The Overcast

An Evil Not Forgotten by Erik Buchanan. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. #fantasy #war #aftermath The soft whickering of the horses, not used to his presence, penetrates into Tyler’s sleep. His eyes snap open and his hand claws for the knife beside his makeshift bed. Still dark. Still raining. Still in the barn, the straw scratching his back through the thick blanket wrapped around his body. Still alone with his memories. Pounding rain. Soaked powder. Men and horses fighting through the mud....

Seven Cups of Tea by Gwen C. Katz. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. #fantasy #steampunk #fairytale This cup of tea is weak and bitter. It’s made of boiled roots, and the taste of dirt is still there. Eliza looks dubiously into the wooden cup. She likes sugar in her tea, white sugar especially, two lumps if she’s allowed it. But she senses that she will have no sugar at all for a very long time. The Prime Minister’s face hovers in her mind. His face is commanding rather than handsome,...

Twentyone Twentytwo Seven by dave ring. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. #fantasy #urbanfantasy #magicrealism “Drink, sir?” he asked. “Sure,” I said. “I thought I had to go to the cafe car for some reason.” “We are happy to accommodate you,” he said, and then mumbled something else through a pointed smile. His teeth gleamed white against the stubbled growth of beard on his jaw. “Sorry, what was that?” I asked, plucking the effervescent glass from the tray. Tiny pinpricks of coolness splashed...

Winter's Flowers by K.T. Wagner. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. #fantasy #magic #winter #snowqueen The late September sun warms Gerda’s arthritic knees while sparrows chirp from the roof. Her knitting needles slide and click, keeping rhythm with the squeak of her rocking chair against the porch floor. Across each row, she knits in the present, then purls back in her memories. She learned to purl after Nan died. Every day since, Gerda remembers Kay. Today, her daydream is about their childhood...

Grief by K.G. Anderson. Narrated by Rebecca Stern. Hosted by J.S. Arquin. #scifi #aliens #grief #therapy “Out of the question.” I drew back from the speakerphone on my mahogany desk, shaking my head, relieved that Kathleen Wilson couldn’t see my reaction to her request. Kathleen was a former client, a close friend—and the director of the Extraplanetary Relations Council in Washington D.C. “Please, Moira! The exopsychologists here at the Council want to study the ambassador, not help zhirm....

Marry the Rat by L.M. Zaerr. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. #fantasy #magic #rats #love The second steward climbed a white ladder and blew powder from his palm onto the clock. He was a monochrome person in a lavender livery and a frothy wig. I knew only that he suffered from bunions. “What is that powder?” I asked. “I won’t marry the rat!” “That’s no reason to poison her.” I knew the rat casually, and she seemed kind, in that haughty way of rats. “You can’t make me marry her. You’re the...

Bridge Over the Cunene by Gustavo Bondoni. Narrated by Theresa Bakken. Hosted by J.S. Arquin. #fantasy #zombies Botoso knew he was in trouble.He had no idea how in the world he was ever going to get back to the village.He had no idea where the village was.This was the first time he’d ever been outside the stockade without his mother or one of the other village adults to take care of him, and the sun was setting redly over the horizon. But he wasn’t frightened. He told himself that a...

Katabasis by Catherine George. Narrated by Jenna Hanchey. Hosted by J.S. Arquin. #fantasy #PNW #pacificcoast They found the foot on the beach the morning after the first winter storm. It was the dog that found it, really—the dog who caught the scent of something meaty and rotten, and strained at the leash until Hannah let him loose. There was no one on the rocky shore but the three of them anyhow, Hannah and Dave and Benji, no one to be bothered by the mutt as he ran snuffling through...

How Far Away the Stars by Sam Muller. Narrated by Joel Simler. Hosted by J.S. Arquin. #fantasy #knights #dragons Captain Kollz clears his throat. The sound is somehow elegant, like everything else about him. “You don’t say here how many dragons you have killed.” “I haven’t killed any, Captain Kollz, sir.” A whisper is all my flaming throat can manage. The captain clucks, like a well-bred hen. “Young man, this is the most prestigious military academy in the realm, the only place where...

Truer Love by Edd Vick. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. #scifi #love #virus My lover Dieter came to Duvall last month. I never expected him to drag his chain this far north; but such is love. Dieter only speaks German. His lover Minette had learned the language to please him, and translated. “He says his idol has died, Carl. He says he never stopped loving you.” We were sitting on rickety chairs in what had once been a Safeway. It was the largest space in the town, so we’d set it up for...

Migration by Laura Garrity. Narrated by Laura English. Hosted by J.S. Arquin. #fantasy #fiction #dinosaurs Then I heard it on the wind, a formless sound, like when thunder rolled through and echoed against the hills surrounding the valley. I saw a dark cloud on the horizon, but of course it wasn’t a cloud. “Leila,” I whispered. She must have heard it in my voice, because she came around the side of the enclosure with her hand on her gun. “What is it?” I was frozen and all I could do...

Headspace by Beth Cato. Narrated by Steve Quinn. Hosted by J.S. Arquin. #SciFi #cats The creature entered the light. "Damn," Akiko muttered. The ginger kitten had an odd, ambling gait that showed the sharp jut of its hips. God, the thing was half dead, and way too small. A runt, maybe, or just plain wasting away. Its mouth opened in a silent meow. A stubby tail stood upright as a flagpole. "Hey," she crooned, holding out a gloved hand. Before even reaching her, the critter began to...

A Shiver on the Web by Kai Hudson. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. #Fantasy “You wish to become a priestess?” Cara almost sneered. Wish wasn’t quite the term she would use. “Father said it’s the only way. With Mother gone and my brothers off to the war, my sisters need food. Clergy get extra rations during wartime, and I’m the oldest, so...” She didn’t bother to finish. The weaver smiled again, something mischievous in the curve of her lip. “But that is not what you want.” Cara released a...

Under Our Skin by Owen Leddy. Narrated by Rebecca Lee. Hosted by J.S. Arquin. #Scifi #bodyhorror #cyborg #power Mei is staring off toward the horizon, and I follow her gaze. From our vantage point in the Berkeley hills, we can see out across the bay to San Francisco. Out by Mission Bay, the prismatic glass corpmind towers loom – shards of pure, crystallized capital. As I stare at them, I know the liquid-helium-bathed quantum computer minds inside are staring back at me through ten million...

The Gallian Revolt as Seen From the Sama Sama Laundrobath by Brenda Kalt. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. #Sci-Fi #Revolution #Fromthemargins On the afternoon Imperial Blessing landed in Chemical Town, Ter Zamora watched from the door of the Sama-Sama Laundrobath as two Registered crew members climbed steep Pernam Way. Forcing her aching knees to lift her from the plastic chair, she called, "Hey, spacers! I wash your uniforms, your clothes. You take a bath. A water bath! A hot towel! Smell...

What More Could You Want by Alexandra Grunberg. Narrated by Marie Andrascik. Hosted by J.S. Arquin. #Fantasy #Family #Growingpains Valerie and Gillian knew their daughter Bernadette was impressionable. When Valerie would go to parent-teacher conferences, she knew that the teacher’s report on Bernadette’s behavior would depend entirely on which of her school friends she was idolizing that year. There was the terrible first grade, made more terrible because they did not know the phase would...

The Infernal Itch by Bruce Boston. Narrated by Joel Simler. Hosted by Erik Grove. #fantasy #writing #hell I turned up the hot water and let it flow across my body. I took the shampoo that Dr. Pederson had given me, poured a dose between my palms, and rubbed it into my scalp. As the medication penetrated the itching lessened and disappeared. I'd been through this routine before and knew relief would be temporary. Within hours it would again feel as if my scalp were infested by a colony of...

Captain Carthy's Bride by K.G. Anderson. Narrated by Rebecca Stern. Hosted by J.S. Arquin. #fantasy #ireland #selkie Footsteps coming down the cliffside trail. A rattle and clank from the pathway suggested that someone had set down a fishing rod and a bucket of bait. The young sea captain, for sure! Sheila imagined him raising the admiralty binoculars he wore on a leather strap around his neck. Sheila was ready. She lay naked, her flame-red hair spread out like a corona. She lay with...

C.R.A.P. by Sherry Shahan. Narrated by Kate Tierney. Hosted by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword written by Sherry Shahan. #scifi #dystopia #art #music #love Iris longs to be with others who resist State laws; others who risk punishment to express themselves however they choose; others who believe that what a person dreams is more important than exams devised to test how little you know about history. She’s been searching for a group she heard about during a blackout: C.R.A.P....

Ferryman by Ethan Jones. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Episode Hosted by Erik Grove. Featuring an afterword written by Ethan Jones. #Scifi I lay in the bunk, Gibson’s arm around me as he snored in my ear. Outside the porthole, the blackness of space, spinning, empty, endless. Ahead of us, in under a week, Gibson’s death by firing squad. This went sideways… Ethan Jones is a weird fiction writer currently working on a novel about a werewolf astronaut in love with a cyborg rock star. His story...