In the Palace of Science (Part 2 of 2) By Chris Campbell (...Continued from Part 1) B-Side Track Five– The automaton was unfinished, but even in a transitory state, it was a thing of marvel. In form, it was like a man. With two legs meant for bipedal ambulation and two arms with three-fingered hands meant for grasping. Although roughly, from the thickness of its fingers. The design of the machine differed most strikingly from the ideal human in the shape of its head and body, for it had no neck....
Apr 10, 2025•43 min
In the Palace of Science (Part 1 of 2) By Chris Campbell Track One– If you’ve found this recording, two things can be said for certain. The first is that I have passed my greatest test as a man and, in doing so, have passed from this world. The second is that if this message entombed with me survives, a grave danger to humanity most assuredly survives with it. To my listener, I urge you to lift the needle from the gramophone, return this plate to the hole where you found it, and dig no further i...
Apr 03, 2025•38 min
Author : Hiron Ennes Narrator : Tatiana Grey Host : Mur Lafferty Audio Producer : Summer Brooks Escape Pod 986: Lyra, From Many Angles is an Escape Pod original. Lyra, From Many Angles by Hiron Ennes When they came, it was in a craft the size of a golf ball. Smooth and round and perfectly […] Source
Mar 27, 2025•50 min
Author : Ryan Cole Narrator : Elie Hirschman Host : Tina Connolly Audio Producer : Summer Brooks Escape Pod 985: The Interdimensional Rift at the Lucky Sunrise Bingo Palace is an Escape Pod original. The Interdimensional Rift at the Lucky Sunrise Bingo Palace by Ryan Cole So I’m sitting there with Bubbee—the two of us […] Source
Mar 20, 2025•29 min
Imperial By Jonathon Sullivan (Excerpt) Dennis blinked through his dripping eyelashes at the irresistible abomination seated on the blue-green grass two meters in front of him. The Pig smiled her bio-engineered leopard-smile at him and kept her right hand prominently in contact with the stun-gun at her hip. He stared, too choked with shock, desire and tepid river water to speak.
Mar 13, 2025•45 min
Author : Holly Schofield Narrator : Kae Mills Host : Mur Lafferty Audio Producer : Summer Brooks “The Robot Whisperer” first appeared in Fighting for the Future cyberpunk-solarpunk anthology in 2023 The Robot Whisperer by Holly Schofield Emilia heard the door bang as Kore entered her workshop. Dishes clattered on the side bench. “Be there […] Source
Mar 06, 2025•27 min
Twilight By Lilly Harper Like the tide going out, the dream slipped between her toes and carried with it the smell of petrichor and the sound of birdsong. Even without knowing she was dreaming, she had known she was waking up; the subliminal chatter of her body, quietly running its routine checksums, the logs spooling their idiot monologue into her working memory. First came a few moments of groggy confusion and then, like an iron hand gripping her cognitive architecture, a kind of clarity that ...
Feb 27, 2025•25 min
Author : Dale Smith Narrator : Louise Ratcliffe Host : Tina Connolly Audio Producer : Summer Brooks “Joy” was previously published in Interzone Digital (June 2023) Joy by Dale Smith Joy knelt on the promenade, shifting the rifle into her shoulder to get a steadier shot. She did her best to ignore the waves crashing […] Source
Feb 20, 2025•28 min
Peace by Piece By Erin Cairns Frank thought all the battle-drones had been deactivated. Certainly, none of them had ever looked around with curious little twitches of their front-facing cameras before. This one whirred and clicked like an anxious bird, trying to find focus through a chipped and cloudy lens. "Is the war over?" it asked. Frank set aside his screwdriver. “It’s been over for a long time.” “Oh,” the drone said. “What happens now?” “Well, I was about to strip you for materials.”...
Feb 13, 2025•24 min
Author : Merc Fenn Wolfmoor Narrator : Joe Moran Host : Mur Lafferty Audio Producer : Summer Brooks “Steadyboi After the Apocalypse” first appeared in the collection Friends For Robots: Stories by Merc Fenn Wolfmoor (Robot Dinosaur Press, 2022) Steadyboi After the Apocalypse by Merc Fenn Wolfmoor You trudge through another wasteland town, sticking to […] Source
Feb 06, 2025•33 min
Oak Hill Lane By Alasdair Stuart The day the world ended, Scotch picked a fight. Not that there was much choice. Two fellow Canary Detailers, heads full of redtop bigotry and guts full of Tesco beer, had jumped Scotch’s work partner Billy the previous week and put him in the Infirmary. Scotch was next. It was just maths. Very stupid maths. So, behind the bike sheds at the University none of them could afford to attend but all of them were good enough to clean, Scotch forced the issue. Honestly, ...
Jan 30, 2025•43 min
Author : Deborah L. Davitt Narrator : Ibba Armancas Host : Mur Lafferty Audio Producer : Summer Brooks “Reflected in Mirrored Skies” was published by Compelling Science Fiction (Special Kickstarter Companion issue Nov. 6, 2018) Mentions of sexual assault Reflected in Mirrored Skies by Deborah L. Davitt Mariana stood in the security room, listening to […] Source
Jan 23, 2025•30 min
Author : Deborah L. Davitt Narrator : Ibba Armancas Host : Mur Lafferty Audio Producer : Summer Brooks “Reflected in Mirrored Skies” was published by Compelling Science Fiction (Special Kickstarter Companion issue Nov. 6, 2018) Reflected in Mirrored Skies by Deborah L. Davitt Above them, stars; below, the endless roil of leaden clouds that engulfed […] Source
Jan 16, 2025•26 min
Don Ysidro (Excerpt) By Bruce Holland Rogers On that last morning, anyone who came to visit me could see that I was dying. I knew it myself. As if I had cotton in my ears, I heard the voice of don Leandro saying to my wife, “Dona Susana, I think it is time to fetch the priest,” and I thought, yes, it’s time.
Jan 09, 2025•20 min
Once Abandoned By A.P. Hawkins Sappel whistled as he walked to the construction site, the sound echoing off nearby buildings in a muffled way. It was early spring, and the city was bursting with the vibrant green of new growth. Wild edibles sprouted from rooftops like tufts of hair. Wildflowers and herbs crowded ledges beneath every window. Vines crawled over walls, buds promising fruit come summer. Out of all the buildings in the city, only the new one was bare. Its fresh grey concrete was hars...
Jan 02, 2025•33 min
Author : Simone Heller Narrator : Hugo Jackson Host : Valerie Valdes Audio Producer : Summer Brooks “Forever the Forest” was first published in “Life Beyond Us: An Original Anthology of SF Stories and Science Essays” (April 2023) Forever the Forest by Simone Heller It is known that the Rootless are only ever leaving. Always […] Source
Dec 26, 2024•37 min
Author : Craig Church Narrator : Rosie Sentman Host : Alasdair Stuart Audio Producer : Summer Brooks Escape Pod 972: The Bargain of Death and Saint Nicholas is an Escape Pod original. The Bargain of Death and Saint Nicholas by Craig Church “What’s your favorite tale?” I ask, voice quivering. My audience of thieves and […] Source
Dec 19, 2024•52 min
Author : Greg van Eekhout Narrator : Serah Eley Host : Mur Lafferty Audio Producer : Summer Brooks “In the Late December” appeared in Strange Horizons, December 2003. This story was also a Nebula Award Nominee! Contains some dark Santa-related imagery, and the heat death of the universe. In the Late December by Greg van […] Source
Dec 12, 2024•28 min
Author : Cat Rambo Narrator : Tina Connolly Host : Mur Lafferty Audio Producer : Summer Brooks “Red in Tooth and Cog” originally appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, 2016, and was previously published in Escape Pod 607 Red in Tooth and Cog By Cat Rambo A phone can be so much. […] Source
Dec 05, 2024•58 min
Code Switching (Part 4 of 4) By Malon Edwards (...continued from Part 3) 12. THIS IS THE TRUTELL MICHAËLLE-ANNABELLE FEAT. JEAN-MICHEL I strap into my rig, take a really big swig from my hydration dispenser tube I call The Ultra Black Vig, and settle back to begin this all-night white-hat gig. At first, I decide to do this like the Stig, but instead I shake awake my lightbox, pull on my knee-high fuzzy socks, and momentarily disable my sigTell locks. This is my double-dog dare for Saffron Sutton...
Nov 28, 2024•41 min
Code Switching (Part 3 of 4) By Malon Edwards (...Continued from Part 2) [JEAN-MICHEL] A SWEET-ASS HELICOPTER AND TEN STATER STRANGERS? JEAN-MICHEL FEAT. THE NAUGHTY NINETY-DAY FANDANGO I'm feelin' this Bell 525 Relentless like Ellen Gilchrist playin' bid whist wit her redheaded MILF temptress. She's a proper drawers dropper chopper wit no love for the paupers. Her black chrome exterior makes me want to chill in her eighty-eight-square-foot cabin interior until homo erectus becomes superior. And...
Nov 21, 2024•38 min
Code Switching (Part 2 of 4) By Malon Edwards (...Continued from Part 1) [JEAN-MICHEL] ONE HUNDRED PERCENT PERFORMANCE OUTPUT JEAN-MICHEL FEAT. KINSLEY CHASE Lòske jounalis sa yo gade m— Hold up. Let me say that again. I'll wait. Y'all go grab y'alls paper an' pen. When these Stater journos look at me, they don't juss see a Black boy. Nah, they also see a bio-electric, battery-operated toy, part of a Stanford Sutton Industries ploy to bring fat cat football alums joy. (Wit money. Anpil, anpil la...
Nov 14, 2024•42 min
Code Switching By Malon Edwards [JEAN-MICHEL] INTRO: ALL I'M EVER GON' DO IS STAY BLACK AND DIE JEAN-MICHEL FEAT. KINSLEY CHASE Kinsley Chase sits on manman mwen plastic-covered couch. The InTell HumbleBrag subprogram Stanford Sutton Industries chipped me with says she's wearing a circa 2020 Theresa Frostad Eggesbø Resurrection skinload. I had no idea this shit actually worked. I don't HumbleBrag. I thought it was all about narcissism and went in one direction, so I said fuck that shit. But Kins...
Nov 07, 2024•30 min
Authors : Sarina Dorie and Addison Smith Narrators : Tina Connolly and Andrew K. Hoe Hosts : Alasdair Stuart and Kat Day Audio Producer : Summer Brooks Escape Pod 965: T-Rex Tex Mex / Mother Death Learns a Trick is an Escape Pod original. T-Rex Tex Mex by Sarina Dorie “Whoa! Hold on, partner!” the […] Source
Oct 31, 2024•28 min
Show and Tell By Greg van Eekhout Teacher is an old-fashioned bug with a blue carapace and eyes like two domes of gold beads. She is very pretty and smells like follow, but when she flutters her wings you better look smart or you'll get her stinger in your belly. So we are quiet. We are three rows of quiet children, blinking slowly and steadily, as is polite. "Today, we are having Show and Tell," Teacher says, bending her antennae towards us. "I am certain you have all brought wonderful shows."...
Oct 24, 2024•21 min
Author : Julia Rios Narrators : Abra Staffin-Wiebe and Tatiana Grey Host : Valerie Valdes Audio Producer : Summer Brooks “To Catch a Flieff” was originally written as a bonus for backers of the Bridge to Elsewhere Kickstarter (an anthology of stories set on bridges of spaceships). Listen to Part 1: Escape Pod 962: To […] Source
Oct 17, 2024•34 min
Author : Julia Rios Narrators : Abra Staffin-Wiebe and Tatiana Grey Host : Valerie Valdes Audio Producer : Summer Brooks “To Catch a Flieff” was originally written as a bonus for backers of the Bridge to Elsewhere Kickstarter (an anthology of stories set on bridges of spaceships). To Catch a Flieff by Julia Rios Alessia […] Source
Oct 10, 2024•34 min
Mathball By Larry Hodges You are a baseball fan, sitting in the centerfield seats eating an overpriced hot dog. You are wearing a baseball cap, but not a batting helmet, of course. (Why would that be an issue? Hmm…)You smile brightly, but all will not end well for you unless you pay close attention. “Play ball!” cries the umpire, crouching behind the plate. The crowd roars. The pitcher stares down at the catcher, waiting for the sign. They are the home team. Thousands cheer for them. The batter ...
Oct 03, 2024•34 min
Author : Benjamin C. Kinney Narrator : Heather Thomas Host : Alasdair Stuart Audio Producer : Summer Brooks This story originally appeared in the anthology “The Internet Is Where The Robots Live Now” (Paper Dog Press, November 2018). Elegy of Carbon by Benjamin C. Kinney The miner birthed itself among rubble and vacuum, as it […] Source
Sep 26, 2024•40 min
This Little War of Ours By Arden Baker SECURE PRIORITY COMMUNIQUE distribution SOLITAIRE, keyword MASQUERADE, source PENTACLE FROM: TRIPLE INTENT TO: ASPHODEL BEGIN CONTENT Even if you’re my enemy, I’m glad to hear from you.
Sep 19, 2024•31 min
