Constellations: The Octavia Project Speculative Fiction Mentorship:

Professionally published authors from the Brooklyn Speculative Fiction Writers mentor Octavia Project alumni one-on-one. The mentors guide mentees as they enter into the greater writing community, contend with the business of writing, and refine a single piece of fiction with the end goal of publication.

Marcy Arlin, senior mentor and managing director of Constellations, and her former mentor Leah are interviewed by Constellations founder, Cameron Roberson. Then Tatiana Grey reads an excerpt of Leah's story.

As Bright As A Pearl by Andrea Janes, Read by Tatiana Grey

When you sit in Mora's chair at the salon on the Coney Island Boardwalk, her fingers will find your roots and your secrets. As for what she does with them...

Andrea Janes tells ghost stories for a living. She is the co-author of A Haunted History of Invisible Women and the owner and founder of Boroughs of the Dead, a boutique tour company dedicated to dark and unusual walking tours of New York City. She is currently at work on a Middle Grade historical fantasy novel set in New Amsterdam. Her personal obsessions include weird history, slapstick comediennes, witches, ghosts, all things nautical, and beer. She lives in Brooklyn where she can usually be found by the ocean or near a cemetery.

Tatiana Grey is a critically acclaimed actress of stage, screen, and of course...the audio booth. She's been nominated for dozens of fancy awards but hasn't won a single damned thing. See more at www.tatianagrey.com

Our Talons Can Crush Galaxies by Brooke Bolander, Read by Nhea Durousseau

The best revenge is hot beyond measure and crosses dimensions.

Brooke Bolander is the Locus and Nebula Award-winning author of “The Only Harmless Great Thing.” Her fiction has been shortlisted for the Nebula, Hugo, Locus, Theodore Sturgeon and Shirley Jackson Awards, among others. She attended the University of Leicester 2004-2007 studying History and Archaeology and is an alum of the 2011 Clarion Writers’ Workshop at UCSD. She currently lives in New York City.

Nhea Durousseau is a current student at the National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts in DC with a rich background in voice work. Her experience includes ADR/dubbing for both live-action and animation, indie games, and audio drama productions. An avid fiction podcast fan, you can ask her for an audio drama recommendation and receive at least six. You can find her at nheavox.com or on Twitter @nheavox."

Work Life Balance by Cara Mast, Read by Tonia Ransom

Amerie receives an email at work that Return-to-Work is being mandated for her office. This is a problem, as she has been secretly living in her office for the last nine months because she can't afford both rent and her out of pocket payments for her curse-based illness.

As a retired tall-ship sailor, a failed academic, and a reluctant finance professional, Cara Mast gets stopped constantly in New York City and asked for directions. Cara spends their free time drinking coffee, binging words, and yelling about the Philadelphia Eagles in bars they’ve thankfully not yet been kicked out of.

Your Future Life is Pending by Matthew Kressel, read by Tonia Ransom

Technician Martha feeds stray dogs in her back alley, tends her sick father, and revives the unconscious, rich users of hi-tech gaming "couches." The game is the reason humans never made it to Mars, so is she wrong to wreck a little havoc?

Matthew Kressel is a three-time Nebula Award finalist, whose work has appeared in many magazines and anthologies and has been translated into nine languages. He is the co-host of the Fantastic Fiction reading series with Ellen Datlow in Manhattan. And he is the creator of the Moksha submissions system, in use by many of the largest SFF publishers today. His website is matthewkressel.net.

Tonia Ransom is a horror writer and World Fantasy Award-winning creator of horror podcasts NIGHTLIGHT and Afflicted. Tonia has been scaring people since the second grade, when she wrote her first story based on Michael Myers. She lives in Austin, Texas. You can follow Tonia @missdefying on all the socials.

A Song for Sunken Streets by Evan Berkow, Read by Lanna Joffrey

Nona is a loner living in a flooded Brooklyn. She's running away from her past and looking for hope. What she finds is a mermaid on a mission. The fate of New York City depends on their ability to see past their trauma.

Evan Berkow is a writer of speculative fiction in the hours when he's not lawyering. His fiction has appeared in places such as Strange Horizons, Escape Pod, and Flash Fiction Online. You can find him on Twitter @Evan_Berkow.

Lanna Joffrey is an award-winning Iranian performer and writer who has worked throughout the United States and United Kingdom in theatre, film, spoken word and audio work. Her verbatim play, "Valiant" has received critical acclaim having toured throughout the UK and US and was published last year. For more info on her work please visit www.lannajoffrey.com

When Two Swordsmen Meet by Ellen Kushner, Read by Wilson Fowlie

In a cold, cobblestone city, when two swordsman meet, you never know what might happen--fame, glory, theft, dreams, love--but something always does.

Ellen Kushner is the author of the queer fantasy classic Swordspoint, and other novels, including the World Fantasy Award-winning Thomas the Rhymer. Kushner has recorded her work as audiobooks for Neil Gaiman Presents. She lives in New York City with her wife, author and educator Delia Sherman, and a great many theater and airplane ticket stubs she is too disorganized to throw out.

Wilson Fowlie lives in a suburb of Vancouver, Canada and has been reading aloud since the age of 4. His life has changed recently: he lost his wife to cancer, and he changed jobs, from programming to recording voiceovers for instructional videos, which he loves doing, but not as much as he loved Heather.

Special Delivery by Carlos Delgado, Read by Wilson Fowlie

A Guatemalan delivery driver struggling to make it in a climate change affected Brooklyn where the fantastic is one cyber skin away, makes a delivery that goes very badly very quickly.

Carlos Luis Delgado is a Brooklyn-based speculative fiction writer and editor. As a member of BSFW, he also leads workshops and writing classes. He's been previously published as part of My Father's Files, a mystery horror podcast. This is his second publication.

How the Pooka Came to New York by Delia Sherman, Read by Wilson Fowlie

A pooka, a mythical creature from Ireland, immigrates to America in the early 20th century, tricked and magically bound to a boy that, like all immigrants, is more than he seems.

Delia Sherman is the author of numerous short stories and novels for both adults and younger readers, somewhere in the historical-fantastical-comical-romantic-feminist vein. She is or has been a teacher, an editor, a member of the Otherwise Award Motherboard, a co-founder of the Interstitial Arts Foundation, a judge of literary awards, a book store clerk, a gardener, a knitter, a cook, a traveler, and a flaming liberal. She lives in New York with fellow-writer Ellen Kushner and is working on an Endless Historical Novel.

Wilson Fowlie lives in a suburb of Vancouver, Canada and has been reading aloud since the age of 4. His life has changed recently: he lost his wife to cancer, and he changed jobs, from programming to recording voiceovers for instructional videos, which he loves doing, but not as much as he loved Heather.

And the Raucous Depths Abide by Sam Schreiber, Read by Rish Outfield

An alien empire sends a drone to monitor Earth, but things go awry and the device's CPU and backup end up at cross purposes. After centuries at the bottom of the ocean, the CPU has gone mad and is bent on destroying humanity. The backup finds a way to save the day, though there is of course pain involved. But life is pain. Anyone who says anything different is selling something.

Sam Schreiber is a writer living in Brooklyn with his wife and two cats. His work can be found in such markets as Tales to Terrify, PodCastle, Escape Pod, Analog Science Fiction and Fact and Asimov's Science Fiction magazine, where this story first appeared. Keep up with his work at https://www.thesamschreiber.com/

or on Twitter @ahzimandias

Rish Outfield is a writer, narrator, and podcast host who magically reverts to childhood every time he hears a strange sound out in the woods in the night. Maybe it was just an owl, or an elk, or a will o' the wisp, or an escaped criminal convicted of serial cannibalism . . . I mean, no big deal, right?

The Tallest Doll in New York City by Maria Dahvana Headley, Read by Wilson Fowlie

In a pre-World War Two Manhattan, the buildings come alive and share a budding romance, much to the horror and endangerment of the people around and within them.

Maria Dahvana Headley is the New York Times-bestselling author of eight books, including Beowulf: A New Translation (FSG, 2020), which won the Harold Morton Landon Translation Award from the Academy of American Poets. Her novel The Mere Wife, under development at FX, is a contemporary adaptation of the Beowulf story, set within American suburbia. Headley’s genre-bending work has won the Hugo and the World Fantasy Awards. Her ten-episode musical adaptation of The Aeneid will be released by Audible in 2023. She grew up in the high desert of Idaho on a survivalist sled dog ranch, where she spent summers plucking the winter coat from her father’s wolf.

Wilson Fowlie lives in a suburb of Vancouver, Canada and has been reading aloud since the age of 4. His life has changed recently: he lost his wife to cancer, and he changed jobs, from programming to recording voiceovers for instructional videos, which he loves doing, but not as much as he loved Heather.

The Only Living Cabby In New York City by Jason Smith, Read by Laurice White

A woman in the not-so-far future hails a cab home during a heavy storm and experiences a rare phenomenon: a human cab driver, persevering through the automation and technological advances of his competition.

Jason A. Smith is a Brooklyn based science fiction author. His work can been heard in Kaleidocast, seen in the Fall 2022 Issue of the Brooklyn based Zine "Open Book," read in a college literary magazine from 14 years ago, and that's about it. He hopes that his publication in this season of Kaleidocast marks the beginning of an ever-growing list of credits, or at the very least an adventurous, life-long attempt at such a thing.

tw: @wowanotherjason | insta: @wowanotherjason

Laurice White was born and raised in Detroit, MI and currently lives just outside the city. She has a BA in Theatre.

I Built This City for You by Cassandra Khaw, Ready by Wilson Fowlie and Clover Fowlie

Cassandra Khaw is an award-winning game writer, and the USA Today bestselling author of Nothing but Blackened Teeth. Their debut short story collection Breakable Things comes out in November.

http://www.instagram.com/casskhaw

Clover Fowlie is a girl who seeks to make games, and has practiced her voice for fifteen of her twenty one living years.

She is The_Eevee_Breeder on Twitch and Twitter and ao3; Clover Fowlie on Youtube

Wilson Fowlie lives in a suburb of Vancouver, Canada and has been reading aloud since the age of 4. His life has changed recently: he lost his wife to cancer, and he changed jobs, from programming to recording voiceovers for instructional videos, which he loves doing, but not as much as he loved Heather.

The Bodies Upstairs by Divyansha Sehgal, read by Tony Perry

A person haunted by zombie-like apparitions seeks to cure his condition with a specialist who claims he can help and is taught in the ways of mending otherworldly wounds....

Divyansha Sehgal is a speculative fiction writer currently based in New Delhi, India. She is also an associate editor and actor on the Kaleidocast.nyc

Tony Perry is an actor and singer-songwriter. He narrated the film Lost and Found, and the audio comic The Captain Punishment Adventure Hour. He has performed in English and Yiddish, and he’s happy to talk about all things Doctor Who.

The Five Stages of Grief by Nadia Bulkin, read by Alexandra Palocz

A family mourns the loss of a loved one in a world where the dead haunt their waking hours, hungry and malicious.

Nadia Bulkin is the author of the short story collection She Said Destroy. She grew up in Jakarta, Indonesia with her Javanese father and American mother, before relocating to Lincoln, Nebraska. She has two political science degrees and lives in Washington, D.C.

Alexandra Palocz is a storyteller and creative technologist with a background in computer science, theater, and oral storytelling. She is currently at the Interactive Telecommunications Program at NYU, where she explores the worlds of interactive story and technology-mediated performance.

Treatment and Cure by Katie Story, Read by Lanna Joffrey

Your unexpected stay in the COVID wing takes a nightmarish turn. Something at the hospital is hungry.

Katie Story is a Brooklyn-based graphic designer, illustrator, and writer who fosters cranky, toothless cats. She studied creative writing at Pratt Institute and is a member of Brooklyn Speculative Fiction Writers.

Lanna Joffrey is an award-winning actor, spoken word performer and writer based in London who works extensively in the US and UK in theatre, film and has voiced numerous audio projects from video games to podcasts to audiobooks. For more about her work visit www.lannajoffrey.com

Clearly Lettered In A Mostly Steady Hand by Fran Wilde, Read by Tatiana Grey

It’s a disturbing, opaque trip into an old-fashioned freak show; directed by one of the people who plays a part in the show. But something is wrong and its not what you think.

"Two-time Nebula Award-winner Fran Wilde has (so far) published seven novels, a poetry collection, and over 50 short stories for adults, teens, and kids. Her stories have been finalists for six Nebula Awards, a World Fantasy Award, four Hugo Awards, four Locus Awards, and a Lodestar. They include her Nebula- and Compton Crook-winning debut novel Updraft, and her Nebula-winning, Best of NPR 2019, debut Middle Grade novel Riverland. Her short stories appear in Asimov’s Science Fiction, Tor.com, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Shimmer, Nature, Uncanny Magazine, and multiple years' best anthologies.

Fran teaches for Vermont College of Fine Arts and also writes nonfiction for publications including The Washington Post, The New York Times, and Tor.com. You can find her on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and at franwilde.net. "

Tatiana Grey is a critically acclaimed actress of stage, screen, and of course...the audio booth. She's been nominated for dozens of fancy awards but hasn't won a single damned thing. See more at www.tatianagrey.com

Jean Genii by Randee Dawn, Read by Sally Hourigan

A Brooklyn lawyer unwittingly frees a genie from its lamp while cleaning out the closet of a deceased coworker, and uses her training and wits to find the happy ending that's so hard to come by.

Randee Dawn is a Brooklyn-based entertainment journalist whose debut novel, Tune in Tomorrow, about a fantastical TV reality show, published in August. She writes about show business for Variety, The Los Angeles Times, Emmy Magazine and Today.com and is the co-author of The Law & Order: Unofficial Companion. Find out more at RandeeDawn.com

Sally Hourigan is a Brooklyn-based actor and voice artist. She is a graduate of Seton Hall University, where she studied Theatre Performance and Communications. In addition to her VO work, she has appeared onstage in several NYC theatre festivals and off-Broadway plays, and recently made her on-camera debut in The Jane Doe Murders on Oxygen. When not performing, she enjoys running, cooking, baking, and playing with her tuxedo cat, Billie.

Cold Wind by Nicola Griffith, Read by Mary Rodgers

A woman enters a Seattle bar on a cold wintry night in the midst of the Christmas holidays, hunting for something…or someone.

Nicola Griffith is the multiple award-winning author of novels such as Hild, Spear, Ammonite, and the forthcoming sequel to Hild, Menewood. She lives in Seattle with her wife, Kelley Eskridge.

A career performer and storyteller, Mary Rodgers has acted in films, plays and musicals across the globe, and was the keyboardist and lead singer in an all-girl rock band for a number of years. In addition to her acting and music, Mary is also a published author of three novels, two in contemporary romance (Winner Take All and Freeze Frame, published as Mary B. Rodgers) and one in the technothriller genre (Project Catchstar, published as M. Rodgers).