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Drabblecast 430 – Notes from the Assistant’s Intern

On August 17, 2020

In Comedy, Drabblecast, Horror

This week on the Drabblecast: dirty jobs. We bring you a quirky original tale by Bryan Miller about mad scientists and henchmen gone awry. Enjoy!

The bulletin board posting specifically stated that the internship required “special skills,” “unorthodox hours,” and an “old-fashioned go-getter,” so I can’t really complain as I’m digging up coffins in search of heads.

Even though the graveyard muck is hell on my Cole Haan shoes, I roll up the sleeves of my Oxford shirt and keep working that spade. Dress for the job you want. One day some intrepid young man—or woman!—may be fetching moldering crania for me. Assuming all goes well.

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Drabblecast Director’s Cut – The Box Born Wraith

On May 11, 2019

In Director's Cut, Drabblecast, Horror

“Just Lookin’ for Chocolate.”

Norm and author Kevin Anderson discuss the horror genre, the origins of Cryptkeeper Norm, and of course, the hit story “The Box-Born Wraith” featured as Drabblecast episode 87 back in 2008 and published as our second official Halloween Special.

“We all die in the dark, Benny…”

Another Drabblecast Director’s Cut bringing more detail and author insights to a fan favorite episode.

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Drabblecast 388 – Skullpocket: Part 2

On November 8, 2018

In Drabblecast, Horror

The Drabblecast completes its triumphant return with the conclusion of this two-part Halloween special: “Skullpocket: Part 2” by Nathan Ballingrud!

In this riveting finale we learn the origins of the Orchid Girl, the mystery behind Skull Pocket Fair, and the horrible truth behind the Extinction Event. A freak show awaits you indeed!

Story Excerpt:

But everything changed when Wormcake and his friends entered the room. The Orchid Girl sat a bit straighter, as if she had heard or felt something peculiar. She stood on her feet and looked out at the crowd. Almost immediately her gaze fell upon the ghoul children, as though she could sense them through some preternatural ability, and then, children, the most amazing thing happened. The thing that changed the ghouls’ lives, her own life, and the lives of everyone in Hob’s Landing forever afterward.

Her face opened along the red lines and bloomed in bright, glorious petals of white and purple and green. Her body was only a disguise, you see. She was a gorgeous flower masquerading as a human being.

Nathan Ballingrund is a Shirley Jackson Award winning author of horror and dark fiction. Part One of his tale was published last week so give that a listen if you haven’t.

We’re also happy to announce that the Drabblecast Reborn Preorder Store is now up and running. We’ve got a whole bunch of cool schwag up there to check out. So if you wanted to get your hands on some of our exclusive Kickstarter items and you weren’t able to back us, or you wanna beef up your support, this is the place.

And now the chilling conclusion (the full story is printed below the player or after the jump):

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Drabblecast 387 – Skullpocket: Part 1

On October 31, 2018

In Drabblecast, Horror

The Drabblecast is finally reborn with this special two-part Halloween story: “Skullpocket” by Nathan Ballingrud!

It’s been a long year and a half(ish), folks. Death just isn’t what it used to be. Frankly it’s boring. Everyone screaming and crying at each other, the incessant heat, obsessive social media addicts—it gets old, ya know? Can’t we just stop wallowing and enjoy a good story? So we rang the bell of our ratty old safety coffin (cause those are still a thing, right?) and you actually dug us up!

Now this old corpse has some new stories just for you. First up is Nathan Ballingrud’s “Skullpocket” told in two parts. Nathan Ballingrund is a Shirley Jackson Award winning author of horror and dark fiction. It’s a sinister tale about Mr. Wormcake and one terrible game…

Story Excerpt:

Jonathan Wormcake, the Eminent Corpse of Hob’s Landing, greets me at the door himself. Normally one of his several servants would perform this minor duty, and I can only assume it’s my role as a priest in the Church of the Maggot that affords me this special attention. I certainly don’t believe it has anything to do with our first encounter, fifty years ago this very day. I’d be surprised if he remembers that at all.

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Drabblecast Fan Pick: Followed

On October 8, 2018

In Comedy, Drabblecast, Horror

The Drabblecast Reborn Kickstarter campaign continues! Today, Fan Picks: Followed, by Will McIntosh as chosen and introduced by Drabblecast fan Boo Yeah. Hear her thoughts on an unsettling story about living with the consequences of our actions…

This story originally aired in 2011.

Story Excerpt:

She came wandering down the sidewalk like any other corpse, her herky-jerky walk unmistakable among the fluid strides of the living. She was six or seven, Southeast Asian, maybe Indian, her ragged clothes caked in dried mud. Pedestrians cut a wide berth around her without noticing her at all…

So enjoy this Fan Pick:

Drabblecast Fan Picks: Followed

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Drabbleclassics 11 – The Box Born Wraith (87)

By Charity Helton

On October 31, 2014

In Drabbleclassics, Horror

“I don’t want to die in the dark!”
“We all die in the dark, Benny…”

Norm spends this episode doing his very best cheesy Vincent Price styled horror show host (Note: not a Vincent Price imitation, but an imitation of a really bad Vincent Price imitator), complete with an interminable string of puns about “ghouls” and “ghosts.” As this year’s Halloween treat, Norm selects a truly terrifying story from frequently heard contributor Kevin David Anderson, also seen in Dark Animus, and numerous other publications which include the word “Dark” in their titles. In “The Box Born Wraith,” an unexpected encounter between a condemned mobster and a tribe of hungry ghouls changes both the captive and the captors. Finally, still in character, Norm urges listeners to face the horrors of the voting booth in November’s election.

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Drabbleclassics 6 – The Outsider (175)

By Charity Helton

On August 31, 2014

In Drabbleclassics, Horror, Lovecraft Month, Mystery

Here it is again – the very first H.P. Lovecraft month special! Listen in as we try to figure out what it’s all about at the end of the episode!

Unhappy is he to whom the memories of childhood bring only fear and sadness. Wretched is he who looks back upon lone hours in vast and dismal chambers with brown hangings and maddening rows of antique books. Such a lot the gods gave to me – to me, the dazed, the disappointed; the barren, the broken…

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Cover for Drabblecast episode 266, Little Grace of the House of Death, by Caroline Parkinson

Drabblecast 266 – Little Grace of the House of Death

On December 18, 2012

In Drabblecast, Fantasy, Horror

The niece of King Death had not yet chosen a name. She was the only daughter and youngest child of Death’s sister, Merciful Grace, and everyone still called her by her baby name, Little Grace…

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Drabblecast 255 – The Wreck of the Charles Dexter Ward pt. 2

On September 6, 2012

In Action, Drabblecast, Horror, Sci-Fi

Looking away from the light that showed the Charles Dexter Ward was no longer entirely dead was as hard as opening a rusted zipper. But Cynthia did it, and didn’t let herself look back She pulled Hester a little further down the corridor and said, “Now we really need to know how she killed him. And whether it’ll work a second time…”

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Drabblecast 254 – The Wreck of the Charles Dexter Ward pt. 1

On August 31, 2012

In Drabblecast, Horror, Sci-Fi

Six weeks into her involuntary tenure on Faraday Station, Cynthia Feuerwerker needed a job. She could no longer afford to be choosy about it, either; her oxygen tax was due, and you didn’t have to be a medical doctor to understand the difficulties inherent in trying to breathe vacuum.

You didn’t have to be, but Cynthia was one. Or had been, until the allegations of malpractice and unlicensed experimentation began to catch up with her. As they had done, here at Faraday, six weeks ago…

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Cover for Drabblecast 241, The Dead, by John Deberge

Drabblecast 241 – The Dead

On April 26, 2012

In Drabblecast, Drama, Fantasy, Horror

Three boy zombies in matching red jackets bussed our table, bringing water, lighting candles, brushing away the crumbs between courses. Their eyes were dark, attentive, lifeless…

This episode of The Drabblecast is all about zombies. In the drabble, a post-outbreak actor is almost too talented for his own good. In the feature, a job interview leads Donald to contemplate the horrors of an economic zombie apocalypse: What happens to the living when the dead become a more valuable, more efficient substitute for both industrial and private uses?

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Drabblecast 217 – Followed

On September 26, 2011

In Comedy, Drabblecast, Horror

This episode of the Drabblecast presents “Followed” by Will McIntosh.

Norm also starts to ponder the nature of the undead. We conclude In Search of the Brain-Eating Nandi Bear serial featuring cryptozoologist Connor Choadsworth.

Following that is our feature story by Will McIntosh, author of Soft Apocalypse and the upcoming Hitchers.

Story Excerpt:

She came wandering down the sidewalk like any other corpse, her herky-jerky walk unmistakable among the fluid strides of the living. She was six or seven, Southeast Asian, maybe Indian, her ragged clothes caked in dried mud. Pedestrians cut a wide berth around her without noticing her at all…

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Cover for Drabblecast episode 199, In the Octopus's Garden, by Bill Halliar

Drabblecast 199 – In the Octopus’s Garden

On February 27, 2011

In Drabblecast, Horror, Mystery

I woke to this new darkness, swirling about me. A phrase sticking in my mind — “Lazarus Syndrome.” What happened to people when they had died, but, for some reason, some lack of death’s completion — some unfinished business — had rejoined the living.

In this episode of the Drabblecast, with a theme ‘Control,’ Norm speculates on zombies as dependents. In the drabble, we visit the zombie apocolypse. In the feature story, the consciousness of a slain man forms a being out of his remains, and the sea life around the. What is the nature of this entity, what is its place, and ultimately, what is its sinister purpose?

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Cover for Drabblecast episode 197, Death Comes But Twice, by Phil Pomphrey

Drabblecast 197 – Death Comes But Twice

On February 7, 2011

In Drabblecast, Horror

As always, he took delight in my interest in the scientific pursuits. ‘My assistant took the journey yesterday, by way of a shot to the heart. Prior to that, our trials on convicts included strangling, drowning, and beheading. By Jove! That reanimation was a sight to see…

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Drabblecast 175 – The Outsider

On August 10, 2010

In Drabblecast, Horror, Mystery

Unhappy is he to whom the memories of childhood bring only fear and sadness. Wretched is he who looks back upon lone hours in vast and dismal chambers with brown hangings and maddening rows of antique books. Such a lot the gods gave to me – to me, the dazed, the disappointed; the barren, the broken…

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Drabblecast B-Sides 8 – The Elves Hate You

On December 27, 2009

In Action, Comedy, Drabblecast B-Sides, Fantasy, Horror, Strange

“You’re sure that’s not a vulcan?”

Pikachimp, Vlad’s right-arm man shook his head.

“Nah. Them’s elves all right. And the tall one’s been shopping same place as you.”

Vlad’s preternatural sight was perfectly adapted to the club’s dim lighting.

“You’re right. I can’t believe he has the nerve to wear that in here. I practically invented throat-ruffles. C’mon, let’s show those pansies they can’t mess with vampires..”

Drabblecast B-Sides: <a href="http://www.drabblecast.org/donate/">Donate</a>

Drabblecast B-Sides 4 – Support Group for the Supernaturally Experienced

On June 15, 2009

In Comedy, Drabblecast B-Sides, Horror

“I can smell the blood on your hands, I can smell your innocence dead and stinking on your breath!”

Max quickly glanced down at his clean hands. Just before he arrived he had washed them with disinfectant soap and meticulously cleaned under the nails.”

Drabblecast B-Sides: <a href="http://www.drabblecast.org/donate/">Donate</a>

Cover for Drabblecast episode 87, Box Born Wraith, by David Flett

Drabblecast 87 – The Box Born Wraith

On October 29, 2008

In Drabblecast, Horror

“I don’t want to die in the dark!”
“We all die in the dark, Benny…”

Norm spends this episode doing his very best cheesy Vincent Price styled horror show host (Note: not a Vincent Price imitation, but an imitation of a really bad Vincent Price imitator), complete with an interminable string of puns about “ghouls” and “ghosts.” As this year’s Halloween treat, Norm selects a truly terrifying story from frequently heard contributor Kevin David Anderson, also seen in Dark Animus, and numerous other publications which include the word “Dark” in their titles. In “The Box Born Wraith,” an unexpected encounter between a condemned mobster and a tribe of hungry ghouls changes both the captive and the captors. Finally, still in character, Norm urges listeners to face the horrors of the voting booth in November’s election.

Podcast: Download

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Cover for Drabblecast episode 77, Permanent Detention, by Bo Kaier

Drabblecast 77 – Permanent Detention

On August 20, 2008

In Drabblecast, Horror

“But Dad, he scares me….”
“I don’t care if he’s got three eyes and tentacles. He’s your teacher and you need to pass his class. Case closed…”

High school horrors delight us in this episode. In the news, we learn that Bigfoot is dead, if he was ever alive, which he might not have been, so he might not be dead! Feedback from Exit by Jeff Carlson and All In by Peter Atwood.

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Cover for Drabblecast episode 70, Reality Bites, by Matt Cowens

Drabblecast 70 – Reality Bites!

On June 25, 2008

In Comedy, Drabblecast, Horror

“Well Mr. Merrill, as my associate informed your brother, it is the official opinion of Fundamental Insurance that you are not dead per se….”

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