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How many parts does this one have? I like to listen to multi-part stories in one go...

(sure, the narrator might say how many parts it is in the intro, but I can't switch between podcasts once they're on my player, so that would be difficult)

I listened to this one while walking two miles along a foggy street that goes past a forest to reach a small cottage without any internet access at around 8 PM, just before it started to rein.

Needless to say the story was rather effective.

[PseudoPod 622: En Plein Air]

PseudoPod 622: En Plein Air

Author: J. T. Glover
Narrator: Heather N. Thomas
Host: Alasdair Stuart

“En Plein Air” first appeared in volume two of Nightscript, an anthology series edited by C.M. Muller that focuses on “subtle and darksome literary horror.” Stephen Jones subsequently picked it up for reprint in his Best New Horror anthology series, for volume 28.

Show Notes
“A colleague in the English department at VCU, where I work as a librarian, gave it to the students in her Gothic seminar to read. I sent them the following notes: Writing and reading heavily, as well as being a librarian by profession, I found several years ago that I needed a pastime that was not about words. I have a longtime interest in the arts, and so I decided to try my hand at painting. As often happens, I rushed in headlong, taking classes and working late into the night. The more I painted, though, the less I was writing, and eventually I had to step back from the easel for a while. I still enjoy painting occasionally, but it’s produced an unexpected side effect. Some authors frequently use writers as protagonists, and I now have a similar tendency with artists, though I try to cycle through different media, with a sculptor in one story, a photographer in another. “En Plein Air” came along just after I’d been working on a landscape, as well as finally reading all of M.R. James’ ghost stories, so I expect both of those things influenced the story. I like to think that my art-inflected work fits into a lineage that includes The Red Tree, “Pickman’s Model,” “The Mezzotint,” The Picture of Dorian Gray, etc. These stories are a pleasure to write, in any case, and I’m always pleased when they make their way into print.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M._R._James
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iain_Sinclair


A gust of wind boiled off the James without warning, flattening cattails and clumps of spikerush as it swirled around the inlet where I was painting, and of course it caught my canvas. The morning’s work rushed away from me like a sailboat before a storm, taking my field easel with it. Just as I was sucking in breath to howl with frustration—it shuddered to a stop in midair. Two pale hands held it fast, reaching around from the back.



Listen to this week's Pseudopod.

I voted for this one for the Hugo, as it was the novella on the list that most embodied what I think of with the Hugos. Cozy mystery set at a multi-verse convention. Lost opportunity novels showing up (and our protagonist not picking up Parable of the Trickster!) Nebula as a murder weapon! I imagine every author that has hefted that thing has considered how much force it would take to crush a skull with it. So good.

The story was good enough to allow me to easily suspend my disbelief. The world doesn't make sense, but everything else was great, from the way the murder was introduced (a detective basically going "wtf??") to the little details like the fact that the country prefix of Romania was correct. I would be glad to claim the vampi-bot on behalf of my country, it was weirdly adorable. Bonus points for the spot-on narration as well!

I really enjoyed this one, particularly because so little of the background is explained and you have to read between the lines. The involution and re-evolution of the recipes really added to the story - the rice hit hard. All in all, a great one.

[PseudoPod 621: Voices]

PseudoPod 621: Voices

Author: Ira Brooker
Narrator: Elie Hirschman
Host: Alasdair Stuart

PseudoPod 621: Voices is a PseudoPod original.

Show Notes
“This story showed up nearly fully formed in a dream one night. I probably should have been freaked out by it, but instead I woke up thinking, ‘Ooh, I better get that written down!'”



Listen to this week's Pseudopod.

[PseudoPod 620: Farewell Concert at the World’s End]

PseudoPod 620: Farewell Concert at the World’s End

Author: R.K. Duncan
Narrator: Spencer Disparti
Host: Alasdair Stuart

PseudoPod 620: Farewell Concert at the World’s End is a PseudoPod original.

Show Notes
“Worlds End state park is a real, quite pretty, place in Sullivan County Pennsylvania, where I have often had the privilege to stay in a friend’s cabin. I never really thought of how creepy the name was until I began writing this story, but it fit too well to ignore once I thought of it.

I usually do ignore Halloween these days, at least in terms of the candy and costumes celebration, but I’m always attracted to the idea of a liminal space, a time when living and dead, seen and unseen draw closer together, and things cross over that cannot at other times.”



Listen to this week's Pseudopod.

[PodCastle 548: Daniel]

PodCastle 548: Daniel



Rated R

Previously published by On Spec (under the title “Second Born”).

Listen to this week’s PodCastle!

[Goblins]

I must be slightly touched... after listening to Goblins, I have a burning need to eat a dill pickle. What a lovely, nasty piece of work.

Ommmm nommmm nommmm.