Drabblecast 226 – The Heroics of Interior Design

  •  Feature:  The Heroics of Interior Design  by  Elise R. Hopkins
  •  Drabble:  Imaginary Runner  by  Tesseract McCrea
  •  Genre:  Drama  Fantasy
Tuesday, December 13th, 2011

Cover for Drabblecast episode 226, The Heroics of Interior Design, by Skeet ScienskiI 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…

This episode of the Drabblecast explores the idea of being happy with yourself as a unique individual. In the drabble, the titular imaginary runner is invented as part of a game to pass time in the car, but meets a tragic end. In the feature, a woman with a minor Gift (turning blue things yellow) in a world of high-powered superheroes struggles to find a niche.

Play

Podcast: Download

Contest: Become a Tim Pratt Character!
Our new Submissions address: submissions@drabblecast.org
Episode Art:  Skeet Scienski
Read by:  Veronica Giguere
Twabble:  “My Angry Birds expertise proved me the best. The admirals all agreed I was Earth's last, best hope. My catapult awaited. ”  by  Dolohov
Tagged , , , , , , , , , , ,

Drabblecast 225 – Trifecta XIX

Monday, December 5th, 2011

Cover for Drabblecast episode 225, Trifecta XIX, by Steve SantiagoOnce, 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.

The theme of this episode of the Drabblecast is fairy tale child abduction. In David is Six, David cannot wait to be seven. In his desperation, he strikes a bargain with a fairy that appears to him as a talking toad and is taken to the fairy queen. The Best Boy, The Brightest Boy picks up where the Pied Piper of Hamlin left off, following the children and the Piper into his kingdom under the mountain where after a series of cruel games and tests, only one boy remains alive. He becomes the Piper’s apprentice. In Broken, a father stumbles upon a fairy in the act of exchanging his disabled child for her own enchanted brood. A heart-breaking decision follows.

Play

Podcast: Download

Spec the Halls, EMP Collective
Episode Art:  Steve Santiago
Twabble:  “"Jesus Christ!" Mary yelled when she saw the muddy sandal prints across the living room, "What were you, born in a barn?" ”  by  Chris Munroe
Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Drabblecast 224 – Doubleheader X

Friday, November 25th, 2011

Cover for Drabblecast 224, Doubleheader X, by Mary MatticeJames 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.

Play

Podcast: Download

Chuck Wendig's "Terrible Minds"
Episode Art:  Mary Mattice
Twabble:  “They rolled into the cities and encircled the places of government, chanting aloud their slogan: "We are the 3.1415% ”  by  Steven D. Lidster
Tagged , , , , , ,

Drabblecast 223 – Bearing Fruit

  •  Feature:  Bearing Fruit  by  Nikki Alfar
  •  Drabble:  Déjà vu  by  Ben Parker
  •  Genre:  Fantasy  Romance
Sunday, November 20th, 2011

Cover for Drabblecast episode 223, Bearing Fruit, by Alyssa SuzumuraThis, of course, is what comes of being overly friendly with strange mangoes. One day you’re a wide-eyed virgin, with nary a care in the world; the next, you find yourself most unexpectedly and all but inexplicably burdened in a manner that afflicts virgins only once every two thousand years or so, to the best of your understanding. It isn’t fair, but folk tales rarely are to young maidens — this is the first thing that you really ought to have known.

This week’s episode of the Drabblecast podcast begins with Norm imploring listeners to chip in for the production of his highly anticipated second CD. The Drabble is Déjà vu, by Ben Parker, concerns old magics and old memories. The feature is a change of pace story, Bearing Fruit by Nikki Alfar, in which a naive lass learns of life and her burgeoning womanhood upon unexpected contact with the supernatural. The show closes with classic bbardle Radioactive Runaways.

Help support Norm’s New CD: The Esoteric Order of Sherman. Agree to contribute, guarantee yourself a copy – Pre-order the Order. Classic Norm Sherman penned and performed “bbardles,” done up proper with the full studio treatment, in a package featuring art work from man of mundane mystery Bo Kaier.

Play

Podcast: Download


Episode Art:  Alyssa Suzumura
Read by:  Kimi Alexander
Twabble:  “I thought I could hold it, but when I reached the bathroom it was too late; the baby alligator’d already slipped my hands. ”  by  Travelin Corpse Feet
Tagged , , , , , ,

Drabblecast 222 – Rules for Living in a Simulation

  •  Feature:  Rules for Living in a Simulation  by  Aubrey Hirsch
  •  Drabble:  Duckhunt  by  John Murphy
  •  Genre:  Comedy  Sci-Fi
Monday, November 7th, 2011

Cover for Drabblecast episode 222, Rules for Living in a Simulation, by Mike DominicNow if we, like those characters in recent movies, discovered specific clues in the world around us suggesting that we do in fact live in a simulation, we would of course consider those clues carefully to see what they say about how we should live our lives. — Robin Hanson

Norm begins this episode of the Drabblecast with an introduction to the new and improved Drabblecast.org, and thanks the many contributors who made this possible. The Drabble by John Murphy remembers a simpler time in video games, though a time not free of consequence. The feature by Aubrey Hirsch provides, as described in the title, a didactic set of rules for living in a simulation (a universe constructed especially for us).

Episode Sponsor: You Shall Never Know Security by J.R. Hamantaschen.

Play

Podcast: Download

Geologic Podcast, Big Wonderful Press, Daily SF
Episode Art:  Mike Dominic
Read by:  George Hrab
Twabble:  “Bo waded through the mangled body parts and scattered office supplies to his cubicle. He really hated Casualty Friday. ”  by  Steven D. Lidster
Tagged , , , , , ,

Drabblecast 221 – Year of the Rabbit

Sunday, October 30th, 2011

Cover for Drabblecast episode 221, Year of the Rabbit, by Richard K. GreenIt used to be that the sun would go down and the streetlamps would come on and make pools of this wet, yellow light. No matter where you stood, you could see the lights on somewhere. You could run from streetlamp to streetlamp and you could look down the streets and you’d never drown in the dark…

Play

Podcast: Download


Episode Art:  Richard K. Green
Read by:  Norm Sherman and Kimi Alexander
Tagged , , , , , , , , , , ,

Drabblecast 220 – Trifecta XVIII

Wednesday, October 26th, 2011
Warning:  An S*Bomb. Also, sexual content. The S*Bomb was way worse though.

Cover for Drabblecast episode 220, Trifecta XVIII, by Liz PenniesAnother of the Drabblecast’s vaunted Trifecta series. Three short stories, each with a unique twist. The episode begins with an interview of author J.R. Hamantaschen, Norm runs fingers through his troubled mind, learning of the seeds from which his horrors spring. The theme of this Trifecta: getting the boot – stories of rejection and alienation. First up, Richard Weems’s Bad Habit, in which a nun and a naked pervert do battle (no, really). Next, author Andrew Gudgel (featured on fellow podcasts such as Escapepod) appears with Tags, as read by Kimi Alexander, a story of teenage dares in a technologically submerged world. Lastly, A Happy Family, by author, novelist Nathaniel Tower, read by Abner Senires, in which a family receives a very unexpected bundle of joy (and puzzlement).

Episode Sponsor: You Shall Never Know Security by J.R. Hamantaschen.

Play

Podcast: Download


Episode Art:  Liz Pennies
Read by:  Kimi Alexander and Abner Senires
Music by:   Gringo Motel
Twabble:  ““We don’t allow no faster-than-light neutrinos in here,” says the bartender, with a growl. A neutrino walks into a bar. ”  by  Strawman
Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,