Author Topic: PseudoPod 538: Flash On The Borderlands XXXVII: Higher Beings Command  (Read 2788 times)

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PseudoPod 538: Flash On The Borderlands XXXVII: Higher Beings Command


NASA aurora image from April 10, 2015, Delta Junction, Alaska

“Higher Beings Command…Their Powers To The Ground….”
Coil




Behold, The Drowning by John Purfield

“Behold, The Drowning” was first made available to the public via the “No Sleep” section of reddit.com. “I would like the audience to consider, while listening to this story, the implications of sensory deprivation on fear. Loss of sight has been explored many times over; it is pivotal to our primordial fear of the dark. Loss of sound, however, receives far less attention and is, potentially, more horrifying for reasons stated by the story’s protagonist.”

JOHN PURFIELD is a 28 year old Army veteran living in Denver, Colorado with his family and two dogs.

Your narrator – Brian Lieberman (I think I know this guy) is an associate editor of Pseudopod. By day, he’s a copywriter and front-end developer at obo. Agency. By night, he fights various evils with his friends. He lives in Columbia, Maryland with his wife, a roommate, a brooding rat, a school of fish, and a cat with no patience for his tomfoolery.

I once wished I could give both my eyes for a pair of ears that worked. My world is experienced through the narrow window of my vision. I hear no birds sing, nor waves crash on rocks. The intricacies of music are lost on me, but for the vibrations of a particularly obnoxious bass line. In the animal kingdom, there are many blind animals, but precious few deaf creatures. The deaf die fast and young, for hearing is the only sense that gives you full scope of your environment. You can hear a predator creep behind you, but you cannot see it unless it is in front of you.



Bring The Moon To Me by Amelia Gorman

“Bring The Moon To Me” was first printed in 2015 in the anthology SHE WALKS IN SHADOWS (later renamed “CTHULHU’S DAUGHTERS”), edited by Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Paula R. Stiles

Your narrator – Laura Hobbs – works in infosec by day and is a random crafter by night. Twitter is her social media of choice, and she despises the word “cyber”. When asked nicely, she sometimes reads things for people on the internet. You can find her online at soapturtle.net

They had names like Herringbone and Honeycomb, or Tyrolean Fern. My mother turned yarn into thick forests and spiraling galaxies with luscious titles. I watched her fingers busy themselves for hours to produce squares of cloth. Sometimes, her hands faded away and the string had a life of its own. Like a snake or an eel, it raised its head then dipped it back down. It looped around itself, only to slip away and tie up its own tail. Eventually, a familiar pattern emerged.



The Hole At The Top of the World by Benjamin Blattberg

“The Hole At The Top of the World” is a Pseudopod Original. The story is about equal halves me imagining a character given his own space when, in many other stories, he’d be relegated to a minor role; and me thinking about depression..

BEN BLATTBERG is a software developer, improviser, and writer currently living in Austin, TX, as long as there are no follow­up questions on any of those facts. His stories have appeared in Tina Connolly’s Toasted Cake, Crossed Genres, Pornokitsch, and Podcastle.

Your narrator – John Chu – is a microprocessor architect by day, a writer, translator, and podcast narrator by night. His story “The Water That Falls on You from Nowhere” won the 2014 Hugo Award for Best Short Story. Bibliography is at JohnChu.net. His story “Making the Magic Lightning Strike Me” will be published in issue 16 (May/June 2017) of Uncanny Magazine..

“Imagine a man on top of the world, with a sharp knife.
His name is Tenzin Tsheri and he hesitates before saving the world, again.”




This Creature, This Creature, This Wonderful Creature by A. W. Baader

“This Creature, This Creature, This Wonderful Creature” first appeared in the short story collection SING ALONG WITH THE SAD SONG in 2016

A. W. BAADER is an archaeologist, after a fashion, a psychogeographer, and writer of short fiction living in the south of Cymru. He left school a couple of years before he was supposed to and has lived a somewhat itinerant life both getting into and causing trouble all over the UK. He’s lived on the streets, in squats, and had a rather strange and interesting time all the while. He eventually went to university to study things which are probably best left hidden (Archaeology) and after doing that decided that he would try his hand at writing stories as there is probably more money to be made in that than in archaeology… taste the bitterness. He’s currently living in Wales by mistake and may well end up blighting some other country with his presence some day soon. He has a collection of stories, including “This Creature, This Creature, This Wonderful Creature”, coming out this year entitled SING ALONG WITH THE SAD SONG. He also has an occasionally updated blog which can be found at ABAADER.com

Your narrator – Christopher Reynaga – is a storyteller, novelist, and creator of the podcast radio show Point Mystic: In search of stories behind the magic, the mystery, and the unexplained. Find out more at POINT MYSTIC.

“It came first as a cloud, this creature, settling upon my mind: its happy moist softness seeping into the folds of soft pinkness; soft pinkness accepting it happily, joyously, greedily. It came as gentle Spring rain or the softest touch upon the tenderest of wounds, it came and I wept. Weeping elation flecked tears down scabrous smile cracked cheeks I allowed this creature (this creature, oh! this wonderful creature) to make home (a nest a burrow a home) deep inside my mind.”



For Mortal Things Unsung.



We would appreciate it if you order our 10th anniversary anthology. If you backed our kickstarter, your copy showed up in February. If you missed out, it is currently available for your reading pleasure.



Info on Anders Manga’s album (they do our theme music!) can be found here.



Listen to this week's Pseudopod.
« Last Edit: December 12, 2018, 04:40:28 PM by Bdoomed »

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What year was "Behold the Drowning" first published on Reddit?  I tried searching for it but didn't find it. 



Fenrix

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What year was "Behold the Drowning" first published on Reddit?  I tried searching for it but didn't find it. 


2014 or earlier. Not entirely sure.

All cat stories start with this statement: “My mother, who was the first cat, told me this...”