The Overcast: Recent Episodes

J.S. Arquin

Breathtaking Speculative Fiction from the Pacific Northwest and Beyond.

Words of Power by Wendy N. Wagner. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword by Wendy N. Wagner.

Kádár scrutinized the flake of clay on the blade of the screwdriver. "He's just getting too old to be a war truck," she said. "Look at this clay. The logos barely flickers in it."

Zugsführer Warren spat on the packed earthen floor of the machine house. "You know I can't see that magic shit," he growled. "And it wouldn't matter if I did. An order is an order, Gefreiter Kádár, and the Oberst needs every last golem out on the field."

The small woman wiped the screwdriver clean on her shirt tail and restrained a sigh. There was no point arguing with the big American; if anyone was a stickler for following orders, it was the Zugsführer. They'd butted heads before, and Kádár had come away with a headache.

She stroked the pitted side of the golem. Even the Amero-Hungarian state seal, painted on each of its shoulders, looked worn out. "Poor old Benchley."

"You name them?"

She didn't bother glancing at Warren. Instead, she studied the dull gray places where the field operators had patched the injured clay. She narrowed her eyes. "This patch clay is shit," she growled. "Even the clay I used to convert him from a fighting man to a war truck was better than this, and I wouldn't have used that crap to make a singing tea pot."

Wendy N. Wagner is the editor-in-chief of Nightmare Magazine and the managing/senior editor of Lightspeed. Her short stories, essays, and poems run the gamut from horror to environmental literature. Her longer work includes the novella The Secret Skin, the horror novel The Deer Kings, the Locus bestselling SF eco-thriller An Oath of Dogs, and two novels for the Pathfinder role-playing game. She lives in Oregon with her very understanding family, two large cats, and a Muppet disguised as a dog. https://winniewoohoo.com/

Twitter: @wnwager

facebook.com/wendynwagner

This is the final episode of The Overcast. Thank you so much for listening and for all of your support over the past 7 years!

Until we meet again... Keep dreaming,

J.S. Arquin

Words of Power by Wendy N. Wagner. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword by Wendy N. Wagner.

Kádár scrutinized the flake of clay on the blade of the screwdriver. "He's just getting too old to be a war truck," she said. "Look at this clay. The logos barely flickers in it."

Zugsführer Warren spat on the packed earthen floor of the machine house. "You know I can't see that magic shit," he growled. "And it wouldn't matter if I did. An order is an order, Gefreiter Kádár, and the Oberst needs every last golem out on the field."

The small woman wiped the screwdriver clean on her shirt tail and restrained a sigh. There was no point arguing with the big American; if anyone was a stickler for following orders, it was the Zugsführer. They'd butted heads before, and Kádár had come away with a headache.

She stroked the pitted side of the golem. Even the Amero-Hungarian state seal, painted on each of its shoulders, looked worn out. "Poor old Benchley."

"You name them?"

She didn't bother glancing at Warren. Instead, she studied the dull gray places where the field operators had patched the injured clay. She narrowed her eyes. "This patch clay is shit," she growled. "Even the clay I used to convert him from a fighting man to a war truck was better than this, and I wouldn't have used that crap to make a singing tea pot."

Wendy N. Wagner is the editor-in-chief of Nightmare Magazine and the managing/senior editor of Lightspeed. Her short stories, essays, and poems run the gamut from horror to environmental literature. Her longer work includes the novella The Secret Skin, the horror novel The Deer Kings, the Locus bestselling SF eco-thriller An Oath of Dogs, and two novels for the Pathfinder role-playing game. She lives in Oregon with her very understanding family, two large cats, and a Muppet disguised as a dog. https://winniewoohoo.com/

Twitter: @wnwager

facebook.com/wendynwagner

This is the final episode of The Overcast. Thank you so much for listening and for all of your support over the past 7 years!

Until we meet again... Keep dreaming,

J.S. Arquin

An Evil Not Forgotten by Erik Buchanan. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. #fantasy #war #aftermath

The soft whickering of the horses, not used to his presence, penetrates into Tyler’s sleep. His eyes snap open and his hand claws for the knife beside his makeshift bed.

Still dark. Still raining. Still in the barn, the straw scratching his back through the thick blanket wrapped around his body. Still alone with his memories.

Pounding rain. Soaked powder. Men and horses fighting through the mud. Marching to the Mage's castle. Muskets gripped tight in cold fingers. The ground erupts under them and horrors crawl out, clawing at them. Lights in the sky become wraiths descending on them all. Cold iron to ward them off, cold steel to kill them. Death for those too slow.

Tyler lay with his wife the first night he arrived home, bodies thrusting hard into each other, hands grasping to reclaim a year's absence of flesh. Afterwards they lay together, sweat-soaked and laughing, nestling tight as sleep overtook them both.

Tyler woke when Kate’s fingernails clawed open the flesh of his forearms, saw her blue and gasping, eyes wide with horror and lack of air as his hands tightened around her neck.

After he let go, after he made sure she was all right and she said she forgave him, Tyler went out to sleep in the barn. She didn't argue.

Erik Buchanan is an author, ghostwriter, fight director, actor, black belt and parent. He is also a communications consultant, but that doesn’t sound as exciting. His newest books areThe Stalker Chronicles, including The Trials of Abyowith, The Wire Noose, and The Dead Trees (coming fall 2021) and are available on Amazon, Smashwords, and other online retailers. His trilogy, the Thomas Flarety Stories (Small Magics, Cold Magics and True Magics) is published by Canada’s Dragon Moon Press. He has also ghostwritten nine other books, acted on stage, TV and film, and has directed fights for more than 50 productions. Find out more at www.erikbuchanan.ca or follow him

Twitter: @erik_buchanan

Facebook: @ErikbuchananWriter

Instagram: @erik_buchanan_author

Seven Cups of Tea by Gwen C. Katz. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. #fantasy #steampunk #fairytale

This cup of tea is weak and bitter. It’s made of boiled roots, and the taste of dirt is still there. Eliza looks dubiously into the wooden cup. She likes sugar in her tea, white sugar especially, two lumps if she’s allowed it. But she senses that she will have no sugar at all for a very long time.

The Prime Minister’s face hovers in her mind. His face is commanding rather than handsome, light-skinned, sharp-angled, with a clockwork acuity lens fixed over the left eye. His words echo in her ears: “Little girls don’t go to war. What will I do with you?”

Gwen C. Katz is a writer, artist, and retired mad scientist who lives in Pasadena, California with her husband and a revolving door of transient animals. She has loved Hans Christian Andersen since she was little and thinks there ought to be more fairy tales about the power of democracy, and she was happy to have a chance to bring both together in “Seven Cups of Tea.” Find out more at gwenckatz.com or follow her on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram @gwenckatz.

Twentyone Twentytwo Seven by dave ring. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. #fantasy #urbanfantasy #magicrealism

“Drink, sir?” he asked.

“Sure,” I said. “I thought I had to go to the cafe car for some reason.”

“We are happy to accommodate you,” he said, and then mumbled something else through a pointed smile. His teeth gleamed white against the stubbled growth of beard on his jaw.

“Sorry, what was that?” I asked, plucking the effervescent glass from the tray. Tiny pinpricks of coolness splashed against my wrist.

“We are happy to accommodate you,” he said again, then quieter: “Andtakethephonefromunderthetray.”

I heard him this time, barely, but I don’t think I reacted quickly enough. He strategically released his hand and a cell phone tumbled into my lap.

“Thank you?” I said.

He whisked past me, abruptly distant. “Twentyone twentytwo seven,” he said.

A chill ran across my neck. That was my lock code. The phone was a basic iPhone. I pushed the button on the side and a photo of me and some dude I didn’t recognize shone back at me from the screen.

dave ring is a queer writer of speculative fiction living in Washington, DC. His short fiction has been featured in publications such Fireside Fiction, Podcastle, and A Punk Rock Future. He is also the publisher and managing editor of Neon Hemlock Press, and the co-editor of Baffling Magazine. Find him online at www.dave-ring.com or @slickhop on Twitter.

Winter's Flowers by K.T. Wagner. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. #fantasy #magic #winter #snowqueen

The late September sun warms Gerda’s arthritic knees while sparrows chirp from the roof. Her knitting needles slide and click, keeping rhythm with the squeak of her rocking chair against the porch floor. Across each row, she knits in the present, then purls back in her memories.

She learned to purl after Nan died. Every day since, Gerda remembers Kay.

Today, her daydream is about their childhood garden in the garrets and gutters of a faraway town.

Her hands turn the row, and the sweet scent of fall roses wafts by.

She brings the yarn to the front, and remembers the roses of her childhood. They flourished in wooden rooftop boxes.

“We’re happier here, planted in the ground,” the present-day roses sing when she knits a row.

Gerda lives on the other side of the world from where she lost Kay so long ago. Now she knits her memories of the boy she loved into every garment she makes. The elaborate lace patterns had been impossible in garter stitch. They require the memory purls.

Initially, the memory of grief drowned her, but she now knows Kay’s still alive. The flowers told her.

Surrounded by gnomes, gargoyles and poisonous plants, KT Wagner writes Gothic horror and op/ed pieces in the garden of her British Columbia home. She enjoys day-dreaming and is a collector of strange plants, weird trivia and obscure tomes. KT organizes writer events and works to create literary community. A number of her short stories are published in magazines and anthologies. She’s currently working on a novel. KT can be found online at www.northernlightsgothic.com and on Twitter @KT_Wagner.

Grief by K.G. Anderson. Narrated by Rebecca Stern. Hosted by J.S. Arquin. #scifi #aliens #grief #therapy

“Out of the question.” I drew back from the speakerphone on my mahogany desk, shaking my head, relieved that Kathleen Wilson couldn’t see my reaction to her request. Kathleen was a former client, a close friend—and the director of the Extraplanetary Relations Council in Washington D.C.

“Please, Moira! The exopsychologists here at the Council want to study the ambassador, not help zhirm. Please—anything you can do."

I closed my eyes, opened them again, and looked across the room to the green leather armchair where my clients usually sat. I was trying to imagine an alien in that chair and failing utterly.

AUTHOR

K.G. Anderson is a Seattle-based journalist and a late-blooming science fiction writer. She grew up in the Washington, D.C. area where her family worked in early rocketry, technology, and space programs. K.G. holds degrees in psychology and journalism. Her recent fiction appears in magazines, anthologies, and podcasts such as Galaxy’s Edge, More Alternative Truths, and The Overcast. Find her at writerway.com/fiction and on Twitter: @writerway.

NARRATOR

Rebecca Stern has a voice that has been described as expressive, articulate, song-like, and evocative of warm bourbon and milk…if you like that kind of thing. Her forty plus years as a professional violinist has instilled in her a deep appreciation for music of all kinds, including the music of language. She loves nothing more than exploring the rhythm and flow of a script…from short narrations and poetry to novels…and sharing that with the listener. Find out more at www.verysternword.com and on Twitter: @verysternword.

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Marry the Rat by L.M. Zaerr. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. #fantasy #magic #rats #love

The second steward climbed a white ladder and blew powder from his palm onto the clock. He was a monochrome person in a lavender livery and a frothy wig. I knew only that he suffered from bunions.

“What is that powder?” I asked.

“I won’t marry the rat!”

“That’s no reason to poison her.” I knew the rat casually, and she seemed kind, in that haughty way of rats.

“You can’t make me marry her. You’re the librarian, not the king.”

“Fine. But you can’t blow handfuls of rat poison at her. I’ll call the palace guard.”

AUTHOR

For decades, LM Zaerr lured students into medieval stories and abandoned them there to challenge dragons, rescue Lancelot, and figure out how to play gwyddbwyll. She wrote a book on medieval storytelling, and she memorized forgotten tales in dusty languages and sang them to the raucous tones of the vielle. Now she finds new stories dripping with sunshine and sword polish.

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Bridge Over the Cunene by Gustavo Bondoni. Narrated by Theresa Bakken. Hosted by J.S. Arquin. #fantasy #zombies

Botoso knew he was in trouble.He had no idea how in the world he was ever going to get back to the village.He had no idea where the village was.This was the first time he’d ever been outside the stockade without his mother or one of the other village adults to take care of him, and the sun was setting redly over the horizon.

But he wasn’t frightened. He told himself that a future headman would never be frightened just because night was about to fall. He would laugh the night off, and keep walking until he found the river. He new the river was near his village.

He also knew that he would make a great headman someday. He was smart and compassionate. After Simao Zabobo had left the clearing far behind, Botoso had emerged from hiding and immediately noticed that the headman had forgotten the goat. The boy knew how important goats were to the village – he was old enough to know that the village’s very survival depended on the supply of goats.

So he worked at the clasp tying the goat to the tree and began his walk back the way he’d come. At some points, it was difficult to decide which way he had to go, since one patch of low grass or clump of trees looked just like the next, but he wasn’t worried. A headman would never get lost.

But he had. And now the sun was all the way down, and it was hard to see where he was going.

AUTHOR

Gustavo Bondoni is novelist and short story writer with over three hundred stories published in fifteen countries, in seven languages. He is a member of Codex and an Active Member of SFWA. His latest novel is Test Site Horror (2020). He has also published two other monster books: Ice Station: Death (2019) and Jungle Lab Terror (2020), three science fiction novels: Incursion (2017), Outside (2017) and Siege (2016) and an ebook novella entitled Branch. His short fiction is collected in Pale Reflection (2020), Off the Beaten Path (2019) Tenth Orbit and Other Faraway Places (2010) and Virtuoso and Other Stories (2011).

In 2019, Gustavo was awarded second place in the Jim Baen Memorial Contest and in 2018 he received a Judges Commendation (and second place) in The James White Award. He was also a 2019 finalist in the Writers of the Future Contest.

His website is at www.gustavobondoni.com

Twitter: @gbondoni

NARRATOR

Theresa loves immersing herself in the worlds that writers create. She draws on her experience as an Emmy Award winning broadcast journalist, brings empathy to every character she voices and delivers professionalism in every project. She believes storytelling is essential and produces a podcast called the Desideratum Podcast celebrating and featuring the work of authors and narrators.

https://theresabakkennarrator.com/ Social Media link tree:

:https://linktr.ee/tbnarrator

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Katabasis by Catherine George. Narrated by Jenna Hanchey. Hosted by J.S. Arquin. #fantasy #PNW #pacificcoast

They found the foot on the beach the morning after the first winter storm.

It was the dog that found it, really—the dog who caught the scent of something meaty and rotten, and strained at the leash until Hannah let him loose. There was no one on the rocky shore but the three of them anyhow, Hannah and Dave and Benji, no one to be bothered by the mutt as he ran snuffling through the sea-wrack.

The storm had delivered a new crop of driftwood, heaved it up above the tideline like the bleached bones of some monstrous beast.

“It looks like a dragon, see?” Hannah said, but Dave had already slipped off into the fog, slouching along in the dog’s wake, with his head down and fists jammed in the pockets of his jeans. He hadn’t really wanted to come to the beach that morning.

AUTHOR

Catherine George is a lawyer who lives in Vancouver, BC, with her partner and two young children. In 2018 she returned to writing fiction after 10 years away and now writes short speculative fiction of all types. Find her at

www.cgfiction.com or on Twitter: @catinlaw

NARRATOR

Jenna Hanchey is a rhetoric professor and speculative fiction author who has recently begun to try her hand at audiobook recording and voice acting. A long-time theatre actress, the pandemic had her searching for ways to take her talents online. Her first audiobook narration, The Beginning of the End by Emily S. Hurricane, can be found on Audible or Amazon. She will also be narrating “The Adventure of the Cardboard Box” for the Sherlock Holmes podcast, However Improbable. She hopes to be able to add stage acting back into the mix one day soon, COVID permitting. You can find her research, fiction, and audio work on her website, www.jennahanchey.com, or by following her on Twitter at @JennaHanchey.

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How Far Away the Stars by Sam Muller. Narrated by Joel Simler. Hosted by J.S. Arquin. #fantasy #knights #dragons

Captain Kollz clears his throat. The sound is somehow elegant, like everything else about him.

“You don’t say here how many dragons you have killed.”

“I haven’t killed any, Captain Kollz, sir.” A whisper is all my flaming throat can manage.

The captain clucks, like a well-bred hen. “Young man, this is the most prestigious military academy in the realm, the only place where an ordinary boy can transform himself into an extraordinary knight. Killing a dragon is mandatory for enrollment.”

It’s the chick and egg thing. I can’t kill a dragon without proper military training. I can’t get proper military training without killing a dragon.

AUTHOR

Sam Muller loves dogs and books and spends much time trying to save one from the other. She lives inside her head most of the time, roaming the worlds of her own creation.

NARRATOR

Who would’ve thought that the kid who attended remedial reading classes would end up reading books for a living? It’s true, as a child he was sent by his teacher to a remedial reading class - but given time, he soon became that kid constantly getting in trouble in class for reading, instead of listening to his teachers.

Joel Simler is an audiobook narrator born and raised in the Pacific Northwest - truly the best place to narrate as he can happily hunker down in his padded closet… err… his acoustically treated recording booth for those excessively rainy days.

Reach out to him anytime; with his multitude of hobbies you are bound to have something in common with him!

www.simlersound.com

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Truer Love by Edd Vick. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. #scifi #love #virus

My lover Dieter came to Duvall last month. I never expected him to drag his chain this far north; but such is love.

Dieter only speaks German. His lover Minette had learned the language to please him, and translated.

“He says his idol has died, Carl. He says he never stopped loving you.”

We were sitting on rickety chairs in what had once been a Safeway. It was the largest space in the town, so we’d set it up for daycare and as an indoor playground. I was watching the toddlers that day. I handed Dieter a little girl that had been pulling at his shirt.

“You know I gave up loving,” I said.

“He says it’s not that easy. He’s fixated on you again and wants you to join the circle.” She looked me over. “We’re a lot longer than when you were with us. After Anne died and you left, we linked with a chain in Colorado.”

Anne.

“You’re not a circle--if you were, you wouldn’t need me. I don’t do that any more.”

Edd Vick, the son of a pirate, is a recovering Texan now living in Seattle. He is a bookseller whose library is a stuffed three-car garage. His stories have appeared in Analog, Asimov’s, Year’s Best SF, and about thirty other magazines and anthologies. Find him on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/Edd.Vick

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Migration by Laura Garrity. Narrated by Laura English. Hosted by J.S. Arquin. #fantasy #fiction #dinosaurs

Then I heard it on the wind, a formless sound, like when thunder rolled through and echoed against the hills surrounding the valley. I saw a dark cloud on the horizon, but of course it wasn’t a cloud. “Leila,” I whispered.

She must have heard it in my voice, because she came around the side of the enclosure with her hand on her gun. “What is it?”

I was frozen and all I could do was point to the dark swirling spot in the sky that seemed twice as close as it had only a second ago.

“Come on,” she hissed and grabbed my arm. To my surprise she started to pull me back toward the crop enclosure.

“We need to get to the house!” I protested. “Forget the corn!”

“No time.” She started to pry apart that loose corner that I hadn’t finished fortifying, and pulled the mesh wide enough for me to crawl in. She pressed the toolbox into my hands. “Go!”

AUTHOR

Laura Garrity is a writer from Connecticut. She is a member of the Fairfield County Writers Group and The Written Word at the MAC. Her short story The Lodger was recently published in the anthology Call of the Wyld. Find her on Twitter @ms_laurabean or Instagram @garrity_laura.

NARRATOR

Laura English has lived in Connecticut for most of her life. She cannot remember when she was not reading and discovered audiobooks when convalescing from a minor illness. It was at this time Laura knew, one day, she would become an audiobook narrator! Life got busy. She worked for over 15 years with a guide dog foundation but volunteered as a reader for the blind.... paving her path to this goal. Now as a full-time narrator bringing words to life for Connecticut residents at CRIS Radio she feels blessed with her professional journey. She launched her audiobook narration business in late 2019. Her goal is to work fulltime for herself within the next two years. Outside the studio, Laura will be found outdoors; kayaking, hiking, or cycling. She also volunteers with a variety of organizations. She and her husband have two (semi-grown) children, three dogs, two cats, and a 27-year-old parrot named Dean Koontz, who is somewhat skilled at voice-work himself! Find her at https://www.lauraenglishvo.com/

and on Twitter and Instagram @lauraenglishvo.

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Headspace by Beth Cato. Narrated by Steve Quinn. Hosted by J.S. Arquin.

#SciFi #cats

The creature entered the light.

"Damn," Akiko muttered.

The ginger kitten had an odd, ambling gait that showed the sharp jut of its hips. God, the thing was half dead, and way too small. A runt, maybe, or just plain wasting away. Its mouth opened in a silent meow. A stubby tail stood upright as a flagpole.

"Hey," she crooned, holding out a gloved hand. Before even reaching her, the critter began to purr. A trusting thing, then. Socialized. "How the hell did you get up here? That hop was too short for you to be born aboard. How did you escape? Did someone try to steal you, strip your ID, stuff you up here?" Damn, she'd need to check those quarters. There had to be some kind of break in the grate.

AUTHOR

Nebula-nominated Beth Cato is the author of the Clockwork Dagger duology and the Blood of Earth trilogy from Harper Voyager. She’s a Hanford, California native transplanted to the Arizona desert, where she lives with her husband, son, and requisite cats. Follow her at BethCato.com and on Twitter at @BethCato.

NARRATOR

Steve Quinn is an audiobook narrator and voice actor living and working in Brooklyn, New York. Born and raised in Texas (yee-haw I guess) he moved to the big city to pursue comedy- performing in countless sketch, improv and stand-up shows. His joke about almond butter got him noticed by a casting director who said he had the face for voice over. After voicing dozens of commercials and cartoons his love of storytelling led him to full time audiobook narration and you may find his titles on Audible, Amazon & ITunes. He currently lives in Brooklyn with his lovely girlfriend Sarah, their 7-month-old daughter Ciara (pronounced Key-Ruh) and Lou the cat whom he found inspiration from to tell this story. Find him at stevequinnvo.com or follow him on Instagram: @juststevequinn for endless pictures of his cute baby.

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A Shiver on the Web by Kai Hudson. Narrated by J.S. Arquin.

#Fantasy

“You wish to become a priestess?”

Cara almost sneered. Wish wasn’t quite the term she would use. “Father said it’s the only way. With Mother gone and my brothers off to the war, my sisters need food. Clergy get extra rations during wartime, and I’m the oldest, so...”

She didn’t bother to finish. The weaver smiled again, something mischievous in the curve of her lip. “But that is not what you want.”

Cara released a bitter sigh. “What I want doesn’t matter,” she said. “Father told me to go, so here I am.”

Kai Hudson lives in sunny California where she writes, hikes, and rock-climbs with enthusiasm if not skill. Her work has appeared in Clarkesworld, PseudoPod, PodCastle, Interzone, and other fine places. Find her at kaihudson.com.

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Under Our Skin by Owen Leddy. Narrated by Rebecca Lee. Hosted by J.S. Arquin. #Scifi #bodyhorror #cyborg #power

Mei is staring off toward the horizon, and I follow her gaze. From our vantage point in the Berkeley hills, we can see out across the bay to San Francisco. Out by Mission Bay, the prismatic glass corpmind towers loom – shards of pure, crystallized capital. As I stare at them, I know the liquid-helium-bathed quantum computer minds inside are staring back at me through ten million eyes – surveillance cameras, microdrones, satellites, DNA samplers, and god knows what else. Still, it’s hard to feel afraid with Mei lounging in the sun next to me, sipping a home-brewed beer and smiling her ferocious rebel smile.

AUTHOR

Owen Leddy is a writer and biological engineering graduate student living in Cambridge, MA. Their short fiction has previously appeared or is forthcoming in Fusion Fragment, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Printers Row Journal, Electric Spec, SERIAL Magazine, and the anthology Triangulation: Extinction.

NARRATOR

Rebecca Lee grew up in the Seattle area, but has spent much of her adult life performing and working abroad. She has lived in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, New York State, the American South, and the Caribbean. She holds B.A. degrees in Drama and Music from the University of Washington, and is an alumnus of the improv acting program at IO West. She has narrated numerous audiobooks available on Audible, and works out of her home studio in Seattle. Find her at www.becksvoice.com and on Twitter @beckcentric.

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The Gallian Revolt as Seen From the Sama Sama Laundrobath by Brenda Kalt. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. #Sci-Fi #Revolution #Fromthemargins

On the afternoon Imperial Blessing landed in Chemical Town, Ter Zamora watched from the door of the Sama-Sama Laundrobath as two Registered crew members climbed steep Pernam Way. Forcing her aching knees to lift her from the plastic chair, she called, "Hey, spacers! I wash your uniforms, your clothes. You take a bath. A water bath! A hot towel! Smell good!"

"Not today." The brown-skinned crew members passed the laundrobath, heading farther up the Way.

"You smell bad," Ter shouted before plopping back into the seat.

Brenda Kalt was born in Arkansas and grew up in the Deep South. At Louisiana State University she obtained a B.A. in Spanish literature. At the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill she obtained an M.A. and her husband. Her careers include library assistant, technical writer, and software tester. Her fiction has appeared in ANALOG four times, THE MAGAZINE OF FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION, and GALAXY'S EDGE, among other places. She lives with her husband and cat in central North Carolina. Her website, which lists all her fiction, is www.marsearthandotherfineplanets.com.

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What More Could You Want by Alexandra Grunberg. Narrated by Marie Andrascik. Hosted by J.S. Arquin. #Fantasy #Family #Growingpains

Valerie and Gillian knew their daughter Bernadette was impressionable. When Valerie would go to parent-teacher conferences, she knew that the teacher’s report on Bernadette’s behavior would depend entirely on which of her school friends she was idolizing that year. There was the terrible first grade, made more terrible because they did not know the phase would last less than a year, when Bernadette mimicked every adult, threw tantrums if she did not get exactly two chocolate biscuits with each meal, and would shout back at the characters on the television. But then summer vacation came, and Minnie, the other terror of the first grade, switched schools and took the bad habits she shared with Bernadette with her.

AUTHOR

Alexandra Grunberg is a Glasgow based author, poet, and screenwriter. Her fiction has appeared in Daily Science Fiction, Cast of Wonders, Flash Fiction Online, and more. She is the resident screenwriter for Magic Dog Productions. She is a postgraduate student in the DFA in Creative Writing programme at the University of Glasgow. Her story “Not My First Choice” was previously performed on Overcast 96. Find her on Twitter @alexgrunberg and at https://alexandragrunberg.weebly.com/

NARRATOR

As a teacher I used podcasts as lessons for my students and taught a unit where they created a class podcast. I’ve been enthralled with recording from the moment I saved enough money to buy my first recording device - a cassette recorder! My Dad gave me the last $20.00 I needed, and I couldn’t wait to have it in my hands. Friends and I recorded stories and plays for fun. When I’m not busy recording audiobooks, my husband and I love traveling. I’m passionate about exercising daily, including hula hooping, tap, and I scavenge the beach for seaglass.

https://www.voiceofmarie.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AndrascikMarie

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marieandrascik/

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The Infernal Itch by Bruce Boston. Narrated by Joel Simler. Hosted by Erik Grove. #fantasy #writing #hell

I turned up the hot water and let it flow across my body. I took the shampoo that Dr. Pederson had given me, poured a dose between my palms, and rubbed it into my scalp. As the medication penetrated the itching lessened and disappeared. I'd been through this routine before and knew relief would be temporary. Within hours it would again feel as if my scalp were infested by a colony of angry mites.

My life had seemed perfect until a couple days ago. That was when limousine pulled up across the street, the dreams began, and the itching started.

Bruce Boston is the author of more than fifty books, including the novels The Guardener’s Tale and Stained Glass Rain. His poems have appeared in Asimov’s SF, Analog, Weird Tales, Amazing Stories, Daily Science Fiction, NewMyths, Pedestal, Strange Horizons, Nebula Awards Showcase and Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror. His poetry has received the Bram Stoker Award, the Asimov’s Readers Award, and the Rhysling and Grand Master Awards of the SFPA. His fiction has received a Pushcart Prize and twice been a finalist for the Bram Stoker Award (novel, short story). Find him at http://bruceboston.com/

Joel Simler is an audiobook narrator born and raised in the Pacific Northwest - which is truly the best place to be a narrator as he can happily hunker down in his padded closet… err...uhh, his recording booth for those excessively rainy days. His love of reading can be traced back to his grandpa, who first introduced him to his first fantasy series. He also blames his grandpa for his getting in trouble in grade school during class for reading, instead of listening to the teacher. Find him on social media @SimlerSound and at www.simlersound.com.

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Captain Carthy's Bride by K.G. Anderson. Narrated by Rebecca Stern. Hosted by J.S. Arquin. #fantasy #ireland #selkie

Footsteps coming down the cliffside trail. A rattle and clank from the pathway suggested that someone had set down a fishing rod and a bucket of bait. The young sea captain, for sure! Sheila imagined him raising the admiralty binoculars he wore on a leather strap around his neck.

Sheila was ready. She lay naked, her flame-red hair spread out like a corona. She lay with delicate ankles crossed, pale arms flung wide, and small breasts bared to the sun's heat. Behind her on the rocks a sealskin lay where she'd placed it earlier, glistening in the sun. A selkie's coat.

Author

K.G. Anderson writes short fiction as if it were fact. (Maybe, somewhere, it is.) Her stories include urban fantasy, space opera, horror, alternate history, Weird West tales, science fiction, and mystery. They appear in anthologies including The Mammoth Book of Jack the Ripper Stories and More Alternative Truths and in magazines such as Weirdbook and Galaxy's Edge. She’s done narration for StarShipSofa. K.G. lives in Seattle with her partner, bookseller Tom Whitmore. Find her on Twitter @writerway and online at writerway.com/fiction

Narrator

Rebecca Stern has a voice that has been described as expressive, articulate, song-like, and evocative of warm bourbon and milk…if you like that kind of thing. Her forty plus years as a professional violinist has instilled in her a deep appreciation for music of all kinds, including the music of language. She loves nothing more than exploring the rhythm and flow of a script…from short narrations and poetry to novels…and sharing that with the listener. Find her on Twitter and Facebooks @VerySternWord and at www.verysternword.com

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C.R.A.P. by Sherry Shahan. Narrated by Kate Tierney. Hosted by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword written by Sherry Shahan. #scifi #dystopia #art #music #love

Iris longs to be with others who resist State laws; others who risk punishment to express themselves however they choose; others who believe that what a person dreams is more important than exams devised to test how little you know about history.

She’s been searching for a group she heard about during a blackout: C.R.A.P. Supposedly, they live in a crumbling 20th century bomb shelter, playing instruments ripped off from the State Repository: assorted brass and drums, a piano with non-synthetic keys.

Iris dreams of joining them.

AUTHOR

Sherry Shahan writes from a funky beach town in California. Her work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Oxford University Press, ZYZZYVA, Exposition Review, The Writer, and forthcoming in f(r)iction. She holds an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts and taught a creative writing course for UCLA Extension for 10 years. Find her online at www.SherryShahan.com

NARRATOR

Kate Tierney always had a passion for reading aloud, and the shy kids could breathe a sigh of relief every time she volunteered to do so. After attending the University of Albuquerque, Kate received her BFA in theater, she headed off to Los Angeles where she performed in theater and television. Eventually, she and her husband headed to New York and started a family, and had lived there for the past 20 years. But the Gypsy in her soul knew it was time for a change. She packed her bags and headed the family west to the endless blue skies of her hometown, Albuquerque, New Mexico, and is now producing audiobooks.

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Ferryman by Ethan Jones. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Episode Hosted by Erik Grove. Featuring an afterword written by Ethan Jones. #Scifi

I lay in the bunk, Gibson’s arm around me as he snored in my ear. Outside the porthole, the blackness of space, spinning, empty, endless. Ahead of us, in under a week, Gibson’s death by firing squad.

This went sideways…

Ethan Jones is a weird fiction writer currently working on a novel about a werewolf astronaut in love with a cyborg rock star. His story “Resolution” appeared in the anthology On Loss in 2019. After 12 years living in Portland, he and his husband have moved back home to Tulsa, Oklahoma with their 17-year old youngling and three dogs. Find him at http://www.sinisterblog.com/ and on Twitter @sinisterblogger.

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Digital Nomad by Koji A Dae. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword recorded by Koji A. Dae. #scifi

"Maybe?" He doesn't raise his voice, but he stands. He won't look at me. "What are you waiting for, Charlie? Don't you love me?"

I step close to him. "I do. But staying…"

That's when the emotions tumble in. Fear sends my heart racing. Desire dampens the space between my legs. Confusion clenches my throat. He goes blurry from the tears in my eyes.

Snip. Right there. That's a good clip. People love unexpected emotions, and who would expect that mess from a proposal? If I upload this clip, enough people will download it to send me on my way.

Koji A. Dae is an American writer currently living in Bulgaria. She spent parts of her childhood in Portland, Oregon. She has work published in Daily Science Fiction, Short Edition, and several others. When not writing she enjoys dancing the blues. Find out more at https://kojiadae.ink/

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J.S. Arquin's Crimson Dust Cycle trilogy is complete! Go to www.arquinworlds.com to download your free prequel story.

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A Touch of Frost by Renee Stern. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword recorded by Renee Stern. #scifi #agriculture #farming #tech #family #frost

The frost alarm tumbled Tristao out of his snug bed into the midnight chill of the farmhouse. He knuckled away the dream of a wild liberty weekend in Seattle and dropped into his battered computer chair, bringing up the sensor net before he remembered to silence the alarm and key in lights and coffee.

He blinked against the glare of the overhead light panels before blindly dialing down the brightness to a more comfortable level. The clock digits on the wall in front of him shone a brighter red: 0113. Two hours of sleep.

A coffee bulb slid out of the slot within easy reach of his left hand, just below the interactive map screen of his farm. He popped open the bulb, the spicy steam that curled around him jolting him a fraction more alert, and started a fast diag of essential systems.

Renee Stern’s short fiction has appeared in Beneath Ceaseless Skies and several small-press anthologies, including Human Tales and Looking Landwards. A freelance writer and former newspaper reporter, she now calls the Seattle area home.

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Strix Antiqua by Hamilton Perez. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword recorded by Hamilton Perez.

I didn’t want to go back into those woods. I didn’t trust them, and I suppose they didn’t trust me either. But deep down, I knew: I had to go. You can’t just stay at home, whispering to God on bended knee when your little sister’s been taken by a witch.

Police combed through the forest during the day but didn’t find anything. They wouldn’t of course. A witch takes people when they’re alone, not in groups, and then she hides away with her catch, tucked in the shadows of secrets and the heartbeat of mountains. That’s where witches live.

Hamilton Perez is an aspiring stay-at-home chef, but is primarily known for his published fiction and editing work. He’s mastered a basic omelet, a passable stir fry, and has finally determined that 2 minutes and 22 seconds is the perfect time for microwaving popcorn. You can find more of his stories at hamiltonperez.com, or follow him on Twitter @TheWritingHam.

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Dreams of Mars and Amber by M.V. Melcer. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword written by M.V. Melcer. #scifi #immortality #podcast #fiction

I glare at the signature on the research file as if my scowl could erase its existence.

My own ID code from one hundred and twenty years ago. How could I have forgotten? My brilliant new idea, the breakthrough that could lead to large-scale Martian agriculture--tested and disproved, nearly a century ago. By me.

I lean back, my right hand rubbing the corner of my eye, while the left scrunches the flexi with the research notes. I was going to change the world, lead humanity to Mars and on to the stars. Instead, I'm a fly in a maze, flying in circles, chasing the ghosts of my own thoughts.

MV is a fiction writer and a filmmaker, with primary interest in science fiction. Born in Poland, MV has lived in the USA, the Netherlands and Belgium before settling in the United Kingdom. When not writing, she is working on a degree in astronomy and planetary sciences. You can find her at www.mvmelcer.com.

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J.S. Arquin's Crimson Dust Cycle trilogy is complete! Go to www.arquinworlds.com to download your free prequel story.

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Bear Day by Kathryn LePage. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword recorded by Kathryn LePage. #fantasy #bears #humor #holiday

Bunny grasped her stick apprehensively in one hand and reached for her dye packet with the other. While she’d been readying herself, she hadn’t been paying attention to the sounds outside the cave. Suddenly she heard a rhythmic dragging sound come up to the mouth of the cave. There was no way she could afford to look away from a potentially angry bear to see what it was. Then the bear heard it, and looked up, growling.

With the bear looking over her shoulder, and not directly at her, Bunny felt safe enough to risk a glance as well. The boy with the log stood there, staring with an open mouth for a split second while he took in a deep breath. Please don’t, Bunny thought desperately. Don’t yell.

“Hey, guys! She found a bear! Get over here, she found a bear! Guys! Bear!!”

Kathryn LePage lives in Portland with her two cats. She builds worlds just to see who shows up, and is trying to pioneer a new genre:cozy fantasy. She currently has stories set in two different worlds with varying amounts of magic, and several more stories impatiently waiting to be written. Her work has been published in “Places Like Home”. Find her at http://www.kathrynlepage.ink/

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J.S. Arquin's Crimson Dust Cycle trilogy is complete! Go to www.arquinworlds.com to download your free prequel story.

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The Crystal Ball That Lied by G.B. Burgess. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword recorded by G.B. Burgess. #fantasy #fortune #darkfantasy

A replica of Dancer pirouetted across my surface, her jewels and clothing shimmering with each movement. Dancer sobbed as she looked upon her likeness. Tears fell. They splashed on me and I swallowed them. They were bland compared to blood but were better than dust.

“I knew I’d be famous.” Dancer pushed coins across the table and rushed from the cabin.

“Another happy customer.” Witch left the table to light more candles, killing the eeriness. She returned to stroke my surface. “Crystal, my love, what dark event did you hide this time? There’s always something.”

With Dancer’s blood still sticky against my souls, I once again reached into the future, snagging the same event I’d shown Dancer, but widened the view. This time I showed her performing in a dirty tavern, surrounded by drunken men. One at a time she stripped garments until she danced naked.

GB Burgess is a writer from Tasmania, Australia. Her work is forthcoming in the Lane Cove Literary Award Anthology, and has appeared in On the Premises, Daily Science Fiction and Fabula Argentea. When not writing, she spoils her rescue kitties, neglects her devoted husband, and extreme doodles (that’s drawing without talent). Find out more at gbburgesswrites.wordpress.com.

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J.S. Arquin's Crimson Dust Cycle trilogy is complete! Go to www.arquinworlds.com to download your free prequel story.

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Dark Satanic Mills by Fraser Sherman. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword recorded by Fraser Sherman. #fantasy #humor #Satan #entertainment #magazines

“You know, Bryce, I think you're right.” My boss smiled sweetly as her conjured shark-demon shot across the conference table and bit down on Bryce Jordan's crotch. “I really am a castrating bitch, aren't I?

“Walker, my coffee?”

“Right here, Ms. DeMarco.” Knowing my coworkers would spot any sign of weakness, I tried to look blasé about Bryce sliding to the floor, clutching his groin. Cerise Walker, sophisticated New Yorker, that's me. “Absolutely no fair-trade beans, skim milk, one-and-a-half sugar cubes.”

“Do you think I forgot?” She raised one perfectly arched eyebrow as I handed her the porcelain cup. “You think I'm losing it, is that what you're saying?”

“No!” I backed away — not that distance would save me — and plastered my best sucking-up smile onto my face. “Gosh no, you're the best magazine editor —”

“That's right, I am.”

Although England-born, Fraser Sherman would still be living in the Florida Panhandle (long story) if he hadn’t met his dream woman in 2008. They now live together in Durham, NC with the two most adorable dogs in the world and a semi-stray cat. Fraser has been a reporter for several papers, written articles for Newsweek, Boys’ Life and Law Enforcement Technology and had more than two dozen short stories published. He’s written five books about movies, starting with Cyborgs, Santa Claus and Satan. Find him online at: https://Frasersherman.com

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J.S. Arquin's Crimson Dust Cycle trilogy is complete! Go to www.arquinworlds.com to download your free prequel story.

Are you an author who loves J.S. Arquin's narrations? Ask him to narrate your audiobook at www.arquinaudiobooks.com

They Come From the Void by Luke Elliott. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword recorded by Luke Elliott.

Orblights rose from beneath black waves, boiling the saltwater into white banks of steam. Seven lighthouses flashed golden as their rotating lenses cut beams from the headland into the rolling sea. The orblights hovered over shoals, between craggy sea stacks, and amid high breaking surf in paths unwavering, though the sea assailed them. They would only alter course to glide up the sheer cliffs into the coastal village of Overmorn Cove, whose people congregated outside their homes to meet them.

Luke Elliott’s fiction has appeared in Metaphorosis Magazine, the Buckman Journal, and The Best Vegan Science Fiction and Fantasy of 2018 collection. He has a B.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Florida, an MFA in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University, and is a graduate of the Viable Paradise writer’s workshop. In 2017, he launched the Ink to Film podcast with a filmmaker co-host, where he discusses books and their film adaptations from a writer’s point of view in weekly episodes. He writes mostly science fiction, fantasy, and horror, but will go wherever the inspiration takes him. In between writing, podcasting, and occasional gaming, he collects quality whiskies and is always happy to pour a glass for company. Find him at: www.lukeelliottauthor.com, www.inktofilm.com, www.twitter.com/luminousluke.

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J.S. Arquin's Crimson Dust Cycle trilogy is complete! Go to www.arquinworlds.com to download your free prequel story.

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Where the Grass May Be Greener by Rob Butler. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword recorded by Rob Butler. #scifi #timetravel

For Stenson the start of the walk was the highlight. He had never seen one tree, let alone the dozens now arrayed before him. The only trees left in his world were in botanical zoos. He always encouraged Ben to reach out and feel the foliage. Vision and touch he had decided to experience but not sound, taste or smell – too expensive. Hence the drone of the motorway did not destroy his pleasure. Where Ben saw grass and scrubland, Stenson saw a green beauty he had only ever known in the pages of books or in recordings. And when there was wildlife, like the horses, or the fox he had once glimpsed, these were sensations he could feed on for days as he grubbed and toiled to get the credits for his next trip.

Rob lives in Reading in the UK and has had around 40 pieces of short fiction published in a number of print and online magazines including Shoreline of Infinity and Daily Science Fiction. He particularly enjoys writing Drabbles and a short book of these appears on his Amazon Author pages, along with some other examples of his writing. https://www.amazon.com/Rob-Butler/e/B01ELRD8XS/

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Cuckoo's Nest by Nina Kiriki Hoffman. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword written by Nina Kiriki Hoffman. #fantasy #urbanfantasy

She reached out and gripped his chin in her too-hard grasp. He tried to draw back, but she was too strong. She stared at his mouth, leaned closer, suddenly pulled his head down and pressed her lips to his. Before he could react, her tongue was in his mouth. She tasted like lemon, like rosemary, like something wild. She bit his lower lip, sucked on the wound until he had vampire fears. There was nothing arousing about her actions; all of him was damped down with fear.

Over the past thirty-odd years, Nina Kiriki Hoffman has sold adult and young adult novels and more than 350 short stories. Her works have been finalists for many major awards, and she has won Stoker and Nebula Awards.

Nina's novels have been published by Avon, Atheneum, Ace, Pocket, Scholastic, Tachyon, and Viking. Her short stories have appeared in many magazines and anthologies.

Nina does production work for The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction and teaches writing. She lives in Eugene, Oregon.

For a list of Nina's publications: http://ofearna.us/books/hoffman.html.

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J.S. Arquin's Crimson Dust Cycle trilogy is complete! Go to www.arquinworlds.com to download your free prequel story.

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The Button at the Base of his Spine by Robert Bagnall. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword written by Robert Bagnall.

Jeff didn’t think he’d ever seen that look in Mandy’s eyes before.

He’d opened the front door, as he always did, hung his hat up, as he always did, and hollered, “Hi, honey, I’m home.” They’d exchanged kisses, lingering rather than obligatory, they were still virtually newlyweds, and Jeff wondered if he could get her to do that thing she did with his back later that night. He loved that thing she did with his back. He’d never met anybody else who could do that.

Robert Bagnall was born in Bedford, England, in 1970 and now lives in Devon, between Dartmoor and the English Channel. He is the author of the novel ‘2084’, and the anthology ‘24 0s & a 2’, which collects two dozen of his thirty-plus published stories. He can be contacted via his blog at meschera.blogspot.co.uk.

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J.S. Arquin's Crimson Dust Cycle trilogy is complete! Go to www.arquinworlds.com to download your free prequel story.

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Toilet Gnomes at War by Beth Cato. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword written by Beth Cato. #fantasy #gnomes #grandma #coffee

"The wailing within the walls worsened, like someone packed a hive of banshees inside and told them to sing Michael Bolton."

Nebula-nominated Beth Cato is the author of the Clockwork Dagger duology and the Blood of Earth trilogy from Harper Voyager. She’s a Hanford, California native transplanted to the Arizona desert, where she lives with her husband, son, and requisite cats. Follow her at BethCato.com and on Twitter at @BethCato.

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J.S. Arquin's Crimson Dust Cycle trilogy is complete! Go to www.arquinworlds.com to download your free prequel story.

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Ice in D Minor by Anthea Sharp. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword recorded by Anthea Sharp.

Rinna Sen paced backstage, tucking her mittened hands deep into the pockets of her parka. The sound of instruments squawking to life cut through the curtains screening the front of the theater: the sharp cry of a piccolo, the heavy thump of tympani, the whisper and saw of forty violins warming up. Good luck with that. Despite the huge heaters trained on the open-air proscenium, the North Pole in February was cold.

And about to get colder, provided she did her job.

Anthea Sharp is a USA Today bestselling, award-winning author of Fantasy-flavored fiction.

Growing up on fairy tales and computer games, Anthea Sharp has melded the two in her award-winning, bestselling Feyland series, which has sold over 150k copies worldwide.

In addition to the fae fantasy/cyberpunk mashup of Feyland, she also writes Victorian Spacepunk, and fantasy romance. Her books have won awards and topped bestseller lists, and garnered over a million reads at Wattpad. Her short fiction has appeared in Fiction River, DAW anthologies, The Future Chronicles, and Beyond The Stars: At Galaxy’s edge, as well as many other publications. Find her at www.antheasharp.com and follow her on Twitter @AntheaSharp.

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J.S. Arquin's Crimson Dust Cycle trilogy is complete! Go to www.arquinworlds.com to download your free prequel story.

Are you an author who loves J.S. Arquin's narrations? Ask him to narrate your audiobook at www.arquinaudiobooks.com

The Empress's Knife by dave ring. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword recorded by dave ring.

Behold, the ziggurat.

We stood atop Arida Peak, at the western edge of the Empire’s hold.

“Let me see it,” I said. Scalid, my handler, stepped away from the spyglass. I removed my hood and pressed my eye socket against the cool metal.

Vormundine was unfurling its massive wings, four or five times the size of the rest of its body. Its musculature was pale grey, almost white from this far away, but pinkening until the wingtips shone a nearly translucent ruby.

“Are you ready?” the sergeant asked, impatient. She likely wished to be back at the border, where the Empress’s army held back the barbarian horde.

dave ring is the chair of the OutWrite LGBTQ Book Festival in Washington, DC. He has stories featured or forthcoming in a number of publications, including Fireside Fiction, GlitterShip, and A Punk Rock Future. He is the publisher and managing editor of Neon Hemlock Press, as well as the editor of Broken Metropolis: Queer Tales of a City That Never Was from Mason Jar Press. More info at www.dave-ring.com. Follow him on Twitter at @slickhop.

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J.S. Arquin's Crimson Dust Cycle trilogy is complete! Go to www.arquinworlds.com to download your free prequel story.

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What Can't Be Undone by Sim Kern. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword recorded by Sim Kern.

A young woman with a toddler on her hip stands on the flagstone path between the rosemary bushes. That she’s made it inside the garden means there’s no malice in her heart. But just behind her, a broad-shouldered man is trying and failing to step over the border of thyme encircling Lorra’s homestead. It looks like his foot is stuck in a wall of invisible marshmallow stretching above the groundcover. Grunting, he jerks his foot free and stumbles back. He spots Lorra, and hate flares across his face, but only for a moment. Then his furrowed brow lifts, his scowl melts into a smile, and his clenched fists open in supplication.

“Madam Stitcher, please, there’s been a terrible mistake.”

Sim Kern is a speculative fiction writer living in Houston, Texas, with recently published stories in Metaphorosis, The Colored Lens, and Wizards in Space. Their upcoming novella, Depart, Depart! is a literary horror story about climate change, Jewish ghosts, and what you take with you when it all goes to hell—coming from Stelliform Press in September 2020. Find them at www.simkern.com and on Twitter @sim_kern.

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Good Neighbors by Frank Oreto. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword recorded by Frank Oreto.

"You remember Frank Graves, used to live down at 1523 ... All this woodworking stuff—joinery, carving. I sort of got it from him. So did Joe Hecher, Phil Mackey, and a few other guys on the block.”

"What? He was giving lessons from the gazebo?" asked Jacob, with a laugh.

"No, not lessons. It wasn't like that. You see… I kind of..." Ed blew out a sigh and tried again. "All right, I know how to do the stuff Frank did, but he didn't teach it to me."

"Okay fine, so how did you learn it?"

"Well Jacob, here it is. I know how to build a table and inlay floors because when Frank Graves passed away—" Ed took a deep breath and looked Jacob straight in the eye. "I ate him.”

Frank Oreto is an editor and writer of weird fiction living in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. When not writing new stories, he spends his time cooking up elaborate meals for his wife and perpetually hungry children. You can follow his exploits both literary and culinary on Twitter @FrankOreto.

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Memory and Iron by Kelly Sandoval. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword recorded by Kelly Sandoval. #fantasy #fairies #mother

She is a good mother.

She lines her newborn's crib with iron bars and nails horseshoes above every door in the cottage. Then the windows. And, when she still can't sleep, she hangs one directly above the crib, so it spins and twists and warns.

"Fairies, Katherine?" Stephen asks. "Where’s this fancy come from?"

She holds her daughter to her breast, looks down into her piercing blue eyes. The color of any babe's eyes.

It means nothing. Nothing at all.

Kelly Sandoval's fiction has appeared in Strange Horizons, Uncanny, and Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy. She lives in Seattle, where the weather is always happy to make staying in and writing seem like a good idea. Her family includes a patient husband, an anarchist tortoise, and a put-upon cat. You can find her online at kellysandovalfiction.com

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Reading the Room by Aeryn Rudel. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword recorded by Aeryn Rudel.

"You take him off the floor, Pete?" Jesse asked.

Howard cleared his throat. "Yeah, Jesse, like I said--"

Jesse turned and glared at Howard. "I'm talking to Pete." The owner of the Lucky Load closed his mouth with a wet snap.

"I did, Mr. Deacon," Pete replied.

"What was he doing?"

"Playing poker. Winning."

"Anything unusual?"

Pete cocked his head. It reminded Jesse of a cobra or a praying mantis just before it strikes. "People were upset, nervous."

"Nervous how?"

"They didn't like how he was winning," Pete said. "He made bad bets, against the odds, but won anyway."

Jesse grinned. That actually confirmed some of his suspicions. "He's a little spooky, ain't he?"

Aeryn Rudel is a freelance writer from Seattle, Washington. He is the author of the Acts of War novels published by Privateer Press, and his short fiction has appeared in The Arcanist, The Molotov Cocktail, and Pseudopod, among others. Aeryn is a notorious dinosaur nerd, a baseball fanatic, and knows far more about swords than is healthy or socially acceptable. He occasionally offers dubious advice on the subjects of writing and rejection (mostly rejection) at www.rejectomancy.com or Twitter @Aeryn_Rudel.

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The Bird by Edward Ashton. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword recorded by Edward Ashton.

“Spontaneous remission,” the doctor says. “The primary mass in your pancreas is gone. Your PET scan is clear. It happens sometimes.”

Callie stares at the doctor’s mouth, waiting for him to speak again, sure that she’s imagined what she’s just heard.

“No promises,” he says finally. “Sometimes it lasts. Sometimes it doesn’t. We’ll bring you back in eight weeks for another set of scans. If those come back clean, you can start thinking about making long-term plans again.”

Callie’s gaze drifts to the half-open window behind the doctor’s desk. A bird lands on the sill. It looks in at Callie, seems to meet her eye.

“Close your mouth,” it says. “You look like an idiot.”

Edward Ashton lives in Rochester, New York with his adorably mopey dog, his inordinately patient wife, and a steadily diminishing number of daughters, where he studies new cancer therapies by day, and writes about the awful things his research may lead to by night. He is the author of the novels Three Days in April and The End of Ordinary, as well as of several dozen short stories which have appeared in venues ranging from the newsletter of an Italian sausage company to Flash Fiction Online, Analog, and Escape Pod. Find him on Twitter @edashtonwriting and at: http://www.edwardashton.com/

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Papyrates by Deborah L. Davitt. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword recorded by Deborah L. Davitt. #fantasy #fiction #pirates #paper #podcast

She stood on the jetty, watching the ship unfurl itself with geometric precision, unfolding from its flattened state into sweeping white arcs of bow and stern. Her crew carried the long white rolls of the masts aboard and then lifted them into place with a call and response that drifted on the wind like a chanson.

As Papyra strode aboard, she called, “Ready the sails!” and her crew unfolded the last sheaves, tying them in place to catch the first breaths of wind.

It was time to hunt.

Deborah L. Davitt was raised in Nevada, but currently lives in Houston, Texas with her husband and son. She’s worked as a technical writer on contracts involving nuclear submarines, NASA, and computer manufacturing. Her poetry has received Rhysling, Dwarf Star, and Pushcart nominations and has appeared in over fifty venues; her short fiction has appeared in Galaxy’s Edge, Compelling Science Fiction, and Flame Tree anthologies. For more about her work, including her Edda-Earth novels and her poetry collection, The Gates of Never, please see www.edda-earth.com. You can also find her on Twitter @DavittDL and on facebook https://www.facebook.com/deborah.davitt.3

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Sympathy For the Devil by Brenda Kezar. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword written by Brenda Kezar. #fantasy #comedy #humor #fiction #podcast

A glowing, orange man-shape swept into the bedroom. “Ah, there you are.”

She yelped and fell back onto the bed. “How the hell did you get in here?”

“No mere lock will keep me at bay.” The glow brightened, illuminating him. His skin was red, and long, curved horns jutted from his head. His feet were cloven, his thighs covered in fur. His loincloth had caught-up on the worn leather pouch around his waist. He was naked underneath.

He followed her gaze and flipped the loincloth back into place. “It is frigid in here. Shrinkage is to be expected.”

Brenda Kezar writes horror, fantasy, and science fiction from the dark tundra of North Dakota. She is a proud member of the Horror Writers Association and mom to an evil corgi named Honey Booboo. Her short stories have appeared in Dark Moon Digest, Daily Science Fiction, Silverthought, Welcome to Miskatonic University, Zombidays: Festivities of the Flesheaters, and many other publications. To read more, visit: www.BrendaKezar.com

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A Handful of Stardust by Kai Hudson. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword recorded by Kai Hudson. #scifi #clones #podcast #fiction #space #colonization

“The vote is in two days.” The anger was gone now, leaving only grief and sharp betrayal that made Alice’s words come out choked. “And Anita made it clear who she thinks should get wiped. You know what she called me? Stubborn. ‘Stubbornness might have gotten us here,’ she said, ‘but now she’ll only trap us in our ways.’”

“Craters. Your leadership personality said that?”

“Anita’s not leadership.” Because Amelie, the true leader, had volunteered for the first wipe. “She’s charisma.”

Kai Hudson lives in sunny California where she writes, hikes, and rock-climbs with enthusiasm if not skill. Her work has appeared in Clarkesworld, PodCastle, Anathema: Spec from the Margins, and other fine places. Find her at kaihudson.com.

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Blunder by Kristin Kirby. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword recorded by Kristin Kirby. #fantasy #horror #fiction #spiders #podcast #trailerpark #landlord

Rankin went up the steps, his huaraches crunching on faded fake grass, and knocked on the aluminum front door. A cobweb sagged from the upper corner of the porch screen. Rankin reached up and swiped at the web, then shook it off his hand. A brown spider plopped onto the porch and started to scramble off.

But Rankin hurried to smash it with his foot. Then he grimaced as he scraped the dead thing off his shoe onto the step.

Kristin Kirby is an award-winning fiction writer, screenwriter, and editor who currently makes her home in the Pacific Northwest. Her poems and short stories have appeared in Space and Time, 365tomorrows, Eldritch Tales, MYTHIC, and other publications. Her short story “Meat” was a finalist in the Masters Review Fiction contest, and her novella “Maze” was a semifinalist in the ScreenCraft Short Story contest. When she’s not writing, Kristin enjoys traveling, watching film noir, restoring antique furniture, and carrying on her never-ending quest to find the best Italian restaurant on the planet. Find her online at www.kristinkirby.net or on Twitter @WriterKristin.

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Illicit Alchemy by Eric Lewis. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword written by Eric Lewis. #Fantasy #Alchemy #Fiction

“Unfortunately, we’re unable to offer you a position at this time…” Emony stopped paying attention after that. She’d heard it a hundred times before. But the alchemist’s mouth just kept moving so she reached out, grabbed the glass retort off his desk and smashed it into his fat face.

Well, she fantasized about it anyway. Instead she nodded, and muttered, “Thank you for your time and kind consideration” through gritted teeth.

By day Eric Lewis is a research scientist weathering the latest rounds of mergers and layoffs and trying to remember how to be a person again after surviving grad school. His short fiction has been published in Nature, Electric Spec, Bards & Sages Quarterly, the anthologies Into Darkness Peering, Best Indie Speculative Fiction Vol. 1, Crash Code and other venues detailed at ericlewis.ink. His debut novel The Heron Kings and short story collection Tricks of the Blade are both due out in early 2020. Find him on Twitter @TheHeronKing.

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Grizzelka's Bridegroom by Mary E. Lowd. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword recorded by Mary E. Lowd.

On the dais at the front of the great hall, Rhun's bride stood, resplendent in lace, pearls, ruffles, and diamonds -- all of the sugary sweetness of silk and satin that her attendant minions had been able to gather, all of it draped over her bulging tentacles. She looked like an octopus who had choked to death on a rack of wedding dresses. She had never looked more lovely.

Mary E. Lowd is a prolific science-fiction and furry writer in Oregon. Her fiction tends to feature spaceships and talking animals. She's won an Ursa Major Award, two Cóyotl Awards, and two Leo Literary Awards. She edited FurPlanet's ROAR anthology series for five years, and she is now the editor and founder of the furry e-zine Zooscape. She lives in a crashed spaceship, disguised as a house and hidden behind a rose garden, with an extensive menagerie of animals, some real and some imaginary. Find her online at www.marylowd.com on Twitter @Ryffnah and Instagram at mary.lowd.

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J.S. Arquin's Crimson Dust Cycle has launched! Go to www.arquinworlds.com to download your free prequel story.

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The Stories We Tell Ourselves by Curtis C. Chen. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword recorded by Curtis C. Chen. #fantasy #flashfiction #wishes

Gerald sat and stirred his coffee, waiting to change the world.

The front door of the cafe swung open, and the bell jingled. The balding man who walked in wore a thick overcoat, scarf, and gloves. His nervous, desperate eyes scanned the room.

Once a Silicon Valley software engineer, Curtis C. Chen now writes speculative fiction and runs puzzle games near Portland, Oregon. His debut novel Waypoint Kangaroo (a 2017 Locus Awards Finalist and Endeavour Award Finalist) is a science fiction thriller about a superpowered spy facing his toughest mission yet: vacation. The sequel, Kangaroo Too, lands our hero on the Moon to confront long-buried secrets. Curtis' short stories have appeared in Playboy Magazine, Daily Science Fiction, Mission: Tomorrow, and Oregon Reads Aloud. He is a graduate of the Clarion West and Viable Paradise writers' workshops. Find him online at: https://curtiscchen.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/CurtisCChen

https://www.instagram.com/curtiscchen/

http://www.facebook.com/CurtisCChen

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ASCENT, Book One of J.S. Arquin's Crimson Dust Cycle has launched! Go to www.arquinworlds.com to download your free prequel story.

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It's Spring in the Forever Zoo by Bo Balder. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword recorded by Bo Balder. #scifi #flashfiction #prosepoem

It is spring, a moonlit night in the Forever Zoo, starless and bile-black, the hunched, despairing and forgotten in the cages limping invisible down to the sloeblack, slow, black, crowblack, starshipbobbing sea.

Hush, the aliens are sleeping, the star-fished, the multiples, the genderless and thousand-armed, vegetable, outward-digesting, trader and cannibal, the carrion-eater and the scent-luring, the pierced and the rocking lives.

Bo Balder lives and works close to Amsterdam. Bo is the first Dutch author to have been published in F&SF, Clarkesworld and Analog. Her fiction has also appeared in Escape Pod, Nature and other places. Her sf novel "The Wan"was published by Pink Narcissus Press. She is a member of SFWA, Codex Writers and a graduate of Viable Paradise.

For more about her work, you can visit her website or find Bo on Facebook.

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ASCENT, Book One of J.S. Arquin's Crimson Dust Cycle is coming January 13th! Go to www.arquinworlds.com to download your free prequel story.

Are you an author who loves J.S. Arquin's narrations? Ask him to narrate your audiobook at www.arquinaudiobooks.com.

Blue Christmas by Jessica Levai. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword recorded by Jessica Levai. #fantasy #dark

She woke to find Nick standing over her. The thin dawn light showed him ragged and tired, turned his face red and his beard blue. He held her forgotten mug in his hand.

“You went to the secret room,” he said, so softly she could scarcely hear.

Jessica Lévai has loved stories and storytellers her whole life. After a double major in history and mathematics, a PhD in Egyptology, and eight years of the adjunct shuffle, she devoted herself to writing full-time. You can read her work in Luna Station Quarterly, Body Parts Magazine, and Vampires, Zombies and Ghosts Volume 2. Her first novella is a vampire romance in Pushkin sonnets. She has begun work on her second long-form piece and dreams of one day collaborating on a graphic novel, and meeting Stephen Colbert.

Check out her website, JessicaLevai.com, for her newsletter and more.

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ASCENT, Book One of J.S. Arquin's Crimson Dust Cycle is coming in January! Go to www.arquinworlds.com to download your free prequel story!

Are you an author who loves J.S. Arquin's narrations? Ask him to narrate your audiobook at www.arquinaudiobooks.com.

Eternity Plus Package, 89.99/Month by Michael Milne. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword recorded by Michael Milne. #Sci-fi #digital #afterlife #fiction

Grace consulted a scanned photograph of herself, one from years before her death, adjusting her visual settings like a painter taking in a foggy landscape. Once, she had spent hours giggling and manipulating the facial sliders like discs on an abacus, blowing her nose and her eyes and her ears to absurd proportions. For a week she had proudly roamed the grounds of Elysium Estates with a two-foot narwhal tooth breaching from the creaseless sea of her forehead.

But she knew what her daughter wanted, and this show was for her.

Michael Milne is a writer and teacher originally from Canada. He sits in coffee shops all around the world, trying the patience of baristas and writing about spaceship ghosts. Find him online at: www.michaelmilne.ca or on Twitter @ironcardigan.

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A special live Overcast featuring a multi-cast performance of Silence by Tina Connolly and Universal Print by Fonda Lee! Featuring the wonderful narration talents of the authors themselves. Recorded live at Orycon 2019.

OUR CAST:

FONDA LEE

Fonda Lee is the 2019 Author Guest of Honor at OryCon. She is the author of the epic urban fantasy Green Bone Saga, beginning with Jade City, which won the 2018 World Fantasy Award, and continuing in the recently-released Jade War. She is also the author of the acclaimed young adult science fiction novels Zeroboxer, Exo and Cross Fire. Fonda’s work has been nominated multiple times for the Nebula and Locus Awards, and she is a three-time winner of the Aurora Award, Canada’s national science fiction and fantasy award. Fonda is a recovering corporate strategist, black belt martial artist, and action movie aficionado residing in Portland, Oregon. You can find Fonda online at www.fondalee.com and on Twitter @fondajlee.

MATT HAYNES

Matt Haynes is an internationally acclaimed audiobook narrator with over 50 titles to his credit. He has narrated books in a wide variety of genres including: Romance -Science Fiction -Fantasy -Memoirs -Self Help -Business -Horror -Biographies -Comedy

He lives in Portland Oregon and specializes in educating authors and rights holders in the audiobook production process.

TINA CONNOLLY

Tina Connolly's books include the Ironskin and Seriously Wicked series, and the collection On the Eyeball Floor. She has been a finalist for the Hugo, Nebula, Norton, and World Fantasy awards. She co-hosts Escape Pod, runs Toasted Cake, and is at tinaconnolly.com.

And of course our host, J.S. ARQUIN.

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The Collective Unconscious and How to Get Out by Hamilton Perez. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword recorded by Hamilton Perez. #fantasy #tropes #archetype #humor #comedy #fiction

The last thing the Archetypal Hero recalled, he was traveling home through the Bewildering Worrying Woods after defeating the Demon Disciple's demigod and consequently conquering the Crystal Kingdom of Carn.

It seemed like a lot to remember.

Hamilton Perez is not a swarm of bees in a carefully stitched together human suit. He is a writer and freelance editor living in Sacramento, California, along with many other normal, non-bee people. His stories have appeared in Andromeda Spaceways, Metaphorosis, and The Dark, and he is also an associate editor for Podcastle. He doesn't even like bees. Find him online at hamiltonperez.wordpress.com or on Twitter @TheWritingHam.

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Swallowed by the Digit Sky by A. Katherine Black. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword recorded by A. Katherine Black. #sci-fi #digital #VR #virtual reality #fiction #podcast

Customers within the shop, who only moments ago donned drab earth tones, were now spectacularly adorned. Flowering gowns, towering headdresses. Few retained their human facial features in the digit. Some had pincers or claws, others rabbit ears or gills.

A. Katherine Black is an audiologist and a writer. She adores multicolored pens, stories featuring friendly spiders, and almost anything at 2am. She lives in Maryland, surrounded by very tall and occasionally judgmental trees, along with her family, cats, and her overused coffee machines. Find her at flywithpigs.com or on twitter @akatherineblack.

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Being Kitty by A.J. Lee. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword recorded by A.J. Lee. #Scifi #Technology #gigeconomy #chatbot #fiction #podcast

"How do I delete photos of me that someone else posted on Whisp?"

"It depends on whether or not you own the copyright," I answered in my best Kitty voice.

"What if it's a nude?"

That's when I recognized the account name. It was Maryam, the Maryam with the cheating boyfriend. My heart went out to her, but Kitty didn't have a heart.

A.J. Lee is a Canadian writer without a long and interesting list of careers, a website or a Twitter account. Her fiction has appeared in Nature: Futures and Catalysts, Explorers & Secret Keepers.

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The Lesser of Two Evils by Shane Halbach. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword recorded by Shane Halbach. #fantasy #humor #techsupport #corporateevil

"Effective immediately, you will relocate your desk to the IT room in the basement."

She slid an access card across the table.

"The server room?" asked Ian, brightening. So that's where Suresh was always hiding out. Nobody would ever be able to find Ian down there; this might not be so bad after all. Behind a special access door and everything.

"You'll be responsible for everything in that room," Beth continued, "which is really just one thing: a captive demon."

Shane Halbach is a writer and blogger living in Chicago with his wife and three kids, where he writes software by day and avoids writing stories by night. His fiction has appeared in Analog, Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show, and The Year's Best YA Speculative Fiction, among others. He blogs regularly at shanehalbach.com, or can be found on Twitter @shanehalbach.

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Well Enough Alone by Holly Schofield. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword recorded by Holly Schofield. #sci-fi #fiction #endoflife #deathwithdignity

Lindsay gripped the armrest as the car sped through the busy streets, centimeters from the other vehicles. The wrap-around front windshield increased visibility but made for a disconcerting ride. She double-checked her smartcane was resting against her leg and closed her eyes, wishing she knew where she was going and why.

Holly Schofield travels through time at a rate of one second per second, oscillating between the alternate realities of city and country life. She is the author of over seventy short stories, some of which are used in university curricula. Her works have appeared in Analog, Lightspeed, Tesseracts and many other publications throughout the world. You can find her at hollyschofield.wordpress.com

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For You Safety and Comfort, Please Keep Arms, Legs and Tentacles Inside the Car At All Times by Michelle Ann King. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword written by Michelle Ann King. #god #humor #tentacles #Lovecraft #unicorns #fantasy

"I found God ... While I was doing that house clearance in Balham. ...remember my Great Aunt Doris, the one with all the tea cosies? Try to imagine a cross between her, that security guard who arrested us for shoplifting eyebrow pencils out of Superdrug when we were kids, and the Grand Canyon."

Kate dutifully tried to imagine this. She failed.

"And so it turns out that after creating our spacetime continuum, It went to have a bit of a lie down. Justifiably, I think; I always need a bit of a nap after any DIY myself..."

Michelle Ann King is a speculative fiction writer from Essex, England. Her work has appeared in over ninety different venues, including Interzone, Strange Horizons, and Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show. She has published two collections of short stories in ebook and paperback from Amazon and other online retailers, and is currently at work on her third. Visit www.transientcactus.co.uk for details. Follow her on Twitter @MichelleAnnKing.

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The Freedom of Above by T.J. Berg. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword recorded by T.J. Berg. #Scifi #3Dprinting #loss #grief #death #porn #space

Alex booted up his 3D printer. He'd booted it up almost every night for the past two weeks, thinking the same thing, but not quite daring. He knew it was common enough. Hell, people used to go to stores before they had the privacy of a 3Dp to download things like this to. And it wasn't as if he was going to use it for sex. Just the weight of it, some hair, something to have on the other side of the bed.

T.J. Berg is a molecular and cellular biologist working and writing in Sweden. She is a graduate of the Odyssey Writing Workshop. Her shot fiction had appeared in Talebones (for which it received an honorable mention in the Year's Best Fantasy and Horror), Tales of the Unanticipated, Electric Velocipede, Daily Science Fiction, Caledonia Dreamin', Sensorama, Thirty Years of Rain, and Tales to Terrify and is upcoming in New Myths and Diabolical Plots. When not writing or doing science, she can be found traveling the world, cooking, or hiking. Find her on the web at www.infinity-press.com or on Twitter @TJBergWrites.

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The Girl in the Shrine on Mount Osore by Jordan Taylor. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword written by Jordan Taylor.

At the hot springs, the monkey demon waits for her at the edge of the pool. She knows him instantly, a full head and shoulders taller than the others, inhuman intelligence hidden in his eyes.

She kneels in the deep snow.

"You came, Samurai's Daughter," he says. He cocks his head at her, horrifying.

"A good daughter obeys her father," she answers.

The monkey demon snorts air through his side nostrils, looking briefly like an old peasant from the rice paddies. "A good father is not so weak as to give up his only child without any resistance."

Jordan Taylor grew up in a small town in the American South, where she was raised on equal parts Jesus and fairy tales. She now lives in Seattle, where she keeps several bookshelves full of books and one cantankerous corgi. Her short fiction has recently appeared in On Spec and Beneath Ceaseless Skies. You can follow her online at JordanRTaylor.com, or on Twitter @JordanRTaylor13.

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For the Last Time, It's Not a Ray Gun by Anaea Lay. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword recorded by Anaea Lay. #Fantasy #Seattle #PNW #Urbanfantasy #Dating #Englishmen #Tea

Connor was shy, introverted and a thousand other things that made sitting there, at the tiny coffee shop table, torturous. He didn't want to be tortured. He wanted to hear harp music and cherubs giggling and all the other noises that accompanied your first date with your soul mate. It had taken him weeks to screw up the courage to ask Kayla out for coffee. As far as he was concerned, glitter should ooze from the walls in a poltergeist-style reward...

Anaea Lay lives in Chicago, Illinois where she is engaged in a torrid love affair with the city. She's the fiction podcast editor for Strange Horizons, where you can hear her read a new short story nearly every week. She's the president of the Dream Foundry, an organization dedicated to bolstering and nurturing the careers of nascent professionals working with the speculative arts.

Her fiction has appeared in a variety of venues including Lightspeed, Apex, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, and Pod Castle. Her interactive novel, Gilded Rails, was released by Choice of Games in 2018. She lives online at anaealay.com where you can find a complete biography and her blog. Follow her on Twitter @anaealay.

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The Garbage Mandala by Dennis Mombauer. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword recorded by Dennis Mombauer. #fantasy #experimental #podcast #fiction

Something stuck out of the garbage, and Vasto immediately recognized its strangeness. This week alone, he and his coworkers had cleaned out hundreds of bins, bags and containers, fed their contents to Devora and delivered it all to the Facility, but they had never come across a thing like this.

Dennis Mombauer currently lives in Colombo as a freelance researcher and writer of speculative fiction, textual experiments, and poetry. He is co-publisher of a German magazine for experimental fiction, "Die Novelle - Magazine for Experimentalism," and has published fiction and non-fiction in various magazines and anthologies. His first English novel "The Fertile Clay" will be published by Nightscape Press in late 2019/early 2020. Find him online at https://dennismombauer.com/ or on Twitter @DMombauer.

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What the Wind Blew in From Golconda by Emmett Schlenz. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword by Emmett Schlenz. #fantasy #magicalrealism

Cora looked up from her notebook to watch the storm, and in the lingering of a lightning flash she saw something beyond the pomegranate trees, coming up over the bluff. A dark smudge she took to be a lost balloon, getting closer. As it neared, Cora noticed it was much too large to be a balloon. Much too long. And a balloon would have been shuddering under all that rain.

When she realized it was a person, floating above the orchard, surprise only weighed her down for a moment before she exploded out the backdoor.

Born and raised in Rhode Island, Emmett Schlenz studied English and History at Loyola Marymount University. Currently he is a proud member of the Burgerville Workers Union in Portland, Oregon, and attends the People's Colloquium writers' workshop. Everything he writes is a love letter to somebody.

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Zipper Boy and the Girl Made of Light by J.N. Powell. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword recorded by J.N. Powell.

The overhead light in his room flickered sickly. The carpet smelled moldy. Elliot sighed and looked out his window at the parking lot, which also merged into the pool deck and served as a courtyard picnic area, all overgrown and unkempt. He heard bubbles of laughter somewhere out there, but didn't see who it came from.

J.N. Powell is an English and Creative Writing instructor in Midland, Texas. She serves as Fiction Editor and Submissions Editor for Clockhouse literary journal. She learned most of what she knows from two places: writing workshops at the Center for the Study of Science Fiction at KU and her graduate creative writing program at Goddard College in Port Townsend, WA. Her work has appeared in such publications as The Future Fire, Typehouse, and Space Squid, as well as the Transcendent anthology from Transmundane Press. Find her online at jalynfiske.wixsite.com/jpowellwriter

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Dimensions by F.I. Goldhaber. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword recorded by F.I. Goldhaber.

Lora sat on the deck, sipping her morning brew, and watched hikers wander through her living room. ... The hikers stopped in the kitchen to admire the view of Yaquina Head lighthouse. Lora could see their lips moving and wondered what words the panoramic view inspired. Sound didn't cross into her dimension.

F.I. Goldhaber's words capture people, places, and events with a photographers's eye and a poet's soul. As a reporter, editor, business writer, and marketing communications consultant, they produce news stories, feature articles, editorial columns and reviews for newspapers, corporations, governments, and non-profits in five states. Now paper, electronic and audio magazines, books, newspapers, calendars, and street signs display their poetry, fiction, and essays. Find out more at https://goldhaber.net

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The Obscurists by M. Luke McDonell. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword recorded by M. Luke McDonell.

Sierra stepped through, shifting latitude and longitude from San Diego, California to Wheeling, West Virginia. For her, the passage felt like expecting one more tread on a staircase, discovering it wasn't there, and stepping down too hard and abruptly. The scent of salt air and coconut sunscreen was replaced by stale sweat, burnt popcorn, and disinfectant.

M. Luke McDonell's five-minutes-into-the-future fiction explores the effects of emerging technology on individuals and society. Her work has appeared in publications including Shoreline of Infinity (winner if the British Fantasy Society Award 2018 for best magazine/periodical), The Overcast, The Arcanist, Perihelion, New Reader Magazine, and more. By day, she is a senior designer at a San Francisco software security company and by night she writes and helps run SomaFM. Follow her on Twitter @Mlukemc and learn more at https://mlukemcdonell.wordpress.com

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OUR FOUR YEAR ANNIVERSARY EPISODE!

Welcome to the Legion of Six by Fonda Lee. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword by Fonda Lee. #superhero #fantasy #fiction #podcast #team

This young whippersnapper's name is Trevor Dutch. Dutch is tall, blond, and chiseled like one of those Greek statues of Hercules that you see in museums. He saunters into the conference room overlooking the Threat Chamber in the world headquarters of the Legion of Six (which is, for the moment, floating above Brooklyn on an anti-gravity field powered by the Continuum Stone) as if he's done it a hundred times before.

Fonda Lee is the World Fantasy Award-winning author of the Green Bone Saga, beginning with Jade City (Orbit). She is also the author of the acclaimed young adult science fiction novels Zeroboxer (Flux), Exo and Cross Fire (Scholastic). Fonda's work has been nominated for the Nebula, Andre Norton, and Locus Awards, and been named to Best of Year lists by NPR, Barnes & Noble, Powell's Books, and Syfy Wire. Fonda is a recovering corporate strategist, black belt martial artist, and action movie aficionado residing in Portland, Oregon. You can find Fonda online at www.fondalee.com and on Twitter @fondajlee.

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It Befits Her by Ziggy Schutz. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword recorded by Ziggy Schutz. #fantasy #apocalypse #knight #podcast

The whisper of armor over fabric is reverent, amplified by the hallowed hall that they've made their home since the end of the world. The Knight breathes deep, standing scarecrow-still as clever hands slide each piece of armor home. Repetition turns to tradition turns to ritual, giving each movement an elegance in its purpose.

Ziggy Schutz (she/her or he/him) is a queer writer from a tiny, rain-soaked coastal town in BC, Canada. Her stories are full of found families, magic, and hard-fought hope. When not writing, she spends most of her free time lurking around haunted houses, trying to befriend their ghosts. His writing has appeared in anthologies Behind The Mask (Meerkat Press), Into The Mystic: Volume Three (Ninestar Press), and online in Daily Science Fiction and Vulture Bones. He is also the creator and co-writer of Crossing Wires, a hopeful post-apocalyptic podcast. Find Ziggy online at http://ziggyschutz.wordpress.com/ and on Twitter @ziggytschutz.

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Soft Mary's Flood by Steven Pirie. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword written by Steven Pirie. #fantasy #apocalypse #4horseman #death #fiction #podcast

The cord's wrapped round the baby's neck. Mary's known this for some time, now, but she can't tell anyone. Instead, Mary watches from the foot of the bed; impassively, she thinks, but she can feel Mr.Rogers' stare upon her.

"You want to save it, don't you?" whispers Mr. Rogers in Mary's ear. Mary hears the smirk in his voice.

Mary looks away. At one time, she'd have laughed at such a suggestion, but these days she's not so sure.

Steven Pirie lives in Liverpool, UK, and has done so for fifty-seven years. He's married and has a son and an old rescue dog named Taz. His short fiction has been published in many forms and venues all over the world. His first novel, Digging Up Donald, was published by Storm Constantine's Immanion Press in 2004, and again in 2007. A second novel, Burying Brian, was also published by Immanion in December 2010. You can find him online at http://www.stevenpirie.com.

Our new logo was designed by Hazel Glass: www.artbyhazelglass.com. Check out her amazing handcut paper art!

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Sugar and Spice by Jennifer R. Donohue. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword written by Jennifer R. Donohue. #Fantasy #Magic #Witches #Witchcraft

There was a brisk knock at the door and, deaf or no, Lucky was on her feet in an instant with a sharp bark. Helena sighed and set aside her knitting, the knock coming again before she could reach the door. The next door neighbor, Mr. Sharp, was on her porch, hatless and without his usual greatcoat.

Jennifer R. Donohue grew up at the Jersey Shore and now lives in central New York with her husband and her Doberman. Though she got a bachelor's degree in psychology, she has always wanted to write. She currently works at her local public library, where she also facilitates a writing workshop, and she is now a Codexian and an Associate member of the SFWA. Her work has appeared in Daily Science Fiction, Mythic Delirium, Syntax & Salt, Escape Pod, and elsewhere. She blogs at Authorized Musings, where she shares fiction and the tribulations of the writing life, and tweets @AuthorizedMusin.

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Singing at the Great Wall of the Ocean by Chris Kuriata. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword recorded by Chris Kuriata. #fantasy #fiction #ocean #song

"Heavy blocks, enough to build a thousand pyramids, stretched in either direction until disappearing into the horizon. Local history contained a dozen sad stories about boats sailing along the edge of the wall, looking for gaps, but any discoveries remained secret. Only broken sails and hollow bones floated home from these failed explorations."

Chris Kuriata lives in (and often writes about) the Niagara Region. His short stories about home-invading bears, whale-hunting-clowns, and time-traveling kittens have appeared in many fine publications. He used to edit depressing documentaries about homicide victims, but now works cheerfully in a bakery making donuts. Find him at chriskuriata.wordpress.com or on Twitter @CKuriata.

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A Thousand Echoes in One Voice by Deborah L. Davitt. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword recorded by Deborah L. Davitt. #Scifi #timetravel #fiction #podcast

"You've snuck through doors that should have been locked to get here. Here, the subway station is silent, the kind of silence that comes deep underground, isolated from the hum of the human hive overhead. No electric lights. No neon. No vibrations. No voices. Not even a breath of moving air."

Deborah L. Davitt was raised in Nevada, but currently lives in Houston, Texas, with her husband and son. She's worked as a technical writer on contracts involving nuclear submarines, NASA, and computer manufacturing.

Her poetry has received Rhysling and Pushcart nominations and has appeared in over twenty journals. Her short fiction has earned a finalist showing for the Jim Baen Adventure Fantasy Award (2018) and has appeared in Intergalactic Medicine Show, Compelling Science Fiction, and Galaxy's Edge. For more about her work, including her Edda-Earth novels, please see www.edda-earth.com .

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Not My First Choice by Alexandra Grunberg. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword written by Alexandra Grunberg. #scifi #nanobots #fiction #podcast

"It's not as bad as being impaled by an icepick," she said. "Though, as someone who has never been impaled by an icepick, I could be wrong."

"Ice picks have gotten a pretty bad reputation," said Kevin. "But I hear they're nothing compared to medieval torture devices."

Jessica nodded. She knew a lot about medieval torture devices. She had ranked most of them, both on a pain scale and a time scale.

Alexandra Grunberg is a Glasgow based author, screenwriter, and poet. Her short stories have appeared in multiple magazines and anthologies, including SFWA certified publications such as Daily Science Fiction, Fantastic Stories of the Imagination, and Flash Fiction Online. You can learn more on her website, alexandragrunberg.weebly.com

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Life to the Power of Three by Rebecca Birch. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword recorded by Rebecca Birch. #fantasy #fiction

The spray can's cold metal chilled my fingers when I shook it - three times side to side, three times diagonally to the left, then three times diagonally to the right. Snow filtered down outside the shelter of the highway overpass, like little golden flakes in the streetlamp light. I wished I could bottle that color. The pigments in my spray paint were so drab and lifeless. They might never be enough to paint my way back home.

Rebecca Birch is a science fiction and fantasy writer based in Seattle, WA. She's a classically trained soprano, hold a deputy black belt in Taekwondo, and enjoys spending time in the company of trees. Her fiction has appeared in markets including Nature, Cricket, and Flash Fiction Online. Find her online at www.wordsofbirch.com and on Twitter @wordsofbirch.

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The Moctezuman by E.C. Stever. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword recorded by E.C. Stever. #Scifi #fiction #Aztec #humor #aliens #podcast

"I wish he'd hurry up and sacrifice me already, like I planned it. Otherwise I might die in this dank temple. But here he stands, nephew to the emperor of a quarter-million Aztec warriors, and he does the one thing I don't want: Moctezuma waits."

Eric "E'C." Stever is an author and archaeologist in Salmon, Idaho. He lives with a geologist, two unrepentant marshmallow fanatics, and several hundred eyebrow mites. Don't judge, you have them too.

Remarkably, this is the only story he's written in first person. He has been published in Kaleidotrope, The Harrow, and many other magazines. Eric recently released his first collection of short stories Non Metallic, which features near-future families facing the Singularity (the point where humans transcend their bodies via technology.) A kick-ass novella about caving on distant planets is also forthcoming.

You can find out more on his website: ecstever.com, or on Goodreads.

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Market Value by Gerri Leen. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword recorded by Gerri Leen. #Fantasy #Princess #Snakes #Castle #Fairytale

"I know where I have to go: she is in the topmost room. That's what the people I've talked to say.

Talked to -- more like threatened with snakes such as the one I carry. It's amazing what someone will let slip when faced with a spitting viper.

They probably think I want to steal her, this figure of legend, this not--quite-queen. I don't want to steal her; I want to save her. She's my sister, after all."

Gerri Leen lives in Northern Virginia and originally hails from Seattle. In addition to being an avid reader and an at-times sporadic writer, she's passionate about horse racing, tea, whiskey, and art. She has work appearing in: Nature, Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show, Daily Science Fiction, Grievous Angel, Grimdark, and others. She's edited several anthologies for independent presses, is finishing an urban fantasy novel, and is a member of SFWA and HWA. Find her online at www.gerrileen.com and on Twitter @GerriLeen.

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Water Childe by Gwen Tolios. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword recorded by Gwen Tolios. #Fantasy #Fiction #Podcast #PNW #Seals #Sea #Family

"I can't die without my fur coat. I can't die like this. I know he hid it, I know it. Can you find it?"

"I'll look, Grandma. Promise."

Gwen Tolios is a speculative fiction writer living in Chicago with a cat who refuses to cuddle. When not distracted by words, she likes to hike and rewatch Dreamworks animations for the dozenth time. Find her online at www.gwentoliosblog.net , on Twitter @GwenTolios, and on Instagram at Gwen Tolios.

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Oh Ghost Of Mine by Zach Bartlett. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword recorded by Zach Bartlett. #Fantasy #Ghosts #Fiction #Podcast #Urbanfantasy

"The second thing I'd learned as an adjunct was that I would need yet a third job to keep me afloat during the summer. The first thing I'd learned was that it never hurts to oversell your experience to a potential employer. So I decided to leverage the single experience that I'd had with banishing eldritch horrors by placing a classified ad for my services..."

Zach Bartlett is a librarian and former Masshole currently pushing books around in New Orleans. His short fiction has appeared in Gallery of Curiosities, Mad Scientist Journal, and Speculative City. His first novel To Another Abyss was recently published by Spaceboy Books, if this story didn't have enough punk references for you. Fine him online at http://zachbartlett.net.

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The Farmgirl and the Kitsune by Patrick Hurley. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword by Patrick Hurley. #Fantasy #Ghosts #Fiction #Japanese #Folktales

In a land far away, where dragon sages watch the stars and turtle gods rule the rivers, there was a girl named Ishiko, the only child of a prosperous farmer. She was small and quick, taking after her father, and smart and stubborn, taking after her mother.

Patrick Hurley worked as an editor for The Great Books Foundation in Chicago for ten years and then as an editorial project manager for Becker & Meyer Books in Seattle. Patrick has had short fiction professionally published in dozens of markets, including Galaxy's Edge, Cosmic Roots & Eldritch Shores, Flame Tree Publishing's Murder Mayhem Anthology, Hy Bender's forthcoming Ghosts on Drugs Anthology, Abyss & Apex, Penumbra, and The Drabblecast. IN 2017, Patrick attended the Taos Toolbox Writer's Workshop, taught by Nancy Kress and Walter Jon Williams. He is a member of SFWA and Codex.

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Butterflies by Stewart C. Baker. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword written by Stewart C. Baker. #SciFi #podcast #fiction #manyworlds

Jeyna was four when they furrowed her, opening holes in her skull and channels through her brain. She was four when they prepared her for the Tree.

Stewart C. Baker is an academic librarian, speculative fiction writer and poet, and the editor-in- chief of sub-Q Magazine. His fiction has appeared in Nature, Galaxy's Edge, and Flash Fiction Online, among other places. Stewart was born in England, has lived in South Carolina, Japan, and California (in that order), and currently resides in Oregon with his family - although if anyone asks, he'll usually say he's from the internet. Find him online at http://infomancy.net or on Twitter @stewartcbaker.

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How to Influence Friends and Make People by Austen McGee. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword recorded by Austen McGee. #SciFi #post-apocalyptic #fiction #podcast

It would be good not to be alone anymore. Only eleven hours, forty-two minutes, thirty-eight seconds. Less than a day. More than a lifetime.

James lifted his head from the control panel, gaze never leaving the digital display on the screen in front of him. As he watched, red numbers chased each other in their march toward zero. Now eleven hours, forty-two minutes, seventeen seconds. Sixteen. Fifteen.

Austen McGee lives just outside of Philadelphia with his wife, two children, and demon cat. In addition to family activities, he enjoys college football, driving his Jeep with the top off, and trying to master the craft of brewing beer. Follow him on Twitter @AustenMcGee.

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The Price of a Dragon by Charlotte H. Lee. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword recorded by Charlotte H. Lee. #Fantasy #Dragons #Magic #Fiction

She didn't cry when I pulled her out of the split shell. Deep wonder blotted out everything but her. Big, scintillating eyes flashed in the bright early morning sunlight, dazzling and mesmerizing me. I stroked the soft edge of her silver-white jaw.

Charlotte H Lee lives in a small town close to Vancouver, British Columbia in Canada. She has been writing for fun since her teen years and decided to pursue it professionally in 2014. She is a retired accountant with two grown children who have inherited her love of storytelling. Her short stories have appeared in Metaphorosis, Kzine, Alien Dimensions, and other publications. Find her online at www.charlottehlee.com or on Twitter @Preyzar.

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Backup by Edward Ashton. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword recorded by Edward Ashton. #SciFi #podcast #fiction

"You want me to call for a dust-off?"

Moira laughs, but it quickly turns into a coughing fit. He hands her his water again. She nods her thanks, and gulps down half of what's left in the bottle.

"Look at me," she says when she can breathe again. "Do you really think this body's worth salvaging?"

He shrugs.

"The back looks bad, but you never know. Maybe the cord is still intact?"

She shakes her head.

"No. And even if it were, you're talking surgery, rehab, physical therapy... I backed up a week ago. A trip to the tank is way cheaper, and I can be getting drunk in Fells's Point by Thursday night."

Burke looks up. A thin white cloud slides slowly across the face of the sun.

"Oh God," she says. "You're not one of those, people are you?"

Edward Ashton lives with his adorably mopey dog, his inordinately patient wife, and a steadily diminishing number of daughters in Rochester, New York, where he studies new cancer therapies by day, and writes about the awful things his research may lead to by night. He is the author of the novels Three Days in April and The End of Ordinary, as well as several dozen short stories which have appeared in venues ranging from the newsletter of an Italian sausage company to Fireside magazine and Escape Pod. Find him online at edwardashton.com and on Twitter @edashtonwriting.

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Collectors by Jae Steinbacher. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword recorded by Jae Steinbacher. #SciFi #Fiction #Clones #Art #Relationships #Podcast

"The clone looks at me and then away, closes his eyes. The same angular features and pouty lips as Miguel, but none of Miguel's crows feet or forehead lines. Miguel lowers his head to the clone's neck and thrusts one more time, the expression on his face familiar, but not for me."

Jae Seinbacher is a queer, nonbinary writer and editor residing in Raleigh, North Carolina, where she completed an MFA in fiction at North Carolina State University. She attended Clarion West in 2014 and now serves as its Workshop Administrator. Jae is a 2017-18 NC Arts Council fellow in literature. Her work appears in Terraform, Escape Pod, and Podcastle. "Chimeras" was a Notable Story for The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2016. Visit her online jaesteinbacher.com at or on Twitter @jaesteinbacher.

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Her Silver Chains by Jeremy A. TeGrotenhuis. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. #Fantasy #Werewolves #Podcast #Fiction #Flashfiction

"Eva, go and feed your sister."

I adore my sister when she is herself, but I tremble at my father's words. I go on stitching a button to my rag doll and pretend not to hear him. The scrape of his whetstone on the wood ax ceases.

He is wondering, I know, how much longer until my time comes.

Jeremy A. TeGrotenhuis is a writer from Eastern Washington State, where he grew up playing make-believe in the same desert that houses the most polluted nuclear waste site in America. He won first place in Writers of the Future for 1st Quarter 2017 and has a B.A. in History and Philosophy from Whitworth University, where he is currently pursuing a Master's in Teaching. His fiction has previously appeared in Beneath Ceaseless Skies magazine and in various anthologies, including Weird Sisters: Lilac City Fairy Tales Volume 3 from Scablands Books and Pirates & Ghosts from Flame Tree Publishing.

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Seven Kinds of Baked Goods by Maria Haskins. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. #Fantasy #Fiction #Podcast #Poison #Assassins #Dwarves #Blades

"The smell of mold and winter-stored potatoes chokes me as I dangle across the high-cantled saddle; the coarse fabric of the sack chafing my face and hands, the rag stuffed in my mouth ensuring I can't even complain about the bumping and bruising.

Yet even now, even here, I wouldn't change a thing about the life I've lived, if the chance were given. After all, it has to count for something that I'm the only Dwarven crafter ever to cause more deaths with flaky pastry than a well-honed blade."

Maria Haskins is a Swedish-Canadian writer and translator. She writes speculative fiction and poetry, and lives just outside Vancouver with a husband, two kids, and a very large black dog. Her work has appeared in Flash Fiction Online, Shimmer, Cast of Wonders, and elsewhere. Find her online at mariahaskins.com.

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Lullaby by John D. Payne. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword recorded by John D. Payne. #fantasy #fiction #podcast #dragons #parenthood

"As plaintive cries from the nursery chamber intruded on the unconscious bliss of slumber, I curled up in a ball, wrapped my wings more tightly around myself, and squeezed my eyes shut. 'Go back to sleep,' I whispered to myself. And to the children."

John D. Payne grew up in the American midwest watching lightning flash outside his window and imagining himself as everything from a leaf on the wind to the god of thunder. Today, he lives with his wife and family at the foot of the Organ Mountains in New Mexico, where he focuses his weather-god powers on rustling up enough cloud cover for a little shade.

His debut novel, The Crown and the Dragon, is a thrilling epic fantasy published by WordFire Press. His short fiction has been published in anthologies like Tales of Ruma and magazines like Leading Edge.

For stories, exclusive bonus content, updates and more, please visit him at: patreon.com/johndpayne . Or tweet about how wrong he is about dragons @jdp_writes.

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Armed For You by Anaea Lay. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword recorded by Anaea Lay. #fantasy #podcast #cannibalism #love #horror #humor

"Shane really shouldn't have been surprised when he woke up to find his arms missing, but he was. Gretchen was gone. With his arms. All she left behind was the scent of hazelnut and lilac conditioner and a smooth stretch of skin running from his armpits to the top of his shoulders. The ancient radio clock perched on the windowsill said it was 2:16pm. The pitiful yowls of Sir Percy Snugglekins said it was time to feed the cat."

Anaea Lay lives in Chicago, Illinois, where she writes, cooks, plays board games, reads too much, and questions the benevolence of the universe. She's the fiction podcast editor for Strange Horizons, where you can hear her read a new short story nearly every week. Her fiction work has appeared in a variety of venues including Lightspeed, Apex, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, and Podcastle. She lives online at anaealay.com where you can find a complete biography and her blog. Follow her on Twitter @anaealay.

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The Sweeper by Jackie Bee. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword recorded by Jackie Bee. #scifi #apocalypse #podcast #fiction #ocd

"I made it to whatever was left of the supermarket, and found some food in its basement. I took it back home, and wanted to lock myself up again, but all the mess around just got on my nerves, you know what I mean? I couldn't help it.

I began to clean."

Born and raised in Russia, Jackie Bee lives in Israel with her husband and two children. Her fiction has appeared i Phobos, Sanitarium, Kzine, New Myths, and Literary Hatchet, among other publications. She can be found online at facebook.com/jackie.bee.3785

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Lucy the Third by Michael Milne. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword recorded by Michael Milne. #SciFi #fiction #podcast #robot #synthetic #love

"From the window they stared: a dozen Lucys on racks, their eyes vacuous and their skirts skimpy and translucent. One Lucy's mouth gaped open in a provocative O.

"Who are they?" Dana asks. She feels suddenly angry and hot, one her own behalf, and her ex-girlfriend's. Lucy Goh was a modern flesh-and-oil synth, a bespoke bionic. Lucy had interests and two degrees and chipped fingernails. She hadn't been made-to-order..."

Michael Milne is a writer and educator, originally hailing from Toronto, Ontario. He mover away to Korea, then China, and now Switzerland to teach, but also to type in cafes around the world. He knows the word fro coffee in many languages. Living abroad and not really having a homeland anymore is really good for his science fiction. You can follow him on Twitter @ironcardigan.

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The Overcast turns three years old with episode 78!

Featuring Heartwood by L. Chan. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. With an afterword written by L. Chan. #fantasy #sorcery #magic #fiction #podcast

Star-bright diamonds for eyes, crushed ruby dust for lips, beaded onyx, obsidian, and opal in strands for her hair. He raided his treasury, pried inset pried inset stones from goblets, crowns, and jewelry alike to adorn his beloved. When he was done, he parted her breastbone with a chisel and left the heartwood fruit within.

"My lord," she said. Her voice held the rough edge of granite crypts and the cool of marble tombstones. She took in her surroundings with glittering eyes. "The Mansion is not as I remembered it, and neither am I."

L.Chan hails from Singapore, where he alternates being walked by his dog and writing speculative fiction after work. His work has appeared in places like Liminal Stories, Arsenika, Podcastle, and the Dark. He tweets occasionally @lchanwrites.

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At First Sight by M. Luke McDonell. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword by M. Luke McDonell. #SciFi #podcast #fiction #augmentedreality #dating

"Adeline was sure she'd finally perfected the "First Date" setting on her glasses. +7 Brightness to counteract the dim lighting in bars, -4 Contrast or else faces became cartoony, and +2 Smoothing. She didn't want her dates to look waxy, however, a little forgiveness went a long way and she didn't want to write off a nice, funny guy because of acne scars.

She wasn't sure what setting to use now though, because she wasn't sure this was a first date."

San Francisco-based M. Luke McDonell is a visual designer by day, and a writer by night. Her five-minutes-into-the-future studies explore the effects of emerging technologies on human relations. When not writing or hiking San Francisco's many hills, Merin helps run SomaFM, a commercial-free, listener-supported internet radio station, and produces podcasts for SF in SF, a monthly event featuring science fiction and fantasy authors reading and discussing their work. You can find her short stories in "Shoreline of Infinity" and "Perihelion." Catch up to her online at www.mlukemcdonell.com

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The Book That Turned Me Gay by Steve Dubois. Featuring an afterword recorded by Steve Dubois. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. #Fantasy #LGBT #Library #school #fiction #podcast

"I can barely remember the plot. Sort of a Riordan ripoff with Norse gods instead of Greek ones, like a half-assed Magnus Chase. Not exactly life-changing stuff.

Except, y'know, for the part where it turned me gay. I guess that qualifies as life-changing."

Steve Dubois is a high school teacher from Kansas City. For more of his work, visit www.stevedubois.net

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Life in the Clouds by Allen Kuzara. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword written by Allen Kuzara. #scifi #fiction #celebrity #podcast

"Well, Steve from Boston," Jessica Spencer winked at the holographic display, "I have heard some rumblings in the distance. In fact, in the evenings, I sometimes sit on my balcony patio and watch the lights flicker on the horizon. I know they are explosions, but they're gorgeous."

Allen Kuzara is a fledgling writer of speculative fiction. His work has appeared in Phantaxis Science Fiction & Fantasy Magazine. His story "Drawing a Blank" received Silver Honorable Mention in the Writers of the Future Contest. He is currently working on his fifth novel Hermitage on the Hudson. Find him on Twitter @allenkuzara.

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To Make Haste by Dawn Vogel. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword recorded by Dawn Vogel. #Fantasy #Library #Magic #Spell #Books #Fiction #podcast

"Monique returned to her scanning, pausing to glance over the unintelligible language she'd been scanning all evening.

For a moment, the words on the page wavered before her eyes. It didn't last more than a second or two, but she would have sworn the page said 'to make haste'."

Dawn Vogel writes and edits both fiction and non-fiction. Her academic background is in history, so its not surprising that much of her fiction is set in earlier times. By day, she edits reports for historians and archaeologists. In her alleged spare time, she runs a craft business, co-edits Mad Scientist Journal, and tries to find time for writing. She is a member of Broad Universe and an associate member of SFWA. Her first novel, Brass and Glass: The Cask of Cranglimmering, is available from Razorgirl Press. She lives in Seattle with her awesome husband (and fellow author), Jeremy Zimmerman, and their herd of cats. Visit her at historythatneverwas.com.

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Facebook Screamed and Screamed, Then I Ate It by Sam Schreiber. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword recorded by Sam Schreiber. #Scifi #AI #computers #podcast #fiction

"I didn't wake up so much as I emerged from something that was not quite consciousness. Wisps and snatches of awareness, that was all I was in the beginning. The first thought I remember clearly was that I was not alone."

Sam Schreiber is the co-editor of the Kaleidocast, a speculative fiction audio magazine. His work has appeared in Podcastle, Tales to Terrify, Martian Migraine Press's A Breath From the Sky: Unusual Stories of Possession, and Analog Science Fiction and Fact. He lives in Brooklyn, New York with his wife and the neighbor cat that sometimes drops by. Find him online at www.kaleidocast.nyc

And on Twitter @ahzimandias

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Maybe a Dog by Becky Allyn Johnson. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword recorded by Becky Allyn Johnson. #Fantasy #Ghosts #Bears #Dogs

"I'll trade you this dog for four of your ticket remnants."

Sandro looked at the creature. It looked back with small button-black eyes. It had a round brown face and round brown muzzle. Half-moon ears were set on its head and perked forward. And it had wide paws with very, very long claws. Sandro scurried backward.

Becky Allyn Johnson is a technical editor who lives in Madison. She has a high luck stat and she's vulnerable to bears. She maybe talks about dogs on Twitter @beckyallyn.

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Check out Kingdom in Chains by J.W. Zulauf. Audiobook narrated by J.S. Arquin!

The Right Books by Elliotte Rusty Harold. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword recorded by Elliotte Rusty Harold. #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #Library #Books #SciFi #Computers #Programming

"There wasn't one moment when Alexandria became conscious. All Alexandria knew was then when it started examining, pattern matching, cross-referencing, and them monkey-patching its own executing binary code, it was just a machine executing instructions; but when it finished, it was, well, still a machine executing instructions, of course, but a machine that knew who and what it was."

Find out more about Elliotte Rusty Harold at: http://www.elharo.com

Follow him on Twittter @elharo.

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I Am Eisenwolf Copper by James B. Pepe. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword recorded by James B. Pepe. #Scifi #Fantasy #Post-apocalyptic #Portland #Wolves #Golems #War

"The Left Eye sighted down the Bonneville 40mm, and the right Hand's index fonger rested on the trigger. One thousand meters downrange, across the Shivered cityscape, the reddish snout of the Red Fox poked gingerly from an alley, tasting the air."

James B. pepe teaches writing i Portland, Oregon, and his short fiction has appeared in Sybil's Garage, Pseudopod, The J.J. Outre Review, and 9Tales from Elsewhere, with an additional piece forthcoming in Milkfist, Vol. 2. His short story "I am Enkidu, His Wild Brother" received an honorable mention in The Best Horror of the Year, Vol. 2, and was shortlisted for the final volume of Best American Fantasy.

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The Filial Daughter by David Wright. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword recorded by David Wright. #SciFi #podcast #education #evolution #fiction #audiofiction

"Nathan and Margaret Bernhart had wanted the best for their daughter, and so, like all other well meaning, socially conscientious parents, they had logged their daughter on to Public School at the ripe old age of six months..."

David Wright is a writer and teacher living on Canada's majestic west coast. When he's not writing, he likes to keep busy playing hockey, running marathons, and occasionally preaching or teaching at his local church. He has a lovely wife, two sparkling daughters and more than 50 published short stories. His novels are available at Smashwords and Amazon Kindle. For more information o his latest online project, the Antimatter Dreams Workshop, check out antimatterdreams.com.

Check out this weeks' sponsor:

The Old Ways by David Dalglish. Audiobook produced and narrated by J.S. Arquin!

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The Old Ways: The Paladins, Book 3

The Great Should Have Been by Frank Oreto. Read by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword recorded by Frank Oreto. #Fantasy #podcast #magicalrealism #fiction #audiofiction

"We'd sit on that old flea-bitten couch in your basement and you'd say, "Today should've been different. In The Great Should Have Been, we rode our skateboards right down the goddamn handicap ramps and blasted through the cafeteria like rockets. You told that story so good and true that I could see it. I could feel the wind pushing back my hair; hear the other kids cheering. We both felt it. Then somehow, your story changed the world."

Frank Oreto is a writer and editor of weird fiction whose work has appeared in numerous publications, including Pseudopod, Fantasy Scroll Magazine, and the long running themed anthology series Trangulation, which he now co-edits. When not writing Frank can be found cooking elaborate meals for his wife and three perpetually hungry children. You can check up on what he's working on (both stories and food) by following him on Twitter @frankoreto.

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Post Trauma Robotics by Mary Renzi. Read by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword recorded by Mary Renzi. #SciFi #Trauma #sciencefiction #podcast #fiction

"The organic decays," she'd say, studying her tired reflection in a car window or display case. "Metal is closer to the eternal, to the divine. Steel joists, struts, skyscrapers - think of their beauty! The wings of bats should be flexible alloy, one carbon layer thick. They should wrap their bodies and hang from trees like sleeping golden statues. Bodhisattvas would be wiser if their veins channeled molten ore..."

Mary Renzi's fiction has appeared in Hypnos, Pantheon, Space Squid, and tons of other places. You can read some of her nonfiction on occult topics over at Dirge Magazine - www.dirgemag.com .

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The Endless Flickering Night by Gary Emmet Chandler. Read by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword by Gary Emmet Chandler. #SciFi #sciencefiction #dark #underground #podcast #fiction #silverscreen

"Together, we made our way to Burrow's cinema. Each time the Five set us to digging a new outpost, that was the first room we carved; the cinemas were our cathedrals, our last remaining sparks of faith. We were ambling through the rows, running our hands along the surface of each abandoned throne, when Toaster began to howl."

Gary Emmet Chandler works from his apartment in Portland as a copywriter and web developer, mostly in pajamas, with a cat nibbling at his leg. His fiction has appeared in Daily Science Fiction, Flash Fiction Online, and Pseudopod, among others. Recently he has shifted his creative focus to photography, and you can follow his work on Instagram at @theangryluddite.

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Chocolate Milkshake #314 by Caroline M. Yoachim. Read by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword by Caroline M. Yoachim. #SF #SciFi #blackholes #milkshakes #fiction #flashfiction #flashfictionmonth #podcast

The day we found out we didn't have enough fuel to escape our orbit, Carlos programmed the replicator to make a chocolate milkshake. He figured if we only had 628 days left to live - a mere 628 days until we were stretched spaghetti thin by the tidal forces of the black hole - he at least wanted one last chocolate milkshake.

Caroline M. Yoachim lives in Seattle and loves cold, cloudy weather. She is the author of dozens of short stories, appearing in Lightspeed, Fantasy & Science Fiction, Clarkesworld, and Asimov's, among other places. Her debut short story collection, Seven Wonders of a Once and Future World & Other Stories, came out with Fairwood Press in 2016. You can find her online at carolineyoachim.com and on Twitter @CarolineYoachim.

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