June 19, 2018

PodCastle 527: Flash Fiction Extravaganza! In the Beginning…

28 minutes

* Authors : Effie Seiberg, Paul Alex Gray and Ellen Klages

* Narrators : Wilson Fowlie, Kaylin Norman-Slack and M.K. Hobson

* Host : Summer Fletcher

* Audio Producer : Peter Adrian Behravesh

Discuss on Forums

“Recipe: 1 Universe” was previously published by Galaxy’s Edge.

“Of the Dreams Yet to Come” was originally published in Entropy Magazine.

Rated G, for godlike.

Note that the text for “Intelligent Design” is a story sample; the whole story is only available in audio format.”Intelligent Design” is a re-run of PodCastle Mini 24.

Latte-colored afterglow: the average color of the entire universe is a pale beige officially dubbed “Cosmic latte”. (See https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap091101.html)

Raspberry: Sagittarius B, a massive cloud hanging out in the Milky Way, contains ethyl formate, one of the key chemicals giving raspberries their flavor.

(See https://io9.gizmodo.com/this-space-cloud-smells-like-rum-and-tastes-like-raspbe-1695890013)

Raisins in raisin bread: The raisin bread analogy is the standard mechanism for explaining Hubble expansion, aka the expansion of the whole universe. (See http://cmb.physics.wisc.edu/pub/tutorial/hubble.html)

Recipe: 1 Universe

by Effie Seiberg

Recipe: 1 Universe

Serves: everybody

1) Start with nothing. If you don’t have nothing, discard everything. Discard your house and your bed, your friends and your family and the dog who barks hello to you every time you pass it on your way to work. Discard your work. Discard your hopes and your dreams, your love of peanut butter, and the little crinkle you get at the side of your smile when you smell the seashore. Discard yourself.

If you’re unable to discard yourself, climb to the top of the tallest mountain and study with the monks who serve at the temple there. When you’re done, discard the monks and the mountain, and even your memories of them.

2) When you have nothing, and there is no you to be floating around in the nothingness, stop for a moment and contemplate the peace and quiet. It will not come again. Then discard that moment, because moments are made of time and you may not keep anything, time least of all.

3) Make a bang. Let that nothingness, which has been aching to be somethingness which you’ve been holding back as hard as you can (for steps one and two are not easy) and are bursting at the non-existent seams to contain . . . let it go. If done right, everything will explode out from a single infinitesimal point, and there will be everything instead of nothing. Set the temperature at 10 billion degrees Fahrenheit. Safety goggles are advised for this step.

4) At this point,

...more

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By Escape Artists Foundation

4.6

498498 ratings

June 19, 2018

PodCastle 527: Flash Fiction Extravaganza! In the Beginning…

28 minutes

* Authors : Effie Seiberg, Paul Alex Gray and Ellen Klages

* Narrators : Wilson Fowlie, Kaylin Norman-Slack and M.K. Hobson

* Host : Summer Fletcher

* Audio Producer : Peter Adrian Behravesh

Discuss on Forums

“Recipe: 1 Universe” was previously published by Galaxy’s Edge.

“Of the Dreams Yet to Come” was originally published in Entropy Magazine.

Rated G, for godlike.

Note that the text for “Intelligent Design” is a story sample; the whole story is only available in audio format.”Intelligent Design” is a re-run of PodCastle Mini 24.

Latte-colored afterglow: the average color of the entire universe is a pale beige officially dubbed “Cosmic latte”. (See https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap091101.html)

Raspberry: Sagittarius B, a massive cloud hanging out in the Milky Way, contains ethyl formate, one of the key chemicals giving raspberries their flavor.

(See https://io9.gizmodo.com/this-space-cloud-smells-like-rum-and-tastes-like-raspbe-1695890013)

Recipe: 1 Universe

by Effie Seiberg

Recipe: 1 Universe

Serves: everybody

4) At this point,

...more