Posts Tagged ‘adventure’

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Cast of Wonders 169: Lost Socks

Cast of Wonders 169: Lost Socks is a Cast of Wonders original.

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

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Show Notes

Want to see those OTKs I mentioned? They’re at Sock Dreams – and tell them I said hello!

Lost Socks

by Lisa Montoya

Perdy saw Grandpa Zeke sitting in the swing on the front porch as she carried the empty laundry basket.  She pushed open the old wooden screen door and went to sit next to him. She leaned her head against his shoulder as the two of them just looked out into the yard.  Perdy sighed.

He asked, “How you be, Perdy Perdy?”

She squeezed his arm and cuddled closer to him.

Grandpa Zeke slipped his arm around her. “Did you find those missing socks?”

Perdy shook her head. “No.  They aren’t in my room. Do you think a squirrel got into the house again and took them?  Or maybe we have a sock eating washing machine.”

He laughed.

She sat up and looked at him.  “Really, I looked everywhere.”

Grandpa Zeke smiled at her.  “I am sure you did. Most likely was the sock gremlins.”

Perdy stared at him, waiting for him to continue.

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Cast of Wonders 168: The Tale of the White Tiger

Originally published in Interstellar Fiction (May 2013).

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:25 — 26.9MB)

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The Tale of the White Tiger

by Donald Jacob Uitvlugt

Blind Li Xiao surveyed the marketplace. The sensor net embedded in his storyteller’s robes fed signals directly to his brain. The citizenship transponders exactly matched the number of heat signatures. A world firmly loyal to the Empire, then. Or one too afraid to act otherwise.

A passive scan showed at least two peacekeepers in the market. Probably more secret police. He would have to be careful in his story selection. Something from one of the official chronicles. Something he could use for his own purposes.

He beat his staff on the ground three times. The bells at the head chimed out their message. Be still and hearken. Blind Li Xiao is about to begin his tale. He chanted the introductory poem in his clear, high voice:

“When wicked ministers subvert the good,

“The Systems lose the beautiful and true.

“On Heaven’s River vast, White Tiger sails,

“Her course set by the pirate Madam Hu.”

An audience gathered in front of Blind Li Xiao. Children pressed close, their grandparents behind them. The young women and men stood at the edge, feigning disinterest or fearing entrapment. Blind Li Xiao swept the head of his staff in a broad arc as he spoke.

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Cast of Wonders 155: Aisha Bets Her Life on Magic

Cast of Wonders 155: Aisha Bets Her Life on Magic is a Cast of Wonders original.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 16:53 — 15.6MB)

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Aisha Bets Her Life on Magic

by Jarod K. Anderson

Aisha Gonzalez was half asleep when the ceiling pressed against her nose.  She made an unconscious move to brush away whatever was touching her and smacked the textured surface of the ceiling hard with the back of her hand. She started awake, scraping her forehead. She barked out a scream and shoved hard at whatever was hovering over her.

Aisha’s mattress receded from the ceiling, bumped against her box springs, then slowly floated upwards. She watched the ceiling move closer with wide eyes, then raised her foot and pushed off back toward the floor. She rolled onto her stomach and looked over the edge of the mattress. She was still in her little studio apartment. Her work clothes from the day before were scattered on the floor next to her humming box fan. Outside the French doors that led to her rickety little balcony she could see the lights from the Speedway gas station next door. The mattress rose and gently pressed her back against the ceiling.

She lay still, sandwiched between mattress and plaster, staring down at her apartment.

“I’m awake,” she said aloud just to hear her own voice. “I’m not dreaming.”
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Cast of Wonders 136: Flotsam

Originally published in FlagShip (2011).

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 24:24 — 33.5MB)

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Flotsam

by Rebecca Schwarz

I’m about to blast a Grunt when the game freezes. Mom’s commandeered the link, and now she appears, in her old chinos and a tee-shirt, among the rubble of the Axis bunker.

“Mom! Get off!” As long as she’s on, my avatar is frozen like an idiot and open to attack. I text Katya my situation although it should be obvious.

“Don’t speak to me in that tone, Ian!” Mom says. “Log off and come to the kitchen.”

There’s no point in arguing. I shut down my avatar and sign off. I hope Katya makes it to the next level. If not, no way is she partnering with me again, or sitting next to me at lunch.

The 3D shuts down, sucking the setting sun up to the foreground rubble. The wall fades to beige. I flop back on the floor. It’s always startling how small my room is when the screen is off. My toes touch the wall where the screen was, and when I stretch my hands up over my head, I can feel the curved join where the opposite wall becomes the floor.

I get up, slide the door open and yell, “What do you want?”

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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: 42:57 — 39.3MB)

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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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Cast of Wonders 127: Learning the Game

Originally published in Sidekicks! (2013).

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 22:54 — 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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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: 18:45 — 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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