PC473: The Wizard Of 63rd Street

[Ocicat]

PodCastle 473: The Wizard Of 63rd Street

by Shane Halbach
read by Dominick Rabrun
A PodCastle Original!

Rated PG-13.

Russell walked past the Check-‘n-Go and the cell phone shops on either side of it. It was cold, and the bare branches of the leafless trees reached up to snatch plastic bags from the sky.

He paused at a bit of graffiti low down on the brick of the abandoned corner building. Someone had written, “CA$H MONEY”. Most folks tuned that stuff out, and even if they didn’t, they wouldn’t see any significance in this particular tag. But Russell did; he recognized it for what it was. It was a pretty good one too: even folks who knew what to look for might have missed this one.

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Shane Halbach lives in Chicago with his wife and three kids, where he writes software by day and avoids writing stories by night. This is Shane’s first appearance on PodCastle and officially completes his Escape Artists “connect four”, with stories on each of the 4 Escape Artists podcasts. Additionally, his fiction has appeared in Analog, Intergalactic Medicine Show, The Year’s Best YA Speculative Fiction, and elsewhere. He blogs regularly at shanehalbach.com, or can be found on Twitter @shanehalbach.

Dominick Rabrun is an artist living in the United States. He is the creator of Dom’s Sketch Cast, a show that runs on YouTube. DSC features interviews with creative individuals, animations, and other experimental art videos: youtube.com/generaldom. And you can follow him on Twitter @CountBlackula.

Show notes and additional links:

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Listen to this week’s PodCastle!

[benjaminjb]

That was great and so Chicago it made me shiver at memories of Hyde Park winters.

[danooli]

Way to make me bawl, Shane. What a moving and powerful story. Fantastic, and so well read!

[Frank Evans]

This was really good. It felt real. It felt like you created people, not characters. The story was well constructed with the slow reveal of Russel's backstory mixed into the present day. Thanks for putting this out there.

[knigget]

That was really, really powerful.

[shanehalbach]

Thanks for the kind words everyone, glad you enjoyed it. Dominick knocked this one out of the park.

[TCM]

I liked the time jumping in this story, it made the revelation of important information seem more realistic.

[countblackula]

Thanks for the kind words everyone, glad you enjoyed it. Dominick knocked this one out of the park.

You all are very kind- I loved the story, and I'm glad it touched other people, too. Shane's the man.

[Fenrix]

Thanks for the kind words everyone, glad you enjoyed it. Dominick knocked this one out of the park.

You all are very kind- I loved the story, and I'm glad it touched other people, too. Shane's the man.

I thought I had commented on this one. Let me rectify that.

I love urban murals, and they really help define Places. Projects like Living Walls are really important.

The narration really sold this story. I hope we get to hear more from you soon.

[countblackula]

Thanks for the kind words everyone, glad you enjoyed it. Dominick knocked this one out of the park.

You all are very kind- I loved the story, and I'm glad it touched other people, too. Shane's the man.

I thought I had commented on this one. Let me rectify that.

I love urban murals, and they really help define Places. Projects like Living Walls are really important.

The narration really sold this story. I hope we get to hear more from you soon.

I know for a fact that you will! (check Podcastle sometime soon)

[MattDovey]

Lo and behold, there's a new Dominick narration gone up today

[countblackula]

Lo and behold, there's a new Dominick narration gone up today

YES there's another one! I'm really happy that Escape Artists keeps calling me back! Hope you all dig the new story.