Genres: Comedy, Fantasy, Historical Fantasy
September 1, 1870
Most respected Feldmarschall von Moltke,
I wish to thank you for giving me the opportunity to put my theories to the test in the taking of Sedan. They were, of course, entirely correct, and our clear tactical victory I am happy to be reporting. (Continue Reading…)
Genres: Fantasy, Modern Fantasy, Post-Apocalypse, Urban Fantasy
Echo had always thought that when the world ended, she’d either be running with a motley band of survivors or instantly vaporized. Not a single book, show or movie had prepared her for being apocalypse adjacent.
In the Tropical Asia building, protected by thick glass walls and a ventilation system designed to keep air warm in the winter and sticky in the summer, she hid with her animals. Warty pigs snuffled through the decorative undergrowth, a siamang family sung like sirens in the canopy overhead, and the Malayan tapir and small-clawed otters had taken residence around the cement-bottomed stream that wound through the exhibit. There was still no sign of the sloth bear or the orangutans. Echo wondered if, while she’d been lying face down in the public restroom fighting for consciousness, they might have been evacuated. (Continue Reading…)
Genres: Modern Fantasy
“I can’t,” Sophie sulked. “I stayed out past curfew last week and I’m not allowed to go out.”
“But the gnome army marches onward!” cried Aithne, flitting in circles within Sophie’s window frame, her glowing wings a hummingbird-like blur. “The pixie tribes need our human champion to bring forth the magic. We must triumph!” (Continue Reading…)
Genres: Fantasy
Dream Foundry is a new organization helping all professionals, especially beginners, working in the speculative arts. Back their Kickstarter to make sure they last and grow, and to get yourself some nifty rewards.
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Growing up so far from the wordfields, I’ve learned to appreciate the few words I have, so as the fitting for Baron Kensington’s festival garments drag on, I cringe at each wasted remark. (Continue Reading…)
Genres: Fantasy
I am loathe to admit that the ambush was masterful. Not only had the bounty hunters slain my contacts, but they had done so in the right order — dispatching the Ritualist before she had any corpses to animate. Had I come on horseback, they would have had me, too. (Continue Reading…)
Genres: Weird Western, Western
The wordslinger first came into Lasthope on the back of a scarab the size of a large pony, during the worst flaying-wind storm in a generation. (Continue Reading…)
Genres: Fantasy, Modern Fantasy
In the spring after the war’s end, the soldiers’ spirits began to wander home, and Lady Magdalena bound their lips with cardamom so that they could not speak. (Continue Reading…)
Genres: Fantasy, Post-Apocalypse
Soledad lets Gabe do the introductions because most strangers see him as the more respectable sibling. His attentive green eyes stare from under thick lashes, and his hair lies flat even when it’s desperately in need of a cut.
“We want Queen Mary’s protection,” he says, brazen as anything. Soledad tries not to stare at the ground. Gabe squeezes her hand.
“What can you give her?” the man at the door asks. Huge firearms dangle from his sides.
“We got guns, for one thing. And we’re mechanics. We can fix things. Bikes.”
The bouncer taps a finger against his forearm. “What kind of bikes you mean? Motorcycles or the other ones?”
“No engines,” Gabe says, firm and deliberate. “The kind that’ll last when there’s no gas left.” (Continue Reading…)
Genres: Science Fiction
I: Sterile
“Just don’t treat her like anything less than a person,” Mama fretted from the front row of the cab. Never mind that this was the fourth time we’d come to see her, and we’d heard the same plea every single time. Cautiously, Mama asked the white hospital archway next to her, “May we enter?”
“Card?” responded the building.
“You don’t need to be so formal. It’s just a robot,” Nina complained from the back. “It’s aaaall robots, here.” (Continue Reading…)
Genres: Science Fiction
Anur cradled his face in his hands, his split lip still oozing blood. It hurt, a kind of searing pain far greater than the dull ache of bruises he had suffered at the hands of the bullies at school. He tried to run when the men had exited the van, tried to get away, but he had tripped and fallen amidst the smoke and the wreckage. Bala, the man with the scraggly beard, hit him and dragged him by one arm back into the van.
The men had retrieved something from the wreckage. Anur had only caught a glimpse of it, a charred sphere the size of a soccer ball, bits of wire dangling from it. Tears welled in Anur’s eyes. He wanted to be at home, sitting on the big blue couch wrapped in a blanket while mummy fed him halwa and sweet tea with jasmine. But his tears and his wants didn’t help him, they didn’t bring him any closer to freedom.
“Child.” (Continue Reading…)
Genres: Science Fiction
Anur slumbered under the ledge of the sloping walkway, leaning on the housing of a small flower strewn altar to Ganesh. Rain plinked onto the jasmine-filled votive bowls that lined the altars on the opposite wall. Anur blinked his eyes open, looking sideways at shafts of light breaking across the falling drops, shimmering gold as they drizzled onto the row of Shiva-lingam jutting out from the wall. The narrow street still looked dry, yet the rain continued. The voices of two men spoke across the pitter patter of the falling drops.
“Do you trust the buyer, Kalan? Can he really get Pankaj out of that mountain hell-hole?”
“The buyer has a reputation to uphold, Bale. And I promised Amma that I would get him out somehow –”
“It leaves us very… exposed.”
“We’re exposed by being who we are, Bala. All or nothing, my friend, all or nothing.” (Continue Reading…)
Genres: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy
Every year in January, Cast of Wonders highlights some of our favorite episodes from the previous year. It’s a great chance for us to take a bit of a breather, and let you, our listeners, catch up on any missed back episodes with new commentary from a different member of the crew.
Our final Staff Picks 2018 episode is hosted by editor Marguerite Kenner.
When the car was just a distant cloud of dust above the corn fields I turned to Smoke and told him, “You ought to know I shot someone.” (Continue Reading…)