Pseudopod 347: Flash On The Borderlands XVI: Trial & Discipline"Passing Grade" by Paul DesCombazThis story has not been published elsewhere. Paul says, “This is the middle of the story. I have only a vague idea what happens before or after.”
PAUL DesCOMBAZ lives in Saint Paul, MN. “Passing Grade” is his second sale..
Read by
Kyle Akers, the frontman of Antennas Up, an electro-pop rock band from Kansas City. A budding voice talent, he continues to expand his reading roles across several podcasts. Antennas Up’s new album “The Awkward Phase” is available on Spotify, iTunes and from
antennasupmusic.com.
“This wasn’t cutesy time. You don’t get personal with the bad things coming for you. You don’t make sweet talk to nightmares. Just make it through to the other end. That’s your only job. Or something along those lines.”
“The Killing Machine” by Karen RungeThis story has never been formally published before, but an edited version was presented at the
2nd Open Reading for Beijing Writers (27 October), which is a small quarterly event I run, open to anyone in the Beijing area who writes creatively, in any form. Answer to question – something to say about story: When we are guilty of evil, do we deserve empathy? When we are victims of evil, are we capable of feeling empathy for those who have harmed us? Just how much punishment is too much? Where exactly do we draw the line between justice and cruelty?
KAREN RUNGE is a South African who has been living in China since 2008. She was first formally published in the South African Science Fiction and Horror magazine, ‘
Something Wicked’ in 2007, twice in the South African ezine ‘
iBhuku’ and she is a huge fan of the horror genre in all the forms it takes. Another short story of hers, ‘
When Layla Wakes’, recently appeared in issue 17 (May-June) of
Horrorbound. When she has trouble writing, she usually tries to paint.
Karen recommends the
Something Wicked SF & Horror magazine Anthologies! Volume 1 is available for purchase at
Amazon and also at
Something Wicked’s website.
Read by
Eve Upton07:00AM
Broadcast:
Wake. The day is clean, white and waiting. Don’t look back on the things that happened yesterday, don’t think about what will happen later. Think for a moment about the life you lived before. Say your prayer of repentance before you get out of bed. Allow yourself to feel your guilt, savour it inside of you. It is yours, now. It belongs to you.
“Awaiting Redemption” by Maurice BroaddusThis story was bought by the Horror World web site. (comments on story “That people can claim a religious faith but use it strictly as a cover for their own cruelty (that has nothing to do with their religion)”)
MAURICE BROADDUS’ dark fiction has been published in numerous magazines, anthologies, and web sites, and he’s the author of the urban fantasy series,
The Knights of Breton Court. He has been a teaching artist for over five years, teaching creative writing to elementary, middle, and high school students as well as adults. You can visit his site at
MauriceBroaddus.com. His anthology,
Dark Faith: Invocations, has just been released from
Apex Books. His
Knights of Breton Court trilogy has been released as an omnibus from
Angry Robot books.
Read by
Laurice White“Serving was her religious duty, he told her, though she was too impure to read the Qur’an for herself. She knew his kind. For him religion was a tool he re-shaped into his own image to vent his cruelty and hate. He probably knew less of the Qu’ran than she did. His dagger sliced her Arizona Cardinals Super Bowl XLIII 2009 Champions shirt, still stiff with dried blood. Wearing only her Nike running shoes, one size too small, she lowered her head, not allowed to cover herself. He touched her in a familiar way, but she would not taste shame no matter how he tried to force feed it to her. She never hid her scars. They told the story of who she was, a map to her soul.”
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