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PodCastle 495: Shadow Man, Sack Man, Half Dark, Half Light

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Shadow Man, Sack Man, Half Dark, Half Light

By Malon Edwards

You keep running, even though you know you can’t escape the fifty-foot-tall Pogo. But you were built for this.

You are taller than all of the girls and most of the boys in your Covey Four class. Your legs are longer. Your steam-clock heart is stronger. Your determination is unmatched. Even against the rocks they throw. Even against the insults they hurl. Even when they entimide you and chase you home after school every day, all because your mother could not save their friends.

They have not caught you yet. And they never will. Because you will not let them.

(Continue Reading…)

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PodCastle 483: Thirteen Bullets

PodCastle 483: Thirteen Bullets is a PodCastle original.

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Show Notes

Rated R for adult themes

Thirteen Bullets

by Laurence Raphael Brothers

The stagecoach lurches to a halt in a clearing beside the road. Four wild-eyed black geldings rear up and whinny as the top-hatted stage driver cracks a whip over their heads.

“Nous sommes ici,” says the driver. “Cimetière. La fin de la ligne!”

The coach door slams open and the No-Good Kid clambers out, bleary-eyed, cursing, unsteady on his feet. His blond hair is tousled and mussed. He had to leave Albuquerque without his hat but it’s obvious what color it was because all the rest of his gear is white. Or it used to be white. Now it’s dingy with the dust of the journey. Not the best choice for hard travelling, but then he didn’t have much time to pack. His luggage consists mainly of card decks and empty whiskey bottles.

(Continue Reading…)

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PodCastle 482: The Family Ghost

PodCastle 482: The Family Ghost is a PodCastle original.

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Show Notes

Rated PG-13

The Family Ghost

By Rati Mehrotra

The day before she left for her husband’s village, Urmila got her dowry: a goat, two gold bangles, and the family ghost. The bangles were pretty and the goat would be useful, but what would she do with the ghost? Dirty, smelly old thing.

“Be quiet,” said her mother when she complained. “You’ll see. The ghost will be a valuable asset to you in your new life.”

“You just want to get rid of it,” said Urmila. “And you want to boast to your cousins that you gave me three things for my dowry. You’ve only given me two good things, and if I subtract the one bad thing, that leaves just one.”

Her mother grabbed her ear. “You’re not so old that I can’t give you a good thrashing.”

(Continue Reading…)

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Announcements

Greetings good people,

It is only August and we can definitively say that PodCastle has had a fantastic year in more ways than one.

We ran our third Artemis Rising in March, and showcased some of the best stories by women and non-binary authors. We had our first Eid Special with a fantastic story by Saladin Ahmed. We have added on a bright bunch of new staff. We became a SFWA-qualifying pro rate publication, and we have had a record number of submissions from some very talented writers.

Save for a couple of dates, we’ve also pretty much filled our lineup of stories for the remainder of the year. Because of this, we will be keeping general submissions closed until October. This does not include two specific open calls.

  1. August 13th through 19th we will open submissions for our Halloween special. If you have a story that you think fits, or something you’ve been ruminating over, get to work and send it to us.
  2. Submissions for our fourth Artemis Rising, slated to run March of next year, will be open during the month of September. Artemis Rising 4 will be edited by our magnificent and much beloved assistant editor Setsu Uzume.

Lastly, don’t forget to head on over to the forums to follow the voting for our Flash Fiction IV Contest.

Jen Albert and Khaalidah Muhammad-Ali, co-editors PodCastle