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Cast of Wonders 699: Little Wonders 53 – Doomed Relationships

Cast of Wonders 699: Little Wonders 53 – Doomed Relationships is a Cast of Wonders original.

post-apocalypse; prejudice

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Petrichor

by Eleanor Lennox

The golden hour had begun, that time of honeyed sunshine and veiled shadows. Painted horses raced in perfect circles, their eyes unseeing rubies. Blue ribbons flapped on pies and pigs, jellies and quilts, all those strange, forgotten miracles. Waiting for the Ferris wheel, I saw him: a boy almost a man, looking out to the forest.

I approached.

“You’re not from here,” he said without turning back. (Continue Reading…)

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Cast of Wonders 698: The Green Man’s Guest

First published in the collection Different Times and Other Places from NewCon Press in 2024

Image by Ken from Pixabay

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 41:00 — 56.3MB)

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The Green Man’s Guest

by Juliet E. McKenna

Trees die, like every living thing. Left to their own devices, they’ll gradually succumb to old age after decades or even centuries. If they’re not so lucky, a storm or a nearby tree toppled by strong winds can bring them crashing down. These days, if they’re really unlucky, some spreading blight can make felling them essential.

However it happens, whoever’s in charge of that back garden or public park or private woodland faces the same question. How do we get the stump out? What do we do about the hole? Even a smallish tree has a sizeable root ball.

Or… how about doing something else? I don’t know who came up with the idea of turning tree stumps into sculptures instead of grubbing them out, but as soon as I came across it, I wanted to give it a try. I did a load of research online and watched a lot of videos. I bought some specialist power tools and taught myself to use them on scrap timber from various projects. I’ve been taking care of the estate’s woods at Blithehurst Manor for the past few years, so I reckoned I’d get my chance sooner or later. (Continue Reading…)

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Cast of Wonders 697: Little Wonders 52 – Modern Myths

Cast of Wonders 697: Little Wonders 52 – Modern Myths is a Cast of Wonders original.

Airline Security

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 17:12 — 39.4MB)

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Jars and Bags and Boxes

by Rachel Gutin

When Dora asks if we can swap carry-on bags, I almost refuse. I know her history with jars and bags and boxes. “What are you hiding this time?”

She flashes me an innocent smile, flaunting her perfect, adorable dimples. “Nothing against the rules. I promise! It’s just… they always stop me for extra screening. You, they’ll let right through.”

My instincts are shrieking at me to say no, but when I lost my job last month, Dora was the only one who stepped in to support me. She planned this trip, and even paid for my ticket, just so I’d have something to look forward to. No one else stepped up like that. Not my former colleagues. Certainly not my family. Dora’s friendship is all I have left. I can’t afford to lose it.

So when she catches my gaze with those puppy-dog eyes, there’s only one answer I can give her. (Continue Reading…)

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Cast of Wonders 696: The Purpose of a Pyromaniac Descendent

First published in Tales & Feathers, February 2025
Episode art by PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 17:21 — 23.8MB)

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The Purpose of a Pyromaniac Descendent

by Wen Wen Yang

I don’t know why I expected the afterlife to be different from my beforelife.

In fact, I hadn’t expected an afterlife at all. As the youngest person in dìfǔ, with no descendants, I certainly didn’t anticipate gifts. I was a first-generation American who had a vague idea of the Chinese holidays, but stopped paying attention as soon as I left home.

I woke up in my grandparents’ home. My chest felt hollow, and I realized I didn’t have a heartbeat. Congenital heart defects are bullshit, by the way.

Nǎinai and Yéye greeted me with much hand-holding. We didn’t hug while living. (Continue Reading…)

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Cast of Wonders 695: Goldenrod

Cast of Wonders 695: Goldenrod is a Cast of Wonders original.

Non-graphic body horror

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 16:55 — 23.2MB)

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Goldenrod

by A. James

It was Krissy who loved the old McCarson house. I didn’t see the appeal. It had a frightening precarity to it. The house’s powder blue paint peeled and flaked in the front like lichen, and its front pillars were stripped back to the wood. Its steps crumbled like clumps of dry soil. During storms, the broken shutters thrashed and the rusted fence wailed.

It was also Krissy who concocted the plan to sneak over the orange-tinged chainlink fence. We went around to the back of the house so no one would see us. On this side it looked nicer. The back door swung open to our touch on screeching hinges. Inside, the walls and floors were cloaked in translucent sheets of plastic that crackled as we walked. Well, I walked. Krissy bounded and twirled, her mouth stretched in maddening glee. She scurried from one space to the next like an eager little mouse.

“Sid, come look at this!” Krissy cried from another room. The house groaned as I made my way across the hall. Krissy sat at a large piano. The translucent sheet of plastic that had protected the instrument lay in a crumpled heap on the ground. (Continue Reading…)

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Cast of Wonders 694: Ready to be Seen

Cast of Wonders 694: Ready to be Seen is a Cast of Wonders original.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 35:16 — 48.4MB)

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Show Notes

Image by 1234hadar from Pixabay

Ready to be Seen

by K. J. Isley

My Soul-Ripening ceremony is over at last. The cake has been eaten, though not by me. The last guest bids me harmony and my mother politely ushers them out the front door. Since I had no list of friends to offer up, she invited my whole age set. I begged her not to, but she swept away my objections like so much unwanted clutter.

“The revelation of adulthood only happens once, Firin. I’ve watched you grow. Known you better than you know yourself all these years. This day matters.”

Even so, my mother demurred when they asked if she’d be presenting my Soulpiece during the gathering.

“Firin has always been modest. She will decide for herself who she wishes to share her soul with, now that she is eighteen.”

That’s when my fears coalesced into certainty. Whatever my Piece reveals about me, it must be terrible. (Continue Reading…)

banner art - digital theme

Genres: ,

Cast of Wonders 693: Twenty-Four Hours

First published in Clarkesworld, June 2024

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 40:59 — 56.3MB)

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Twenty-Four Hours

by H H Pak

Six hours left.

“What do you want to eat sweetheart?” She looks at me expectantly, holding out her phone to show me the menu. “It is your special day. I’ll get you anything you want.”

I smile, shake my hands. “Eomma, it’s fine. You don’t have to do this.”

“I know. But this is your favorite restaurant. Why not indulge a bit?” She hums as she scrolls through the options. “It must have been hard to get anything authentic out there. I can’t imagine the cafeteria on the base was giving you anything half edible.”

“It wasn’t bad,” I laugh. “Mostly processed stuff. They couldn’t import very often across the desert.”

She sighs.

“Well, you’re here now and that’s all that matters. You’re here, and I’m going to get you anything you want. How about this set?” (Continue Reading…)

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Cast of Wonders 692: Laser Eyes Ain’t Everything

Originally published in Diabolical Plots, May 2025

Image by Jean-Marie from Pixabay

Ableism

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:13 — 36.0MB)

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Laser Eyes Ain’t Everything

by Effie Seiberg

The Super-Abled 501 Local Union building wasn’t ADA compliant.

I sat in my wheelchair next to the three steps that led to their front door, and groaned. My brand new laser eyes didn’t exactly fix my mobility problems.

Two weeks ago, I’d been zapped by a falling piece of alien spaceship debris and developed laser eyes. Ten days ago, I’d lost my job at the City Planner’s office because of budget cuts. I wasn’t even mad though, because I could never push my projects through and you know who gets stuff done without anyone getting in their way? The super-abled. As soon as I got home I filled in my union application.

Yesterday I’d gotten notice that I could join after I demonstrated my new laser eyes in person. And now here I was. Stuck. (Continue Reading…)

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Cast of Wonders 691: Little Wonders 51 – Unusual Pets

Cast of Wonders 691: Little Wonders 51 – Unusual Pets is a Cast of Wonders original.

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Show Notes

Episode art created from images by JL G from Pixabay

How to safely store your dragons was first published in Flash Fiction Online in December 2023

How to Safely Store Your Dragons

by Marisca Pichette

Never on the mantelpiece. Their love of fire will soon create a blaze not even your magic can subdue, climbing the ceiling in search of a chimney, chewing insulation and nibbling the rafters to nothing. By the time you return from the store, arms laden with spell candles and kale, of your cottage only smoke will remain. So please—never store your dragons on the mantlepiece. (Continue Reading…)

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Cast of Wonders 690: The Universe and Miss Debbie

Image by Mollyroselee from Pixabay

First published in khōréō magazine, Issue 4.3, September 2024

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 45:36 — 62.6MB)

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Show Notes

Content warning: non-graphic body horror

The Universe & Miss Debbie

by Cindy Phan

Her name was Deb (Miss Debbie to the staff), but everyone at SALON LA BELLE called her Clockwork, a covert nickname one of the children had coined one long, interminable afternoon while waiting in the backroom for the salon to close.

As nicknames went, it was a clever one. Every four weeks, on every Thursday of that fourth week, in walked the formidable and foreboding Miss Debbie.

3:45 p.m. Sharp.

Like clockwork. Just like Clockwork. (Continue Reading…)

Genres: ,

Cast of Wonders 689: All these inscriptions are for me

Image by StockSnap from Pixabay

First published in translunar travellers lounge in February 2025

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 25:33 — 35.1MB)

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All These Inscriptions Are for Me

by Carol Scheina

On the outside, there was no indication that the warehouse down the street from my apartment stocked its shelves with books from parallel universes.

It didn’t look like much: a chipped-brick box crammed between a mechanic’s shop and a medical supply depot. In front was an asphalt parking lot dotted with oil stains and flattened screws. The sign above it blinked “Books!” in a seedy-bar shade of neon red.

Money was tight because for one thing, the dentist’s office where I politely answered phones was temporarily closed for remodeling. And the other reason, which I didn’t like to think about, was because I was living on one income now that the divorce was finalized. I had to watch my budget, for there was rent and food, but still, I hungered for an escape between pages. (Continue Reading…)

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Cast of Wonders 688: Forestborn

First published in Gamut in February 2017.

Image by Jerzy from Pixabay

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 20:02 — 27.5MB)

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Forestborn

by Sylvia Heike

“I am forestborn,” the girl with a wild bird’s nest for hair said to me. “I can’t live in houses.”

I thought she meant some houses, large houses, and not all of them. Houses with a room for shoes, houses with keepers in aprons looking after said houses, houses with wings. I didn’t want that kind of home either. That’s the kind of house that ends up owning you, not the other way around.

I found us the perfect cabin built out of weathered logs, hugged by the forest on all sides. The carpenter who built it had quiet, loving hands—I could tell from the craftsmanship alone. The back garden was but a hare’s leap of grass, a humble doorstep between my world and hers.

Though we weren’t wed, I carried her over the threshold. “We are in the forest. I would never try to take you away.” (Continue Reading…)