Author: Drabblecast Page 8 of 17

On April 7, 2015

Cover for Drabblecast episode Kiriki Grocery, by Tory Hoke

The last day of orientation at New Plymouth University, Work Placement called students up in pairs. Rhonda Morillo took the chair next to a big-boned blond girl–Deirdre, pretty sure–as their peer advisor announced their “exciting cultural opportunity”: stocking shelves at Kiriki Grocery.

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Drabblecast B-Sides 59 – The Sound of Useless Wings

On March 26, 2015

In Drabblecast B-Sides, Fantasy

I try to ignore my brothers and sisters as I do my work under the hot twin suns. They call me names. They call me dreamer. They call me innocent. They call me ridiculous.

All the while, I herd the rodents into the pen. I collect animal droppings and scatter them in the garden. I chew what long grass I can find and spit it out into the buckets so my mother can make the doughy bread that is a staple of the Hort diet.

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Drabblecast 354 – DoubleHeader XVIII: Sylvia Spruck Wrigley

On March 25, 2015

Alone — but not lonely.

Three days, we’ve been on this planet. Over a year, Earth-time. But we don’t talk about Earth-time anymore. It weakens morale, says Sir Overgeneral Halfish.

My morale went out the window when I found out that I was sentenced to be transported off planet.

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Drabblecast 353 – Primrose or Return to Il’maril

On March 21, 2015

“I will not leave this cavern,” the voice said as soon as I stepped into the cave mouth. A baritone decaying into vibrato, an old man’s voice, full of dignity and pride.

I tried to pinpoint its source, but the air was thick with fog. The haze seemed to originate from inside the chamber, where a mysterious current of cold wind blew from underground. All around me, where the vapour met the pink light, it glowed, the colour of the primrose buds in my terrarium back home. The thought of missing them in full bloom this year, pricked at me. Focus, Virginia, I told myself. Don’t be so bloody addled. There are lives on the line.

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Drabblecast 352 – Snow Day

On March 18, 2015

The shovel bit through the foamy snow on the top stair of my front porch, then stopped with a clang. I scraped away the snow to see what was beneath. Ice. Serve me right for not shoveling after the snow had fallen last night. It had thawed, then the temperature had dropped into the deep freeze, and now the steps and the sidewalk were frozen solid.

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Drabblecast 351 – DoubleHeader XVII: Camille Griep

On March 8, 2015

In Comedy, Drabblecast, Fantasy

The fiery orange sun hung high over the Bangkok skyline to the south. Professor Tina Montri rearranged her skirt and adjusted the alligator skin briefcase on her lap which held the presentation and research notes from her talk at the university. A breeze stirred on the back of her neck, warm and relaxing. She could almost fall asleep if it weren’t for her precarious perch at the top of a tree.

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Drabblecast B-Sides 58 – Copycrime

On March 7, 2015

In Drabblecast B-Sides, Sci-Fi

On a grey misty day in November 2028,the clock in Winston’s room struck fourteen. He’d hacked the clock’s mechanism to make his point. Old-fashioned clockwork was the only thing left that could still be hacked.

“Fourteen chimes,” he declaimed into his diary,”represents the fourteen years that copyright originally lasted. But today is the centenary of Disney’s _Steamboat Willie_. One hundred years after its premiere, it’s still locked up. Copyright keeps getting extended, and enforcement is ever more intrusive. Look!”

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Drabblecast 350 – Trifecta XXX: Something Fishy

On February 18, 2015

In Drabblecast, Fantasy, Horror

Izam’s fingers moved on their own. They found his sunken chest. And counted his ribs.

His father would have slapped his hand away. A stupid habit of a stupid boy. A stupid starving boy who counted his ribs when he was hungry even though it only made him hungrier. Izam knew it was stupid
but he could not help it. He was so hungry.

The ocean was silent. The boat was still, the fishing line as motionless as ever. The last rays of sun sparkled on the waves. There would be no fish today. No food. Izam’s fingers brushed his chest and began counting his ribs again. No food for another day.

The line tugged. The rod tore from his hand.

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Drabblecast 349 – The Island of White Houses

On February 8, 2015

Today I am going to the island.

I climb the slick wood stairs down to Whitmuth beach. The wind blows fierce through the town like usual and swirls back out to sea, smoky with our coal fires and smacking with hot oil from the fry shops up and down the boardwalk.

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Drabblecast 348 – DoubleHeader XVI: LiAnn Yim

On January 25, 2015

The fish were restless. They spun the water mossy dark until the pond was the color of crushed bottles.

Pey held onto her sister’s hand. They peered down at the water.

This morning, their mother opened her eyes and said she was too cold to get out of bed, so their father said they would spend the afternoon at the hot springs.

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Drabblecast B-Sides 57 – The Pain Peddlers

On January 24, 2015

In Drabblecast B-Sides, Horror, Sci-Fi

The phone bleeped. Northrop nudged the cut-in switch and heard Maurillo say, “we got a gangrene, chief. They’re amputating tonight.”

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Drabblecast 347 – Why I Hate Zombie Unicorns

On January 10, 2015

In Comedy, Drabblecast, Fantasy, Horror, Strange

The good news is, zombie unicorns almost never bite. The bad news is, even a tiny scratch from a zombie unicorn horn will turn you into a zombie. Mom discovered that by accident.

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Drabblecast 346 – Remission

On December 30, 2014

Susan found her boss’s feelings drawer by accident. She drank too much and took a wrong turn in Sundrun’s apartment at the office holiday party, while looking for the bathroom. It had been all the rage five
years ago, getting your feelings surgically removed. After a sensectomies, some people had the feelings stuffed or encased in glass to use as paperweights so they could show them off during meetings with clients. That’s my fear, the size of an inchworm! Impressive, isn’t it?

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Drabblecast B-Sides 56 – Tick Flick

On December 29, 2014

In Drabblecast B-Sides, Sci-Fi, Strange

Greg jabbed Jeff’s third shoulder, though he made sure he didn’t hit hard enough to capsize the snack bucket. Jeff would make him pay if he did. “Quit hoggin’ the candy. Trailer’s almost over.”
Jeff took his mouth out of his food long enough to ask, “What kind you want?”
“You know. A softy.”
“None left.”
“Liar! I know you ain’t drunk ’em all yet.”
Jeff shrugged all his shoulders and relented. “Here.”

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Drabblecast 345 – Cat With Blue Fur Trifecta

On December 19, 2014

In Comedy, Drabblecast, Fantasy, Horror, Sci-Fi

A collection of stories from the Cat With Blue Fur Writing Contest.

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Drabblecast 344 – Doubleheader XV

On December 7, 2014

The chair first appeared on a Thursday afternoon on the sidewalk in front of the Dollar Bank and Trust on Lancaster Street in Pulaski, Kansas. Nobody saw how it got there. At least, no reliable eyewitnesses have ever come forward, so we are unable to pinpoint the exact moment of its arrival. Customers began to ask the tellers about it shortly after lunch.

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Drabblecast B-Sides 55 – The Lonely Child

On November 23, 2014

In Drabblecast B-Sides, Horror

Something pricked Marla’s hand. Groggily, very much so, she turned over in bed and spoke to her husband.

“John,” Marla whispered, trying to keep the irritation out of her voice, “turn on the light. There’s a pin in the bed.”

“What?” Her husband rolled over in the dark, and she felt his elbow bump into her leg.

“John, there’s a needle. In the bed. With your baby. Turn on the light.” Her words were firm. John got up and turned on the light, looking at her unsteadily.

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Drabblecast 343 – Captain Confederation

On November 23, 2014

In Comedy, Drabblecast, Fantasy

Captain Confederation was annoyed when he got off the elevator and it showed. It would have been so simple and logical for him to land on the roof of the Superhero Administration Centre, or in the ample grounds surrounding it, but these alternatives were no longer open to him. Last month Transport Canada had proposed a regulation requiring superheroes to take off and land from helipads unless actually fighting crime, and for some inexplicable reason the Department of Superhero Affairs had gone along with it.

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Drabblecast 342 – I’m Bill Kurtis