Author Topic: CoW Ep. 205 & 206: Planar Ghosts (& Ep. 230 Staff Pick)  (Read 4514 times)

danooli

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Episode 205: Planar Ghosts (Part One) by Krystal Claxton

Episode 205: Planar Ghosts (Part Two) by Krystal Claxton

(edit: This is also Episode 230, as former Assistant Editor Jeff Hite's Staff Pick for 2016!)

• Narrated by Paul Cram
• Audio production by Jeremy Carter
• Originally published in Writers of the Future (Volume 31)

Krystal Claxton writes speculative fiction in the sliver of time between being a parent and a full-time computer technician. She lives in Georgia with her long-suffering spouse, a dog who thinks she’s a cat, and a number of children that is subject to change. She enjoys breaking Heinlein’s Rules, getting distracted by DragonCon, and feverishly researching whichever random topic has just piqued her interest. You can keep up with her online at and on Twitter.

The very first story Paul Cram ever narrated was here at Cast of Wonders, and he seems to have been bit by the bug. While Paul still considers his voice to be somewhat new to the world of audio, he now has a few full-length novels under his belt, including the Zombie-filled love story Flirting With Death, sci-fi action story The Face Stealer and the soon-to-be-released Kidnapped, A Jarek Grayson Private Detective Novel due out in the spring 2016. Find them online at Audible, Itunes, & Amazon.

Paul grew up performing on stage and in more recent years traveling the United States working on independent films. This summer keep an eye out for Paul alongside actor Woody Harrelson in the movie Wilson.

When not on a movie set or recording booth, Paul can be found deep-frying chicken wings & cream cheese wontons with his older sister, or arguing about pop culture with his little brother around one of the 10,000 lakes of Minnesota. You can find Paul online and on Twitter.

The walls around the town of Bootstrap are mostly old cars stacked one on top of the other and welded together. Outside Bootstrap, market stalls made from patchwork tarps and rusty pipes lean on either side of the wide gate. They are temporary places for the people who live inside to trade goods with the people stuck outside who need in.
People like Pup.
He looks up at the guard by the gate, who is thicker, but not much older. Probably grew up inside the walls. He looks as if he's been well-fed, even during bad years. His skin is sun-reddened and spotted along his cheeks and the high bridge of his nose.


Click here to listen to Part One of this story
Click here to listen to Part Two of this story
Click here to read the text of the story

Tags: apocalypse, Cast of Wonders, Fantasy, friends, Jeremy Carter, Krystal Claxton, military, Modern Fantasy, Paul Cram, survival, Urban Fantasy, war, Young Adult fiction
« Last Edit: January 20, 2017, 12:37:44 AM by danooli »



jaelen

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Reply #1 on: May 27, 2016, 10:04:39 PM
Feed problems?

Part one was really fascinating and I look forward to part two. Unfortunately, something odd is going on in my feed. Both episodes show up, but if I tell my phone to play either one of them, I hear part one. Is this happening to anyone else? (In case it matters, I'm using BeyondPod on a Samsung S7 Edge with AT&T. I know I can just manually listen to part two, and I will, but I'd rather it show up in the same app as my other podcasts.)



danooli

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Reply #2 on: May 29, 2016, 12:31:11 PM
Hi there jaelen. Yeah, I also use beyondpod, and I have the same issue. Unfortunately, from what I understand, there isn't anything we can do. I also find this extremely frustrating. This issue arises from time to time, and I know it's annoying, but I just stream the episode from the site.



Devoted135

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Reply #3 on: June 01, 2016, 02:44:48 AM
Oh no! Is there any way to re-upload part two? I use the standard itunes and am having the same issue. The chances of me being able to listen at my computer are... highly inconvenient at this point.



Kaa

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Reply #4 on: June 01, 2016, 04:51:17 AM
Even when played, as suggested, from the site, I get part 1 twice. I think maybe they uploaded the same part twice by mistake. :)

I invent imaginary people and make them have conversations in my head. I also write.

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danooli

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Reply #5 on: June 01, 2016, 11:30:41 AM
That's weird...The two links above (and now in this comment) are the correct files and I copied them from the site. We'll look into this further.

In the meantime, these links work, and the story is worth it!
Click here to listen to Part One of this story
Click here to listen to Part Two of this story



Kaa

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Reply #6 on: June 01, 2016, 02:42:23 PM
Aha. When I said the one on the site was still "bad," I was talking about the link on the cow.org site itself. I see they've re-issued it, and the links are now all good everywhere.

And yes, it was good. :)

I invent imaginary people and make them have conversations in my head. I also write.

About writing || About Atheism and Skepticism (mostly) || About Everything Else


Devoted135

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Reply #7 on: June 02, 2016, 02:25:53 AM
Thank you for re-uploading it! I just downloaded the new version and can't wait to listen to it. :)



TrishEM

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Reply #8 on: June 08, 2016, 10:04:11 AM
I loved this story! I loved how Pup and Ghost each considered that the other had saved them. I also loved the bit at the end, where Pup realized Ghost had been playing a long game, while he had never planned beyond the next season -- and now he finally had the security to think beyond that. The post-apocalyptic background was nicely sketched, giving atmosphere and motivation without relating so many details as to bog down the story.



Unblinking

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Reply #9 on: June 08, 2016, 02:21:46 PM
I enjoyed this pretty well. I didn't see it coming that Ghost wasn't a ghost at all, that lent a new angle to the story.