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Michael: Welcome back to the Reckoning Press Podcast! I'm Michael J. DeLuca, publisher of Reckoning and erstwhile podcast host, back to introduce a story I've had the privilege to narrate for you, "The Pelican in its Piety" by S.L. Harris, which appeared in Reckoning 9. This recording was produced by Reckoning's audio editor, Aaron Kling, who'll be back hosting for the next episode.

This story is a particularly important one for me in the way it addresses the ethical impacts of certain patterns of authority in American Christianity and Catholicism in particular, which were instrumental in making me into the environmental justice activist I am. I read it and feel seen. Maybe you will too?

I should prepare you: this piece leans further into the horrific than most Reckoning fare. Kids and animals in jeopardy.

I hope you get as much out of it as I did.

The Pelican in its Piety

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Aaron: I'm Aaron Kling, audio editor for Reckoning. How's it going,everybody? Today, we've got a world on wheels with "Fixing the System in Tilt Town" from Reckoning 8, written by Kat Murray and read by Anna Pele. This one is a voyage, listeners. Despite occurring in a relatively small setting, Murray takes us through a period of dramatic change in the life of our main character. See the workings of a civilization that knows only sacrifice and exclusion. Watch how high of a price people are willing to pay. Wonder, alongside our character, what it would take to live a different life, a decent one. Will luck be on our character's side? Is luck even needed? Story's rolling right on in just a moment.

"Fixing the System in Tilt Town" by Kat Murray

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Aaron: I'm Aaron Kling, audio editor for Reckoning, and listeners, if you're feeling cold, this episode will warm you right up. It's "SQUAWKER AND DOLPHIN SWIMMING TOGETHER", from Reckoning 7, written and read by T.K. Rex. I really enjoyed "SQUAWKER AND DOLPHIN". Before it's a story about climate, it's a story about building interspecies bridges, hand to flipper. Before it's a story about communication, it's a story about a changing world through a new pair of eyes. And before all that, it's a story about curiousity, about being willing to push out of your own sphere and into someone else's, even if you've got to go underwater to do it. And I think that's worth a listen. Right?

SQUAWKER AND DOLPHIN SWIMMING TOGETHER by T.K. Rex

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Aaron: Whenever and wherever you are, get hydrated and get hopeful, because it's the Reckoning Press Podcast! I'm Aaron Kling, audio editor for Reckoning, here to bring you another episode. Hope you're having a good one, because today we have "It's In the Blood" from Reckoning 8, written by Susan Kaye Quinn and read by Anna Pele. This is a story about one of my favorite things, guerilla pharmacological research and distribution. Not exactly a common genre, I know, but Susan has put equal parts thought and heart into her world of poisoned livers and singsong façades. Give it a listen! You won't be disappointed.

"It's in the Blood" by Susan Kaye Quinn

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Aaron: Welcome back to the Reckoning Press Podcast! I'm Aaron Kling, audio editor for Reckoning. And today we have "What it Means to Love a City", proudly featured in Reckoning 7, written by Morris Hinkle and read by Andrew Kozma. Consider a city, those mosaic aggregates of homes, industries, and the systems needed to support them. I'm sure you've all heard writers compare cities to bodies, but what connects a person to a place? What's life like nested inside another life? What does it mean to love a city? Listener, I really liked Hinkle's answers to those questions, and I think you'll like them too.

"What It Means to Love a City" by Morris Hinkle

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Aaron: I'm Aaron Kling, audio editor for Reckoning. And for today's podcast, we have "Within the Seed Lives the Fruit", from Reckoning 8, by Leah Andelsmith. This is a story about a family living and caring for their loaned land. But make no mistake: this is a decades-long fight for survival that sees our cast twine round a territory that, in time, twines back. Can they make a good life for themselves through hard work and perseverance? Is there another way? And do we know what shape that life will take in the end? Have a listen, and find out.

Happy listening, people. Aaron out!

Within the Seed Lives the Fruit by Leah Andelsmith

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Aaron: We're here again with the Reckoning Press Podcast. I'm Aaron Kling, audio editor for Reckoning, bringing you a story written by Mario Coelho, and read by Reckoning's Bernie Jean Schibeling. "We Will Not Dream of Corals" is, at its core, revenge by way of a wish. Coral, a creature which has carried the brunt of climate change for decades, adapts a lifestyle that enables it to work symbiotically with humans and directly target infrastructure perpetuating its destruction. For our reader, Bernie Jean Schiebeling, the central wish of the story is summed up in the lines, "You could have had a good life. [...] You could have had time, so much time, to do what you love[....]" Corals, after all, are builders, and in his direct addresses to readers, Coelho asks what future we want to build.

Enjoy the read, everybody!

"We Will Not Dream of Corals" by Mário Coelho

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Aaron: Hey there, listeners. It's the Reckoning Press Podcast. I'm Aaron Kling, audio editor for Reckoning, and today we're hearing "The Piano Player Has Eight Arms" from Reckoning 9, written and read by Idé Hennessy.

What's there to do four thousand meters below the surface of the sea? If you're thinking, "hit a cocktail lounge", then buddy, you're in luck. "The Piano Player Has Eight Arms" follows an average bartender trying her best to navigate a moody world where an octopus can work a keyboard but a finance manager still can't tip 20%. I really enjoyed this story's ending, but spoilers being what they are, you'll just have to listen to find out.

Enjoy, everyone! Aaron out.

The Piano Player Has Eight Arms by Idé Hennessy.

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Aaron: It's the Reckoning Press Podcast. I'm Aaron Kling, audio editor for Reckoning, here to introduce the reader and author for today's story. Andrew Kozma brings us "Exit Here" from Reckoning 3. This one's a story of a small group of desperately underfunded researchers battling the ecological collapse of a lake made all the worse by eariler attempts at environmental stablilization. If I had to bring up only one thing I love about this story, it's how Kozma has brought so much history to such a small space. Watching the destruction of the lake has quite a few parallels to other well-intentioned attempts to slow a death-spiral. The introduction of mongooses to Hawaii, for example.

Let's find the beauty in the murk, listeners. "Exit Here" is starting real soon.

Exit Here by Andrew Kozma

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Aaron: Welcome once again to the Reckoning Press Podcast. I'm Aaron Kling, audio editor for Reckoning and the reader for today's story. Hope you're having a good one. Our story today is Reckoning 7's "The Air Will Catch Us" by Rajiv Moté. As a flash fiction piece, it's a short listen. But Moté has filled every line with gentle worldbuilding, history, and most importantly, humanity. Follow a grandparent's day at the park in a setting with an atmosphere intensely thickened by a changing climate. But this is far from a world defined by apocalypse.

Higher leaps and soft landings, listeners. Let's jump in.

The Air Will Catch Us by Rajiv Moté