Episode 222: The George Business by Roger Zelazny• Narrated by
Wilson Fowlie,
Phil Lunt and
Cheyenne Wright• Audio production by
Jeremy Carter• Originally published in
Dragons of Light (October 1980)
Roger Joseph Zelazny (May 13, 1937 – June 14, 1995) was an American poet and writer of fantasy and science fiction short stories and novels, best known for
The Chronicles of Amber. He won the Nebula award three times (out of 14 nominations) and the Hugo award six times (also out of 14 nominations), including two Hugos for novels: the serialized novel
‘…And Call Me Conrad’ in 1965 (subsequently published under the title
This Immortal the following year). He won for best novel again in 1967 for his arguable other best known work,
Lord of Light. Special thanks to his son, executor and damn fine author in his own right, Trent Zelazny, for allowing us rights to this story.
Wilson Fowlie has been reading stories out loud since the age of 4, and credits any talent he has in this area to his parents, who are both excellent at reading aloud. He started narrating stories for more than just his own family in late 2008, when he answered a call for readers on the PodCastle forum. Since then, he has gone on to become PodCastle’s most prolific narrator, reading or appearing in nearly 30 episodes. He’s a proud member of the Escape Artists hat trick club, having narrated for
PodCastle,
EscapePod and
Pseudopod as well as
Cast of Wonders, in addition to
StarShipSofa, Beam Me Up, Cast Macabre, Dunesteef Audio Fiction magazine and the
Journey Into… podcast. He fits in all this narrating between his day job as a web developer in Vancouver, Canada, and being the director of a community show chorus called The Maple Leaf Singers.
Hailing from the rain-sodden, North Western wastelands of England,
Phil Lunt has dabbled in many an arcane vocation. From rock-star to conveyor-belt scraper at a bread factory, milkman to world’s worst waiter. He’s currently a freelance designer, actor and sometime writer/editor and impending father. For his sins he’s Chair of the British Fantasy Society, a role that can be more complicated than herding cats, at times. He’s still considering becoming an astronaut when he grows up, and you can follow him on
Twitter.
Cheyenne Wright is a freelance illustrator of many fine table-top projects like the
Deadlands Noir RPG, the Professor Elemental card game, as well as the color artist on the Hugo Award winning graphic novel series
Girl Genius. He is NOT the Lord of a subterranean colony of Mole-people bent on world subjugation. Such claims are libelous and unfounded. As is the ground beneath those who repeat them. [You have been warned sun-sucking dirt walkers]. More info about Cheyenne’s current plans for a better world [all of them… better worlds] can be found his website,
Arcane Times, and occasionally on
Twitter.
Deep in his lair, Dart twisted his golden length about his small hoard, his sleep troubled by dreams of a series of identical armored assailants. Since dragons' dreams are always prophetic, he woke with a shudder, cleared his throat to the point of sufficient illumination to check the state of his treasure, stretched, yawned and set forth up the tunnel to consider the strength of the opposition. If it was too great, he would simply flee, he decided. The hell with the hoard, it wouldn't be the first time.
As he peered from the cave mouth, he beheld a single knight in mismatched armor atop a tired-looking grey horse, just rounding the bend. His lance was not even couched, but still pointing skyward.Click here to listen to Episode 222Click here to read the text of the storyTags: bargain, Cast of Wonders, Cheyenne Wright, dragon, Fantasy, gold, hustle, Jeremy Carter, knight, partnership, Phil Lunt, Roger Zelazny, Wilson Fowlie, Young Adult fiction
