Author Topic: CoW Ep. 257: Little Wonders 13 – Death  (Read 2679 times)

danooli

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on: July 27, 2017, 11:44:37 AM
Episode 257: Little Wonders 13 – Death

Content Warning: Grief
• Authors: Jennifer Lee Rossman, Jenny Rae Rappaport, Evan Berkow, David Steffen and Christine Lucas
• Narrators: Stephanie Morris, Setsu Uzume, Kate Baker, Makenzi Newman and Mur Lafferty
• Audio production by Jeremy Carter
Always There was originally published in Lakeside Circus in February 2014
Chrysalis, The Black Veils, Moments in the Crawl, and Even Death are all Cast of Wonders originals!
Read along with the text of Always There
Read along with the text of Chrysalis
Read along with the text of The Black Veils
Read along with the text of Moments in the Crawl
Read along with the text of Even Death
Click here to listen to Episode 257



Chrysalis

Jennifer Lee Rossman is a science fiction geek from New York, where she crochets, watches Doctor Who, and threatens to run over people with her wheelchair. Her short story “Scrapefoot” is featured in Circuits & Slippers, an anthology of sci-fi fairy tale re-tellings. Follow her online and on Twitter.

Stephanie Morris is a professional fangirl by day and the lone library assistant staffing a college circulation desk at night. She has narrated short stories for all four Escape Artists podcasts as well as StarShipSofa, has guest-blogs on subjects ranging from book recommendations to zombie turkeys, and performed Shakespeare in a handful of weird churches. Until she suppresses her inner perfectionist enough to create a website, you can find her on Twitter.

The love of my life died on July third, 1983, at the respectable age of one hundred and nineteen. Oldest man on Earth, according to the good Doctor Hippen.
I can't say his death came as a shock; when a man reaches that advanced an age, only the absolutely delusional would suggest he buy denture paste in bulk. Still, I hadn't expected it to happen so suddenly.




The Black Veils

Jenny Rae Rappaport is a graduate of the Odyssey Writing workshop, and holds a BA in Creative Writing from Carnegie Mellon University. Her work has previously appeared in Knitty and STRAEON. She lives in New Jersey with her family, where she divides her time between novel writing and herding small children. Follow her online and on Twitter.

Setsu Uzume is the assistant editor at Podcastle, and spent their formative years in and out of dojos. They also trained in a monastery in rural China, studying Daoism and swordplay. While they have dabbled in many arts, only writing and martial arts seem to have stuck. Find them on online and Twitter.

Kavan held her before the Council on the day he went to battle; his chain mail left small circles on her bare shoulder as they pledged their troth.  Their fingers intertwined, tan and brown, as they exchanged the rings.  Aleena kissed hers, the wood smooth beneath her lips.  A piece of his spirit would stay behind, locked in the hair from his head which was embedded in the ring. 
“Watch for me before the monsoons come,” he told her as they made their farewells.




Moments in the Crawl

Evan Berkow lives in Brooklyn, New York, with his wife and a small menagerie consisting of two enormous gray cats and one adorable rescue dog. His fiction has also appeared in Strange Horizons, Escape Pod, and Crossed Genres Magazine. He’s a member of SFWA, Codex, and the Brooklyn Speculative Fiction Writers critique group. Find him online and on Twitter.

Kate Baker is the Podcast Director and Non-fiction Editor for Clarkesworld Magazine. She has been very privileged to narrate over 350 short stories/poems by some of the biggest names in Science Fiction and Fantasy for multiple venues. Kate won the Hugo Award for Best Semiprozine in 2011 and 2013, the British Fantasy Award for Best Magazine in 2014 and the World Fantasy Award for Special Award: Non Professional in 2014 alongside the wonderfully talented editorial staff of Clarkesworld Magazine. She is currently situated in Northern Connecticut with her first fans; her wonderful children. She is currently working as the Director of Operations for the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. Follow her online and on Twitter.

Age 6
The first time it happens is when her cat dies. Chelsea comes home from a sleepover at her friend Maritza’s house to find Mom pale and shaking in the living room. Mom sits her down on the sofa, says the words “Mittens” and “passed on,” and then turns into a monster. Her face steels into an ugly, gape-mouthed mask and her voice slows, spiraling downward, getting deep and grumbly until it’s nothing but an endless roar.




Always There

David Steffen is a writer, editor, and software engineer. He edits Diabolical Plots, which began publishing original fiction in 2015. He runs the Submission Grinder, a tool for writers to find markets for their work. In December 2015 he published The Long List Anthology, which is a collection of 21 stories from the longer Hugo Award nomination list last year. His own stories have been published in many nice places, including the other three Escape Artists podcasts, Drabblecast, and Daily Science Fiction. You can follow him on Twitter.

Makenzi Newman is a tenth-grade student in Louisiana. She likes to write stories and poetry, and this is one of her first narrations!

Grandma is different now. 
I can't imagine life without her.  Of course I knew she couldn't last forever, but as I grew up everything changed but her.  Through all that Grandma was my bedrock, the one component of life that was reassuringly constant.




Even Death

Christine Lucas lives in Greece with her husband and a horde of spoiled animals. A retired Air Force officer and mostly self-taught in English, has had her work appear in several print and online magazines, including the Other Half of the Sky anthology, Daily Science Fiction, Space and Time Magazine, the Triangulation: Morning After anthology and Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine. She is currently working on her first novel, and in her free time she reads slush for ASIM. You can follow her online.

Mur Lafferty has been called one of the worst-kept secrets in science fiction and fantasy publishing, but she’s no secret to Escape Artists fan. She’s been the host and co-editor of both PseudoPod, and is the current co-editor of Escape Pod along with Divya Breed. She’s also the host and creator of the podcast I Should Be Writing and Ditch Diggers, which is a finalist for the Hugo this year with co-host Matt Wallace. She is the 2013 winner of the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. Her novels include The Shambling Guides and Six Wakes. Full links to all her social media haunts will be in the show notes. Follow her online and on Twitter.

Some flowers grow amidst the reeds, others under the shade of the great palm trees, some bloom only after the rare desert rains, and some grow on corpses. Zerinia treads the desert scanning the horizon for the circling vultures. When she finds the bodies--the lost, the hunted, the forgotten--she throws her hole-riddled rag on the sand beside them, sits and waits under her parasol.



Tags: acceptance, anger, bargaining, Cast of Wonders, Christine Lucas, David Steffen, death, denial, depression, Elisabeth Kubler Ross, Evan Berkow, Fantasy, Flash Fiction, grief, Jennifer Lee Rossman, Jenny Rae Rappaport, Jeremy Carter, Kate Baker, Little Wonders, Makenzi Newman, Mur Lafferty, Setsu Uzume, Stephanie Morris, Young Adult fiction



astrokath

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Reply #1 on: July 28, 2017, 12:28:17 PM
Kate Baker made me cry with that reading. All wonderful stories, but I'd forgotten exactly how gorgeous some of them were.

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