Posts Tagged ‘Young Adult fiction’

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Cast of Wonders 260: Contractual Obligations

Cast of Wonders 260: Contractual Obligations is a Cast of Wonders original.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 46:06 — 42.4MB)

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Show Notes

Theme music is “Appeal to Heavens” by Alexye Nov, available from Promo DJ or his Facebook page.

Contractual Obligations

by Jaime O. Mayer

Jiasi gripped the heavy skate, her eyes flicking first to the rust-spotted blade attached to the sole, then back to Emmaline, who watched her with a mischievous smile. “Maybe this is a bad idea.”

Emmaline rolled her eyes, a chuckle escaping her lips.

They sat on a lakeside bench while dozens of Valorie City’s citizens enjoyed the wintry morning. Children raced each other across the frozen surface, giving a wide berth to a pair of young men working on a broken down steamhorse midway through a sleigh ride. Jiasi recognized the Drayden coach by sound rather than sight; there was no mistaking the shrill, nasal whine of Lady Drayden as she barked orders at the men and criticized her daughter in the same breath. “Work faster! Allianne, stop waving your arms like a drunkard.”

Allianne’s response, voice light as her straw-colored hair, was inaudible as she wobbled around in a circle, arms held out for balance.

Emmaline’s lips quirked up in a smile. “A dance routine on ice? It’s an excellent idea.” She plucked the skate from Jiasi’s hands. “We just shouldn’t have said it where the Drayden Dragon could hear.”

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Cast of Wonders 259: Seer’s Salad

Cast of Wonders 259: Seer’s Salad is a Cast of Wonders original.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 24:16 — 22.4MB)

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Show Notes

Theme music is “Appeal to Heavens” by Alexye Nov, available from Promo DJ or his Facebook page.

Seer’s Salad

by Barbara A. Barnett

There would be no snatching my laptop back from Diya. She slapped my hand every time I reached across the café table for it. I had been a keystroke away from deleting the amateur-hour comic panels cluttering up my hard drive–months of wasted effort that Diya was now inexplicably determined to keep reading. Her gaze remained glued to the screen as she shoveled forkfuls of salad from bowl to mouth.

“Tam, these are awesome,” she said, voice pitched at a chirpy, bird-like frequency. “It’s like George Romero meets Dostoyevsky meets Thelma and Louise meets an alien invasion flick.”

I shrugged. As much as I wanted to believe I had enough talent to create a successful webcomic, it was hard to take Diya’s encouragement seriously. I had seen her get equally excited over blueberry pancakes, after all.

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Where to find Cast of Wonders in Helsinki

Hello all! If you’ll be taking part in the Worldcon 75 festivities next week, here’s where you can find Marguerite, Katherine and Jeremy. Come say hello!

EA Fan Meet-up

Wednesday at 3 p.m. in the fan lounge

 

 

 

 

 

Jeremy Carter

Non-Fiction Podcasts (Thursday at 1 p.m. in 216)

Clouds on the Horizon: Where Physics Might Be Changing (Saturday at 1 p.m. in 102)

 

 

 

 

 

Katherine Inskip

Clouds on the Horizon: Where Physics Might Be Changing (Saturday at 1 p.m. in 102)

 

 

 

Marguerite Kenner

Asexuality in YA (Thursday at 11 a.m. in 203a)

Countering Surveillance with Souseveillance (Saturday at 4 p.m. in 207)

Oral Storytelling on Audio (Sunday at 1 p.m. in 215)

 

 

 

Hope to see you in Helsinki!

Wanna Read Some Stories?

We’re recruiting! We’re looking to add additional associate editors (also referred to as slush readers) to our team.

Cast of Wonders is a SFWA short fiction market. We’re looking for associate editors who can read and comment upon at least five stories a week during three to four reading periods spread throughout the year. You’ll be asked to help us select engaging, diverse, well-written and thought-provoking stories from our unsolicited submissions queue. The most successful slushers will be familiar with our work and be able to identify a good fit. It helps if you’re familiar with our episodes and our submission guidelines. If selected, you will still be able to submit to Cast of Wonders (and any other Escape Artists podcast).

We’re dedicated to publishing fiction that reflects the entire spectrum of the human experience. We acknowledge the realities of unconscious bias and make our best effort to account for it during our review process, and expect every one of our associate editors to do the same. As an intersectional feminist publication, we want to explore the full breadth of genre fiction and dispel the assumption that ‘YA’ means ‘stories for teen girls’.

This is an unpaid, volunteer position. However we take lowering the barriers to publication and experience seriously, and do our best to help associate editors gain experience. We will happily write letters of recommendation or references for both academic and employment applications for our readers.

EA is a tight-knit, welcoming and inclusive group. We encourage you to ask around about us and our reputation, or contact us directly if you have any questions.

If you would like to join our team, please complete our Associate Editor application form and complete the requested exercise. We will be accepting applications until Thursday, 31 August 2017.
We hope to hear from you soon!
-Marguerite Kenner, Editor
-Dani Daly and Katherine Inskip, Assistant Editors

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Cast of Wonders 258: Victory Music

Originally published in Pank Magazine (2013)

More profanity than usual

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 23:46 — 22.0MB)

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Show Notes

Mermaid UK: http://www.mermaidsuk.org.uk
The Trevor Project: http://www.thetrevorproject.org/

Theme music “Appeal to Heavens” by Alexye Nov, available from Promo DJ or his Facebook page.

Victory Music

by Daniel José Older

One of my favorite moments ever was when the boy called me an Arab and you said, “She’s Sikh, fucknut” and then when he said “Oh, like hide and go-“ you broke his nose. I heard music playing, I swear to God, and it was victory music, your music: A dusty, unflinching beat, lowdown and grinding. It didn’t matter that my family’s not even technically Sikh anymore since my parents went born-again and I’m just whatever. I smiled for days after that moment, Krys. Days.

But so much has happened since then, so much gone wrong.

After that day I found you on the hill at the edge of campus. There’s a fence that cuts right through the summit of the hill and the other side is all wilderness and you and MagD would sit against that fence and watch everybody and murmur quietly. Used to want to hang with you guys so bad before you stood up for me and I finally got the guts to walk up there and just say Hey. And then it was us three, and MagD used to hate it when we called her that but she probably loved it too, and wherever she is now she probably introduces herself that way, with that big toothy grin on her that looks perfect and so out of place on her serious face.

Anyway, now you’re dead.

Is what they told me. That you died. I’m not trying to rub it in: I need to say it again and again so it feels true finally, because it’s been months and I still don’t believe it. In part because you were SO alive, so flesh and blood, and the thought of you not is just…it doesn’t fit. But mostly I don’t believe it because I still feel you, my friend, all around me. And anyway, that’s what I’m getting at, I wanted to tell you that you’ve saved my life at least twice. And once was after you died.

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Cast of Wonders 257: Little Wonders 13: Death

Cast of Wonders 257: Little Wonders 13: Death is a Cast of Wonders original.

• Content Warning: Grief

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 54:09 — 50.3MB)

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Show Notes

The Little Wonders theme “Neversus” is by Alexye Nov, available from Promo DJ or his Facebook page.

Chrysalis

by Jennifer Lee Rossman

The love of my life died on July third, 1983, at the respectable age of one hundred and nineteen. Oldest man on Earth, according to the good Doctor Hippen.

I can’t say his death came as a shock; when a man reaches that advanced an age, only the absolutely delusional would suggest he buy denture paste in bulk. Still, I hadn’t expected it to happen so suddenly.

We had just begun a thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle (always the optimist, my Edgar). One moment, he was looking for a piece of the sky, and the next, he found a piece of his very own. How convenient that his death would coincide with Lasagna Sunday, the bane of his existence.

With a heavy but unsurprised heart, I kissed him on the head and told him I would see him soon. Though a lady must never reveal her age, it’s safe to say the lease on my Earthly body was also on the verge of expiration.

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Cast of Wonders 256: Phalium Arium Ssp, Amans

Cast of Wonders 256: Phalium Arium Ssp, Amans is a Cast of Wonders original.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 13:23 — 13.1MB)

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Show Notes

Theme music is “Appeal to Heavens” by Alexye Nov, available from Promo DJ or his Facebook page.

Phalium arium ssp. anams

By Victoria Sandbrook

Nora tugged her gloves down further over her freckled wrists. Every other couple in line had linked arms, but John Reidy had not so much as inched his elbow towards her. She wasn’t sure what pained her more: the ache in her hands screaming that this parish carnival sideshow hid more magic than most or her inept suitor. The line could not move fast enough.

But nothing about this show was fast. Patrons shuffled between intricate, though fraudulent, displays: palm-sized peacocks with visible clockwork, chicken-sized dragon eggs wiggling as a hidden steam boiler hissed, monkeys that might as well have still had their old organ-grinder parts attached. Nora struggled not to roll her eyes. Dull, boring, badly engineered. And not a true cryptid to be seen. Everyone else had sighed, pointed, marveled. Only John Reidy seemed as disappointed as Nora. He’d polished his glasses, refolded his handkerchief in his pale fingers, and said “hmm,” three times.

Nora wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or insulted.

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Cast of Wonders 255: Doors

Originally published in Interzone Magazine #258 (May/June 2015)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 50:13 — 47.2MB)

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Show Notes

Theme music is “Appeal to Heavens” by Alexye Nov, available at MusicAlley.com.

Doors

by Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam

It had been three months since I’d taken my brother anywhere. The last place we’d gone together was our mother’s funeral. Since then Zack had been difficult, more so than usual, refusing to put on his shoes, shushing me when I asked him to do his chores, even screaming and pounding his fists when it was time to drive him to the recycling facility where he sorted paper as part of a program for developmentally disabled adults.

But he had agreed to visit the county fair, though in the car on the way he had bruised his knuckles knocking on the window glass, an old habit Mom and I thought we’d broken him of.

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Artemis Rising 4

March 2018 will mark the fourth year of Artemis Rising, the annual showcase of women and non-binary authors across the Escape Artists’s podcasts. This year the month of stories will be edited by Dani Daly and Katherine Inskip, with assistant editor Alexis Goble.

Submissions for original short fiction will run September 1-30, 2017, via our Submittable portal. Anyone who identifies as a woman, to whatever degree they do, and non-binary authors are welcome and encouraged to submit a story. We strongly encourage submissions from people of historically under-represented backgrounds, including people of color, LGBTQ authors, people with disabilities, members of religious minorities, and authors from outside the United States.

Our fellow EA podcasts are taking part as well! Please visit Escape Pod for science fiction, Pseudopod for horror, and PodCastle for fantasy.

Here’s a summary of details:

  • Submission window runs September 1-30.
  • Payment at $0.06 per word. Please see our general Submission Guidelines for a description of the rights we purchase and our sample contracts.
  • Original stories only.
  • Word count: 2000 – 6000 words. We’re looking for stand-alone short stories, not flash.
  • Submit using an anonymous manuscript format.
  • No multiple submissions. One story per author or group of authors.
  • No simultaneous submissions. Decisions will be finalized by November 30, 2017.

And the answers to a few FAQ:

  • If a story has been rejected by Cast of Wonders in the past, can I re-submit it for Artemis Rising?
  • A: No.
  • Can I submit a rejected Artemis Rising story to the same podcast’s general submissions?
  • A: No, because Artemis Rising editors may refer your story to the show’s regular editors at their discretion. If your story is declined, please take it as the story being declined for all purposes.
  • If a story has multiple authors, do they all have to meet the AR criteria?
  • A: Yes.
  • If I’ve already submitted an Artemis Rising story, can I submit another I wrote with a co-author to the same podcast’s Artemis Rising?
  • A: No.
  • If I have a story on submission to a podcast, can I submit a different story to that podcast’s Artemis Rising while the first one is still in the queue?
    Or vice versa?
  • A: Yes, although we don’t anticipate being open to general submissions in September 2017.
  • Can I submit a different story to each of multiple EA podcasts for Artemis Rising?
  • A: Yes! Publication on one show doesn’t preclude publication on another. We’ve had multiple authors accomplish this impressive feat in the past.
We look forward to reading your fiction!

Sincerely,
Dani Daly, Katherine Inskip, Alexis Goble,
and the entire Cast of Wonders editorial team

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Cast of Wonders 254: A Complex Filament of Light

Originally published in Anathema Magazine (April 2017)

Content Warning: Grief

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:51 — 28.5MB)

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Show Notes

Theme music is “Appeal to Heavens” by Alexye Nov, available at MusicAlley.com.

A Complex Filament of Light

by S. Qiouyi Lu

After winter, spring in Antarctica is almost pleasant, most days just barely below freezing. As you make your way back to the station, you stop and glance at the horizon—you prefer these days of twilight, the soft orange glow of sun on the horizon contrasting beautifully with the deep indigo of the sky. It’s more interesting than never ending daylight, more comforting than the long nights of winter. And it’s still enough of a distinction to create the illusion of darkness, to trick your body into maintaining a circadian rhythm.

Your snowmobile cuts through the snow and ice, kicking up flurries in your wake. As you crest another hill, the Delaney–Chen station comes into view. Your stomach grumbles—you got here just in time. You park your snowmobile out front and make your way inside, taking off your scarf and gloves in pace with your steps. You load up on cafeteria food and find a spot by the window.

Before you eat, you have to take your multivitamin. It has a chalky feeling to it and a taste that isn’t exactly pleasant. But as you swallow the pill, you remind yourself that it’s for your own good—fruit and vegetables are hard to come by in the Antarctic, and vitamin deficiency is not something you want to deal with. It’s hard enough being out here without adding health problems on top of everything.

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Cast of Wonders 253: Single Parent

Cast of Wonders 253: Single Parent is a Cast of Wonders original.

Content Warning: Grief; a few early F-bombs

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 30:49 — 29.5MB)

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Show Notes

Theme music is “Appeal to Heavens” by Alexye Nov, available from Promo DJ or his Facebook page.

Single Parent

By Sarah Gailey

The monster in my son’s closet is so fucking scary.

Here’s what happened: Jack screamed in the middle of the night and I came running because I’m his dad and that’s what dads are for. He’s been doing that for a month — screaming like someone’s in his room murdering him with a screwdriver. And even though there’s never, not even once been anyone murdering him, I couldn’t just let him scream his little head off all night. If I didn’t come running, his mom would have risen from the grave just to come and slap me upside the head.

I know what you’re thinking, but the monster in the closet is not his mom. It is not my dead wife, come back to watch over him and protect him. This isn’t that kind of a story. It’s a fucking monster, okay?

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Cast of Wonders 252: The Forty Gardens of Calliope Grey

Cast of Wonders 252: The Forty Gardens of Calliope Grey is a Cast of Wonders original.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 28:40 — 26.5MB)

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The Forty Gardens of Calliope Grey

By Aimee Ogden

In her fourth-floor apartment on Wrightwood Avenue, Calliope Grey kept forty gardens of varying size and composition. She had gardens in drawers, in old hat-boxes and mixing bowls. In the drawer that pulled out from beneath her stove, she had a desert garden of cactuses and sagebrush; in the plastic freezer box that was meant to store ice cubes, she grew bearberries and arctic moss.

Real gardens, in miniature, not models or mere toys. Calliope didn’t go out looking for them, but they’d found their way to her one by one. It had been some years since she’d discovered a new one, but she still harbored hopes every time she opened a cupboard or peered beneath the furniture. Once, she’d opened a box of cereal only to have a jumble of dirt and tangled roots go spilling into her bowl. Another time, she’d left a coffee cup out on the end table overnight and found it overflowing with a tiny raspberry bramble the next morning. It didn’t matter where they come from, only that they found their way to her. She had room in her heart for all of them, and plenty more to spare.

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