We are deeply honored to be considered for your nomination. 

Links to all of the stories included in our voter materials can also be found below; you can read and listen to the story directly from our website. All episodes include content warnings, which may contain spoilers.

Voter Selection Episodes

• PseudoPod 963: Mavka, by A. D. Sui, narrated by Yelena Crane. 3953 words, duration 32:37 (original)
  2:45–3:14: You pray to forget this. You pray to forget the cold. Even under two wool blankets you’re always cold now. Skin and bones, you. A February moon hangs high in the starless sky when Andriy slips on the boots, soaked through from when you wore them earlier that day to gather firewood, and from when Ira goes to relieve herself at the outhouse earlier than that.

• PseudoPod 966: Fat Betty, by H. R. Laurence, narrated by Matthew Hamblin. 5159 words, duration 38:11 (reprint)
  20:00–20:33: I get up. “Come on,” I say to Jamie, and he gurgles something because there’s a big hole in his neck, where a copper’s lucky bullet has gone through as we slid.
      “Jamie,” I say. He’s left blood in all the muddy tracks we made, and he’s dead from the loss of it almost as soon as I’ve said that one word. I take the holdall heavy with money and ease the strap over his wet body and onto my shoulder. It’s a pity. It happens.

• PseudoPod 972: Some Say Art Deals with the Unexpected, by James Dorr, narrated by John Michnya. 4469 words words, duration 44:37 (reprint)
  17:53–18:16: You see, I came to realize that, for some purposes — times when I needed even more exquisite surface detail — human flesh can be better.  It grinds more cleanly even than veal and, under ideal circumstances, it will retain somewhat of its texture even when well past the point of thawing.

• PseudoPod 978: Where the Brass Band Plays, by Katie McIvor, narrated by Eliza Chan. 3787 words, duration 38:02  (original)
  7:12–7:32: About half the kids in my class were Dreamers now. Connie, who used to sit next to me, was one of the first to change. I think the teachers must have understood how hard that was for me, because they let me switch seats without comment. Some of the teachers were Dreamers too.

• PseudoPod 991: The Hermit Crab God, by ego_bot, narrated by Christopher Tang. 3646 words, duration 37:06  (original)
  2:04–2:33: “Behold the truth of this world, Koji, my friend,” said Masa. Pretending sophistication. “We live in a world made by humans, for humans. Don’t need a college degree to figure that out.” 
      Koji puffed on his cigarette. He was trying to enjoy the sunset in silence, but his friend kept going on about the trash strewn across the beach. As if anyone actually gave a shit about that.
     
• PseudoPod 998: The Story-Stealer’s Night, by Madhu Campbell, narrated by Suna Dasi. 4796 words, duration 44:22  (original)
  34:12–34:31: The last time Durga saw the Story-stealer, she lost everything: her stories, her imagination, her ability to feel her past, to hope and plan and anticipate her future. She lived in the sharp, painful present for two years until she found the gold ring.