PodCastle 379: The Truth About Owls

Show Notes

Rated PG

Winner of the 2015 Locus Award for Best Short Story.  Reprinted in Strange Horizons (January 2015) and Jonathan Strahan’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year vol. 9 (May 2015).


The Truth About Owls

by Amal El-Mohtar

Owls have eyes that match the skies they hunt through. Amber-eyed owls hunt at dawn or dusk; golden-eyed owls hunt during the day; black-eyed owls hunt at night.

No one knows why this is.

Anisa’s eyes are black, and she no longer hates them. She used to wish for eyes the color of her father’s, the beautiful pale green-blue that people were always startled to see in a brown face. But she likes, now, having eyes and hair of a color those same people find frightening.

About the Author

Amal El-Mohtar

Amal El-Mohtar photo

Amal El-Mohtar writes fiction, poetry, and criticism. She won the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus Awards for her short story “Seasons of Glass and Iron” and again for her novella This Is How You Lose the Time War, written with Max Gladstone, which also won the BSFA and Aurora awards, became a New York Times bestseller, and has been translated into over ten languages. Her reviews and articles have appeared in the NYT and on NPR Books. The River Has Roots, her solo debut, is out now from Tordotcom Publishing. She lives in Ottawa, Canada. Online at: amalelmohtar.com.

Find more by Amal El-Mohtar

Amal El-Mohtar photo
Elsewhere

About the Narrator

Amal El-Mohtar

Amal El-Mohtar photo

Amal El-Mohtar writes fiction, poetry, and criticism. She won the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus Awards for her short story “Seasons of Glass and Iron” and again for her novella This Is How You Lose the Time War, written with Max Gladstone, which also won the BSFA and Aurora awards, became a New York Times bestseller, and has been translated into over ten languages. Her reviews and articles have appeared in the NYT and on NPR Books. The River Has Roots, her solo debut, is out now from Tordotcom Publishing. She lives in Ottawa, Canada. Online at: amalelmohtar.com.

Find more by Amal El-Mohtar

Amal El-Mohtar photo
Elsewhere