* Author : Lavie Tidhar * Narrator : Ian Stuart * Host : Eleanor R. Wood * Audio Producer : Eric Valdes * Discuss on Forums Previously published by Apex Magazine and as PodCastle episode 304 Content warning for violence Rated PG-13 Titanic! by Lavie Tidhar 10 April 1912 When I come on board the ship I pay little heed to her splendour; nor to the gaily–strewn lines of coloured electric lights, nor...

* Author : Marisca Pichette * Narrator : Julia Rios * Host : Kiran Kaur Saini * Audio Producer : Eric Valdes * Discuss on Forums PodCastle 834: All the Better to Taste You is a PodCastle original. Content warnings for end of life and misgendering. Rated PG-13 All the Better to Taste You by Marisca Pichette   This morning I swallowed the Wolf. I started with oatmeal — sweetened bitter by fresh maple...

* Author : Eleanna Castroianni * Narrator : Kat Kourbeti * Host : Matt Dovey * Audio Producer : Devin Martin * Discuss on Forums PodCastle 833: This Wooden Heart is a PodCastle original. Content warnings for death and references to war and genocide. Rated PG-13 This Wooden Heart by Eleanna Castroianni     It starts with a seed in your grandfather’s beard. Before you were born, when you and your brother...

* Author : Rebecca Buchanan * Narrator : Nicola Chapman * Host : Matt Dovey * Audio Producer : Devin Martin * Discuss on Forums Previously published by Sherlock Holmes and the Occult Detectives 1 (Belanger Press) Rated PG ~ Five ~ Dinner was not silent. While we sat in the kitchen, sipping soup and munching on bread and mutton, Miss Couper maintained an animated lecture on the tumuli and barrows of the...

* Author : Rebecca Buchanan * Narrator : Nicola Chapman * Host : Matt Dovey * Audio Producer : Devin Martin * Discuss on Forums Previously published by Sherlock Holmes and the Occult Detectives 1 (Belanger Press) Rated PG The Adventure of the Faerie Coffin: Being the First Morstan and Holmes Occult Detection by Rebecca Buchanan   Dramatis Personae Miss Mary Morstan — a governess with a secret, fiancée of Dr....

* Author : Farah Naz Rishi * Narrator : Nadia Niaz * Host : Matt Dovey * Audio Producer : Eric Valdes * Discuss on Forums Previously published as PodCastle 526 Rated PG-13 When Shadow Confronts Sun By Farah Naz Rishi [Allah] will say, “Enter among nations which had passed on before you of jinn and mankind into the Fire.” Every time a nation enters, it will curse its sister until, when they have all overtaken...

* Authors : Derrick Boden and Kevin Sandefur * Narrators : J.S. Arquin and Dani Daly * Host : Matt Dovey * Audio Producer : Devin Martin * Discuss on Forums When the Giants Came Through the Valley – Previously published by Lightspeed Floaters – Previously published by Pulp Literature Magazine When the Giants Came Through the Valley – Content warning for references to suicide and parental death Floaters –...

* Author : Ryan Cole * Narrator : Hugo Jackson * Host : Matt Dovey * Audio Producer : Eric Valdes * Discuss on Forums Previously published in Museum Piece, from Metaphorosis Publishing Rated PG-13 The Museum of Living Color by Ryan Cole   Red lust, as usual, comes in the morning. Red in the way that you whisper my name, in the tender caress of your fingers on my neck, where my dry skin soaks up your...

* Author : Sherwood Smith * Narrator : Kaitlyn Zivanovich * Host : Matt Dovey * Audio Producer : Devin Martin * Discuss on Forums Originally published by Realms of Fantasy Rated PG-13 Mom and Dad At the Home Front by Sherwood Smith   Before Rick spoke, I saw from his expression what was coming. I said the words first. “The kids are gone again.” Rick dropped onto the other side of the couch, propping his...

* Author : Genevieve Valentine * Narrator : Laurice White * Host : Matt Dovey * Audio Producers : Eric Valdes and Pria Wood * Discuss on Forums Previously published by Fantasy Magazine Originally PodCastle 233 Rated PG Study, For Solo Piano by Genevieve Valentine The Circus waits in leaking trailers while Boss takes her lieutenants through the house. Then, her lieutenants are Elena from the trapeze, and...

* Authors : Samantha Murray, Avra Margariti and Devin Miller * Narrators : Eliza Chan, Matt Dovey and Srikripa Krishna Prasad * Host : Matt Dovey * Audio Producer : Devin Martin * Discuss on Forums This Blue World Previously published by Fantasy Magazine (Issue 83) The Light At the Edge of the World Previously published by Flash Fiction Online Directions to the House of Unnumbered Stars Previously published by Flash Fiction...

* Author : Lavie Tidhar * Narrator : Eleanor R. Wood * Host : Matt Dovey * Audio Producer : Devin Martin * Discuss on Forums Previously published by Uncanny Rated PG The Portal Keeper By Lavie Tidhar   October 1st   The rabbit was back this morning. It stopped outside the portal like it always does and it checked its pocket watch like it always does. It doesn’t matter — the rabbit’s always late. So far...

* Author : Kelsey Hutton * Narrator : Samantha Loney * Host : Matt Dovey * Audio Producer : Eric Valdes * Discuss on Forums Previously published by Beneath Ceaseless Skies Content warning for racism and racial slurs Rated PG-13 Your Great Mother Across the Salt Sea by Kelsey Hutton  PART TWO     “And just like that, Endersby was eating out of the palm of my hand!” the queen crowed to...

* Author : Kelsey Hutton * Narrator : Samantha Loney * Host : Matt Dovey * Audio Producer : Eric Valdes * Discuss on Forums Previously published by Beneath Ceaseless Skies Content warning for racism and racial slurs Rated PG-13 Your Great Mother Across the Salt Sea by Kelsey Hutton PART ONE   Kwayask nātohta. Listen carefully. There once was a woman who sewed clothes so powerful they made you...

* Author : Stephen V. Ramey * Narrator : Bill Ruhsam * Host : Matt Dovey * Audio Producer : Eric Valdes * Discuss on Forums Previously published by Strange Horizons Previously published as PodCastle #024 Rated PG It Takes a Town by Stephen V. Ramey “They ain’t really going through with this,” Tom said. “Are they?” The pig smell intensified, driving off more pleasant fumes of paint and honest sweat. “First the...

* Authors : Jane Brown, Chuck Rothman and Joshua Jones Lofflin * Narrators : Tina Connolly, Eric Valdes and Rick Vicens * Host : Matt Dovey * Audio Producer : Eric Valdes * Discuss on Forums PodCastle 820: Flash Fiction Extravaganza! Holy Banana Peel!, Pot, and Ferryman is a PodCastle original. Rated PG-13 “Holy Banana Peel!” was previously published by AntipodeanSF “Pot” was previously published by Daily Science...

* Authors : Tim Pratt and Heather Shaw * Narrators : Kaitlyn Zivanovich, Matt Dovey, Eric Valdes and Devin Martin * Host : Matt Dovey * Audio Producer : Eric Valdes * Discuss on Forums PodCastle 819: Skipping Christmas is a PodCastle original. CW for child injury and references to drug use PG-13 Skipping Christmas by Heather Shaw & Tim Pratt The flight was dead: to begin with. Leo Altman was seated in...

* Authors : Heather Shaw and Tim Pratt * Narrator : Rish Outfield * Host : Matt Dovey * Audio Producers : Pria Wood and Eric Valdes * Discuss on Forums Originally published in A Christmas Chapbook. Rated G The Christmas Mummy by Heather Shaw & Tim Pratt Trish led Nate from the room, into the hall — their parents’ door was closed — and onto the stairs. She could hear someone...

* Author : Damini Kane * Narrator : Peter Adrian Behravesh * Host : Matt Dovey * Audio Producer : Devin Martin * Discuss on Forums PodCastle 817: Creatures in the Walls is a PodCastle original. Content warning for child abuse Rated PG-13 Creatures in the Walls by Damini Kane One morning before breakfast, Roe’s mother is shrieking. She is bejewelled, always moderating her tone and smiling in placid,...

* Author : Natalia Theodoridou * Narrator : Tanja Milojevic  * Host : Matt Dovey * Audio Producers : Devin Martin and Pria Wood * Discuss on Forums Originally published in KROnline. Also published as PodCastle 508. Rated PG-13 The Ravens’ Sister by Natalia Theodoridou There are many ways to tell this story. All of them are true.   Verses of the House * I have seven ravens for brothers. * My brothers...

* Author : Jennifer Hudak * Narrator : Eleiece Krawiec * Host : Matt Dovey * Audio Producer : Eric Valdes * Discuss on Forums Previously published by Not One of Us #75 (January 2023) Rated PG Beverly’s Sonata by Jennifer Hudak   When the record player first spoke to Beverly, it used the voice of her old piano. At first, just the whisper of air among strings, like a clearing of the throat. A single tap of the...

* Author : Chris Kuriata * Narrator : Tatiana Grey * Host : Matt Dovey * Audio Producer : Devin Martin * Discuss on Forums Previously published in the anthology Food Of My People in 2021 Content warnings for human and animal death Rated PG-13 Chewing Through Wire By Chris Kuriata   Each evening, Auntie Shanta washes her muddy feet in the same bowl she eats her dinner from. She keeps clean bowls...

* Author : Kathleen Schaefer * Narrator : Ant Bacon * Host : Matt Dovey * Audio Producer : Eric Valdes * Discuss on Forums PodCastle 813: Stitch by Kathleen Schaefer is a PodCastle original. Rated PG-13 Stitch By Kathleen Schaefer Dalia doesn’t like how the stale hospital air pricks at her cheeks, and Aden doesn’t understand why no one else notices. He snatches his newborn daughter back from his husband. “There you...

* Author : Bennett North * Narrator : C. L. Clark * Hosts : Matt Dovey and C. L. Clark * Audio Producers : Devin Martin and Peter Adrian Behravesh * Discuss on Forums PodCastle 812: ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL: No Mercy to the Rest is a PodCastle original. Rated PG-13 No Mercy to the Rest by Bennett North Sadie parked in the lee of Castle Inferno, where she would be spared from the wind, and sat while the engine ticked,...