Strange – Page 5 – The Drabblecast

Cover for Drabblecast episode 248, Cockroach Hat, by Greg Cravens

Drabblecast 248 – The Cockroach Hat

On July 6, 2012

In Comedy, Drabblecast, Fantasy, Strange

“What I don’t like about it,” said Cliffe, “is that is it’s just a metaphor instead of something real.”

“What if it was real?” I (Sam) asked. “What if it was me and I actually turned into a cockroach someday?”

This episode of the Drabblecast is all about crazy relationships. In the drabble, it’s apparent that finding Mr. Right is difficult no matter who (or what) you are. In the feature, Sam wakes up one day to discover he has been transformed into a giant cockroach. He spends the rest of his day on a surreal quest, not only to return to his normal self, but also to save his girlfriend from threats both mundane and extraordinary, with the hope a new start together.

Podcast: Download

Subscribe: TuneIn | RSS

Cover for Drabblecast episode 246, Kidney, by David Flett

Drabblecast 246 – The Kidney

By Drabblecast

On June 12, 2012

In Drabblecast, Strange

The shop bell rang at the front of the St. George Tim Hortons. I didn’t see who came in, but when Shel looked up, his eyes widened.

“Crap.” He whispered. “It’s my kidney.”

“Your kidney?” I asked. I turned in my seat, but Shel jerked me back by the shoulder. He held up his free hand to shield his face.

“Shhh,” he murmured. “Don’t look at it…”

The theme of this episode of the Drabblecast is awkward run-ins. In the Drabble (pulled from the Dribblecast) a man returns home from work and is unable to relate to his wife. In the feature, a stalker ex-kidney illuminates how ending relationships is akin to losing a part of yourself.

Podcast: Download

Subscribe: TuneIn | RSS

Cover for Drabblecast episode 245, A Nice Jewish Golem, by Tom Morganti

Drabblecast 245 – A Nice Jewish Golem

By Drabblecast

On June 10, 2012

In Drabblecast, Fantasy, Romance, Strange

“Mrs. Levine, it is hard enough for someone to find the right person to love in the world, even with all the people in it. For Yeshua, it is almost impossible. Would you have him fall in love with a human girl and pine for her until his heart broke and we would have to erase
the letter that gives him life? Reduce him back to a lifeless thing?”

This episode of the Drabblecast is about adoption. In the drabble, a grieving father performs terrible experiments with the comfort food brought by well-intentioned neighbors. In the feature, a fawning mother grapples with conflicting fears for her son, a golem, when he falls in love with a non-Jewish construct. Despite her distress, she must ask: In a world where options for love are severely limited, what role does faith play?

Podcast: Download

Subscribe: TuneIn | RSS

Drabblecast B-Sides 17 – Exploring

By Drabblecast

On June 1, 2012

In Comedy, Drabblecast B-Sides, Strange

Recorded Live at Balticon 2012

The two began their journey again, stopping at the edge of the graveyard. “It sure looks scary in there,” the little brown-haired girl said.

What’s scary is that if you don’t get your ass moving, it’s gonna be Wednesday before I get my freak on.

“Yeah,” said Socks, tugging open the wrought iron gate. “But nothing’s gonna stop us, cause we’re brave explorers!”

Drabblecast B-Sides: <a href="http://www.drabblecast.org/donate/">Donate</a>

Cover for Drabblecast episode 240, Trifecta XXI, by Gino Moretto

Drabblecast 240 – Trifecta XXI

By Drabblecast

On April 20, 2012

In Comedy, Drabblecast, Drama, Fantasy, Strange

We bought our first yarn baby at a garage sale. The ends of its arms were frayed and its eye buttons dangled loose on bare threads.

This theme of this episode of the Drabblecast is family unties: Nontraditional homes and family situations. In the drabble, the enterprising resident of a haunted house fools its ghosts into performing everyday domestic tasks. In Divorce in the House of Flies, a young boy has to deal with his parents’ divorce at the same time he has to deal with their transformation into human-shaped masses of tiny insects. In Wendigo Bake Sale, residents of a small town overcome their initial terror of a pair of wendigo participating in the school bake sale, only to be frightened anew when the wendigo reveal they are supporting the school because their child attends. In Knit, after losing their first yarn baby during her rebellious teen years in a tragic unraveling accident, a couple tries vainly to reconstruct her from the scraps of yarn, stuffing, and buttons left behind.

Podcast: Download

Subscribe: TuneIn | RSS

Cover for Drabblecast episode 234, Jagannath, by Bill Halliar

Drabblecast 234 – Jagannath

By Drabblecast

On February 29, 2012

In Drabblecast, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Strange

Another child was born in the great Mother, excreted from the tube protruding from the Nursery ceiling. It landed with a wet thud on the organic bedding underneath. Papa shuffled over to the birthing tube and picked the baby up in his wizened hands. He stuck two fingers in the baby’s mouth to clear the cavity of oil and mucus, and then slapped its bottom. The baby gave a faint cry.

“Ah,” said Papa. “She lives…”

This episode of the Drabblecast is about awakenings and transformations. In the drabble, not all its memories of a man’s life make sense to an undersea creature. In the feature, generations ago the survivors of a ruined world struck a deal with their Mother, an enormous creature merging flesh and technology. They live symbiotically within her, helping her do everything from navigating to digesting food while in return she provides them safety and sustenance. When Mother is injured beyond repair, starved for both food and fresh genetic material, she passes on a dying gift.

Podcast: Download

Subscribe: TuneIn | RSS

Cover for Drabblecast episode 233, A Blade of Love, by K. Martinez

Drabblecast 233 – A Blade of Love

By Drabblecast

On February 21, 2012

In Drabblecast, Romance, Strange

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.

This episode of the Drabblecast is concerned with strange love. In the drabble, a mother’s last thoughts are for her son as the mower’s blades cut her down but pass over him. In the feature, Allan Thermoose’s wife falls in love with a blade of grass. Her behavior increasingly unconventional includes: standing outside staring at the lawn, forbidding Allan to cut that blade, sleeping outside on the lawn, and dressing up for the blade. It soon becomes clear that action must be taken.

Podcast: Download

Subscribe: TuneIn | RSS

Cover for Drabblecast episode 231, Trifec ta XX, by Brent Holmes

Drabblecast 231 – Trifecta XX

By Drabblecast

On January 31, 2012

In Comedy, Drabblecast, Fantasy, Horror, Sci-Fi, Strange

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.

This episode of the Drabblecast opens with an announcement that the Kickstarter goal for Norm’s new CD has been reached. The theme of the trifecta is Southern justice. In Whit Carlson’s Trespasser, chronic bellyacher Whit Carlson makes a complaint to the sheriff about a clown fishing on his property. In The Six Pieces of Everett Montrose, six strangers meet in front of the house where Everett Montrose was born and where his brother still lives. Each has been compelled to return the bone fragment he or she has found. In Boll Weevil, a man drives home through a plague of boll weevils to face the end of the world. Whether they are a bioweapon, a biblical plague, or aliens, the boll weevils have survived the winter and started breeding wildly, injecting their babies into people with each bite. After containment and quarantine have failed to stop them, a scorched earth policy is about to be enacted. The episode concludes with a bit by Hearty White reading a poetry submission rejection letter.

Podcast: Download

Subscribe: TuneIn | RSS

Drabblecast 230 – Bears Discover Fire

By Drabblecast

On January 26, 2012

In Drabblecast, Drama, Fantasy, Strange

This episode of the Drabblecast presents “Bears Discover Fire,” by Terry Bisson. We examine and interpret humanity through anthropomorphism.

When bears discover fire, stop hibernating, and begin populating highway medians in the southern US, people notice. Their changing behavior highlights how other families react to changes in their own lives with varying degrees of acceptance and grace.

Story Excerpt:

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

By Drabblecast

On January 10, 2012

In Drabblecast, Sci-Fi, Strange

“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…”

This episode of the Drabblecast explores science of the future. In the drabble, a lab rat learns to speak but still cannot talk the scientists studying him out of his eventual dissection despite their similarities. In the feature, government agents try to convince a family of aging farmers to join the rest of humanity by being uploaded into the singularity, a virtual world where everyone can lead any life they can dream up. No one can be left behind..

Podcast: Download

Subscribe: TuneIn | RSS

Cover for Drabblecast episode 228, A Fairy Tale of Oakland, by Bo Kaier

Drabblecast 228 – A Fairy Tale of Oakland

By Drabblecast

On December 27, 2011

In Drabblecast, Fantasy, Horror, Strange

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…

This episode of the Drabblecast opens with Norm’s reflections on the holidays, Santa Claus, and the origins of flying reindeer. In the drabble, the mayhem of a large family’s holiday dinner leads to a darkly humorous tragedy. In the feature, an unsavory petty criminal has a chance encounter with a dying old man who confides that years ago Santa bestowed upon him a miracle, a wish, to teach the true meaning of Christmas. Unfortunately, as they both learn, it comes with a catch..

Podcast: Download

Subscribe: TuneIn | RSS

Drabblecast 224 – Doubleheader X

By Drabblecast

On November 25, 2011

In Comedy, Drabblecast, Fantasy, Strange

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.

Podcast: Download

Subscribe: TuneIn | RSS

Drabblecast 220 – Trifecta XVIII

By Drabblecast

On October 26, 2011

In Comedy, Drabblecast, Sci-Fi, Strange

Another 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.

Podcast: Download

Subscribe: TuneIn | RSS

Drabblecast B-Sides 15 – In Search of the Brain-Eating Nandi Bear

By Drabblecast

On October 26, 2011

In Comedy, Drabblecast B-Sides, Fantasy, Mystery, Strange

Oddly-accented cryptozoologist Connor Choadsworth once again embarks on a quest to find mythical beasts, this time in the deep jungles of Kenya “In Search of the Brain-Eating Nandi Bear.”

“The Nandi… a magical bear… a brain-eating bear…”

This ~~is an~~ was an exclusive podcast originally available only to Drabblecast $10.00 a month subscribers. Subscribe and support your favorite podcast to get access to our Drabblecast B-Sides!

Now, enjoy the show!

Drabblecast B-Sides 15 – In Search of the Brain-Eating Nandi Bear

Download

Cover for Drabblecast episode 219, The Big Splash, by Jonathan Wilson

Drabblecast 219 – The Big Splash

By Drabblecast

On October 13, 2011

In Drabblecast, Sci-Fi, Strange

I passed the sign that read Warning: Shark Zone. The sun was setting,
lighting up the tops of the condos sticking out of the water. They had been
swallowed by the swollen ocean, when it spilled over, like everything else:
the skyscrapers, the cars, the fast food joints, the schools and
supermarkets and liquor stores…

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

Podcast: Download

Subscribe: TuneIn | RSS

Drabblecast 214 – The Wish of the Demon Achtromagk

By Drabblecast

On August 17, 2011

In Drabblecast, Fantasy, Horror, Strange

Achtromagk shuddered, lost in nightmare images: crimson lightning dotting a wasteland, twilight despair and feeble railings, isolation in a mewling throng. It thrashed and twisted but could not escape, could not stop the unwanted vistas in its mind.

It was silent. And soft. And dark…

Next up in Lovecraft month, a heart-warming tale of an extra-dimensional Lovecraftian horror (an ‘oh so huggable’ one) by Drabblecast favorite Eugie Foster.

Podcast: Download

Subscribe: TuneIn | RSS

Drabblecast B-Sides 13 – Snuggle the Dead

By Drabblecast

On January 5, 2011

In Comedy, Drabblecast B-Sides, Horror, Sci-Fi, Strange

The doctor, who insists that I cite him as “Dr. Franz,” has a habit of holding his hand over his mouth as he giggles. He wears a white lab coat like a scientist from the movies, but this is an affectation. Everyone at Snuggle Club wears the coats, the same way Walmart ‘partners’ wear blue shirts…

Drabblecast B-Sides: <a href="http://www.drabblecast.org/donate/">Donate</a>

Cover for Drabblecast episode 192, Rangifer Volans, by Bo Kaier

Drabblecast 192 – Rangifer Volans

By Drabblecast

On December 25, 2010

In Comedy, Drabblecast, Horror, Strange

In early December, Brad Miro walked into the office of his partner, Dr. John Estes, and said, “I’ve got our next target. It’s perfect. The public is going to love it.”

John closed his eyes. “I haven’t even finished writing the paper about the Mongolian death worm yet”

This Christmas Special episode of Drabblecast starts with Norm’s Lovecraft inspired take on “The Night Before Christmas”. The theme this week is a creepy yet festive take on Christmas. The feature lets us see the career of a successful crypto-zoologist. As we see Dr John Estes just recovering from discovering the Mongolian death worm when his partner wants to catch a flying reindeer. Norm discusses how it’s better not to believe, like in Santa… or the Mayans.

Podcast: Download

Subscribe: TuneIn | RSS

Cover for Drabblecast episode 189, DoubleHeader 8, by Tania Henderson

Drabblecast 189 – Doubleheader VIII

By Drabblecast

On November 24, 2010

In Drabblecast, Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Romance, Strange

They needed a virgin to make a bargain with the sea monster who hunted the waters off their coast, and they were not willing to sacrifice their daughters…

With the theme this week being about freedom, this episode of Drabblecast sees Norm musing about the irony of song about freedom written by a man name Key… it could be a trap. Mermaids of the Old West centers on the mistreatment of captured Mermaids. In Darkness we learn what makes a sacrifice worthy.

Special thanks to Salim Fahdley and Jan Dennison for lending voices and artistic help.

Podcast: Download

Subscribe: TuneIn | RSS

Cover for Drabblecast episode 183, Angel of the Ordinary, by Dominick Rabrun

Drabblecast 183 – Angel of the Ordinary

By Drabblecast

On October 6, 2010

In Drabblecast, Fantasy, Romance, Strange

“They will come on bicycles and by balloon, they will arrive in mailboxes and packages of cake batter. They will come like fleas on the dogs and like giants over the moon. The dull shall be turned into nothing by the coming of the angels…”

Norm presents this week’s Drabblecast in the form of a sermon, allowing us to bask in the glory of weird. The feature story, read by Hearty White, reveals unto us proper preparation for the coming Angels of Discrimination, scourges of the ordinary. Will you be ready?

Podcast: Download

Subscribe: TuneIn | RSS

Category: Strange Page 5 of 8

Story Excerpt:

Drabblecast B-Sides 15 – In Search of the Brain-Eating Nandi Bear