A poet’s cat fights fiercely to defend him from the demons that plague him, but it’s much harder to stand against Satan himself.
Content warnings 3
animal-harmmental-illnessviolence
Dark Fantasy
400 free-to-read stories tagged “Dark Fantasy”
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
Content warnings 4
body-horrorchild-deathdeathviolence
In a magical Old West, young Ellis has a love for the desert and an affinity for dead things. Both of these attract unwelcome attention from strangers visiting from back East.
Content warnings 4
abusebody-horrordeathviolence
The Regent rules as a tyrant, and he has separated Saffron from her husband to force him to bake the amazing confections that let you relive bits of the past.
Content warnings 2
death-of-a-loved-oneviolence
In which we learn how the new court magician was recruited and find out how even a “market rat” can qualify. We learn that there is real magic, but it comes with a price.
Content warnings 3
body-horrordeathviolence
While learning the ropes from a crafty Jazz Age bank robber, a young stowaway discovers their authentic self, a hidden gift, and that there are no straight lines when you run the fox roads…
Content warnings 3
deathracismviolence
"Everything Anton owns goes in one black trash bag. His ratty yellow sketchpad, which he bought to draw the other familiars when he moved here, and only ever used three pages of. The few shirts and khakis that he paid for with his own money, before Mr....
Content warnings 3
abusesuicideviolence
"1926 Washington, D.C. Shaw District “There’s a man on the front stoop.” The words spilled from her in a much more mundane way than Judy had expected, considering how her neck was fluttering with her excited pulse. Alvin looked up from the new Langston...
Content warnings 3
abusedeathviolence
"It was half past midnight when Olga heard the Devil cry. They were supposed to be wild tonight, the three of them. Cassandra had led the way and Maria and Olga didn’t put up much of a fight. They would visit the Devil’s bridge—anything that claimed to be...
Content warnings 3
body-horrorchild-deathdeath-of-a-loved-one
Lola (aka Eliza) has had problems dealing with people ever since she was a child, but she's always been good with snakes.
Content warnings 6
abusechild-abusedeathdeath-of-a-loved-onesexual-violenceviolence
"For the whole of the year that I now look back on as the best of my life, Susanna Miller’s act began twenty-three minutes after mine ended. I went first, to warm up the crowd, followed by the dog trainer, the hypnotist, Susanna, the twin acrobats, the...
Content warnings 2
mental-illnessmisogyny
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
Content warnings 4
body-horrordeathsexual-contentsubstance-use
In this spell-binding tale, a Pakistani storyteller captivates a group of wide-eyed tourists with a nesting doll of interlocked stories about a trickster and a hidden city ruled by the Queen of Red Midnight.
Content warnings 4
abusebody-horrorchild-deathviolence
When her master dies in the American Civil War, a teen-age slave girl murders the rest of his family to gain her freedom, but she unwittingly opens a door to the spirit world, and she has to deal with the thing that comes through.
Content warnings 5
body-horrordeathgoreslaveryviolence
When Hurston Hill is threatened by a suspiciously powerful urban development firm, Miss l’Abielle steps up to protect her community with the help of a mysterious orphaned girl in this charming follow-up to “St. Valentine, St. Abigail, St. Brigid”.
Two people from a secret, underwater House try to infiltrate a troublesome surface House that rules much of a Paris still recovering from long-ago magical wars.
Content warnings 1
violence
‘Nisha only has five hours to get across New York to her dead aunt’s apartment before the city comes to throw away all her stuff. She’s not even sure it’s worth it, but they said her aunt was a witch…
Content warnings 3
deathgoreviolence
A day laborer hired to clean up a flooded creek outside of Boulder, Colorado uncovers what could be a valuable find—if it doesn't kill him first.
Content warnings 3
deathgoreviolence
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
Content warnings 5
body-horrorchild-abusedeathdeath-of-a-loved-oneviolence
In one small town, the delicate balance between predator and prey is threatened when five girls are murdered on prom night.
Content warnings 3
body-horrordeathviolence
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
Content warnings 4
abusedeathgoreviolence
It’s been two years since Jenna’s ex-boyfriend left her alone in East Texas heartbroken. Now he’s back in town and she wants to payback. One night, she stumbles upon a bloodthirsty Camaro that may be the key to carrying out her revenge.
Content warnings 3
deathgoreviolence
All its life, a small monster with emerald scales has been a source of never-ending food to larger and more powerful creatures who feast on the small monster’s limbs each time one regrows. This is the story of how the small monster meets an industrious...
Content warnings 4
abusebody-horrorchild-abuseviolence
Her mom has grown rich by telling people’s fortunes, but all Theresa Anne wants is for her girlfriend to be safe. And to be brave enough to actually talk to this “girlfriend.”
Content warnings 1
death
In mid-winter, a skeletal stag comes to the village begging for food, but it eats anyone foolish enough to talk to it.
Content warnings 4
body-horrorcannibalismdeathviolence
"He spoke once, the words whispered by frozen lips on a face so frostbitten he looked like a porcelain doll. I found him below the summit as our expedition bottlenecked before the Hillary Step on our final ascent of Mount Everest. And above the bottleneck,...
Content warnings 2
body-horrordeath
Samantha searches Paris to try to find what’s killing fallen angels.
Content warnings 5
body-horrordeathdeath-of-a-loved-onegoreviolence
A whaling ship conducts an experiment in generating whale song to try to make it easier to attract whales to kill.
Content warnings 5
animal-harmbody-horrordeathgoreviolence
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
Content warnings 4
child-abusedeath-of-a-loved-onesuicideviolence
In this prequel novelette to the critically acclaimed The Water Outlaws, nine-year-old Li Li is introduced to a web of community secrets and family intrigue when she helps her mother bury the corpse of a man that has somehow wound up in the storeroom of...
Content warnings 4
cannibalismdeathdeath-of-a-loved-oneviolence
"When Peng opens the door, he finds himself face to face with a boy who looks exactly like himself. The other Peng stands in the doorway, as though surprised to have been caught. Two eyes peering out from the dark. Fluffy black hair, messy enough to stand...
Content warnings 4
animal-harmchild-abusedeathviolence
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
Content warnings 3
deathsexual-violenceviolence
In 12th-Century England, six-year-old Ada flees the vicious reptilian wastoures who swam the countryside eating people and animals alike.
Content warnings 4
body-horrorchild-abusedeathviolence
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
Content warnings 5
body-horrordeathdeath-of-a-loved-onegoreviolence
"We used to cage them in the tide pools, when they were still small enough to capture in our little hands. Pull them out and snap photos that we could pretend to sell to magazines just like Papa. Them, gasping for breath, unable to see, fins fluttering. We...
Content warnings 4
abusebody-horrordeathviolence
A woman visiting Las Vegas for a fun weekend encounters her ne’er-do-well ex-husband, who begs her for a favor that gambles with life and death…
Content warnings 3
deathdeath-of-a-loved-onesuicide
"Rugg the spellbreaker was only passing through the Devil’s Palm on his way down to the coast, where he hoped to find his mother. He’d have avoided Ganvill, except he was running low on boom powder and salt, and the little settlement was the last tame...
Content warnings 3
deathsexual-contentviolence
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
Content warnings 3
body-horrorcannibalismviolence
"A girl has lost her soul down deep in the City. It wandered away while she chipped out another grave in the catacomb brickyards. She set down her pickax, wiped grit from her cheek, and noticed how empty her body was. Looked down at her wrist and found it blank."
Content warnings 2
self-harmviolence
"Joy nearly got lost on the root-knotted red dirt path off of Highway 99, losing sight of the gaps between the live oaks and Spanish moss that fanned across her hood and windows like fingertips. Driving back to her family’s cabin twenty years later...
Content warnings 2
death-of-a-loved-oneillness-and-pandemic
In an empire obsessed with war, a healer married to a warrior seeks to escape the endless fighting, killing, and dying.
Content warnings 4
deathdeath-of-a-loved-oneviolencewar
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
Content warnings 4
deathdeath-of-a-loved-onegoreviolence
To return to power, the godlike Hollow Ones recruit Spear to kill the Great Beasts that hold the laws of reality in place, and Hark to cook them so they can absorb their power. Only one remains before the end of the world as they know it.
Content warnings 3
body-horrorgoreviolence
On a cold October midnight, teenage Susanna takes her dog and a musket and sneaks away into the woods. Things happened ten years ago when she got the dog. Bad things. And now the reckoning is due.
Content warnings 3
animal-harmchild-deathviolence
Constantius, a con man on the run from the law, arrives in Sempa on business of his own, but lets himself get tangled up in the problems of a girl he met on his way into town.
Content warnings 2
deathsuicide
When Reyna kills a rot hound, she knows her dead sister’s prophecy is coming true, and there’s not much time to convince the rest of the hold they all need to flee.
Content warnings 4
deathslaveryviolencewar
Delilah makes some money modeling, and Crispin offers twice what anyone else does. He never lets her look at the works in progress, though. He has his reasons.
Content warnings 1
violence
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
Content warnings 2
body-horrormental-illness
Hacksilver riddled with a dragon, saved his family’s farm, and won the secret to raise his dead. Nothing prepared him, though, for the long cold winter when the dead walked…and his family came back!
Content warnings 2
deathviolence
"Dead gods,” says Aunte Gull as she heaves the shimmering nets, “are almost as useless as live ones.” We work together, numb to the sea cold. We haul our catch back to shore, and I save my breath for work, knowing my aunte’s way of speaking. She is...
Content warnings 3
deathdeath-of-a-loved-oneviolence
"No signs protect the backyards in this part of town from the Marl Pits Forest. There’s no treeline either. Of course there isn’t. But even in the dark, you can’t really miss where the forest starts—not if you’ve lived a childhood in the wilderness here...
Content warnings 3
child-abusedeath-of-a-loved-oneviolence
A private eye plagued by hallucinations is hired to retrieve a mummified monk’s head stolen from a cathedral–but why would someone want it?
Content warnings 2
body-horrorviolence
"When the ship’s scanners first chirped in the dead of night, Sien figured it was another misfire: light reflecting off asteroid ice, solar radiation, space dust. But xe still slid from xir berth into the chilly, cramped cockpit, eyes bleary as xe ran the...
Content warnings 3
body-horrordeathviolence
Jack Wolcott was only twelve years old when she and her twin sister Jill, descended the impossible staircase and found herself in the Moors, a world of drowned gods and repugnant royals. After abandoning her sister to a vampire lord, and under the tutelage...
Content warnings 1
death
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....
Content warnings 2
deathdeath-of-a-loved-one
"Tana was in a humid cave checking the rind on a round of Tomme when the messenger arrived to tell her that the war was lost and her wife was to be hanged. She took her time rewrapping the cheese before she responded. Still too soft. Another week, she...
Content warnings 3
body-horrordeathdeath-of-a-loved-one
"I don’t want to say goodbye, but with dawn brushing Ri’s warm forehead, I can’t help kneeling by her bed and saying, “Wake up, darlin, Ma’s going out.” Jer’s look asks why I’d ever do anything different, and why’d we have that whole fight about it last...
Content warnings 3
deathdeath-of-a-loved-oneviolence
"You ready?” asked the first man, his face pockmarked, lips leering, eyes sullen. “Light’em up,” replied the second. The third nodded his head and produced the gasoline. They knew the children slept inside. No one had to tell them. The Freedmen’s School in...
Content warnings 3
child-deathracismviolence
"Once upon a time, in that place right near to us, there lived a man and a woman, together as man and wife, though, like most peasants, no one had married them nor given them any word. It was simply that their love for each other was stronger even than...
Content warnings 3
abusechild-abuseviolence
No vampire is ever innocent… The wandering Judge Dee serves as judge, jury, and executioner for any vampire who breaks the laws designed to safeguard their kind’s survival. This new case in particular puts his mandate to the test.
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
Content warnings 2
body-horrorwar
When the Dynast dies, his daughter Lin flees before her older siblings can kill her. She has a place of safety in mind, but she’s never been there herself and needs help to get in.
Content warnings 2
deathviolence
Jorren gets a dangerous commission for magical clothes. One that might let her recover much of what she lost when she fell out of favor decades ago, but only if she can figure it out. And survive it.
Attacked by endless flocks of ravens, the Bjebu people flee their village to a strange place controlled by a strange god, who grants them safety in exchange for “three offerings of sorrow.”
Content warnings 2
deathviolence
An aspiring young stage magician meets an older magician over coffee to try to convince him to share some of his tricks. And to show him a few of his own.
As a composer, D’Isle knows that the Bloodlords tightly control music because it can attract demons from the forest. He’s alarmed when his new prima donna starts improvising illegally.
Content warnings 2
deathviolence
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
Content warnings 3
body-horrordeathviolence
The last living human being lives with her aunts, who are all incarnations of the last survivors of various extinct species.
Content warnings 1
death
Ancient nanotech controls a few humans to enforce harsh anti-technology rules on a reluctant population. Colton escaped its control at the cost of losing all emotion, and he struggles to be accepted by a caravan that’s trying to evade some of the restrictions.
Content warnings 3
deathviolencewar
Ben Clarke travels to Hollywood to settle his late brother’s affairs. He learns a variety of things about his brother, but the biggest surprise is what he finds in the bedroom.
Content warnings 3
deathsubstance-usesuicide
The Life Tree protects the villagers, at the price of human sacrifices. When it takes Jiteh’s brother, she starts looking for ways to escape.
Content warnings 3
body-horrorchild-deathdeath
As the seas have risen, terrible things have come crawling out of them. Jersey wants Mir to come with him and move inland, but she won’t go without her disabled father.
Content warnings 5
body-horrorchild-deathdeath-of-a-loved-onesexual-violenceviolence
Edgar Allan Poe’s writing has brought a creature into this world and it inhabits a young woman who wants to be rid of it. It has its own agenda.
Content warnings 3
deathdeath-of-a-loved-onesuicide
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
Content warnings 8
abusedeathgoreillness-and-pandemicsexual-contentsubstance-usesuicideviolence
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
Content warnings 5
body-horrorcannibalismdeathgoreviolence
"It was perhaps inevitable you would arrive at the Goblin Library. You begin your walk at the open window of the Goblin Reading Room where your grappling hook bit the sandstone windowsill. Cries of alarm and dismay follow you up from the streets below, yet...
Content warnings 1
death
"A scream rises from the bush. One last call to the living: a warning of pain. Katarina’s heard that same sound more times than she’s had hot dinners but still a ribbon of unease unfurls in her gut. She sets her cleaver down for a moment, shifting from one...
Content warnings 3
child-abusedeathviolence
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
Content warnings 3
body-horrordeathsuicide
"For a long time now I’d been practicing liecraft five or six times before breakfast. I’d roll over to Khao’s side of the bed and murmur through the curls of hair winding around his ear: “Go back to sleep, it’s only just daybreak.” Other times I’d hide his...
Content warnings 3
body-horrorchild-abuseviolence
PseudoPod 963: Mavka is a PseudoPod original. CW: cannibalism, suicide, starvation, use of second person perspective You pray to forget this. You pray to forget the cold. Even under two wool blankets you’re always cold now. Skin and bones, you. A February...
Content warnings 3
cannibalismchild-deathsuicide
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
Content warnings 3
body-horrorgoresuicide
Barber Gio Monsargo has learned to stay quiet and keep his head down, offering shaves and haircuts, not political opinions. But when a high-ranking military official of the Empire begins visiting his shop, Gio finds himself tested in ways he could never imagine.
Content warnings 2
deathviolence
Unknown forces attempt to stop Judge Dee and Jonathan from transporting a mysterious and possibly dangerous prisoner, who holds a secret about the Judge, to an executioner in France…
A sculptor struggles when he is commanded to perpetuate the lies of a deceitful and cruel king…
Content warnings 1
death
"We were waiting for the sunset, sitting on the porch of the bleak stone house that was filled up with our longing. The sky was empty. The air, when I sniffed, was cold and bleak. There were no clouds, and we knew it might be a night when we’d see what we...
Content warnings 3
death-of-a-loved-onesuicidewar
"Never forget you are their monster. That’s the first rule we tell you, crammed between us in the back of Paola’s dad’s vintage ’22 Dodge Challenger, his project car he lets her borrow, with slick wheels and faux-leather seats that make our Sangrona noses...
Content warnings 3
deathgoreviolence
"The fireflies lead me to the clearing where my lover waits patiently. I can see her illuminated by the light of the moon. She stands under the udala tree, an image of perfection, her dark skin glowing in the silvery moonlight. The warmth of excitement...
Content warnings 1
violence
"His Majesty plights his troth to the boy by the failing light of the waxing Luster Moon, an auspicious night for waterfowl, prayer, and paladins. Wrong, all of it. Child-groom Softwind Sunder is hellebore and winter sun, plantcraft and rage. When he spits...
Content warnings 3
child-deathdeathdeath-of-a-loved-one
"The little girl was blonde and had very blue eyes. She stood on the steps to the house and stared at Mara without expression. “It lives in the closet,” the little girl said. “Klara…” her father said. He looked apologetically at Mara. “Please,” he said....
"Here’s the thing you need to know to understand this story: I was meant to be an only child. The doctors, when they examined my mother, only counted one heartbeat. One. Me. I don’t know when my sister came along. My mother, so ready to accept, so...
Content warnings 3
deathdeath-of-a-loved-oneviolence
In 19th-Century Texas, a German immigrant mother defends her farm and family (in the absence of her husband and eldest son) against a vicious wolf as well as some of the local townspeople.
Content warnings 3
deathdeath-of-a-loved-onegore
A child struggles with the loss of his big brother and his feelings that maybe things are better without him—and maybe he’s not really gone.
Content warnings 3
child-abusedeathdeath-of-a-loved-one
Two men seeking a better understanding of the decks of magic cards they carry find trouble instead.
Content warnings 2
deathviolence
An occult detective and a creature work and love together across multiple lifetimes.
Content warnings 3
deathsexual-contentviolence
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
Content warnings 3
deathsexual-violenceviolence
In the aftermath of the king’s assassination, the guard commander and high mage struggle to discover who was behind it and what to do about it.
Content warnings 2
deathviolence
A songwriter and her boyfriend seclude themselves at his old family cabin back in the woods to work on a new album. But in the isolation, she has trouble getting work done, and reality itself seems a little off.
Content warnings 2
deathviolence
Snow White’s life with the prince isn’t going so well, and her wicked stepmother—now a prisoner—seems determined to torment her about it.
Content warnings 3
child-abusedeathviolence
In 1912 Cairo, the police investigate the apparent murder of an immortal Djinn.
Content warnings 2
deathviolence
A woman paramedic and her best friend fear that despite their best efforts, they end up causing more pain than they relieve.
Content warnings 2
deathsuicide
In 1915 Ohio, 14-year-old Emmett's night terrors get worse after he finds a dead body in an abandoned well.
Content warnings 2
deathviolence
An estate agent is forced to choose between a sale and his humanity when facing the inhuman eldritch forces that feed off rental tenants across the United Kingdom.
Content warnings 3
abusebody-horrorviolence
"Dear Francesca, First off: I know that’s not your name. I haven’t gone and mistaken you for another woman—one of my many conquests, I imagine you imagine (what must imaginary you think of imaginary me?). You’ll notice, if you glance ahead, that I’ve...
Content warnings 1
sexual-content
"Wendy knew it wouldn’t be long now before her daughter was taken. She had put the idea from her mind as long as she could, but now Jane was days away from turning thirteen. From the window of the nursery, Wendy saw Jane wobbling her way down Kensington...
Content warnings 3
death-of-a-loved-oneviolencewar
"Blackheel Lysha put down a fine table of grub for breakfast: pinky beans, cornbread, boiled shellbird eggs, roast marsh hen legs, and a gooey gumbo of okra and sweetcrab. And what a nice longhouse too, with rare glass windows to keep all the nasty sooty...
Content warnings 3
deathillness-and-pandemicviolence
"My ghost bled through the shadows, an icy wind stirring the leaves. Eyes like candle flames shuddering and crescent moon mouth, it had found me as a girl and never let go—the only thing that was really mine. It led me to an overgrown graveyard, pelts of...
Content warnings 3
deathdeath-of-a-loved-onesexual-violence
"The men knew before she did. Before this boy, before sophomore year, before even her twelfth birthday, they had jostled her on the sidewalk and hooted from cars, searching for something just past her skin. But now, with her panties stripped off and the...
Content warnings 3
goresexual-violenceviolence
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
Content warnings 3
gorehomophobiaviolence
A woman returning to her family’s home town for a wedding discovers why people in Connorville—including her family—might be more than they seem.
Content warnings 3
body-horrorgoreviolence
"Night to day. In Diyu, the Earth Prison, Chun Wei opened her eyes. “Day” in the realm of the dead registered only as a less pervasive chill to the stagnant air. Not that Chun Wei needed to breathe any longer. She unfolded from the lotus position she’d...
Content warnings 1
death
"The first time through this cycle, Devaki does not believe he will go through with it. Kasma is her brother, after all, and for all his fears, he didn’t kill her when he had the chance. So as her baby grows inside her, the first fruit of her marriage to...
Content warnings 3
child-deathpregnancy-losssuicide
The spirit of a recently deceased young boy helps a group of ghosts seek revenge on a corrupt and abusive town minister.
Content warnings 3
child-deathdeathviolence
"The angel Azrael rode the dead horse across a broken plain that went on so long he lost track of the days. The empty heavens gave him no clues, for the sun seemed to linger just beyond the horizon without actually making an appearance. As if it were as...
Content warnings 3
body-horrorgoreviolence
"What lies beyond the Sea of Beasts is known to few, for few are foolish enough to try and cross it. This is not because of the beasts, which all died so long ago their bones have turned to stone, but because it is ghastly. Most of the fish are spiny and...
Content warnings 3
deathsexual-contentviolence
"1. To kill a language, you must first rip it from living throats. Don't look so askance; you knew it already. The dead can't speak unless called and the only way to prevent our enemies calling upon their own hordes of dead ancestors is to strip their...
Content warnings 2
sexual-violenceviolence
"Kharatet moistens his sightless eyes with his tongue as he draws his finger across the limestone tablet glyphs. His audience today is a clutch of toddling nymphs, motionless save for their short tails rippling the shallow water impatiently. It’s a good...
Content warnings 3
cannibalismdeathgore
"A woman drags a white doe out of the ice room; it hangs from the ceiling rails by two brass hooks, one caught beneath its pelvis and the other behind the scapulae. As she pulls, the metal wheels whine. When she works in her lab, she is a butcher. She lays...
Content warnings 3
abusebody-horrorgore
"I spent my first summer as an orphan watching cicadas fuck, scream, and molt. Wasn’t long before I plucked one of the cicada skins from the dry village soil. I brushed it clean against my secondhand clothes I was already beginning to outgrow. Dappled by...
Content warnings 3
body-horrorgoresexual-content
In celebration of the 50th World Fantasy Convention’s Toastmaster, Michael Swanwick, Reactor presents a new Mongolian Wizard story about a battle to save Paris from an unexpected new enemy.
Content warnings 3
goreviolencewar
"Deep in the abyss of the Unholy Bazaar, in a shop that reeked of death and god-blood, Sparrow lay screaming in a web of rope and unbreakable silk. Around her, the Aunties bustled: sawing and rinsing and hammering; cursing, grunting, and muttering; welding...
Content warnings 3
body-horrorgoreviolence
"I am running out of Words. I stumble down the temple steps, clutching my wounded side. I had been too slow to use my fourth Word and the prison guard’s spear had drawn blood before he choked to death under the weight of my suffocation spell."
Content warnings 3
abusedeathviolence
"When Ariana sent word to her birth mother, Scarlett, that they needed to speak, she didn’t really expect a response. Scarlett had abandoned her with her father as a barely weaned infant and only returned when Ariana was twenty. In the few years since,...
Content warnings 1
violence
"Terse heard the disturbance in the woods long before the short, sturdy girl shoved through the overgrown hedge. He flung open the door of his workshop, and she startled, nearly dropping a large knapsack dangling off of one shoulder. “Can I help you?”...
Content warnings 1
violence
"I knew a woman once who lived in Palmary on the Sunwash Sea. Or did I ever really know her? You see, in the time I spent with her, I came to question what I thought I knew about women and everything else—and that’s a strange thing for a man who’s...
Content warnings 1
suicide
"The house was on the same street as a bakery whose only offering was penis-shaped waffles. Rufaro didn’t like American houses very much. They looked paper thin like doll houses that would lift off into the clouds if a strong wind came by."
Content warnings 1
abuse
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
Content warnings 1
racism
"Almost everyone has, at some point in their lives, encountered a door that was not there before. A little girl sits up in bed, staring at the two identical closets in her bedroom. She feels certain there had been only one when she fell asleep. A salaryman...
Content warnings 2
cannibalismviolence
"Folks later claimed she was acting strange from the moment she boarded the plane. They described her as skittish, curt, radiating an aura of danger. Some, when confronted with the security footage, which showed her to have behaved rather unremarkably up...
Content warnings 3
child-deathgoreviolence
"There’s reasons not to go sit by the banks of the Dequindre. The mosquitoes bite something fierce this time of year, for one. May through September the air is thick with them. The river swells wide on its way through Wyandott."
"The angel Azrael rode the dead horse across the empty lifeless land for what seemed like an eternity, not encountering another living soul until he crossed paths with a mutilated preacher, who erupted from the a great rent in the earth as though Hell...
Content warnings 3
body-horrorgoreviolence
"The soldiers slit the woman’s throat every evening before bedding down so they can sleep without worry. She mocks them but never fights the knife coming to her. Two of the men still take turns watching her in case she heals before the rest of the cadre...
Content warnings 3
body-horrorgoreviolence
Chelle’s friend, Wenqian, has everything Chelle doesn’t. A slim figure, pale skin, and most notably the affection of her longtime friend Preston. Like the ocean waves she calls home, Chelle feels transparent and overflowing all at once. So when she’s given...
Content warnings 1
body-horror
"We cannot go landwise. Too vulnerable for a start, and the finless watch their beaches like crabs, scuttling this way and that, their eyes pinched and ugly. They have set a line of posts on the edge of the world, deep in the sands. Each spike bears the...
Content warnings 2
deathdeath-of-a-loved-one
"Lamia knows hunger. She has known it since the harvests withered, since water stopped falling from the sky, since the animals fled. Even so, she continued living with her family in the cabin on the riverbank. There were four of them: father, mother,...
Content warnings 3
body-horrorchild-deathdeath-of-a-loved-one
PseudoPod 807: The Bleak Communion of Abandoned Things is a PseudoPod original. I accept the house in lieu of a settlement. I don’t want Ashley’s dirty money. The house is the least ill-gotten thing she owns, an isolated property she won in a card game and...
Content warnings 3
abusedeathmental-illness
"On the first floor of a Colonial-style house constructed last century out of planks of old growth cedar, a monster is dragging a woman’s husband from room to room. The specific path this monster takes will be evident the next morning from the gashes in...
Content warnings 2
abusesexual-violence
The Hero journeys across the desert to capture The Thief Of Memory and retrieve her stolen memories. What she finds in the end may destroy her.
Content warnings 2
death-of-a-loved-oneviolence
"It’s a pretty near thing, Nicolette. A pretty near thing.” Cédric mumbled to a bare skull in an alcove, the half-dead candle encrusting its forehead giving off barely enough light to fill the corner of the old storeroom. The skull was not Nicolette’s;...
Content warnings 2
deathviolence
"The sign on the door said Dreams Not Sold Here, and I mostly stuck to it. Dreams were extensive and exhausting projects, not to mention expensive. Nightmares, on the other hand, were quick. On a good day, I could stitch up a hundred off-the-rack ones:...
Content warnings 2
deathviolence
Haunted by stories he hears while on jury duty, a documentary filmmaker finds himself in an abandoned mall at the dead of night.
"He finds her in his grandpa’s attic, in the Big House. The hatch has been locked up tight since the day Grant Dixon was born—twenty-two years of locked up tight—and long before. He used to ask about it, between the stories his Grandpa Dixon liked to tell. "
Content warnings 3
abuseslaveryviolence
"Lamia burst like a shattered glass into the scream and scouring heat of desert wind, loosing the power that had lived in her ever since she had returned from the Refiner of the Desert. Her fire lashed across the wide plaza atop the Spire where she had...
Content warnings 2
deathviolence
"The ghosts the hollow-eyed girl in Junction Square was selling billowed from her basket in wispy ribbons, whipping and fluttering in wind I could not feel, their tantalizing snap and shudder of cloth lighter than air, heavier than sorrow. I saw her from...
Content warnings 3
abusedeathviolence
"It was an inauspicious beginning to my mission to find the deathmage and bring her to the capital. I found her exactly where the Mandate said I would: at a tavern table, in one of the northern work camps, wasted drunk. Her long black curls, laced with...
Content warnings 2
deathviolence
"But think—if we succeed, I’ll acquire a whole boxful of memories. Big, jewel-like memories whose sharp edges will tear my master’s world around me like old silk. I’ll escape. Eat a whole orange rather than a mere pip. Oranges are bright, like the sun. Do...
"I have heard it on the rumors that when the tale-spinner’s guild gathers in their secret places, a full half of them are sworn to never tell the truth, and the other half to never tell a lie, even if it mean their life. Being one of that trade myself, I...
Content warnings 1
violence
An academic’s whimsical decision to take a DNA test leads her into uncharted territory, where she discovers some extraordinary truths about herself and new possibilities for her future.
When Lady Mary marries the mysterious Mr. Fox, a jealous suitor follows them to their castle.
Content warnings 3
deathgoreviolence
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
Content warnings 2
deathgore
European invaders with near-modern technology conquered a Mexico where the magic really worked, but the natives are preparing a rebellion.
Content warnings 3
genocidegoreviolence
The village people suffer from the Duke’s construction of the big tower, and even thought the villagers disapprove of her, old Gert can’t help doing things for the little children who come to her for aid.
Content warnings 3
deathgoreviolence
A young couple has enough relationship troubles without a mischievous dog that appears to have telekinetic powers. But there seems to be a pattern to its mischief.
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
The Pro-Am All-Bohemian Invitational competition for the best skinwalkers is just starting, but there’s an unexpected extra contestant at the last minute.
Content warnings 3
deathgoreviolence
A grieving father tries to recreate the son he lost.
Content warnings 3
child-deathdeath-of-a-loved-onesuicide
Lukas has grown rich selling his magic wish-fulfillment tea, but he’s dissatisfied, and his wife is looking elsewhere. Two young people come into their lives and everything changes.
Content warnings 2
sexual-contentslavery
Kicked out of an elite academy, Suzanne survives on the streets with the help of a mute boy and four reluctant angels. And despite a demon inside her that keeps threatening to break out.
Content warnings 3
child-abuseself-harmsexual-violence
Lia’s mother wants her to dress like a lady, but their city is about to fall to the enemy, and what they really need to do is flee.
Content warnings 2
deathdeath-of-a-loved-one
When an unkillable black crow haunts the princess, Wynn goes beyond the kingdom to find the only weapon that can destroy it.
Content warnings 1
death
Thread, Rina, and Aakash have a mission to capture and kill a girl who has illegally acquired magic. Thread has second thoughts though.
Content warnings 2
body-horrorviolence
Teenage Brit enjoys teaching little kids at a Seattle Experience Outreach camp, even though she senses that something evil haunts the abandoned bunkers up the hill.
Content warnings 1
suicide
There's a quiet war in Boulder between hikers and cyclists, but whatever ripped two hikers' throats out must have been the cyclist from Hell.
Content warnings 3
deathgoreviolence
"Valentini doesn’t flinch when the purple-bellied storm shakes the house, heedless of the film being shot within its derelict husk. Scene fifteen, take three. The Hollow Places crew rushes to stop the windows’ skeletal rattling before the atmospheric...
Content warnings 3
child-deathgoreself-harm
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
Content warnings 3
goretransphobiaviolence
"She rose, feeling the aches where the dead had touched her, and gathered him in her arms. She’d hold him tighter this time. Oh, he’d fight her all the way, but they could get back on their way to the isle and the elf-king, and it would be over at last."
Content warnings 2
deathdeath-of-a-loved-one
"Children don’t generally assume their father will abandon them to die in the snow. But under certain circumstances, they might get an inkling. If their mother had died the year before, and their father brought home a woman with a sweet voice and cruel...
Content warnings 3
cannibalismchild-deathsexual-content
"The angel Azrael rode the dead horse across the broken land under the light of a half moon until he came across a graveyard that seemed to have no end. Wooden crosses stretched away to the horizon, more than he could count. Many of the crosses were bent...
Content warnings 3
deathgoreviolence
"Kuyom stood at Death’s door, shuffling from one foot to the other. She patted her head impatiently. She had gotten rid of the lice a week ago, but she still felt the phantom itch. They’d crawled into her hair while she was sleeping under a mango tree in...
Content warnings 3
child-deathdeathsuicide
"I remember the night I became a ghost. My husband, the Emperor, served the tainted tea himself; my punishment for giving him yet another girl-child. I was not the first Empress to drink from this cup. My newborn daughter lay on my bed, wailing. The...
Content warnings 2
deathviolence
"On a Thursday night in Harvestmonth, when the moon rises round and bronze as a new betrothal promise watch, is the warlike thrice-veiled Mother of Mákhesthaines, crowned in her black silk mantles embroidered with skulls, permitted across the Holy Square...
Content warnings 1
death
"Right,” I said. “Well, it’s a letter to the parents of the girl I love with all my heart and soul, telling them how I’ve just watched their daughter being dragged away screaming by soldiers and loaded on a ship to be taken as a sacrifice to the Black...
Content warnings 1
violence
Don Jacinto flees when he gets a letter from his crazy brother, not wanting to get involved in his quest to wake a supposed sleeping god.
Content warnings 3
goreviolencewar
Two little children come to a gingerbread house in the woods. The lady of the house is a witch, but so are the kids, and one of them is already dead anyway. The real problem is the people looking for them.
Content warnings 3
child-abusechild-deathgore
After war destroys their homeland, the Butterfly People come to Ksmal as refugees. They’re welcome, but only if they assimilate, and not everyone is happy with that.
Content warnings 2
death-of-a-loved-onewar
"Really, I don’t see what all the fuss is about. Shamans drag away poor farm girls from the outlying provinces all the time (particularly in seasons of great calamity, as everyone insists we are in now). Even then their lives stray little from their...
Content warnings 3
body-horrordeath-of-a-loved-oneviolence
Red Riding Hood escapes the wolf after years of living together and finds asylum with Beauty while the Beast is overseas on business.
Content warnings 3
abusedeathviolence
Long ago, some people leapt from a slave ship, and something transformed their bodies so she they could breathe water. Today, her descendants try to cope with a changing ocean.
Content warnings 3
goresexual-violenceviolence
Young Mira has a gift: gemstones sing to her. She wants to use it to help her family, so she leaps at the chance to join a young man who’s hunting for a long-lost ruby mine.
Content warnings 3
deathgoreviolence
Some nights shining lights appear atop hills in urban areas, and people who walk into them disappear—some say to fairyland. A cop who thinks otherwise tries to talk a young woman out of trying it.
Content warnings 3
deathdeath-of-a-loved-onesuicide
You are a lonely ten-year-old boy living in an old house with your mom when a man claiming to be your uncle arrives and strange things start to happen.
Content warnings 2
abusesubstance-use
A man sets out on a voyage accompanied by his fiancée's right arm. Content warnings: Violence (graphic), threat of bodily harm, covert misogyny Copyright © 2026 khōréō magazine. Story by Natalia Theodoridou, edited by Isabella Kestermann. Audio edition...
Content warnings 2
body-horrormisogyny
A woman returns to burn the last of her mother's body, in the wake of her mother's death — an effort to escape a dark entity that has sealed itself to the bones of three generations of Thai women. Content warnings: Racism, ageism, self-harm, blood,...
Content warnings 3
body-horrorracismself-harm
There once lived a boy who paid for a fortune. Nassim wore carob hair and eyes severe like cardamom. He spent his days scouring the souk for unique trinkets he liked to collect or counting the uneven stones of Jerusalem’s cobbled streets as he passed...
Content warnings 3
sexual-violenceviolencewar
Given Rebecca’s hunger for blood, our hopes being complimentary seemed unlikely, yet Auntie Regina’s blessing poured over us both from head to toe. Never before had I felt closer to my sister. The warmth penetrated deeper into our skin, past the second...
Content warnings 2
animal-harmbody-horror
Content note (click for details) This story contains references to mass atrocities. edited by Amanda Helms Dourglamis. The largest castle I’d seen in the flesh. Barreling towards me, it was also clearly the fastest. Great granite legs churned beneath its...
Content warnings 2
body-horrorcannibalism
Content note (click for details) Animal cruelty. edited by David Steffen Do not scream, my friend. Hold it back. Good—I know it hurts, trust me I do, but this is one of the most important things you will ever do in your life. Hold fast, now. Keep your...
Content warnings 3
body-horrorgoreviolence
What I’d taken for white beads are actually human teeth, mixed with white crystals I identified (via taste, to Mole’s horror) as salt. Mole looks at the mixture and shudders. I don’t know how to explain why I keep them. As much as I wish to deny the...
Content warnings 3
body-horrordeathgore
Amelia’s favorite time of day is before dawn, when all the beauty is hidden by shadow. She rises from her bed every morning, shivering in the hushed air, and gets dressed in the dark. Sometimes she has to redo the buttons, but she doesn’t turn on the light...
Content warnings 3
body-horrorgoreviolence
Content note: suicidal ideation I am a star, falling. “Awake now?” My eyes open to words as an unknown face greets me, small with a curious gaze. She parts full lips to bare teeth and I tense. A threat? No. A smile. I stare back. “I didn’t think you’d...
Content warnings 3
slaverysuicidewar
Normally, Tillie didn’t mind being the object of everyone’s gaze. But today, the crowd loitering in the street wasn’t drawn to her orange-red curls or her height or regalness. They […]
Content warnings 3
deathsexual-contentviolence
This episode features "Paper Airplane Poet" written by Sheri Singerling. Published in the May 2026 issue of Clarkesworld Magazine and read by Kate Baker. The text version of this story can be found at: https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/singerling_05_26...
Content warnings 3
deathgoresexual-content
Author : Natalie Zutter Narrator : Valerie Valdes Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Eric Valdes PodCastle 930: Parsley Girl, Parsley Girl, Let Down Your Trichobezoar is a PodCastle original. content notes for pregnancy loss, post-natal depression, and...
Content warnings 3
body-horrormental-illnesspregnancy-loss
Author : C. T. Muchemwa Narrator : Munashe R. Goromonzi Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Wilson Fowlie Previously published by FIYAH 33 (February 2025) Content note for gore Rated PG-13 The Inheritance by C. T. Muchemwa Taona did not shed a single tear...
Content warnings 3
deathgoreviolence
Author : André Geleynse Narrator : Rae Lundberg Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Eric Valdes Previously published in Beneath Ceaseless Skies Issue #433 Content note for suicide attempts Rated R Last Train from Deadwall PART ONE of Two by André Geleynse...
Content warnings 3
body-horrorsuicidewar
Author : André Geleynse Narrator : Rae Lundberg Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Eric Valdes Previously published in Beneath Ceaseless Skies Issue #433 Content note for suicide attempts Rated R Last Train from Deadwall Part TWO of Two by André Geleynse...
Content warnings 3
body-horrorsuicidewar
Author : T. R. Steele Narrator : Jordan Kurella Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Eric Valdes PodCastle 943: At Death’s Door is a PodCastle original. content notes for suicidal ideation and second-person narration Rated PG-13 At Death’s Door by T. R....
Content warnings 2
mental-illnesssuicide
Author : Merc Fenn Wolfmoor Narrator : Sandra Espinoza Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Eric Valdes Previously published in Apex Magazine (2021) Rated PG-13 Gray Skies, Red Wings, Blue Lips, Black Hearts by Merc Fenn Wolfmoor A girl has lost her soul...
Content warnings 3
body-horrorgoreviolence
Authors : Gregory Marlow, RJ Aurand and Jeanna Cammarano Narrators : Karen Menzel (née Bovenmyer), Rosie Sentman and Dani Daly Host : Wilson Fowlie Audio Producer : Wilson Fowlie PodCastle 950: FLASH FICTION EXTRAVAGANZA: Reapings is a PodCastle original....
Content warnings 3
child-deathdeathsuicide
Author : C. J. Lavigne Narrator : Nicola Chapman Host : Tarver Nova Audio Producer : Eric Valdes PodCastle 951: TALES FROM THE VAULTS: ‘Til Death is a PodCastle original. Content note for grief Rated PG-13 ‘Til Death by C. J. Lavigne My dear Clarinda, They...
Content warnings 3
deathdeath-of-a-loved-oneviolence
Author : Chaitanya Murali Narrator : Kaushik Narasimhan Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Eric Valdes Previously published by Kaleidotrope, 2024 Contents Notes for colonisation, enslavement, torture, racism, and references to sexual assault Rated R Of...
Content warnings 3
racismslaveryviolence
Author : Chaitanya Murali Narrator : Kaushik Narasimhan Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Eric Valdes Previously published by Kaleidotrope, 2024 Contents Notes for colonisation, enslavement, torture, racism, and references to sexual assault Rated R Of...
Content warnings 3
goreslaveryviolence
His app was called Promises Promises, and its download page was one of the last things in Ellie’s search history—behind two hundred chapters of Fruits Basket and six clickbait articles with titles all on the pattern of “17 Spectacular Strategies to...
Content warnings 1
body-horror
“Tailpiece” first appeared in More Ruthless Rhymes, 1930, and “The Second Awakening of a Magician” first appeared in The London Mercury, November 1930 C/W: fire My son Augustus, in the street, one day, Was feeling quite exceptionally merry. A stranger...
Content warnings 3
deathdeath-of-a-loved-oneviolence
“The End Of The Story” was originally published in Weird Tales, vol. 15, no. 5 (May 1930). Link: Weird Tales original text Original layout from Weird Tales The Emperor of Dreams documentary Best collection of Smith’s poetry The following narrative was...
PseudoPod 1015: What Haunts the Newbuild? is a PseudoPod original. When the Night Comes Out If the dead who loved her haunt an old home’s bones, what haunts the newbuild? What makes her creak and moan? Every house is a violence—and a weathered house knows...
Content warnings 3
animal-harmdeathpregnancy-loss
“Left by the Tide” first appeared in Weird Tales, March 1929 “Sirens Chasing Sirens” first appeared in The Gateway Review back in 2018 “Dread and Faith” was originally published in February 2025 in Blood Lust from Black Hare Press Far from the frenzy Of...
Content warnings 3
goresexual-contentviolence
‘The Polyamorous Heart of Death’ first appeared in the anthology And One Day We Will Die: Strange Stories Inspired by the Music of Neutral Milk Hotel CW: 2nd person PoV, transphobia, implied necrophilia The Neutral Milk Hotel The music track that inspired...
Content warnings 3
body-horrorsexual-contenttransphobia
‘Superstition’ was first published in the anthology 120 Murders: Dark Fiction Inspired by the Alternative Era Remote Viewing Clerks 1 Donnie Darko The Destructors Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth with Money in My Hand by Primitive Radio Gods The...
Content warnings 2
deathviolence
‘Bad Doors’ was originally published in Uncanny Magazine in 2023, and was a finalist for the Nebula Award for Best Short Story. C/W: pandemic, family and animal disappearance/death The country was at just over ten thousand deaths the morning that the door...
Content warnings 3
deathdeath-of-a-loved-oneillness-and-pandemic
PseudoPod 1023: Grandifolia is a PseudoPod original. C/W: Emotional control, intimate partner abuse The first time I do everything the way I’m supposed to. I wait for the new moon and walk into the woods at midnight. I carry a jar of pig’s blood and wear a...
Content warnings 3
abusebody-horrorsexual-content
“Witchcraft” was first printed in Ornaments in Jade, 1924 “How I Turned My Little Brother Human” was first published in Shaky Pictures of Vanished Faces, edited by Eric Raglin, in September 2025 “Visit Seahaven” was first published in Factor Four magazine...
Content warnings 3
child-deathpregnancy-losssubstance-use
PseudoPod 1025: Impostor Syndrome is a PseudoPod original. The Mighty Boosh-Back to the Crunch Looking back, the first red flag was during the job interview, when Chad said their target demographic was males, ages thirteen to seventeen. “That’s pretty...
Content warnings 3
deathgoreviolence
PseudoPod 1026: Thoughts and Prayers is a PseudoPod original. C/W: Gun violence, school shooting https://www.npr.org/2025/09/08/nx-s1-5317647/school-shooting-industry https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/interactive/school-shootings-database/...
Content warnings 3
deathgoreviolence
“Her Skin” first appeared in the anthology, They Walk Among Us: A Collection of Utah Horror (42 Books, April 2020). C/W: intimate partner abuse/control Notes contain possible spoilers: see Host Commentary below He found her in Hells Canyon. After that, my...
Content warnings 3
abusebody-horrordeath
“Interstate Mohinis” was originally published in Diabolical Plots (June 2023) C/W: sexual violence, cannibalism, reference to drug abuse In the way of Death runs the Vaitarani river. We are flayed open to its woe. We are always aware of its currents in...
Content warnings 3
cannibalismsexual-violenceviolence
PseudoPod 1042: Jerry Got Bit – Part 1 is a PseudoPod original. C/W: implied child abuse, guns From the author: “One of the questions I’d always left for myself in previous stories in this setting was where Jerry the werewolf had come from. It was clear...
Content warnings 2
deathviolence
PseudoPod 1043: Jerry Got Bit – Part 2 is a PseudoPod original. C/W: implied child abuse, guns From the author: “One of the questions I’d always left for myself in previous stories in this setting was where Jerry the werewolf had come from. It was clear...
Content warnings 3
deathgoreviolence
“Turquoise Waters” was first published in Women of the Weird West, edited by KC Grifant, in 2026 C/W: guns, misogyny, strong violence Author’s note: “I lived in New Mexico for six years where I taught Navajo, Zuni, and Hobi students in the Four Corners...
Content warnings 3
goremisogynyviolence
This episode features "Scion" written by Thomas Ha. Published in the March 2026 issue of Clarkesworld Magazine and read by Kate Baker. The text version of this story can be found at: https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/ha_03_26 Support us on Patreon at...
Content warnings 3
body-horrorgoreviolence
1. I’m sorry, my lord. 2. I miss the sound of your voice, deep enough to shake the mountain fortress’s stones. I miss feeling it rumble in the soles of my feet. I miss the glow of your eyes while you paced the Chamber of Mysteries, lava burning in the...
Content warnings 3
abusemental-illnessviolence
She assures them, again and again, that she acted under the best—the very best—of intentions. Oh, yes, she can be a bit dramatic at times—she won’t deny that. And she was hurt—very hurt—by that mess with the invitations. She won’t deny that, either. But...
Content warnings 3
deathviolencewar
A year of living in the ground had not accustomed Moyer to the smell. He wondered how the French, who’d been at this business so much longer, could stand it. But if the officers who had trained his unit in the intricacies of trench life were any...
Content warnings 2
deathwar
Content Warning: religiously motivated ableism and homophobia, both internalized and external; self-harm; and depictions of ritual sacrifice including drowning, hanging, and burning, not very graphic. Alone but for the crows, the priestess peers through...
Content warnings 3
deathhomophobiaself-harm
But I am no king, no man. It is a role I assumed in serving, with perfect order, those who scarcely saw fit to name me. Wild and shimmering, I hide from myself no longer. I was born twice from death. It is time to mend what was broken, even if they will not.
Content warnings 2
child-deathillness-and-pandemic
I beg you, let me tell you about my daughter. My brilliant daughter will be one of the four people who survive their airplane crashing into a giant. Or, more accurately, a giant swiping their airplane out of the sky. Perhaps it meant to catch, or caress....
Content warnings 1
death
Author : P.C. Verrone Narrator : Eric Valdes Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Eric Valdes Discuss on Forums PodCastle 874: The Husband is a PodCastle original. Content warnings for sex, violence, and references to the death of a spouse Rated R The...
Content warnings 3
goresexual-contentviolence
Author : Osahon Ize-Iyamu Narrator : Takudzwa Sharon Kirimi Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Devin Martin Discuss on Forums Previously published by Lightspeed Magazine Content warnings for grief and the death of a spouse Rated PG-13 Last Ritual of the...
Content warnings 3
deathdeath-of-a-loved-onewar
Author : Louis Inglis Hall Narrator : Pippa Alice Stephens Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Devin Martin Discuss on Forums Previously published by The Colored Lens Content warning for the death of a child Rated PG-13 The Hand That Feeds by Louis Inglis...
Content warnings 3
body-horrorchild-deathgore
Author : Somto Ihezue Narrator : Mofiyinfoluwa Okupe Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Devin Martin Discuss on Forums Previously published by Tor – Africa Risen anthology Content warnings for violent murder and the death of an animal Rated R The Carving...
Content warnings 3
animal-harmdeathviolence
Author : Samantha Mills Narrator : Sandra Espinoza Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Devin Martin Discuss on Forums Previously published by Translunar Travelers Lounge and as PodCastle #639. Rated PG-13 Kiki Hernández Beats the Devil By Samantha Mills...
Content warnings 3
animal-harmgoreviolence
Author : Brigitte Winter Narrator : Julia Rios Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Devin Martin Discuss on Forums Previously published by New Year, New You: A Speculative Anthology of Reinvention Content warnings for violence and coercive control Rated R...
Content warnings 3
abusegoreviolence
Author : Si Wang Narrator : Shingai Njeri Kagunda Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Devin Martin Discuss on Forums PodCastle 885: Prisoners is a PodCastle original. Rated PG Prisoners by Si Wang The fortress was as large as a city and empty as a dried-up...
Content warnings 3
cannibalismdeathwar
Author : Filip Hajdar Drnovšek Zorko Narrator : Yaroslav Barsukov Host : Kaitlyn Zivanovich Audio Producer : Eric Valdes Discuss on Forums Previously published by Beneath Ceaseless Skies Rated PG-13 The Cuckoo of Vrežna Mountain by Filip Hajdar Drnovšek...
Author : Mimi Mondal Narrator : Elizabeth Green Host : Kaitlyn Zivanovich Audio Producer : Devin Martin Discuss on Forums Originally published as PodCastle 349 Content warnings for violence and disturbing imagery Rated R This Sullied Earth, Our Home by...
Content warnings 2
deathviolence
Author : Jason Fischer Narrator : Wilson Fowlie Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Eric Valdes Discuss on Forums Previously run as episode 438, and first published by Beneath Ceaseless Skies (#180) Content warning for frequent and bloody violence. Rated R...
Content warnings 3
goreslaveryviolence
Author : Jessie Roy Narrator : Kyle Akers Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Devin Martin Discuss on Forums PodCastle 897: Oops! All Swords is a PodCastle original. Content warnings for repeated violent death and strong language throughout. Rated PG-13...
Content warnings 3
deathgoreviolence
Author : Cat Rambo Narrator : Cat Rambo Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Eric Valdes Discuss on Forums Previously published by UNLOCKING THE MAGIC, edited by Vivian Caethe Content warning for PTSD, suicidal ideation, and body horror Rated PG Broken All...
Content warnings 3
body-horrormental-illnesssuicide
Author : Gillian Knox Narrator : Karen Menzel (née Bovenmyer) Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Devin Martin Discuss on Forums PodCastle 900: Sour Fruit is a PodCastle original. Content warnings for domestic abuse and the death of a parent Rated PG-13...
Content warnings 3
abusechild-abusedeath-of-a-loved-one
Author : Christine Lucas Narrator : Kat Kourbeti Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Eric Valdes Discuss on Forums Previously published by Abyss & Apex Content warnings for ableist slurs and attitudes, violence, and misogyny Rated PG-13 Moths in a...
Content warnings 3
misogynyviolencewar
Author : Jeanna Mason Stay Narrator : Valerie Valdes Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Eric Valdes Discuss on Forums PodCastle 905: The Next Dead Wife is a PodCastle original. Content warnings for coercive control, domestic violence, and murder Rated...
Content warnings 3
abusedeathviolence
Author : Stephanie Malia Morris Narrator : Dominick Rabrun Host : Wilson Fowlie Audio Producer : Eric Valdes PodCastle 909: Resurrection Rum is a PodCastle original. Content warnings for death, gun violence, and racism Rated PG-13 Resurrection Rum by...
Content warnings 3
deathracismviolence
Author : Leah Ning Narrator : Amanda Ching Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Eric Valdes Discuss on Forums Previously published in Monster Lairs (Dark Matter INK, October 2023) Rated PG-13 The Hunter, the Monster, and the Things That Could Have Been by...
Content warnings 3
death-of-a-loved-onegoreviolence
Author : Jennifer R. Donohue Narrator : Heather Thomas Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Eric Valdes Previously published in issue #3 of Gamut, on March 1, 2024 Content warnings for gore and traumatic birth Rated R Auguries By Jennifer R. Donohue She...
Content warnings 3
body-horrorgoreviolence
PseudoPod 1001: A Coven of Cats Under the Light of the Moon and The Halloween Parade is a PseudoPod original. C/W: implied animal harm (Coven) On this night, we escaped from our homes—we darted through the open doors, we leaped over the privacy fences, we...
Content warnings 3
animal-harmgoreviolence
PseudoPod 1006: Give A Dog A Bone is a PseudoPod original. From author: “Give A Dog A Bone” is the third story in the series of tales following the exploits of a married couple of werewolves whose relationship is under some unusual stresses. Both of the...
Content warnings 2
goreviolence
“The Old Lady” first appeared in the 1929 collection of ghost stories, Randall’s Round Penda’s Fen Void Merch Hot Singles In Your Area Adela Young must have come up to Oxford at the same time as myself; but no one, in a way, knew that she had. She was one...
Content warnings 3
child-deathdeathviolence
“Powers Of Darkness” was first published in Collier’s, March 30, 1929. CW: Use of racial slurs as well as sexism and misogyny Beau Geste, Russel’s best known work was adapting this for the screen. Joseph Conrad Heart of Darkness Nickerson, R.M., failed in...
Content warnings 3
misogynyracismviolence
PseudoPod 961: Body Heat is a PseudoPod original. C/W: death of a family member, cancer From the author: ‘Body Heat’ was inspired by a reoccurring dream during a 3-week solo expedition in the mountains. Void Merch Hot Singles In Your Area The river is...
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body-horrordeath-of-a-loved-oneillness-and-pandemic
“Hemorrhage” was originally published in the Book of Queer Saints Volume 2 CW: self-harm, drug abuse, addiction, physical abuse and coercive control It’s a dumb fight to pick, but I only learn that later. By the time they drag me out the back door of the...
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abuseself-harmsubstance-use
PseudoPod 965: The Ecstasy of the Saints is a PseudoPod original. CW: body horror; self-harm From the author: I was raised Catholic and went to Catholic school through the seventh grade. That meant I spent three days a week in church, plus Sunday mass with...
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body-horrorself-harmsexual-content
PseudoPod 967: Two’s Company, Three Might Be A Sign of Demonic Possession is a PseudoPod original. CW: Intimate partner death; Second person point of view Also narrated by Pine Gonzalez: A Relationship in Four Haircuts, by Ai Jiang Tales from the Fringes...
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deathdeath-of-a-loved-one
“Tree of the Forest Seven Bells Turns the World Round Midnight” originally appeared in Sleeping Under the Tree of Life and was reprinted in Sycorax’s Daughters Hounds of Tindalos Strange Things Happen at the 1-2 Point Sarah Conner Chronicles Sarah Conner...
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body-horrordeath
“Old Things are Meant to Be Found and Shared” first appeared as “Of Lovecraft and ‘He’” in The Book of Starry Wisdom. “The Secret in the Tomb” originally appeared in the May 1935 issue of Weird Tales. From Leanna Renee Hieber: “Much like the introduction...
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body-horrordeathgore
“Nesters” originally appeared in the anthology Lovecraft’s Children CW: Animal death They killed the last calf that morning. Ma wanted to hold off, give the poor thing a chance, but Pa said it were cruel to let a body live like that. He cracked the hammer...
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animal-harmbody-horrordeath
“The Shambler from the Stars” first appeared in Weird Tales, September 1935 I have nobody but myself to blame for the whole affair. It was my own blundering that precipitated that unforeseen horror upon us both; my own stupidity that caused our downfall....
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deathgoreviolence
“The Haunter of the Dark” first appeared in Weird Tales, December 1936 CW: xenophobia H.P. Lovecraft The Horror of the Heights Federal Hill, Providence Voluminous: The Letters of HP Lovecraft Episode 82 Lovecraftian horror — and the racism at its core —...
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body-horrordeathracism
“Grave Worms” originally appeared in Cassilda’s Song: Tales Inspired by Robert W. Chambers’ King in Yellow Mythos an anthology edited by Joseph S. Pulver, Sr. The grey flannel suit might have looked masculine on the rack, or on another woman, but the close...
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mental-illnesssexual-content
PseudoPod 984: Flash on the Borderlands LXXIV: Thy Shields Between Them and the Light is a PseudoPod original. “My Heart in a Snow Globe” – C/W: child death “Exposed, Every Inch Visible” – C/W: body horror “We Told You of the One Who Lives in the Mound” –...
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body-horrorchild-deathdeath
“Think of Me” was first published in the anthology DARK RAINBOW: QUEER EROTIC HORROR (Riverdale Ave., 2018) CW: explicit sex, self-harm, transphobia, body horror, S&M kink Strange Darling Sasha and Taylor are fucking and Sasha is thinking about me. She...
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self-harmsexual-contenttransphobia
“The Louder I Call, the Faster It Runs” originally appeared in Bourbon Penn, and will appear in Ellen Datlow’s Year’s Best Horror #16 C/W: death by drowning In the predawn dark, Annie found herself in a bed, holding onto another hand beneath the cool...
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deathgoreviolence
PseudoPod 990: Hearts and Half-Measures is a PseudoPod original. C/W: · Transphobia · Body horror · Murder · Gore · Grief · Death of a parent · Cannibalism From the author: The Manananggal (“self-segmenter” – the creature in this story) is a Filipino...
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body-horrorgoretransphobia
PseudoPod 998: The Story-Stealer’s Night is a PseudoPod original. C/Ws from author: Body horror, creature horror, brief suicidal ideation, cancer, child abuse, child death and parent death Story-teller, Story-screamer Tell your tales into this night. The...
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"DIRECTIONS: Fill in the correct letter with a #2 pencil on the answer sheet. Do not use ink or ballpoint pens. Questions left blank will be marked incorrect. Completely fill in each circle."
My entry into her apartments teeters entirely on this precarious pair of facts; one, I am small; and two, I am armed with Mother’s message.
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animal-harmbody-horrorchild-abuse
Author : Eugie Foster Narrator : Mur Lafferty Host : Mur Lafferty Audio Producer : Summer Brooks This story was first published in Escape Pod 388 (March 21, 2013) Contains harsh language and graphic gory violence Trixie and the Pandas of Dread by Eugie...
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goreracismviolence
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...
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deathracismwar
Author : Alexia Tolas Narrator : Omega Francis Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Eric Valdes Discuss on Forums PodCastle 837: Good Fortune For a Beloved Child is a PodCastle original. Content warnings for the death of a child, racism, and allusions to...
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child-deathracismsexual-violence
Author : Rachael K. Jones Narrator : Heather Thomas Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Devin Martin Discuss on Forums Previously published by Nightmare Magazine Content warnings for gun violence, school shootings, child endangerment, references to child...
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child-deathgoreviolence
Author : Chris Kuriata Narrator : Summer Fletcher Host : Eric Valdes Audio Producer : Eric Valdes Discuss on Forums Previously published by Diabolical Plots Rated R The Aunties Return the Ocean By Chris Kuriata Auntie Roberta landed badly on the roof of...
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Author : J.H. Siegal Narrator : Rebecca Fraimow Host : Eleanor R. Wood Audio Producer : Devin Martin Discuss on Forums PodCastle 847: The Golem Lover is a PodCastle original. Content warnings for the death of a spouse and for sexually explicit themes and...
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death-of-a-loved-onesexual-contentviolence
Author : Julia LaFond Narrator : Diane Severson Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Devin Martin Discuss on Forums PodCastle 850: Publish or Perish is a PodCastle original. Content warnings for murder, violence, and abuse of power Rated PG-13 Publish or...
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abusedeathviolence
Author : Samir Sirk Morató Narrator : Amanda Ching Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Devin Martin Discuss on Forums PodCastle 857: Ecdysis is a PodCastle original. Content warning for ableism (including ableist language) and scenes of a sexual nature...
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ableismbody-horrorsexual-content
Author : Oliver Onions Narrator : Matt Dovey Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Devin Martin Discuss on Forums Originally published in The London Magazine, August 1928. Content warnings for the off-screen deaths of a spouse and sons Rated PG John Gladwin...
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deathdeath-of-a-loved-onewar
Author : Beesan Odeh Narrator : Zeina Sleiman Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Eric Valdes Artist : Iasmin Omar Ata Discuss on Forums Previously published by Lightspeed Magazine Content warning for the death of a child Rated PG-13 Al-Kahf الكهف By Beesan...
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Author : Karim Kattan Narrator : Amal Singh Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Eric Valdes Artist : Iasmin Omar Ata Discuss on Forums Previously published by The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction Rated PG-13 The Witch OF Endor by Karim Kattan There...
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deathracismviolence
PseudoPod 904: Jinx is a PseudoPod original. CW: domestic violence/intimate partner violence. Your first date with Jake is perfect. So. That’s fucking weird. Not a complaint, obviously. Actually, it’s a relief: you’ve been on far too many first dates with...
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abusedeathviolence
“Bring Them All Into the Light” originally appeared in the Great British Horror 7: Major Arcana representing the card The High Priestess. Heathen They’re on holiday when he sees the cottage. Julie and Nico are bickering in the back seat, Maggie searching...
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deathgoreviolence
PseudoPod 909: The Witch in the Whale Bone Hut is a PseudoPod original. Four massive ribs held the hut together, two forming a thick arch near the front door. The bones were pockmarked and yellow, no doubt leftovers from the town’s glory days during the...
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PseudoPod 914: Spirit Husband is a PseudoPod original. The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover Don’t collect gifts from strangers. Don’t pick up money on the streets. Don’t take food in your dream. The spicy fried exterior of the akara melts over my...
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deathpregnancy-losssexual-violence
PseudoPod 922: Something Stirring Underneath is a PseudoPod original. From the author: “At the far northwestern corner of Georgia down an unmarked path off a logging road lies the crumbling ruins of a manor that was host to murder and fire. It is only one...
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body-horror
‘Too Little, Too Little, Too Much’ originally appeared in Cossmass Infinites in March of 2022 Fans of the urban legend of the Russian Sleep Experiment may be excited to see a recent movie release “The Soviet Sleep Experiment” is available online now with...
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abusechild-abuseviolence
“Black Bargain” was originally published in Weird Tales, May 1942 “What Every Young Ghoul Should Know” was originally published in Amateur Correspondent, September-October 1937 What Every Young Ghoul Should Know” is a little piece of ephemera from an...
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deathviolence
“Beach Head” was published in On Spec (longtime Canadian sci-fi/horror magazine) – 2008 & The Best Horror of the Year Volume 1 – 2009 CW: Drug use, problematic language “Are you still alive over there?” Alvy’s voice sounded weak, but it retained the...
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goresubstance-useviolence
“Three Nights With the Angel of Death” was originally published in the anthology ALONG HARROWED TRAILS from Timber Ghost Press in July 2023 The Quick and the Dead Arizona, 1884—Day One The people of Vulture City are calling him the Angel of Death. But that...
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deathgoreviolence
PseudoPod 928: Mr. Harmon’s Girls is a PseudoPod original. CW: child sexual abuse, grooming https://www.elliottgishwrites.com https://www.facebook.com/elliottgishwrites The first day of school. Bright, cold, the sky that special autumn blue. All of us in...
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body-horrorchild-abuse
“Bonesoup” originally published in Strange Horizons, July 2022 From the author: “My initial idea was a Hansel and Gretel retelling where the Evil Witch actually has children of her own. It became a story about Greece’s intergenerational trauma, called...
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body-horrorchild-deathdeath
“The Man With a Serpent in his System” originally appeared in London Mystery Magazine Selection (No. 99) November 1973. Jane reached out to us in 2023. She told us that, back in the 1970s when she was in her twenties, she wrote and had ‘The Man With a...
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“Sea Curse” was originally published in Weird Tales, May 1928 The Soul Cages And some return by the failing light And some in the waking dream. For she hears the heels of the dripping ghosts That ride the rough roofbeam. —Kipling THEY were the brawlers and...
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deathmisogynyviolence
CW: Ableist slur This material originally appeared in The Hitherto Secret Experiments of Marie Curie edited by Bryan Thomas Schmidt & Henry L. Herz published by Blackstone Publishing (©2023) I didn’t join in as my surviving family members conversed over...
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animal-harmgoreviolence
“In Haskins” originally appeared in Apex, issue 127 Everyone, both the young and the old, went about their lives as usual on the day of the Mask Festival. The downtown streets were covered with colored leaves and Mr. Burkett still waved at children and...
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abusechild-deathviolence
PseudoPod 942: The Sound of a Jackknife is a PseudoPod original. The Dead Room Pontypool I only took the Tremaine gig because of Shepherd’s recommendation. “This one won’t pay much,” Shepherd admitted over the phone. People chattered in the background...
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“Oneirophobia” originally appeared in NEVER WAKE: A DREAM HORROR ANTHOLOGY, edited by Kenneth W. Cain and Tim Meyer, and published by Crystal Lake Publishing on 9/8/23 From the author: “I’ve experienced sleep paralysis a few times in my life, but the first...
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deathmental-illnessviolence
PseudoPod 944: The House That Stands Over Your Grave is a PseudoPod original. From the author: “For as universal as it is, I find it weirdly difficult to explain grief in a way that feels satisfying. It’s a slippery, nebulous thing. It can hide from you or...
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PseudoPod 945: The Gobstomper is a PseudoPod original. A lot changes as you get older, thought Wilkie Saunders. For example, he’d been sure older boys like Tom Dunn—who was either in 10th or 11th grade depending on if you counted the year he was...
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body-horrorchild-abuse
PseudoPod 946: Toby and The Halloween Parade is a PseudoPod original. Andrew Garfield and Elmo Alasdair Stuart Previous Halloween Parades It’s a long walk from Founders Cemetery, but I am old, dying, and don’t mind the wait. The trick-or-treaters are out...
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‘Will They Disappear’ originally appeared in the 2024 collection The Nightmare Box from Cursed Morsels Press From the author: “This piece is based on the horrendous real-life story of Jennifer and Sarah Hart, two white women who adopted six Black children...
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child-abusedeathracism
“The Slow Music of Drums” was originally published in the 2024 Anthology Northern Nights edited by Michael Kelly TW: features grief, an implied apocalypse, sinister music, a family curse, cosmic horror and bees Astute readers and listeners may be aware, or...
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child-deathdeathsuicide
PseudoPod 951: Last Supper is a PseudoPod original. CW: Thanksgiving dinner drama “Last Supper” is a follow-up to “Licking Roadkill”, which previously appeared at PseudoPod (ep 786, Nov 2021) and in the collection A Meeting In the Devil’s House. From the...
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deathsubstance-useviolence
“Onitsha Main, Ochanja, The Twins, Nkpor, and the Shadows of Shoprite” was originally published in the 2024 anthology, Escalators to Hell: Shopping Mall Horrors Onitsha Main. It started with the garri sellers. Basin by basin, their grains went gray with...
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body-horrorgoreviolence
“If You Don’t Want a Cat, Don’t Get a Kitten” originally appeared in the 2024 collection Recreational Panic From the author: “I dedicated one of my stories, ‘If You Don’t Want a Cat, Don’t Get a Kitten’, to Brian Keene. His adventures with stray kittens...
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body-horrorgoreviolence
“Summer Night” was first published in the 2024 anthology Bury Your Gays: An Anthology of Tragic Queer Horror “Chosen” was first published in the 2024 anthology Howls from the Scene of the Crime “The Encausting” was first published in Seaside Gothic and...
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Author : MacKenzie R. Snead Narrator : Heather Thomas Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Devin Martin PodCastle 770: The Dragon Killer’s Daughter is a PodCastle original. Content warning for the death of a parent. Rated PG The Dragon Killer’s Daughter by...
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Author : Alex Fox Narrator : Eric Valdes Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Eric Valdes Discuss on Forums PodCastle 774: Yung Lich and the Dance of Death is a PodCastle original. Rated PG-13 Yung Lich and the Dance of Death By Alex Fox My Christian name...
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Author : Maria Haskins Narrator : Eleanor R. Wood Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Devin Martin Discuss on Forums Previously published by The Deadlands #12 Content Warning for the death of a child Rated PG-13 The Morthouse by Maria Haskins In her...
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Author : Somto Ihezue Narrator : Pemi Aguda Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Devin Martin Discuss on Forums Previously published by Rain Dance: Afritondo Prize 2022 Anthology Strong Content Warning for assault, violence, and female genital mutilation...
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Author : Eugenia Triantafyllou Narrator : C. L. Clark Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Eric Valdes Discuss on Forums Previously published by Beneath Ceaseless Skies Content Warnings for animal death and themes of infant death Rated PG-13 Of the Body By...
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Author : Kelly Robson Narrator : Kae Mills Host : Sofía Barker Audio Producer : Devin Martin Discuss on Forums Previously published by “The Book of Dragons” edited by Jonathan Strahan Content Warnings for children in peril and references to sexual assault...
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goresexual-violenceviolence
Authors : M. Stevenson and Jo Miles Narrators : Andrew K. Hoe, Eric Valdes and Valerie Valdes Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Eric Valdes Discuss on Forums “My Custom Monster” was previously published by Fireside Fiction August 2021 “Scales” is a...
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Authors : Tanya Aydelott, M.K. Hutchins and Lindsey Godfrey Eccles Narrators : Kaitlyn Zivanovich, Sofía Barker and Karen Menzel (née Bovenmyer) Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Devin Martin Discuss on Forums “The Greenhouse Bargain” was previously...
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Author : E. Catherine Tobler Narrator : Christiana Ellis Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Devin Martin Discuss on Forums PodCastle 795: The Indigo Mantis is a PodCastle original. Content warnings for insects, arachnids, and beheadings PG-13 The Indigo...
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Author : Matt Dovey Narrator : Louise Ratcliffe Hosts : Matt Dovey and Graeme Dunlop Audio Producers : Devin Martin and Pria Wood Discuss on Forums First published in Writers of the Future volume 32, May 2016 Originally aired as PodCastle 427 Originally...
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child-abusedeathviolence
Author : Sam W. Pisciotta Narrator : Nicola Chapman Host : Matt Dovey Discuss on Forums PodCastle 805: The Somnambulant is a PodCastle original. Content warning for assault Rated PG-13 The Somnambulant by Sam W. Pisciotta The moon sits plump within a...
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Authors : Thomas Ha and Stephen Granade Narrators : Stephen Granade and Lucy McLoughlin Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Eric Valdes Discuss on Forums “Gentler Things” is a PodCastle Original “The Sigilist’s Notes on the Fell Lord’s Staff” was previously...
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Author : WC Dunlap Narrator : Kimberly Taylor Hosts : Matt Dovey and Khaalidah Muhammad-Ali Audio Producers : Eric Valdes and Pria Wood Discuss on Forums PodCastle 808: ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL: The Settlement is a PodCastle original. Content warnings for...
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cannibalismsexual-violenceslavery
Author : Dorothy Quick Narrator : Valerie Valdes Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Eric Valdes Discuss on Forums Previously published by Weird Tales Content warnings for murder and references to torture Rated PG-13 The Woman on the Balcony by Dorothy...
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Author : Lora Gray Narrator : Jo Moran Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Devin Martin Discuss on Forums Previously published by Fantasy & Science Fiction Content warnings for a surgical procedure, homophobia (including slurs), assault, sexual assault, and...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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child-abuse
PseudoPod 853: Oni in the Box is a PseudoPod original. Now, Sobo was our late father’s mother. By our mother’s accounts she was mad, if not wicked. Gossip ran muddy in our family. One relative, now deceased, told me she was once the personal Tay? of the...
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“Bones in It” was originally published in Lightspeed in May 2021 Good Bones by Maggie Smith Besides the vedma who lived behind the stove in steam room three, the banya in Grand Lake Plaza was the same as any other budget day spa on Chicago’s West Side. It...
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goresexual-violenceviolence
PseudoPod 855: And The Water Said Kneel is a PseudoPod original. Content Warning: Rape Revenge The river claims her like a lover, like someone who needed her whole and open and honest. It feels like she’s supposed to expose her throat, to bow for the very...
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“Them Doghead Boys” originally appeared in Current Affairs Magazine in their Jan/Feb 2021 issue Things got bad bad once the Ravels was gone. Five-Oh swooped down and arrested damnear eighty of them and after that wasn’t nobody on the corners slingin but...
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PseudoPod 861: Swing Batter Batter is a PseudoPod original. A baseball clubhouse is a weird place. You’ve got California prep school kids rubbing elbows with good old boys from Texas and Louisiana, and guys from the Dominican and Venezuela mixing with guys...
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violence
PseudoPod 882: See That My Grave is Kept Clean is a PseudoPod original. CW for suicide Dig a hole, climb in, cover yourself in grave dirt. Not your face. You aren’t ready to join the dead, not yet. The bone men tend the graveyard, unaware they’re being...
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child-deathdeath-of-a-loved-onesuicide
“Darke’s Last Show” opens the 2023 collection Have You Seen the Moon Tonight? & Other Rumors I’m still smiling when the rideshare car pulls up. Silver Honda Accord. Driver: Raul. 4.9 star rating, meaning some monster gave him a petty 4-star review...
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PseudoPod 890: The Halloween Parade and Twin Xolotls of Sorrow and Salt is a PseudoPod original. This year you pass through a stone arch to reach the Parade. The churro stand is to one side, the bouncer to the other. You can’t quite tell if the bouncer is...
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“The Stringer of Wiltsburg Farm” was originally published in Vastarien and was reprinted in the 2023 collection Who Lost, I Found Dark Harvest novel Dark Harvest Daddy called tobacco a quick and dirty crop. Quick because it was one hundred days from...
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“The Belsnickel” has previously appeared on the online platforms Vocal and Patreon. From the author: ”I loved the stories my German great-grandmother shared about belsnickels – friends and neighbors who dressed in big fur coats and frightful masks and went...
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“Douen” was originally published in The Dark Magazine and reprinted in the 2023 collection Skin Thief. From the author: “This story is set at my Grandmother’s house in Trinidad. The story itself is written in dialect the way I would have spoken it. It...
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“The Red Lady” was originally published in the 2023 anthology Collage Macabre presented by the Future Dead Collective SHOW NOTES The Whoniverse The Full Lid ‘Art is never finished, only abandoned.’ – This week’s closing quote has a fascinating, and very...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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Author : Vanessa Fogg Narrator : Tatiana Grey Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Devin Martin Discuss on Forums PodCastle 738: The Bones Beneath is a PodCastle original. Content warnings for violence and death Rated PG-13 The Bones Beneath by Vanessa Fogg...
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Author : C. J. Lavigne Narrator : Nicola Chapman Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Eric Valdes Discuss on Forums PodCastle 739: ‘Til Death is a PodCastle original. Content warnings for grief Rated PG-13 ‘Til Death by C. J. Lavigne My dear Clarinda, They...
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Author : Natalia Theodoridou Narrator : A. F. Grappin Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Eric Valdes Discuss on Forums Previously published by Uncanny Magazine Rated R Ribbons by Natalia Theodoridou Monday’s lover tugs at Jan’s ribbon with his teeth. Jan...
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sexual-contenttransphobiawar
Author : Uchechukwu Nwaka Narrator : Shingai Njeri Kagunda Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Eric Valdes Discuss on Forums Previously Published by Cossmass Infinities Rated PG-13 The music for the promotion intro is “Sneaky Snitch” Kevin MacLeod...
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Author : Saki (the pen name of H. H. Munro) Narrator : Kat Day Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Devin Martin Discuss on Forums First published in 1911 in “The Chronicles of Clovis” Content Warning for an outdated racial term Rated PG-13 “Traveler’s Guide...
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Author : L. P. Kindred Narrator : Brent Lambert Audio Producer : Eric Valdes Discuss on Forums Previously published by Queer Blades Anthology 1 Content Warning for violence Rated R Aurum & Indigo By LP Kindred Aurum sits on a wooden stool, hunched over the...
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Author : Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki Narrator : Shingai Njeri Kagunda Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Devin Martin Artist : Cindy Fan Discuss on Forums Previously published by Cosmic Roots and Eldritch Shores Rated PG-13 The Witching Hour By Oghenechovwe...
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Author : Gabriella Buba Narrator : Vida Cruz-Borja Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Eric Valdes Artist : Cindy Fan Discuss on Forums Previously published by Strange Religion: Speculative Fiction of Spirituality, Belief, & Practice (Strange Concepts: Big...
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“New to It All” first appeared in the collection I Would Haunt You If I Could published in March of 2021 by Undertow. My first girlfriend, Niamh, was a scratcher. Saoirse wasn’t like that. The first time Niamh asked me to stay the night, she was testing me...
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body-horrorsexual-content
“Sometimes Boys Don’t Know” was originally published in the July 2021 issue of Nightmare Magazine. “Human Body as Compendium” is a PseudoPod original. “Never Enough Pockets” is a PseudoPod original Never Enough Pockets: body horror, self-harm “Human Body...
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body-horrorself-harmsexual-violence
“February Moon” originally appeared in Beneath Ceaseless Skies in May, 2020, and was the first in a series of monster stories I’m writing that take place in old Texas. Something killed our rooster and three of our brown hens during the night. Thin ice...
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deathgoreviolence
PseudoPod 804: Flash on the Borderlands LXI: Dead Man’s Party (April Fools’ Version) is a PseudoPod original. “The Tentacle and You” was originally published in Nature Futures back in 2019. “Backers” is a PseudoPod Original “Your Honor, My Undead Client...
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body-horrorviolence
“The Fifteenth Green” was first published in Nights of the Round Table, 1926. Yard Act-Land of the Blind If You Build It, They Will Move: The Los Angeles Freeway System and the Displacement of Mexican East Los Angeles, 1944-1972 Another night at...
“Food Man” was originally published in Crank! and was nominated for an Otherwise Award, known at the time as the Tiptree Award. Dinner was the real problem. Mornings, it was easy to rush out of the house without eating; when it wasn’t, when her mother made...
Content warnings 3
body-horrorself-harmsexual-content
PseudoPod 811: No One Really Lives Alone is a PseudoPod original. When the priest comes to your house to vanquish your demons, draped in ancient symbols with pockets of holy water oozing from her like sap, don’t ask who sent her. She’ll mark your doorstep...
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body-horrordeathviolence
“The Honey Witch” originally appeared in SHARP AND SUGARTOOTH: WOMEN UP TO NO GOOD edited by Octavia Cade (Upper Rubber Boot Books 2019) The Honey Witch By Kathryn McMahon My hood and gloves are on the table next to the smoker that, for now, remains unlit....
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body-horrordeathgore
Proverbs 16:31 – Gray hair is a crown of glory; it is gained in a righteous life. I suggest you don’t try to struggle, my dear. I’m sure you thought this would be easy. What danger is an old woman, all alone? In and out, simple. Help yourself to the purse...
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cannibalismgoreviolence
PseudoPod 835: Trickin’ is a PseudoPod original. It’s time. Nestled beneath the rolling peaks from the mountain ranges, honeycombs of caves spread out in their like swollen slugs providing shelter from the weeping clouds. Raoul emerged from one of those...
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deathgoreviolence
PseudoPod 836: The Halloween Parade is a PseudoPod original. The parade this year feels brittle. At least at first. It reminds you of that first step into a swimming pool, wondering if it will be too hot or too cold. You brace yourself for sharp contrast,...
“The Only Thing Different Will Be the Body” originally appeared in the anthology A Woman Built By Man published by Cemetery Gates Media My great-grandfather was an angel. When I told men that, they laughed. When I made it clear I was serious, they looked...
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cannibalismgoremisogyny
“Corporation” opened the collection Burn the Plans released by Cemetery Gates Media in February 2022 Sunlight blooms in the sky, rising up from behind all those glass and steel buildings. It burns away the dark blue. The Windows are still tinted from...
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body-horrorgoresexual-violence
“15 Eulogies Scribbled Inside a Hello Kitty Notebook” originally appeared in Carlie’s debut collection, You Fed Us to the Roses, published by Robot Dinosaur Press in October 2022. February—Liam I didn’t know him well. Nobody did, really: he was the new...
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A Princess of Nigh-Space By Tim Pratt There was a business card stuck in the crack between the door and the frame when I got home from another too-long day at the office. I plucked the card out, annoyed, assuming it was some stupid advertisement, but the...
Content warnings 2
body-horrorviolence
"The shoes are leather with delicate lines and pointy toes. Elegant shoes for elegant feet. They might have suited her too if she had yesterday’s feet. Chicken’s feet. But today her feet are that of an otter’s, stubby and covered in wet, glistening fur....
Content warnings 3
body-horrorgoreviolence
Author : dave ring Narrator : Dominick Rabrun Host : Summer Fletcher Audio Producer : Peter Adrian Behravesh Discuss on Forums Originally published by Shift: A Journal of Literary Oddities. Rated R. La Camaraderie du Cirque By dave ring Gather round, and...
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body-horrorsexual-contentviolence
Author : Hamilton Perez Narrator : Karen Menzel (née Bovenmyer) Host : Summer Fletcher Audio Producer : Peter Adrian Behravesh Discuss on Forums Previously published by The Dark. Rated R. Our Mortal Undressing by Hamilton Perez I. Discovery I suppose I’m...
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deathgoresexual-content
Author : Jessica Meats Narrator : Jen R. Albert Host : Summer Fletcher Audio Producer : Peter Adrian Behravesh Discuss on Forums PodCastle 668: Circle of Memories is a PodCastle original. Content warning: plague Rated PG-13. Circle of Memories By Jessica...
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deathillness-and-pandemic
Author : A.C. Wise Narrator : Amy H. Sturgis Host : Summer Fletcher Audio Producer : Peter Adrian Behravesh Discuss on Forums PodCastle 673: Jenny Come Up the Well is a PodCastle original. Rated PG-13. Jenny Come Up the Well by A.C. Wise Jenny come up th’...
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homophobiasexual-contentviolence
Author : E. Catherine Tobler Narrator : Tatiana Grey Host : Summer Fletcher Audio Producer : Peter Adrian Behravesh Discuss on Forums Previously published in No Shit, There I Was (2017), an anthology edited by Alex Acks Rated PG-13. Blush Response by E....
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sexual-contentviolence
Author : Lora Gray Narrator : Alethea Kontis Host : Summer Fletcher Audio Producer : Peter Adrian Behravesh Discuss on Forums Previously published by Apparition Literary Magazine. Violence, including child abuse. Rated PG-13 for violence, including child...
Content warnings 3
child-abusegoreviolence
Author : Robert Luke Wilkins Narrator : Wilson Fowlie Host : Summer Fletcher Audio Producer : Peter Adrian Behravesh Discuss on Forums Previously published in On Spec, Issue #107 in April 2018. A content warning for rituals for the dead, including...
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child-deathdeathviolence
Author : Teresa Milbrodt Narrator : Alexis Goble Host : Summer Fletcher Audio Producer : Peter Adrian Behravesh Discuss on Forums Previously published in Guernica in 2015 Bombings, and the offscreen death of children. Rated PG-13. In the Dim Below by...
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body-horrorchild-deathwar
Author : Tobi Ogundiran Narrator : Tobi Ogundiran Host : Summer Fletcher Audio Producer : Peter Adrian Behravesh Discuss on Forums Previously published in FIYAH Literary Magazine Guardian of the Gods by Tobi Ogundiran Ashâke shed her priestly raiment and...
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deathviolence
Author : Frances Rowat Narrator : Kaitlyn Zivanovich Host : Summer Fletcher Audio Producer : Peter Adrian Behravesh Discuss on Forums Previously published by On Spec magazine. Rated PG The Gannet Girl by Frances Rowat They said Castermay’s mother had held...
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deathdeath-of-a-loved-one
Author : C. A. Barrett Narrator : Kat Kourbeti Host : Summer Fletcher Audio Producer : Peter Adrian Behravesh Discuss on Forums PodCastle 691: The Healer of Branford is a PodCastle original. Content warning for animal cruelty. Rated PG-13 The Healer of...
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animal-harmbody-horrorgore
Author : KT Bryski Narrator : Tatiana Grey Host : Summer Fletcher Audio Producer : Peter Adrian Behravesh Discuss on Forums Auger Magazine Disordered eating, food deprivation Rated R When the White Bird Sings by KT Bryski Bones show best in cold weather....
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deathmental-illnessself-harm
Author : Rati Mehrotra Narrator : Suna Dasi Host : Summer Fletcher Audio Producer : Peter Adrian Behravesh Discuss on Forums PodCastle 695: Black Wings, White Kheer is a PodCastle original. Rated PG-13 Black Wings, White Kheer by Rati Mehrotra The wings...
Content warnings 1
violence
Author : Maria Haskins Narrator : Eleanor R. Wood Host : Summer Fletcher Audio Producer : Peter Adrian Behravesh Discuss on Forums Originally published in Kaleidotrope. Rated PG-13 Down to Niflhel Deep by Maria Haskins The dog’s name is Roan. He doesn’t...
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animal-harmviolence
Author : Woody Dismukes Narrator : Roberto Suarez Host : Summer Fletcher Audio Producer : Peter Adrian Behravesh Discuss on Forums PodCastle 698: Solace of the Keeper is a PodCastle original. Content warning: Arachnids Rated PG-13 Solace of the Keeper by...
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death
“The Artist and the Door” was first published in Weird Tales in November 1952 The advent of the artist and the door was almost simultaneous. I have always wondered if the one would have been as sinister without the other. Of course, the evil was in the...
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child-death
“The Boulevardier” originally appeared in the anthology Love Hurts, from Meerkat Press. Each of the neighbours the boulevardier refers to in this story have appeared in their own published tales, as have others who live around the gully he refers to. David...
Content warnings 3
body-horrorgoreviolence
PseudoPod 754: Flash on the Borderlands LV: The Easily Digested Hurt is a PseudoPod original. “Step Down, Step Down” is a PseudoPod original “Snip Snip Snip” is a PseudoPod original “My Guests” appeared in a slightly different form on the SFF Chronicles...
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body-horrordeathviolence
“The Withered Heart” was originally published in the November 1939 issue of Weird Tales As this was originally published as a novelette and a bit long for an episode of PseudoPod, staff turned this into an abridgement project to see if we could trim out...
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deathdeath-of-a-loved-oneviolence
“Charged” was first published in Queen Victoria’s Book of Spells (Tor Books, 2011) The reader, Joe Williams, would like to dedicate the reading to their Father who recently passed away: “Allan Williams was Joe’s hero. Never short of experiences to share or...
Content warnings 3
child-abusedeath-of-a-loved-oneviolence
“The Hollow Tree” was previously published in Beneath Ceaseless Skies in November 8, 2018 (Issue #264) Sevatividam would let to give a shoutout to Dan of Groundcrew Studios in Charlotte NC. She recorded “The Hollow Tree” and “Grave Mother” there and he did...
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abusechild-abusedeath
“Knock, Knock, Wolf” was originally published in Flame Tree’s Gothic Fantasy anthology, Footsteps in the Dark, in October 2020 It was time to kill the sparrows. Every autumn, after the last leaves fell and the bare trees rattled their bone song to an empty...
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deathgoreviolence
“Death Has Red Hair” was originally published in Weird Tales in September of 1942. This story is surprising in being an early entry that is unabashedly feminist with multiple shades of “street harassment” on display. We three men were hugging the open fire...
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deathmisogynyviolence
“Perfidious Beauty” was originally published in the anthology Embark to Madness Beauty knelt over the cooling body of her husband, the prince. The elegant clock in the foyer, carved from ebony and teak, struck the midnight hour. The twelve tiny peals: the...
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goresexual-contentviolence
“The Garden of Adompha” originally appeared in Weird Tales, April 1938 Lord of the sultry, red parterres And orchards sunned by hell’s unsetting flame! Amid thy garden blooms the Tree which bears Unnumbered heads of demons for its fruit; And, like a...
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body-horrorgoreviolence
PseudoPod 772: Flash on the Borderlands LVII: The Loving Gaze of the Abyss is a PseudoPod original. “Five Films Reviewed by Dr. Frankenstein’s Creature” was originally published in Weird Tales in 2012. The poem “Advice I Wish I’d Been Given When I Was a...
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child-abuseself-harmsexual-violence
“Papa’s Wrench and the Wind Chime” was originally published by Mocha Memoirs Press in The Grotesquerie (2014) and reprinted in her collection, Cold Comforts (Crossroad Press, 2019). The patch of fog on the window, expanding and fading with each breath, was...
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deathgoreviolence
“The Family” was first Published in Weird Tales in January 1950 This is an abridged version of “The Devil’s Graveyard” which first appeared in First published in Hutchinson’s Mystery Story Magazine, December 1924 and was reprinted in Weird Tales in August...
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deathgoreviolence
“American Remake of a Japanese Ghost Story” was originally released by Crystal Lake Publishing in the anthology There Is No Death, There Are No Dead There’s a curse in folklore known as a geas. That’s when a witch, or a fairy, or the supernatural entity of...
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deathviolence
PseudoPod 786: Licking Roadkill is a PseudoPod original. Cole was licking the highway when the cops picked him up the night before Thanksgiving. Reckless endangerment, they said, and obstructing traffic, and whatever else they could come up with to get him...
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deathsubstance-useviolence
“On Seas of Blood and Salt” originally appeared in The Jewish Book of Horror This is what Reb Palache does when he finds a ship crewed by the dead. He does not know it is crewed by the dead, not at first. He is in his cabin, discoursing with the nameless...
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body-horrorgoreviolence
PseudoPod 790: The Humbug is a PseudoPod original. Joshua caught it in a glass jar with holes poked in the lid. He came running up to the cabin with it, shouting, “I found a bug! I found a bug!” “There aren’t any bugs in winter,” Amanda said crossly,...
Author : L. S. Johnson Narrator : Tatiana Grey Host : Summer Fletcher Audio Producer : Peter Adrian Behravesh Discuss on Forums Originally published by F Is for Fairy, from Poise and Pen Press Content warning: sexual assault, gender-based slurs Rated R....
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abusemisogynysexual-violence
Author : Shaoni C. White Narrator : Abra Staffin-Wiebe Host : Summer Fletcher Audio Producer : Peter Adrian Behravesh Discuss on Forums PodCastle 656: What My Flies Keep for Me is a PodCastle original. Content Warning: Insects, mild gore, and death. Rated...
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deathgoreviolence
A young American in the early 20th Century visits a remote principality and is shocked at their notion of justice.
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deathviolence
The king’s only son is a rude and brutal child, and his new wife, a witch, hates him passionately.
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animal-harmchild-abusegore
Teenage friends Domei and Hano live in a refugee camp for survivors of a war fought with dragons.
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body-horrorviolencewar
Part six of the Mongolian Wizard, in which Ritter goes to Krakow in disguise to find evidence of atrocities so grave that London cannot believe them.
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child-deathviolencewar