The Drabblecast

Drabblecast 233 – A Blade of Love

StalinSays — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 06:13:17 +0000

Allan Thermoose’s wife is in love with a blade of grass. It’s the 375th blade directly even with the crack in the third slab of sidewalk east of the mailbox. The blade gets full sun all day, and Allan, a stickler for lawn maintenance, is careful to water it, along with all the others, for approximately thirty minutes per day, moving the sprinkler three times to ensure even water distribution. He occasionally counts the residual droplets left on the tufts of grass fifteen minutes after he shuts off the water. If he’s not happy with the results, he repeats the process until he’s positive his lawn has had enough to drink.

Drabblecast 232 – Valentine’s Day with the Gods

StalinSays — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 07:16:23 +0000

The first ‘Go to Hell!’
The Angels did say
To certain poor bastards
On Valentine’s Day;

‘Go to Hell!
We do our job well!
It ain’t who you are
It’s what you can sell…’

On Valentine’s Day,
The World demands Love
With a milk-chocolate fist
In a red tin-foil glove.

Drabblecast 231 – Trifecta XX

StalinSays — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 19:24:42 +0000

The six of them meet for the first time in front of the sagging clapboard house where Everett Montrose was born. All are tired, with hollows under their eyes from driving or riding buses for days. Even so, they greet each other with shy, relieved smiles. Few words are said; most seem unsure of how to speak to each other. There are some handshakes, even a quick hug or two, but these interactions are awkward and all soon turn their attention to their reason for coming here. They all carry with them small pieces of Everett Montrose, and all instinctively touch the fragments as they look to the house.

Drabblecast 230 – Bears Discover Fire

StalinSays — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 03:42:17 +0000

We stayed on the path. The light seemed to drip down from the canopy of the woods like rain. The going was easy, especially if we didn’t try to look at the path but let our feet find their own way.
Then through the trees I saw their fire…

Drabblecast 229 – Singularity Knocks

StalinSays — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 17:32:22 +0000

“You don’t have to talk like that to us, mister,” I said. “We know town-speak just fine.”

The man with the hat put it back on his head and smiled with a hint of embarrassment. “Sorry, folks. Sometimes it helps, you know, smooth the way.”

That man with the computer was lurking by the corner of our porch, holding it up and aiming some kind of camera at the eaves. He steered a pair of laser beams from one end to the other. I figured I’d let him do what he was doing if I didn’t see any harm.

“Smooth the way for what?” I asked. I knew what was coming next, what was always coming: talk of imminent domain, of making way for progress.

“Something exciting,” he said, lifting up a foot onto the lowest step. “Opportunity of a lifetime…”

Drabblecast 228 – A Fairy Tale of Oakland

StalinSays — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 16:55:20 +0000

In some parts of the world — Austria, Croatia, Hungary — they still remember. They understand. You can’t have something bright without having something dark to balance it. If you’ve got St. Nicholas, you also need the Krampus…

Drabblecast 227 – The Star

StalinSays — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 20:40:43 +0000

It is three thousand light years to the Vatican. Once, I believed that space could have no power over faith, just as I believed that the heavens declared the glory of God’s handiwork. Now I have seen that handiwork, and my faith is sorely troubled. I stare at the crucifix that hangs on the cabin wall above the Mark VI Computer, and for the first time in my life I wonder if it is no more than an empty symbol.

Drabblecast 226 – The Heroics of Interior Design

StalinSays — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 03:22:43 +0000

I can’t fly faster than a speeding bullet. I can’t lift a car. I can’t climb slick surfaces with my bare hands or breath underwater or stop time. All I can do is change blue things to yellow. I didn’t bother to buy a cape or a spandex suit like the others. I just bought a blouse and some slacks and went into interior design…

On this episode of the Drabblecast: an introspective look at ourselves. First, a Drabble from Tesseract McCrea. Second, the feature by Elise R. Hopkins, which features a dejected ‘gifted’ whose super-power has not found her the fame and fortune to be expected.

Drabblecast 225 – Trifecta XIX

StalinSays — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 06:29:05 +0000

Once, at the beginning, you asked why you were brought here. This is what I told you: your parents made a deal. I would rid them of their plague of rats, and they would pay me. I cleared the town of pests, easily done, and returned for my payment. They laughed at me and tried to send me away with less than they promised. Money is not important. Deals are.

Another of the Drabblecast Trifecta series, this time with the theme of Fairy Tale child abduction. A set of stories, written by authors Amanda C. Davis, Megan R. Engelhard, and Steven Saus, featuring kids of all shapes, sizes, and murderous intent levels. Episode also includes details on the Drabblecast’s ‘Become a Tim Pratt character‘ contest. Listen to find out!

Help support Norm’s New CD: The Esoteric Order of Sherman. Pre-order the Order.

Drabblecast 224 – Doubleheader X

StalinSays — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 18:23:07 +0000

James Kennedy had stared at his sock drawer for a good ten minutes that first morning, dumbfounded. He’d never seen it so neat, and he didn’t remember doing it. But there they were: threadbare, but tidy and folded…

Another Drabblecast doubleheader special, featuring two stories from from author John P. Murphy.

Help support Norm’s New CD: The Esoteric Order of Sherman. Pre-order the Order.

Episode Sponsor: The Flash Pulp Podcast, thrice weekly pulp stories for the modern age.