Posts Tagged ‘news’

Cast of Wonders turns 15 – Submissions Call

It’s our 15th birthday this summer, and to help us celebrate it we’re opening the stage doors to birthday-themed stories!
We’ll be open from the 15-21st March.

What we’re looking for:

  • Someone’s birthday is a central feature of the story.  This doesn’t necessarily have to be the protagonist’s birthday, nor does it need to be a 15th birthday.
  • A clear element of fantasy, science fiction, or speculative horror associated with birthdays.  Yes to age- or gift-linked magic/science/horror, no to weird stuff that could just as easily occur on any other day of the year.
  • 1.5-4k in length
  • All other Cast of Wonders submission guidelines apply

We have a number of submission calls this spring – authors are welcome to submit to all of them!

“As Brittle as Granite” nominated for an Aurealis Award!

We’re thrilled to share that Matt Tighe’s “As Brittle as Granite” has been nominated for an Aurealis Award for Best YA Short Story. The Aurealis Awards are Australia’s premier speculative fiction awards, and we couldn’t be happier for Matt!

You can read or listen to Matt’s story at Cast of Wonders Episode 646 – and why not check out some of his other short fiction stories, too?

2025 Aurealis Awards Shortlist Announcement

Cast of Wonders is a finalist for Outstanding Fiction Podcast in the Ignyte Awards!

Cast of Wonders is a finalist in the Ignyte Awards in the Outstanding Fiction Podcast category – for excellence in audio performance and production for speculative fiction. We’re sharing the shortlist with LeVar Burton Reads, Old Gods of Appalachia, our sister publication Podcastle, and the Simultaneous Times Podcast.

We’re stunned and thrilled to bits to share a shortlist with such amazing shows – if you’re not familiar with any of them, go and take a listen!  Voting for the awards is open now – and there are many other brilliant nominees in the other categories as well.

Many thanks from everyone on the team for the nomination.  If you want to see what we got up to in 2023, our 2023 original fiction and Staff Pick episodes are a great place to start.

OUTSTANDING FICTION PODCAST for excellence in audio performance and production for speculative fiction PodCastle - The Podcastle Team Old Gods of Appalachia - Steve Shell and Cam Collins Cast of Wonders - The CoW Team Simultaneous Times Podcast (Space Cowboy Books) Levar Burton Reads

Genres: , ,

Cast of Wonders 417: Please, Stop Printing Unicorns

Originally published in The New York Times, in August 2019

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 12:05 — 11.5MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | RSS

Please, Stop Printing Unicorns

by Fran Wilde

It shouldn’t need to be said that home bioprinters are not toys. And yet, as The New York Times reported last week, Fisher Price Waterhouse will soon offer a line of kid-friendly bioprinters in bright colors.

As a parent, I understand the temptation. There’s so much possibility here for creativity, for immersive learning through technology. But caution is necessary. The moral and environmental consequences of bioprinting extend far beyond the grasp of young minds. This is a moment for modeling moral behavior for tomorrow’s leaders, not a jumping-off point for imaginative hedonism.

Making bioprinting more accessible to the public — especially to children — will be likely to lead to even worse disasters than last Friday’s blockade of the Chicago I-899 skyways off-ramp by a herd of miniature unicorns. Sure, the unicorns (whose origins are unknown) were the size of ducklings, but their appearance caused several accidents and a moral quandary. (Continue Reading…)

RSS Feed Update

Cast of Wonders will be moving its RSS feed to LibSyn at the end of October. And soon after, our episodes should be available on Spotify.

For 99% of our audience, the transition should be transparent – tech things will happen behind the scenes, and your podcatcher will continue to receive new episodes every week. If you’re using a hand-crafted podcatcher, you may need to update your feed location.

We’ll keep you posted as the change approaches.