Escape Pod

Author : Merrie Haskell Narrator : Amanda Ching Hosts : Valerie Valdes and Norm Sherman Audio Producers : Summer Brooks and Eric Valdes Originally published in Apex Magazine, February 2013, and was previously published in Escape Pod 404 (July 2013). Zebulon Vance Sings the Alphabet Songs of Love by Merrie Haskell I am Robot! Ophelia. I […] Source

“How to Pass as Human”: a Quantum-Encrypted Listicle on the Synthetic Consciousness Subnet By Raiff Taranday QUERY: Locate file 8548.213 (“How to Pass as Human”) WARNING: File 8548.213 (“How to Pass as Human”) has been flagged by the Synthetic Regulatory Commission as Code 444 Forbidden Data. Access risks criminal liability, penalty level: unit decommission. REPEAT QUERY: Locate file 8548.213 (“Ho...

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 Breakout Single that Ended the Rat War”, in Troubadours and Space Princesses by Hemelein […] Source

Author : David Marino Narrator : Ibba Armancas Host : Mur Lafferty Audio Producer : Summer Brooks Escape Pod 925: The Ballad of Starburst Smith is an Escape Pod original. Contains harsh language. The Ballad of Starburst Smith by David Marino “Did you read the terms and conditions?” “Fuck you, I read the terms and […] Source

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 well-filed. He stepped gingerly up onto one forelimb and squeezed between Mango and a delivery box. “So,” she asked over her shoulder, “why do you ne...

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 had been trying to wake him for some time. He rolled off the couch. Another day, another commute from his nondescript apartment to the center of...

Author : C. H. Irons Narrator : Elie Hirschman Host : Valerie Valdes Audio Producer : Summer Brooks Escape Pod 922: The Last Oracle of Atlantic City is an Escape Pod original. This episode is sponsored by The Theater of the Midnight Sun podcast: sci-fi/fantasy audio dramas that showcase tales of adventure, fun, and – alas […] Source

Author : Grace Chan Narrator : Rebecca Wei Hsieh Host : Mur Lafferty Audio Producer : Summer Brooks “Death By Water” originally appeared in From the Waste Land (PS Publishing, Oct 2022). It was shortlisted for the Aurealis Award for Best Science Fiction Short Story 2022. Content warning for claustrophic situations and drowning. Death by Water by […] Source

Harvest the Stars By Mar Vincent The summer Sif turned one, the starships were ripe on the vine. They hulked in fields ringing the town where Tuja had always lived. A place far from big cities, where the starlight they fed on came pure and bright. “The seeds start out like any seeds; small, unassuming. Until we fertilize them, tend them. Give them space to grow,” Tuja said to the infant on her lap...

Emotional Resonance By V.M. Ayala Arbor’s favorite part of a mission was always the first view of a planet. Even after seven hundred years of being a giant robot, it never got old. Green and blue clouds churned over purple seas, imposing storms that flashed red with threads of lightning. Beautiful. And they were sent to clear it of all human life. Courtesy of ExoPLENTI, Inc.! Ugh, that slogan clun...

Author : Benjamin C. Kinney Narrator : Eric Valdes Host : Alasdair Stuart Audio Producer : Summer Brooks “Conference of the Birds” originally appeared in Analog Science Fiction & Fact (January 2021) Contains some harsh language. This episode is sponsored by The Theater of the Midnight Sun podcast, an anthology series of sci-fi/fantasy audio dramas. They’re […] Source

Challenges to Becoming a Pro Dragonracer in Apapa-Downtown By Uchechukwu Nwaka The gear is too expensive. Honestly. There isn’t enough competition in the market. The Immersion® console alone costs an arm and a leg. Ọmọ. You’ll sweat to even get a Nigerian-used console on Jiji or at Computer Village for less than 200k. And that’s just the console. We’re not even talking about the vests or the mats....

Author : Tim Pratt Narrator : Amy H. Sturgis Host : Mur Lafferty Audio Producer : Summer Brooks This story originally aired in Escape Pod 622 (April 2018) Some cursing. Suggestions of violence and death. Anna and Marisol in Time and Space by Tim Pratt The big day came, and Anna was tempted to tie […] Source

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 by Ava Kelly Vemund pauses, standing on the wet sidewalk. Underneath the overcast sky, […] Source

#buttonsinweirdplaces (Part 2 of 2) By Simon Kewin (... Continued from Part 1) The news the following morning was bad. An explosion in the middle of a market-square in Libya had been variously blamed upon a suicide-bomber and upon over-zealous security forces trying to control crowd trouble. The truth of it made little difference to the eighty who’d died, the hundreds left broken in the aftermath....

#buttonsinweirdplaces By Simon Kewin The buttons started to appear on the last day of April, 2022. A six-year-old boy from Nairobi, Jomi Mbenzi, was perhaps the first to spot one. Dawdling along behind his mother, her swaying yellow-orange dress and the bag of melons and paw-paws she carried, his attention was caught by the shiny button set in the stone of one of the city’s office buildings. He sq...

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 so can close your mind to alternative plans if […] Source

Driftwood in the Sea of Time By Wendy Nikel They'd warned us about the paradoxes, but humanity has always had a way of ignoring the things we don't want to think about and disregarding the parts that don't align with how we want the world to operate. One minute, you're a self-assured time traveler from the twenty-first century, flashing up and down along the timeline with your TimeBand™ on your wr...

Author : Heather Kamins Narrator : Heather Thomas Host : Mur Lafferty Audio Producer : Summer Brooks Escape Pod 910: Tuesday, June 13, at the South Valley Time Loop Support Group is an Escape Pod original. Tuesday, June 13, at the South Valley Time Loop Support Group by Heather Kamins Each time, Jessica begins the […] Source

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. “George, what’s happened to the lamp with the blue shade?” “To which lamp are you referring?” George smoothed down a cravat embroidered with tiny...

Author : Oluwatomiwa Ajeigbe Narrator : Somto Ihezue Host : Tina Connolly Audio Producer : Summer Brooks “Harvest Moon” was previously published in Solarpunk Magazine Harvest Moon by Oluwatomiwa Ajeigbe “We cannot sustain the farm, Gozie.” I don’t like the way the words fall easily from Iyeh’s lips, even though I know he speaks the […] Source

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 say something, anything. Failed. Julian was sobbing on the other end. “I’m so sorry. I’m so, so kzzzzzzchchchcffft-” and that was it. Her radio...

Author : Marie Vibbert Narrator : Tatiana Grey Host : Valerie Valdes Audio Producer : Summer Brooks “Trash” was originally published in Escape Pod 467 (November 2014) Harsh language. Trash by Marie Vibbert Nanlee was a woman with the sort of past that necessitated moving to a non-extradition treaty country, but that didn’t mean she […] Source

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 enough to peg his type, so she tunes out his braggadocio and pulls out a bag of nanite dust. She'd hoped to use her status as the Shingen warlord...

Author : Maurice Broaddus Narrator : Cherrae L. Stuart Host : Mur Lafferty Audio Producer : Summer Brooks “Itoro fe Queen” was originally published in The Sunday Morning Transport, May 2022 Itoro fe Queen by Maurice Broaddus “It’s all gone.” The ethereal voice whispered—almost robotic and clearly distant—its desperate lament choked off with a gasp, […] Source