Listen to the new Sofanauts: Just search in your favourite podcast app for us! Apple Podcasts Spotify Podcasts Main fiction: "Nothing to Lose" by Edward M. Lerner Edward M. Lerner is the author of eighteen SF novels and many shorter works. The final novel in his InterstellarNet trilogy won the inaugural Canopus Award “honoring excellence in interstellar writing,” while other stories have been nominated for Locus, Prometheus, and Hugo awards. His latest book (2023) is the novel Life and Death...

Main fiction: "The Glorious Tunnels of our Gravitydragons" by Paul Jessup Paul Jessup is a best selling video game designer, and award winning writer. He has several books out in the small press, with the latest ones being Glass House, Skinless Man Counts to Five, and Cancer Eats the Heart. With over 25 years of professional short story publications, he's had stories in Apex Magazine, Clarkesworld, Interzone, Nightmare, and countless others. This story is original to StarShipSofa. Narrated...

Main fiction: "Stone by Stone" by Eric Del Carlo Eric Del Carlo's fiction has appeared in Asimov's, Strange Horizons, and other venues. "Stone by Stone" is set in his recurring Redmarch universe. Other stories transpiring in this continuum have appeared in Analog and Clarkesworld. He lives in his native California. This story is original to StarShipSofa. Narrated by: Mark Nelson Mark Nelson began audiobook narration in 2006, and now has over 180 titles at LibriVox, and recording as “Harry...

Main fiction: "Conscript Sally" by Neil Willcox Neil Willcox lives in south east England where he has (briefly) studied space science, picked fruit, tutored, and analysed data for insurance. He has most recently been published in voidspace, Hexagon, and Swords And Sorcery Magazine, and has a poem forthcoming from Corvid Queen. He can be found on Bluesky @neilwillcox.bsky.social and on his blog, nightofthehats.blogspot.com This story is original to StarShipSofa. Narrated by: Will StaglWill...

Main fiction: "Trembling Blue Stars" by Richard Kadrey Richard Kadrey is the New York Times bestselling author of the Sandman Slim supernatural noir series. Sandman Slim was included in Amazon’s “100 Science Fiction & Fantasy Books to Read in a Lifetime.” Some of Kadrey’s other books include The Dead Take the A Train (with Cassandra Khaw), The Pale House Devil, and Butcher Bird. His work has been nominated for both the BSFA and Locus awards, and appeared in Best Horror of the Year. Aside...

Main fiction: "Dwindling" by Rudy Vener Rudy Vener is a retired software engineer and the author of several stories that have appeared in Sci-Fi Shorts online magazine. He has been shortlisted for the Jim Baen Memorial Short Story Award, and been selected multiple times as a finalist and as a winner in the Tassy Walden Awards for New Voices in Children's Literature, a statewide literary competition in Connecticut. A cheese lover and a former online pizza marketing entrepreneur, he is hard at...

Main fiction: "Side Effects May Vary" by Avra Margariti Avra Margariti is a queer author, Greek sea monster, and Rhysling-nominated poet with a fondness for the dark and the darling. Avra’s work haunts publications such as Vastarien, Asimov's, Strange Horizons, and F&SF. You can find Avra on twitter (@avramargariti). This story originally appeared in Fusion Fragment #8, 2021. Narrated by: Jen Albert Jen Albert is an editor, writer, narrator, and former entomologist. She is an acquiring...

Main fiction: "Rubber Monkeys" by Mark Kenneth Hoover Kenneth Mark Hoover's fiction has appeared in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Strange Horizons, and many others. He is a member of SFWA and WWA, and divides his time between Texas and New Mexico. This is his first sale to StarShipSofa. This story originally appeared in Destination: Future, 2010. Narrated by: Rikki LaCoste Rikki LaCoste is a veteran Canadian narrator from Toronto, of various short story audio...

Main Fiction: "Landing Day" by Michael Canfield Michael Canfield has published more than thirty short stories, appearing in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, The Mammoth Book of Kaiju, Strange Horizons, and other places. This story originally appeared in Talebones #35, Summer 2007 Narrated by: Mark Nelson Mark Nelson began audiobook narration in 2006, and now has over 180 titles at LibriVox, and recording as “Harry Shaw,” more than 100 for Audible. While Mark mainly records sci-fi,...

Main fiction: "Throwing a Haymaker" by Rick Novy Rick Novy is an engineer, writer, and musician. In his free time, he enjoys working out, playing guitar, and cooking healthy meals. Rick lives in Arizona, spending time in both Tucson and Scottsdale. Learn more at www.ricknovy.com. This story originally appeared, in slightly different form, in M-Brane SF, March 2010. Narrated by : Nobilis Reed Nobilis Reed is the host and narrator of the podcast, "This Kaiju Life" which is entirely safe for...

Main fiction: "Sassi's Last Ride" by Alethea Kontis Alethea Kontis is a storm chaser, adventurer, and New York Times bestselling author of over 20 books and 50 short stories. She has received the Scribe Award, the Garden State Teen Book Award, and is a two-time winner of the Gelett Burgess Children’s Book Award. She was twice nominated for both the Andre Norton Nebula and Dragon Award. She narrates stories for online magazines and reviews books for NPR. Born in Vermont, Alethea currently...

Main fiction: "Nice For What?" by Dominica Phetteplace Dominica Phetteplace writes fiction and poetry. Her work has appeared in Ecotone, Copper Nickel, PANK, The Los Angeles Review, Zyzzyva, Wigleaf, Best Microfiction and The Year's Best Science Fiction and Fantasy. Her honors include two Pushcart Prizes, a Rona Jaffe Award, a Steinbeck Fellowship and support from MacDowell, Tin House and Djerassi. This story originally appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, July/Aug...

Main fiction: "Other People's Things" by Jay O'Connell Jay O’Connell is a graduate of Syracuse University, Clarion West, Launchpad, and the school of somewhat hard knocks. He’s worked as a software executive, UI/UX designer, business writer, illustrator, animator, graphic artist, construction worker, house-cleaner and burger flipper. As RAH put it, specialization is for insects. He lives in—and writes about—a world rapidly approaching the event horizon of the fabled SF singularity. He is...

Main fiction: "Red Oil" by Lincoln Michel Bio: Lincoln Michel's debut novel, The Body Scout (Orbit), was named one of the ten best SFF books of 2021 by The New York Times and one of the fifty best science fiction of all time by Esquire. He is also the author of the story collection Upright Beasts (Coffee House Press) and the co-editor of the anthologies Tiny Crimes (Catapult) and Tiny Nightmares (Catapult). His fiction can be found in The Paris Review, Lightspeed, F&SF, One Story, and...

My Health Little update on myself Treat me to a coffee as I won’t be doing much physically for a while: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/tonycsmith Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/starshipsofa. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Karl El-Koura lives with his family in Canada's capital city and works a regular job by day while writing fiction at night. This is his second appearance in StarShipSofa (his story "The Undertow Jackpot" was featured in issue #685). Visit www.ootersplace.com to learn more about his work. This story originally appeared in Utopia Science Fiction, October 2021. Narrated by Randal L. Schwartz Randal L. Schwartz is best well known for his seminal books on the Perl programming language that helped...

Main fiction: "The Orb" by Tara Campbell With a BA in English, an MA in German, and an MFA in Creative Writing, Tara Campbell has a demonstrated aversion to money and power. Originally from Anchorage, Alaska, she has also lived in Oregon, Ohio, New York, Germany and Austria. She currently lives in Washington, D.C. She is the recipient of the following awards from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities: the 2016 Larry Neal Writers' Award in Adult Fiction, the 2016 Mayor's Arts Award for...

Main fiction: "The Unveiling" by Christopher Rowe Christopher Rowe's stories have been printed, reprinted, and translated around the world and he has been a finalist for many awards, including the Hugo, the Nebula, and the World Fantasy Award. He lives in Lexington, Kentucky with his wife and many pets. This story originally appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction, January 2015. Narrated by: Drew Mallory Drew Mallory is a professor of organizational psychology and management coach in Bangkok,...

William Meikle is a Scottish writer, now living in Canada, with over thirty novels published in the genre press and more than 300 short story credits in thirteen countries. He has books available from a variety of publishers including Dark Regions Press and Severed Press and his work has appeared in a large number of professional anthologies and magazines. He lives in Newfoundland with whales, bald eagles and icebergs for company. When he's not writing he drinks beer, plays guitar, and dreams...

Main fiction: "I am the Grass" by Jeff Somers Jeff Somers (www.jeffreysomers.com) began writing by court order as an attempt to steer his creative impulses away from engineering genetic grotesqueries. He has published nine novels, including the Avery Cates series and the Ustari Cycle series, as well as over fifty short stories, including “Ringing the Changes,” which was selected for inclusion in Best American Mystery Stories 2006. He is a contributing editor at Writer’s Digest Magazine, which...

Main Fiction: "The Big Whimper" by Laird Barron Laird Barron, an expat Alaskan, is the author of several books, including The Imago Sequence and Other Stories; Swift to Chase; and Blood Standard. Currently, Barron lives in the Rondout Valley of New York State and is at work on tales about the evil that men do. This story originally appeared in Weird World War IV, 2022. Narrated by: Will Stagl Will Stagl is proud to be a member of the StarShipSofa team, recruiting narrators for the podcast’s...

Main Fiction: "In a Structure Simulating an Owl" by Ander Monson Ander Monson is the author of eight books, including the forthcoming I Will Take the Answer and The Gnome Stories from Graywolf. He edits the magazine DIAGRAM among other projects, and he directs the MFA program at the University of Arizona. “In a Structure Simulating an Owl” from The Gnome Stories. Copyright © 2020 by Ander Monson. Used with the permission of The Permissions Company, LLC on behalf of Graywolf Press. Narrated...

Main Fiction: "Charlie's Angels" by Terry Bisson Terry Bisson is a science fiction writer and editor. Currently he is the series editor for PM’s Outspoken Author Series. He also writes the This Month in History feature in Locus Magazine. His works and story can be found on his website, Terry Bisson of the Universe. This story originally appeared in SciFiction, August 2001. Narrated by: Mark Nelson Mark Nelson began audiobook narration in 2006, and now has over 180 titles at LibriVox....

Main Fiction: "With Frank and Lucinda Brewer at the East Pole" by Gregory Norman Bossert Gregory Norman Bossert is an author and filmmaker based just over the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. He started writing in 2009 on a dare and has no intention of stopping anytime soon. His story “The Telling” won the 2013 World Fantasy Award; other stories have appeared everywhere from Asimov’s Science Fiction to the Saturday Evening Post. When not writing, he wrangles spaceships and superheroes...