PseudoPod 353: FLASH ON THE BORDERLANDS XVII: Keeping Up Appearances
Show Notes
Things are not always as they seem…
Help Gail Carriger get CRUDRAT up and running by checking out: CRUDRAT!
Interstitial music is “Fearless Bleeder” by Chimpy, from Music Alley.
“Down By The Sea Near The Great Big Rock” first appeared in MASQUES (1984).
“The Demon Fields” has been performed in San Diego, and can be found at Gchatus, but Pseudopod is its first published appearance.
A shorter version of “Pawn” was a Semifinalist in the 2010 Escape Pod flash contest, where it was titled “Queen.”
“Down By The Sea Near The Great Big Rock” by Joe R. Lansdale
Down by the sea near the great big rock, they made their camp and toasted marshmallows over a small, fine fire. The night was pleasantly chill and the sea spray cold. Laughing, talking, eating the gooey marshmallows, they had one swell time; just them, the sand, the sea and the sky, and the great big rock.
“The Demon Fields” by Keith McCleary
One day, one of the farmhands mustered the courage to ask him what the barn was all about. Ben squinted at the structure in the distance, picked a reed to chew on and crossed his burly arms across his barrel chest. ‘Well boys,’ he said. ‘That barn’s gonna hold my demons. Ev’ry man’s got ’em. Gotta get ‘em stored away if I ever want to share this farm with someone. Can’t have ‘em runnin’ loose, now can I?’ and he smiled.
“Pawn” by Jaki Idler
The pain of pushing the larva through the very flesh of my transgression should be punishment enough. But mating was the Queen’s privilege, not the bait’s, and she’d ensure I’d rather die than overstep again. She called the lair witness, lest my lesson bear repeating. I squatted and bore down, slave to more primeval powers. My lair sisters ringed the cavern, tall and smug, every stiff spine saying they knew better. I’d known better.
About the Authors
Jaki Idler
Jaki Idler lives outside Philadelphia where she writes, teaches and – despite any literary evidence to the contrary – raises two wonderful boys. Her day job is bringing other’s stories to life. You can follow her writing at Idle Truths. She just narrated her own story “Terminal” for Wicked Women Writers 2012 at HorrorAddicts.net. She’s also thrilled to read Crystal Connor’s “Spores” on podiobooks.com (pending).
Keith McCleary
KEITH McCLEARY is an MFA student at UCSD, and received his BFA in Film at NYU. His work has or is due to appear in Heavy Metal magazine, Weave, Flash, Short Fast and Deadly, the San Diego Poetry Annual, and in comic books he has written and illustrated for Terminal Press. He has also served as a copyeditor for Kill Screen Magazine. Keith maintains a semi-regular presence at his flash fiction tumblr, Gchatus and his website, Weird Things I Have Done.
Joe R. Lansdale
JOE R. LANSDALE has written over thirty books, and numerous short stories. He has won a multitude of awards, including the Edgar for his novel THE BOTTOMS, and his novella BUBBA HO-TEP was made into the popular film starring Bruce Campbell. His current book is EDGE OF DARK WATER, and forthcoming in September is THE THICKET, both from Mulholland Books. Joe blogs here and you can also follow him on Facebook.
About the Narrators
Kevin M. Hayes
For Kevin M. Hayes, involvement in science fiction, fantasy and horror began at a very young age as an insatiable reader. Eventually he grew from passive reader to active participation as a writer. He became involved with Parsec, the SF/F/H organization in Western Pennsylvania and had his first story, “Rumpled Bedfellows” published in a fan produced anthology called “Six from Parsec.” (it’s still available if you ask nicely) Then his story, “The Thithshtach Diner” won the Parsec Short Story Contest in 2001 He went on to sell it to an e-zine called “Speculon.” He’s been published in Parsec INK’s first two Triangulation anthologies in 2003 and 2004 and even had clean limericks in a chap book. He’s had stories in “The Realm Beyond” and “TV Gods” both from Fortress Publishing and also a story in WorD Publishing’s first anthology: “Knee Deep in Little Devils.” He’s working on another anthology for WorD called “Beer, Because Your Friends Aren’t That Interesting” and he has co-moderated the WorD writing and critique group for over ten years. He is deeply involved with Parsec and the Pittsburgh science fiction community on many levels. It isn’t clear how Kevin became involved with PseudoPod, EscapePod, PodCastle and Cast of Wonders, but when he found them, he knew he wanted to narrate stories, as well as write, and has had the good fortune to have done it for over eight years.
Corson Bremer
Corson Bremer is an American living in France. He began acting professionally, as well as working as an on-air presenter in radio, while still in college in the States studying theater and technical communication. In his varied career he has been an actor, Technical Director and Set Designer for the theater; a commercial copywriter, Program Director, and producer for radio; a grant writer for non-profit organizations; and a technical writer writing user documentation for hardware and software for companies like Bull, Alcatel-Lucent, HP, and Thomson Reuters. (more…)
