* Author : M. E. Bronstein * Narrators : Rachael K. Jones and Dave Thompson * Host : Matt Dovey * Audio Producer : Peter Adrian Behravesh * Discuss on Forums PodCastle 736: The Gorgon’s Glass is a PodCastle original. Rated PG-13 The Gorgon’s Glass by M.E. Bronstein   There are people who try to blame Oken’s unhappy demise on the Gorgon, but if you read Oken’s notebooks carefully (and it’s my job to read his notebooks...

* Author : Patrick Freyne * Narrator : Eleanor R. Wood * Host : Matt Dovey * Audio Producer : Peter Adrian Behravesh * Discuss on Forums Previously published by Winter Papers Volume 5 Content warning for drowning, malnourishment, and extreme peril Rated PG-13 The Artists’ Colony Patrick Freyne   Dear ­­­­­­­______, I think you would love it here. It’s so peaceful and you were always saying, back...

* Author : Eleanna Castroianni * Narrator : Alethea Kontis * Host : Matt Dovey * Audio Producer : Peter Adrian Behravesh * Discuss on Forums Previously published by Fireside Content warnings for war, imprisonment, and torture Rated PG-13 An Incomplete Account of the Case of the Bird-Talker of Yaros by Eleanna Castroianni     PANAYOTIS M., interviewed by Eleni Haji, November 1975 When I first...

* Authors : Marisca Pichette, Dafydd McKimm and Devin Miller * Narrators : Scott Campbell, Matt Dovey and Kelly Robson * Host : Matt Dovey * Audio Producer : Peter Adrian Behravesh * Discuss on Forums “Water We Made to Breathe” and “A Partial Record of Enchanted Cheeses I’ve Fed My Wife” are PodCastle originals “Secret Keepers” was previously published by Flash Fiction Online Content Warnings in “A Partial...

* Author : R.S.A. Garcia * Narrator : Omega Francis * Host : Matt Dovey * Audio Producer : Peter Adrian Behravesh * Discuss on Forums Previously published by Devil’s Ways anthology Content warning for domestic violence Rated R Fire In His Eyes, Blood On His Teeth By R.S.A. Garcia   He comes to me with fire in his eyes and blood on his teeth. Sometimes the blood is his enemies’. Sometimes it’s...

* Author : Effie Seiberg * Narrator : Summer Fletcher * Host : Matt Dovey * Audio Producer : Peter Adrian Behravesh * Discuss on Forums PodCastle 731: The Travel Guide to the Dimension of Lost Things is a PodCastle original. Content warning for depression Rated PG-13 The Travel Guide to the Dimension of Lost Things By Effie Seiberg   Have you ever felt so tired that you just don’t feel anymore? Where you...

* Author : Greta Hayer * Narrator : Wilson Fowlie * Host : Matt Dovey * Audio Producer : Peter Adrian Behravesh * Discuss on Forums Previously published by Beneath Ceaseless Skies Rated PG-13 The Augur and the Girl Left at His Door by Greta Hayer The augur looked at the bridegroom’s back and sighed. He bent close to the bridegroom’s skin, examined every bump and line in his flesh. Most apparent were the red...

* Author : M. L. Krishnan * Narrator : Suna Dasi * Host : Matt Dovey * Audio Producer : Peter Adrian Behravesh * Discuss on Forums Previously published by Apparition Lit Rated PG-13 Bride, Knife, Flaming Horse by M. L. Krishnan   To Kalavati, it was well known that if one reached marriageable age, parents and aunties and cousins thrice-removed would clump themselves into anthills of worry. Missiles of...

* Author : Jennifer Hudak * Narrator : Alethea Kontis * Host : Laura Pearlman * Audio Producer : Wilson Fowlie The Cat Lady and the Petitioner by Jennifer Hudak Laurie stands in front of a door. It’s old but solid, as many old things are. Whatever paint once covered it has long since worn away, and the wood beneath is striped, and furred with splinters. It is her very first door, of her very first day, of her very first job. Her ankles wobble...

* Author : Christoph Weber * Narrator : Dave Robison * Host : Matt Dovey * Audio Producer : Peter Adrian Behravesh * Discuss on Forums PodCastle 728: The Fireman is a PodCastle original. Content warning for fire and child harm. Rated R The Fireman by Christoph Weber   I face the forested mountains, raise my hands like a conductor readying an orchestra, and point to my first section. A glow flickers to...

* Author : Rebecca Zahabi * Narrator : Mahtab Chenevix-Trench * Host : Peter Adrian Behravesh * Audio Producer : Peter Adrian Behravesh * Discuss on Forums PodCastle 727: [NOWRUZ SPECIAL] “Two Siblings, Seven Fish” is a PodCastle original. Rated PG-13 Two Siblings, Seven Fish by Rebecca Zahabi   Maybe this story started when Dad inherited the calabash; or maybe when my great-grandfather ran his thumb along its rugged...

* Author : Marina Ermakova * Narrator : Srikripa Krishna Prasad * Host : Matt Dovey * Audio Producer : Peter Adrian Behravesh * Discuss on Forums PodCastle 726: The Elixary of the Evanescent Market is a PodCastle original. Rated PG The Elixary of the Evanescent Market by Marina Ermakova Iris eyed the interior of the carriage with caution as the train came to a screeching halt. Potions clinked against the clamps which...

* Author : Louis Evans * Narrator : C. L. Clark * Host : Matt Dovey * Audio Producer : Peter Adrian Behravesh * Discuss on Forums Previously published by GigaNotoSaurus Content warning for torture/bodily harm Rated R Miss Bulletproof Comes Out of Retirement by Louis Evans Miss Bulletproof comes home and there’s a god sitting at her kitchen table talking to her kids. “Did you like my presents,...

* Author : Beth Goder * Narrator : Dani Daly * Host : Matt Dovey * Audio Producer : Peter Adrian Behravesh * Discuss on Forums PodCastle 724: The Cinnamon Thread is a PodCastle original. Content warning for the death of a parent Rated PG The Cinnamon Thread by Beth Goder Anna is grateful to lie on the bed in the cool house where there are no expectations, no labyrinthine thoughts to swallow her in the...

* Author : Chaitanya Murali * Narrator : Prashanth Srivatsa * Host : Matt Dovey * Audio Producer : Peter Adrian Behravesh * Discuss on Forums PodCastle 723: Just One Last Mango is a PodCastle original. Rated PG-13 Just One Last Mango by Chaitanya Murali “Do you want one?” Meghna asked between bites. She was sitting in the upper branches of Balu maama’s mango tree, with half a dozen golden fruits bundled in her...

* Author : Dani Atkinson * Narrators : Andrew K. Hoe, Kitty Sarkozy and Katherine Inskip * Host : Matt Dovey * Audio Producer : Peter Adrian Behravesh * Discuss on Forums Previously published by Daily Science Fiction Rated PG-13 Said the Princess by Dani Atkinson   Once upon a time in a far-off land, in a tiny room, in a tall tower, at the centre of a vast and impenetrable maze, the princess Adrienna cocked...

* Author : Michelle Denham * Narrator : Isabel Kim * Host : Shingai Njeri Kagunda * Audio Producer : Peter Adrian Behravesh * Discuss on Forums PodCastle 721: A Chestnut, A Persimmon, A Cunning Lie is a PodCastle original. Content warning for the loss of a child. Rated PG-13 A Chestnut, A Persimmon, A Cunning Lie By Michelle M. Denham   If you are going to battle a tiger, my darling one, you need three...

* Author : Thomas Ha * Narrator : Eleiece Krawiec * Host : Matt Dovey * Audio Producer : Peter Adrian Behravesh * Discuss on Forums Previously published in Metaphorosis. Content warnings for fire and bodily harm. Rated R Where the Old Neighbors Go by Thomas Ha   The man standing on the porch that night seemed like an ordinary gentrifier at first glance: young and tall and artfully unshaven. His...

* Author : Chip Houser * Narrator : Wilson Fowlie * Host : Matt Dovey * Audio Producer : Peter Adrian Behravesh * Discuss on Forums Previously published by Bourbon Penn 20 Content warnings for bullying, injury, and child peril. Rated R Smilers by Chip Houser   Aiden rests his chin on the back of the living room couch, watching his older brother mow down zombies in ZomPlex. The zombies grab at...

* Author : Julia Knowles * Narrator : A.J. Fitzwater * Host : Matt Dovey * Audio Producer : Peter Adrian Behravesh * Discuss on Forums PodCastle 718: Memoirs of a Magic Mirror is a PodCastle original. Content warning: mild gore. Rated PG-13 Memoirs of a Magic Mirror by Julia Knowles It started when three magicians, two fairies, a couple of wizards, a witch, and one very drunken sage decided it was a good...

* Author : Nicole D. Sconiers * Narrator : Laurice White * Host : Matt Dovey * Audio Producer : Peter Adrian Behravesh * Discuss on Forums Previously published by Nightlight Podcast Rated PG-13 The Stiffening by Nicole D. Sconiers I was eight years old when I realized that I never saw my mother sitting. Ever. Or lying in bed or immersed beneath a blanket of suds in our old clawfoot bathtub. She was always...

* Author : Avi Burton * Narrator : Sarah Griffin * Host : Matt Dovey * Audio Producer : Peter Adrian Behravesh * Discuss on Forums PodCastle 716: Tadpole Prophecy is a PodCastle original. Rated PG-13 Tadpole Prophecy Avi Burton It is cold, twilight on the cusp of true night, and they have sent you down to kill a monster. The uncut gems of frost crunch underneath your feet. The dark lord’s castle is onyx and steel,...

* Author : Nathaniel Lee * Narrator : Dave Thompson * Host : Summer Fletcher * Audio Producers : Peter Adrian Behravesh and Peter Wood * Discuss on Forums Originally published in Unidentified Funny Objects 3 Rated R This episode is a part of our Tales from the Vaults series, in which a member of PodCastle’s staff chooses a backlist episode to highlight and discuss. This, our final episode of the year, was chosen...

* Author : Claire Humphrey * Narrator : Kara Grace * Host : Srikripa Krishna Prasad * Audio Producers : Peter Adrian Behravesh and Peter Wood * Discuss on Forums Originally published in Strange Horizons Rated R This episode is a part of our Tales from the Vaults series, in which a member of PodCastle’s staff chooses a backlist episode to highlight and discuss. This week’s episode was chosen by associate editor...