PseudoPod

• Author : Victoria Winnick
• Narrator : Wilson Fowlie
• Host : Alasdair Stuart

by V N Winnick.

“Doc” is original to Pseudopod

V. N. Winnick is a writer and editor living in Canada’s oil money heartland, if such a thing can be said to have a heart. They have written on sex, arts, and culture for various local magazines (including GayCalgary and Beatroute), done editorial work for the venerable EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Press, and had several children’s educational books published. Oh, and they’re a slusher for Pseudopod, too. This story is V.N’s first published fiction.

Your narrator – Wilson Fowlie has been reading stories out loud since the age of 4, and credits any talent he has in this area to his parents, who are both excellent at reading aloud. He has been narrating stories for more people than his own family since late 2008, when he answered a call for readers on the PodCastle forum from PodCastle’s then-editor, Rachel Swirsky. Since then, he’s become PodCastle’s most prolific narrator, reading or appearing in nearly 30 episodes. He’s also narrated for many other podcasts, including PodCastle’s sister ‘casts, Escape Pod and Pseudopod, StarShip Sofa, Protecting Project Pulp, Crime City Central, Tales To Terrify, Beam Me Up, Cast Macabre, Dunesteef Audio Fiction magazine and the Journey Into… podcast. He fits in all this narrating between his day job as a web developer for a tech company in the Greater Vancouver area in Canada, and being the director of a community show chorus called The Maple Leaf Singers.

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It’s the first time they’re making me do it, and I’m giving the man a speech. One I’ve practiced in my head from the moment they told me what needed to be done.

“I’m not a doctor. I’ve got a bachelor’s degree in zoology. That’s the study of animals. I was pretty good with animal anatomy.

“I’ve never operated on a person, or anything living. You’re my first patient, and this is my first amputation. My hands are probably gonna shake. This is gonna be slow, and it’s gonna hurt a lot, because I’ll have to learn as I go. Other than that, no promises.

“You’re really, really sure you want me to do this?”

My head swivels about, looking at the rest of the group as I ask the question. I guess I want it to be a waiver; something to absolve me of responsibility when this whole, lunatic notion eventually goes pear-shaped, as I have no doubt that it will. To my complete astonishment, my “patient” nods, and says between shallow breaths, “Go for it, Doc.”

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• Author : Moaner T. Lawrence
• Narrator : Dave Robison
• Host : Alasdair Stuart
• Discuss on Forums

PseudoPod 466: Bad Newes from New England is a PseudoPod original.

the story payment will be donated to RUNNING STRONG, a Native American charity.

This act of goodwill stirred great cheer in the people of New Plimouth and, with freshly raised spirits, they bade the Wampanoag enter; opened home and hearth in the spirit of God, and offered to share their modest bounty; whereupon the Wampanoag made entrance, each savage family pairing off with one of our own. I, Chief Massasoit, the chief’s bodyguards, Hobomok, Captain Standish, and Pastor Brewster removed to Mr. Allteron’s house in front of the corn fields. Two of the chief’s children also joined us: His eldest son Wamsutta, a man of twenty years who was often short of patience, and suspicious of all Europeans, and his gentle daughter Amie, a girl of sixteen years who was ever amicable toward everyone.

As we entered Allerton’s cottage, I had expected to greet Mr. Billngton’s wife as she was to be our matron for the festival, however Goody Winslow stood in her place by the fire looking quite haggard and overworked. I inquired of Goody Billington’s whereabouts, whereupon Dr. Fuller quietly informed me that Mr. Billington had died a short while ago, as well as the vexing news that Captain Standish had known of this and had not seen fit to inform me. The captain begged pardon, and insisted that, though he had learned of Billington’s passing, he did not wish to interrupt the proceedings. Wishing not to spoil the festivities I held my peace, whereupon our guests removed took their places at the tables outside, whilst the women set to their proper places preparing supper. I informed Chief Massasoit of the recent losses from our peace party, and the satchem spoke in admonishment, stating that he had warned us not to trust the Massachusetts, but that he was not a little overjoyed to hear of Squanto’s passing; accusing him of being a trouble maker, and stating that if the Massachusetts had not killed Squanto, the chief may have very well done so himself. Amie, unlike her father, had been fond of Squanto. News of his death, caused her much distress. At length supper was prepared, and we soon found our table set with a cornucopia of delights: Cheate bread, butter, salt, a selection of fruits and cheeses, a few boiled lobster which I prayed with all sincerity the chief would not be insulted by, indian corn, fowl, deer, pompion pottage, and apple cider. We joined hands, and Pastor Brewster led us in grace, zealously giving thanks to God almighty for being on land, the generous bounty that He, and our savage neighbors, had bestowed upon us, and, that if it be His will, that the Lord continue to look after us and to help propagate our colony to fruition.

The post PseudoPod 466: Bad Newes from New England appeared first on PseudoPod.

by Evan Dicken.

“Saturday” was first published in the September issue of Shock Totem, this is the first time it’s been reprinted.

Evan Dicken’s work has recently been appeared in: The Lovecraft eZine, Analog, and Daily Science Fiction, and he has stories forthcoming from publishers such as: Unlikely Story and Chaosium. His website is here.

Your narrator – Mikael Naramore – is the narrator of over 100 audiobook titles (and counting…) from authors including Clive Barker, Wesley Chu, Mark E. Cooper, and Ramez Naam. His website is here.

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“The city slept, unmindful of the doom creeping toward it at 61.38 meters per year.”

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• Author : Sandra M. Odell
• Narrator : Patrick Bazile

PseudoPod 464: Fear is a PseudoPod original.

by Sandra Odell

“Who we are as a child defines who we will become as an adult, and never so much so as when we are afraid.”

“Fear” is a PseudoPod Original.

Sandra lives with her husband, sons, and cats in Washington state. Her work has appeared in such venues as Pseudopod, PodCastle, The Drabblecast, Crossed Genres, and Daily Science Fiction. She is currently hard at work plotting her second novel. Or world domination. Whichever comes first.

Your narrator – Patrick “The Voice” Bazile was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. Patrick has voiced everything from PSA’s to major product brand commercials and movie trailers to documentaries. With a deep, commanding voice often referred to as “The Voice of God” Patrick demands attention.

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“I hear something downstairs. Denny, you go down the basement and check the door. Make sure it’s locked tight.”

Dennell Baker clutched the doorframe beneath the latch until he could feel his pulse in his fingertips. “Sorry. What?”

The realtor in her sensible blue pantsuit and blued hair, what his mother used to call “old white lady church hair”, paused. “I wondered if we could go downstairs and –”

That’s what he’d thought she’d said. “No.”

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by Zachary T. Owen

“Favors From Hell” is featured in Zachary’s new book from Grindhouse Press, Burn Down The House And Everyone In It.

ZACHARY T. OWEN is the author of BEAUTIES IN THE DEEP and BURN DOWN THE HOUSE AND EVERYONE IN IT. His work has been featured in many print and online magazines. Sometimes he uses a pen name. He is a resident of Pennsylvania. He grew up on Sega Genesis and horror films. You can find him on Twitter.

Your narrator – Misty Dawn describes herself as part warrior and part pacifist, owing to her Comanche and Cherokee heritage. She credits her mother with encouraging her two greatest loves: music and horror, and H.P. Lovecraft and Stephen King with teaching her to embrace the darkest corners of her imagination, and to coax those things living within to come out and play. She hopes to create a YouTube channel and is working on redesigning her blog, Deadtime Musings, from Dusk to Misty Dawn, to include short stories of horror, both real and imagined as well as poetry and lyrics, also of a dark nature. A Navy brat who grew up abroad, she settled in San Francisco, attending UC Berkeley, where she received a BA in Drama/Communications.

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When I was eight years old I choked on the smoke from my Uncle’s cigar as he drove me to the toy store. My two year old brother slept soundly, buckled into his child safety seat in the back of Ernie’s Desoto.

‘Before we get there I need a favor,’ Ernie said, his mouth wide and his eyes staring at my blouse. He pulled off the road and stopped the car in an alley. ‘It will only take a minute, just you see,’ he promised. He leaned back in his seat and let out a long breath. His cigar smoke filled the car and my lungs.

He was right. It didn’t take long.

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Happy Halloween!

This year’s Halloween Parade by Alasdair Stuart is being released as a bonus episode.

Check out his blog at http://alasdairstuart.com/ follow him on twitter @AlasdairStuart and grab a copy of his book The Pseudopod Tapes Vol 1: Not the end of the world, just the end of the year.

Halloween Parade music is “Ominousity” by Nick and Gerald, from MusicAlley.com.

The post Pseudopod 462B: Halloween Parade 2015 appeared first on PseudoPod.

• Author : Mike Allen
• Narrator : Brian Rollins

“But the problem is to make the soul into a monster” – Arthur Rimbaud

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“Habeas Corpus” by Julia Watson

“Habeas Corpus” is original to PseudoPod.

JULIA WATSON is a freelance writer and editor, and a graduate of UCR’s Palm Desert Low-Residency MFA program in Creative Writing, where she studied screenwriting and fiction. She lives near San Diego, CA and is currently at work on a TV pilot script and a YA fantasy novel. She also has an indie short film, FOREVER HOLLYWOOD (a 16-minute zombie movie she co-wrote and assistant produced). For more info and updates about the film, see its Facebook Page. And you can find her on Twitter at @wordnerditis.

Your reader – Kaitie Radel – is a music education student and aspiring voice actress, has been voice acting as a hobby for two years. In addition to this project, she has participated as both a VA and administrator in several fan projects such as The Homestuck Musical Project and Ava’s Melodies. She can be contacted at kaitlynradel at mail.usf.edu.

Bottom of the breath, I aim and squeeze. CRACK. Mr. Johnson, our next-door neighbor, falls. Goes still. His noisy mutt, the one you hated, used to welcome me at the end of his chain with rough fur and a wet tongue to wash my salt away. I’m glad that dog’s not here.

Another. A woman—hard to tell who. I fire. As her ruined face explodes into mist, I whisper my thanks to the fool who built a gazebo on this ugly spit of land overlooking Rustridge Canyon—named for the five generations’ worth of scrap refuse the town tossed into it. You’d say I was crazy, boxing myself in, but alone, it’s the only way to get this done.

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“Monster” by Mike Allen

“Monster” first appeared in Nameless Magazine, Issue 3, Spring 2014. “I got the idea while watching a documentary on the origins of fractals.”

MIKE ALLEN is the editor of the anthology series Clockwork Phoenix and the digital journal Mythic Delirium. His first novel, THE BLACK FIRE CONCERTO, a post-apocalyptic tale of music, magic and flesh-eating ghouls, was published last year by Haunted Stars Press, and he’s written a sequel, THE GHOULMAKER’S ARIA. His website is Descent Into Light and his publisher website is Mythic Delirium.com. His first collection of horror stories, UNSEAMING (with a gracious introduction by Laird Barron, Thomas Ligotti called it “seriously unnerving fun”) was released by Antimatter Press in 2014. (Unseaming contains all four stories that have appeared on Pseudopod – “The Button Bin,”, “The Blessed Days”, “Let There Be Darkness” & “Monster”) and also contains the 19k sequel to Button Bin, “The Quiltmaker.”

Your reader – Ben Kohanski is new to Pseudopod and Escape Artists!

“Since I grew tall enough to sit at a classroom desk, I’ve longed to be a monster. There is no reason for this that you or your friends in the department will ever be able to find, should you have an opportunity to delve into my history. My mother and father loved each other. They were neither too lenient nor too strict. The bullies in my school, the ones who introduced my fellow gifted students to cycles of humiliation and pain, paid no attention to me at all. My teachers never singled me out for praise or discipline.”

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“Stillborn” by Nina Kiriki Hoffman

“Stillborn” originally appeared in the first BORDERLANDS anthology from 1990 edited by Thomas F. Monteleone

In the past thirty-plus years NINA KIRIKI HOFFMAN has sold around ten novels and more than three hundred short stories. Her work has been on final ballots for the World Fantasy, Mythopoeic, Endeavour, and other awards, and she has won a Nebula and a Stoker Award. She works on production for the MAGAZINE OF FANTASY & SCIENCE FICTION, teaches a short stories writing class for her local community college, and picks up other odd jobs..

Your Reader, Brian Rollins is a voice actor and writer living in Highlands Ranch, Colorado where he lives with his wife and two kids. When not talking to himself in his sound booth, he’s at his day job as a web developer or on stage with a href=”http://magicmomentsinc.org/”>Magic Moments, a theatre company that works with people with special needs and creates a new musical every March. You can find out what he’s up to on his website, VOICES IN MY HEAD.

Hugh found it in the shallow grave his mother had dug behind the house. He kept it wrapped in cotton above a heat register in the attic, where the dry warmth would preserve it without rotting it. Once it had mummified, he locked his bedroom door and took it out to look at, nights after his mother had gone to bed. When lie shook it, its brain rattled inside its tiny skull like a pea in a gourd. “Little brother,” he would whisper, staring into its sunken leathery face. “Little brother.”

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Make sure to head over to the forums and vote in our Flash Fiction Contest.

The post Pseudopod 462: Flash On The Borderlands XXIX: Monsters appeared first on PseudoPod.

• Authors : Andrew Reid, Richard Kellum and Severity Chase
• Narrators : Alasdair Stuart, Tatiana Grey, Graeme Dunlop, Marguerite Kenner, Khaalidah Muhammad-Ali and Joe Scalora
• Host : Alasdair Stuart

by Severity Chase, Richard Kellum, Laura Lam, Andrew Reid, Taran Matharu, & Edward Cox

A gaggle of new Flash Fiction to warm your heart and chill your bones…

Absolution by Severity Chase Read by Khaalidaah Muhammed-Ali Severity is mystery.

My Daily Vampire by Richard Kellum Read by Graeme Dunlop Richard’s not only an author (Fantasy/Horror) and daydreamer. he’s a fellow podcaster who, along with Chris Brosnahan (Who’s own serial you should totally be reading too), hosts Early Draft. He’s on twitter here and blogs at Elf-Machines From Hyperspace.

The Ghost of Gold and Grey by Laura Lam Read by Tatiana Gomberg Laura, geek, author, Californian can be found on twitter here and she blogs here. Her upcoming books are False Hearts & Masquerade. Out now: Pantomime, Shadowplay & The Vestigial Tales.

Run Forever by Andrew Reid Read by Joe Scalora Andrew Reid – Cook, climber, teacher, writer and one of the most fiercely articulate, creative people it’s my honour to know. He and I, along with Lou, survived redshirting World FantasyCon together last year. That may mean at some point we open a bar. We’ll let you know… Andrew blogs at My God It’s Raining and tweets here.

Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing by Taran Matharu Read by Marguerite Kenner Taran, is the author of the popular book Summoner: The Novice (read 6 Million times and published in 11 languages) and can be found on twitter here.

Gravemaker by Edward Cox Read by Alasdair Stuart Edward, author of THE RELIC GUILD and THE CATHEDRAL OF KNOWN THINGS can be found on twitter here and blogs here

And that’s our stories, supplied by The Mushens Agency. I’d like to thank all our narrators and authors for turning in stories that show just how diverse and vibrant a genre horror is.

The stars are right again, and what an age-old cult had failed to do, a band of innocent authors has accomplished. After vigintillions of years the Flash Fiction Contest is loose again, and ravening for delight. Each week, batches of stories will be released into gladiatorial pits to fight for supremacy. The floor will be churned to mud with the blood of the fallen until the mightiest stories remain for your delight and dread. Head over to the forums, take up your stone, and join us in the harvest festivals of the October Country.

It’s easy to be become a member. Sign up for a forum account and make a single post so we know you’re not a bot. This is a good thread to start with. From there, head over to “The Arcade” as the contest thread will not be visible until after you have made at least one post. Authors, encourage friends and families to come over and participate – you just can’t tell them which stories are yours. Visit our forums for rules and details.

Purchase your copy of Queers Destroy Horror! here: http://www.nightmare-magazine.com/ebooks/october-2015-issue-37-queers-destroy-horror/

Buy a copy of Hexed by Anders Manga here: https://andersmanga.bandcamp.com/

The post PseudoPod 461: Flash On The Borderlands XXVIII: Britshock II appeared first on PseudoPod.

• Author : Jason Rush
• Narrator : Cheyenne Wright

by Jason Rush

“Great Oak” is a PseudoPod original.

Jason Rush lives in Colorado with his wife, Shannon, and dog, Freckles. When he’s not writing, he snowboards, skateboards, hikes, climbs mountains and plays guitar. He is currently working on his first novel, Mad Maddie, which took first place in the Zebulon contest at the Pikes Peak Writers Conference. He blogs at jasonrush.com and tweets at @diminish7 .

Your narrator – Cheyenne Wright is a freelance illustrator and concept artist. He is the color artist on the three-time Hugo Award winning steampunk graphic novel series Girl Genius, and co-creator of many other fine works; Including 50 Fathoms and the Ennie award winning Deadlands Noir for the Savage Worlds RPG. He has also produced graphics for Star Trek Online, the Champions MMO, and t-shirt designs for T.V.’s Alton Brown. Cheyenne lives in Seattle with his wife, their daughter, and an ever growing stack of unpainted miniatures. In his spare time he is teaching himself animation, and narrates short stories for a variety of audio anthologies where he is known as Podcasting’s Mr. Buttery ManVoice ™

Purchase your copy of Queers Destroy Horror! here: http://www.nightmare-magazine.com/ebooks/october-2015-issue-37-queers-destroy-horror/

Buy a copy of Hexed by Anders Manga here: https://andersmanga.bandcamp.com/

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Rob swings the door of the old Ford pickup, and it squeaks before clunking shut. He puts a hand on the truck to steady himself. His tongue feels like someone crammed a wad of cotton in his mouth, soaked in whiskey and blood.

He flicks a glance at the back of the truck, then across the field to where the great oak stands on the hill, black against the midnight sky.

_I know,_ Rob thinks, looking away from the tree. _I know what I gotta do. Jus’ gimme a goddamn minute._

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Part 2 of the October 2015 EA Metacast.

The post EA Metacast, October 2015 (Part 2) appeared first on PseudoPod.