StoryHack Podcast

Today we have a piece by Clark Ashton Smith titled, "The Enchantress of Sylaire."

Her land was old in evil and sorcery-and all who dwelt therein were ancient as the land... and equally cursed.

Our narrator today is Christopher Lawson. You can find him on Twitter: ChrisMLawson

Thanks to Jesse at SFFAudio for providing the scan.

by ROBOT E Howard

This story is different from all the others I have posted to the podcast. This one is an original story. ROBOT E Howard is the nickname I gave to the AI program used for generating this story. The iteration of AI software was trained on the text from all of the public domain stories about Conan by Robert E. Howard. As you will read, you'll notice that the AI is pretty good at making sentences that sound real, at times even wonderful, but it is still bad at making plots. So expect a lot of nonsense. I did edit this story a little, to remove the worst of the non-sequiturs, to correct a little grammar/punctuation, and to switch up a couple of names to keep the number of characters down. However, I added nothing of my own. And so that ROBOT E Howard & I avoid any trademark infringement, the barbarian in this tale's name is Nanoc. I will include the full text below so you can follow along with the neural-net generated voice narrator.

A Knife In A Dark Hand

DAWN was just whitening the east when Zabibi came upon the shores of the pool. Tina, Natala's sister, was playing with her new-found toy. But Natala had never dreamed of playing with such tiny things, and she was too used to the flicker of bright white paint to have any need of playing with anything but a fruit.

She had toyed with the little things, and she was just now aware of her fascination with the creatures that squatted like black shadows in the shadow of the cliff. She realized that Natala rubbed the nape of her neck. Natala did not flinch at all, just as she had with her first time playing with a golden peach.

Tina clapped her hands in front of her sister, and her head slightly toward them both. "What did you say?" she asked uneasily. "What do you think I should say?"

Natala did not reply; her dark, sensuous eyes, made clink against the dampness of the pool. She rose to her feet, rubbing her pink palms in her painful excitement.

"I have dreamed what Natala saw," Zabibi whimpered. "I shall tell you, by Crom!"

"We shall see," agreed Natala.

With no further comment, Zabibi glided to the distant arches. She did not glance fearfully over her shoulder at the archways.

They were not inviting. Giant black, gaunt, wisps of darkness were closing in about them, huddling menacingly about them. Their silence was sinister as a threat of frost. The low singing of the gongs seemed loud in the deep blackness, like the padding of a swarming river-devil.

With a muttered oath Natala snatched her sword and threw it carelessly aside.

Entering the archway behind her, Natala saw that all were hidden in the corners of the chamber. The walls were not carved in anything unusual, yet they seemed to represent a scene of colossal proportions. Fantastic columns marched along each side of the walls, depicting various scenes from which the voices of the gods had seemed hollow and ghostly.

The Cimmerian stood alone and motionless, the priests had moved. They turned their backs silently, and Natala saw that the door did not give to their efforts.

Then began a curious game, a bizarre and apparently endless one in which each priest followed his own example.

First, each priest went through a door that opened into a corridor. The others passed through several corridors, and each door opened into an alcove, which was larger, but smaller, than the others. Then they went through a curtained doorway into a smaller chamber that was more clearly lighted. They saw, among the curtained alcoves, only the four priests, the four who wore silk robes. They seemed to be treading on invisible feet,

What happens when a roudy mining town decides it wants to be a city? Even more gunfights and mayhem than normal.

A wild west tale about Breckinridge Elkins by Robert E. Howard.

If you enjoy the StoryHack podcast, be sure to check out the print and ebook agazine. StoryHack.com

by Paul Ernst

A scientist is forced miles below the earth's surface to hide from a deadly foe. But what he finds below is far more deadly than the mere gangsters he left above.

You can support the storyhack podcast by checking out Misha Burnett's new short story collection, Dark Fantasies. Available in paperback and ebook, with audiobook coming soon.

by Charles Willard Diffin

A man accidentaly opens a supernatural door that should have remained closed.

If you enjoy listening to this podcast, please leave a review somewhere, or tell a friend.

Today's episode comes from the adventures of that illustrious figther of dark magic, John Thunstone, by Manly Wade Wellson.

Leonardo Da Vinci may have painted the shield, but did he put the demon in it?

Thanks to Jesse at SFFAudio.com for putting up the nice clean scan for me to read.

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Today we'll hear the final three chapters of The Scarlet Salamander by Oscar Schisgall.

If you enjoy these podcasts, be sure to check out StoryHack's print magazine. It features pulse-pounding story's from some of today's best action writers. StoryHack

The city is hit with a crime wave. Who can stand in the way of the sinister cadre of burglars known as the Scarlet Salamander? This episode contains the first four chapters, and we'll hear the thrilling conclusion next week.

Remember, if you like the podcast, you'll like the other fiction StoryHack publishes, too. Recently, StoryHack published a collection by the fantastic Misha Burnett. It's called Dark Fantasies, and you should check it out.

By Cyril Plunkett, from the September, 1938 issue of "Detective Yarns." This one really rips along, and is about as pulpy as a story can get. The bad guys are as bad as can be imagined, the good guy is always about to die, and the author tosses in some nudity for a little extra shock value, no pun intended.

If you like the podcast, consider checking out the magazine. You'll get similar breathless stories of adventure, but from some of today's best authors.

StoryHack Action & Adventure, helping you enjoy your free time again.

Today's story is called "Bill of Rights, 5000 A.D." by John York Cabot. It appeared in the June 1941 Issue of Fantastic Adventures. If I had really planned ahead, I probably would have released this one back on the week of July 4th. Oh, well. It's pretty short, running only about 10 minutes or so. The good news is I fixed what I had been doing wrong with the recording, so the sound quality is way up over last week.