TALL TALE TV - Sci-Fi and Fantasy Short Stories

Rat King  ep.535 As unexplained creatures begin to bleed into our world, events threaten a mother's love for her only son. Elana Gomel was born in a country that no longer exists and has lived in many others that may, or may not, be on the road to extinction. She currently resides in California. She is an academic with a long list of books and articles, specializing in science fiction, Victorian l...

Set In Stone  ep.534 Locked in stone for eternity, how do you show someone you care? Michael Balletti lives in New Jersey. His work has appeared or will soon appear in Thirteen Podcast, Sci-Fi Lampoon Magazine, Novel Noctule, Lovecraftiana, The Weird and Whatnot, Theme of Absence and 200 CCs, among others. ---- Story Submission ---- Got a short story you'd like to submit? Submission guidelines can...

Hummingbird  ep.533 Some spirits haunt, others simply loved life. Eisuke Aikawa is a fiction writer based in Fukuoka, Japan. He has authored two collections of short stories, Hiking (2017) and Kumo wo hanareta tsuki (2018). His short fiction has appeared in venues such as Bungakukai, Hidden Authors, and Taberu no ga osoi. His first novel, Hannah no inai jugatsu wa, was published in 2020. Translate...

Atomic Seed Dispersal  ep.532 An asteroid seed promises a surfer the perfect wave L. R. Conti is a science editor and writer based in California. Her short fiction is published or forthcoming in Daily Science Fiction, Nature: Futures, Word Balloon Book Anthologies, and elsewhere. You can find more about her at  www.lisarconti.com  and on Twitter @lisarconti. ---- Story Submission ---- Got a short...

Of Portals and Portents, Ch. 12 (book 4)  ep.531 Some adventuring parties just aren't meant to work well together. Listen to the book four playlist here https://talltaletv.com/series-of-portals-and-portents/ or listen to book one http://talltaletv.com/series-monsters-mushrooms/ listen to book two http://talltaletv.com/series-of-tyrants-and-teakettles/ Listen to book three http://talltaletv.com/ser...

Personality Emporium  ep.530 Too boring to make your own friends and followers? No Worries! Come on down to the Personality Emporium! Andrew Rucker Jones is a former IT expert and American expatriate living in Germany with his Georgian wife and their three children. He quit his day job to become an author, and he has yet to regret it. You can read his blog at http://selfdefeatistnavelgazing.wordpr...

Lilies Wilt on the Wheel of Time  ep.529 Murder, Magic, & Mystery in Victorian England. Steven Lombardi is an award-winning speculative fiction writer and copywriter who lives in New York City. Graduating from the School of Visual Arts with a degree in screenwriting, Steven has been published in Flame Tree Press, Air and Nothingness Press, and others. You can find him on Twitter @ sl or online at ...

Layover  ep.528 Frank Bellando hated airports. It seemed that the feeling was mutual. Pat O'Malley lives in New York where he loves to write the kind of weird fiction that he and his friends would love to read. He has been published on online publications such as The Weird and Whatnot, Scars Publications, Mystery Tribune and more! Several of his short stories have now been adapted into audio stori...

Of Portals and Portents, Ch. 11 (book 4)  ep.527 After a harrowing debriefing, Tragedy faces his own sense of loss. Listen to the book four playlist here https://talltaletv.com/series-of-portals-and-portents/ or listen to book one http://talltaletv.com/series-monsters-mushrooms/ listen to book two http://talltaletv.com/series-of-tyrants-and-teakettles/ Listen to book three http://talltaletv.com/se...

Tomorrow, We'll Go Yak Herding  ep.526 Something strange is happening to the landscape, but Jessica is adamant she can make it to her friend before things get out of hand. Michelle Ann King is a short story writer from Essex, England. Her stories of fantasy, science fiction, crime, and horror have appeared in over a hundred different venues, including Strange Horizons, Interzone, Black Static, and...

I Love My AI Son  ep.525 A marketing exec creates an AI version of a Gen Z teen to get young people buying his company's products, but it just makes fun of him for being cringe. Tenacity Plys is a nonbinary writer based in Brooklyn, with publications in Hobart, Ethel, Bullshit Lit, Alien Buddha, Word Gathering, and Pif Magazine. Xir short story "I Love My AI Son" will be featured in Alien Buddha's...

An Acquisition of Words  ep.524 Inspiration in exchange for your immortal soul? Some are desperate enough to say yes. Todd Sullivan currently lives in Seoul, South Korea, where he teaches English as a Second Language. He has had more than two dozen short stories, poems, essays, and novelettes published across five countries. He currently has two book series through indie publishers in America. He...

Bridgework  ep.523 Not all tooth fairies wear tutus. Judith Field was born in Liverpool, UK and lives in London. She writes because it's in her DNA. She's the daughter of writers and learned how to agonize over fiction submissions at her mother's (and father's) knee.  Her father had started writing before she was born, and her mother started when she was about 14. Judith was encouraged to write as...

Breaking Back To Another Time  ep.522 After a drug trip, Chuck's mind seems fractured between the present and the future. Fulvio Gatti is an Italian ESL speculative fiction writer. He writes in English because, if it's true that a flying saucer will never land in Lucca like Fruttero and Lucentini said, it was indeed Enrico Fermi who asked "Where is everybody?". This story is part of his indie publ...

Dreamtime  ep.521 In the future, there are still some problems AI can't solve. Having trained as an astronomer and subsequently managed an industrial research group, British author Vaughan Stanger now writes speculative fiction full-time. Most of his fiction is set on Earth in the relatively near future, although he has made a few excursions to the Moon and Mars. He is currently working on a novel...

Of Portals and Portents, Ch. 10 (book 4) Piper comes up with a plan while Vel and Pyrah spy something in the distance. Listen to the book four playlist here https://talltaletv.com/series-of-portals-and-portents/ or listen to book one http://talltaletv.com/series-monsters-mushrooms/ listen to book two http://talltaletv.com/series-of-tyrants-and-teakettles/ Listen to book three http://talltaletv.com...

Winter Winds  ep.519 A father helps his son with his homework and discovers what's really walking through his fields. Joseph Carrabis has been everything from a long-haul trucker to a Chief Research Scientist and holds patents covering mathematics, anthropology, neuroscience, and linguistics. He served as Senior Research Fellow and Board Advisor to the Society for New Communications Research and T...

Woodlands  ep.518 Ever wondered about phoning those phone numbers that are pinned at the side of roads? Take Ferris's advice and just don't. Bob Johnston lives in Scotland where he works, writes, and rides a silver motorcycle into the hills when the weather isn't terrible. He has been writing since childhood after a too early introduction to the likes of Michael Moorcock and H P Lovecraft. He has...

How to Catch a Finch  ep.517 An ornithologist nun stands off with an alien general. Michael Stevens is a writer and musician whose stories have appeared in Andromeda Spaceways, HyphenPunk, Noctivagant Press, and Honest Ulsterman. He lives in Dublin where he divides his time between hanging out with his young family, reading speculative fiction, opening a door for an orange, furry creature, and bas...

Or Portals and Portents, Ch. 9 (book 4)  ep.516 Some people have a harder time with the concept of 'Stealth Mission' Listen to the book four playlist here https://talltaletv.com/series-of-portals-and-portents/ or listen to book one http://talltaletv.com/series-monsters-mushrooms/ listen to book two http://talltaletv.com/series-of-tyrants-and-teakettles/ Listen to book three http://talltaletv.com/s...

The Tarot Reader  ep.515 A psychic lives on the run and isn't what she appears to be. Margaret Karmazin's credits include stories published in literary and SF magazines, including Rosebud, Chrysalis Reader, North Atlantic Review, Mobius, Confrontation, Pennsylvania Review, The Speculative Edge, Aphelion and Another Realm. Her stories in The MacGuffin, Eureka Literary Magazine, Licking River Review...

Dante in 2333  ep.514 Some circles of hell are of our own making. Nathan lives in and writes fiction from Columbus, Ohio. He has sold more than a dozen stories to magazines across the world. He is currently in a creative writing MFA program at Ashland University. You can find him on twitter @NateBatchelor.   ---- Listen Elsewhere ---- YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/c/TallTaleTV Website: http://...

A Rock in the Air  ep.513 A Hiroshima worker escapes the atomic blast, but realizes that he can't escape history. Neil James Hudson has published around sixty stories in various zines and anthologies, and is the author of the paranormal romance novel "On Wings of Pity". He recently obtained a distinction in the Creative Writing MA at York St John University. His current projects include a story cy...

Of Portals and Portents, Ch. 8 (book 4)  ep.512 What makes a person? Listen to the book four playlist here https://talltaletv.com/series-of-portals-and-portents/ or listen to book one http://talltaletv.com/series-monsters-mushrooms/ listen to book two http://talltaletv.com/series-of-tyrants-and-teakettles/ Listen to book three http://talltaletv.com/series-of-bandits-and-bad-magic/ Listen to book 3...

Three Sci-Fi Short Stories  ep.511 Tales of the afterlife, space, and the hunger of humanity. Daniel Charles Wild, otherwise known on reddit's writing forums as user BecauseISaidSoToo, is a long time contributor to Tall Tale TV. These three short stories are some of the many wild tales included in his new short story collection, 'Stories For Imaginary Friends' If you would like to purchase the boo...