PodCastle 260: Fine Flying Things
Show Notes
Rated G
Fine Flying Things
by Adele Gardner
Frankie watched, open-mouthed, as the cats soared up into the sky.
All he could think of was Dali’s photograph, that crazy one where the
cat flew across a stream of water while Dali perched on a chair. He
ran outside.
In that little space of time, yet more cats had lifted off from earth.
They floated like furry balloons, orange and gray and tiger-striped.
Some looked scared, their claws extended to full panic, like a kitten
caught in a tree; but there was nothing to grasp in the sky. The
clouds didn’t seem to slow them down.
Others looked mildly interested, their whiskers drooping in curious
contentment. Still others seemed entranced with possibilities,
stretching their claws to snag unwary birds as they soared by.
Frankie gaped at the spectacle of cats dotting the sky like a flock of
migrating birds. As the felines swarmed through the air, he glimpsed a
familiar gray leg. By instinct, he reached up to grab the striped
appendage, just as he might have done to spare the china. The skinny
leg jerked taut, and he found himself looking up into the startled
blue eyes of his Maurice.
About the Author
Adele Gardner
Adele Gardner (they/them, Mx.) is a fiction writer & award-winning poet with a poetry collection, Halloween Hearts, from Jackanapes Press and over 475 stories, poems, art, and articles in Analog Science Fiction and Fact, Clarkesworld, Strange Horizons, PodCastle, Daily Science Fiction, and more. A pro member of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Association and the Horror Writers Association, a life member of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association and the Poetry Society of Virginia, and a graduate of the Clarion West Writers Workshop, this genderfluid, pan night owl loves libraries, samurai films, and reading comics with cats. Adele serves as literary executor for father, mentor, and namesake Delbert R. Gardner and as cochair of the 2022 Dwarf Stars Award with Greer Woodward: https://sfpoetry.com/ds/22dwarfstars.html
Learn more at http://www.gardnercastle.com.
About the Narrator
Elie Hirschman
Elie Hirschman always wanted to be a voice actor, growing up watching He-man, ThunderCats and Voltron. After recording several e-Learning, scientific and marketing projects, Elie discovered the world of audio podcasts, working with such groups as Darker Projects and Dream Realm Productions. Together with fellow actor David Ault, he started Cool Fool Productions, where they dramatize bad audio scripts with questionable results. He’s currently still active in all EA podcasts (except CatsCast) and also appears semi-regularly on the Nosleep Podcast. He doodles constantly but never saves the drawings, and likes to paint with his kids, although the amount of paint they are willing to waste drives him batty.
