Ep 80: Small Magics by Alethea Kontis

by Graeme on May 19, 2013 • 9:00 am

Cast of Wonders, the fiction podcast for young adults.

Read by Danielle Daly

Show Notes

Today we present Alethea Kontis’ story, Small Magics. Alethea helped us start Cast of Wonders with her story The Unicorn Tree, all the way back in Episode 2; I recommend you go back and listen to it if you haven’t already. Princess Alethea Kontis is the author of many shiny books for children of all ages. Her debut YA fairy tale novel, Enchanted, won the Gelett Burgess Children’s Book Award in 2012 and was nominated for both the Andre Norton Award and the Audie Award in 2013. Born in Burlington, VT, Alethea now lives with her Fairy Godfamily (and a teddy bear named Charlie) in Ashburn, VA. You can find out more about Alethea and her work at aletheakontis.com.

Your narrator is the wonderful Danielle Daly. Dani has narrated for us many times before and we’re very happy to welcome her back. She’s recently been busy recording stories through the Audiobook Creation Exchange and one she recommends to the Cast of Wonders audience is called Sister Raven by Karen Rae Levine. Bound by magic to Old Mother, Beetle Girl lives a lonely life on the fringes of her Native American society. When forced into the role of Keeper of the Ravens, she must break the bonds of her cruel mother, confront a powerful shape-shifter who threatens to destroy the village, and solve the mystery of her past. Dani loves this story tremendously; it can be purchased on Audible, Amazon.com or iTunes. You can find out more about Dani at DaniReads.com.

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Ep 79: Loma’ai by Jessie Bishop Powell

by Graeme on May 12, 2013 • 8:00 am

Read by Tina Connolly

Listen above or download here.

Show Notes

Today we present Jessie Bishop Powell’s story, Loma’ai. Jessie Bishop Powell has been writing since age 10. Her favorite authors include Dianna Wynne Jones, Tamora Pierce, and Neil Gaiman. She holds a Master’s Degree in English from the University of Kentucky but considers it irrelevant to good writing. She blogs at jesterqueen.com. Her next young adult project is a book featuring a plucky thief named Flori. Snatches of that story can be found on her blog. I will warn that her blog contains adult language at times!

Your narrator today is the inimitable Tina Connolly. Tina lives with her family in Portland, Oregon. Her stories have appeared in Strange Horizons, Lightspeed, and Beneath Ceaseless Skies, and her Nebula-nominated novel IRONSKIN is now out from Tor Books, with the sequel COPPERHEAD coming in Oct 2013. She narrates for Podcastle and Beneath Ceaseless Skies, runs the Parsec-winning flash fiction podcast Toasted Cake, and her website is tinaconnolly.com.

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Ep 78: The Giant Who Dreamed of Summer by Jess Hyslop

by Graeme on May 5, 2013 • 5:13 am

Read by M K Hobson

Listen above or download here.

Show Notes

Today we present Jess Hyslop’s story, The Giant Who Dreamed of Summer. You may remember Jess’ wonderful story To Be True, which was Episodes 11 and 12 of Cast of Wonders. Jess lives in Cambridge, UK, where she spends a good deal of time wandering between bookshops, cafes, and cinemas while pondering her next writing project. She studied English at the University of Cambridge, and was there awarded the Quiller-Couch prize for creative writing in 2010. Her winning story, ‘Augury’, has since been published by Shortfire Press. Her short fiction has also appeared in Daily Science Fiction and Bewildering Stories, and is forthcoming in Interzone and Mirror Dance. She tweets @JinxedJester.

Your narrator today is the marvellous M K Hobson. M K is a writer extraordinaire whose work has appeared in many publications such as Realms of Fantasy, The Magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy, Interzone and Sybil’s Garage. Her debut novel The Native Star was published to critical acclaim in September 2010 by Ballantine Spectra. She can be heard frequently on fantasy podcast PodCastle, both as guest host and narrator. You can find out more about M K and check out her extensive bibliography at demimonde.com.

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Ep 77: The Long Cut by Tom Howard

by Graeme on Apr 27, 2013 • 12:01 am

Read by Norm Sherman

Listen above or download here.

Show Notes

Today we present Tom Howard’s story, The Long Cut. Tom is a short story writer from Little Rock, Arkansas. Of this story Tom says, “My four children are the inspiration for this story as I was frequently lost when they were little, and they would ask, ‘Dad, is this another one of your long cuts?’ It made perfect sense to them that if a short cut got you there faster, a ‘long cut’ would get you there much, much slower. Cheeky monkeys.”

Your narrator today is the fabulous Norm Sherman. Norm is the host and editor of the weird and wonderful — and Parsec award winning — Drabblecast, which publishes “strange stories by strange authors for strange listeners, such as yourself.” In addition he is the editor and co-host of the long running science-fiction podcast Escape Pod. Both podcasts server excellent fare, some of it quite adult.

His smooth tones may be heard in many places in the pod-o-sphere such as PodCastle, The Guild of the Cowry Catchers, The Fullcast Podcast and many other fine audio productions. You can find Norm in many places online such as Facebook.

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Ep 80: Small Magics by Alethea Kontis

Show Notes

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Ep 79: Loma’ai by Jessie Bishop Powell

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Ep 78: The Giant Who Dreamed of Summer by Jess Hyslop

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Ep 77: The Long Cut by Tom Howard

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