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Cast of Wonders 152: Captain Cleveland Grackle’s Galactic Cabaret vs. The Goblins of Vishnu 6 (Staff Pick 2014)

Cast of Wonders 152: Captain Cleveland Grackle’s Galactic Cabaret vs. The Goblins of Vishnu 6 (Staff Pick 2014) is a Cast of Wonders original.

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Show Notes

Every year in January Cast of Wonders takes a break to catch our breath, plan out the year ahead, and highlight some of our favourite episodes from the year just passed.

We hope you enjoy Barry’s favorite story from 2014, Captain Cleveland Grackle’s Galactic Cabaret vs. The Goblins of Vishnu 6 by Jamieson Ridenhour, which originally aired November 17, 2013 as Cast of Wonders 104.

Captain Cleveland Grackle’s Galactic Cabaret vs.The Goblins of Vishnu 6

By Jamieson Ridenhour

Load-in is always a bitch on a gas giant gig, but the moisture off the methane sea on Vamana really played havoc with my drum heads. The city, Upendra, was a big, domed thing with old-school terra-forming and flora-powered atmos that amounted to a human-made jungle in the midst of the rocky moon. We were playing the Municipal Amphitheatre, a screamingly Corporate name that was typically boring and grandiose all at once. That we got booked at all is probably due more to the backwater status of Vishnu 6’s fifth moon than any real thought about whether we’d be a good fit—we were a hell of a lot cheaper than the big CorpMuses who played closer to Earth.

Not that any of this mattered, mind you. A gig’s a gig, and this one was if anything a little bigger than we usually pulled. I’m just saying that for the all the “professionalism” of the local staff and the “modern ease” with which the intra-dome transfer was supposed to run, we might as well have been playing a dive bar in the Pleiades. But we did get the equipment set up, ‘cause you always do, and we did get what could technically be called a sound-check before we were hustled off the stage so the other two bands on the roster could do the same.
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Cast of Wonders 151: Master Madrigal’s Mechanical Man (Staff Pick 2014)

Originally published in Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show, issue 29 (May 2012).

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 17:07 — 15.7MB)

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Show Notes

Every year in January Cast of Wonders takes a break to catch our breath, plan out the year ahead, and highlight some of our favourite episodes from the year just passed.

We hope you enjoy Marguerite’s favorite story from 2014, Master Madrigal’s Mechanical Man by Scott C. Mikula, which originally aired March 23, 2014 as Cast of Wonders 120.

Master Madrigal’s Mechanical Man

by Scott C. Mikula

I tried to shut out the crowd’s roar, but the thunder of a thousand feet pounding above us in the arena stands rose until I could feel the breastplate of the mechanical swordsman vibrate beneath my touch.  Master Madrigal gestured with his palsied hand for me to replace the automaton’s helmet, but I hesitated to examine the delicate inner workings. Just one small adjustment

A cuff to the back of my head arrested my motion.  “We have spoken of this, Cetta,” said Madrigal. “There is no problem with the balance.”  He crossed his arms, tucking his useless right hand out of sight beneath his sleeve.

I persuaded my mother to send me to her uncle Madrigal after his illness, when I was just twelve years old.  The word apprentice was never used. Girls did not apprentice to craftsmen like Madrigal, and I don’t think he would have taken an apprentice in any case.  He referred to me as his hands. My deft fingers did the work his no longer could.
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Cast of Wonders 150: Little Wonders 7 – The Season of Goodwill

Cast of Wonders 150: Little Wonders 7 – The Season of Goodwill is a Cast of Wonders original.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 13:47 — 12.6MB)

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Show Notes

You’re listening to Little Wonders, our thematic flash fiction collections. This week we bring you our final episode for 2014, and lucky number 150 – a pair of stories for the inspired by the Season of Goodwill.

The Secret Ingredient Is

by Emmalia Harrington

Susan stirred the pot of soup, frowning. Hunger was supposed to be the best seasoning, but the jar was empty and there was no time to prepare more. Besides, Great-Aunt would hate it if they served something like that to guests.

Stepping away from the stove, she scanned the shelves yet again. There was salt, garlic, peppercorns, nutmeg, allspice…nothing spoke to her. Rocking back on her heels, she tried to think of what Great-Aunt would do.

The first order of business would be to run to the garden to pull up the biggest, freshest and most colorful vegetables, and see how many eggs she could muster from the quail. Once that was done, Great-Aunt would run to the shopping district to wrangle an excellent price for smoked tea. She would follow this victory by purchasing fish that still smelled of the water, and filling her basket with bread still steaming from the oven.

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Cast of Wonders 149: Bricks and Sunlight

Originally published in Suddenly Lost in Words, Volume 3 (2013).

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 16:37 — 15.2MB)

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Bricks and Sunlight

by M. K. Hutchins

“Should I run and tell mother now that you’re not getting married today, Ara?”

Ara groaned and rolled off her mat onto the cool, mud-brick floor.  “Good morning to you, too, Esha.”

Esha, her younger sister, stared at her with large, expectant eyes.  Despite the early hour, her black hair was already plaited in a lovely crown.  Esha always looked perfect.

“Will you help me dress?”  Ara ran her hands through her own ratty hair.  If today ended in shambles, she might as well look half-decent when it did.

Esha wrinkled her nose.  “Why bother? You’re not getting married.  I know you don’t love him — the goddess’ gift will protect you from this wedding.”

That’s what she was afraid of.  She wanted this marriage.
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December Episode Schedule

It’s that time of year again, when those of us north of the equator struggle with short days, cold weather and a sharp increase in demands on our time.

To help ease us down into our annual January slumber, we’ll be on a reduced episode schedule this month. Join us this Sunday the 14th, and the final Sunday of the year December 28th, for our last episodes of 2014.

Thanks for listening!

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Cast of Wonders 148: Shimmer

Originally published in Daily Science Fiction (October 2012).

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 21:45 — 19.9MB)

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Shimmer

by Amanda C. Davis

Bethany Chow is shimmering in the cafeteria like the disco ball they borrow from the seventies for every stupid school dance. Her hair is shifting through a dozen shades of black and brown, a dozen patterns of highlights and lowlights, and her eyes are changing shape so fast she seems to be constantly winking. She’s only changing height slightly these days, so people must have figured out how tall she is. She’s really settling into her shimmer. If I guess right, she’ll be shimmering the rest of her life. She’ll never be without admirers, and lots of them, to think about her and remember her and shape her.

One of her adoring lunch buddies glances over her shoulder at me, and I feel my thighs expand. The seams of my jeans dig into my skin. I have to get out of here. I leave my lunch tray where it is, grab my backpack by the straps, and bolt.

Unfortunately I pass a table full of the track team on my way out of the cafeteria. That slows me down.

In the hallway my legs snap back to normal, but I feel a few pimples come and go as I pass a boy with one amazing case of acne. He must not have any friends at all. You can usually count on people not to remember the particulars of your zit pattern–unless it’s all they know about you, and then look out. Their memories will turn you into a gargoyle.
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Cast of Wonders 147: 30 Minutes for New Hell (Part 2)

Cast of Wonders 147: 30 Minutes for New Hell (Part 2) is a Cast of Wonders original.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 28:23 — 26.0MB)

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30 Minutes for New Hell

by Rick Kennett

Part 2

He checked the clock again.

Twenty-nine, twenty-eight, twenty-seven …

From his vantage point at the weapons console at Com, Lieutenant Frank Peters looked first at the forward access hatch, then at the aft access hatch, speculating. Yes, he thought. Forward hatch. Definitely. It was slightly further from Scans, but more direct. And the Professor was nothing if not direct.

He leaned back and listened to the building power-song of the drive firing gravity rings down the hull, faster and faster, acting on every atom simultaneously, causing no g forces within.

Twenty-four, twenty-three, twenty-two …

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Young Writer? This Prize Is For You!

IGGY & Litro have announced their annual contest for 13 – 18 year old writers , with a cash prize of £2000 for the winning entry. The theme of this year’s competition is Myths and Legends.

You can read all the entry details here.

Good luck!

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Cast of Wonders 146: 30 Minutes for New Hell (Part 1)

Cast of Wonders 146: 30 Minutes for New Hell (Part 1) is a Cast of Wonders original.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:32 — 24.3MB)

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30 Minutes for New Hell

by Rick Kennett

Part 1

What are they doing?

Cy De Gerch leaned forward and peered at the scene on one of her repeater screens. A few minutes ago, there in the middle of a New Hell desert viewed from a high-orbit drone, the Dhooj’s vehicle had suddenly stopped – skidding on its six balloon tyres, spraying red dust. Yet none of its crew, clad in their vacuum suits and transparent helmets, had so far emerged.

Which was odd, and Cy knew it. Ever since their landing on New Hell two days ago the Dhooj had been trundling along, setting up experiments, making observations, reporting excitedly back to their home world thirty million kilometres sunward like the pioneers and explorers they were. Energetic creatures, the Dhooj, not ones to just sit. Didn’t they have geological samples to take? Water probes to drill? Low g sports to play?

On impulse Cy shivered and pulled her grey tunic closer about. There was a desert wind blowing down there. She could feel it even from so distant an orbit. The scene was too much like home, too much like Mars. And well she knew that Martian winds blew forever cold.

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Artemis Rising

Calling all female authors! Our good friends at Escape Artists (EscapePod, Podcastle and Pseudopod) are now open to submissions for their February 2015 month of celebrating women in genre fiction.

Submissions close December 20th. You can learn more about submission criteria and procedure on their websites.

Good luck, and say hello for us!

Submission Category Update

Hello everyone! A brief update about submissions. Responses are in progress and I’ll post here again when we’re caught up.

In addition, please take a quick peek at the word counts the next time you submit a story. We’ve normalized our categories with the SWFA word counts. In brief, this means we’re no longer accepting stories over 7500 words as they fall in the novella range. We’ve done this to make sure that all our weekly episodes continue to be eligible in various industry awards under the flash and short story categories. If you have any questions, please get in touch.

As always, thanks for listening!