Posts Tagged ‘Tanja Milojevic’

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Cast of Wonders 625: The Game of Mao (Staff Picks 2024)

First published as Cast of Wonders 587, May 2024

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 23:56 — 32.9MB)

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The Game of Mao

by Emma Victoria

The Game of Mao has only one rule: don’t explain the rules to the game of Mao.

It’s the only rule we may be told — the rest are clouded in secrecy and it is up to us to figure them out through trial and error. We must follow this set of ambiguous rules exactly, without knowing what they are. There are, in fact, so many rules that many times they go forgotten; it is impossible to memorize them all, so we only remember the common ones, the ones that carry the most serious implications, the ones we’ve decoded after years of experiments.

Today is a Tuesday, which means the rule of Tuesday applies: you cannot walk on sidewalks, all purchases must be made in dimes, and hats must be worn at all times.

(Continue Reading…)

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Cast of Wonders 587: The Game of Mao

Cast of Wonders 587: The Game of Mao is a Cast of Wonders original.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 24:44 — 34.0MB)

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The Game of Mao

by Emma Victoria

The Game of Mao has only one rule: don’t explain the rules to the game of Mao.

It’s the only rule we may be told — the rest are clouded in secrecy and it is up to us to figure them out through trial and error. We must follow this set of ambiguous rules exactly, without knowing what they are. There are, in fact, so many rules that many times they go forgotten; it is impossible to memorize them all, so we only remember the common ones, the ones that carry the most serious implications, the ones we’ve decoded after years of experiments.

Today is a Tuesday, which means the rule of Tuesday applies: you cannot walk on sidewalks, all purchases must be made in dimes, and hats must be worn at all times.

(Continue Reading…)

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Cast of Wonders 518: Simons, Far and Near (Staff Picks 2022)

Originally broadcast as Cast of Wonders 485, 6th February 2022

Character death; Radiation sickness

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 48:31 — 68.0MB)

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Simons, Far and Near

by Ana Gardner

Days after a solar hurricane fried Western Europe, nations across the world gathered their brightest grade-schoolers, and they launched us into space with promises of glory and cake.

Solar storms were worsening ahead of schedule, said government men in wrinkled suits, as they pulled us from our underground shelters and stuffed us into armored tanks. The exodus ships, forced to launch early, weren’t ready to sustain endless space travel. They’d need places to land, shelters for their thousands of passengers, far from our ever-deadlier sun.

And someone had to travel on ahead and build those shelters.

Fortunately, we learned as we marched up the launch ramp, Earth had a few shuttles ready for immediate departure. Sure, they had poor radiation shields and leaky engines, but wouldn’t you know it? Shuttle travel damaged the body worst after puberty. Kids had great odds of surviving a trip across the solar system.

‘Great odds’—those were the words they used, and they loaded us into hastily-cobbled ships and chucked us from burning Earth like spores from a coughing fungus. (Continue Reading…)

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Cast of Wonders 485: Simons, Far and Near

Cast of Wonders 485: Simons, Far and Near is a Cast of Wonders original.

Character death; Radiation sickness

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 46:52 — 43.4MB)

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

Simons, Far and Near

by Ana Gardner

Days after a solar hurricane fried Western Europe, nations across the world gathered their brightest grade-schoolers, and they launched us into space with promises of glory and cake.

Solar storms were worsening ahead of schedule, said government men in wrinkled suits, as they pulled us from our underground shelters and stuffed us into armored tanks. The exodus ships, forced to launch early, weren’t ready to sustain endless space travel. They’d need places to land, shelters for their thousands of passengers, far from our ever-deadlier sun.

And someone had to travel on ahead and build those shelters.

Fortunately, we learned as we marched up the launch ramp, Earth had a few shuttles ready for immediate departure. Sure, they had poor radiation shields and leaky engines, but wouldn’t you know it? Shuttle travel damaged the body worst after puberty. Kids had great odds of surviving a trip across the solar system.

‘Great odds’—those were the words they used, and they loaded us into hastily-cobbled ships and chucked us from burning Earth like spores from a coughing fungus. (Continue Reading…)

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Cast of Wonders 357: Little Wonders 21: 2018 Flash Fiction Contest Runners-Up

Cast of Wonders 357: Little Wonders 21: 2018 Flash Fiction Contest Runners-Up is a Cast of Wonders original.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 20:37 — 19.4MB)

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Grounded

by J. T. Nilson

“I can’t,” Sophie sulked. “I stayed out past curfew last week and I’m not allowed to go out.”

“But the gnome army marches onward!” cried Aithne, flitting in circles within Sophie’s window frame, her glowing wings a hummingbird-like blur. “The pixie tribes need our human champion to bring forth the magic. We must triumph!”

(Continue Reading…)