PseudoPod

• Author : Michael Gray Baughan
• Narrator : Jonathan Danz
• Host : Alasdair Stuart
• Audio Producer : Graeme Dunlop
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“The Ana Log” first appeared in Vol. 2 of RICHMOND MACABRE, an anthology published in 2012 and edited by Beth Brown and Phil Ford.

“Saturday, February 5, 2011

Nondescript and nearly swallowed by the general blight of Jefferson Davis Highway, Thornbill’s store gives no clue that it houses the largest extant VHS collection on the East Coast. And that’s just what’s on the shelves, available for rental to anyone willing to pay the $5 membership fee.

He locked his front door, turned his sign to closed, and escorted me down an impressive gauntlet of vintage porn, through a steel door and into a vast, climate-controlled storeroom in the back that housed a large quantity of unknowns. I was tempted to inquire about certain other rarities that had long eluded me, but in the end felt it best to focus on the task at hand.

Inside a framed and sheet-rocked subdivision of the storeroom, Thornbill had a HR-S8000U hooked up to a Sony Triniton CRT. The inner walls of this room were lined with soundproofing tiles to allow for the private screening of any manner of material. Thornbill excused himself for a moment and returned with an aluminum attaché case, which he placed on the table, unlocked, and opened. It contained eight VHS-C cassettes of the make and vintage I was expecting, plus a folder full of photos and police reports.

Thornbill powered on the VCR and the television, presented me with an adapter cassette, and then excused himself again. As he left the room I asked if he had seen the tapes. He said he had not and would like to keep it that way, but he had every confidence that they were genuine. He had acquired them directly from a retired Richmond P.D. captain. Thornbill said this in a way that made it clear from which direction my troubles would come if I was ever foolish enough to be indiscreet with this information. I asked him why his source had decided to sell them now, after all these years. Thornbill said the man had protected her for as long as he could and just needed someone else to shoulder the burden. It was a strange choice of words, overly metaphoric for a cop. I was eager to take possession of the tapes and be gone with them before Thornbill changed his mind, but I also wanted to be certain the material was genuine. I inserted the first five tapes in sequence and watched a few minutes of each. Immediately I knew that things would never be the same.”

The post Pseudopod 423: The Ana Log appeared first on PseudoPod.

• Author : Dale Bailey
• Narrator : Simon Meddings
• Host : Alasdair Stuart
• Audio Producer : Graeme Dunlop
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“Necrosis” first appeared in the May/June 2012 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction and reprinted in The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 24.

“In retrospect none of us could say with any precision when it began. Condon had never been part of our set. Grandfathered into the club by one of those old robber barons whose fortunes had declined, he was essentially nondescript—capable of maintaining a decent conversation, pleasant enough to be around, but not the kind of man with whom one formed deep and lasting relationships.

When we met him, we were friendly. When we didn’t — which was the norm, Condon not being ubiquitous in our circles — we didn’t think of him at all. So it was hard to say, as we thought the thing through among ourselves, when precisely it had begun — a task complicated by the fact that none of us had known anything had begun, until it was over.”

The post Pseudopod 422: Necrosis appeared first on PseudoPod.

• Author : David Longshore
• Narrator : Corson Bremer
• Host : Alasdair Stuart
• Audio Producer : Graeme Dunlop
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Pseudopod 421: The Three Chimes is a PseudoPod original.

“Historical horror isn’t a new subgenre, but it does remain terra incognita for many of today’s horror and dark fiction writers. While it can be a challenging undertaking successfully melding historical tropes with contemporary horror themes, history itself has often provided plenty of gruesome inspiration for those writers who are willing to take on the task. As Louis XVI discovers in “The Three Chimes,” the trick is to remember that whether in ancient regime France or the 21st-century world, horror and terror and all that they inspire in human beings are universal constants, and omnipresent across all time.”

“On the 21st day of January in the last year of his life and reign, Louis awoke in his cold apartments in the Temple well before dawn. He was quickly assisted into his clothes by his valet, then sank to his knees beside his bed and prayed with his confessor until he heard a commotion from an adjoining room.

Almost crippled by fear and horror at the suddenness of the horrible day’s arrival, Louis nonetheless rose from his prayers and went to the door leading into the front room.”

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Thank you for listening to PseudoPod. Since it’s a new year, discussions arise of award eligibility. If you enjoyed our work, we’d love you to consider us for any awards you feel are appropriate. For example, with the Hugos we are eligible for Best Fancast.

The following short stories were originally published in PseudoPod in 2014:

“Tradition” by L.M. Ball

“The Blistering” by Johnnie Alward

“Sanctuary” by Steve Calvert

“The Day the Words Took Shape” by Francesca Haig

“Juggernaut Revisited” by Lou Morgan

“The Anniversary” by Den Patrick

“Kraken Rising” by Andrew Reid

“Party at the Witch House” by Richard Kellum

“The Lake” by Severity Chase

“The Biggest Candle of Them All” by Peter Newman

“Digit” by Gabriel R. Miller

“The Wriggling Death” by Harold Gross

“Gut Check” by Toni Nicolino

“The Buchenwald Man” by Benjamin Sonnenberg

“Jack the Ripper’s Bedroom” by John Paul Davies

“Party Games” by Richard Farren Barber

“Penance” by Liz Colter

“Jack” by Mohammad Naim Kabir

“Her Face All Sharp” by Sara Larner

“Abigail” by Hunter Gray

“The Metal and Its Mold” by Tim W. Burke

“The Unfinished Room” by Joshua Rex

“Mary” by Krista Soli Foster

“Whispers From the Trench” by Robert McKinney

“The Violin Family” by James Douglas

“Mr. Flyspeck” by R.K. Kombrinck

The following short stories were originally published somewhere else in 2014, but reprinted in PseudoPod. If you want to nominate any of these, you should list the original publication in parentheses after the story title:

“Punksnotdead” (Immortal LA) by Eric Czuleger

“Variations of Figures Upon the Wall” (Where Thy Dark Eye Glances) by Silvia Moreno Garcia

“Sideshow” (Nightmare) by Catherine McLeod

“Good Boy” (Regime 03) by David Stevens

“The Recovery” (Strange Tales IV) by H.V. Chao

“Four Views of the Big Cigar in Winter” (Kindle) by Charlie Bookout

Thank you David Steffen at Diabolical Plots for helping us put this list together.

The post PSEUDOPOD Award Eligibility 2015 appeared first on PseudoPod.

• Author : J. D. Beresford
• Narrator : Ant Bacon
• Host : Alasdair Stuart
• Audio Producer : Graeme Dunlop
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“Lost In The Fog” first appeared in the collection NINETEEN IMPRESSIONS (1918).

“‘Burden,’ I muttered. ‘Where in God’s name may Burden be?’

I found something unutterably sad in the sound of that name.

I felt lonely and pitiable.

It was bitterly cold, and the mist was thicker than ever.

I could hear no one. There could be neither porter nor station-master here. Evidently this station was nothing more than a ‘Halt,’ on what I presently discovered was only a single line. I was alone in the dreadful stillness. The world had ceased to exist for me. And then I stumbled upon the little box of a waiting-room, and in it was a man who crouched over a smouldering fire.

When I went in, he looked quickly over his shoulder with the tense alertness of one who fears an ambush. But when he saw me, his expression changed instantly to relief, and to something that was like appeal.

‘What brings you here?’ he asked with a weak smile “

The post Pseudopod 420: Lost In The Fog appeared first on PseudoPod.

• Author : Thomas Kearnes
• Narrator : Christiana Ellis
• Host : Alasdair Stuart
• Audio Producer : Graeme Dunlop
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“Nurse” first appeared in the now-defunct print magazine Wicked Hollow and was featured in the horror anthology TRUE DARK.

“Helen has been in the bathroom for fifteen minutes. Her limit is ten. She knows this. I have the contract in my purse, next to her caddy of anti-depressants and stabilizers. I will show it to her once she returns and say, ‘What did we agree upon last month? I know you like this restaurant, but if I can’t trust you here, we can’t come anymore. Do you understand?’

I watch for other women to leave the restroom, to catch the clues not even an accomplished talent like Helen can hide. Older women, their faces pinched sour with disgust and the younger ones, especially in the summer, who bolt from the room with whispers and backward glances. Poor Helen. Like most unfortunates in her position, her hard, impenetrable blindness prevents her from knowing the effect she has on others. In some ways, I prefer our afternoons or mornings in public to the interminable days in which her paranoia keeps us trapped in her home. Aided by the indulgence of others, I can trace her movements and perform my duties more easily.

I check my watch. Twenty minutes. No doubt Helen would implore me in her singsong voice, pale blue eyes darting like goldfish, that time had escaped her. This is nonsense. Those afflicted with her condition, in addition to her myriad other difficulties, have few skills, but they do possess an inborn awareness of where they are in time. This knowledge they rarely apply to their own betterment, but it is a unique gift, a grain of sand’s awareness of where the tide will next fall.

Helen’s salad sits rearranged, uneaten. One of my coworkers once joked she couldn’t understand these women who regurgitated their meals yet never ate them. What were they vomiting? You can tell from this ignorance my coworker is a poor nurse. For unfortunates like Helen, eating, like most intimate activities, was something she only could do alone. Perhaps that is what was taking so long. I believe she was at the point in her illness where she took a perverse pride in the fact she could continue her behavior without anyone trying to stop her. After all, if one makes it her mission to destroy another, someone usually will step in, but if one decides to destroy herself, most will just step aside.”

The post Pseudopod 419: Nurse appeared first on PseudoPod.

What’s in store for Escape Artists — and for you — in 2015? Listen and find out!

The post EA Metacast, December 2014 appeared first on PseudoPod.

• Author : Ferrett Steinmetz
• Narrator : Marie Brennan
• Host : Alasdair Stuart
• Audio Producer : Graeme Dunlop
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“Shadow Transit” was originally published in Buzzy Mag.

“Michelle wasn’t sure how to tell if her daughter was going insane, because kids weren’t stable. She remembered how Lizzie would boldly greet her favorite aunt one day and then hide behind Michelle’s legs the next. Lizzie slept through the night for years without a nightlight, and then suddenly developed a terror of the dark. That was just how kids were; their personalities fluid, like water, ever-changing.”

The post Pseudopod 418: Shadow Transit appeared first on PseudoPod.

• Author : L.M. Ball
• Narrator : Isis LaCoste 
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Pseudopod Christmas 2014 Bonus Flash: Tradition is a PseudoPod original.

“It was at WriterHouse in Charlottesville, Virginia that I founded a member group for sci fi, fantasy and horror writers to meet and support each other. It’s a fantastic group and they helped motivate me to write, edit and submit this piece. Winter holidays are usually such a happy time, I wanted to try and do something seasonal that was a lot darker. I’ve always liked the pagan tradition of bringing in evergreens to give nature spirits a place to live during the cold weather and this story really came out of that idea- manifesting the rituals into something a lot more sinister and corporeal. I find the loss of control and fear that comes with this setting quite unsettling”

It always starts when the leaves change colour. At first they’re yellow, then golden before fading to a russet brown. I like the red ones the best, even though you could say they are the most obvious sign of what’s to come. They give you a rake and they tell you to make piles of the leaves. Your parents I mean, not the leaves. Though that wouldn’t be all that strange, considering. Sometimes when they aren’t watching we play in them, making big piles and knocking them over. It should be fun and it is, when you can forget that winter’s coming.

I think they started it all off, with the weird traditions, cutting down trees and bringing them indoors. Decorating everything in red and green, something about berries. Didn’t they notice that blood’s red too? Mamma says she remembers a time when winter was exciting, decorating a tree with glitter and ornaments to make it pretty. We don’t decorate our tree. Before, people believed that bringing foliage indoors was to provide a home for nature spirits, now that’s its purpose. I guess if you believe in something strongly enough, you can make it manifest. When the ornaments started to fall off by themselves and shatter on the floor, when it happened more than once, people started to notice. That’s what Mamma says. She said it was hard not to feel nervous that something else was going on when your entire tree had thrown off its decorations like an unwanted layer of skin.

The post Pseudopod Christmas 2014 Bonus Flash: Tradition appeared first on PseudoPod.

• Author : Johnnie Alward
• Narrator : Matt Haynes
• Host : Alasdair Stuart
• Audio Producer : Graeme Dunlop
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Pseudopod 417: The Blistering is a PseudoPod original.

“‘Try to imagine the human brain as being analogous to the ocean.’

Sam Dillinger snapped his fingers and an enormous map of the world unfurled itself above him.

‘Like the ocean, the human brain is tangible in its theory and physicality. We can touch it, understand its general uses, even map its surface topographically – the Atlantic here, the Pacific there; cognitive processing in this corner, emotional reckoning in that. We’ve studied them – lived with them – since time immemorial, but we still have so much to learn. Man may have stripmined the mountains and scorched the green earth, but he still hasn’t conquered the depths.’

He snapped his fingers again and the map reconfigured itself into a large glass pane. Paul watched as folded in on itself like crystal origami until it had become the Epsilion Prism, a corporate emblem as fiercely lionized as the golden arches or Newton’s apple.

‘Here at Epsilion, we pride ourselves in possessing the most finely detailed cognitive maps that the world has ever seen. In fifteen short years, we’ve gone from a small, speech therapy start-up on 40th street to one of the largest and most relentlessly innovative companies ever founded on American soil. We’ve helped thousands of our clients to access long-forgotten memories, undo crippling mental illnesses, and learn new languages and mathematical skillsets in the space of a few scant minutes. And still, we’ve barely begun to skim the surface of a vast and unknowable space.’

He paused and stared into the crowd – 300-odd painters, writers and musicians who hung on his every syllable.

‘That is, until now.'”

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