Archive for Little Wonders

silhouette of a woman with her arms raised against a backdrop of the golden gate bridge

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Cast of Wonders 649: Little Wonders 46 – Seize Your Future

Cast of Wonders 649: Little Wonders 46 – Seize Your Future is a Cast of Wonders original.

Abortion themes, loss of agency

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Show Notes

What the Water Gave Her was first published in Pop Goes the Page, May 2023

What the Water Gave Her

by Race Harish

The witch was a small man, but otherwise rather ordinary. He had white hair, kind eyes, and a fondness for darjeeling tea. He called himself Mother.

The directions were unclear. But it was unwise to question a witch so she pays that as little mind as she can. The slip of paper bearing the directions crumples in the tight clutch of her fist, the writing surely too smudged and sweat soaked to be of any use to her now. She is glad that she had the sense to commit it all to memory before she began the journey. (Continue Reading…)

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Cast of Wonders 599: Little Wonders 45 – Future Legacies

Hitch Hiker, Guide was first published in Flashes Issue 2, a self-published collection of flash fiction, in August 2023

Seeds Travel was first published in Nature 572, 686 (2019).

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Hitch-Hiker, Guide

by Alasdair Stuart

Frank Duffy saw the astronaut on a gift stall on his way to work one day. A little guy, white and gold plastic, pointing at the sky with all the confidence of the non-sentient. Frank bought it on a whim, and it stayed on his monitor until he left a few years later. (Continue Reading…)

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Cast of Wonders 586: Little Wonders 44 – Portal Fantasies

Cast of Wonders 586: Little Wonders 44 – Portal Fantasies is a Cast of Wonders original.

Swearing

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Show Notes

Craft your own adventure, by Julie Le Blanc, was previously published in Paper Lanterns Literary Journal in March 2021

Craft your own adventure

by Julie Le Blanc

While Marya was usually excellent at imagining the worst, opening a portal to another world while crocheting had never really crossed her mind.

She’d been determined to learn how to crochet once she discovered her muse, gorgeous Rebecca, loved Galway hurling. She still hadn’t gotten up the courage to talk to her (what would Marya say? What could she possibly offer?) Her next thought, then, was to somehow make something for Rebecca, a jumper maybe, even if the internet told her that was a bit ambitious…

While her cat Foxy settled into a square of sun in the kitchen, Marya had curled onto the couch, determined to get a solid ten rows done before lunch.

But it wasn’t turning out that way. (Continue Reading…)

ice flower

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Cast of Wonders 576: Little Wonders 43 – Young Authors

Cast of Wonders 576: Little Wonders 43 – Young Authors is a Cast of Wonders original.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 15:17 — 22.4MB)

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At the Edge of Nowhere

by Peter Gooley

It saddens me to look out my window and see the secrets lying sad and broken across the dusty road. The sprays of wind toss them along, scattering the letters among the little, cream-coloured chunks of gravel. I think that sadness was what made me first start collecting them. I gather the tiny, sparkling thoughts from the dew-painted ground each morning as I tend my garden, like manna from heaven. (Continue Reading…)

light bulb with bright sparks

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Cast of Wonders 564: Little Wonders 42 – Flash Fiction Contest Winners

Cast of Wonders 564: Little Wonders 42 – Flash Fiction Contest Winners is a Cast of Wonders original.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 21:14 — 29.2MB)

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A Girl Bikes Home Alone at Night

by Georgie Morvis

Pina didn’t want to bike home that night from the party, she told the officers. Dad had texted 10 minutes before he was supposed to pick her up. No can make it. Had too many green bottles. He had been like this since the lung cancer spread through Ma’s body like wildfire.

The bike wasn’t even hers, but Lani’s haole family had just moved to Kona from Denver, so there were plenty kine for her to choose from. She would have brought a helmet and worn brighter clothing, instead of the black tank top and ripped jeans she had on when the officers found her. (Continue Reading…)

glowing butterflies in a jar in the darkness

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Cast of Wonders 548: Little Wonders 41 – Mortality

Cast of Wonders 548: Little Wonders 41 – Mortality is a Cast of Wonders original.

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Glass Flies

by Gwen C. Katz

At dawn they poured from the ground, from crevices in the rock, from underneath tree bark. Glass flies. June 25. You could set your clock by it.

Newly hatched, they were clumsy. They collided with windows, smeared themselves across car grates, got entangled in hair. Jonas found one trembling on his porch, one transparent green and yellow wing shattered. He scooped it up. Its thread-thin legs clung to his finger.

“A glass fly is not a pet,” said his mother. Jonas didn’t listen. He placed the glass fly in a shoebox and offered it some Oreo crumbs. (Continue Reading…)

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Cast of Wonders 542: Little Wonders 40 – Stepping out of your comfort zone

Cast of Wonders 542: Little Wonders 40 – Stepping out of your comfort zone is a Cast of Wonders original.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 15:15 — 33.6MB)

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Monstech

by Adam Gaylord

It’s tough being a monster nowadays. With the constant threat of terrorism, global warming, and yet another Michael Bay film, the average person just doesn’t have enough fear left at the end of the day for what’s lurking under the bed. (Continue Reading…)

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Cast of Wonders 539: Little Wonders 39 – Home Ties

Cast of Wonders 539: Little Wonders 39 – Home Ties is a Cast of Wonders original.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 21:54 — 33.2MB)

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Show Notes

Minor Magics of Chinatown was originally published in Factor Four Magazine, April 2022

Park’s All-Night Ramyun and Snack Emporium

by Seoung Kim

After the stoplights go to flashing red and the bars make their last calls, Park’s All-Night Ramyun and Snack Emporium lights up, its warm yellow lanterns beckoning customers from the street.

The tiny dining area just outside the truck is already full: a rusalka who always leaves the counter wet; her girlfriend Ms. Llorona, who uses too many napkins crying but refuses to order less spicy noodles; the old yokai lady Mrs. Rokuro with her mile-long neck; and a jiangshi who isn’t eating but stares at every drunk club-goer who stumbles down the street.

Yujin Park crosses their arms and leans back on the freezer, checking their phone for the fiftieth time that shift. It seems like everyone is out enjoying the last summer before senior year — except for them. Their feed is full of rooftop parties and group selfies.

Even if they could escape from the drudgery of scrubbing moldy drains, the thought of showing up covered in a thick layer of grease is too mortifying to bear. (Continue Reading…)

old books, herbs, pestle and mortar

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Cast of Wonders 536: Little Wonders 38 – Advice

Cast of Wonders 536: Little Wonders 38 – Advice is a Cast of Wonders original.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 16:02 — 29.2MB)

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A Letter to A Bully’s Mother

by Priya Sridhar

Dear Opal’s Mom:

This is Jem, Opal’s classmate. Last week, you asked my Magical Cupcake club to make two hundred cupcakes for Opal’s birthday–chocolate chip and peanut butter. Even though you pay well, I would have refused on behalf of the Magical Cupcake Bakers. The girls outvoted me since we need the money for new cooking equipment. My friends made all the cupcakes in the school kitchens and used my mom’s bakery ovens when we ran out of room in the ones used for cooking classes. That explains the taste you complained about on BakeHub this morning. As you wrote in your post, it was my special touch you were paying for–and that was missing.

Enclosed are a few extra cupcakes for you and Opal’s dad. These I did make, cardamom vanilla, with some hints of ginger from infused milk. This proves that I haven’t “lost it”, as you posted, my Jersey family baking touch. (Continue Reading…)

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Cast of Wonders 529: Little Wonders 37 – Seeking Connections

Cast of Wonders 529: Little Wonders 37 – Seeking Connections is a Cast of Wonders original.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 20:33 — 40.8MB)

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Show Notes

Birding With My Human was originally published in Nature Futures on July 7th, 2021.

Haunting the Docks

by Marie Vibbert

No one comes to my dock anymore. It’s so empty I can hear the ping of metal struts relaxing. The sounds of life elsewhere on the station, transmitted through multiple bulkheads, are muted, inchoate moans. I cycle through checks on systems unperturbed by human hands. I tidy what is already tidy.

I’m so bored. I power on a tug-drone.

“Aft Supplemental Dock Petty Tug Drone 2 reporting for duty. You can call me Pettie!” Her voice abruptly loses its chipper tone. “Oh, it’s you.” (Continue Reading…)

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Cast of Wonders 515: Little Wonders 36 – Halloween

Cast of Wonders 515: Little Wonders 36 – Halloween is a Cast of Wonders original.

Body horror, clowns, lack of acceptance

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:57 — 48.0MB)

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Show Notes

As I Wait for the Killing Blow was previously published in Fireside in June 2021

Interlude

by Christopher Hawkins

“It’s probably just a rash,” my wife said, though I could tell, even then, that she knew it wasn’t true. I could hear it in her voice, the subtle rise at the end that almost made it a question. Her eyes had gone wide, just a little, but the boy never saw it. He was looking up at me with wide eyes of his own, eyes that wanted reassurance. Below them, the tip of his nose burned an angry red, like a pale shoulder left too long in the sun, like a lobster left to boil.

“Probably, yeah,” I told him. “Just don’t scratch at it or you’ll make it worse, okay?” (Continue Reading…)

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Cast of Wonders 506: Little Wonders 35 – Memories of Home

Cast of Wonders 506: Little Wonders 35 – Memories of Home is a Cast of Wonders original.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 21:08 — 41.5MB)

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The Past Laid Out On The Table

by Matt Tighe

The sky above his mother’s house is the bright orange and pink of a frozen dawn when David stops by after work.

‘Mum!’ he yells as he slings the grocery bags at the kitchen bench. They slow to a stop in mid-air. A yellow lemon drops out of one bag and spins lazily, nowhere to go. No when to go.

‘Yes, dear?’

“Have you looked out the window?” David says, trying to keep the edge from his voice. He wishes she would just leave the past alone.

“Oh, I’ll put it all back,” she says, and of course she will. She was always good like that. Always the ordered one. Always the careful one.

“Do you have time for a cup of tea?” she asks. (Continue Reading…)