Posts Tagged ‘Rural Fantasy’

cornfield, oak tree, blue sky with water ripples on it

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Cast of Wonder 665: A Siren Stranded in a Sea of Grass

Cast of Wonder 665: A Siren Stranded in a Sea of Grass is a Cast of Wonders original.

Content note: transphobia and queerphobia, family intolerance

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:39 — 36.6MB)

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Show Notes

Episode art adapted from an image by Ralf Kunze from Pixabay

Some links: The Trevor Project // Stonewall // Good Law Project support links // Global Action for Trans Equality

A Siren Stranded in a Sea of Grass

by Courtney Farr

1. Sowing

The Great Plains can be disorientatingly flat, feeling more akin to the distant oceans than to the forests or mountains of neighboring states. In a tiny oasis anchored by a gnarled old bur oak, two friends lay on a plaid blanket, the ripening wheat spreading out from them as far as the eye could see. The tree once identified the border between two fields, before GPS, satellites and computer mapping rendered the old markers unnecessary.

“I thought sirens lived in the sea?” the farm boy asked his companion. (Continue Reading…)

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Cast of Wonders 483: Armed With Such Stories, I Roamed Into The Woods (Staff Picks 2021)

Original published as Cast of Wonders Episode 456 on June 13, 2021

Multiple profanities

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 46:30 — 43.2MB)

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Armed With Such Stories, I Roamed Into The Woods

by Evan Marcroft

Never trust a wolf’s promise, Atticus, my mother once told me. Remember the tale of Smiling John and Baron Icepelt. They lie between fangs, and their promises will only ever lead you into their belly. She was full of such morsels of wisdom. There was a fable for every lesson I should know. Not all pertained to talking wolves, but this was most relevant to my task. Remember how Smiling John escaped. If you should find a wolf at your heels, throw meat behind you. Wolves are clever but lazy creatures. They will stop for the easier meal.

Armed with such stories, I roamed into the woods to save her life. (Continue Reading…)

Genres: ,

Cast of Wonders 456: Armed With Such Stories, I Roamed Into The Woods

Cast of Wonders 456: Armed With Such Stories, I Roamed Into The Woods is a Cast of Wonders original.

Multiple profanities

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 44:09 — 40.9MB)

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Armed With Such Stories, I Roamed Into The Woods

by Evan Marcroft

Never trust a wolf’s promise, Atticus, my mother once told me. Remember the tale of Smiling John and Baron Icepelt. They lie between fangs, and their promises will only ever lead you into their belly. She was full of such morsels of wisdom. There was a fable for every lesson I should know. Not all pertained to talking wolves, but this was most relevant to my task. Remember how Smiling John escaped. If you should find a wolf at your heels, throw meat behind you. Wolves are clever but lazy creatures. They will stop for the easier meal.

Armed with such stories, I roamed into the woods to save her life. (Continue Reading…)

Genres: , , ,

Cast of Wonders 332: The Good, the Bad, and the Utahraptor (Dinovember)

Cast of Wonders 332: The Good, the Bad, and the Utahraptor (Dinovember) is a Cast of Wonders original.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 16:12 — 16.7MB)

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The Good, the Bad, and the Utahraptor

by Jennifer Lee Rossman

No one could say for sure exactly when the dinosaurs started appearing outside the little mining town of Hell Creek, nor where they’d come from. Rumors of cattle found dead with long slashes across their hides went back to the 1850s, but the raptors had been showing up more often in the last few decades, even coming into town when food got scarce.

People said they came from under the ground, down from the depths of Hell itself, and that the miners’ dynamite woke ’em up. Rosita’s abuela said they were descended from some kind of feathered lizard god.

Rosita didn’t particularly care about any of that. She just wanted to ride one.

(Continue Reading…)