Auditory Anthology

This week’s story is ”The Furious Rose” by Dean Evans, which looks at a future where society punishes criminals by taking something unexpected from them. If you have a story you’d like to contribute to the series, you can visit https://submissions.soundconceptmedia.com/ Curator: Keith Conrad linktr.ee/keithrconrad Narrator: Darren Marlar https://darrenmarlar.com/ Other shows hosted by Darren: Weir...

This week, we have “Pen Pal” by Stephen Marlowe. We meet Matilda, a young woman looking for love by submitting letters to a literary magazine. That’s something much more common when the story was published in 1951 and probably pretty close to using a dating app these days. When she thinks she’s found the love of her life, things get really strange. If you have a story you’d like to contribute to t...

This week’s story is “Special Parts” by Matthew DeBlock, an original story that takes a look at a fascinating world all around us that we never see. If you have a story you’d like to contribute to the series, you can visit https://submissions.soundconceptmedia.com/ Curator: Keith Conrad linktr.ee/keithrconrad Narrator: Darren Marlar https://darrenmarlar.com/ Other shows hosted by Darren: Weird Dar...

This week we have "The Irritated People" by Ray Bradbury. Charles Crossley, the President of American Jet-Propelled Ships, finds himself in a world teetering on the edge of chaos. The World Organization keeps has banned all wars, so countries have to get creative to settle their differences. If you have a story you’d like to contribute to the series, you can visit https://submissions.soundconceptm...

This week’s story is "The Eternal Wall" by Raymond Gallun. The Eternal Wall is a story that weaves together themes of love, tragedy, and the passage of time. It reminds me of the 1973 Gene Roddenberry movie Genesis II, or Futurama. Both stories deal with people who suddenly find themselves in the far flung future. This story will tug on your heart strings a little more than either of those, though...

This week we have a story called “Beyond Lies the Wub” by Philip K Dick. This story explores themes of empathy, the ethics of survival, and the often troubling intersection between human ambition and the natural world. Through the interactions between the crew and the wub, Philip K. Dick masterfully weaves a narrative that questions the boundaries of humanity and the nature of intelligence. It’s a...

This week’s story is “The Other Now” by Murray Leinster. It’s a story all about dealing with loss, and then finding out maybe you don’t actually have to deal with it after all. If you have a story you’d like to contribute to the series, you can visit https://submissions.soundconceptmedia.com/ Curator: Keith Conrad linktr.ee/keithrconrad Narrator: Darren Marlar https://darrenmarlar.com/ Other shows...

This week’s story is “The Snare” by Richard Rein Smith. It could serve as a cautionary tale for NASA’s Artemis astronauts as they return to the Moon. If you find a doorway on the Moon, maybe it’s not such a good idea to go inside. If you have a story you’d like to contribute to the series, you can visit https://submissions.soundconceptmedia.com/ Curator: Keith Conrad linktr.ee/keithrconrad Narrato...

This week’s story is “The Super Opener” by Michael Zuroy, which just might be the very first literary example of malicious compliance in the workplace. It’s a story that has everything really, a put upon employee, an overbearing boss and the world being overrun with tin cans. If you have a story you’d like to contribute to the series, you can visit https://submissions.soundconceptmedia.com/ Curato...

This week’s story is “Green Grew the Lasses” by Ruth Laura Wainwright. A woman already on edge from the relentless summer heat and the unwelcome arrival of her cousin, is about to face an unimaginable upheaval in her seemingly mundane life. If you have a story you’d like to contribute to the series, you can visit https://submissions.soundconceptmedia.com/ Curator: Keith Conrad linktr.ee/keithrconr...

This week’s story is “Prime Difference” by Alan Nourse. It’s a story that dives into the complexities of identity, the nuances of love, and the unintended consequences of tampering with the human experience. In this tale of desperation and deception, one man  learns that the perfect solution may come with an unexpected price. If you have a story you’d like to contribute to the series, you can...

This week’s story is  We're Civilized! by Alex Apostolides and Mark Clifton. The fate of Mars and its inhabitants hangs in the balance, as the self-assured captain and the thoughtful scientist grapple with the consequences of their actions. Will they recognize the value of the life they have found, or will they repeat the mistakes of history? If you have a story you’d like to contribute to th...

This week’s story is The Man Who Remembered, an original story by Spiritus Dei. We meet a young man named Randy, a man who found himself at the tender age of 29, just beginning to see his life take shape. He had a job he could tolerate, was contemplating the future with a newfound optimism, and was thinking about re-entering the world of romance. But Randy's plans took an unexpected detour when fa...

In this week’s story The Leech by Robert Sheckley, we explore a tale of a spore—a seemingly lifeless entity that has drifted through the cosmic void for millennia, until the fateful day it lands on Earth. Unbeknownst to humankind, this tiny seed holds within it a hunger that defies comprehension, an insatiable thirst for energy and mass. As it stirs to life and begins to grow, it falls to an unwit...

This week’s story is “Big Stupe” By Charles V. De Vet. If the human exploration of space goes anything like our exploration of Earth, we probably won’t think very highly of the aliens we meet, which means it would serve us right if they thought the same thing about us If you have a story you’d like to contribute to the series, you can visit https://submissions.soundconceptmedia.com/ Curator: Keith...

This week’s story is  “The Luckiest Man in Denv” by Simon Eisner. In a future dystopia where social climbing and technological manipulation intertwine, a man stumbles upon a disturbing conspiracy. If you have a story you’d like to contribute to the series, you can visit https://submissions.soundconceptmedia.com/ Curator: Keith Conrad linktr.ee/keithrconrad Narrator: Darren Marlar https://darr...

Our story this week is “The Snowbank Orbit” by Fritz Leiber. It's the story of a young spaceman grappling with the surreal and isolating vastness of space and the shadow of interstellar conflict. If you have a story you’d like to contribute to the series, you can visit https://submissions.soundconceptmedia.com/ Curator: Keith Conrad linktr.ee/keithrconrad Narrator: Darren Marlar https://darrenmarl...

This week’s story is The Snowball Effect by Katherine MacLean. In a clash between academia and administration, a university president challenges the real-world value of sociology, prompting an experiment that could change the world forever or at the very least one sewing circle. If you have a story you’d like to contribute to the series, you can visit https://submissions.soundconceptmedia.com/ Cur...

This week’s story is “A Matter of Protocol” by Jack Sharkey. A lot of writers have speculated about what aliens would do here on Earth if they ever showed up, but what if humans were the aliens visiting a new world? If you have a story you’d like to contribute to the series, you can visit https://submissions.soundconceptmedia.com/ Curator: Keith Conrad linktr.ee/keithrconrad Narrator: Darren Marla...

Here's a little bonus content from our narrator Darren Marlar's podcast Weird Darkness . H.G. Wells was a prolific sci-fi author, but with The Red Room he showed he could hold his own in the horror genre as well. If you have a story you’d like to contribute to the series, you can visit https://submissions.soundconceptmedia.com/ You can support the show by becoming a paid subscriber on Substack: ht...

This week’s story is “Welcome Martians” by S.A. Lombino. What if we landed on Mars and discovered people who were so much like us that they wouldn’t actually believe you were from Earth? If you have a story you’d like to contribute to the series, you can visit https://submissions.soundconceptmedia.com/ Curator: Keith Conrad linktr.ee/keithrconrad Narrator: Darren Marlar https://darrenmarlar.com/ O...

Our story this week is  “Don’t Shoot” by Robert Zacks. If you invent something Earth-changing, you need to be careful who you sell the technology to. You might end up inadvertently creating a cryptid. If you have a story you’d like to contribute to the series, you can visit https://submissions.soundconceptmedia.com/ Curator: Keith Conrad linktr.ee/keithrconrad Narrator: Darren Marlar https://...

This week’s story is “The Merchants of Venus” by A. H. Phelps. If you were trying to recruit people for a new colony, who would you choose? Most people would be looking for the next George Washington, or at the very least the next Neil Armstrong. History suggests, they’d be wrong. If you have a story you’d like to contribute to the series, you can visit https://submissions.soundconceptmedia.com/ C...

This week’s story is “The Undersea Tube” by L. Taylor Hansen. Back when Hansen wrote this story in 1929, a project like the Chunnel was a far off dream. Of course he envisioned things going a little differently when we started digging under the sea. If you have a story you’d like to contribute to the series, you can visit https://submissions.soundconceptmedia.com/ Curator: Keith Conrad linktr.ee/k...

This week’s story is “Scent Makes a Difference” by James Stamers. They say scent is so strongly tied to our memory that it can help trigger all sorts of long lost memories even years later. Now one man learns it can also help you meet different version of yourself from alternate realities If you have a story you’d like to contribute to the series, you can visit https://submissions.soundconceptmedi...