From the Podosphere: April 2009

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, [...]

From the Podosphere: March 2009

PodCastle begins March, we are told, with the first of a run of Elf stories, though the creatures seem oddly absent in this example. Expertly read by Bill Ruhsam, Emma Bull’s “De La Tierra” concerns a futuristic assassin, carrying out his profession with the aid of biological enhancements (or possibly elves) that speak to him. [...]

From the Podosphere: February 2009

There were only two PodCastle stories for February, but the sight of a PodCastle Giant, “Hell is the Absence of God,” appearing on my iPod caused me pleasurable anticipation—I looked forward to hearing another of Ted Chiang’s well-crafted, thoughtful stories. The pleasure was soured, however, by James Trimarco’s leaden reading, which robs the narrative of [...]

From the Podosphere: January 2009

Escape Pod appears to be still in recovery from its recent hiatus, as we have only half the month’s usual quota of stories, beginning with another installment of Jeffery R. DeRego’s Union Dues superhero saga, in which we hear something about the origin of the Union itself. The parallel structure of “Union Dues – All [...]

From the Podosphere: December 2008

While Escape Pod has been on hiatus, at least as far as its longer stories are concerned, we’ve had a slew of very short stories from the Escape Pod Flash Fiction Contest. Last month saw the winner and runners-up; this month we have a batch of Honorable Mentions.
“From Liquid to Glass” by J. R. Blackwell [...]

From the Podosphere: November 2008

First an apology: feeling pleased with myself for catching the Halloween edition of PodCastle, despite its late appearance in my iTunes database, I neglected to check if the same thing had happened with Escape Pod. It had, so my review of “The Story of the Late Mr. Elvesham” is a month late. This is science-fictional [...]

From the Podosphere: October 2008

October is traditionally the month for horror, culminating in Halloween, and Pseudopod serves up a suitably ghoulish set this month, beginning with Michael Savastano’s science-fictional “Spurling’s Virus” read by Ben Phillips. On a station where they are trying to find how to counter a deadly virus deriving from alien creatures, and which kills [...]

From the Podosphere: September 2008

In a new departure from the Escape Artists tradition, PodCastle, the newest sibling, marks September with its first PodCastle Giant—a venture into longer audio fiction. “Moon Viewing at Shijo Bridge” by Richard Parks is as long as a feature film, and requires some commitment to settle down and listen. Not that this story seemed to [...]

From the Podosphere: August 2008

The August batch of Escape Pod stories begins with “How I Mounted Goldie, Saved My Partner Lori, and Sniffed Out The People’s Justice” by Jonathon Sullivan (whose story “Imperial” was the very first in Escape Pod). Told by an enhanced canine police officer during debriefing, this story is a narrative of events from the viewpoint [...]

From the Podosphere: July 2008

July’s Escape Pod starts off well with David Brin’s “Those Eyes,” in which a scientist, standing in for a late-night talk-radio host, speculates on the reasons why so many are obsessed with UFOs and the idea that aliens are already here. Also listening to the show is…an alien, who gives us a different perspective on [...]

From the Podosphere: June 2008

Recently this column has dealt mostly with podcasts from Escape Artists, Inc (and is likely to continue to do so), but it’s useful to see what’s happening elsewhere in the field of podcast short fiction.

Rick Stringer’s Variant Frequencies releases a story once a month, and this month’s is “Grounders” by Jonathan McGoran, read by Thomas [...]

From the Podosphere: May 2008

Escape Pod begins the month of May by continuing its now-traditional run of Hugo-nominated short fiction. Mike Resnick’s “Distant Replay” (read by Steve Anderson) is an odd time-travel story, except that what appears to be time travel is more like history repeating itself. It’s well told, but the “magic realism” makes no attempt at explanation—no [...]

From the Podosphere: April 2008

The highlight of April’s podcast short fiction must be the long-awaited launch of PodCastle, the latest offering from Escape Artists, bringing their output up to three podcasts and completing the main genres of speculative fiction: SF, horror, and now fantasy. I was privileged to narrate PodCastle’s inaugural story myself, Peter S. Beagle’s “Come Lady Death” [...]

From the Podosphere: Escape Artists 2008 First Quarter Round-up

Before getting to this month’s reviews, I’d like to thank John Dodds for his care in piloting From the Podosphere since its inception. It’s a privilege to be taking over his excellent column.
In the coming months, I hope to highlight some diverse sources of short podcast fiction, but it can’t be denied that the [...]

From the Podosphere: February 2008

Wolf Brother by Michelle Paver is a free podcast from BBC Radio 4. It’s a coming-of-age tale set in an unspecified prehistorical period. Young Torak’s father is viciously killed by a bear possessed by a demon. The boy is left alone in the ancient forest and sets out on an odyssey to a mystical mountain [...]