Jesse uses virtual reality to give tourists a vision-quest experience. It’s demeaning, but it pays the bills. Then a tourist turns up who wants a really authentic experience.
Content warnings 3
abuseracismsubstance-use
Restrained Prose
239 free-to-read stories tagged “Restrained Prose”
After its side won the space battle, an indentured robot with an uploaded intelligence finds an important refugee who makes a dangerous offer it can’t refuse.
Content warnings 3
abusedeathwar
Lao Dao processes trash in a fantastic future "third-space" Beijing. To get money for his daughter's education, he makes a dangerous trip to first-space--a city that unfolds when his own Beijing sleeps.
Despite not being a telepath, Calla worked out a way to play chess with her captor, Major Larn, during the recent war. Now they're going to finish their game.
Content warnings 3
deathmental-illnesswar
"Once a decade, a titanium-nosed shuttle plows through the rings of the planet Tartarus with a new batch of prisoners destined for the Orpheus Factory. The debris that makes up the rings is so thick that it thunders like a hailstorm, deafening the...
Content warnings 3
body-horrordeathviolence
A Chinese woman living in the Bay Area needs to raise money to get her daughter into Stanford. She tries to sell her English-language proficiency, but even after fifteen years, it’s not good enough. But her native fluency in Mandarin is worth a lot, if...
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
Content warnings 1
death-of-a-loved-one
"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
"My son can’t think of the word “spoon.” It’s there, at the tip of his tongue. The waitress looks at him with a patient smile. She can see he’s fidgeting and getting hot. A boy his age would typically know how to ask. “Could I please have another... ” But...
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
The prince’s huntsman finds himself trapped in an abandoned castle, prisoner of a once-human beast.
Content warnings 2
violencewar
"The kids like Luzhanqi because it’s a non-perfect strategy game: a bridge as they make their way onto bigger, more serious things, like chess and Go. It’s something that even the most incompetent of them could hope to win. Sometimes you just get lucky....
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
In a corporate-run dystopia, a trans girl plucked out of poverty to give birth to a clone meets her replacement.
Content warnings 3
body-horrorpregnancy-lossviolence
An engineer who frequently travels for her job, suddenly finds herself in airports other than the one she arrived in…
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
Content warnings 1
death-of-a-loved-one
Author : Leah Ning Narrator : Graeme Dunlop Host : Summer Fletcher Audio Producer : Peter Adrian Behravesh Discuss on Forums PodCastle 679: Pull is a PodCastle original. A content warning for end of life care. Rated PG-13 with a content warning for end of...
Content warnings 3
animal-harmdeathillness-and-pandemic
"Security AIs heard whimpering, diagnosed the source, then alerted the rest of the household. A baby moggie had fallen inside one of the nearby recycling hubs. Of course the children hurried outside to see, and being noble souls, they dragged the...
"Callme curled with her back to the corner and watched Julie’s every precise move. The old border collie often knew more about their surroundings than Julie, and so Julie trusted her to help guard. This morning, Callme’s ears pricked forward in benign...
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
Content warnings 1
death
Nuhu bought his wife from the Djinn, but she hasn’t turned out to be what he wanted, and now the Djinn want’s his first-born child in payment.
Content warnings 2
misogynyslavery
A team of pilots is trained to fly ships in a war where it’s become cheaper to send humans instead of machines.
Content warnings 2
deathwar
Espie Droger dreams of war. What else can he dream of? There is nothing left. He has dreamed of world travel and expensive Scotch and lithe young women and sudden uncontrollable laughter. But his vitality has seeped from him like fluid from a dying tree....
Content warnings 3
deathillness-and-pandemicwar
"Sing. Sing the world into being. The world’s misty valleys and sunlit hills are described by the song of all things. So is the work of skilled hands and the begrudging march of soldiers’ boots. Every action, every object, in the past and the present and...
Content warnings 1
violence
"The city of Nan Rhok stands on the ridge of a great mountain, where a gullet of steaming water flows from volcanic hot springs. The ridge is narrow and the mountain chill, so the city hews close to the spring, building high its granite towers. The name of...
Content warnings 2
child-deathdeath
"Oscar’s Digital Double comes two hours, thirty-eight minutes, and eleven seconds late. Maxine snatches the package from the delivery drone and doesn’t tip. She rearranged her day—went to HMart right when it opened, skipped the gym, cooked Grandma a quick...
Content warnings 3
child-deathdeathsuicide
"I learned from Bernadette that there are two ways a star can go supernova. The first is in a double star where one partner dies first, turning into a white dwarf, and the surviving partner swells in grief and dumps mass onto the compact star. But the...
Content warnings 2
death-of-a-loved-oneillness-and-pandemic
"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
"Hey there—comrade—are you also part of the—Space Industry—Development Program—First Cohort? I’m Zhang Haoyu—second lieutenant—pleased to meet you.” The man in front of me spoke in choppy fragments. He extended his hand, heedless of the puzzled looks...
Content warnings 3
deathdeath-of-a-loved-onemental-illness
"Ambassador Shǐ Guì Sūn Yán and Prime Minister Xiang Hu Li Yáng floated in the crystalline water tank at one side of the courtroom. Beyond the anchoring shelves for the judges, the bulbous organic diamond window looked out onto a swollen, orange, solar...
"In the pre-dawn light she lies in bed, gazing through the window at graceful trees silhouetted against a turquoise sky. The air is still, the pretty room orderly and calm. She lies motionless except for her eyes, the soft blue quilt rising and falling...
Content warnings 1
death
"Hey cuz! It’s been too long. Love to come out and see your digs. The message hung in the air, glimmering in her Heads Up Display overlaid across the moss garden she was tending. The chill that swept over Euryale made the hair on her arms stand on end and...
Content warnings 2
deathsexual-violence
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
"Hands trembling, Shiv Mehta snatched the print copy of his wife’s ribcage off the conveyor belt and lowered the print into an organ tank. Those hands had healed thousands of patients, but these days his hands had gotten good at stealing. Over the last few...
Content warnings 3
deathgoreviolence
"Morag took her walking stick and set out on the Portmeirion Road. Portmeirion was behind her and she was walking back towards Pen-y-Groes, so she supposed she should call it the Pen-y-Groes Road. But Portmeirion, with all its beautiful, seductive,...
"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
"Because Waigong ran out of money due to the rice shortage, he gambled away my mother, an eighteen-year-old girl known for her beauty and dance prowess. She danced like a majestic water dragon, elegant and unstoppable while flowing through the atmosphere,...
Content warnings 1
misogyny
"Mom—” “I swear, Mal, I don’t know whether to be proud of you or horrified.” I held the phone away from me. I didn’t even have it on speaker, she was just that loud. If people around me started getting horrified, I wouldn’t be able to go through with this....
"Kia ora te whānau, Welcome back to term 3! I hope you are all safe and well. I’m sure the holidays were a little different from usual. My name is Kara and I’m the teacher allocated to the year 1 to 3 children in your sector. I know it can be hard...
"When the messenger arrived at my Kamakura estate, I knew he wasn’t human, and that meant trouble. I read the letter three times, as if repetition would lead to better understanding. Foolish of me, as Lady Kuzunoha’s direct nature would not allow for...
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
Content warnings 1
illness-and-pandemic
In the ruins of a dry, blasted Australia, Edward looks after an abandoned nine-year old girl as they travel in search of an old reservoir.
Content warnings 2
deathviolence
The Golden Crusader must be getting old or something. He’s not so fast anymore, and he never flies higher than the sixth floor, but he keeps doing super deeds. Or trying to.
It has only been five years since The Fall, but the clinic where teenage Kath works is the only medical service for two hundred miles.
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
Content warnings 3
body-horrordeathdeath-of-a-loved-one
A two-man team must risk a spacewalk when meteoroids threaten crucial portal-spanning telecommunications cables that hang a hundred meters beneath the ocean…and forty-five billion light years away.
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
"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
While all her friends’ fish are changing into mermaids, is 12-year-old Anissa’s fish becoming something else?
Content warnings 1
death-of-a-loved-one
"The girls of our town float down the middle of the street, cheap fabric wings pinned to their clothes. I watch them walk, hobbled by coat hanger curves that refuse to bend with the bow of their backs. I see Min towards the back. She’s been doing this for...
Content warnings 3
body-horrorsexual-violencesubstance-use
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
A non-binary disabled woman flees with her infant and toddler from the Arizona Christian secret police who’ve learned they and their wife were running an illegal abortion clinic.
Content warnings 3
death-of-a-loved-oneviolencewar
With Celia’s mistress missing, and presumed dead, the old, failing android is a prime suspect, but she herself doesn’t remember what happened.
Content warnings 2
sexual-contentsexual-violence
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
Hiding from her own problems, Winona volunteers at the local ornithological museum after she hits a bird with her car.
Content warnings 3
abusedeathracism
Shi handles elderly clients who are recruited to help steer starships through space. Her job is winding up, and one of her last clients presents a special challenge.
Content warnings 1
mental-illness
Tamalat has come to a priest to find out how to restore her friend Brio's shadow, in the hopes it will restore him to what he once was.
Content warnings 2
suicideviolence
In a post-apocalyptic world, a mother accidentally becomes a leader and a god. Content warnings: Death of a spouse, natural disasters, references to pre-disaster ableism Copyright © 2026 khōréō magazine. Story by K. Lynn Harrison, edited by Danai...
Content warnings 2
deathdeath-of-a-loved-one
This episode features "All the Ruined Doorways of the Moon" written by Eilis O'Neal. Published in the August 2026 issue of Clarkesworld Magazine and read by Kate Baker. The text version of this story can be found at:...
Content warnings 2
abuseviolence
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
“Rivers do not drink their own water; trees do not eat their own fruit; the sun does not shine on itself, and flowers do not spread their fragrance for themselves. […]
This episode features "Bend Like the Palm" written by David D. Levine. 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/levine_03_26 Support...
This episode features "Cliff's Girl" written by Fiona Moore. Published in the July 2026 issue of Clarkesworld Magazine and read by Kate Baker. The text version of this story can be found at: https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/moore_07_26 Support us on...
Content warnings 1
death
Content note (click for details) Implied sexual assault of a teen, death of an animal edited by Hal Y. Zhang I toss the keys on the green Formica counter. I always aim for the same spot: that ugly, little brown ring—bubbled up and cracking—where Bill had...
Content warnings 3
abuseanimal-harmchild-abuse
edited by Amanda Helms He’s the last independent optician working in my zone. Two or three years ago, there was a second one, but she worked part time and by appointment only. Who could make appointments for the future even then? The last optician doesn’t...
When we moved Dad to the care facility, his only complaint was the Wi-Fi. “Laggy,” he called it when he was having a good day. “Fucking piece of shit,” he called it the rest of the time. At first I was relieved. I’d been worried that he’d bristle at the...
Content warnings 1
death-of-a-loved-one
Author : Rodrigo Culagovski Narrator : Julia Rios Host : Mur Lafferty Audio Producer : Adam Pracht Escape Pod 1030: The Smell of the Planet I Was Born On is an Escape Pod original. The Smell of the Planet I Was Born On By Rodrigo Culagovski There are two...
Content warnings 2
deathwar
Author : G. M. Paniccia Narrator : Christiana Ellis Host : Valerie Valdes Audio Producer : Adam Pracht Escape Pod 1033: The Automatic Grocery Store is an Escape Pod original. The Automatic Grocery Store By G. M. Paniccia It took thirty-six days, four...
Author : Kelly Robson Narrator : Ibba Armancas Host : Alasdair Stuart Audio Producer : Adam Pracht We Who Live in the Heart originally appeared in Clarkesworld, May 1, 2017. We Who Live in the Heart By Kelly Robson Ricci slipped in and out of consciousness...
Author : Sharon Joss Narrator : Torin Andrus Host : Valerie Valdes Audio Producer : Adam Pracht Love in the Time of Dust and Venom originally appeared in 2013 Fiction River – Time Travelers. Includes a form of assisted suicide. Sponsored by Mixtape Stories...
Content warnings 2
death-of-a-loved-onesuicide
Author : Kiran Kaur Saini Narrator : Kaushik Narasimhan Host : Alasdair Stuart Audio Producer : Adam Pracht Amrit originally appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, May/June 2023. Kiran Kaur Saini https://kirankaursaini.com/ Kaushik...
Author : Ethan Ham Narrator : Elie Hirschman Host : Alasdair Stuart Audio Producer : Adam Pracht Escape Pod 1053: The Game of Possibilities is an Escape Pod original. Ethan Ham https://www.ethanham.com/index.html?second-edition Elie Hirschman...
It’s the second Thursday of the month, so I spend the evening regenerating my skin. The procedure is painless but dull. I often fall asleep. It’s fine to do so; […]
Content warnings 3
deathdeath-of-a-loved-oneillness-and-pandemic
This episode features "Eternity in Their Hearts" written by Katherine Khan. Published in the April 2026 issue of Clarkesworld Magazine and read by Kate Baker. The text version of this story can be found at: https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/khan_04_26...
Content warnings 1
death-of-a-loved-one
Vacule Grievouss, as anyone would suspect, wasn’t bequeathed much in the way of opportunities by his parents. He was the child of two stack zappers operating out of the newly […]
Content warnings 2
child-abuseslavery
And all the devils are here. “What’s that from?” Millie asks as she gets her coat. I stand at the back window, looking out. Usually, you can see the downtown skyline from this position. Today, it’s just the hellmouth. A long tube that looks like an...
Content warnings 2
deathviolence
There’s a wolf where my brother used to be, a beast absolutely hellbent on ruining my life. He plunges his broad snoot into the Wednesday night spaghetti, and neither Mom nor Dad cares when half the bite slides off his nose and onto the table, to later be...
Before the world ends, Miri’s family saves up enough money to escape to 2004. 2004: a safe haven. The year lilts off the tongue, like a promise. Miri and Lise spend their last evening together in their favorite spot, sitting on the top of the holotower at...
Kate was cursed by her cousin on his deathbed to never stay. She and her cousin Bo didn’t hate each other—far from it. They’d grown up together: same small farming town in the inland northwest, population 394. So small that when Bo finished high school, he...
Content warnings 2
deathdeath-of-a-loved-one
Author : C. L. Clark Narrator : Khaalidah Muhammad-Ali Host : Wanini Kimemiah Audio Producer : Wilson Fowlie Previously ran as episode 519 as a PodCastle Original Rated PG-13 Burning Season By C. L. Clark It was burning season in Rashid. Again. Even in the...
Content warnings 3
deathviolencewar
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
“A Rose For Emily” was first published in The Forum, April 30, 1930 C/W for racial slurs [n-word], mental illness, misogyny, homophobia and Spoiler poisoning [collapse] I When Miss Emily Grierson died, our whole town went to her funeral: the men through a...
Content warnings 3
mental-illnessmisogynyracism
“The Book” was first published in 1930 in The London Mercury and later collected in The Weird (Tor Books, 2012) CW: harm to child/animal, reference to suicide On a foggy night in November, Mr. Corbett, having guessed the murderer by the third chapter of...
Content warnings 3
animal-harmchild-abusesuicide
‘Faith, Hope and Charity’ was first published in Hearst’s International Combined with Cosmopolitan, April 1930. C/W strong violence, racist language Here’s a link to the Archive.org of the original text:...
Content warnings 3
deathracismviolence
PseudoPod 1020: Walking Tour of Scarborough in Nuclear Winter is a PseudoPod original. Rogue One final scene 30 Days Of Night trailer From the author: “All of the landmarks in this story are real places in Scarborough, where my mother grew up and where I...
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
‘All the Good You Did Not Do’ originally appeared in Apex magazine in November of 2023 C/W: reference to PTSD, depression When the doors slide open, the screams escape. Saul is summoned from his security podium by the researchers’ howls, and he slides in...
Content warnings 3
goremental-illnessviolence
PseudoPod 1027: This Thing of Darkness is a PseudoPod original. C/W: grief, approaching death Nissa Harlow: nissaharlow.com Tina Connolly: tinaconnolly.com ‘Don’t Put a Rug on a Polished Floor’ public information film Scarred for Life on Bluesky:...
Content warnings 3
deathdeath-of-a-loved-onesuicide
PseudoPod 1029: Feeding the Choke-Tree is a PseudoPod original. Okja “Straws,” I said. “Why straws?” “Because they’re cute, obviously,” said Foreman. “Don’t you think?” I squinted at them. Nearly a dozen were inching around his feet. As I watched, one...
Content warnings 3
body-horrordeathgore
“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
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
This episode features "The Potential Side Effects of Roleplay Stimulation Therapy" written by Claire Jia-Wen. Published in the June 2026 issue of Clarkesworld Magazine and read by Kate Baker. The text version of this story can be found at:...
Content warnings 3
abuseself-harmsubstance-use
The bus jerked, waking Shijun. The Greyhound was speeding down a wide North American road. What am I doing here? The coach window framed the landscape: White clouds floated against […]
In summer, when the ocean ebbs at dusk, when the sand turns to glass and it becomes impossible to discern the difference between reflection and sky, the Tide Folk emerge from their pools. You might think, if you clamber on the cliffs searching for those...
In the last blush of autumn, the King of the Forest requested an audience with the King. The King was so delighted that he agreed at once. The audience was held in the King’s hall, the burnished tile laid in gold and green, the fire stoked high with ash...
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
Content warnings 1
death-of-a-loved-one
Author : Merc Fenn Wolfmoor Narrator : Joe Moran Host : Mur Lafferty Audio Producer : Summer Brooks “Steadyboi After the Apocalypse” first appeared in the collection Friends For Robots: Stories by Merc Fenn Wolfmoor (Robot Dinosaur Press, 2022) Steadyboi...
Content warnings 1
illness-and-pandemic
Peace by Piece By Erin Cairns Frank thought all the battle-drones had been deactivated. Certainly, none of them had ever looked around with curious little twitches of their front-facing cameras before. This one whirred and clicked like an anxious bird,...
Author : Dale Smith Narrator : Louise Ratcliffe Host : Tina Connolly Audio Producer : Summer Brooks “Joy” was previously published in Interzone Digital (June 2023) Joy by Dale Smith Joy knelt on the promenade, shifting the rifle into her shoulder to get a...
In the Palace of Science (Part 1 of 2) By Chris Campbell Track One– If you’ve found this recording, two things can be said for certain. The first is that I have passed my greatest test as a man and, in doing so, have passed from this world. The second is...
Content warnings 2
racismwar
In the Palace of Science (Part 2 of 2) By Chris Campbell (...Continued from Part 1) B-Side Track Five– The automaton was unfinished, but even in a transitory state, it was a thing of marvel. In form, it was like a man. With two legs meant for bipedal...
Content warnings 3
deathsubstance-useviolence
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 : Daniel Abraham Narrator : Wilson Fowlie Host : Wilson Fowlie Audio Producer : Devin Martin Discuss on Forums Previously published as PodCastle 051 Rated PG The Cambist and Lord Iron: A Fairy Tale of Economics by Daniel Abraham For as many years as...
Content warnings 2
sexual-contentviolence
Author : Victoria Dixon Narrator : Eleiece Krawiec Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Eric Valdes Discuss on Forums PodCastle 893: Counting Fairies is a PodCastle original. Content warning for injury to an animal Rated PG-13 Counting Fairies By Victoria...
Content warnings 3
animal-harmdeath-of-a-loved-oneviolence
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
“Novel of the White Powder” first appeared in The Three Impostors in 1895. C/W: drug abuse, delusions The Angels of Mons: The Bowmen and Other Legends of the War by Arthur Machen The Angel of Mons Jess Nevins on The Novel of The White Powder White Lines by...
Content warnings 3
body-horrordeathsubstance-use
‘Christmas Eve at Beach House’ was first published in Routledge’s Christmas Annual, 1870. C/W murder, intimate partner violence To support us during our year-end campaign, go to https://escapeartists.net/support-ea The Oldhammer Fiction Podcast Eliza Lynn...
Content warnings 3
abusedeathviolence
“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
“The Half-Pint Flask” was first published in The Bookman, May 1927 Racism https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/what-is-gullah-geechee-food-and-how-do-you-make-it...
Content warnings 1
racism
“Jesus Christ in Georgia” was printed in The Crisis in the 1911 Christmas issue. It later appeared as “Jesus Christ in Texas” in Darkwater: Voices from the Veil. Use of the n-word 2010 interview with author Edward J. Blum about his 2008 book, W. E. B....
Content warnings 3
deathracismviolence
“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...
Content warnings 3
animal-harmbody-horrordeath
“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 —...
Content warnings 3
body-horrordeathracism
PseudoPod 987: Reflections on Bloody Mary is a PseudoPod original. CW: domestic abuse, coercive control, alcoholism The Pixel Project, https://www.thepixelproject.net, has a list of shelters worldwide “Maaa-reee,” my husband taunts. “Oh, Maaa-reee. Come...
Content warnings 3
abusesubstance-useviolence
“Home, Laced in Web” was previously published by The Dodge on July 15, 2024 C/W: mutation, body horror, spiders I follow behind Butcher. A lot of nights spent imagining what I’d say to him. But there’s not been much talk on the road. Pretty used to silence...
Content warnings 3
body-horrorgoreviolence
“The Bride” was originally published in Black Static in 2020 C/W necrophilia, sexual assault, physical assault, control As you drive south, the heat rushes up to greet you like your name is in the guestbook and it has your room prepared. A wet, eager heat,...
Content warnings 3
abusesexual-contentsexual-violence
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
Content warnings 3
body-horrormental-illnessself-harm
The Library By N. B. Andersen Every morning at ten to ten, Dot powered on. Its hands lay flat against the thick glass of the reading room window, which let the photoreceptors on its palms feast on the sun. The window overlooked a modest lot where cars had...
Author : Jack Windeyer Narrator : Matt Dovey Host : Alasdair Stuart Audio Producer : Summer Brooks Escape Pod 930: Fulfillment in Purpose is an Escape Pod original. Zima Blue Zima Blue episode of Love, Death & Robots Get Excited and Make Things! Ezekiel’s...
Old People's Folly (Part 1 of 2) By Nora Schinnerl Setti knew the woman for a ghost the moment she appeared. It was the pink hair that gave her away, short and spiky. Real people didn't have hair like that. Also, you couldn't see the scratchmarks on...
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By Nora Schinnerl (...Continued from Part 1) Kite was still curled into a bundle of blankets in front of the stove when Setti woke. The old woman sniffed, torn between surprise and annoyance. She'd have figured him for a quitter, sneaking out before dawn...
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Author : Stetson Bostic Narrator : Samuel Poots Host : Valerie Valdes Audio Producer : Summer Brooks Escape Pod 945: Walking with Thorny is an Escape Pod original. Walking with Thorny by Stetson Bostic Hitchhikers clung to Tasi’s pants as he neared the...
Author : Samantha Henderson Narrator : Mur Lafferty Host : Valerie Valdes Audio Producer : Summer Brooks “Chandra’s Game” originally appeared in Lone Star Stories (2009), and in Escape Pod 373. Chandra’s Game by Samantha Henderson Joey Straphos, Papa Joe,...
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Author : Charlie Sorrenson Narrator : Rebecca Wei Hsieh Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Devin Martin Discuss on Forums Previously published by Tor.com Content warnings for violence, assault, misogyny, and PTSD. Rated PG-13 Flight by Charlie Sorrenson...
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misogynysexual-violenceviolence
Author : E. F. Benson Narrator : Devin Martin Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Eric Valdes Discuss on Forums Originally published by Hutchinson’s Magazine, October 1928 Content warning for references to grief Rated PG Pirates by E.F. Benson For many...
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Author : Nick Douglas Narrator : Wilson Fowlie Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Devin Martin Discuss on Forums PodCastle 843: The Mountain and the Vulture is a PodCastle original. Rated PG-13 The Mountain and the Vulture by Nick Douglas “High in the...
Author : Chip Houser Narrator : Leigh Wallace Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Eric Valdes Discuss on Forums Previously published by Bourbon Penn Content warning for bodily fluids Rated R On Snowflake-veined Wings by Chip Houser Amalia runs her finger...
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Author : Renan Bernardo Narrator : Diogo Ramos Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Eric Valdes Discuss on Forums Previously published by Samovar Magazine Content warning for off-screen parental death Rated PG A Short Biography of a Conscious Chair by Renan...
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Author : Renan Bernardo Narrator : Diogo Ramos Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Eric Valdes Discuss on Forums Previously published by Samovar Magazine Content warning for off-screen parental death Rated PG – 4 – “There’s been a fire over at the Bosque...
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Author : Matt Dovey Narrator : Matthew James Hamblin Host : Eleanor R. Wood Audio Producer : Devin Martin Discuss on Forums PodCastle 856: TALES FROM THE VAULTS – Clouds in a Clear Blue Sky is a PodCastle original. Rated PG-13 Clouds in a Clear Blue Sky By...
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“The Red Lodge” originally published in the 1928 collection They Return at Evening. I am writing this from an imperative sense of duty, for I consider The Red Lodge is a foul death-trap and utterly unfit to be a human habitation — it has its own proper...
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“The Shadowy Escort” was first published in The London Magazine, May 1928 Seigfried Sassoon Base Details by Siegfried Sassoon Almost everybody has at one time or another wanted to write a detective story, but, for the greater well-being of publishers and...
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deathviolencewar
“The Ghost” was first published in The Windsor Magazine, May 1928. “Half-Past Two” was first published in the August 15, 1928 edition of The Daily Mail. She was a girl of fourteen, and she sat propped up with pillows in an old four-poster bed, coughing a...
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deathgoreviolence
“Skule Skerry” was originally published in the 1928 collection The Runagates Club The Excavation of Hobs Barrow The Stone Tape The Woman in Black It happened a good many years ago, when I was quite a young man. I wasn’t the cold scientist then that I fancy...
“The Cask of Amontillado” originally appeared in Godey’s Magazine and Lady’s Book, November 1846 The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could; but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge. You, who so well know the nature of my soul,...
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“Lidless Eyes That See” was first released by PS Publishing in From the Waste Land, an anthology inspired by T.S. Eliot’s poem “The Waste Land.” The story was a finalist for the 2022 Aurealis Award for Best Horror Short Story [note: The Waste Land was...
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body-horrorcannibalismgore
“The Vengeance Of Nitocris” was first published in Weird Tales, August 1928 Hushed were the streets of many-peopled Thebes. Those few who passed through them moved with the shadowy fleetness of bats near dawn, and bent their faces from the sky as if...
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“Henry” was originally published in the collection Strange Fruit in 1928 For four hours every morning and for twenty minutes before a large audience at night Fletcher was locked up with murder. It glared at him from twelve pairs of amber eyes ; it clawed...
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animal-harmdeathviolence
‘Chickamauga’ first published in the San Francisco Examiner, January 20, 1889 One sunny autumn afternoon a child strayed away from its rude home in a small field and entered a forest unobserved. It was happy in a new sense of freedom from control, happy in...
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deathgorewar
‘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
“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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“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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“The Hollow Temple” was first published in Black Mask, December 1928. This is the second of four novelettes that were fixed up into the novel The Dain Curse. I Eric Collison came into my office. There was too much pink in his eyes and not any in his skin....
“The Hollow Temple” was first published in Black Mask, December 1928. This is the second of four novelettes that were fixed up into the novel The Dain Curse. IV I spent most of the day fidgeting in and out of my room. The general vagueness of my job in...
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“The Hollow Temple” was first published in Black Mask, December 1928. This is the second of four novelettes that were fixed up into the novel The Dain Curse. The Thin Man (Novel) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thin_Man The Thin Man (Movie)...
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“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 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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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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“Be Not Afraid” originally appeared in the 2024 anthology We Mostly Come Out at Night edited by Rob Costello The Mothman The Mothman Prophecies (Book) The Mothman Prophecies (Film) Krampus Krampus (2015 movie) “Take out all the yellow ones,” Mamaw says....
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Common Speech By Elise Stephens Dr. Jaiyesimi Obiaka tugged at her sweat-damp collar, wiped her eyes, and tried to focus on the copied pages of the final experiment she and Ganiru had created together. Just looking over his familiar handwriting blurred her...
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Author : Monica Joyce Evans Narrator : Julia Rios Host : Mur Lafferty Audio Producer : Summer Brooks “The Hagfish Has Three Hearts” was originally published in Cossmass Infinities (September 2021) The Hagfish Has Three Hearts by Monica Joyce Evans The...
Like Stars Daring to Shine By Somto Ihezue When the boy opens his housing unit’s steel door and the incandescent lights pour into his face, he does not blink away. “Little suns” — this is what everyone calls them. The massive disks hover in the atmosphere,...
Budo By Tade Thompson “Being desirous, on the other hand, to obviate the misunderstanding and disputes which might in future arise from new acts of occupation (prises de possession) on the coast of Africa; and concerned, at the same time, as to the means...
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goreviolencewar
Hey, George By Elizabeth Guilt "Hey, George." I remind myself that that is not my name; it never was. I will myself not to react, not to break stride, as I stroll along beside the beach. Old habits die hard, and the best neuro-reset in the world can't...
Zhao and the Flightless Crane By A. J. Mo Quick sapphires danced over sun-silvered water. Soundless, they zipped and wheeled to the quiet rhythm of filtration pumps. Dragonflies, Zhao thought. Other winged jewels joined the flurry, some green as spring,...
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Author : Francis Bass Narrator : Valerie Valdes Host : Tina Connolly Audio Producer : Summer Brooks This story was previously published in Uncharted Magazine in May 2022 The Mechanical Turk Has a Panic Attack by Francis Bass Gab gripped her right wrist...
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mental-illness
A Layer Thin As Breath By T. K. Rex “Valley. Can you still hear me?” Julian’s voice filtered through her dying radio. The Prince of Cats was a speck of light, dimming through the gold-grey film that, atom by atom, was devouring her helmet. Valley tried to...
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body-horror
Author : Cameron Fischer Narrator : Dave Robison Host : Mur Lafferty Audio Producer : Summer Brooks Escape Pod 912: The Retcon Man is an Escape Pod original. The Retcon Man by Cameron Fischer Never look for evidence of your future self in the past. Doing...
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violence
Author : Ava Kelly Narrator : Ben Gideon Host : Tina Connolly Audio Producer : Summer Brooks “The Confessionist” was previously published in the anthology: Community of Magic Pens, edited by E.D.E. Bell, released May 2020 by Atthis Arts The Confessionist...
Author : Leah Ning Narrator : Peter Adrian Behravesh Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Devin Martin Discuss on Forums PodCastle 768: The Consequences of Microwaving Styrofoam is a PodCastle original. Content warning for terminal illness Rated PG-13 The...
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deathdeath-of-a-loved-oneillness-and-pandemic
Author : Tiffany Morris Narrator : Samantha Loney Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Eric Valdes Discuss on Forums PodCastle 771: Wapnintu’tijig They Sang Until Dawn is a PodCastle original. Rated PG Wapnintu’tijig: They Sang Until Dawn By Tiffany Morris...
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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 : Harold R. Thompson Narrator : Wilson Fowlie Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Devin Martin Discuss on Forums PodCastle 782: The Girl Who Never Was is a PodCastle original. Content Warning for the death of a spouse. Rated PG The Girl Who Never Was...
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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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deathviolence
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
“Browdean Farm” originally appeared in the 1927 collection Some Ghost Stories Check out ll the amazing things W.J. Walton is working on at AWKWARD LABS (http://www.awkward-labs.com) ? Most people with limited vocabularies such as mine would describe the...
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“A Short Trip Home” was published in 1927 and is in the public domain F. SCOTT FITZGERALD – “The Diamond As Big As The Ritz” (1922) BLACKWATER 2: MORE TALES OF THE FANTASTIC by Alberto Manguel Stefan Grabinski KRAFTWERK – Trans-Europe Express (1977) Pierre...
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violence
“Time Enough at Last” originally appeared in IF Worlds of Science Fiction January 1953. For a long time, Henry Bemis had had an ambition. To read a book. Not just the title or the preface, or a page somewhere in the middle. He wanted to read the whole...
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deathwar
“The Curious Story of Susan Styles” was originally published in 1893 The Society for Psychical Research was formed in 1882, 11 years before this story was written “Susan Styles,” the name is not a romantic one, and yet it is associated in my mind with a...
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Both “Coincidence” and “The Dream” originally appeared in The London Magazine, April 1927 and June 1927 respectively This is the story of a coincidence. At any rate I call it a coincidence. The road where I live is very long and very straight. It’s paved...
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death
“The Dancing Partner” is excerpted from Jerome’s non-genre novel Novel Notes where it is the second half of Chapter 11. The serialization of that chapter first appeared in the March 1893 issue of The Idler. “This story,” commenced MacShaughnassy, “comes...
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This text was extracted from McClure’s Jan 1911, illustrated by Henry Raleigh. The short story was adapted by herself into a novel in 1913; and again adapted into an opera and numerous films (including one by Alfred Hitchcock) and radio plays. “THERE he is...
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This text was extracted from McClure’s Jan 1911, illustrated by Henry Raleigh. The short story was adapted by herself into a novel in 1913; and again adapted into an opera and numerous films (including one by Alfred Hitchcock) and radio plays. “THERE he is...
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deathsuicideviolence
PseudoPod 878: The Son (El Hijo) and The Feather Pillow (El almohadón de plumas) is a PseudoPod original. “El Hijo” was first published under the title “El padre” in La Nación, 15 January 1928. “El Almohadón de Plumas” was first published in the magazine...
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“The Evaluator” was originally published in “A Breath from the Sky” in 2017 and is included in the 2023 collection “No One Will Come Back for Us and Other Stories.” It is the first of Premee’s stories to appear on Ellen Datlow’s annual ‘Honorable Mentions’...
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“The Body Remembers” was originally written for, and published in, the anthology Dark Matter Presents: Monstrous Futures in April 2023. CW: War, death, graphic descriptions of injuries, self-harm, suicidal ideation From the author: “The idea for this story...
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Payday Weather By Matthew Claxton We wound our way up the curving canyon roads in overloaded pickups and hatchbacks, corners taken too fast, sagging bumpers kissing asphalt, engines redlining from effort and heat. Our procession passed an exodus going the...
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violence
The Wrong Side of the Sky By Raymond Roach There’s an old woman who lives in the desert, and who has lived in the desert a very long time. So, too, have her people, but many of them have gone, while she remains. She’s old enough that she should have a...
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death
Author : Lia Swope Mitchell Narrator : S. Kay Nash Host : Mur Lafferty Audio Producer : Summer Brooks Discuss on Forums “Rena in the Desert” was previously published in Asimov’s (March/April 2020) Contains harsh language Rena in the Desert by Lia Swope...
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Deepo 12 By Jeff Hewitt Nothing made Deepo 12 feel more alive than doing its job. Its actuators sighed as another cassette slid from its workstation, tinted blastic masking the rainbow sheen of the wafers inside. Dim strip lights curved over the protective...
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violence
Pickled Roots and Peeled Shoots and a Bowl of Farflower Tea By Chaz Brenchley there’s rue for you, and here’s some for me Just that morning, she’d had a novice shave her head for her. He was a promising lad - no, more than promising, he was a promise...
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violence
Author : Aimee Picchi Narrator : Ibba Armancas Host : Mur Lafferty Audio Producer : Summer Brooks “Solo Cooking for the Recently Revived” was previously published in the Zombies Need Brains anthology “Apocalyptic” in June 2020 Solo Cooking for the Recently...
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Author : Chip Houser Narrator : Wilson Fowlie Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Peter Adrian Behravesh Discuss on Forums Previously published by Bourbon Penn 20 Content warnings for bullying, injury, and child peril. Rated R Smilers by Chip Houser Aiden...
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child-deathviolence
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 : Renan Bernardo Narrator : Diogo Ramos Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Eric Valdes Discuss on Forums PodCastle 737: The Eight Hundred Legs of the Rio-Niterói Bridge is a PodCastle original. Content warnings for death of a parent, grief, and...
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Author : Kate Heartfield Narrator : Kaitlyn Zivanovich Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Devin Martin Discuss on Forums PodCastle 742: The Morning House is a PodCastle original. Content warning for dementia Rated PG-13 The Morning House By Kate Heartfield...
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mental-illnessracism
Author : Shannon Peavey Narrator : Tina Connolly Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Eric Valdes Discuss on Forums Previously published by Apex Rated PG-13 The music for the promotion intro is “Sneaky Snitch” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under...
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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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deathviolence
“The Rocking-Horse Winner” was first published in Harper’s Bazaar, July 1926. There was a woman who was beautiful, who started with all the advantages, yet she had no luck. She married for love, and the love turned to dust. She had bonny children, yet she...
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abusechild-death
“And No Bird Sings” was first published in the magazine Woman, December 1926. “Birdsong & Elemental Slug” soundbed by Shawn M. Garrett, dedicated to Adi Newton & The Anti-Group (TAGC) The red chimneys of the house for which I was bound were visible from...
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‘The Man Who Was Saved’ was first published in Weird Tales, May 1926 ‘Only I escaped.’ The man whom they had found adrift in the dory hung his head. ‘The others—’ the listeners bent nearer to catch his throatily whispered words—‘the others—it got them—that...
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‘The Last Seance’ was first published in Ghost Stories, November 1926 Raoul Daubreuil crossed the Seine humming a little tune to himself. He was a good-looking young Frenchman of about thirty-two, with a fresh-coloured face and a little black moustache. By...
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PseudoPod 803: Them At Number Seventy-Four is a PseudoPod original. When body number four is discovered, Mrs Patterson thinks that surely now she and her husband will be caught. Days creep past, then a week. Two. Three. Their excitement and relief begins...
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deathviolence
“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...
PseudoPod 810: Her Face All Teeth is a PseudoPod original. Denny did not want to spy on the confessional, but at the same time, he did. He wanted what he did not want, or he did not want to want what he wanted. As a Catholic, he should have been...
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“The Old Switcheroo” first appeared in the anthology What One Wouldn’t Do from Scott J. Moses in autumn 2021. Calvin and I have been happy here, all told. With both of us orphaned early on, we were lucky to find each other, lucky to get out of the city and...
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body-horrorcannibalismviolence
“The Green Scarf” originally appeared in The London Magazine, August 1926 When the Wellingford family became extinct the days of Wellingford Hall as one of the great country homes of England were already numbered. The estate passed into the hands of...
“Tommy’s Field” was originally published in the anthology Georgia Gothic – The final line is a nod to the superstition against whistling in a graveyard lest ye summon the devil. From the author: “This story is loosely based on a real person, and when I...
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“Balloon Season” has previously been featured in Fusion Fragment and Dark Matter Magazine. I’ve never gotten used to the sense of urgency of summer afternoons, that feeling of being drenched in the thickness of that still, blanketed heat, and trying to...
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“Old Haunts” originally appeared in the 2022 collection How to See Ghosts & Other Figments Kim Parks considered himself something of a connoisseur of the haunted attractions that sprang up every year around Halloween. While he was getting his masters, he...
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Deal By Eris Young Beulah wonders what it would be like to touch the Visitor. Oil-slick iridescent, it is tennis ball-sized and scaled with an animated crystalline skin—or shell—or carapace. It floats, stationary, a foot above the rug in the corner of the...
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The Mercy of Theseus By Rachael K. Jones Greta and Jamal have three arms, two legs, and one working kidney between the two of them. The kidney belongs to Greta. Its twin went to her little sister three years back, and now she has a laparoscopic keyhole...
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The Call of the Sky By Cliff Winnig The army hospital’s underground floors reminded me of Pluto Base, a place I’d never actually been. I’d never even been off-world, but I remembered those claustrophobic beige corridors. Two years before, I’d synced with a...
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Mathematical Revelations By Helen De Cruz I have never had a Mathematical Revelation in my life. I am presently thirty-eight years and three months old; the first strands of gray have made their hesitant debut in my dark brown hair. I have been a Priestess...
Author : Dustin Steinacker Narrator : Tatiana Grey Host : Summer Fletcher Audio Producer : Peter Adrian Behravesh Discuss on Forums Originally published by Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show. Content warnings: death, animated corpses, violence...
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Author : Dustin Steinacker Narrator : Tatiana Grey Host : Summer Fletcher Audio Producer : Peter Adrian Behravesh Discuss on Forums Originally published by Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show. death, animated corpses, violence against children...
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child-deathdeathviolence
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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Author : Filip Hajdar Drnovšek Zorko Narrator : Tanja Milojevic Host : Summer Fletcher Audio Producer : Peter Adrian Behravesh Discuss on Forums PodCastle 683: Three for Hers is a PodCastle original. Content warnings for gore and coercive violence. Rated...
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abusegoreviolence
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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Author : Aimee Ogden Narrator : Tina Connolly Host : Summer Fletcher Audio Producer : Peter Adrian Behravesh Discuss on Forums Previously published by Daily Science Fiction Rated PG In September by Aimee Ogden On a humid night in mid-July, Emily can’t...
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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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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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Author : Kristina Ten Narrator : Nicola Chapman Host : Summer Fletcher Audio Producer : Peter Adrian Behravesh Discuss on Forums Originally published in Lightspeed. Rated PG-13 Tend to Me by Kristina Ten Nora is a serial becomer. She has become many things...
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body-horror
Author : Anna Madden Narrator : Eliza Chan Host : Summer Fletcher Audio Producer : Peter Adrian Behravesh Discuss on Forums Originally published in DreamForge Magazine. Rated PG The Last Petal by Anna Madden Miss Lily Dale preferred hands to faces. Hands...
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Authors : Eisuke Aikawa and Toshiya Kamei Narrator : Miyuki Jane Pinckard Host : Summer Fletcher Audio Producer : Peter Adrian Behravesh Discuss on Forums Previously published by Samovar Rated PG Hummingbird by Eisuke Aikawa and Toshiya Kamei The...
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mental-illness
Author : Gary McKay Narrator : Sarah McGowan Host : Shingai Njeri Kagunda Audio Producer : Peter Adrian Behravesh Discuss on Forums Originally published in Underneath the Tree: Twelve Christmas stories from Writers in Northern Ireland Rated PG Candy Canes,...
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Author : Eleanor R. Wood Narrator : Summer Fletcher Host : Summer Fletcher Audio Producer : Peter Adrian Behravesh Discuss on Forums Previously published in Diabolical Plots, and The Best of British Fantasy 2019, edited by Jared Shurin and NewCon Press....
"People often spoke about hearing voices: commands, cajoling, or observations made by a chorus of individuals, a collective. But for Sam, it was always just one voice. It had sounded vaguely like her mother’s, and as she fought her way through girlhood and...
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“Lukundoo” was first published in Weird Tales, November 1925 Content warning: Spoiler Racial slurs, systemic racism, colonialism [collapse] “It stands to reason,” said Twombly, “that a man must accept the evidence of his own eyes, and when his eyes and...
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This story was first published in Weird Tales, December 1925. JULY 16—We are caught in one of the great calms. There is water in the well, and our food is nearly gone. Everything is hid from view by the fog. I confess that I am a hopeless coward. The...
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PseudoPod 744: This Wet Red is a PseudoPod original. I lie listening to a mouse in the wall. Its tiny feet scrabbling across worn boards; its tiny heart beating and beating and beating. Its not so tiny pursuer winds through the dark, a soft caress of...
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“Cleaver, Meat, and Block” was originally published in Black Static #73 in January 2020. The first thing Hannah learned when she came to live with her grandparents after the Plague, was how to wield the meat cleaver. Grandma taught her, guiding her hands...
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child-deathgoreviolence
“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...
Content warnings 1
child-death
“The Woman the Spiders Loved” first appeared in Penultimate Peanut and was reprinted in her 2020 collection I’ll Tell You a Love Story. “Edge of the Cliff” was first published in Weird Tales in March 1941 “The Memory of Love” originally published in...
Content warnings 3
abusedeath-of-a-loved-onesuicide
“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...
Content warnings 3
deathmisogynyviolence
“The Floor Above” was originally published in the May 1923 issue of Weird Tales SEPTEMBER 17, 1922. — I sat down to breakfast this morning with a good appetite. The heat seemed over, and a cool wind blew in from my garden, where chrysanthemums were already...
Content warnings 2
body-horrordeath
PseudoPod 774: Vanity, Vanity is a PseudoPod original. The author had this to share about this piece: “Gothic rural horror and the amorphous disposition of evil have long preoccupied me. Moral and spiritual diffidence have weighed on my mind more recently....
Content warnings 3
animal-harmchild-abuseviolence
“Miss Mack” was first published in the 1986 anthology Halloween Horrors When Miss Mack showed up in Babylon in the late summer of 1957, nobody knew what to think of her. She had come from a little town called Pine Cone, and had a brother back there who did...
“Closet Dreams” was originally published in PostScripts and was a finalist for the Stoker Award. Content Warnings Child Abuse, Stalking, Abduction, Confinement, Sexual Assault [collapse] Something terrible happened to me when I was a little girl. I don’t...
Content warnings 3
abusechild-abusesexual-violence
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...
Content warnings 3
deathsubstance-useviolence
“The Stories We Tell About Ghosts” was originally published in Looming Low: Volume I and reprinted this year in A.C. Wise’s new collection, The Ghost Sequences. Growing up in Dieu-le-Sauveur, my friends and I told stories about ghosts—the Starving Man, the...
Content warnings 3
child-abusechild-deathdeath-of-a-loved-one
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,...
The Sun From Both Sides (Part 3 of 3) By R.S.A. Garcia (Continued from Part 2 - Escape Pod episode 758) "Grandmaster Lucochin." He started awake, his hand tightening on something. Someone. The Knight hung motionless over him. He had it by the throat, his...
Content warnings 2
slaveryviolence
Jolene by Fiona Moore “I’ve got a case for you,” said Detective Inspector Wilhemine FitzJames. “It’s a country singer whose wife, dog and truck have all left him.” “Seriously,” she said, after my unprintable reply. “The dog died and there’s nothing much...
Content warnings 3
abusedeathviolence
A scientist mourns the failure of scientists to anticipate the consequences of making contact with an alien race.
Content warnings 3
child-deathdeathillness-and-pandemic