Kaleidocast

The meek shall inherit the Earth. Carmen Maria Machado and Sondra Fink tell us how the world ends. But every ending is also the beginning of something new. "The Hungry Earth" by Carmen Maria Machado, Read by Tony Perry Carmen Maria Machado is the author of the bestselling memoir In the Dream House and the short story collection Her Body and Other Parties. She has been a finalist for the National Book Award and the winner of the Bard Fiction Prize, the Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Fiction, the Lambda Literary Award for LGBTQ Nonfiction, the Brooklyn Public Library Literature Prize, the Shirley Jackson Award, and the National Book Critics Circle's John Leonard Prize. In 2018, the New York Times listed Her Body and Other Parties as a member of "The New Vanguard," one of "15 remarkable books by women that are shaping the way we read and write fiction in the 21st century." Her essays, fiction, and criticism have appeared in the New Yorker, the New York Times, Granta, Vogue, This American Life, Harper’s Baza

Here producer and Season 2 story runner, Sam Schreiber, chooses one of his favorite episodes that you may have missed and gives you the backstory behind the episode. Stories, and context, and quotes, oh my! Featuring commentary from Wilson Fowlie.

"Cimmeria: From the Journal of Imaginary Anthropology" A group of academics initiate a project to "imagine" a fictional country, only to find that their collective imaginings have coalesced into a very real country with very real history, culture, and geopolitical significance. The story takes the form of one of the academics' writings, which take a harrowing and intimately personal turn. The Author: Theodora Goss is the World Fantasy and Locus Award-winning author of the short story collection In the Forest of Forgetting (2006); Interfictions (2007), a short story anthology coedited with Delia Sherman; Voices from Fairyland (2008), a poetry anthology with critical essays and a selection of her own poems; The Thorn and the Blossom (2012), a novella in a two-sided accordion format; the poetry collection Songs for Ophelia (2014); debut novel The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter (2017), and sequel European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman (2018). She has been a finalist for the Nebula, Crawford,

The Right to Bear Arms A near future, near-dystopia: the narrator is an army ve| with a government issued prosthetic arm. When it starts to malfunction, he goes to a specialist who builds him and two other disfigured vets a new state of the art arm for free. The Author & Narrator Zak Zyz is a SF fantasy writer who lives in Brooklyn and fixes things for a living. When he's not writing, he hosts the Surreal Symphony, a live internet talk show with today's best and brightest speculative fiction authors where they talk about politics, genre, and all manner of riveting topics. He also hosts a late night call-in pirate radio show, and runs Strategically Correct, an awesome board game club. Zak is the author of many short stories and novels including Survival Mode, Zan & Ink, and the Master Arcanist. If you liked this story, you can support his work on Patreon or buy his books on Amazon.

The Right to Bear Arms A near future, near-dystopia: the narrator is an army ve| with a government issued prosthetic arm. When it starts to malfunction, he goes to a specialist who builds him and two other disfigured vets a new state of the art arm for free. The Author & Narrator Zak Zyz is a SF fantasy writer who lives in Brooklyn and fixes things for a living. When he's not writing, he hosts the Surreal Symphony, a live internet talk show with today's best and brightest speculative fiction authors where they talk about politics, genre, and all manner of riveting topics. He also hosts a late night call-in pirate radio show, and runs Strategically Correct, an awesome board game club. Zak is the author of many short stories and novels including Survival Mode, Zan & Ink, and the Master Arcanist. If you liked this story, you can support his work on Patreon or buy his books on Amazon.

Not That Kind of Dream Girl A man at the crossroads of good and evil is perfect prey for the City. The Author: Evan Berkow is a writer of speculative fiction in the hours when he's not lawyering. His fiction has appeared in a bunch of places, such as Strange Horizons, Escape Pod and Crossed Genres Magazine. He's a member of SFWA, Codex, and the Brooklyn Speculative Fiction Writers critique group. He lives in Pleasantville, NY, with his wife, kids, and a small menagerie consisting of two enormous gray cats and one adorable rescue dog. You can find him on Twitter @Evan_Berkow or email him at eberkow (at) gmail (dot) com. The Actor: Lora Nicolas is an actor and singer based in New York City. Originally from Manila, Philippines, she moved to NYC when she received a scholarship to attend the American Musical and Dramatic Academy (AMDA) for musical theatre. She eventually went to play her dream role since she was five years old--Kim in Miss Saigon--at the beautiful Count Basie Theater in Red Bank

Touch That Dial: THEY are coming for you and there's nothing you can do. Or is there? Author: Michael Philip Wells grew up in Michigan and lives in Brooklyn, New York. His story "A Chinatown Ghost Story" will be published in the upcoming fiction issue of Nang, a new and beautifully eccentric print magazine devoted to Asian cinema. He has been working on a large-scale fantasy novel since well before the invention of the podcast, and writes extremely intermittently about film at EveryoneLikesMovies.blogspot.com. The Actors: We have an ensemble cast of actors and producers. Kim Rogers (http://podcastle.org/people/kim-rogers/), Sam Schreiber, Bradley Robert Parks, Jessica Plumbley, Zin E. Rocklyn (https://twitter.com/intelligentwat), Ted Rabinowitz (http://www.thewrongsword.com/), Rob Cameron, Marcy Arlin, Tatiana Grey (http://www.tatianagrey.com), and introducing Tony Perry (Tonyperry.com). ------------------------------------- Classified Ads: A whimsical series of classified ads set in a world rich with

Sabbath Wine A poignant story taking place in the radical Brooklyn twenties of a friendship between a Jewish girl and an African-American boy, centered around a Sabbath dinner. Their parents find common cause in their experiences and losses from prejudices and bigotries. The Author: Barbara Krasnoff has had short stories appear in over 30 print and online publications, including “Sabbath Wine,” which was published in Clockwork Phoenix 5 and was a finalist for the 2016 Nebula Award for short stories. Other publications where you can find her work include Mythic Delirium, Abyss & Apex, Space and Time, and Apex, among others . ​When not producing weird fiction, she earns her living as a freelance tech writer. And just for fun, she investigates what the animals and objects in our world are really thinking in her daily Backstories series on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram (#theirbackstories). She is a member of the Tabula Rasa writers group and can be found at BrooklynWriter.com or on Twitter as @BarbK. The

Judges Cave Author: Eric Rosenfield's fiction has been published in Kaleidotrope, LORE, Lakeside Circus and 365 Tomorrows. His non-fiction has been anthologized in The Modern Library Anthology of New York Diaries and published in io9, The New Haven Review, The Comics Journal, and LitKicks.com among other venues. He currently works as the CTO of the serialized fiction service Serial Box. Actor: Paul Karle is an actor living and working in New York City. He loves cats and Star Trek. Find him at www.paulkarle.com ------------------------------------------- The Owl of Anatolia Author: S. A. Chakraborty is a NY-based speculative fiction writer and history buff. Her debut, The City of Brass, is out now with Harper Voyager. Short-listed for the Locus, British Fantasy, and World Fantasy Awards, The City of Brass is the first book in THE DAEVABAD TRILOGY, an epic fantasy set in the 18th century Middle East. She is an organizer with the Brooklyn Speculative Fiction Writers’ Group, about which more information -

Wallflowers: An upscale shop has usurped what used to be NYC's infamous Limelight nightclub. Now the ghosts of the nightclub, looking for the artistic vitality that once was, take their vengeance on a salesgirl to whom the current dictates of fashion and beauty are everything. The Author: Lilah Wild is a graduate of Clarion West and her dark fiction has appeared in venues such as Pseudopod, Dark Tales from Elder Regions: New York, Niteblade, and Morbid Curiosity. Her fascinations include belly-dance dabbling, eerie synths, horror movie interior decorating, and running away to the beach. She lives in Queens amid a clamor of doom metal noodling and two cats. Visit http://www.leopardmoon.com for more info. The Actor: Jennifer Carter is an actor from Va, Ca, and Fl living and working in NYC. When not lending her voice to speculative storyscapes she can be seen on stage with many NYC theatre companies. Most recently as Dogberry in an industry reading of Turn To Flesh's new work THE MERRY WIDOWS OF WINDSOR.

Seven Standpoints Charming short poem about cultural differences when dealing w/ an alien, centered around sandwich issues. The Author: D. T. Friedman lives in Brooklyn with her cat, Kimble. ---------------------------------------- The Emperor Mantis A story of vengeance and resistance on the isle of ants. Never underestimate the small for they are legion and unforgiving. The Author: Essowe Tchalim is a writer of speculative fiction short stories and novels. He graduated from Brooklyn College, where he studied concepts of the soul and rituals of power from the Ancient Mediterranean. He currently works at Droga5, where he assists in producing TV commercials. When he is not writing or working, he is reading manga or trying to convince his friends to watch his favorite television shows. This is his first publication. The Actor: Lauren Harris is an author, narrator, and podcaster from Raleigh, North Carolina. She's also an assistant editor at Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show. To find out m

The Machine For a pair of socks, a guide takes our narrator on a tour of The Machine (representing our world), as well as all the various groups that try to effect or control it. The Author: Phenderson Djéli Clark is an occasional speculative fiction writer. His short SFF stories have appeared in online venues such as Daily Science Fiction, Heroic Fantasy Quarterly, Fantasy-Magazine, Fireside Fiction, Tor.com and several print anthologies including Griots and Hidden Youth. His debut novella The Black God's Drums will be published by Tor in August 2018. You can read his ramblings on SFF, diversity and more at his blog The Disgruntled Haradrim (www.pdjeliclark.com). He also tweets stuff: @pdjeliclark. The Actor: Michael Taylor is undeniably the greatest man in the world. He enjoys games, puzzles, and experiencing interactive theatre to improve upon the subtle, intricate, yet uniquely brilliant greatness of Michael Taylor's mind. ​​ ---------------------------------------- The Water Walls of Enceladus

Unleashed Beauty: An artist creates a biological work of art, only to discover that he's playing with forces he doesn't understand. Marriage, love, and ambition all play a role in leading to the catastrophic conclusion of this story. The Author: Nancy Hightower has been published in Joyland, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, Sundog Lit, Word Riot, storySouth. Gargoyle, and Cleaver, and has written about politics and religion in HuffPost. From 2014-2016, she reviewed science fiction and fantasy for The Washington Post. She is the author of Elementari Rising (Pink Narcissus Press, 2013) and The Acolyte, (poetry, Port Yonder Press, 2015). She teaches at Hunter College and is working on a book about digital storytelling with Paul D. Miller for Duke University Press, as well as a memoir about growing up in the evangelical South. The Actor: Jose Febus's credits include the short film " Not Guilty" for which the award of Best Actor was honored at the My Final Shot Production Film Festival. Other films include Attempted Burglar

The Aliens Cloned Trent Darcell The clone of a mid-level pop star recounts his newly rekindled musical career to his genetic forebear, who was abducted and cloned by extraterrestrials in a strange, but beautiful romp through the rock scene. The Author: ZigZag Claybourne wishes he’d grown up with the powers of either Gary Mitchell or Charlie X but without the Kirk confrontations. His work has appeared in Apex Magazine, Strange Horizons, Stupefying Stories, Vex Mosaic, FlashShot, The Reverie Journal, and a number of anthologies. His latest novel is The Brothers Jetstream: Leviathan. More at www.WriteonRighton.com. The Actor: Nick Dawson is an actor, singer, and acoustic guitar player based in NYC. Nickdawson9@gmail.com -------- Oldish Woman Leaves Earth A play: An "oldish woman" tells the story of the last days of humans on Earth before they are evicted and become intergalactic refugees. The Author: MARCY ARLIN’s spec fiction has appeared in Daily Science Fiction, perihelionsf.com, Kaleidocast Sea

The Magical Properties of Unicorn Ivory When a cynical reporter goes to observe a unicorn from an alternate universe that now lives in ours, she encounters poachers, a forest ranger and a child used as a unicorn lure. The Author: Carlos Hernandez is the author of The Assimilated Cuban's Guide to Quantum Santeria (Rosarium 2016) and numerous works of short fiction, poetry, and drama, mostly in SFF. Look for his middle-grade novel Sal and Gabi Break the Universe from Disney Hyperion in March 2019. The Actor: Dyan Flores is a musical theatre writer and performer. She was a regular on the Chicago improv and sketch comedy scene before she moved to New York and shifted her focus to musical theatre writing. Dyan has performed with Halcyon Theatre, Impress These Apes, The Paper Machete, Beast Women Cabaret, iO Chicago and more. Dyan is a member of the BMI Lehman Engel Advanced Musical Theatre Writing workshop, and she has had shows performed at the New York Library for the Performing Arts, American Theater Comp

This is the first episode of Season 2. I hope you enjoy it. We will begin releasing episodes to the public bi-weekly on July 10th. The Story: Jeffy has turned himself in for the murder of his friend Timmy over a rare card in a game. The murder is an accident, by black hole, and Jeffy, according to his mother, is the child of extra-terrestrial beings. But what happens to the lives of ordinary people while a child remains missing? The Author: N. K. Jemisin’s work has been multiply nominated for the Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Award; shortlisted for the Crawford, the Gemmell Morningstar, and the Tiptree. She has won a Locus Award for Best First Novel and Romantic Times Reviewer’s Choice Awards. In 2016, she became the first black person to win the Best Novel Hugo for The Fifth Season. Her short fiction has been published in pro-markets Clarkesworld, Postscripts, Strange Horizons, and Baen’s Universe; semipro markets Ideomancer and Abyss & Apex; and podcast markets (mostly Escape Artists) and print antho

Hello Everyone, As promised, here is the finale episode of my interview with Theodora Goss, and it's probably my favorite part. As you'll hear, we talk about Hungary as a fairyland, the politics of walls, Jane Austin as post apocalyptic required reading, and bears. But most important, we really get at Theodora's writer's journey, which is always personal, nuanced, and challenging for anybody who picks up the pen (keyboard? tablet? Smartphone?). Thank you, Theodora for your honesty, time, and of course your stories. Everyone, go buy her book. Also, look for me and the rest of BSFW at Readercon as we launch the Kickstarter for Season 2 of the Kaleidocast! -Rob Cameron

Here is Part 3 of my interview with Theodora Goss. But, I realized today I have enough for a fourth episode. So, surprise! There will be one more! In today's episode, we'll start the discussion with the differences between vampires, fairies, and witches in Eastern Europe and the Catholic church's fight against them, or at least the belief in them. And speaking of vampires, we'll get a little more into the backstory of the classic novel, Dracula, particularly what (or who) was left out. We'll also discuss some of the other stories that Theodora is working on and how teaching has improved her own writing. Finally, we'll discuss one of my favorite stories from Theodora, Cimmeria: From the Journal of Imaginary Anthropology.

Hello Writers, Here's part 2 of my interview with Theodora. This time, we'll be discussing... The enigmatic Sarah Bernhardt Writers craft and poetics in story telling And how to make room for the fantastic in the real world.

Hello Writers! This is Cameron Roberson, and what you're about to listen to is an interview I did with award winning author and professor of English literature, Theodora Goss. In part 1 of this three part interview, we'll discuss: -animal magic and Ursilla LeGuin's science fiction -the significance of the Gothic Period(s) and anthropology to our conception of the modern monster -Theodora's latest novel, The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter -Why the best way to start on the path of a successful novelist is to get your PhD in English literature.