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51

Gallimaufry / Unsurpassed Сasual Dating - Verified Ladies

« Last post by mandatGrarl on February 07, 2024, 06:19:36 AM »

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52

Science Fiction Discussion / Re: Looking for a story about alien sex toys

« Last post by Shabbyza on January 20, 2024, 04:29:10 PM »

I came across your post about looking for a story featuring alien sex toys, and it sounds like quite an intriguing concept! While I don't have specific information about the story you mentioned, it's possible that it was featured on Escape Pod, as you recall.
Exploring unique and imaginative stories can be a lot of fun, and it's great to see how authors incorporate diverse themes and ideas into their work.
If you're interested in adult-oriented content or exploring different genres, you might want to check out https://phima1.com/phim-18/. They offer a variety of resources, including a section dedicated to 18+ movies, which could complement your interests.

53

Episode Comments / PC817: Creatures in the Walls

« Last post by Raccoonteur on December 21, 2023, 02:41:25 PM »

Am I allowed to start this thread?
Damini Kane's story came at just the right time for me.
In particular the theme of vulnerability and protection, and the example of one person-- the older brother-- protecting another without any expectation of benefit... just pure, undiluted compassion.
I think a lot of people will have benefited from experiencing that example. Even if there's no one like that in someone's life now, having it defined in a story... that makes it a possibility, gives it a form to measure against and match to. I don't know a lot of people like the older brother, but I finally found one in my thirties, and have claimed him as my best friend for ten years  Turns out it's highly contagious; when you're with people who care about you, your capacity for caring for others increases.

I should also note how much I appreciated Matt Dovey's (sp?) outro regarding valuing one's self and tending to one's own needs.

54

Episode Comments / Re: EP097: Cinderella Suicide

« Last post by Enock on October 23, 2023, 07:10:53 PM »

I just need to speak about my hard time hearing this. I'm a non native english speaker, and didn't get anything of the story. The weird slangs and heavy accent turned this experience into a nightmare to me. And now that I see how many people loved the story, I just feel dumb for my innability to understand it. Damn, I thought I knew english.

55

About Pseudopod / Oni In A Box

« Last post by Xaltuthus on April 04, 2023, 04:35:24 PM »

Not sure if this is supposed to be posted in Episode Comments or not, but I didn't see a button to create a new post there.

I was wondering if anyone had more information about the folklore mentioned in the post episode discussion. I'm not sure how to spell it so my Google searches aren't bringing up many results.

Also, does anyone know of any podcasts that discuss yokai and other folklore? I found a couple podcasts on Spotify but none of them really piqued my interest.

56

Episode Comments / CoW Ep. 530: Because Change Was the Ocean and We Lived By Her Mercy

« Last post by Languorous Lass on March 12, 2023, 11:06:25 PM »

Cast of Wonders 530: Because Change Was the Ocean and We Lived By Her Mercy

• Author: Charlie Jane Anders
• Narrator: Serah Eley
• Host: Katherine Inskip
• Audio Producer: Jeremy Carter

"Because Change Was the Ocean and We Lived By Her Mercy" was originally published in Lightspeed Magazine, December 2017.

Click here to listen to Episode 530

Content Warning:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Swearing (including the f-word) and references to drug use.

1. This was sacred, this was stolen

We stood naked on the shore of Bernal and watched the candles float across the bay, swept by a lazy current off to the north, in the direction of Potrero Island. A dozen or so candles stayed afloat and alight after half a league, their tiny flames bobbing up and down, casting long yellow reflections on the dark water alongside the streaks of moonlight. At times I fancied the candlelight could filter down onto streets and buildings, the old automobiles and houses full of children’s toys, all the waterlogged treasures of long-gone people. We held hands, twenty or thirty of us, and watched the little candle-boats we’d made as they floated away. Joconda was humming an old reconstructed song about the wild road, hir beard full of flowers. We all just about held our breath. I felt my bare skin go electric with the intensity of the moment, like this could be the good time we’d all remember in the bad times to come. This was sacred, this was stolen. And then someone—probably Miranda—farted, and then we were all laughing, and the grown-up seriousness was gone. We were all busting up and falling over each other on the rocky ground, in a nude heap, scraping our knees and giggling into each other’s limbs. When we got our breath back and looked up, the candles were all gone.

Tags:  Charlie Jane Anders, communities, ecological fiction, friendship, hope, Jeremy Carter, Katherine Inskip, LGBTQ, love, post-apocalyptic, scavenging, Serah Eley, technology, young adult fiction

57

Episode Comments / CoW Ep. 529: Little Wonders 37 – Seeking Connections

« Last post by Languorous Lass on March 12, 2023, 10:40:26 PM »

Cast of Wonders 529: Little Wonders 37 – Seeking Connections

• Authors: Marie Vibbert and Sylvia Heike
• Narrators: Roderick Aust and Samuel Poots
• Host: Katherine Inskip
• Audio Producer: Jeremy Carter

“Haunting the Docks” is a Cast of Wonders original.
"Birding With My Human"  was originally published in Nature Futures, July 7, 2021 (paywall).

Click here to listen to Episode 529


"Haunting the Docks" by Marie Vibbert

No one comes to my dock anymore. It’s so empty I can hear the ping of metal struts relaxing. The sounds of life elsewhere on the station, transmitted through multiple bulkheads, are muted, inchoate moans. I cycle through checks on systems unperturbed by human hands. I tidy what is already tidy.

I’m so bored. I power on a tug-drone.

“Aft Supplemental Dock Petty Tug Drone 2 reporting for duty. You can call me Pettie!” Her voice abruptly loses its chipper tone. “Oh, it’s you.”


"Birding With My Human" by Sylvia Heike

We climb the steps of the bird tower, the soft shuffle of Willa’s sneakers on the wood ascending first, the dull metal march of my feet following close behind. It’s five-thirty on a Sunday morning, and we’re the first ones here—unless you count the birds, which I will, very soon.

It’s windy at the top, clouds rushing across blue, droneless skies. Willa adjusts the old fishing hat on my head, tugging at the frayed edges. It belonged to her grandfather, and she doesn’t want it to be swept into the lake. She tilts her head, robin-like, and smiles. “It looks good on you.”

I’ll take her word for it.


Tags:  AI, birds, communication, connection, friendship, humor, Jeremy Carter, Katherine Inskip, Little Wonders, Marie Vibbert, misunderstood, robots, Roderick Aust, Samuel Poots, space, Sylvia Heike, young adult fiction

58

Episode Comments / CoW Ep. 528: Notes from a trans-inclusive gender apocalypse

« Last post by Languorous Lass on March 09, 2023, 04:37:52 AM »

Cast of Wonders 528: Notes from a trans-inclusive gender apocalypse

• Author: Ember Randall
• Narrator: Jordan Kurella
• Host: Katherine Inskip
• Audio Producer: Jeremy Carter

"Notes from a trans-inclusive gender apocalypse" is a Cast of Wonders original.

Click here to listen to Episode 528

Content Warning:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Use of the f-word, gender dysphoria, mild elements of body-horror

May 10

Firestorm (12:05 PM): You know, given all the possibilities for an apocalypse, this wasn’t the one I expected us to see. At least not first.

Kazumi (12:31 PM):  Did you see the good news, though? The Bureau for Magical Mismanagement think they’ve isolated the cause! Some sort of ritual gone wrong, something targeting men–and they think they’ve even identified which story the group was using for a basis for it! They’re calling for any female practitioners who are willing and able to come to Spiregate to join a ritual to undo it.

Firestorm (12:35 PM):  Only female mages, huh?

Shapeshifter (12:36 PM):  Fuck. I hope it works. I keep waking up and wondering if this’ll be the morning the flowers take over enough that they can’t be uprooted next time it’s a girl day.

Tags:  ace/aro, apocalypse, body horror, Ember Randall, gender, gender dysphoria, gender identity, individuality, Jeremy Carter, Jordan Kurella, Katherine Inskip, LGBTQ, magic, programming, rituals, trans visibility, transformation, transgender,  young adult fiction

59

Episode Comments / PC775: The Morthouse

« Last post by Ocicat on February 26, 2023, 02:46:55 AM »

PodCastle 775: “The Morthouse”

Author: Maria Haskins
Narrator: Eleanor R. Wood
Host: Matt Dovey
Audio Producer: Devin Martin

Previously published by The Deadlands #12

---

Content Warning:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Contents Warning for the death of a child

Show Notes
Rated PG-13




In her forty-two years on God’s wide Earth, Gerda has read no books other than The Bible and Luther’s Small Catechism, but once, after Sunday service, she heard the sexton say that there are places where the dead traverse a river after death, paying a boatsman to ferry them across the water. Gerda knows such a thing must be either blasphemy or fable, and she knows for certain the dead will find no passage here, not this far north in Sweden, not in January when both the creek and inlet by the village lie frozen, the murky, brackish waters of the Gulf of Bothnia slumbering below windswept ice.

Here, in winter, the dead go nowhere at all, not even into the ground.


Listen to this week's PodCastle.
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60

Episode Comments / EP 876 The Hagfish Has Three Hearts

« Last post by Nicole Parent on February 23, 2023, 02:34:58 AM »

I both really loved the concept of this episode, bio engineered diplomat has to balance small town politics with the demands of the whales who humanity has to bargain with in order to have any access to the sea, and was impressed by Noma being crossed with a hagfish of all the possible ocean creatures. I always personally thought that the hagfish was very gross, so I appreciated how this story helped me see the deep ocean creatures in a different light.

I did think that the town was really lucky, in that it seems to be able to exist without being taken over by some warring group. I would think that this would happen since the town is resource rich, and there seems to be no national government to protect it. However, the world of this story seems to have dramatically changed, and its possible that everyone else has other things to worry about.

Finally, I also thought that the fish becoming sentient was a really interesting plot twist. I liked the ending where Noma was able to successfully convince Alfreda that the fish now have the intelligence of people, and should not be eaten. I have to wonder if this will someday happen with animals like the octopus, who are so smart that they easily get bored in captivity, and often successfully escape their tanks. It did make me think, at what point does an animal get too smart to be eaten? And, should humanity be thinking about this more?