by Vylar Kaftan. Read by Cunning Minx. Originally appeared in Sybil’s Garage. “It has a horn,” I say, pushing my plate aside. “That makes it a unicorn.” I go to the window and stare at the sky. It smells like a storm. Clouds stack on top of each other in thick blankets. Lightning [...]

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by Sarah Monette. Read by Ann Leckie. Originally appeared in Clarkesworld. Since she was literate, she had been put to work in the fortress’s library. It was undemanding work, and she did not hate it; it gave her something to do to fill the weary hours of daylight. When she had been brought to the fortress, she had [...]

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Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett Reviewed by Bill Peters PodCastle’s very first review! It is remarkably hard to review Unseen Academicals, what Terry Pratchett says will likely be his penultimate work. Most people who?ve read Pratchett and liked it have gotten attached to him in a way they don?t to other authors. Part of this is certainly due [...]

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by Samantha Henderson. Read by Tina Connolly. Originally appeared in Helix. The mermaid barely slowed her breakneck pace as she approached and ran herself halfway up a yellow beach, belly-down and arching her back so her torso was almost upright. At the same time, she flung Cassandra casually upon the sand, half-knocking the breath out of her. Cassandra [...]

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by Garth Nix. Read by Paul Tevis. Originally appeared in Jim Baen’s Universe. “Do you ever wonder about the nature of the world, Mister Fitz?” asked the foremost of the two riders, raising the three-barred visor of his helmet so that his words might more clearly cross the several feet of space that separated him from his companion, [...]

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by Leah Bobet. Read by Mur Lafferty. Originally published in Strange Horizons. The sun slanted ever further in, pooling warm and uncomfortable at my feet as I noted the exits and matched walls to arms of the compass, itemized my situation neatly in my head. They had taken my armor. Instead I wore a long dress of white linen, [...]

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by Greg van Eekhout Read by John Meagher Extracted from “Tales From the City of Seams,” Originally Published in Polyphony 4 One day as I sat in the restaurant savoring my lunch, a man in an ivory suit came into the place. His head was as white and hairless as an eggshell, and when he spoke, every syllable [...]

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by Benjamin Rosenbaum. Read by Graeme Dunlop. Originally published in All-Star Zeppelin Adventure Stories, edited by David Moles and Jay Lake. It is true that I had not accepted Prem Ramasson?s offer of employment ? indeed, that he had not seemed to find it necessary to actually ask. It is true also that I am a man of [...]

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By Israel Zangwill. Read by Steve Anderson. Originally published in The King of Schnorrers : grotesques and fantasies. On the last day of the year the King summoned the three Princes to the Presence Chamber. And they came, the Green Prince, and the Blue Prince, and the Black Prince, and made obeisance to the Monarch, who sat in [...]

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by Kiini Ibura Salaam Read by Ann Leckie Originally published in Ideomancer It is legend how my mother kept my grandmother’s eye sockets clean with the pure white feather of a cockatoo. She often sent me to the forests to pick marigolds to stack high around Grandmother’s skull. Grandmother loved the smell of the marigolds. She told me [...]

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by Tim Pratt. Read by Cheyenne Wright. Originally Published in Strange Horizons. “I am here,” Mogrash said. “Give me the bad news.” “A child dwells in the village of Misery Chin, in the mountain provinces to the east. If allowed to grow to manhood, he will take over your empire, overthrow your ways and means, and send you from the halls of [...]

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by Cat Rambo Read by Paul Jenkins (of the Rev Up Review) Originally published in Realms of Fantasy. We were taken to a market in a city. None of us had ever seen such a place before and there were sights and sounds and smells such as I had never witnessed. The buildings were made of clay brick, [...]

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By Ben Francisco Read by Brian Lieberman Originally Published in Realms of Fantasy Before I can even ring, Uncle Gilberto opens the door and gives me a big hug and a kiss that smells of gin and menthol cigarettes.  His dog, Ganymede, barks and snuggles his head between my legs.  The cat eyes me suspiciously from the next room.  From behind [...]

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By N.K. Jemisin. Read by Rajan Khanna. Originally published in Helix. “Death is not a Gatherer’s business,” Cet said. Did the woman realize how greatly she had insulted him and all his brethren? For the first time in a very long while, he felt anger stir in his heart. “_Peace_ is our business. Sharers do that by [...]

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By Eugie Foster. Read by Melissa Bugaj. Originally published in Cricket. The maiden’s amber eyes glowed in the moonlight. A single tear glistened and rained down her moon-white face. “Don’t cry, lovely one,” Shakko barked, alarmed. The maiden lifted the sleeve of her jasmine-yellow kimono and dabbed at her eyes. “Why should I not cry?” she asked. “My champion [...]

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On the eve of the New Year, Rachel Swirsky and Dave Thompson talk about the Changing of the Guard and what’s in the works at PodCastle. An excerpt is included with the post. The full text of the metacast will be available at the forums. Feel free to extend your well wishes [...]

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By Tim Pratt Read by Steve Anderson Originally published in Realms of Fantasy. “It is an axe, Mr. Selfry,” the man said. He produced a prybar — from where, Richard wasn’t sure — and, with a great squealing and popping of nails, pried the lid off the crate. Richard left the safety of the doorway and went out [...]

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By Katherine Sparrow Read by Marguerite Croft Originally published in Best Lesbian Romance. Besides, Tucson was too hot in summer. It was so hot, way up into the hundred and tens, that the only refuge was in Betty’s pool. We stayed out there the whole hot afternoon, and when the sun went down it didn’t even get all that [...]

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by Tim Pratt Read by M.K. Hobson When she couldn’t stand it anymore, Clio, the muse of history, decided to unhitch the present from the past and make a few changes….Let the Age of Damnfool Things come, and sweep retroactively through the past, every idiot misconception made real. Rated PG: for mischievous muses

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by Marie Brennan Read by Elie Hirschman In all the fairy stories, when the hero is magically gifted with an understanding of the speech of birds, it actually does him some good.  A robin brings him a message from his true love, or a bluebird tells him about buried treasure, or a starling warns him of a [...]

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By Jason D. Wittman Read by Brian Rollins Originally published in SciFi.com (Yes, we know. We’re still pointing at it and calling it Fantasy) Hitomi waited on the sidewalk, uncomfortably aware of the police dirigibles hovering overhead.  Their hulking mass was made even more ominous by the glare of their searchlights, fueled by kerosene, panning back and forth [...]

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by Cat Rambo Read by Mur Lafferty Originally Published in Eyes Like Sky and Coal and Moonlight In order to conserve color, the governments first banned newspaper inserts, the ones where dresses and dishwashers and plastic toys and figurines of gnomes with wary smiles tumbled across glossy surfaces.  Readers faced columns of type interspersed with dour black and [...]

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by Jessica J. Lee Read by Jack Mangan Originally published in Fantasy Magazine. Ofelia was a superhero.  She told me so without reserve.  ?It?s safe for me to tell you,? she said.  ?I can sense you?re not a villain.  Besides, it would be unfair to keep it from you.  It won?t be easy, you know, being involved with [...]

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by Ann Leckie Read by Phoebe Harris Originally Published by Strange Horizons. Irris was a changed man. When he went out fishing, he didn’t spend the day drunk or asleep in the boat and then come home with nothing, the way everyone expected. Instead he made a full day’s catch early, and then picked up an axe and [...]

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by Greg van Eekhout Read by Dave Thompson Originally published in Ideomancer My ex-wife tells me on the phone that she thinks she saw a kid in her yard last night. She’s got a lot of stuff in the shed that’s worth money, like her boyfriend’s tools and some nice bikes, and she’s always going on about how [...]

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By Sarah L. Edwards Read by Bob Eccles Originally published in Beneath Ceaseless Skies CORRECTION: The original file had an error midway through, which has been corrected now. The sun had set while he?d been below?the stabbing light was the glow of a streetlamp. Pressing himself into the shadows of a carriage house, Jabey peered upstreet and [...]

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By Samantha Henderson Read by Ben Phillips Originally published in Abyss & Apex. I rock in the bentwood chair on the porch and wait. I know about the bodies in the arroyo, in the mesquite ash between the charred trunks of the live oaks. The grass beneath the mesquite had grown long in winter rains and was shriveled dry by the [...]

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By Kris Dikeman. Read by Kane Lynch. Originally published in Strange Horizons. If you wanta learn you somethin’, go on down to a place where two roads cross. Get there Saturday ’round midnight, and wait there ’til Sunday morning?do that for nine Sundays, all in a row. The dark man, he’ll send his dog to watch on you [...]

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By Holly Phillips Read by Tina Connolly Originally published in Fantasy Magazine. Neither knew what the Weirdo did with his captives, but it was hard to think of a possibility that wasn?t horrible. Not when you saw that figure, with its thatched gray hair, lumpy shoulders and white hands as big as baseball gloves, carry some hapless creature [...]

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by Tim Pratt Read by Chris Reynaga Every forty or fifty years the incubus and the succubus got together to catch up. This time they met in a quiet little bar, and the incubus said, “Yeah, it’s been hard these past few years. I did porn for a while, but these days, with Viagra and everything, it doesn’t matter what kind [...]

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By Richard Parks. Read by Wilson Fowlie. “I married your mother for her skull. It’s no secret.” Jarak put aside his rasps and gouges for the moment, resting his eyes and mind from the precise, exacting work his trade demanded. He didn’t mind his son’s persistent questions at such times. Akan was at an age [...]

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by Daniel Abraham. Read by Kip Manley. ?He’d been down here about six years when I knew him. Had a girl he was seeing name of Corine. She was pretty. Had this line of dark little moles, just like pinpricks, all along her jaw. Made me think of the sort of bangles they [...]

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By Greg Van Eekhout. Narrated by David Michel. So there was Orange John near the war fountain in his oversized orange suit and Bozo hair, knotting himself up a real nice stegosaurus, when up came the young balloon man. He was a skinny boy in a black T-shirt, rainbow vest, and jeans painted like all the sample [...]

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by Sandra McDonald. Read by David O. Engelstad. “I present to you the academy’s 150th class of brave, skilled, hard-working probationary firefighters!” Chief Kelly finally said. Steven barely heard the applause and cheers when his turn came to cross the stage. His hand was clammy as he shook hands with his teachers, the school administrators, [...]

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By Eric James Stone. Read by Steve Anderson. Most dragons rarely think about accounting. But you’ve worked hard to acquire that hoard of gold and jewels–shouldn’t you be keeping track of what happens to it? Just sitting on it isn’t good enough any more. That’s why you need accounting. Here are some tips: Rated PG. [...]

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by Tanith Lee. Read by Rajan Khanna. Excerpt not included this week. You’ll just have to listen! Rated PG. for revisionist “history.” Bonus: If you enjoyed this week’s Tanith Lee story, you might want to go check out Fantasy Magazine’s audio version of “Clockatrice” by Tanith Lee, read by perennial PodCastle favorite M. K. Hobson. Enjoy!

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by Ursula Pflug. Read by Christiana Ellis. You and I were different. Making love on sprawling landings we learned that one way of life wasn’t better than another, and that we all shared the same ultimate misery, doomed to be born and die in this building. Who’d made this place? Had we built it ourselves generations ago [...]

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by Meghan McCarron. Read by Rachel Swirsky. I turned around and found myself face to face with a minotaur. He was shorter than I would have expected and a bit more — human-y? He had the head of a bull, sure, but he wore a black suit and a skinny black tie, like he had [...]

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by Russell William Asplund. Read by Wilson Fowlie. Avram had no more talent for wonder working than for farming. No matter how hard he prayed, he could not call even a sparrow down from a tree. His Sabbaths were spent at a small synagog in the town, and the rabbi there had no idea of the [...]

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