“You’re looking for people to mind the ghosts?” I asked, as I signed for the co-pay…
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This week The Drabblecast presents “Toast” by Jamie Lackey.
Jamie is the Assistant Editor for Triagulation Annual Anthology series and was previously featured on Episode #81: Snuffles.
Our feature is a peculiar story about love, loss, and moldy, potentially radioactive bread.
Story Excerpt:
Elayne won’t eat toast anymore. A week ago, she never would have dreamed of giving up toast. It was her favorite breakfast food, and breakfast is the most important meal of the day…
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Angels, fallen or otherwise, weren’t known for their appreciation of human art…
You thought the space race with was over? Hell no! That mess is just gettin’ started son…
Video by Josh Hugo
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We reach the rocky banks, out of breath. We do not speak. We can barely hear our voices over water raging against the rocks. Our breath makes white clouds. I buckle my helmet and cinch my gloves tighter…
Leading off this episode of the Drabblecast is a Drabble about a child drowning, or a child throwing a tantrum it’s hard to tell? The feature is a double dip in to talented ind of author Jeremiah Tolbert. The first story, entitled The Fisherman, is about a father and son sharing a touching, early morning fishing moment (but for what?). The second feature, A Sandwich Shop in Chicago, 1AM is also a touching tale of a wounded talking four-legged animal with one last request.
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Damascus started to object, but feeling the stares from those in the infinite line behind him, he angrily flipped open his courier’s bag and grabbed two bloody, dripping muslin bags. He slapped them on the counter and huffed away…
A special episode of the Drabblecast podcast. For each of the seven deadly sins: gluttony, envy, wrath, lust, greed, pride, and sloth, comes a deadly drabble, written by 100 word auteur Jake Bible.
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“I can smell the blood on your hands, I can smell your innocence dead and stinking on your breath!”
Max quickly glanced down at his clean hands. Just before he arrived he had washed them with disinfectant soap and meticulously cleaned under the nails.”
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It took weeks for me convince myself that my condition is universal, and I’m still not entirely sure. It’s almost always something in the eyes, and sometimes also in the corners of the mouth. Resignation. I had to learn to look for it. Otherwise, the illusion of volition is perfect. Everyone looks as if they’re just going about their business, even as their business is going about them…
This episode of the Drabblecast begins with a hilarious Drabble News’cast – host Norm Sherman alerts us to the threat of monster jellyfish taking over the oceans. Is it time for government intervention? And what is this about mutant sea turtles? A Drabble follows featuring a time traveling alien and its special message for a hairy young man. The feature story is a thought-provoking exploration of reality, as we know it. If humanity was to be punished, would there be any punishment more fitting than to watch their lives unfold from a distance.
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Now that his supernal caress has become the familiar sanctum of her nights, she fears that no mere human partner could ever satisfy her again…
This episode starts with Norm announcing the return of the Nigerian Scam Spam contest, now with a tight $100 prize! The Drabble concerns a Martian trying to deal with erratic human behavior. The Feature, preceded by a content warning from Norm (sexy times ahoy), concerns an alien and his human bride. The couple is vexed by the tribulation of their strange marriage, their poor finances, and privately, the bride suffers fears of public reprisal.
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Kelly Lester, a soft-spoken, unassuming young girl, with lovely sparkling green eyes and a smile that seemed fresh-born each time she used it. I fell in love with her the day she started here, and I convinced myself she’d never have anything to do with me the day after.
Of course, I was not all-knowing at the time…
This episode of the Drabblecast begins with a Drabblenews segment on mind-controlled zombie fire ants in Texas. The drabble is yet another end-of-the world story (geez guys, lighten up!) about a man from Omaha, Nebraska toasting to his emanate demise as he’s missing a scheduled IRS audit, so really, is it that bad? The feature introduces us to a young man who knows everything. Not a smart ass – a man who literally everything. Does he use it for love or profit? And is there such a thing as knowing too much?
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This week the Drabblecast presents “Clown Eggs” by Jay Lake.
It is a story that introduces us to old “bull” clown Uncle Swarmy. It’s not just another day at the beach. You’ll learn more about the clown life cycle than you’re probably comfortable with!
Story Excerpt:
The spring tide rolled across Momus Beach, tossing the flaccid corpses of clowns like so many torn balloons. Weathered to a dispirited pallor, they twisted in the foamy surf with the eternally surprised expressions of the dead..
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In this episode of the Drabblecast, we present “Arms and the Man” by Mary Turzillo. It’s a story of a divorced woman, burned out to love, who finds hope with a change of phylum. It’s truly squidlicious!
Norm Sherman also presents a Drabble News segment on the Hubble space telescope, topping it off with the now infamous bbardle on satellites and how best to pimp them.
Story Excerpt:
Courtney had never considered squid love before. She was an accountant for a Chicago restaurant chain, and not really looking. After a bitter, acrimonious divorce, Courtney was burned out on romance…
Our Drabble is “Happy Endings” by Michael Young. The popular girls ignore this typical geek—that is until a very atypical bomb throws unusual wrinkles.
Enjoy the show!
Drabblecast #114 – Arms and the Man
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This episode brings you Charlie the Purple Giraffe, by David D. Levine.
It is a unique tale set inside a televised cartoon world. Our main character, Charlie the purple giraffe, has a disturbing and profound view of his world, one not shared by his best friend Jerry the orange squirrel. Floating question marks, colored word balloons, it may not be as light, airy, and humorous as appears at first blush.
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She sprinted along the sidewalk, the bag bouncing against her back. The sun melded into the horizon, disappeared, engulfing the city in grave dark. Blood-thirsty screams could be heard in the distance, human howls. The gangs and muties were waking, to reclaim the city in their nightly routine…
This episode of the Drabblecast begins with a Drabble News report on a missing core of armed dolphins, trained to shoot people that look like terrorists or suicide bombers. The Navy denies the report: Norm has his own theories. In the feature, a young girl sneaks through the ruins of a post-apocalyptic city at dusk, in search of medicine for her dying brother. A harrowing journey with life and death consequences ensues.
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He folds his barely eaten burrito away in its paper wrapper and regards me seriously with his warm, friendly eyes. “I have a *lot* of frequent flier miles. I’d be more than happy to share them.”
I understand that we’re not talking about the kind of miles the airlines give you. This has nothing to do with credit card rewards…
The ex-husband of the feature story’s titular frequent flier once told her that the key to not being found is to keep moving. It’s been years since her ex kidnapped their daughter, and our protagonist is determined to stay on the move, from one airport to the next. She meets a curious fellow searcher who refers to himself as the wandering Jew.
Also included is a Bbardle, Radioactive Runaways, written by Norm Sherman for Eric Peters’ birthday, a gift made possible by the donation of his wife Janette.
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The village of Kriegerwald on the shores of Lake Teufel high in the Swiss Alps couldonly be reached by foot or ski lift, which suited the villagers. Each villager possessed broadforeheads and flat noses with strange guttural accents even the people in the valley below barelyunderstood. They also had a singular tourist attraction, popular enough to fund villagemaintenance but not to flood them or stir a desire for greater accessibility.
This trifecta episode of the Drabblecast features three stories, each exploring humanity’s reaction to strange and threatening situations. In the first story, The Frozen People, Swiss villagers sustain their existence by selling views of their 7000 year old perfectly preserved frozen warrior. When lightening strikes, everyone’s life changes. In Sheltered, a fast approaching asteroid threatens to wipe out all of mankind. This sends many burrowing deep into the ground, while a few brave individuals stay above to revel in the cataclysm. Interactions between the groups take on an ironic twist. In Order to Conserve speaks to governments and people as they are threatened by the loss of the most precious of all natural resources . and it’s not oil or water.
Of note: this episode marks the debut of Twit-Fic/Twabbles.
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This episode of the Drabblecast features “Babel Probe” by David D. Levine.
This superbly narrated tale follows a nano scale robot on its mission to the past. Six thousand years earlier it uncovers the myths surrounding the Tower of Babel. A thought-provoking story unfolds. Which came first, God or man?
Story Excerpt:
I have been sent to investigate one of the greatest mysteries of all time. The identity of Jack the ripper, the fate of the lost colony at Roanoke, even the hidden story of the Crucifixion have all been revealed, but the truth–if any– behind the Tower of Babel myth, found in so many cultures, still lies shrouded in secrecy…
Norm also brings you a special Bbardle for Eisenbrauns Bookstore called “The Babylon Battle of the Bands.” We thank you so much for your generous contribution!
And now folks, without further ado, enjoy the show!
Drabblecast #109 – Babel Probe
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The wicked witch business wasn’t what it used to be. It had been such a simple thing, to lure children with candy; back in the old days when candy had been hard to come by…
In this episode’s Drabble, a moth eloquently expresses her attraction to a bright light and her own subsequent destruction. The feature story, The Wicked Witch Looks at 40 (Decades), follows Winnie the witch through her (long overdue) midlife crisis. After a particularly discouraging Halloween, where not a single child is captured, she takes the advice of an article in Martha Stewart Living magazine, changing her house and her lifestyle.
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In America at the time, stuffed full as it was with young men looking for a draft dodge and housewives listless for the next wave of feminism, people needed an escape route. There seemed nothing better than to join the flotilla of balloons, private planes and transcendental meditators who made the journey through the stratosphere…
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