A kitchen mishap leads to the accidental invention of the most powerful ice cream in the world. Genre: Science Fiction Excerpt : His portable, miniature laser beam healing aid flew out of his hand and landed in the still-open container of vanilla ice cream. Arthur pushed down the momentary surge of panic about the electronics in the laser. He reached out to pick the device out of the ice cream. Luminescent sparks made him recoil. What story or stories am I revisiting in this episode? Each Season...
Jun 27, 2025•38 min•Season 8Ep. 395
Two adventurous friends offer to help a scientist whose revolutionary invention for all mousekind isn’t exactly authorized. Genre: Science Fiction, Fable Excerpt : “What happened to gravity?” Matchstick asked, as he pushed his legs against a stone. The stone moved away from him, and he, moved away from it, and toward the other two mice. Mischief reached into her satchel for her pencil and pad. “Fab, we fell into the isolated chronon field. Can you confirm?” “I…” Doctor Fabaceous clutched the con...
Jun 20, 2025•37 min•Season 8Ep. 394
A studious, non-mischievous fairy fulfills her forbidden dream of traveling to the human realm...straight into a convenience store. Genre: Fairy Tale, Fantasy Excerpt : She passed her least favorite quill partly through the mirror and pulled it back to test. The quill appeared undamaged. So she next passed her least favorite finger through the mirror, gasping at the watery chill that passed through it as it passed through the mirror’s surface. Her finger too seemed unharmed. And so, in the most ...
Jun 13, 2025•30 min•Season 8Ep. 393
Weatherman Cliff Blazer is always receiving blazers from his fans. But the latest one he receives really takes the cake. Genre: Fantasy Excerpt : “So far, five people have come in complaining of difficulty breathing, and producing a strange croaking sound. Now, they’re still being treated, and the hospital staff is hesitant to speculate on what could be causing this, but the reason we’re reporting on this is that one of the patients has been discharged and we spoke to them earlier. They didn’t w...
Jun 06, 2025•40 min•Season 8Ep. 392
A god loses half her powers and is cast out of the heavens for the crime of sharing those power with mortals. Genre: Mythology Excerpt : She was far too kindly, and therefore looked upon with disdain by her fellow gods. The other gods feared that the balance of power was being tipped too much toward mortal creatures, to whom the kindly god had given many gifts… To teach her a lesson, the other gods diminished the kindly god by half. They took half her powers, half her wisdom, half her stature. T...
May 30, 2025•29 min•Season 8Ep. 391
Mythical flying horses couldn't possibly be real; but there is one that we all may meet in our most vulnerable hours. Genre: Mythology, Fantasy, Fairy Tale Excerpt : They emerge from the shadow-light of the moon mist. I resist the urge to reach out. I gasp and shiver. The room has grown cold. Not the crisp cold of winter. Not the numbing cold of ice. Not even the cold of night. It is a bracing but fortifying cold. A vast cold. What story or stories am I revisiting in this episode? Each Season 8 ...
May 23, 2025•25 min•Season 8Ep. 390
A group of curious and ingenious humans build a spyglass to peer into the realm of the gods, to find out why the gods are not governing the world as they were expected to. Genre: Mythology Excerpt : Not in the beginning, but early in the history of the world, many mortals suspected that the ones who called themselves gods were shirking their duty of properly governing the world. Some responded by entreating the gods. Others by railing against them. But a few decided to try answering the question...
May 16, 2025•43 min•Season 8Ep. 389
In an age long past, death was not a mystery, for a palm tree once grew upon the earth that served as a path between life and afterlife. Genre: Mythology Excerpt : He came by sea in ships laden with his forces… By day he attacked, and by night he attacked. They knew that they must destroy him. And they knew that they could not destroy him, for he was now too powerful. What story or stories am I revisiting in this episode? Each Season 8 episode is a standalone story, but it’s connected to or insp...
May 09, 2025•29 min•Season 8Ep. 388
Three children are determined to find out if the tales they’ve heard are true…that there is a god living in the middle of the forest outside their village. Genre: Mythology Excerpt : For a moment, there hung an expectant silence. The man was watching the bard on the closest stage, but he still caught the glances between the young folk at his table. And he still noted that there was one whose gaze never left his face. “The grown folk won’t tell us,” this one said, a little girl. “Are you the one ...
May 02, 2025•25 min•Season 8Ep. 387
A charlatan pretending to be a healer wins the king’s favor, but seems mostly harmless, until the day the king collapses and cannot be roused. Genre: Science Fiction, Mystery, Mythology Excerpt : The royal physician, Galena by name, examined the festering bruise just below the king’s ribcage. The king lay in a sleeping stupor. A state he had been in for three days, and yet it was only now, and only by order of the queen that the royal physician was allowed to examine her king. Galena peered down...
Apr 25, 2025•34 min•Season 8Ep. 386
We think we know their story. The asteroid. The extinction. But one person believes that the dinosaurs may have left more than their bones behind. Genre: Science Fiction, Mystery Excerpt : They saw it coming. And at first they were helpless. Despite how far they’d come in their hundred-million-plus years of existence, they were helpless to stop the asteroid that was headed right for them. So they didn’t stop it. But they didn’t stay helpless either. What story or stories am I revisiting in this ...
Apr 18, 2025•23 min•Season 8Ep. 385
A young woman becomes increasingly convinced that the radio receiver in her bargain headphones is picking up an alien transmission. Genre: Mystery, Science Fiction Excerpt : And I, as always, am Glormynx. As you know, this week, I’m interviewing citizens at all levels of society—soldiers, politicians, bakers, mongrel-walkers, scientists, and of course, poets. And I’m asking what they think about the planned invasion of Earth. What story or stories am I revisiting in this episode? Each Season 8 e...
Apr 11, 2025•32 min•Season 8Ep. 384
A woman observes an unnatural change in her sister linked to a chunk of amber that her sister stumbles upon and begins to study. Genre: Mystery Excerpt : I heard her climbing up to check on the source of the clatter, just as I had. And when I heard Marta enter the room and scream, half of me wanted to turn around and comfort her. The other half of me wanted to keep locking gazes with the specter that was floating outside the attic window. . What story or stories am I revisiting in this episode? ...
Apr 04, 2025•29 min•Season 8Ep. 383
Two friends uncover the truth behind the mysterious industrial accident that shuttered an organ preservation factory and cast its owner into ruin. Genre: Mystery, Science Fiction Excerpt : Jordan then glanced around the room, the basement room that was part of the secret underground laboratory beneath the abandoned factory that was once owned by Sabrina’s mother, Alectrona Fabron, the famed pioneer of organ preservation technology. It seemed Alectrona had figured out how to preserve more than ju...
Mar 28, 2025•36 min•Season 8Ep. 382
A woman with unique blood and a man with an uncanny sense of smell are targeted by a shadowy corporation seeking to shut down all research into synthetic blood. Genre: Mystery, Science Fiction Excerpt : Too much blood. Too much blood is dripping. He’ll smell it. He’ll find me. Once again, she stopped for a moment and leaned against a wall under the flashing red bulbs and the piercing alarm. She inhaled and drew the blood back into her body through the poorly sealed gash that arced over her shoul...
Mar 21, 2025•39 min•Season 8Ep. 381
A locked door, surrounded by scandal and rumor, stands in the middle of an office. No one ever goes in or comes out. Genre: Mystery, Science Fiction Excerpt : Every day on my way to my desk, I passed by a door with the words “PERMANENT DAMAGE” written on it. No one ever went in or came out—not that I’d seen anyway, and I’d been working at the firm for about a year. I asked people about the door, and the sign. They said there used to be another firm occupying our floor and the two below it. That ...
Mar 14, 2025•39 min•Season 8Ep. 380
An inventor of a memory management device realizes his invention is showing him a memory he hasn’t experienced, a dangerous memory. Genre: Mystery, Science Fiction Excerpt : “Memories are unreliable…” Max paused, hesitated actually. He’d rehearsed aloud what he was going to say so many times— despite not needing to remember the words— that he’d fooled himself into believing it all sounded reasonable. But now, he was about to say the words out loud to another person, the most critical person he c...
Mar 07, 2025•43 min•Season 8Ep. 379
Wil Winsome is a magician-for-hire, whose newest case may involved excising a possessing spirit from a beloved and fragile grandmother. Genre: Fairy Tale, Horror Excerpt : What I got from my mother was her hands. I am the only one among my brothers and sisters who can do real magic. It took study and struggle, true. I’m only half-fairy after all. I am also the only one because my brothers and sisters chose other paths. Paths less littered with singed parchment, bearing symbols written in the fad...
Feb 28, 2025•35 min•Season 8Ep. 378
When Lucinda’s dream of studying magic is dashed, she finds another chance in a grand royal contest that she’s been forbidden to enter. Genre: Fairy Tale Excerpt : “ Every spell I try turns to ashes. It was not my intention to teach myself. I merely have no other choice.” What story or stories am I revisiting in this episode? Each Season 8 episode is a standalone story, but it’s connected to or inspired by a previous story through a character, a place, an object, a concept, a continuation of eve...
Feb 21, 2025•45 min•Season 8Ep. 377
To be a beauty is both a burden and a boon. Genre: Fairy Tale Excerpt : Imelda’s beauty—while it may not have impressed in a city or even a large town—was quite surpassing in their little village. Surpassing enough to catch the eye of those with greater means. The girl wished to be learned. She wished to explore. Perhaps her beauty could make it so could do what she dreamed of doing. What story or stories am I revisiting in this episode? Each Season 8 episode is a standalone story, but it’s conn...
Feb 14, 2025•41 min•Season 8Ep. 376
A young woman aims to save her fairy friend—who is hunted by a demon—by creating an inescapable trap. Genre: Fairy Tale, Fantasy Excerpt : Victoria did not know, when she untangled a wild mouse from the brambles in which it had been caught, that the mouse was not really a mouse. And Victoria did not see that there was a cat lurking behind the trees nearby. She was too busy running from trouble herself. So Victoria did not see the mouse transforming back into her native form. Short brown fur beca...
Feb 07, 2025•32 min•Season 8Ep. 375
Something has disrupted the ethereal force that imbues all creatures in the world with magic. Genre: Mythology, Fable Excerpt : Once, in a long-forgotten age, every creature could live in every sphere. This was so because of an energy, a force that spun around and through the world. The elephants called it “ethereum.” The owls called it “magic.” What story or stories am I revisiting in this episode? Each Season 8 episode is a standalone story, but it’s connected to or inspired by a previous stor...
Jan 31, 2025•31 min•Season 8Ep. 374
There is only one currency that is able to abide at the nexus of all existence. In our world, we call it the black penny. Genre: Fantasy Excerpt : Touching the penny evoked a vision in my mind of a swirling whirlpool, not of water, but of stars. I felt a moment of calm sweep over me. The problems I faced were real and daunting and major. But there were things in the universe that dwarfed them. A little bit like how I dwarfed that little penny. What story or stories am I revisiting in this episod...
Jan 24, 2025•37 min•Season 8Ep. 373
Salis and Dulcine are not just twins, but the best of friends, despite their opposite natures; so when one of them falls into a deadly trap, the other will do anything to rescue their sibling. Genre: Fantasy, Mythology Excerpt : Even when they were still babies, people noted their opposite dispositions, which only became more obvious as the two grew older. Salis was well-liked by all, for he was sweet from his twinkling honey-colored eyes to his warm voice. But some considered him too gentle and...
Jan 17, 2025•45 min•Season 8Ep. 372
When two siblings play a board game where they must collect seven magic rings, they discover that the game pieces may possess real enchantment. Genre: Fantasy, Mythology Excerpt : “I…am a Mystery mage.” “Awesome. What does that mean?” August frowned down at the game board. “I don’t know. What do the rules say?” Nova was minding the rule book—or the guidebook as the cover proclaimed. She flipped through to the detailed descriptions of the seven rings. What story or stories am I revisiting in this...
Jan 10, 2025•30 min•Season 8Ep. 371
A young woman has trained and studied so that she could wield the mysterious powers she has inherited. Genre: Fantasy, Mythology Excerpt : “Did I almost die or something?” I asked. My mom frowned. “Don’t say things like that.” But then she glanced from side to side and peered at me. “Do you…see anything?” I shook my head. But I wasn’t worried. I had studied the “pragmata agnosta,” the “things unknowable” since I was a kid. Since the day I accepted them into my body and became a living container ...
Jan 03, 2025•36 min•Season 8Ep. 370
To rescue her child, Florisse places all her hopes upon a dangerous and alluring enchantment that may be broken. Genre: Fairy Tale, Fantasy Excerpt : Florisse looked down at her daughter and spied the twinkle in the baby’s eye. Perhaps she had caught hold of what she truly wanted after all. Baby Fawnette was not yet a year old, and as expected, she had upended the merry lives of her mother and father. Also, as expected, she had quite captured their hearts. What story or stories am I revisiting i...
Dec 27, 2024•43 min•Season 8Ep. 369
Spark has been wandering all her life. But her wandering had no purpose, until she began searching for a home. Genre: Mythology, Fable, Fantasy Excerpt : Spark had been traveling all her life. She’d never once landed in one place. But now she had. Now, she could be still. And she’d found this one place, this one twirling world. Exploring was exciting. But Spark was not quite exploring. She was searching for something. A place. One place. To settle. A home of her own. What story or stories am I r...
Dec 20, 2024•23 min•Season 8Ep. 368
A little girl longs for the heroic queen of their realm to visit her dreams and help her face a nightmarish monster. Genre: Fairy Tale, Fantasy Excerpt : “She did so come riding down out of the sky on a flying horse!” Carmen glanced around at the rest of her friends, daring anyone else to disagree. But no else did. She settled her gaze on the one who had interrupted her. Kavita crossed her arms and peered ahead with her cool dark eyes. Carmen continued to tell the gathered girls the wondrous tal...
Dec 13, 2024•25 min•Season 8Ep. 367
A town targeted by a warlord is defended by an unexpected army of...well, I’m sure you can guess. Genre: Fairy Tale Excerpt : The hilltop town of Adarak had a tradition of baking gingerbread men and setting them along the windowsills on the longest night of winter, facing outward, to keep the town safe from enemies— whether mortal or mystical. Many believed that this tradition arose in homage of the ginger-colored cloaks that the town guards wore, all the better to hide their movements through t...
Dec 07, 2024•29 min•Season 8Ep. 366
