hand of Decay” by David Annandale

(Originally published in Grimdark Magazine #5.)

They were building the mound when she arrived on the battlefield. The corpses were piled higher than the trees that girded the plain below Barragano, but there were many more yet to be gathered. The executions had not started yet. All in good time.

It was midday, but overcast, clouds hanging low and so dark that they bathed the land in a hard twilight. Smoke rose from campfires and from inside the walls of Barragano. The stench of blood, thick and pungent as grief, rolled in waves over the field. The Grey Queen breathed in the smell and contemplated the growing mound. She must not take the loss for granted. The sacrifices must be noted and given meaning.

She was conscious of how rote the ritual was becoming for her. Make note of that too, she thought. Watch yourself. This should not be easy.

David Annandale writes Warhammer 40,000 and Horus Heresy fiction for the Black Library, including the recent novels Yarrick: The Pyres of Armageddon and The Damnation of Pythos. He is also the author of the horror novel Gethsemane Hall (Dundurn Press and Snowbooks). For Turnstone Press, he has written a series of thrillers featuring rogue warrior Jen Blaylock (Crown Fire, Kornukopia, and The Valedictorians). His short fiction has appeared in such anthologies as Kaiju Rising: Age of Monsters and Occult Detective Monster Hunter: A Grimoire of Eldritch Inquests. David’s non-fiction has appeared in Black Treacle and such collections as Roman Catholicism in Fantastic Film: Essays on Belief, Spectacle, Ritual and Imagery and The Meaning and Culture of Grand Theft Auto. He writes film reviews for The Phantom of the Movies’ VideoScope. He teaches film, creative writing, and literature at the University of Manitoba. Follow David at his website and on Twitter as @David_Annandale.

About the Narrators:

Tatiana Gomberg is a critically acclaimed actress of stage, screen, and the audio booth. She has been nominated for dozens of fancy awards but hasn’t won a single damned thing. She lives in New York City. See more about her at tatianagomberg.com.

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.

Hey Fablers! Nominations are open for the 2016 Parsec Awards through May 31st. If you’ve been particularly impressed by one of stories we’ve presented over the past year, feel free to nominate it in the Best Speculative Fiction Story – Small Cast (Short Form) category. Visit the Parsec Awards website for details. Thanks for the support!

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First Story: “When the Harlequin Dances” by C.L. Holland

(Originally published in Bards and Sages Quarterly, January 2010.)

The bells rang out over the city. They sounded mournful, at odds with the carnival brightness in the streets below me.

I was perched on the ledge halfway up the Azielto Tower, watching as the city folk thronged through the streets to find the best spot to see the Harlequin Parade. A better view could be had from higher up the tower, but to go any closer while the bells rang was to risk deafness. And madness, so the stories said.

C.L. Holland is a British writer of fantasy and science fiction, and winner of Writers of the Future. Sometimes she writes poetry under an assumed name. She has a BA in English with Creative Writing, and MA in English, and likes to learn things for fun. She lives with her long-suffering partner and two cats who don’t understand why they can’t share her lap with the laptop. Her recent collection, A World in Clockwork and Other Stories, is available through Amazon.

Main Story: “The Rude Mechanicals and the Highwayman” by John R. Fultz

(Originally published in Fungi #22.)

It wasn’t the seasonal gravity maelstroms or the swarms of psychic predators that kept us away from the Great Thoroughfare. It was the widespread tales of the highwayman known as the Surgeon.

Rumors of his perfidy rippled like ultrasonic waves from the Greater Urbille to the outer Affinities. In those distant territories where the living and the undead mingled, where villages of despair rotted at the feet of carven mountains, we heard tales from wounded travellers and weeping merchants. He stood tall and lithe as any Beatific, they said, and wielded an ancient blade faster than death. A dark cloak wrapped him like a shroud, and he wore a cruel face of sculpted bronze.

To look into his burning opticals was to see your own demise, or so claimed the survivors of his attacks. One constant ran like a silver thread among the scattered tales of his infamy: Each robbery ended with a single execution. These victims, they said, were chosen specifically by the highwayman. Others claimed they were chosen entirely at random. This point was often debated with dreadful passion.

John R. Fultz lives in the North Bay Area of California, but he grew up in Kentucky. His fourth novel is The Testament of Tall Eagle (2015, Ragnarok Publications). John’s Books of the Shaper trilogy includes Seven Princes, Seven Kings, and Seven Sorcerers (2012/2013 Orbit Books). John’s work has also appeared in Year’s Best Weird Fiction Vol. 1, Weird Tales, Black Gate, Weirdbook, That is Not Dead, Shattered Shields, Lightspeed: Year One, Way of the Wizard, Cthulhu’s Reign, The Book of Cthulhu II, and other fine publications.

Learn more about him at johnrfultz.com, or find him on Twitter as @JohnRFultz.

About the Narrators:

Anthony Babington is a voice in the internet’s head. He looks almost, but not quite, exactly how you expect him to. He currently resides in Houston, Texas, but hastens to add that it was not his idea. He can be found on Google Plus.

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.

Guess what! Nominations are open for the 2016 Parsec Awards through May 31st. If you’ve been particularly impressed by one of stories we’ve presented over the past year, feel free to nominate it in the Best Speculative Fiction Story – Small Cast (Short Form) category. Visit the Parsec Awards website for details. Thanks for the support!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Featured Story: “The Forest Lord” by Sarina Dorie

(Originally published in The Urban Green Man.)

The summer day I moved into my cabin in the woods, I knew something wasn’t quite right. It started with the way the aspens and alders scratched against the wood paneling of the house, sounding like words, and swaying when there was no wind. During the process of unpacking, I set my glass of orange juice on the porch railing. It disappeared and later reappeared in the same spot, only empty.

I couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched when I walked along the long driveway to my mailbox. As I picked strawberries from the overgrown garden, I saw a figure move out of the corner of my eye, but no one was there when I looked up.

By day, Sarina Dorie is a public school art teacher, artist, belly dance performer and instructor, copy editor, fashion designer, event organizer and probably a few other things. By night, she writes. As you might imagine, this leaves little time for sleep.

She is the author of award-winning YA paranormal romance novel, Silent Moon. Her Puritan and alien love story, Dawn of the Morning Star, was released this year with Wolfsinger Publications. She has sold about 100 short stories to markets like Daily Science Fiction, Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Orson Scott Card’s InterGalactic Medicine Show, Cosmos, and Sword and Laser. Her steampunk romance series The Memory Thief, and her collections, Fairies, Robots and Unicorns — Oh My! and Ghosts, Werewolves and Zombies — Oh My! are available on Amazon.

You can find info about her short stories and novels on her website: sarinadorie.com. To sign up for newsletter to hear updates, news on free downloads, and book giveaways, please go here.

About the Narrator:

Deanna Sanchez is a voiceover talent and actress who has performed professionally for 14 years. She has voiced various commercials, industrials, and characters, and specializes in the “sexy voice” of powerful female roles. An avid fan of science fiction since her grandfather gave her a copy of Heinlein’s Tunnel in the Sky when she was 9, she feels greatly privileged to help bring this story to life. While pursuing a voice talent and acting career, Deanna also consults in Geographical Information Systems and develops custom mapping applications for real estate and other industries. Her background in I.T. management does not prevent her from owning multiple old computers, some with Windows 98 still running. Three-dimensional visualization of spatial data is a favorite pastime, and she has spent many hours translating real-Earth elevation data into unique 3D worlds. Deanna’s voice over demo can be heard at the Lambert Studios website, an outstanding full service recording studio.

Guess what! Nominations are open for the 2016 Parsec Awards through May 31st. If you’ve been particularly impressed by one of stories we’ve presented over the past year, feel free to nominate it in the Best Speculative Fiction Story – Small Cast (Short Form) category. Visit the Parsec Awards website for details. Thanks for the support!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“The Dark Down There” by Joe R. Lansdale

(Originally published in Dead Man’s Road, October 2010.)

Reverend Jebidiah Mercer smelled them before he saw them. They came out of the brush along both sides of the trail. There were four of them. One had a pistol, one a shotgun, the other two were carrying digging tools, a shovel and a pick.

His hand went swiftly inside his coat, pulled his .36 Navy Colt. Before the fellow with the shotgun could lift it, the Reverend shot him right between the eyes, spraying blood and brains out the back of his head in a mess that looked like vomited strawberries.

A pistol shot whizzed by Reverend Mercer’s head. He shifted in the saddle and fired twice, aiming low and letting the revolver buck. The first shot caught the shootist in the balls. The second shot found a spot on the center of his chest and nestled there like a horrible chest cold.

Champion mojo storyteller Joe R. Lansdale is the author of more than forty novels and numerous short stories. His work has appeared in national anthologies, magazines, and collections, as well as numerous foreign publications. He has written for comics, television, film, newspapers, and Internet sites. His work has been collected in more than two dozen short-story collections, and he has edited or co-edited more than a dozen anthologies. He is a recipient of the Edgar Award, eight Bram Stoker Awards, the Horror Writers Association Lifetime Achievement Award, the British Fantasy Award, the Grinzani Cavour Prize for Literature, the Herodotus Historical Fiction Award, the Inkpot Award for Contributions to Science Fiction and Fantasy, a recent Spur Award for Best Historical Western Novel, and many others.

His novella Bubba Ho-Tep was adapted to film by Don Coscarelli, and the film adaptation of his novel Cold in July was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. A television series based on his Hap and Leonard novels debuted recently on SundanceTV.

He is currently co-producing several films, among them The Bottoms, based on his Edgar Award-winning novel, with Bill Paxton and Brad Wyman; and The Drive-In, with Greg Nicotero (The Walking Dead). He is Writer In Residence at Stephen F. Austin State University, and is the founder of the martial arts system Shen Chuan: Martial Science and its affiliate, the Shen Chuan Family System. He is a member of both the United States and International Martial Arts Halls of Fame. He lives in Nacogdoches, Texas, with his wife, dog, and two cats.

Learn more about him at joerlansdale.com.

Far Fetched Fables’ interview with Joe R. Lansdale from September 2015. (Transcript of interview here.)

About the Narrator:

Eric Luke is the screenwriter of the Joe Dante film Explorers, which is currently in development as a remake, 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 now available on Audible.com.

Guess what! Nominations are open for the 2016 Parsec Awards through May 31st. If you’ve been particularly impressed by one of stories we’ve presented over the past year, feel free to nominate it in the Best Speculative Fiction Story – Small Cast (Short Form) category. Visit the Parsec Awards website for details. Thanks for the support!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Flash Fiction: “Green Ice” by Jay Lake and Ruth Nestvold

(“Tales of the Rose Nights” #2, originally published at Daily Science Fiction.)

The Moon is mistress of the tides, which means she controls the blood of men, for their red-washed veins flow with salt, echoing the sea that is mother to us all. When she calls men to her, they rise to her attendance. When she refuses them, they drown in tears of sorrow. Women, though, follow a flow and rhythm of their own, still in Sister Moon’s power, but free from her compulsions.

So it was that among the greatest of the Rose Knights serving under the Moon’s banner in her wars with the Army of the Sun were the flowers of womanhood. Green Ice stood strong among them as the Green Knight, her armor a shade so pale as to be nearly white, her eyes the piercing color of a mountain meadow in spring, her hair silver-white as the streams that flow downward into the cathedral-forests.

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: “Against the Encroaching Darkness” by Aliette de Bodard

(Originally published in Grimdark Magazine #5.)

Eugénie lay in state in the small, pathetic chapel that they’d never had time to finish, her eyes towards the blank, unpainted ceiling. From time to time, the distant echo of a magical conflagration shook the room, and dust fell on her chest, covering her clothes in a fine, white layer that slowly and irretrievably
obscured the insignia of House Lazarus.

Victoire would not cry. She’d done so earlier in the privacy of her room, but now it wasn’t about love or grief; merely what would carry them forward, what would ensure the newly founded House would survive the death of her founder. Most Houses, she knew, didn’t. And Lazarus, that bastard child of Eugénie’s ideals — her place of refuge, her small band of dependents patiently gathered through the years — was no exception.

Aliette de Bodard lives and works in Paris, where she has a day job as a System Engineer. In her spare time, she writes speculative fiction: her Aztec noir trilogy Obsidian and Blood is published by Angry Robot, and her short stories have appeared in markets such as Clarkesworld Magazine, Asimov’s, and The Year’s Best Science Fiction. She has won a Nebula, a Locus, and a British Science Fiction Association Award. Her latest release is The House of Shattered Wings. Visit aliettedebodard.com for more information.

About the Narrators:

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…

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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Story: “There’s a Hole in the City” by Richard Bowes

(Originally published in Sci Fiction, June 15, 2005)

Wednesday 9/12

On the evening of the day after the towers fell, I was waiting by the barricades on Houston Street and LaGuardia Place for my friend Mags to come up from Soho and have dinner with me. On the skyline, not two miles to the south, the pillars of smoke wavered slightly. But the creepily beautiful weather of September 11 still held and the wind blew in from the north east. In Greenwich Village the air was crisp and clean with just a touch of fall about it.

I’d spent the last day and a half looking at pictures of burning towers. One of the frustrations of that time was that there was so little most of us could do about anything or for anyone.

Downtown streets were empty of all traffic except emergency vehicles. The West and East Villages from Fourteenth Street to Houston were their own separate zone. Pedestrians needed identification proving they lived or worked there in order to enter.

The barricades consisted of blue wooden police horses and a couple of unmarked vans thrown across LaGuardia Place. Behind them were a couple of cops, a few auxiliary police and one or two guys in civilian clothes with I.D.’s of some kind pinned to their shirts. All of them looked tired, subdued by events.

At the barricades was a small crowd, ones like me waiting for friends from neighborhoods to the south, ones without proper identification waiting for confirmation so that they could continue on into Soho, people who just wanted to be outside near other people in those days of sunshine and shock. Once in a while, each of us would look up at the columns of smoke that hung in the downtown sky then look away again.

A family approached a middle aged cop behind the barricade. The group consisted of a man, a woman, a little girl being led by the hand, a child being carried. All were blondish and wore shorts and casual tops.  The parents seemed pleasant but serious people in their early thirties, professionals. They could have been tourists. But that day the city was empty of tourists.

The man said something and I heard the cop say loudly, “You want to go where?”.

Richard Bowes was born in Boston in 1944 and has lived for most of the last 50 years in Manhattan. Bowes has published six novels, four story collections, and seventy-five short stories. He has won two World Fantasy and a Lambda Award.

“There’s a Hole In the City” won The Million Writer and International Horror Guild Awards when it appeared in 2005, and was nominated for a Nebula Award in 2006. The story has been reprinted in many anthologies and translated into a dozen languages. WBAI Radio in New York City annually broadcasts the author reading his own story on the anniversary of 9/11.

The story appears in Richard’s most recent book, Dust Devil on a Quiet Street, and it and his other writings are available on Amazon.com. Learn more about him here.

About the Narrator:

Chris Lade is a Leipzig-based orchestral conductor, pianist, and English teacher by day, and an avid reader by night. When not doing either of the four, you can usually find him listening to music, reading classical music blogs, riding his bike, or trying to cook something Italian in his kitchen. Life goals include motorcycling through Europe on a Triumph Bonneville and owning a Bernese Mountain Dog, preferably at the same time.

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“While the Gods Laugh” by Michael Moorcock

(Originally published in Science Fantasy, October 1961.)

One night, as Elric sat moodily drinking alone in a tavern, a wingless woman of Myyrrhn came gliding out of the storm and rested her lithe body against him.

Her face was thin and frail-boned, almost as white as Elric’s own albino skin, and she wore flimsy pale-green robes which contrasted well with her dark red hair.

The tavern was ablaze with candle-flame and alive with droning argument and gusty laughter, but the words of the woman of Myyrrhn came clear and liquid, carrying over the zesty din.

“I have sought you twenty days,” she said to Elric who regarded her insolently through hooded crimson eyes and lazed in a high-backed chair, a silver wine-cup in his long-fingered right hand and his left on the pommel of his sorcerous runesword Stormbringer.

“Twenty days,” murmured the Melnibonéan softly, speaking as if to himself, mockingly rude. “A long time for a beautiful and lonely woman to be wandering the world.” He opened his eyes a trifle wider and spoke to her directly: “I am Elric of Melniboné, as you evidently know. I grant no favours and ask none. Bearing this in mind, tell me why you have sought me for twenty days.”

Michael Moorcock’s bibliography includes more than 50 novels and countless short stories, and his creations include Jerry Cornelius, Dorian Hawkmoon, and – perhaps his best known character – Elric of Melniboné, a seminal influence on fantasy fiction during the 1960s and 1970s.

Michael was editor of the controversial British science fiction magazine New Worlds from 1964-1971 and again from 1976-1996, where he was instrumental in the science fiction “New Wave”. In 2008, The Times named Moorcock as one of “The 50 greatest British writers since 1945”.

A feature-length documentary film exploring his six-decade career, Michael Moorcock: Faith, Hope, and Anxiety, is scheduled for release later this year.

Born in London, he currently divides his time between Texas and Paris.

About the Narrator:

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…

StarShip Sofa is eligible for this year’s Hugo Awards! If you like, you can nominate it here.

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