Sometimes I Read: Recent Episodes
Richard Neo
I read. A lot. But I also like reading aloud. Welcome to Sometimes I Read, where I read some of my favourite stories aloud for your pleasure, and discuss them with my mates from time to time.
We're back, and this time we're featuring an excerpt from Carmen Maria Machado's haunting, emotional, experimental and deeply powerful memoir - In The Dream House, one of my absolute favourite books of all time. It's a little spooky, very scary, and ultimately a painful, harrowing read. Why are we so masochistic?
Read the excerpt in full here https://www.thecut.com/2019/11/excerpt-in-the-dream-house-by-carmen-maria-machado.html
Music Featured:
Disasterpeace - Title (It Follows)
Atrium Carceri & Cities Last Broadcast - A Deeper Dream
Mount Shrine - Held Breeze
Spc X2x (Unseen Presence) by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/6738-spc-x2x-unseen-presence-
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Hello listeners, we're back after an insanely long hiatus! Today we're reading Charles Yu's speculative short story 'Standard Loneliness Package' from the Nov 2010 issue of Lightspeed Magazine. Known for his work on Westworld and his spectacular novel Interior Chinatown, Yu has always been one heck of an incredible writer, and in Standard Loneliness Package, imagines a world where grief, guilt and pain can be transferred to a shift worker to feel it for you...and the consequences of that, from the worker's perspective. It's sad, it's heartbreaking, and it's better each time I read it.
Read the full story on Lightspeed Magazine https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/standard-loneliness-package/
Music used:
Piano At Midnight - Andrew Holdsworth https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G41SDiy00y0&ab_channel=AndrewHoldsworth-Topic
Hello listeners, today we're doing something a little different. Instead of a sci-fi short story, we're reading a non-fiction, longform article instead. This one is about South Korea and the culture of hanjok, or 'alone tribe', where, exhausted by the demands of modern Korean society, some Koreans have chosen to retreat into a den of solitude, reducing societal interaction to a bare minimum, almost as if preparing for the COVID-19 pandemic. How does it all work Find out when you listen.
Read the full article on Rest of World.org here https://restofworld.org/2020/south-korea-honjok-loneliness/
Music used:
Lonely Fish by Sascha Ende
Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/4655-lonely-fish
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Welcome back! You're listening to episode 6 of Sometimes I Read, where I'll be reading Sofia Samatar's Selkie Stories Are For Losers, which was nominated for the 2014 Hugo Award For Best Short Story. It's another brown author, and while it's not outrightly sci-fi/fantasy, it takes on the traditional European myths of selkies (seal women) to discuss ideas of absent mothers and the trauma inherited in their daughters. Slightly queer, relatively short, and very digestible. Enjoy!
Read the full story here: http://strangehorizons.com/fiction/selkie-stories-are-for-losers/
Music used:
Music for Manatees by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4102-music-for-manatees
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
It's been a while, but here's episode 5, and we seem to be on a trend with authors of South Asian descent. This time we're featuring a really new piece, by Shiv Ramdas, which was written in late 2019 and is up for a Hugo Award for best short story. Hope you're all taking care amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, and as always, if you like what you hear, tell your friends and share!
Read the story in full on Strange Horizons http://strangehorizons.com/fiction/and-now-his-lordship-is-laughing/
Music used:
Deep Relaxation Preview by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5726-deep-relaxation-preview
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
It's not a queer episode at last, but it's about fanfic! And robots writing fanfic! Written by a Singaporean author! Fandom For Robots was nominated for both the 2017 Nebula Award For Best Short Story AND the 2018 Hugo Award For Best Short Story. How cool is that? It's also a shorter story than usual, and a lot more light-hearted. Super fun, and I really enjoyed reading this one. I think I'm finally getting the hang of it!!!
Fandom For Robots by Vina Jie-Min Prasad, published in Uncanny Magazine https://uncannymagazine.com/article/fandom-for-robots/
Music Used:
Inspired by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3918-inspired
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
It's episode 3! We're reading another queer sci-fi short story! It's got almost dead but not quite women in cryogenically frozen states hoping that a man revives her! Sounds icky? Yes! But has a fantastic ending, and it's completely understandable why this won the 2010 Hugo Award For Best Short Story! Enjoy.
Music used:
With the Sea by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4638-with-the-sea
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Sovereign by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4397-sovereign
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
There is Romance by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4520-there-is-romance
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Today, we're reading The Water That Falls On You From Nowhere by John Chu, winner of the 2014 Hugo Award For Best Short Story. From Tor.com:
In the near future water falls from the sky whenever someone lies (either a mist or a torrential flood depending on the intensity of the lie). This makes life difficult for Matt as he maneuvers the marriage question with his lover and how best to “come out” to his traditional Chinese parents.
Yes, just like Episode 1, this is ALSO a very queer story, but also mostly about families, and truth and lies. It's great honestly.
Read the full story on Tor.com https://www.tor.com/2013/02/20/the-water-that-falls-on-you-from-nowhere/
“The Water That Falls on You from Nowhere” copyright © 2012 John Chu
Music used:
Touching Moments One - Pulse by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4537-touching-moments-one---pulse
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
We Wish you a Merry Christmas by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4612-we-wish-you-a-merry-christmas
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Scheming Weasel (faster version) by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4326-scheming-weasel-faster-version-
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Holiday Weasel by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5517-holiday-weasel
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Deep Relaxation Preview by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5726-deep-relaxation-preview
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Dark Times by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3611-dark-times
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
In this very first episode, we read Amal El-Mohtar's 2017 Hugo AND Nebula Award-winning short story about two girls from very different fairytales whose paths just happen to cross, and the circumstances that led to it.
Seasons of Glass and Iron © 2016 by Amal El–Mohtar. Originally published in The Starlit Wood: New Fairy Tales.
uncannymagazine.com/article/seasons-glass-iron/
Music by Whitesand - Drops
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hSyRMyqFOM
www.youtube.com/channel/UCe96JG5gdgSRtmqStx0isXA
The beginning of a new personal project where I...well, read. Aloud.
Music Used:
Life of Riley by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3976-life-of-riley
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/