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Cast of Wonders 255: Doors

Originally published in Interzone Magazine #258 (May/June 2015)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 50:13 — 47.2MB)

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Show Notes

Theme music is “Appeal to Heavens” by Alexye Nov, available at MusicAlley.com.

Doors

by Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam

It had been three months since I’d taken my brother anywhere. The last place we’d gone together was our mother’s funeral. Since then Zack had been difficult, more so than usual, refusing to put on his shoes, shushing me when I asked him to do his chores, even screaming and pounding his fists when it was time to drive him to the recycling facility where he sorted paper as part of a program for developmentally disabled adults.

But he had agreed to visit the county fair, though in the car on the way he had bruised his knuckles knocking on the window glass, an old habit Mom and I thought we’d broken him of.

(Continue Reading…)

Artemis Rising 4

March 2018 will mark the fourth year of Artemis Rising, the annual showcase of women and non-binary authors across the Escape Artists’s podcasts. This year the month of stories will be edited by Dani Daly and Katherine Inskip, with assistant editor Alexis Goble.

Submissions for original short fiction will run September 1-30, 2017, via our Submittable portal. Anyone who identifies as a woman, to whatever degree they do, and non-binary authors are welcome and encouraged to submit a story. We strongly encourage submissions from people of historically under-represented backgrounds, including people of color, LGBTQ authors, people with disabilities, members of religious minorities, and authors from outside the United States.

Our fellow EA podcasts are taking part as well! Please visit Escape Pod for science fiction, Pseudopod for horror, and PodCastle for fantasy.

Here’s a summary of details:

  • Submission window runs September 1-30.
  • Payment at $0.06 per word. Please see our general Submission Guidelines for a description of the rights we purchase and our sample contracts.
  • Original stories only.
  • Word count: 2000 – 6000 words. We’re looking for stand-alone short stories, not flash.
  • Submit using an anonymous manuscript format.
  • No multiple submissions. One story per author or group of authors.
  • No simultaneous submissions. Decisions will be finalized by November 30, 2017.

And the answers to a few FAQ:

  • If a story has been rejected by Cast of Wonders in the past, can I re-submit it for Artemis Rising?
  • A: No.
  • Can I submit a rejected Artemis Rising story to the same podcast’s general submissions?
  • A: No, because Artemis Rising editors may refer your story to the show’s regular editors at their discretion. If your story is declined, please take it as the story being declined for all purposes.
  • If a story has multiple authors, do they all have to meet the AR criteria?
  • A: Yes.
  • If I’ve already submitted an Artemis Rising story, can I submit another I wrote with a co-author to the same podcast’s Artemis Rising?
  • A: No.
  • If I have a story on submission to a podcast, can I submit a different story to that podcast’s Artemis Rising while the first one is still in the queue?
    Or vice versa?
  • A: Yes, although we don’t anticipate being open to general submissions in September 2017.
  • Can I submit a different story to each of multiple EA podcasts for Artemis Rising?
  • A: Yes! Publication on one show doesn’t preclude publication on another. We’ve had multiple authors accomplish this impressive feat in the past.
We look forward to reading your fiction!

Sincerely,
Dani Daly, Katherine Inskip, Alexis Goble,
and the entire Cast of Wonders editorial team

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Cast of Wonders 254: A Complex Filament of Light

Originally published in Anathema Magazine (April 2017)

Content Warning: Grief

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:51 — 28.5MB)

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Show Notes

Theme music is “Appeal to Heavens” by Alexye Nov, available at MusicAlley.com.

A Complex Filament of Light

by S. Qiouyi Lu

After winter, spring in Antarctica is almost pleasant, most days just barely below freezing. As you make your way back to the station, you stop and glance at the horizon—you prefer these days of twilight, the soft orange glow of sun on the horizon contrasting beautifully with the deep indigo of the sky. It’s more interesting than never ending daylight, more comforting than the long nights of winter. And it’s still enough of a distinction to create the illusion of darkness, to trick your body into maintaining a circadian rhythm.

Your snowmobile cuts through the snow and ice, kicking up flurries in your wake. As you crest another hill, the Delaney–Chen station comes into view. Your stomach grumbles—you got here just in time. You park your snowmobile out front and make your way inside, taking off your scarf and gloves in pace with your steps. You load up on cafeteria food and find a spot by the window.

Before you eat, you have to take your multivitamin. It has a chalky feeling to it and a taste that isn’t exactly pleasant. But as you swallow the pill, you remind yourself that it’s for your own good—fruit and vegetables are hard to come by in the Antarctic, and vitamin deficiency is not something you want to deal with. It’s hard enough being out here without adding health problems on top of everything.

(Continue Reading…)

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Cast of Wonders 253: Single Parent

Cast of Wonders 253: Single Parent is a Cast of Wonders original.

Content Warning: Grief; a few early F-bombs

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 30:49 — 29.5MB)

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Show Notes

Theme music is “Appeal to Heavens” by Alexye Nov, available from Promo DJ or his Facebook page.

Single Parent

By Sarah Gailey

The monster in my son’s closet is so fucking scary.

Here’s what happened: Jack screamed in the middle of the night and I came running because I’m his dad and that’s what dads are for. He’s been doing that for a month — screaming like someone’s in his room murdering him with a screwdriver. And even though there’s never, not even once been anyone murdering him, I couldn’t just let him scream his little head off all night. If I didn’t come running, his mom would have risen from the grave just to come and slap me upside the head.

I know what you’re thinking, but the monster in the closet is not his mom. It is not my dead wife, come back to watch over him and protect him. This isn’t that kind of a story. It’s a fucking monster, okay?

(Continue Reading…)

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Cast of Wonders 252: The Forty Gardens of Calliope Grey

Cast of Wonders 252: The Forty Gardens of Calliope Grey is a Cast of Wonders original.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 28:40 — 26.5MB)

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The Forty Gardens of Calliope Grey

By Aimee Ogden

In her fourth-floor apartment on Wrightwood Avenue, Calliope Grey kept forty gardens of varying size and composition. She had gardens in drawers, in old hat-boxes and mixing bowls. In the drawer that pulled out from beneath her stove, she had a desert garden of cactuses and sagebrush; in the plastic freezer box that was meant to store ice cubes, she grew bearberries and arctic moss.

Real gardens, in miniature, not models or mere toys. Calliope didn’t go out looking for them, but they’d found their way to her one by one. It had been some years since she’d discovered a new one, but she still harbored hopes every time she opened a cupboard or peered beneath the furniture. Once, she’d opened a box of cereal only to have a jumble of dirt and tangled roots go spilling into her bowl. Another time, she’d left a coffee cup out on the end table overnight and found it overflowing with a tiny raspberry bramble the next morning. It didn’t matter where they come from, only that they found their way to her. She had room in her heart for all of them, and plenty more to spare.

(Continue Reading…)

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Cast of Wonders 251: Little Wonders 12: The Unexpected

Cast of Wonders 251: Little Wonders 12: The Unexpected is a Cast of Wonders original.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:52 — 27.4MB)

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Show Notes

The Little Wonders theme “Neversus” is by Alexye Nov, available from Promo DJ or his Facebook page.

Why They’re Never About The Good Ones

By Evan Dicken

Once upon a time, in a valley in Lower Saxony just south of Meppen town, there lived an old woman and her two grandchildren.

Helene had been a weaver in her younger days, but over the years the damp of the fens had stolen into her joints, twisting her fingers until they grew as gnarled and useless as the roots of the scrubby trees that crowded the river bank.

Katarin and Klaus had come north with the Spring floods, refugees from the labor pains that accompanied the birth of French democracy. Their father had gone off to fight Napoleon, and their mother, always sickly and lovelorn, wasted away for want of him.

Helene had no money, and the children were too young for real work. By all rights, they should have starved.

(Continue Reading…)

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Cast of Wonders 250: Blood and Water

Cast of Wonders 250: Blood and Water is a Cast of Wonders original.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 40:37 — 37.9MB)

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Blood and Water

by Jason Kimble

The year we turned nineteen, the boy I loved disappeared under the waves of Lake Michigan, but he didn’t die. I never told anyone. That he was alive. That I loved him. That he

My fingertip goes white as I smash down on the delete key and the cursor devours my words.

The broken swimming trophy lies sideways on the kitchen table. I stare at it as I dial, ignore the cat mewling, exiled, on the other side of the door. I count the rings of the phone at my ear. Seven rings (for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone) before Mr. Gravere picks up.

“Why are you calling, Mike?” Gravere says.

“It’s about a book,” I say. “I … think that I loaned it to Andy, before–”

“That wasn’t his name.” I can’t decide if the ice sheathing Mr. Gravere’s voice is better or worse than his scalding anger at the funeral.

“It’s special. A first edition. Return of the King. My mother–”

“So special it took you five years to notice it missing?”

“It’s just … ” I turn the gilded swimmer in my hand.

“I told you when he died, Michael: you’re not welcome here. Live without the book. I’m living without a whole lot more.” Mr. Gravere hangs up. (Continue Reading…)

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Cast of Wonders 249: Lost in Translation

Cast of Wonders 249: Lost in Translation is a Cast of Wonders original.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:28 — 27.2MB)

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Show Notes

Theme music “Appeal to Heavens” by Alexye Nov, available from Promo DJ or his Facebook page.

Lost in Translation

by Afalstein Kloosterman

“It turns out,” said the High Ecclesiarch of the Writ, “that when the prophecy says ‘the hero’s body shall stand resilient against the flame,’ a more accurate translation would be ‘resistant against the flame.’”  He gave a pained grimace.  “Ancient Nearnoxian can be… ambiguous, at times.”

Phillip Stalford, Hero of Nearnox, Chosen One of the Golden Age, Bastion of Chastity and Valor, Banisher of the Dark Torch, V’lthaern d’Sng’ssn, and Paladin of the Holy Writ blinked back from within the mass of bandages that healer Ziva was carefully tending to. “Oh.” He said. “Well, I suppose that’s better than finding out I hadn’t been ‘pure of heart’ enough.   Or that the Great Scriptor had taken a dislike to me.”

“The Great Scriptor does not ‘take a dislike.’” Ziva murmured, mixing up a salve.  “His Word is Writ.  It is eternal. He favors who he favors and disfavors who he disfavors.  There is no changing with him.”

Aethlinn, standing just to the left of the Ecclesiarch, snorted and rolled his milky-white eyes.  The others pointedly ignored the elf mage.

“Okay.”  Phillip looked chastised.  “But it… doesn’t  quite make sense.  I thought the Flames of Az-ranath  were meant to keep all but the Chosen One out of the Shrine of Light.  How’re they supposed to do that if the Chosen One’s not fireproof?”

(Continue Reading…)

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Cast of Wonders 248: Binaries

Originally published in Lightspeed Magazine, Issue 73 (June 2016)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 13:28 — 12.5MB)

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Show Notes

Theme music is “Appeal to Heavens” by Alexye Nov, available at MusicAlley.com.

Binaries

by S.B. Divya

Year 1: I come into the world wet and squalling and ordinary, born of heterosexual bio-parents.

***

Year 2: A flat photo shows me on my first birthday with a shock of red hair, wide green eyes, and an expression of distaste at the sticky white frosting on my fingers. My mother stands on one side looking not at all Jewish; my Goan, lapsed-Catholic father stands on the other.

***

Year 4: Shaya is born. I am a match to my mother’s complexion, but my baby sister takes after our father. No one thinks we’re siblings unless they see the fierce, protective scowl on my face when I’m allowed to hold her.

(Continue Reading…)

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Cast of Wonders 247: The Golem of Deneb Seven

Originally published in InterGalactic Medicine Show Issue 40 (July 2014)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 39:14 — 36.1MB)

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Show Notes

Theme music is “Appeal to Heavens” by Alexye Nov, available at MusicAlley.com.

The Golem of Deneb Seven

By Alex Shvartsman

I was eleven years old when the war came to the Deneb system.

At first, we didn’t know that anything was wrong. Mom and Dad were clearing the table after dinner, Avi was building some sort of a castle out of plastic construction blocks, Sarah was asleep in her crib, and Grandpa was reading one of his thick Hebrew books, leaning into the volume and squinting a little by candlelight. I sulked because I was going be the only girl in my class to miss Karen’s birthday party tomorrow.

There would be no chatting or video games for me that evening, or until after dinner the following night, because we weren’t supposed to use electricity on Shabbos. This weekly routine was difficult to accept while living in the place where few others shared our beliefs. It was far more frustrating this time around, because Dad wouldn’t drive on Shabbos, either, and that meant I had no way to get to Karen’s party. All the other girls were going to be there. Her parents were bringing in a magician all the way from the city, and it had been the talk of the school for weeks. So I sulked, wondering why God didn’t want me to have any fun.

For lack of anything better to do, I was staring out the window when I saw a streak of white light shoot across the night sky. I watched it fall toward the ground in a great wide arc, but before it completed its downward journey there was another, and another.

“Look, Dad, quick! A meteor shower!” I waved him over and pressed my face against the glass. Father set down the salad bowl and came over. He stood behind me and peered out the window. The sky was raining with shooting stars.

(Continue Reading…)

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Cast of Wonders 246: Old Teacups and Kitchen Witches

Cast of Wonders 246: Old Teacups and Kitchen Witches is a Cast of Wonders original.

Content Warning: Grief

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 38:18 — 35.3MB)

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Show Notes

Theme music “Appeal to Heavens” by Alexye Nov, available from Promo DJ or his Facebook page.

Old Teacups and Kitchen Witches

by Kate Baker

On the night my grandfather died, we all sat around his kitchen table and marveled at how he’d been able to raise six kids in such a tiny house. While creative with the cramped living space, one bathroom seemed to be enough despite the hustle to get to school and work in the mornings. Especially as children grew into teenagers and time preening before the mirror was at a premium.

There is chaos that comes with illness and death, yet despite piles of unopened mail and neglected dishes and floors, my eyes lingered on the subtle touches that made this house a home. Especially in this kitchen. A wooden hutch still held the “good” glass and dinnerware that my grandparents cherished and thought to protect. Pots and pans of every shape, size, and color hung from racks and peeked out from crowded cabinets. And despite a very thin layer of dust, the spice rack stood at the ready for whatever recipe came along.

My eyes scanned old photographs that hung on the wall and came to rest on a scene of a large family. In all the time I had spent visiting my grandparents, I never remembered seeing this one. Dressed in warm clothes, four kids stared ahead not quite sure what to make of the photographer. No smiles, save for the fifth little girl who looked like my grandmother. She couldn’t have been more than six, and her smile was directed at a very ugly doll that rested in her hands. Someone had written “1943” on the lower left corner which only intrigued me more. I was about to push my chair away to take a closer look when conversation erupted around me.

(Continue Reading…)

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Cast of Wonders 245: One Thing Leads To Your Mother

First appeared in Unidentified Funny Objects 2 (UFO Publishing, 2013)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 25:18 — 23.3MB)

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Show Notes

Theme music is “Appeal to Heavens” by Alexye Nov, available at MusicAlley.com.

One Thing Leads to Your Mother

by Desmond Warzel

Yates propelled himself into the office. The door closed behind him, silencing the emergency klaxons that had followed him around for days like Hell’s own Greek chorus. The only remaining sound was his pulse pounding in his head: too loud, too fast.

A seated figure shimmered into existence behind the desk. White, male, balding, wearing a tan sweater. “Lieutenant David Eldridge Yates. It’s agreeable to see you. You have yet to avail yourself of my services.”

“You’re the psychologist?” asked Yates.

“System: Holographic Replica: INdividual Kounseling. S.H.R.I.N.K. for short.”

“That’s a bit forced.”

“You may call me Dr. Turing.”

“Very clever.”

(Continue Reading…)