Sci-Fi – The Drabblecast

“Why do you remember the books?” he finally asks. She smiles again. “O Sun, to tell thee how I hate thy beams, That bring to my remembrance from what state I fell, how glorious once above thy sphere, Till pride and worse ambition threw me down…”

Trifecta 9, dinosaurs, love, monsters, everything you need. Featuring works by Bruce Holland Rogers, Steve Calvert and Bruce Boston.

“Countdown commencing,” the computer announced. “Termination of the universe in 10 . . . 9 . . . 8 . . .” Eight seconds until the end of everything. No Earth, no galaxy, no existence…

This year when Peter ran into the living room, there sat Little Brother™ among all the wrapped presents, babbling baby talk, smiling his happy smile, and patting one of the packages with his fat little hand. Peter was so excited that he ran up and gave Little Brother™ a big hug around the neck. That […]

“You’re looking for people to mind the ghosts?” I asked, as I signed for the co-pay…

It took weeks for me convince myself that my condition is universal, and I’m still not entirely sure. It’s almost always something in the eyes, and sometimes also in the corners of the mouth. Resignation. I had to learn to look for it. Otherwise, the illusion of volition is perfect. Everyone looks as if they’re […]

Now that his supernal caress has become the familiar sanctum of her nights, she fears that no mere human partner could ever satisfy her again… This episode starts with Norm announcing the return of the Nigerian Scam Spam contest, now with a tight $100 prize! The Drabble concerns a Martian trying to deal with erratic […]

Kelly Lester, a soft-spoken, unassuming young girl, with lovely sparkling green eyes and a smile that seemed fresh-born each time she used it. I fell in love with her the day she started here, and I convinced myself she’d never have anything to do with me the day after. Of course, I was not all-knowing […]

The village of Kriegerwald on the shores of Lake Teufel high in the Swiss Alps couldonly be reached by foot or ski lift, which suited the villagers. Each villager possessed broadforeheads and flat noses with strange guttural accents even the people in the valley below barelyunderstood. They also had a singular tourist attraction, popular enough […]

This episode of the Drabblecast features “Babel Probe” by David D. Levine. This superbly narrated tale follows a nano scale robot on its mission to the past. Six thousand years earlier it uncovers the myths surrounding the Tower of Babel. A thought-provoking story unfolds. Which came first, God or man? Story Excerpt: I have been […]

An influx of uniformed combatants filed into the room, some mumbling, others grumbling– the sure sign of another loss.  In moments the place smelled of dirty socks and planetary jocks… This episode opens with a reminder to vote for the Drabblecast People’s Choice Award on the Drabblecast discussion forums, which neatly segues into a Drabble […]

He was panting now, his breath coming in a never-ending series of short spurts and gasps.  His sides ached, his eyes watered, and every now and then he would trip over the rubble of the decayed and ruined buildings that lined the torturously fragmented street… This episode opens with the announcement of the three drabbles […]

From a small, dusty box similar to a contact-lens case, she took a fresh iDreams bindi, a self-adhesive circlet displaying the iDreams logo: a stylized human head wreathed in fluffy clouds and displaying a Third Eye… This episode of the Drabblecast explores the relationship between technology and romance. In the Drabble, cryotechnology brings new dimensions […]

I had a dog, his name was Blue Betchya five dollars he’s a good one too. Come on Blue! I’m a-comin’ too. Glum weather in Baltimore inspires Norm to treat us all to a pair of melancholy stories. In Shane Shennen’s Drabble, “Ancient Apple Tree,” the passing of an old, faithful robot is mourned by […]

The bullet-riddled corpses of our dead crew-mates, all sixteen of them, are coffined up, and the coffins stacked as a makeshift ping pong table… In Drabble News, Norm congratulates the Harper Collins Dictionary for adding the slang term “meh” (an utterance of indifference). For the Drabble segment, returning author and future editor Matthew Bey (responsible […]

“They were frozen in place, and their bodies blazed.  The angel was before them, and they were silent, burning with no heat…” The episode opens with a Drabble by John Medaille, a veteran of Podcastle, the Dunesteef, and the “Three-Lobed Burning Eye.”  It discusses the depredations and terror experienced by survivors of a post-apocalyptic elevator […]

The fifth of the Drabblecast’s Trifectas gathers three stories about addiction to love. Due to the subject matter, Norm issues a warning about it’s kid unfriendliness.  First, the narrator of Suzanne Vincent’s story, “Strange Love,” discovers the erotic secret behind the popularity of tattoos among space alien visitors. Next, Jim Bernheimer, (who had previously contributed […]

She was a machine, fabulously complex and durable and imaginative.  She was also alive… This well regarded episode of the Drabblecast shares the poetic story of two complex individuals welcoming, dreading, and ultimately learning from the finality of their own end.

“So, where do you get your ideas?” he asked. “I get my ideas from thinking about things.” “Like what?” “Like this panel.” In this episode of the Drabblecast, we listen in on a convention panel sidetracked by the Sci-Fi version of “Guess Who’s Coming for Dinner?” The Bbardle is a hard rock tale of a […]

“Pardon, Winston Sinclair, I am not here to sell you something. I am not here to buy something. Winston Sinclair, sir, I am here to apologize…” Jeff Soesbe, graduate of The Viable Paradise Workshop, gives us a tender feature about a family of the future, and a unique robot with a special purpose. In Drabble […]

We’re lying in the sun, letting our wings dry, when a thought suddenly occurs to me. “Do you think it’s fair” “What’s that?” says Bob. He’s sitting there beside me, fat and lazy, with his three tales flickering lightly in the spring breeze. The fourth of the Drabblecast’s Trifecta episodes gives us three different views […]

The medical profession doesn’t talk about “The Treatment”…it came from Argentina, but the scientist was from Mumbai, or the other way around… This episode’s Drabble shows us life by Etch-a-Sketch. The feature story for this episode is a dark drama posing the question “Is your body worth your life?” Norm Sherman announces that The Drabblecast […]

“Lieutenant,” she said, “Stevens obviously has it, or he would have quit this crap…”

Planet to planet, galaxy to galaxy, he moved, helping people, saving lives, redeeming himself…and never finding the necessity to a speak a word…

A few seconds (approximately 3.21, her processors told her) wasn’t a lot of time- a human brain wouldn’t have had the same opportunity for reflection…