Posts Tagged ‘Young Adult fiction’

2014 Parsec Finalists!

The 2014 Parsec finalists have been announced, and Cast of Wonders has again made the cut! This year we’re finalists in two categories:

Best Speculative Fiction Story: Long Form

Broken by Cedric Johnson and Veronica Giguere
Camp Myth: Phoenix Watching by Chris Lewis Carter (from Cast of Wonders)
Fire on the Mound by William J. Meyer
The Guild of the Cowry Catchers, Book 5: Shores beyond the World by Abigail Hilton
Secret World Chronicle by Mercedes Lackey, Dennis Lee, Cody Martin, Larry Dixon, and Veronica Giguere
Tales of the Left Hand, Book 3 by John Meagher

Best Speculative Fiction Magazine or Anthology Podcast

Cast of Wonders edited by Marguerite Kenner
The NoSleep Podcast edited by David Cummings
Pseudopod edited by Shawn M. Garrett
Seminar: An Original Anthology Show edited by Pendant Productions
Toasted Cake edited by Tina Connolly

Congratulations to all the finalists, and especially Cast of Wonders alumns Tina Connolly and Veronica Giguere, and our good friends at Pseudopod!

The winners will be announced August 31 at DragonCon.

Genres:

Cast of Wonders 130: The Phobos Monolith

Cast of Wonders 130: The Phobos Monolith is a Cast of Wonders original.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 43:03 — 39.4MB)

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The Phobos Monolith

by Preston Dennett

True to her nature, Vasia ran without fear or caution across the Martian landscape.  She leaped in huge graceful arcs that any dancer would envy. Naira did her best to keep up, but because of legs, and she quickly fell behind.  How she wished she could rid herself of the cursed robo-walker that encased her legs so she could run like Vasia. Her sister’s body was strong and healthy.  Naira, unfortunately, wasn’t as lucky. It was a miracle that their parents had even let them outside, considering how protective they were.

“Hurry up, Naira!” Vasia yelled.  “Wait ‘til you see. It’s just a little farther.”

Naira huffed along at a steady pace.  Vasia wanted to show her a patch of crystals she had found.  They would, Vasia said, make a nice addition to their collection.

Seeing that Naira was catching up, Vasia turned and began running again.

Naira watched as her sister soared upwards.  Then she landed and disappeared into the ground.  A small puff of dust geysered upwards and settled instantly.

“Vasia!”

Naira increased her pace and knelt down where her sister had disappeared.  There it was: a small black hole in the ground, just large enough to swallow Vasia.
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Camp Myth RPG Receives ENnie Nomination!

Congratulations to Chris Lewis Carter and the Camp Myth RPG for making the ENnie Award short list in the Best Family Game category!

The ENnies are a series of fan-created awards for tabletop RPGs given every year at GenCon in Indianapolis.

Good luck, Chris!! Felix, Argee and Moxie are rooting for you!

Genres:

Cast of Wonders 128: Robots Don’t Cry

Cast of Wonders 128: Robots Don’t Cry is a Cast of Wonders original.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 28:42 — 26.3MB)

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Robots Don’t Cry

by George Edwards

I walked alone down a road with farms on all sides, cowboy hat on my head.

“Where am I Marco Polo?” I knew where I was, of course, but Marco Polo could see better.

He fed me all the data he could. He was one of the few satellites still orbiting earth after years of neglect.

“Thank you sir,” I said after his transmission ended. He gave me my exact location. I walked for hours.

A pick-up truck rambled up the road behind me, an odd noise for times like these. I stuck my thumb out.

The truck slowed and cracked its window. A grizzled old man was behind the wheel said, “Where ya headed?”

Using the friendliest voice in my bank I replied, “East, sir, to Auburn.”

He leaned over and opened his door for me. “Hop in,” he said.

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Genres:

Cast of Wonders 127: Learning the Game

Originally published in Sidekicks! (2013).

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 22:57 — 21.0MB)

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Learning the Game

by Michael Haynes

The man sitting at my left, Parl, groaned a curse while the stool to my right cooled. I’d be cursing, too, if my luck had been as bad as his. The stack of five-khorr coins he’d started with had shrunk to half its size in the short while we’d been sitting together.

I glanced over my shoulder. No one was walking our way through the bar—one of dozens like it in the frontier towns of the Jandar nations.

“That your whole bankroll?”

He shot me the “stupid girl” look I knew far too well. “Of course not.”

I nodded and pulled out a handful of twenty-khorr coins. As Parl’s eyes widened, I took another quick look around the room before leaning in toward him. “Here’s what we do. If I’m playing heads, I’ll cover the coin with both hands. Tails, with just one.” I mimed covering a coin with only my left hand. “Got it?”

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Cast of Wonders 126: The Perfect Prom

Cast of Wonders 126: The Perfect Prom is a Cast of Wonders original.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 18:48 — 17.2MB)

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The Perfect Prom

by Kat Otis

Everything was going perfectly.  My prom dress was a shimmery hunter-green ballgown that matched my eyes and I’d spent over an hour at the salon, getting my usually frizzy red hair tamed into elegant ringlets.  Theo’s jaw actually dropped at his first glimpse of my transformation from scruffy tomboy to fairy-tale princess. We were officially going together as friends, but he was as flatteringly attentive as a real date all throughout dinner and the dancing that followed.  A few people even proclaimed us a “cute couple.”

In short, it was as magical a senior prom as any girl could want, right up until the moment the prom queen spontaneously combusted.

Chaos ensued.
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Genres:

Cast of Wonders 125: The Clasp

Originally published in Daily Science Fiction, December 2013.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 13:48 — 12.6MB)

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The Clasp

by Jarod K. Anderson

Our tribe didn’t have a word for the huge, winged race of reptiles who shared the cliff-faces with us. They were just “The Clasp.” Same as us. One tribe. One name. One shared livelihood as old as the great butte.

When I was young boy, before I knew better, I asked my grandmother if we were pretending to be like the big, scaly tribesmen or if they were pretending to be like us. After all, we didn’t look anything alike. When I finally made her understand my question, I hated the way she looked at me, like she’d tasted something bitter.

“There’s no ‘they’ or ‘us,’” she said. “We eat the same plants and insects, don’t we? We drink the same water, don’t we? All The Clasp warms our blood on the southern face and shelters from storms in the red caverns, eh?”

As we spoke, I remember a big male, in the gray raggedness of his shed, ambled along the ceiling of the cave where we sat. A curled sheet of semi-translucent skin fell between us, but I knew better than to mention the difference. I had learned. We would all be the same through sheer will and stubbornness.
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Genres:

Cast of Wonders 124: Old People Rules

Cast of Wonders 124: Old People Rules is a Cast of Wonders original.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 31:50 — 29.1MB)

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Old People Rules

by Holly Schofield

So I’ve figured it out. There are eight rules for old people.

Rule #1: Old people try too hard

I didn’t think anything was wrong until Milanda hit ‘upload’. The app’s progress bar had crept almost all the way across the hologram before I noticed the target website was Dad’s.

The icon I’d designed, a grinning 3-D dragon, began blinking its large eyes, showing my app had activated my spyware.

“Hey, it really worked. Uber-crystal, Fran.” Milanda said. She shoved back her chair and turned to face me.

I was sprawled on her bed, painting my nails. “Swing Me Hard, Girl” by BlueLulz surrounded us—Milanda’s new bedroom wall paint, with  nano-speakers embedded right in, was super-crystal. I’d love to design something like that. Some day.

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Cast of Wonders 123: Taxidermy and Other Dangerous Professions

Originally published as “Heaven’s Lot” in Not One of Us.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 18:20 — 16.8MB)

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Show Notes

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

Taxidermy and Other Dangerous Professions

by J.R. Johnson

By late afternoon the day was hot, hot and hot, my feet burning up through flimsy red canvas shoes. My skin too, even with its built-in mocha café au lait sunscreen, out all day with no protection but a nondescript outfit topped with my stifling jean jacket. I kept that between me and prying eyes, always.

The last of my water went down warm and barely dented the void in my stomach. A police chopper flew overhead but I didn’t look up, just hunched deeper into my jacket before turning into the Joe’s Hot Dog Heaven parking lot. I was scared and running, sure, but the cops weren’t looking for me. No one was.

Aging picnic tables crouched at the edge of the lot were splintered and stained, but still looked more welcoming than the street. Crumpled napkins and used cups littered the gravel under my feet but the place felt safe enough. We used it as an after-school refuge when classes were on. The owner kept the place free from the worst trash; you wouldn’t step on a needle here. I needed shelter and this place, surrounded by dust and wild day lilies, was as close as I would get. Settling against the shaded wall at the back of the lot with relief, I closed my eyes against the day. Lord, my feet hurt.

“Come with us.”
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Genres:

Cast of Wonders 122: Sundae

Originally published as a Kindle eBook.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 39:43 — 36.4MB)

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Sundae

by Matt Wallace

The old woman in the wheelchair has a brutal face and hands as soft as the mother of all children.

“You will be more than a warrior, little one,” she whispers in German, her delicate and wrinkled fingertips sewing a pressed metal button into his left ear. “You will be a guardian. You will protect more than tender flesh and frail bodies. You will be the sentinel that stands between the darkness and innocence itself.”

With eyes made of glass and wood he sees her thin, withered lips form the words. He cannot hear her; his ears, even the one with the signature button, were not made to hear, just as his mouth was not made to speak. However the small stuffed bear finds he understands her; the meaning of her words, if not the words themselves.

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Genres:

Cast of Wonders 121: Little Wonders 5 – Trope Twists

Cast of Wonders 121: Little Wonders 5 – Trope Twists is a Cast of Wonders original.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 34:13 — 31.3MB)

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Show Notes

This is Little Wonders, our collection episodes featuring flash fiction and poetry centered around a theme. This episode we bring you the conclusion of our flash fiction month: Trope Twists!

 

The Hero
By Jessica Holscher

Down a desolate and lonely dirt road, a young man walked toward the horizon.  With a sword at his back, he traveled for destiny. The famed fortune teller of the town he’d just left, Madam Mystic, told him he would defeat the three headed dragon and save the princess.  Without a moment’s hesitation, he headed for the beast to save the missing damsel.

Suddenly, a rustling caught his attention.  Surely, he couldn’t have already reached the monster.  He readied his sword and stood firm. The rustling grew louder and a female child emerged from the bush.

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