Posts Tagged ‘Banned Books Week’

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Cast of Wonders 706: The Little Free Library at the End of the World

Cast of Wonders 706: The Little Free Library at the End of the World is a Cast of Wonders original.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 20:01 — 27.5MB)

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The Little Free Library at the End of the World

by Sally Sultzman

Reader didn’t know they’d stopped until he ran into the back of Singer, who turned to steady him even as Collector ran into him, struggling under the weight of the Collection bag.

What? Reader signed. Maybe it was water. They hadn’t found any fresh water in days—and Leader had said last night that no one could drink until Tracker found more, or they stopped for the night.

Even through the mask, with his ears shielding his eyes, Reader’s throat was heavy with dust. He, Singer and Collector were always at the back of the pack and he was so, so thirsty.

Don’t know, Singer signed back to both him and Collector. (Continue Reading…)

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Cast of Wonders 705: Trade you for the Beans

Cast of Wonders 705: Trade you for the Beans is a Cast of Wonders original.

Bullies, Colonisation

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 39:40 — 90.8MB)

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Trade You For the Beans

by Kehkashan Khalid

When Mammy drops me off to school on the hottest day of the year, no one bullies me. I stand there in the schoolyard, letting her I love yous wash over me, and when she drives away, I close my eyes.

It’s okay Asghar, I tell myself. They’ll punch you a few times, and when you don’t react, they’ll get bored. You can handle that.

But nobody comes. I stand there like an idiot with my eyes closed and my sweaty fingers gripping the spine of Grammy’s copy of Lord of the Rings until the bell rings. Nobody reads such old stories anymore, and they especially don’t carry them around like bricks. But I don’t want to download my stories into a cube that’ll summarize them for me. I like the rustle of the pages and their musty scent and holding them impossibly open with a thumb while I eat and read at the same time–Grammy would turn over in her grave, Asghar! Mammy would say. Grammy liked her books to look all perfect even after they’d been read. Too bad she left them all to me, who likes to make notes in the margins and leave big ol’ mango stains on the pages. It’s like they hold a little bit of who I am. And they’ll hold it long after I’m gone. It’s the closest to magic I’ll ever get. (Continue Reading…)

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Cast of Wonders 704: The Fourth Hero of Ouroboros

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 34:10 — 46.9MB)

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The Fourth Hero of Ouroboros

by Erin Keating

The scholar travels with books on her back and tales on her tongue. The Charlatan King had tried to claim the books with flames and her tongue with threats, but she’d saved both by slipping from the city. Only the moon saw her go.

For weeks, she has walked from the gleaming glass of the capital out into the farther reaches of the Fourth Kingdom of Ouroboros, where the world feels emptier, wilder, older. In each town along her journey, she calls herself only the scholar, because to speak her true name would summon kingsmen armed with false accusations.

So, the scholar walks and, unbeknownst to her, the librarian waits. (Continue Reading…)

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Cast of Wonders 703: Your Magic School Admittance Letter Never Arrives

Cast of Wonders 703: Your Magic School Admittance Letter Never Arrives is a Cast of Wonders original.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:59 — 61.8MB)

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Show Notes

Image by Mystic Art Design from Pixabay

Your Magic School Admittance Letter Never Arrives

by Maya Prasad

SPRING

The admittance letters to the various magical universities have been rolling in, and your friends are celebrating. But yours never arrives. Your parents are Very Disappointed.

“It’s not about talent,” your mother insists. “You simply don’t apply yourself.”

“Perhaps if you spent less time playing hoverball and goofing off with your friends,” your father says, “you could have taken a harder course load. You could have taken that MTAN practice class. Well, I suppose you can apply again next year.”

Next year, indeed. When your younger sister will probably show you up with scads of acceptances.

You nod meekly, not mentioning the hours you spent alone in your room with your wand after hoverball practice and on weekends. In truth, your purported laziness is less humiliating than admitting you never possessed enough magic in the first place. (Continue Reading…)

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Cast of Wonders 677: Your Hold is Ready (Staff Picks 2025)

First published as Cast of Wonders 658, October 2025

homophobia, censorship, fascist dystopia

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 14:00 — 19.2MB)

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Your Hold Is Ready

by Laura Duerr

The news is spreading. We try to keep working through our English tests, but it’s becoming impossible to focus. Laughter and drumming call us to join the crowds on the streets, as irresistible as Odysseus’ sirens. I imagine myself tied to my desk chair, ears plugged up with wax instead of noise-canceling headphones, and chuckle to myself.

Mr. Lanigan leans around his monitor. “Molly, did you just giggle?”

“Possibly?”

Two storeys down, the crowd erupts with cheering. The students nearest the windows peer out wistfully. So does Mr. Lanigan. He ought to be retired by now, but he’s still here, and we’re glad. He’s kept a lot of our secrets and we’ve kept his. At first it was weird to watch out for someone so much older than us, but he stood up for us every chance he got, and somehow, together, our ordinary classroom discussions became outlets for us to be ourselves: to give voice to the dreams and hopes that had miraculously survived not just high school, but high school under all this.

(Continue Reading…)

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Cast of Wonders 659: The Archive of Unnamed Joy

After editorial review, I have decided to pull the story “The Archive of Unnamed Joy” by Bella Chacha (aka Charity Ogechi, Irene W Collins, Ferdinand Ugochukwu, Victory Fortune etc.) from publication at Cast of Wonders.  In my judgement it does not meet the requirements for publication at Cast of Wonders.  We greatly regret that this was not identified and resolved at an earlier point in the publication process.

Katherine Inskip, Editor

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Cast of Wonders 658: Your Hold is Ready

Cast of Wonders 658: Your Hold is Ready is a Cast of Wonders original.

homophobia, censorship, fascist dystopia

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 15:02 — 20.6MB)

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Your Hold Is Ready

by Laura Duerr

The news is spreading. We try to keep working through our English tests, but it’s becoming impossible to focus. Laughter and drumming call us to join the crowds on the streets, as irresistible as Odysseus’ sirens. I imagine myself tied to my desk chair, ears plugged up with wax instead of noise-canceling headphones, and chuckle to myself.

Mr. Lanigan leans around his monitor. “Molly, did you just giggle?”

“Possibly?”

Two storeys down, the crowd erupts with cheering. The students nearest the windows peer out wistfully. So does Mr. Lanigan. He ought to be retired by now, but he’s still here, and we’re glad. He’s kept a lot of our secrets and we’ve kept his. At first it was weird to watch out for someone so much older than us, but he stood up for us every chance he got, and somehow, together, our ordinary classroom discussions became outlets for us to be ourselves: to give voice to the dreams and hopes that had miraculously survived not just high school, but high school under all this.

(Continue Reading…)

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Cast of Wonders 657: Plutopalooza

First published in Nature Futures, 13 March 2024

End of the world

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 13:11 — 18.1MB)

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Plutopalooza

by Gretchen Tessmer

Tess and Gemma have been camped out on their tartan picnic blanket for days already and they plan on staying until the very end…of the concert or the world, whichever happens first. Smart money is on the latter. The way those lads are going at their bass lines and anthems up on stage, they’re in this until the lights go out for good. (Continue Reading…)

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Cast of Wonders 656: Unconventionally Bound

Cast of Wonders 656: Unconventionally Bound is a Cast of Wonders original.

Aftermath of a fire

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 14:08 — 19.4MB)

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Unconventionally Bound

by Açai Sparrow

With ash-stained gloves, I ease another book free of the charred shelf. Deckle sneezes at the burnt leather, but she guided me to this one for a reason. Despite the sorry state of the cover, the pages look to be mostly intact.

The next book is much worse off, and I can barely identify it. Still, I can feel Deckle’s certainty through our bond. One of next year’s students will need it.

I nearly trip over the book after that; it must have fallen at some point. It takes a bit of doing to retrieve it, Deckle tucking herself under my arm as I lower myself to the floor. The edges of her scales leave raised red lines on my skin. They’ve been getting sharper; I should probably get around to getting a reinforced sleeve soon. The book’s cover crumbles a little when I pick it up, and I get the feeling some of the pages are damaged, but none fall out, so it can probably be repaired. As inappropriate as it may be, I’m excited by the task ahead. It will be refreshing, compared to assembling new covers or making whole replacement copies. (Continue Reading…)

Announcing our call for submissions for Banned Books Week 2025!

Every year in September, Cast of Wonders celebrates Banned Books Week, an annual international event celebrating the freedom to read and raising awareness of the immense social value of free and open access to information.

Free a book butterflies freedom illustration

Joy that Sustains

 

It’s all too easy to doom-scroll these days. The world is facing a climate emergency amidst a global rise in fascism and prejudice.

For Banned Books Week 2025, we want to see stories of irrepressible joy. Show us the sparks that cannot be extinguished, the many facets of humanity in all its splendour. We are looking for stories that showcase the hopefulness and power of diverse voices, stories of music in dark times, stories that are unapologetic and inspiring.

At Cast of Wonders, we welcome stories that portray the full spectrum of human experience. We don’t challenge stories; we want stories to challenge us! Cast of Wonders looks for stories that evoke a sense of wonder, have deep emotional resonance, and have something unreal about them. We aim for a 12-17 age range: that means sophisticated, non-condescending stories with wide appeal, and without gratuitous or explicit sex, violence, or pervasive obscene language.

Preference for this submission window is under 5,000 words with an absolute limit of 6,000 words. Flash submissions under 1.5k are also very welcome!

Submissions must adhere to Cast of Wonders guidelines, and our standard rates apply (8c/word for original fiction, $20/$100 for reprints depending on length).  Submissions will be accepted from May 15-31 through our Moksha Portal – we can’t wait to read what you send in!

https://escapeartists.moksha.io/publication/cast-of-wonders/banned-books-week-2025/submit

Image by Alexa from Pixabay

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Cast of Wonders 627: The Restaurant of Object Permanence (Staff Picks 2024)

First published in Diabolical Plots, April 2024, and as Cast of Wonders 604 in September 2024

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 15:29 — 21.3MB)

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The Restaurant of Object Permanence

by Beth Goder

Kazia files a folder of correspondence and closes the manuscript box. She leaves the archives as the sun is setting. Her head is filled with the collection she is processing, the papers of Elgar T. Bryce, noted American biologist. For eleven years, she has worked as an archivist, arranging and describing the papers of scientists, economists, and professors. She loves the quiet of the archives, the way folders line up in a processed box, tangible history in her hands.

Outside the archives, there’s a strange flyer on the bulletin board. The first thing she notices is the paper, a small blue square, probably acidic, attached to the board by the thin metal line of a staple not yet turned to rust. It’s an invitation to the Restaurant of Object Permanence. To go, one is instructed to eat the flyer.

She pulls the paper from the board and swallows it in one bite. (Continue Reading…)

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Cast of Wonders 624: My Mother’s Voice and the Shadow (Staff Picks 2024)

Colonialism; Generational Trauma

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 44:32 — 61.2MB)

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My Mother’s Voice and the Shadow

by A. W. Prihandita

I pressed my palm onto my chest and said, “Marie.”

I pointed at my mother, took a deep breath and braved her abyssal eyes, asking, “And you? What is your name, Mother?”

I shouldn’t have been in her room, but my father was away, and I was a curious child. I stood in quiet trepidation and waited to know her.

She towered over me, shadow-like in the dark, but by a sliver of moonlight I could see the empty, crooked smile on her lips. It made me shiver—it always did. It looked like the painted simper of a porcelain doll, with eyes too wide and skin too white—except my mother’s skin was dark and wrinkly like shrunken leather. Her pitch-black eyes were an echoing emptiness, a starless midnight sky to fall into, with no thoughts to catch you, only darkness.

My mother was mute and feeble-minded—or so my father said. I would’ve believed him until the end of my days, had the shadow not shown me otherwise. (Continue Reading…)