This week on the Drabblecast, we bring you a dark ancient tale from a distant lost land called “The Black Waters of Lethe,” by Oliver Buckram.
Also, exciting news! Norm is launching a new Kickstarter for his 3rd album, “The Instruction Book.”
And how!
Follow the upcoming campaign here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/drabblecast/the-instruction-book
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Our story this week is spoiling for a good time. Enjoy a delicious exploration of the human condition, “Bad Meat” by Chip Houser!
Chip Houser (he/him) has stories in Bourbon Penn, PodCastle, Daily Science Fiction, and various other markets. “Dark Morsels,” a chapbook of his very short fiction, is forthcoming from Red Bird Chapbooks. He’s a graduate of Odyssey, a practicing architect, and an avid walker of slow dogs and an equally avid yet even slower hiker of mountains. Links to his stories and other oddities can be found at chiphouser.com.
Cover art by Bo Kaier
Do you want bonus episodes and content, including a secret Norm Sherman podcast? Then come to the Drabblecast Patreon!
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Our story this week is “Those Who Forget and Those Who Perish” by K. W. Colyard. Enjoy!
Cover art by Steve Lillie
Do you long to be a part of the mob? Did this week’s story give you mob-envy? Then do we have something akin to a mob, but less angry, and less muddy, and also sort of just a rough collection of like-minded people who like similar things, and also it smells better. It’s the Drabblecast Patreon! Where you can meet your fellow less muddy, less angry, and collected new friends and get things like early access to ad-free episodes and bonus episodes! Plus with something new brewing in the dark coming to Patreon only.
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Let us quell your unease with our favorite platitude, “When God closes a door, he opens a window, but when Tom Floss squints at the mob through his window, Roy boards up the door for him.”
Our story this week is “He Who Ruined Everything” by L. N. Clarke. Cover art by Bo Kaier
Do you long to be a part of the mob? Did this week’s story give you mob-envy? Then do we have something akin to a mob, but less angry, and less muddy, and also sort of just a rough collection of like-minded people who like similar things, and also it smells better. It’s the Drabblecast Patreon! Where you can meet your fellow less muddy, less angry, and collected new friends and get things like early access to ad-free episodes and bonus episodes! Plus with something new brewing in the dark coming to Patreon only.
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The Drabblecast hits the lanes this week with original story, “Cosmic Bowling” by Mike James Davis. Cover art by Shane Bevin!
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The Drabblecast wraps up 2023 with a Drabbleganza, followed by a story about tough decisions and leaving things behind– a Drabblecast original by Em Liu, called “Snow.” Happy New Year!
Cover art by Bo Kaier
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Ever feel Déjà vu on the road supposedly less traveled? Truth and lies on this week’s Drabblecast, we bring you an original story from Bob McHugh called “Is This a Plate?” Enjoy!
Produced by Adam Pracht
Read by Dominick Rabrun
Beyond this point, two paths lie
One you live, one you die
Ask one question, yes or no
To determine the road to go
But be warned
There’s more still
One is honest
One speaks swill…
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Norm closes out the year and existence as we know it, due to the phenomena known as “The Continuation,” with the Drabblecast annual holiday Tim Pratt story, an original commission called “How Lovely Are Your Branches.” Enjoy!
Somebody was murdering people, but the killer’s name wasn’t showing up on my naughty list. That got me curious, so I poked around. There was nothing left at the crime scenes but dollops of sap and scattered pine needles, which felt less like sloppiness and more like a signature. I was in New York trying to track down the killer, but first, I needed a drink.
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The Drabblecast kicks off H.P. Lovecraft Month with the grandfather of Weird Fiction’s cautionary dark fantasy, “The Doom That Came to Sarnath.”
There is in the land of Mnar a vast still lake that is fed by no stream and out of which no stream flows. Ten thousand years ago there stood by its shore the mighty city of Sarnath, but Sarnath stands there no more.
It is told that in the immemorial years when the world was young, before ever the men of Sarnath came to the land of Mnar, another city stood beside the lake; the grey stone city of Ib, which was old as the lake itself, and peopled with beings not pleasing to behold…
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The Drabblecast brings you three original stories this week (Modern Fairytales, if you will) from authors Alice Gauntley, Matthew Sanborn Smith, and Kevin D. Anderson.
Enjoy!
Our birthday was the first of March, and for two weeks beforehand it was all Caleb could talk about—cake, presents, and, most importantly, whom to invite. He would chatter about it as we did his homework, as we played his video games, as he went to sleep and I watched over him. Mom had him try different kinds of cakes, and even let me eat some and asked which one I liked best. I liked the carrot cake, but Caleb liked chocolate, so that’s the one she scheduled the kitchen to make fresh for the morning of the party…
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We’re getting back to nature this week on the Drabblecast, with Michael Piel’s original story, “Watch Anya Blume.” Enjoy!
Anya Blume showered, slept, and showered again. Yes, she thought, she was beginning to feel human. Exhausted, sure, but human. She popped five Advil and closed the medicine cabinet. There, at the bottom of the mirror in sharpie, were the words: I will be my best self…
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Warning: some explicit language.
Join us this week for a little Camp Dystopia! The Drabblecast brings you a story about growing up the hard way by Sofia Samatar, called “How to Get Back to the Forest.” Enjoy!
Episode Sponsor- “You Know It’s True” by J.R. Hamantaschen
“You have to puke it up,” said Cee. “You have to get down there and puke it up. I mean down past where you can feel it, you know?”
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Weird things are afoot in the west this week on the Drabblecast! Enjoy an original, previously unpublished story about snails of the plains gone awry by Joshua Bush called “The Witchita Drive.” Yeehaw!
They were down in a gully watering the cattle when Billy came thundering down the ridgeline on his sorrel mare, waving his hat and hollering like he just seen the whole Comanche nation bearing down on them.
“Mr. Lee!” he cried. “Mr. Lee!”
Harry Lee — the top hand on the drive — trotted up to meet him, keeping his palomino well in hand so as not to disturb the herd any further. The younger cowboy was good in the saddle, but he was greener than spring horse pucky, and had half as much sense…
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Sea creatures and sorority sisters on this week’s Drabblecast! We bring you an original tale by Stephanie Gray called, “The Secret of Theta Pi.” Enjoy!
We travel back to Tandy’s Cove in a caravan of three, Cindy Q’s Miata leading, followed by the rented van, dirty white with the windows rolled up, and Beneeta G’s little blue hatchback bringing up the rear. Twelve hours on the road would be stressful in the best of times, yet in these days of turmoil there is an easy peace between us…
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Norm brings in the New Year with an original Drabblecast story by author Tim Pratt! This story is a sequel to last year’s Holiday Special story, “Comfort and Joy,” check that one out here!
She was a blonde — the kind of blonde to make a bishop bite through his altar cloth. I used to be a bishop, but that was about seventeen-hundred years ago, so I swiveled away on my stool, took a handful of peanuts from the bowl on the bar, and went back to checking my list…
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This week’s Drabblecast features a poignant story about patience, perspective, parenthood and the paranormal. We bring you “A Promise,” by Jennifer Hudak. Enjoy!
I reach out nonexistent fingers to catch your arm, the hem of your shirt. You, there. Sitting on the edge of the bed, head bowed, dripping with sorrow. Your hair is thinning, shiny scalp peeking through the gray-streaked brown at the top of your head, and I wonder if you even know. You flick your fingers near your temples, a self-soothing behavior that, by now, you’ve mostly learned to control…
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Another fantastic strange story sure to blow your mind from Drabblecast author Matthew Sanborn Smith.
The local Partyville starts to peel apart around us: the booth, the ball pit, a video game and the netting between them, the pizza on the table, and the table too. Shards of pressboard and plastic fly toward me while molding themselves into the form of a man. A couple of the other moms scream, and their kids run to them. I didn’t expect this, but I know what it is.
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Alternate history on this week’s show– an original story by Edward J. Knight about the American Civil War that we perhaps only narrowly missed!
7 August 1865
My darling Emily,
I do not know if this letter will reach you, but if it does, I hope it finds you well. General Lee has sent word to President Johnson requesting the evacuation of Washington, and I fear that Baltimore will be next. Remember that I have an uncle outside of Boston and he should be happy to take you in, should the worst come to pass. Just tell him that we are engaged to be married and I am sure he will provide for you.
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On this week’s Drabblecast, Norm and author Matthew Sanborn Smith bring you a dose of perspective during these crazy times where weirdness seems to be the norm. Remember those invisible things around us that support and hold us no matter what our struggles our, and remember to cherish each moment of every day.
I wonder what will happen when I’m not up for it, when the weight finally overcomes my rigidity and I snap. Will I be a bloody mess when I turn back? Will I be too afraid to turn back and just take my chances with the landfill?
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