The Cat With Blue Fur Contest

Hello everyone! I wanted to tell you about a fantastic contest being run by our good friends at The Drabblecast right now!

Long-time Drabblecast listener Bart Epstein decided to sponsor an episode of the show through his work with the Jefferson Education Accelerator, but he decided to do much more than just sponsor a show. He decided to sponsor creativity, through a writing contest!

Every other night for the last few years, Bart has been telling his kids an ongoing bedtime story about a barn-dwelling blue cat who has crazy adventures with his friends, adversaries, various interlopers, and the family he lives with.

Bart wants to hear what kinds of “Cat with Blue Fur” stories Drabblecast listeners can come up with to totally blow his kids minds!

All the details are available here. Let us know if you submit a story!

Genres:

Cast of Wonders 131: Survivor

Originally published in Fat Girl in a Strange Land (2011).

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 32:03 — 29.3MB)

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Survivor

by Josh Roseman

Wen slumped against a crystal formation and stared up at the dark sky, lit only by greenish-gold auroras. Sweat ran down into her eyes and made her clothes cling in uncomfortable places. She wanted to sit down, wanted to take off the pack for a few minutes, but the last time she’d done that, her feet had ached even worse for the respite.

No. Better to stay standing.

She caught her breath before taking a measured swallow from the canteen that hung at her side. Gulping the water would be a mistake; in this state, she’d just throw up. Staying calm, that was the key.

One more swallow, though she ached to drain the whole thing, and then back onto its clip.

Wen’s borrowed comm pinged. Four hours to sunrise. Four hours until the witchlight above her head gave way to the burning white orb that would blast her with heat and radiation until she was nothing but a memory.

Four hours to live.
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2014 Parsec Finalists!

The 2014 Parsec finalists have been announced, and Cast of Wonders has again made the cut! This year we’re finalists in two categories:

Best Speculative Fiction Story: Long Form

Broken by Cedric Johnson and Veronica Giguere
Camp Myth: Phoenix Watching by Chris Lewis Carter (from Cast of Wonders)
Fire on the Mound by William J. Meyer
The Guild of the Cowry Catchers, Book 5: Shores beyond the World by Abigail Hilton
Secret World Chronicle by Mercedes Lackey, Dennis Lee, Cody Martin, Larry Dixon, and Veronica Giguere
Tales of the Left Hand, Book 3 by John Meagher

Best Speculative Fiction Magazine or Anthology Podcast

Cast of Wonders edited by Marguerite Kenner
The NoSleep Podcast edited by David Cummings
Pseudopod edited by Shawn M. Garrett
Seminar: An Original Anthology Show edited by Pendant Productions
Toasted Cake edited by Tina Connolly

Congratulations to all the finalists, and especially Cast of Wonders alumns Tina Connolly and Veronica Giguere, and our good friends at Pseudopod!

The winners will be announced August 31 at DragonCon.

Genres:

Cast of Wonders 130: The Phobos Monolith

Cast of Wonders 130: The Phobos Monolith is a Cast of Wonders original.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 43:03 — 39.4MB)

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The Phobos Monolith

by Preston Dennett

True to her nature, Vasia ran without fear or caution across the Martian landscape.  She leaped in huge graceful arcs that any dancer would envy. Naira did her best to keep up, but because of legs, and she quickly fell behind.  How she wished she could rid herself of the cursed robo-walker that encased her legs so she could run like Vasia. Her sister’s body was strong and healthy.  Naira, unfortunately, wasn’t as lucky. It was a miracle that their parents had even let them outside, considering how protective they were.

“Hurry up, Naira!” Vasia yelled.  “Wait ‘til you see. It’s just a little farther.”

Naira huffed along at a steady pace.  Vasia wanted to show her a patch of crystals she had found.  They would, Vasia said, make a nice addition to their collection.

Seeing that Naira was catching up, Vasia turned and began running again.

Naira watched as her sister soared upwards.  Then she landed and disappeared into the ground.  A small puff of dust geysered upwards and settled instantly.

“Vasia!”

Naira increased her pace and knelt down where her sister had disappeared.  There it was: a small black hole in the ground, just large enough to swallow Vasia.
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Camp Myth RPG Receives ENnie Nomination!

Congratulations to Chris Lewis Carter and the Camp Myth RPG for making the ENnie Award short list in the Best Family Game category!

The ENnies are a series of fan-created awards for tabletop RPGs given every year at GenCon in Indianapolis.

Good luck, Chris!! Felix, Argee and Moxie are rooting for you!

Genres:

Cast of Wonders 128: Robots Don’t Cry

Cast of Wonders 128: Robots Don’t Cry is a Cast of Wonders original.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 28:42 — 26.3MB)

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Robots Don’t Cry

by George Edwards

I walked alone down a road with farms on all sides, cowboy hat on my head.

“Where am I Marco Polo?” I knew where I was, of course, but Marco Polo could see better.

He fed me all the data he could. He was one of the few satellites still orbiting earth after years of neglect.

“Thank you sir,” I said after his transmission ended. He gave me my exact location. I walked for hours.

A pick-up truck rambled up the road behind me, an odd noise for times like these. I stuck my thumb out.

The truck slowed and cracked its window. A grizzled old man was behind the wheel said, “Where ya headed?”

Using the friendliest voice in my bank I replied, “East, sir, to Auburn.”

He leaned over and opened his door for me. “Hop in,” he said.

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Genres:

Cast of Wonders 127: Learning the Game

Originally published in Sidekicks! (2013).

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 22:57 — 21.0MB)

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Learning the Game

by Michael Haynes

The man sitting at my left, Parl, groaned a curse while the stool to my right cooled. I’d be cursing, too, if my luck had been as bad as his. The stack of five-khorr coins he’d started with had shrunk to half its size in the short while we’d been sitting together.

I glanced over my shoulder. No one was walking our way through the bar—one of dozens like it in the frontier towns of the Jandar nations.

“That your whole bankroll?”

He shot me the “stupid girl” look I knew far too well. “Of course not.”

I nodded and pulled out a handful of twenty-khorr coins. As Parl’s eyes widened, I took another quick look around the room before leaning in toward him. “Here’s what we do. If I’m playing heads, I’ll cover the coin with both hands. Tails, with just one.” I mimed covering a coin with only my left hand. “Got it?”

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Submissions Update

Hello everyone! A quick note for our authors. We’re now caught up on most stories submitted before May 1st. (I have a few re-submits which require further reading.) As always, if you haven’t heard from me regarding a story submitted in this window, please drop me a line.

Due to vacation schedules, our next response round will be near the end of July. Please continue to submit stories during the lull, I look forward to reading them when I get back!

Genres: ,

Cast of Wonders 126: The Perfect Prom

Cast of Wonders 126: The Perfect Prom is a Cast of Wonders original.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 18:48 — 17.2MB)

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The Perfect Prom

by Kat Otis

Everything was going perfectly.  My prom dress was a shimmery hunter-green ballgown that matched my eyes and I’d spent over an hour at the salon, getting my usually frizzy red hair tamed into elegant ringlets.  Theo’s jaw actually dropped at his first glimpse of my transformation from scruffy tomboy to fairy-tale princess. We were officially going together as friends, but he was as flatteringly attentive as a real date all throughout dinner and the dancing that followed.  A few people even proclaimed us a “cute couple.”

In short, it was as magical a senior prom as any girl could want, right up until the moment the prom queen spontaneously combusted.

Chaos ensued.
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