After a year of reviewing all the Escape Artists stories for The Fix Online, this month From the Podosphere will ring the changes and not cover anything from Escape Pod, Pseudopod or PodCastle. I’ve nothing against the undoubted leader in podcast short fiction, but editorial suggestions have been made about casting the net wider, which I’m happy to do. This doesn’t mean I’ll not be covering Escape Artists output in future—I will, but not quite so comprehensively as in the past year.

To emphasise this change in focus the first couple of stories are from America’s National Public Radio. PRI: Selected Shorts is a podcast of live readings of short fiction, made available after broadcast. Like the podcast versions of BBC Radio programmes, the audio files don’t stay around in the feed or on the website for long, so the best way to get them is to subscribe using a podcatcher such as iTunes (they will then reside on your hard disk until you’re ready to listen). In a one-hour programme titled Food Fantasies, the first piece, “Country Cooking From Central France” by Harry Matthews, is a reading from a high-class cookery book, apparently written by a culinary snob whose instructions scale new heights of pedantic pomposity—including by way of an interlude (while you wait for the elaborate concoction to cook) a folk tale with a tenuous and hardly believable connection to the outlandish recipe. Delightfully relished by Isaiah Sheffer before a live audience, this is an enjoyable treat.

Not really fiction at all, Laurie Colwin’s “Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant” (read by Kelli O’Hara) is an autobiographical account of the early years of a cookery writer. It reminded me of Katherine Whitehorn’s slim paperback Cooking in a Bedsitter, which was my culinary bible when I was at college. Laurie Colwin’s account of her efforts to transcend the limitations of her two-burner stove brought the memories back. (Two burners?—she had it easy!) As with the previous Food Fantasy it’s not really fiction; it deals more with the difference between fact and aspirations, and is delivered with touching reminiscence.

Serving Worlds is a relatively new podcast (now also available at Podiobooks.com), featuring the short fiction of John Mierau, read by the author. Each episode is no more than 20 minutes, so some of the longer stories stretch over three or more episodes. April’s story, “Harlan’s Wake”, is in four parts and is a redemptive SF tale of Tyler Brown, on compassionate leave from the military, returning to his family as his father lays dying. The family—apart from his down-to-earth aunt and the dog—resent his involvement with the apparently benevolent and technologically advanced aliens who employ him. A story of small-town prejudice, it deals convincingly with the family’s barely suppressed animosity, as well as the claustrophobic atmosphere around the father’s deathbed. The SF element serves more than simply placing the story in a particular genre as the plot and the final outcome depend on it, at the same time offering insight into the lives of ordinary people in the here and now. Excellent narration coupled with skilled audio production make this short fiction podcast definitely one to follow, for both SF and horror.

In a previous From the Podosphere I mentioned I would be coming back to Beneath Ceaseless Skies fantasy fiction podcast. “Preservation” by Jonathan Wood (read by Scott H. Andrews) is the journal of a taxidermist in a domed city, whose obsession with his craft leads him to deal grotesquely with his mother’s corpse. The contrast between the narrator’s calm record and the horror of what he’s doing gives this story a sharp edge that’s hard to resist. The ambiguous setting, at once medieval and futuristic, adds to the overall unease of this surprisingly transcendent story; whether or not the narrator is insane, there may be hope for him yet.

Grace Seybold’s “Unrest” (read by Scott H. Andrews) is a curious folk tale with serial narrators, each telling of the demise of the one before—or that’s how the plot seemed to progress. But with any fantasy setting the author needs to establish the world of the story in a transparent and subtle manner, to avoid resorting to the dreaded infodump. If in addition there are multiple characters who are dispatched in turn, the reader/listener is likely to have trouble identifying with them before they’re no longer around, while at the same time trying to make sense of the setting with its magic, trolls and spirits. For those familiar with the conventions of the genre, or better still with that particular world of this particular author, it isn’t likely to be a problem. For others, it can be a bit hard-going. Nevertheless the story is well-produced and would probably reward repeated listening.

The Dunesteef is another short genre fiction podcast I’ve covered before; this month it has four stories on offer. “Freelanga” by Jason Sanford (read by Rish Outfield, Liz Mierzejewski and Abigail Hilton) is an odd, futuristic story of someone who has created entities, changes himself at will in all kinds of different ways—including, it seems, his own identity and gender—but is constantly on the run from the “mavich”, a beast borne of nightmares. As with Grace Seybold’s “Unrest” this is hampered by the difficulty of empathising with what appear to be a series of unstable characters—a difficulty exacerbated by the brevity of the story.

In Michael Anthony’s “A Better Teleportation Theory” (read by Abigail Hilton) a physicist rushes to publicise her theory of teleportation before it’s verified, and consequently loses her reputation. Unable to relinquish her idea, she is pleased some years later to find an outfit that wants expert help to develop a practical application. The Dunesteef’s production is excellent, with music, sound effects and several voices, but the story itself doesn’t ring true. The protagonist may be a brilliant physicist but her attitude to the scientific method is lackadaisical to say the least.

Alex Moisi’s “The Artist” tells of a mortician who—under the tutelage of his professor—discovers he is an expert harvester of souls. Together they embark on a profitable sideline, until one day the tutor tells the mortician he has a special job: to harvest a soul like no other. This is a well-written fantasy tale, competently read by Rish Outfield, but is marred by an abrupt ending.

“Aqualung” by S. C. Hayden (read by Big Anklevich, Rish Outfield and Liz Mierzejewski) is another superb production from the Dunesteef studio: a police diver contemplates the prospects for himself and his family, now that he has been diagnosed with lung cancer. Should he undergo treatment—chemo-therapy and the rest—and use up his capital so that when he dies his family will be left with massive debts? Or would it be better if he died in the call of duty, whereupon his family will receive the benefit of compensation. Such a scenario might be morbid and depressing, but the underwater setting and the narrator’s imaginary conversations with characters from his past make this an engaging and affecting listen. Note that The Dunesteef’s stories are quite short, but each appears towards the beginning of a long podcast, which means you don’t have to wade through several minutes of chat between the hosts before you get to it. Whether you listen to the chat that comes after the story is, of course, entirely up to you.