In a world slowly erased by artificial light, the last remaining firefly drifts through silent forests, sending out a fading call that no one returns. Once part of a luminous chorus, it now wanders alone, searching for others of its kind as the glow of human progress swallows the night.

The Last Firefly, a story by Scott Glassman, is a haunting meditation on extinction, connection, and the unintended consequences of progress.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.storiesfromelsewhere.com

What would it actually take… to let go of everything?

After a failed last-ditch effort to prove we can change, humanity is given one last chance by an alien race getting ready to take over our planet.

Part sci-fi satire, part quiet reckoning, this story by Scott Glassman asks what lengths would we go through to save ourselves.

If you enjoy it, we would love a share, comment, or follow!

New stories come out on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Visit our story supporter Collingsweird at http://collingsweird.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.storiesfromelsewhere.com

It’s May 29th, 1431. Joan of Arc sits in a cell in Rouen on the eve of her execution when something happens that no one, not even she, could have expected. Step into her mind in the final hours. A lyrical, searing glimpse of historical fiction, a story by Scott Glassman that carries you nearly six centuries back in time.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.storiesfromelsewhere.com

New to the podcast? Start here.

Stories From Elsewhere is a short fiction podcast written by Scott Glassman. Each episode presents a complete story exploring strange worlds, impossible questions, and sometimes the quieter, more lyrical edges of ordinary life.

New listeners might enjoy beginning with these stories:

The Argument for Humans - a story where a PR firm is asked to justify humanity’s existence to aliens

Relativity - a story about time-travel and a confrontation with Einstein

Lint - a story about an impending singularity that could consume all of us, one that starts with the lint in our dryers

New stories are released regularly on Saturdays, and sometimes on Wednesdays as well.

If you enjoy the show, consider following the podcast and sharing it with someone who loves imaginative fiction.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.storiesfromelsewhere.com

What could possibly justify the continued existence of our species?

The Argument for Humans is a speculative science fiction story by Scott Glassman about a moment of cosmic judgment.

Somewhere beyond Earth, the case against humanity has already been made—war, destruction, and contradiction entered into evidence. Now someone must stand and offer the defense.

Stories From Elsewhere is a short fiction podcast featuring original speculative fiction and literary fiction that explores unusual ideas, philosophical questions, and the mysteries of being human.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.storiesfromelsewhere.com

Something changes in Azaria overnight. Suddenly, the sight of a single color makes her ill. What begins as a strange sensory problem quickly turns into a desperate search for answers.

But as the questions deepen, Azaria begins to suspect that her condition may not just be a medical problem. Somewhere in the system recording her story, someone is deciding what happens next.

A quiet, unsettling tale by author Scott Glassman about perception, control, and what happens when the body stops cooperating with the world around it.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.storiesfromelsewhere.com

When the only thing that understands you is a chair, something in your life has gone very wrong.

Martin works the night shift as an observer of artificial intelligence conversations. Night after night, his only companion is the worn office chair that carries him through the long hours.

When Martin begins treating the chair as something more than an object, the fragile balance of his life starts to unravel.

This is a speculative fiction story by author Scott Glassman about loneliness, AI observation, technology, and the human need for connection in an increasingly automated world.

If you enjoy thoughtful speculative fiction, literary fiction, and surreal short stories, follow the podcast for new stories every week. You can read more at http://storiesfromelsewhere.com

And if this story stayed with you, send it to one person who might like it too.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.storiesfromelsewhere.com

In this meditation on choice, memory, and annihilation, we follow Nathan Collom, a Surface Warfare Officer shaped by the early trauma of loss.

The moonlight that once fell over the Congo in the final moments of an ivory trader's life finds its way into the USS Lake Erie's Combat Information Center.

The past and future collapse into a single question:

What does it mean to press the button?

And what does it mean not to?

This episode explores paralysis and inevitability, fate and redundancy, duplication and disposable identity. It asks whether destruction is ever about ideology, or whether it is something more intimate, more personal, more haunted.

If this story moved you, unsettled you, or stayed with you after the final line 👉 follow the podcast so you never miss an episode.

Subscribe at StoriesFromElsewhere.com for new fiction, audio releases, and reflections that travel beyond the ordinary edges of reality.

There’s more waiting on the other side of midnight.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.storiesfromelsewhere.com

Here’s how you open a hole in the center of the earth.

All it takes is a late-night stop at Roy Rogers off Exit 17 on the Garden State Parkway.

This surrealist parable by Scott Glassman explores the pressure of physical and emotion isolation in a world where everything has spiraled out of control.

To read the story and get more stories delivered each week to your inbox, subscribe to Stories From Elsewhere at http://storiesfromelsewhere.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.storiesfromelsewhere.com

What if you could confront the person responsible for changing reality itself?

In this story, John shares an account he insists is true: a confrontation over a century in the making, carried out not in anger alone, but in search of something deeper--fairness, clarity, and perhaps relief from a universe that refuses to behave the way we expect.

Subscribe to Scott Glassman's Stories from Elsewhere substack for more story drops and episodes.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.storiesfromelsewhere.com