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
Whimsical
181 free-to-read stories tagged “Whimsical”
Computron was the only intelligent robot built in the 1950s. Now all he does is answer questions from children and write fan-fiction about the robot in the Hyperdimension Warp Record TV show.
The ship hadn’t activated Bot 9 in a long time—it’s an unstable model—but in a desperate situation it needs all its resources. And how much trouble can it get into hunting down a rat?
Content warnings 2
deathviolence
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
Content warnings 1
death-of-a-loved-one
"A week before the Season began, as Mrs. Vanessa Saunders held brunch court at the Empire Hotel, a photo appeared on her phone: a large oak door beneath a pale green sign with silver lettering. Impossible, she thought, flipping the infernal device over...
Content warnings 1
death
When Megian sets out her homemade book exchange, a mysterious neighbor starts trading objects and art for the books, but some of the items don’t seem to come from this world at all.
Content warnings 1
war
Surreal tale about the loves and losses of Violet Wild, a girl from the purple country, who crosses the spectrum accompanied by a unicorn, a sorrow, and a herd of time squirrels.
Content warnings 2
deathviolence
Saga does maintenance work on an old, living starship. Skidbladnir is doing poorly lately, and Saga’s boss is determined to save her, even if no one else wants to.
As Lily dies from tuberculosis, she relives fantasies from “Through the Looking Glass,” by Lewis Carroll
Content warnings 3
child-abusedeathillness-and-pandemic
Corinna was eleven when her magical journey to the Land of Nibiru ended with her returning to her kitchen at home. Now she’s waiting for her friends to return for her. Probably.
Approaching 50, Mabel decides to become a glass bottle dancer. She tries to hide it from her family, but the local cockroaches notice it for sure when she gathers up their bottles, and they’ve got dreams too.
When other girls catch fairies, they wish for beauty, but Amelia just wants to do well on her science project.
Male fairies often seduce maidens, but Rose actually seeks them out.
Content warnings 1
sexual-content
Excelsior lives to write songs, and Nightingale was made to sing them. But the decadent city of Owl Abbas does not deserve either one.
Content warnings 2
body-horrordeath
Aria just has a few days to save the whole universe from being swallowed up by Zarzak, the infinite love machine.
Content warnings 2
deathviolence
When the world changed and the sky turned silver, magic became real, Emma Anne became a little girl and her neighbor became a pirate. But can a little girl fight off an attack by the Loping Man?
Content warnings 2
deathviolence
"I want you to make a dragon for me,” the client said. “I need it ready to go by February first.” Dragon, Feb 1, I wrote down on the paper pad I use to take notes during video meetings. Also to doodle. I’ve always had trouble paying attention in client...
"The tree has many names, in many languages: Yggdrasil, Kalpavriksha, Jian-Mu, Ashvattha. It stands at the nexus of worlds, dark matter coiling around its roots, the rim of the universe held aloft by its ever-expanding crown. Its branches bend spacetime,...
Nora has a tendency of turning into whatever she’s dating. She became a rock climber when she dated a rock climber, a comedian when she dated a comedian. But the amateur acupuncturist goes differently.
A seriously subverted version of the story of Sleeping Beauty, starting with what happened when all the fairies at the party got stinking drunk.
A young, newly minted witch meets an equally green knight, and they go off together in search of dragons.
Content warnings 2
abuseviolence
"There is a future in which a hellgate opens off the coast of California. It happens at midnight on the first day of the new year, which is sooner than anyone expected. The waters rise and we are forced to abandon our home, but one of the neighbors has a...
Content warnings 4
deathillness-and-pandemicmental-illnessviolence
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
"The Noon Witch is not a cat person. She likes the color purple, hates police procedurals, loves breakfast foods, thinks scented bath products and anchovy pizza are gross. Hates platform shoes. Hates walnuts in brownies. Used to like the electropop group...
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
Content warnings 3
body-horrorchild-abusedeath
When the Demon of the North takes her father, young Claudette teams up with a university professor to hunt it down and kill it.
Teenage Jack, the cook’s boy, and Roderick, Lord Robert’s son, are unlikely but unshakable friends, even when Roderick has to marry a grown woman. Even when Jack has to venture to elf-land to rescue them.
Glenn and Vivian are Berkley students with a good thing going up until he finds out what she really does for a living, and it’s literally out of this world.
"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
"I’m licking mala algae off a thin yellow and blue P sheet that says Nutterfinger when I notice the walls in my home are vibrating. Nothing ever happens in our world surrounded by P. P is what we call the material that makes up our world, and it’s what we...
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
"Herein is the account of the evening the crew of the Forever Trying invited the Grand Faerie Lord of Vast Space and Its Great Mysteries into our home. I, Felix, Chronicler of the ship, endeavor to capture a true and accurate record of transpired events on...
"Patricia could hear them gathered on her front porch, the kings and popes and saints, gossiping and chattering and generally having a good time. She turned. King Solomon lay sprawled across the bed like it was his golden throne. He raised his head to...
Content warnings 1
death-of-a-loved-one
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
After 500 years, the King of Myth and Shadow is getting bored, so he decides to take a vacation in New York City.
A half-ghost gets a premonition that the Emperor has died, and his ghost ship flies off to Homeworld because whoever gets the Emperor’s ghost first gets free wishes.
Content warnings 3
deathsexual-contentviolence
"Once upon a time,” outputted the algorithm, “there was an AI. “It generated recipes and ingredient descriptions for an online grocery store. The website said that this recipe was not just a squash soup recipe, but it also was a good diet recipe / keto...
"We called it the monster because we could, though none of us found the label to be particularly satisfying. After a certain point, Yerim started calling it the Logos Pilgrim. Which was understandable, seeing as how she was the most mystically inclined...
"The women of Dejima Island could never pinpoint when their dreams began to change, but they knew it had something to do with the tradesmen’s tales. The foreigners who arrived at the docks were hard men, chiseled by salt and wind and all the horrors of two...
"The Lightning Road cuts far across the Cosmos, a streak of dazzling gold amidst the star-studded void. Paved in otherworldly stone, the road climbs over sleeping giants, past ringed planets and frozen worlds, connecting one unknown to the next. Xiaofei...
Content warnings 1
war
"It’s my twelfth birthday and we’re all waiting for Wormwood and everyone is here and I mean everyone. Me and Mom and Dad and Big Pa which is my grandpa who was the strong man at one of the last traveling carnivals in America, and Bigfoot of course, and a...
"A whale soars over Brooklyn. Clouds spread in streaks over the pale blue sky like cold butter. And the whale cleaves right through. Dar spots it from his perch on the rooftop, smoking a contraband cigarette. At first, it looks like the whale is just...
Content warnings 2
body-horrorgore
"Hello, there. If you are reading this, then I assume you are either a mortal who somehow stumbled upon this text or a young demigod seeking to ascend closer to Eledumare’s throne. If you are the latter, I welcome you. Soon you shall sit with me and the...
Content warnings 1
death
"THE HOUSE SOARED NORTH, then veered west, where the land went up and up, and the buildings went up and up, like a metallic wave cresting ahead of the distant mountains. The house could see the prairies from where it crouched but could not see the thing it...
"Many eons ago, when the first dawn broke over the newborn mortal world, the children of the Heavenly Realm assembled at the Golden Sky Palace. They knelt before the Immortal Emperor, their foreheads pressed respectfully to the floor. One by one, he bid...
Prosperity City’s corrupt mayor never guessed his greatest opponent would be a fire-breathing dragon and her unconventional platform…
Content warnings 1
violence
"Latent summer stirred while spring lay dormant. April had come to the Kingdom of S’ong and brought with it spells of rain. Tadpoles in the pond recently developed hind legs; above, a stray shower had been drumming at the water pit-a-pat. The rain-rinsed...
Content warnings 2
deathwar
"It’s a few minutes before seven on a cold October evening and I’m just reaching into the bottom drawer of my desk for the Old Monk and my well-thumbed copy of The Big Sleep when I hear footsteps hurrying up the stairs. A new case, has to be. I sigh, give...
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
"The rabbit was back this morning. It stopped outside the portal like it always does and it checked its pocket watch like it always does. It doesn’t matter—the rabbit’s always late. So far I never found out what the rabbit is late for. It wore a jazzy...
"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
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
Content warnings 1
death
"There are nights when she twists like a tree in the breeze. Hair falling wildly in brown curls around her shoulders, she dances in the dark kitchen, dress twirling as she spins. On those nights she giggles, and asks me to play her favorite music, and...
"Mom always insisted everyone is family at Tollnacher Stimmacher, but I’m the only one she ever adopted. Twenty-five years ago, I was an orphan on the Earth colony, Lulularia. Mom raised me as her own despite my being human and her being a robot. Ever...
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
"Pick me up, girl. I’m such a pretty, delicate thing, hidden behind the gondola’s cushion. You feel me before you see me: the soft velvet of the cushions suddenly replaced by the roughness of my lace and the cool touch of my silk. Your fingers are smooth...
"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
Bab Yaga from the fairy tales turns up in modern-day San Francisco looking for help tracking down her house, which has run away.
The Summer King wants to court the Winter Queen, even though everyone warns him that it’s a long and perilous journey, for summer and winter aren’t meant to be together.
Content warnings 1
death
A road is so nasty that it attains consciousness when it becomes aware of just how “not-nice” it really is.
Content warnings 1
death
Bretchen wants to be a witch, but she doesn’t know how to go about it. Her grandmother has some ideas, but her mom sends her to learn knitting instead.
Content warnings 2
deathviolence
On Cat station, people tell stories of a super-competent engineer, Tatter D’MaLeon. Supposedly she can fix anything, for those who can pay her price.
Content warnings 1
body-horror
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
Viorica attempts to steal the famed Şiret Mask from Codruţ, brother of her dear friend. There are lots of complications, not least of which that Codruţ expects someone to try to take it.
Long after the fall of humanity, a dragon/horse robot wakes up and explores the ruins of Beijing.
In 1880s London, Sir Arthur's "Illogic Engine" has gone missing, so he seeks help from Mycroft Holmes.
Mahliya will be down in a bit to tell you the story, but we'll begin by telling you a love story.
"Here at 123aiLOVEu, we take all the guesswork out of dating. With personalized chatbots trained on social media and chat histories, we put you in conversation with hundreds of potential matches... and you never have to say a thing! Sandra was watching the...
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
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
"Not so very long ago but before you were born, an idle lordling went riding through one of the great forests that sweep across the Isles. You may guess which forest, and which man, but I will not tell you. ... None of the stories his mother had told him...
"You don’t know who we are, but we promise you we are harmless, and we made this village for you. Well, for you and for us, and for all the others that might follow. Each of us built their own little house. Some are made from hard candy, with gingerbread...
Content warnings 2
deathviolence
"One: My lipstick. The shade is Heart’s Blood. Morbid, if you ask me. I wanted to know if it was really the color of heart’s blood so I bought beef heart and tried dabbing my lips. Close enough. I emailed to congratulate the lipstick company on their...
Night Soil, of course, is human feces, but the salvagers to more than just collect that; they deliver other things too—if you’re willing to deal with them, that is.
Jing and her father climb a mountain to find and kill a Snake-Devil that has been killing people and goats, but she’s not exactly what they expected.
1 Mayzelle hurried from her hab-hut, tacked shut the canvas door, and hustled down the bamboo steps. She’d sworn she wouldn’t stand for this anymore. She’d sworn. In the clearing, […]
edited by Amanda Helms The first god on our list wears the skull of a polar bear. The god is shrunk to the width of my little finger and almost transparent. Darkness seeps like squid ink from their eyes. “Sir,” I address the tiny god. “Can you give me an...
Content note (click for details) Drowning (non-graphic); brief use of homophobic language. edited by Ziv Wities The waves crested with foam as thick as fish eggs. Jim Walsh would have paid good money to stay indoors that evening with his feet up, tea in...
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 : ace tilton ratcliff Narrator : Jordan Kurella Host : Mur Lafferty Audio Producer : Summer Brooks Escape Pod 1038: Meet the Mets is an Escape Pod original. Contains brief moments of violence and bigotry towards a transgender character Sponsored by...
Content warnings 2
transphobiaviolence
Author : Frank Baird Hughes Narrator : Jairus Durnett Host : Valerie Valdes Audio Producer : Adam Pracht Escape Pod 1045: The Graduates of Formost 891c is an Escape Pod original. Contains examples of animal surgical modification. The Graduates of Formost...
Content warnings 2
animal-harmdeath
Author : Jo Miles Narrator : Julia Rios Host : Tina Connolly Audio Producer : Adam Pracht Escape Pod 1051: You Have Arrived at Your Destination is an Escape Pod original. You Have Arrived at Your Destination By Jo Miles It starts with an accident. A dreary...
This episode features "Focus" written by Carlos Hernandez. 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/hernandez_07_26 Support us on...
Content warnings 2
deathviolence
Look, it’s bad enough that my wife gets cat-called in the street and flashed on the train. There’s a lot of sickos out there who get their jollies by harassing women, and usually I try to shut them down without escalating it to a fight. But we moved a few...
Content warnings 1
sexual-violence
Well, Officer, the trouble really start when Mr. Vincent dead. I shouldn’t have been surprise eh. My neighbour wasn’t studying he health at all. He was young still, in he sixties, so he spend a lot of time by the bar down by the football field drinking and...
LA NDRY or L UNDRY. Those were the two choices. You never knew which one you were gonna get. The letters took turns to be fickle, blinking and spluttering in a game of chance. Mr. Lee, the laundry-mat owner, was stingy with the upkeep. He let his...
Author : Kelsey Hutton Narrator : Christiana Ellis Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Eric Valdes Discuss on Forums Originally published in Zooscape, Issue 23, April 15, 2025 Rated PG Birds of Fortune by Kelsey Hutton Water droplets still glistened on each...
Author : Stephanie Burgis Narrator : Tina Connolly Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Wilson Fowlie Previously published in The Sunday Morning Transport March 2, 2025 Rated G Mail-Order Magic by Stephanie Burgis Shopping online during a bout of brain fog...
Content warnings 1
illness-and-pandemic
Author : Tony Dunnell Narrator : Devin Martin Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Eric Valdes PodCastle 949: The Troll Road is a PodCastle original. Rated PG-13 The Troll Road by Tony Dunnell Sir Lederick dismounted in the Humble Woods on the southern flank...
Author : Emily Munro Narrator : Sandra Espinoza Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Wilson Fowlie PodCastle 952: Putti Call is a PodCastle original. Rated R Putti Call By Emily Munro Hopefully you’ve never tried to stuff a struggling toddler into a dog...
The typewriter proved, at first glance, to be a poor investment for a daring aerial escape. Kallista had been drawn to the typewriter from the moment she viewed it languishing in a Museum of Curioddities, a pun that 3% of Pennon City’s citizens might...
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...
Because it’s Carnaval, Iara wears a striped pirate shirt and a red pirate headband. And because of who she is, she sits on the bathroom floor, closes her eyes, and wears the perspectives of seven alley cats, three stray dogs, and a single pigeon for the...
Content warnings 1
sexual-content
The Tree Man’s Rebirth At the threshold to the Kuiper Belt in the outer solar system, Deep Space Gate was the largest station humanity ever built. The station psychologist Chu […]
Content warnings 3
abuseanimal-harmviolence
Of course I could kill him. If I wanted to, I would not hesitate to unhinge my jaw around his neck, skewering his trachea with my tusks and locking my […]
I warn my child about speaking to the humans: it kills them. Why? Awakened From Glacially Eroded Foliated Schist With Garnets And A Uranium Heart asks. Their bodies are like […]
Death by Pink in the Lollipop Apocalypse By Ryan Cole In the dark of her bed, curled up in her sheets, Susie tried to hide from the next few days and the reckoning they’d bring: of prom and graduation and the dozens of goodbyes she’d have to force herself...
Content warnings 2
body-horrorhomophobia
Once Upon a Planet By Kelsey Hutton Once upon a time, there were three boring, totally normal planets lazily circling their sun. One was too hot. It spewed out venomous flames like a firebreather with something pokey stuck in her teeth—dangerously...
Author : Elly Bangs Narrator : Christiana Ellis Host : Mur Lafferty Audio Producer : Summer Brooks “Space Pirate Queen of the Ten Billion Utopias” was first published in Lightspeed Magazine in November 2021 Copious amounts of casual strong language. This...
Author : Diana Wynne Jones Narrator : Emma Newman Hosts : Mur Lafferty and Alasdair Stuart Audio Producers : Adam Pracht and Mat Weller Samantha’s Diary originally appeared in Stories: All-New Tales Edited by Neil Gaiman and Al Sarrantonio and on Escape...
Author : Ryan Cole Narrator : Elie Hirschman Host : Tina Connolly Audio Producer : Summer Brooks Escape Pod 985: The Interdimensional Rift at the Lucky Sunrise Bingo Palace is an Escape Pod original. The Interdimensional Rift at the Lucky Sunrise Bingo...
Content warnings 2
death-of-a-loved-onehomophobia
Author : T. Kingfisher Narrator : Kevin M. Hayes Host : Mur Lafferty Audio Producer : Summer Brooks Escape Pod 993: That Thing With Bob and the Crop Circles is an Escape Pod original. That Thing With Bob and the Crop Circles by T. Kingfisher So last...
Author : Luke Wildman Narrator : Hollis Monroe Host : Matt Dovey Artist : Eric Valdes Discuss on Forums Previously published in Writers and Illustrators of the Future, Vol. 37 Rated PG How to Steal the Plot Armor – PART ONE by Luke Wildman The day before...
Author : Luke Wildman Narrator : Hollis Monroe Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Eric Valdes Discuss on Forums Previously published in Writers and Illustrators of the Future, Vol. 37 Rated PG How to Steal the Plot Armor by Luke Wildman PART TWO of TWO...
Author : Cynthia Zhang Narrator : Curtis C. Chen Host : Shingai Njeri Kagunda Audio Producer : Eric Valdes Discuss on Forums PodCastle 886: Houyi the Archer Fights the Sun is a PodCastle original. Rated PG-13 Houyi the Archer Fights the Sun by Cynthia...
Author : M. T. Lee Narrator : AJ Fitzwater Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Devin Martin Discuss on Forums PodCastle 894: The Summer of Lugubriosity is a PodCastle original. Rated PG-13 The Summer of Lugubriosity by M. T. Lee We did the ritual on a...
Content warnings 3
child-deathgoreviolence
Authors : J. R. Dawson and John Wiswell Narrator : John Bell Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Eric Valdes Discuss on Forums Previously published by Haven Spec Rated PG This Mentor Lives by J.R. Dawson & John Wiswell Abraham was rushing through his...
Author : Dani Atkinson Narrators : Andrew K. Hoe, Kitty Sarkozy and Katherine Inskip Host : Eleanor R. Wood Audio Producer : Eric Valdes Discuss on Forums Previously ran as episode 722 and first published by Daily Science Fiction Rated PG-13 Said the...
Author : Beth Goder Narrator : Tatiana Grey Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Eric Valdes Originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction Rated PG Mycelium by Beth Goder I only travel to the golden head when the dragonflies are in...
Author : Eugie Foster Narrator : Tina Connolly Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Eric Valdes Discuss on Forums Previously ran as episode 28 and first published by Cricket Magazine Rated G The Tanuki-Kettle by Eugie Foster When Hisa was a baby, her mother...
Authors : Tim Pratt and Heather Shaw Narrator : Tina Connolly Host : Tina Connolly Audio Producer : Eric Valdes PodCastle 923: The Sun Globe is a PodCastle original. Rated G The Sun Globe Heather Shaw & Tim Pratt Grace Morley was singing “Silver Bells”...
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 970: At the God Show is a PseudoPod original. 6:15 A.M. “It’ll be Pternoch the Fisher,” Sheila overheard one pilgrim say to another. “Why did we bother coming?” “May the Green Damsel stitch your mouth shut until your blasphemies cease,” said the...
Content warnings 3
cannibalismdeathviolence
The T-4200 (Part 1 of 2) By J. R. Johnson Carleton T. Lowengren, low-level civil servant, single twenty-something and refugee from the war-torn Outer Rim, woke to the remnants of a gaming binge and a killer headache courtesy of his interface. The implant...
The T-4200 (Part 2 of 2) By J. R. Johnson (...Continued from Part 1) Carl scrambled to follow Mango past the loading dock to the parking corral. Her T was an early model with a lot of light-years on it, but its shell still shone and its maxillae were...
Author : David Hankins Narrator : Eric Valdes Host : Valerie Valdes Audio Producer : Summer Brooks “Felix and the Flamingo” was originally published in the anthology Murderbirds (January 2023). To learn more about Bruiser the Rat, check out “Milo Piper’s...
Content warnings 1
animal-harm
Alternate Cover: Pantone Sunset By Marie Vibbert Stacey reads a comic book. It’s about a robot lady, but not like her. This robot lady has exposed gears and metal rods in her arms and wears a metallic bikini as she solves crimes. The colors are...
Author : E J Delaney Narrator : Eliza Chan Host : Valerie Valdes Audio Producer : Summer Brooks Escape Pod 942: The Eye of Applethorpe is an Escape Pod original. The Eye of Applethorpe by E J Delaney Úna’s dad once said to her: “You never know what you’ve...
Rupert Weard and the Case of the Adamant Annihilist By Rob Gillham Rupert Weard leapt into the drawing room, escaping a hallway dense with impossibly angled, tentacular horrors trying to sell him insurance. "Ye gods, it's bedlam out there," he said. "Just...
Author : Erin Brown Narrator : Cherrae L. Stuart Host : Tina Connolly Audio Producer : Summer Brooks “Skyscrapers That Twist to the Sun” appeared in Fantasy Magazine Issue 87 (January 2023) Skyscrapers That Twist to the Sun by Erin Brown Shaundra took the...
Mathball By Larry Hodges You are a baseball fan, sitting in the centerfield seats eating an overpriced hot dog. You are wearing a baseball cap, but not a batting helmet, of course. (Why would that be an issue? Hmm…)You smile brightly, but all will not end...
Author : Julia Rios Narrators : Abra Staffin-Wiebe and Tatiana Grey Host : Valerie Valdes Audio Producer : Summer Brooks “To Catch a Flieff” was originally written as a bonus for backers of the Bridge to Elsewhere Kickstarter (an anthology of stories set...
Show and Tell By Greg van Eekhout Teacher is an old-fashioned bug with a blue carapace and eyes like two domes of gold beads. She is very pretty and smells like follow, but when she flutters her wings you better look smart or you'll get her stinger in your...
Content warnings 1
violence
Authors : Sarah Pinsker, Katie McIvor and Andy Oldfield Narrators : Eliza Chan, Devin Martin and Eleanor R. Wood Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Devin Martin Discuss on Forums “A Strange and Terrible Wonder” Previously published by Zooscape “The Dog Who...
Content warnings 2
deathdeath-of-a-loved-one
Authors : Jane Brown, Chuck Rothman and Joshua Jones Lofflin Narrators : Tina Connolly, Eric Valdes and Rick Vicens Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Eric Valdes Discuss on Forums PodCastle 820: Flash Fiction Extravaganza! – Comedy is a PodCastle...
Author : Lavie Tidhar Narrator : Eleanor R. Wood Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Devin Martin Discuss on Forums Previously published by Uncanny Rated PG The Portal Keeper By Lavie Tidhar October 1st The rabbit was back this morning. It stopped outside...
Author : Sherwood Smith Narrator : Kaitlyn Zivanovich Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Devin Martin Discuss on Forums Originally published by Realms of Fantasy Rated PG-13 Mom and Dad At the Home Front by Sherwood Smith Before Rick spoke, I saw from his...
Authors : C.S.E. Cooney and Carlos Hernandez Narrators : C.S.E. Cooney and Carlos Hernandez Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Eric Valdes Discuss on Forums Previously published by Clockwork Phoenix and as PodCastle episode 669 Content warnings for illness...
Content warnings 3
deathdeath-of-a-loved-oneillness-and-pandemic
Author : Peter M. Floyd Narrator : Graeme Dunlop Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Devin Martin Discuss on Forums PodCastle 849: The Third Wish is a PodCastle original. Rated PG-13 The Third Wish by Peter M. Floyd I was in the middle of a pleasant little...
Content warnings 2
goreviolence
Author : Peter S. Beagle Narrator : Barry Deutsch Host : Matt Dovey Artist : Eric Valdes Discuss on Forums Previously published by The Raven, and as PodCastle 037 Rated G Gordon, the Self-Made Cat by Peter Beagle Once upon a time, to a family of house mice...
Author : Vylar Kaftan Narrator : Elie Hirschman Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Eric Valdes Discuss on Forums Previously published by Shimmer and as PodCastle 128 Rated PG Something Wicked This Way Plumbs by Vylar Kaftan Oh, the watercooler jug? Yeah, I...
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,...
Author : Lavie Tidhar Narrator : Kyle Akers Host : Tina Connolly Audio Producer : Summer Brooks This story first appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction (December 2020) Wild Geese by Lavie Tidhar With rustling wings the wild geese fly Round...
Content warnings 2
deathviolence
Author : Amal Singh Narrator : Kaushik Narasimhan Host : Valerie Valdes Audio Producer : Summer Brooks “A Series of Endings” originally appeared in Clarkesworld Magazine (December 2021) A Series of Endings by Amal Singh This is the story of Roopchand...
Content warnings 1
death
Six Ways to Get Past the Shadow Shogun's Goons, and One Thing to Do When You Get There By Stewart C. Baker 1. Dust 'em "Listen, little lady," the guy in front of the door is saying with a sneer. "There's two types of swordsman..." Chiyome's already heard...
Murder or a Duck By Beth Goder George called out, “Mrs. Whitman, you have a visitor.” Mrs. Whitman strode from her workroom, her white hair skipping out of its hairpins. She straightened her work skirt, massaged her bad knee, then hurried down the hall....
Content warnings 1
violence
Authors : C. L. Moore and Henry Kuttner Narrator : John Bell Host : Alex Hofelich Audio Producer : Eric Valdes Originally published by Charm, October 1944 Rated PG Housing Problem by C.L. Moore and Henry Kuttner Jacqueline said it was a canary, but I...
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...
Content warnings 1
death
Author : Benjamin Rosenbaum Narrator : Graeme Dunlop Hosts : Matt Dovey and Ann Leckie Audio Producers : Eric Valdes and Pria Wood Discuss on Forums Originally published in All-Star Zeppelin Adventure Stories, edited by David Moles and Jay Lake. Previously...
Author : Maria Brekke Narrators : Eleanor R. Wood, Kaitlyn Zivanovich, Eric Valdes, Devin Martin, Srikripa Krishna Prasad, Shingai Njeri Kagunda, Matt Dovey, Tierney Bailey, Emmalia Harrington, Sofía Barker, Julia Patt and Kiran Kaur Saini Host : Matt...
“Ye Goode Olde Ghoste Storie” originally appeared in Weird Tales, January 1927 under the pen name William A. P. White Derek Delgaudio Excellent and IMMENSELY spoiler-y piece about In & Of Itself ‘‘But there ain’t no sech thing!” said Jed Hoskins’ old man...
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...
Content warnings 1
death
“The Strange Island of Dr. Nork” was first published in Weird Tales, March 1949 CW: racist language. Please note this story was first published in 1949 and contains language which would not be acceptable today, particularly with regards to race. Afflicted...
Content warnings 2
racismviolence
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...
Content warnings 1
death
Tony Roomba's Last Day on Earth By Maria Haskins It’s Tony Roomba’s last day on Earth. After two years of working undercover as a vacuum cleaner bot on this boondock planet, he is finally heading home to the Gamma Sector, but his final day is full of...
Author : Tina Connolly Narrator : Bria Strothers Host : S.B. Divya Audio Producer : Summer Brooks Discuss on Forums Lions and Tigers and Girlfriends, Oh My! originally appeared in Escape Pod: The Science Fiction Anthology in October 2020. Lions and Tigers...
Wild Meat By Shari Paul Girl, I have a story to tell you. Remember the wild meat competition I did tell you about? The one they was planning to have on the holiday weekend? Well, talk about bacchanal because Naresh and them decide that they wanted to cook...
Universal Archive of Human History: FAQ By Arturo Sierra The Gran Gliese Universal Archive of Human History contains over 5.7×1035 books and an innumerable collection of shorter works. Moreover, it is continuously growing, thanks to additions from...
The Tyrant Lizard (and Her Plus One) By John Wiswell Dinosaurs don’t want to kill you; they just don’t care that you’re there. More people have been sat on by brontosauruses than have been eaten by all the theropods combined. Since I joined security on the...
Content warnings 3
deathgoreviolence
Laser Squid Goes House Hunting By Douglas DiCicco "This one has everything on your checklist." I held open the front door of the four-bedroom colonial. It wasn't quite big enough for my client, who left greasy marks on the doorframe as she squeezed...
Authors : Andrew Hiller, Brandon Case and Bob McHugh Narrators : Elie Hirschman, Justine Eyre and Jairus Durnett Host : Valerie Valdes Audio Producer : Summer Brooks Escape Pod 853: 2022 Flash Fiction Contest Winners is an Escape Pod original. Half-Lives...
Content warnings 2
deathviolence
Author : Amy Johnson Narrator : Christiana Ellis Host : Tina Connolly Audio Producer : Summer Brooks Escape Pod 869: Excuse Me, This Is My Apocalypse is an Escape Pod original. Excuse Me, This Is My Apocalypse by Amy Johnson It was a glorious day when she...
"Hold it right there, gasbag.’ The red balloon turned. The beam of a searchlight from high above momentarily crisscrossed the dark alleyway, catching the smooth surface of his face and the scotch tape scar on the left. ‘… Oh, it’s you,’ he said. Three big...
Content warnings 3
deathsubstance-useviolence
Author : Dani Atkinson Narrators : Andrew K. Hoe, Kitty Sarkozy and Katherine Inskip Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Peter Adrian Behravesh Discuss on Forums Previously published by Daily Science Fiction Rated PG-13 Said the Princess by Dani Atkinson...
Authors : Marisca Pichette, Dafydd McKimm and Devin Miller Narrators : Scott Campbell, Matt Dovey and Kelly Robson Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Peter Adrian Behravesh Discuss on Forums “Water We Made to Breathe” and “A Partial Record of Enchanted...
Content warnings 2
deathillness-and-pandemic
Author : Abra Staffin-Wiebe Narrator : Christiana Ellis Host : Matt Dovey Audio Producer : Devin Martin Discuss on Forums PodCastle 740: Beck’s Pest Control and the Case of the Drag Show Downer is a PodCastle original. Rated PG-13 Beck’s Pest Control and...
Content warnings 3
abusedeathviolence
“The Tentacle and You” was originally published in Nature Futures back in 2019. “Backers” is a PseudoPod Original “Your Honor, My Undead Client Opposes the Application to Probate His Estate” is a PseudoPod original. “Backers”: “My wife and her friends are...
Content warnings 3
body-horrordeathviolence
“Flowering Evil” first appeared in Planet Stories, Summer 1950 Captain Bjornson shook a grizzled head. “I never saw a plant I liked the looks of less,” he said. “I don’t know how he got it through the planetary plant quarantine. You take my advice, Amy,...
Content warnings 2
body-horrorgore
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,...
Author : Sarah Gailey Narrator : Trendane Sparks Host : Laura Pearlman Audio Producer : Peter Adrian Behravesh Discuss on Forums “Bargain” first appeared in Mothership Zeta (Dec 2015) Bargain by Sarah Gailey Malachai loved his work. He loved wandering...
Content warnings 1
illness-and-pandemic
Author : Marie Vibbert Narrator : M. Darusha Wehm Host : Tina Connolly Audio Producer : Summer Brooks Discuss on Forums This story first appeared in Analog (August 2017) The First Trebuchet on Mars by Marie Vibbert If you come to Mars you need to know that...
Report of Dr. Hollowmas on the Incident at Jackrabbit Five By T. Kingfisher The following report is from the Jackrabbit Colony, Five Tau, regarding the incidents occurring during 7-5-11-8881, fifth rotation, involving Marine Midwife Unit Eleven-Gamma....
Death, the Universe, and Everything By Sherin Nicole The morning after it happened for the first time, I-- I’m not sure if I should tell you, but maybe you can tell me. If your understanding of reality fundamentally changes, does it change you? And how...
Content warnings 3
deathmental-illnesssuicide
Author : Premee Mohamed Narrator : Eve Upton Host : Tina Connolly Audio Producer : Adam Pracht Discuss on Forums Escape Pod 794: Episode 4: The Deflection of Probability is an Escape Pod original. Science fiction-style death and peril. Episode 4: The...
Open 27 Hours By L.P. Kindred “It had pops of habanero-like spice immediately calmed by the subdued dulce of roast sweet potato. You got lemony shots of citric acid alongside amandine crunches. The dish was studded with cubes of meat I was too young to...
Content warnings 1
death-of-a-loved-one
Oddments, Pasha’s Autodiary of 07 MAR 2032 By Christopher Noessel I woke you up two hours before, so you would have time to get into face. You sat in the rattling shoebox lavatory of an interstate bus with a handheld mirror and terrible lighting, sang...
Author : Erik Grove Narrator : Karlo Yeager Rodriguez Host : Mur Lafferty Audio Producer : Summer Brooks Discuss on Forums Escape Pod 816: Merely Players is an Escape Pod original. Death and loss. Merely Players by Erik Grove Jester stopped his bicycle in...
Author : Varsha Dinesh Narrator : Suna Dasi Host : Summer Fletcher Audio Producer : Peter Adrian Behravesh Discuss on Forums PodCastle 661: The Engineer of the Undersea Railways is a PodCastle original. Rated PG-13. The Engineer of the Undersea Railway By...
Author : Lori J. Torone Narrator : Simon Meddings Host : Summer Fletcher Audio Producer : Peter Adrian Behravesh Discuss on Forums Originally published in Metaphorosis. Wytchen Wood by Lori J. Torone A decade of shavings covered the floor of Lewys’s...
Content warnings 2
deathdeath-of-a-loved-one
Authors : Jenn Reese, Kate Heartfield and John Wiswell Narrators : Tina Connolly, Kim Rogers and C. L. Clark Host : Ziv Wities Audio Producer : Peter Adrian Behravesh “A Mindreader’s Guide to Surviving Your First Year at the All-Girls Superhero Academy”...
Content warnings 1
death-of-a-loved-one
Author : Josh Rountree Narrator : Peter Adrian Behravesh Host : Summer Fletcher Audio Producer : Peter Adrian Behravesh Discuss on Forums Previously published in the Eighteen anthology from Underland Press. Rated PG-13. Rated PG-13. Rewind By Josh Rountree...
Content warnings 1
suicide
Author : Stephanie Burgis Narrator : Pippa Alice Stephens Host : Summer Fletcher Audio Producer : Peter Adrian Behravesh Discuss on Forums Previously published in Consolation Songs: Speculative Fiction for a Time of Coronavirus Rated PG-13. Love, Your...
Content warnings 1
sexual-content
Author : Rebecca Fraimow Narrator : Barbara Krasnoff Host : Benjamin C. Kinney Audio Producers : Peter Adrian Behravesh and Jim Freund Discuss on Forums PodCastle 689: Gitl Schneiderman Learns to Live With Her In-Laws is a PodCastle original. Rated PG-13...
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...
Content warnings 1
body-horror
Authors : Sylvia Heike, Ally Chua, Aleks Wittkamp and Drew Czernik Narrators : Andrew K. Hoe, Graeme Dunlop, Srikripa Krishna Prasad and Lalana Dara Host : Craig Jackson Audio Producer : Peter Adrian Behravesh Discuss on Forums PodCastle 701: Flash Fiction...
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...
Content warnings 1
mental-illness
PseudoPod 782: The Halloween Parade is a PseudoPod original. That’s what the parade is for. The cowboys with no faces are first this year. Men with bone white paint and matte black hats. Men whose eyes are filled with the combination of terror and rage...
Vlad’s an immortal vampire and his girlfriend Eliza stays in suspended animation most of the time while they travel the stars looking for a planet where they can be happy together.
Author : John Wiswell Narrator : Wilson Fowlie Hosts : Matt Dovey and Wilson Fowlie Audio Producer : Peter Adrian Behravesh Discuss on Forums PodCastle 654: 8-Bit Free Will is a PodCastle original. Rated PG. 8-Bit Free Will By John Wiswell They exist, then...
Authors : Tim Pratt and Heather Shaw Narrators : Jen R. Albert and Dominik Parisien Host : Summer Fletcher Audio Producer : Peter Adrian Behravesh Discuss on Forums PodCastle 658: The Cursed Noel is a PodCastle original. Rated PG-13. The Cursed Noel By Tim...
Content warnings 1
illness-and-pandemic
In France in 1699, a magical fighter comes to Caen to duel with creatures from faery.
Content warnings 1
violence