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PodCastle 430: Thundergod in Therapy

Originally published in Galaxy’s Edge, Jan 1, 2016.

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Show Notes

Rated R (for language).

Thundergod in Therapy

by Effie Seiberg

Zeus sat on his shitty beige sofa in his shitty beige condo in his shitty beige retirement community. This was what the Court-appointed therapist had recommended—to think of this parole as a fresh start, and to enjoy retirement on Earth. Everything around him was fucking beige except for the fake plant from Ikea, which was a mocking shade of unnatural green. He could imagine the smug grin his judge would have if she’d seen this—

But no, he would give this a fair try. He’d promised Dr. Brinkman (formerly Terminus, the Roman god of boundaries) that he would.

(Continue Reading…)

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PodCastle 429: Wolfy Things

PodCastle 429: Wolfy Things is a PodCastle original.

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Show Notes

Rated R.

Wolfy Things

by Erin Roberts

 

Tonight, me and Lee gonna kill the wolf. Been digging a pit out in the woods all summer, filling it up with wolfsbane and sharp rocks big as our heads, covering it up with leaves so wolfy eyes can’t tell it’s there. Lee even snatched a whole chicken outta his Pa’s coop, snapped its neck and threw it on the pile like some kinda wolf Christmas come early. Wolf just has to go sniffing over by the edge and we give a good push and we’ll be Nicky and Lee, honest-to-God wolf-killers.

(Continue Reading…)

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Artemis Rising 3

Artemis Rising 2

During the month of September, PodCastle will be looking for submissions to celebrate ARTEMIS RISING, a special month-long event across the Escape Artists podcasts featuring stories by women and nonbinary authors in genre fiction.

Stepping in as guest editor for our third annual ARTEMIS RISING event is PodCastle assistant editor Khaalidah Muhammad-Ali!

Summary

  • Payment at $0.06 per word. Please see our general submission guidelines for details of the rights we purchase and our sample contracts.
  • Original stories only.
  • Word count: 2000 – 6000 words.
  • Submit using Standard Manuscript Format. We accept files in .odt, .rtf, .docx or .doc format (no PDFs).
  • No multiple submissions.
  • No simultaneous submissions.
  • Submission window runs September 1-30, 2016.

Who Can Submit

Anyone who identifies as a woman, to whatever degree that they do. Nonbinary authors are also welcome and encouraged to submit stories.

As always, we at PodCastle strongly encourage submissions from people of backgrounds that have been historically underrepresented or excluded from traditional fantasy fiction, including, but not limited to, people of color, LGBTQ authors, persons with disabilities, members of religious minorities, and people from outside the United States. Our goal is to publish fantasy that reflects the diversity of the human race, so we strongly encourage submissions from these or any other underrepresented groups.

What to Submit

Send in your best original fantasy fiction between 2,000 – 6,000 words.

You can send PodCastle one submission for ARTEMIS RISING. If we have another story under consideration already in the general submissions queue, we’d be happy to consider an additional story for ARTEMIS RISING.

While we’ll be accepting a limited number of stories for ARTEMIS RISING, all stories will be considered for regular PodCastle too.

How to Submit

Start writing now, and keep an eye out for a special ARTEMIS RISING Submittable portal. Submissions will be open for the month of September. 

Thanks, and we look forward to reading your stories!

 

Khaalidah Muhammad-Ali, Guest Editor

And the PodCastle team

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PodCastle 428: Madame Félidé Elopes

PodCastle 428: Madame Félidé Elopes is a PodCastle original.

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Show Notes

Rated PG

This story was written for a contest, and was based on an original painting by Yekaterina Yeliseeva.

This is this story’s first English publication. Click here to find the original story in Russian.

Madame Félidé Elopes

by K. A. Teryna translated by Anatoly Belilovsky

1.  Madame Félidé and the Smile Merchants

On Friday Madame Félidé bought all the smiles the local merchants had for sale. Merry and sad, shy and modest, childlike and old, tender, happy, polite, ugly, warm, soft, villainous, ironic, open, timid, grudging, obsequious—every single one. Shopkeepers dug through their deepest cellars to find silly grins that rarely sold and usually gathered dust amid bits of obsolete gossip and jokes peeled off the floor after they had fallen flat. She emptied the display cases of fleeting smiles and gullible smiles and especially made sure to acquire every single sincere smile in the entire town. She also bought two ounces of contagious laughter and half a pound of good cheer. For change, the sales clerk gave her a tulle sachet full of pointed double entendres.

(Continue Reading…)

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PodCastle 427: Squalor and Sympathy

First published in Writers of the Future volume 32, May 2016.

 

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Show Notes

Rated PG-13

Squalor and Sympathy

by Matt Dovey

Anna concentrated on the cold, on the freezing water around her feet and the bruising sensation in her toes. So cold. So cold. So cold, she thought. A prickling warmth like pins and needles crackled inside her feet. It coursed through her body to her clenched hands and into the lead alloy handles of the cotton loom. Each thought of cold! kindled a fresh surge of heat inside and pushed the shuttle across the weave in a new burst of power. Anna’s unfocused eyes rested on the woven cotton feeding out of the back of the machine. It looks so warm.

(Continue Reading…)

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PodCastle 426: Sweeter than Lead

PodCastle 426: Sweeter than Lead is a PodCastle original.

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Show Notes

Rated PG

Sweeter than Lead

by Benjamin C. Kinney

I stood atop the wall and stared at the shifting black towers of the Nameless City, as if this time I might spot the shadows of its bygone masters. I flexed my toes against the rampart’s top, the basalt as cold and solid as ever. Only the wall and my vigilance held the City in check, but one of those would not last. Two months remained until my mandated retirement: the end of my prophecies, the end of my power.

(Continue Reading…)

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PodCastle 425: Flash Fiction Extravaganza! Transformations

PodCastle 425: Flash Fiction Extravaganza! Transformations is a PodCastle original.

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Show Notes

Rated PG-13

“Girl in Blue Dress (1881)” by Sunil Patel.
Read by Khaalidah Muhammad-Ali.

First appeared in Fantastic Stories of the Imagination.

Her dress is composed of blues from ultramarine to cerulean, a cascade of hues resolving into one. She stands askew, her expression unreadable, her mouth a blur. The colors in her dress have not faded but her name has. He asked for it, once, but he did not write it down.

Click here to continue reading.

“Mirabilis” by  Shannon Peavey.
Read by Jen R. Albert.

A PodCastle original!

No one’s really seen a girl turn to glass. It’s one of those things journalists make up when they’re bored, like the knockout game or the Russian heroin that rots your skin. They show these pictures of sick-pretty starving girls on the evening news, girls with slatted ribs and fierce eyes, and my mama clicks her tongue and I change the channel.

Meanwhile, Zola eats none of her peas.

Click here to continue reading.

“Portrait of My Wife as a Boat” by Samantha Murray
Read by Graeme Dunlop.

First appeared in Flash Fiction Online.

She smells of linseed, of citrus, the oil that she rubs into all of the little tiny cracks in her face. When she leaves she kisses me and I taste the sea.

Click here to continue reading.

 

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PodCastle 424: Betty and the Squelchy Saurus

First published in Fireside Magazine, Issue 28.

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Show Notes

Rated PG.

Betty and the Squelchy Saurus

by Caroline M. Yoachim

Betty was hanging wet towels on the clothesline when a faded blue Plymouth Roadking came up the drive. Someone had donated the car to the Six Sisters orphanage back in 1952, and Sister Mary Margaret was the only nun who knew how to drive it.

A new girl got out of the car–maybe five years old, with brown hair and lots of freckles. Skittish little thing, probably terrified of monsters. It’d be no problem getting her to follow the rules. Betty hung the last towel and wiped her hands on her skirt.

“Since you’re done, you may show Catherine around the orphanage,” Sister Mary Margaret said.

“Yes, Sister.” Betty grabbed Catherine’s hand and pulled her inside. “Come on. You’ll be sleeping on the third floor, but you gotta learn the rules first.”

(Continue Reading…)

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PodCastle 423: The Gold Silkworm

First published in Fantasy Magazine.

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Show Notes

Rated PG-13

The Gold Silkworm

by Tony Pi

When I first became keeper of the Spirit of Grass, she and I made a pact to never turn away one in need, whether they be rich or poor. Madame Ke was one of the rich.

She had heard of my skills in medicine from her sister, and asked if I would come to the Garden of Timely Rains. I accepted the invitation and arrived in the early afternoon, when the high sun gave glow to the garden pond and terraces. A servant escorted me to the Pavilion for Tasting Autumn Pears where a woman in her thirties awaited me.

(Continue Reading…)

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PodCastle Submissions Reopening

We have pried open the jaws of our submissions portal once again and it’s hungry for more of your fantastic stories! If you’ve got a fantasy short story you’d like us to read, please take a look at our guidelines then visit our submissions portal to submit. We accept both original fiction and reprints under 6,000 words.

We’re looking forward to reading your work. Happy Submitting!

Best,

Graeme Dunlop and Jen R. Albert, PodCastle Co-Editors

and the editorial team