By Jeff Carlson
Read by David Moore
Sauber wasn’t crazy. He’d planned on never hitting the same place twice. He even kept a check-list — near the toilet, in case it needed to be destroyed in a hurry. But two hundred and nine days crawled past before he’d bagged every store in Berkeley and Oakland, so it seemed impossible that anyone would remember him at Greenwald’s, his favorite. His first.
Sauber was at the register before the girl stopped him. “Those are mine,” she said, reaching out.
He held the packet against his chest. “What?”
“Look at the label.”
Of course he’d already studied it carefully. Thirty-six exposures, regular 35mm film. Jennifer Crisp. The address, written in delicate cursive, was just two blocks from here.
By Lavie Tidhar
Read by Ralph Walters
“Excuse me,” said the old man by the door. He was hidden from view behind the bookshelves, and though Gerald had seen him come in, he couldn’t see who he was talking to. “Does the presence of this chapter make it the true first edition or the second state? I can never remember, you see, whether ‘Fathers’ is the missing chapter or the correct one.”
“The pulped version, of course,” said a gruff voice behind the books.
“Ah, of course. Thank you.”
Gerald sat behind the counter, wrapped up in a coat, wondering what on earth they were talking about. He applied for the job at the small bookshop just off Charing Cross the week before, and to his surprise the owner — a short, stocky man who looked more like a bare-knuckle boxer than a bookseller — hired him.
“You start on Monday,” he said. “And don’t let the bastards steal anything or spend too long in the basement. If they start tapping on walls, or doing any other strange shit, kick them out.”
Mr. Mendoza seemed to have a low opinion of his customers. After a week of being left in charge of the shop, however — Mr. Mendoza having left for an unspecified length of time on what he called, in his strangely accented English, a “trade trip” — Gerald began to wonder.
This week’s episode sponsored by Audible.com, who has extended their generous offer of a free audiobook download of your choice from their selection of over 40,000 titles.
Standard Podcast [34:25m]:
Play Now |
Play in Popup |
Download
By Michele Lee
Read by Ben Phillips
Music by Harmaline
Home? it asks, clothed in black feathers and flesh. A winged messenger come to carry me home.
Yes! I cry silently. I turn towards it, trying to pull my arms from the wooden posts that bind them. The voice caws out in fear, then vanishes in a black blur into the sun.
Another one gone. I’ve lost count, and the math doesn’t matter any more.
They killed me I suppose. That pair of walking pools of hate. What else could have happened? I suppose I’d cry, if I could. If my tear ducts weren’t ash mixed with the glue remains of my eyes.
Standard Podcast [8:07m]:
Play Now |
Play in Popup |
Download
By Chandler Kaiden
Read by Richard Dansky
At first, there was only numb horror.
He couldn’t move his arms, couldn’t catch his breath. Everything was black. The thick stench of mildew, of rust and minerals, coagulated in his nose and throat. Steaming water spilled over his forehead, rained into his eyes, seeped between his lips. Brackish, foul water, full of chemicals.
It seemed to go on forever.
He tried to move. But he was confined, his limbs pressed tightly against his body.
When the water stopped, he heard dull, heavy thumping, like the machinations of an enormous water-logged engine.
The air was thick with steam. The foul water collected around his eyes, spilled into his nostrils, packed his sinuses.
There, in the wet darkness, he tried to drown himself. He inhaled the water. Tried to hold his breath — that breath he’d been instinctively fighting to catch when he came to — and found that he could hold it and hold it and hold it, and nothing happened.
_I want to die._
Standard Podcast [25:21m]:
Play Now |
Play in Popup |
Download
By Vinnie Hansen
Read by Ben Phillips
When had the idea first possessed her? Victoria peered about the dim one-car
garage and squatted to look under the counter along the wall. Pushed behind the
containers of old paint, the new bag of concrete stared ominously back at her. Ben had
hidden it like one would an Easter egg from a child. Did he think she was such a dolt she
wouldn’t notice? She came out here regularly to do laundry.
Ben had not said anything about a project requiring concrete. Neither had his
hunting buddy Jack. They always worked together. But there had been nary a word
about fixing a fence post or repairing the walk. She dragged the bag from its hiding spot,
proud of her strong, lithe body, even if Ben’s eyes constantly swiveled toward cleavage.
She forced herself to read the directions. She glanced around the garage for a water
container and decided she would have to use something from the house—the thermos,
maybe, or the plastic pitcher, but she didn’t want to return to the kitchen any sooner than
necessary.
This week’s episode sponsored by Audible.com, who has extended their generous offer of a free audiobook download of your choice from their selection of over 40,000 titles.
Standard Podcast [16:14m]:
Play Now |
Play in Popup |
Download
(Publisher’s Note: This is a repost to send out the corrected version of the file; the original download was unfortunately truncated a couple minutes from the end. Sorry, folks.) –Steve
By B.J. West
Read by Leann Mabry
“How long’s it been?”
“Almost a year.” She dabbed her eyes on her sleeve. “Seems longer though.
Gavin joined the Army just after we got married. They transferred him to
Fort Hannah when things started heating up with the Indians.”
Missy continued plucking clothespins. “My daddy was in the Army. I think I
saw him two weeks out of every year, usually at Christmas time. My momma
said that sometimes she felt like a widow.” Selena nodded again without
looking up. “You must really be looking forward to seeing him tomorrow.”
Selena only shrugged. Missy stopped and put her fists on her ample hips.
“You don’t look too excited about it. What’s the matter?”
“I’m scared.”
“What for? He’s still your husband.”
“I’m scared he won’t come.”
Standard Podcast [23:24m]:
Play Now |
Play in Popup |
Download
