Escape Pod

Author : Anjali Patel Narrator : Khaalidah Muhammad-Ali Host : Brent Lambert Audio Producer : Summer Brooks Discuss on Forums Escape Pod 806: Bright Lights Flying Beneath the Ocean is an Escape Pod original. Contains harsh language. Bright Lights Flying Beneath the Ocean by Anjali Patel [Draft] (no subject) – 2:23 AM My dearest Tasha, […] Source

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 name then and I’m now too old to recall. Nobavgo casserole is the single most amazing thing I’ve ever tasted in my entire life.” D’Sheadra laughs a...

Author : Kel Coleman Narrator : Hollis Monroe Host : Tina Connolly Audio Producer : Summer Brooks Discuss on Forums Delete Your First Memory for Free was originally published in FIYAH Magazine Issue 17 (January 2021). Delete Your First Memory for Free by Kel Coleman The bus jerks to a stop and I tighten my […] Source

A Princess of Nigh-Space By Tim Pratt There was a business card stuck in the crack between the door and the frame when I got home from another too-long day at the office. I plucked the card out, annoyed, assuming it was some stupid advertisement, but the thick black Gothic lettering caught my eye: Bollard and Chicane Obstacles Removed • Burdens Shifted • Troubles Untroubled “We Murder Problems!”  ...

Author : Christopher Mark Rose Narrator : Tad Callin Host : Mur Lafferty Audio Producer : Summer Brooks Discuss on Forums “Sentient Being Blues” first appeared in the March/April 2021 issue of Asimov’s Death of a child, also contains some violence and harsh language. Sentient Being Blues by Christopher Rose I got a pickaxe for […] Source

Hard Mother, Spider Mother, Soft Mother By Hal Y. Zhang “Did you see the report on the spy from Aberdeen? The game is a-foot.” I mumbled something like “No, sounds interesting.” All I remember is my usual annoyance at her ability to pronounce hyphens where they don’t belong. We must have been in the living room, her on a rare break from gardening and me trying to divine the future with my seeing s...

Give Me Cornbread or Give Me Death By N.K. Jemisin The intel is good. It had better be; three women died to get it to us. I tuck away the binoculars and crawl back from the window long enough to hand-signal my girls. Fire team moves up, drop team on my mark, support to hold position and watch our flank. The enemy might have nothing but mercs for security, but their bullets punch holes same as real...

Author : Ian Creasey Narrator : Pippa Alice Stephens Host : Mur Lafferty Audio Producer : Summer Brooks Discuss on Forums “No Strangers Any More” originally appeared in Analog (July/August 2016) No Strangers Any More (Part 2 of 2) by Ian Creasey Royal Roundup — “ROSE’S NEW BOYFRIEND? Just days after the end of her […] Source

Author : Ian Creasey Narrator : Pippa Alice Stephens Host : Mur Lafferty Audio Producer : Summer Brooks Discuss on Forums “No Strangers Any More” originally appeared in Analog (July/August 2016) No Strangers Any More (Part 1 of 2) by Ian Creasey One of a princess’s many duties is to make polite conversation and avoid […] Source

Wetting the Bed (Excerpt) By Heather Shaw When the floods came, all us kids climbed into bed and pulled the covers up over our heads while our parents rushed about trying to do something to stop it. As the water level rose we could feel the beds lift off the floor, floating through our houses, bumping down our hallways and out our front doors. We sat up in bed waved to one another as our beds merg...

Author : Lauren Ring Narrator : Alethea Kontis Host : Tina Connolly Audio Producer : Summer Brooks Escape Pod 796: One Hundred Seconds to Midnight is an Escape Pod original. One Hundred Seconds to Midnight By Lauren Ring I wake before the plane lands. It’s static-dark, the kind of hazy late night where the air […] Source

Tiger Lawyer Gets It Right By Sarah Gailey Vladislav Argyle rested his head on the cool titanium surface of the defendant’s table. It dipped a little under the sudden weight of his skull, then hummed as the antigrav lifts adjusted their power to accommodate their new burden. “Mr. Argyle? Are you alright?” The bandage-swathed tip of Argyle’s client’s primary tentacle crackled near his ear, and he k...

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 Deflection of Probability By Premee Mohamed The tent billowed in the hot, humid […] Source

Authors : Yudhanjaya Wijeratne and R. R. Virdi Narrator : Kaushik Narasimhan Host : S.B. Divya Audio Producer : Summer Brooks Discuss on Forums This story was originally published in The Expanding Universe 5: A Science Fiction Exploration Contains some harsh language. A Little Bit of Kali (Part 2 of 2) By Yudhanjaya Wijeratne and […] Source

Authors : Yudhanjaya Wijeratne and R. R. Virdi Narrator : Kaushik Narasimhan Host : S.B. Divya Audio Producer : Summer Brooks Discuss on Forums This story was originally published in The Expanding Universe 5: A Science Fiction Exploration Contains some harsh language. A Little Bit of Kali (Part 1 of 2) By Yudhanjaya Wijeratne and […] Source

Rights and Wrongs By Brian K. Lowe “Tell me again who I pissed off to get this job?” Carefully unwrapping my roast beef on wheat, I used the paper as a holder to keep mustard off of my lap. “I thought you wanted the job,” Rusty said. “I thought you were taking it as some kind of personal challenge.” Russ Becker and I ate lunch together almost every day. “Rusty” was another assistant district attor...

Author : Sameem Siddiqui Narrator : Arun Jiwa Host : S.B. Divya Audio Producer : Summer Brooks Discuss on Forums AirBody first appeared in Clarkesworld Magazine (April 2020), and was the Winner of the 2020 Clarkesworld Readers Poll Contains some harsh language. AirBody by Sameem Siddiqui Amazing how all Desi aunties are basically the same. […] Source

The Machine That Would Rewild Humanity By Tobias S. Buckell On a boat on the way to the Galapagos Islands to visit the world’s oldest tortoise, I got a call that the Central Park Human Reintroduction Center had been bombed. I’d read somewhere that the point of travel was to see the thing yourself. To expose yourself to new points of view and to have new experiences. Before the call I’d spent two p...

Author : Jaxton Kimble Narrator : Mat Weller Host : S.B. Divya Audio Producer : Summer Brooks Discuss on Forums Escape Pod 788: Broken (Flashback Friday) is an Escape Pod original. Contains a couple intimate moments. Broken by Jaxton Kimble My favorite part about skimming is that I’m not broken when I do it. It […] Source

Ascend, Exalt, Love, Propagate, Rise! By Sarah Kumari The Glory smolders through Jehanne's bloodstream, pulsing its encouragement. The rivals who have survived along with him–officially 'Fellow Eminents' now that selection is over–twitch and moan as their addiction is quenched. Within minutes they are preening, flexing their muscles, stomping, or singing to Mother Elethra. Jehanne's training allow...

Author : Jennifer Lee Rossman Narrator : Ellora Sen-Gupta Host : Mur Lafferty Audio Producer : Summer Brooks Discuss on Forums Escape Pod 786: The Steel Magnolia Metaphor is an Escape Pod original. Contains mentions of cancer and death. The Steel Magnolia Metaphor by Jennifer Lee Rossman Each petal was carefully shaped from the finest […] Source

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 responsible am I for who you become?  I don’t know. And that relative state of not knowing is the start of my conundrum. And my conflict. The morni...

Author : Catherine George Narrator : Abra Staffin-Wiebe Host : Benjamin C. Kinney Audio Producer : Summer Brooks Discuss on Forums This story originally appeared in Clarkesworld Magazine (December 2019). Annotated Setlist of the Mikaela Cole Jazz Quintet by Catherine George Tight Squeeze That solo! Art blowing so hard and so hot, jumping out like […] Source

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. Incident report has been taken using the I-Witness program from your friends at Taxon Interrogation Software, with explanatory notes added and our n...

Electronic Ghosts By Innocent Chizaram Ilo I If Nneora had died two weeks earlier, her daughter, Anaeto, would not have resurrected her ghost. That was the night Nneora ran a fever, laid convulsing in bed, a slimy froth trickling from the corners of her lips. She had just finished telling Anaeto a story about a woman who fled home to find love. And when the fever subsided, she proceeded to talk to...