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Pseudopod 208: The Evil-Eater


The Evil-Eater

by Peadar Ó Guilín


The giant left them to be replaced by a man bearing a pair of earthenware bowls containing a dark, lumpy substance. Marie watched it warily, and Toby knew she was already thinking of leaving. She had expected champagne and chandeliers; a feast of caviar and lobster while famous men took time out from their wives to steal glances at her across the room. Her dreams did not include the absence of a menu, brown lumpy stuff and a waiter who looked like he’d eaten bad chicken the night before. In fact, Toby noticed, while the wine stewards were all fine, strong men, the food waiters who passed through the flickering firelight were frightening to behold. Their faces shone with a veneer of sweat which beaded and ran into the rough spun tunics they wore. They shook as though palsied, and each of them moved as slowly as possible, hurrying only under the glare of the wine stewards. Not one of them looked Irish.

“What is this bleedin’ crap!” hissed Marie.

“Er-Erta,” said the waiter. He looked terrified. “Erta.”

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Pseudopod 207: Papa Was a Gypsy


Papa Was a Gypsy

By Shannon Celebi


She must be mad or fool or both: followin’ ghosts, half naked like Mama was when she got killed. And then it struck her like a hurricane deep in her throat, a kinda knowin’ dread that made her knees go weak.

“What happened to you, Mama?” Elma asked. She never asked before cuz she reckoned Mama wouldn’t answer, but this time Mama made a small sound, a grunt, like she was tryin’ to talk but couldn’t remember how.

“Were you followin’ a ghost, Mama?”

Mama made the sound again.

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Pseudopod 206: Flash on the Borderlands IV

Show Notes

Just when you thought it was finally dead… We’re back! And tragedies always come in threes.


A Natural

By Sylvia Hiven


Bill glanced into the mirror, certain that the truth was etched into his features. But an oddly calm face stared back at him. Sure, it was thin and wrinkled — and perhaps paler than most — but it was decorated with friendly blue eyes, and there was no sign of distress. No, sir.


Shadows’ Bride

By Marie Brennan


Their laughter is the silence of empty rooms, the hush of dust lying decades thick. Their smiles leer from metal reflections marred by tarnish and rust. Their jest has entertained them for many a year.


Is This a Horror Story?

By Scott Edelman


I wanted those photos out of our house, but no one in authority could be reached that night. I went to sleep expecting nightmares, but none came.

 

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Hiatus for Aug-Sept 2010


Pseudopod is on hiatus until October 2010. In the meantime, dig through the archives or try these other fine, free, wonderfully bent audio fiction publishers:

Drabblecast

Transmissions From Beyond

The Classic Tales

Frequency of Fear

October Country Radio

Scott Sigler

and Cast Macabre, who made a nice timely promo and everything:

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Pseudopod 205: Gulls


Gulls

by Tim Pratt


A high fence of weathered wood ran along the right side, partitioning the beach for the people in the hotel. The fence ran for a distance even into the water before giving up hope of division. Harriet heard happy shouts and laughter from the other side. It was a gleaming white hotel with balconies on the back; she could see the top floors rising over the fence, much better than the ramshackle crammed-in house with rusty showerheads and sand in the mattresses. Same water, she thought, squelching her envy, they get the same beach we do.

But this was a sad little beach. Grady surged like a live wire, pulling away and eager to be in the grey-green water, but she held on and stepped with distaste around broken beer-bottles and chunks of styrofoam. The horizon was infinite and curved but the air stank of fish.

 

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Pseudopod 204: Her Collection of Intimacy


Her Collection of Intimacy

By Paul Haines


I wanted her to say she’d had a few long-term boyfriends, a couple of one-night-stands. The fewer lovers the better. I wanted her to make me feel superior in my sexual conquest of the world.

I wanted her to say that, but I knew she wouldn’t.

She recorded our lovemaking sessions to watch later. I knew what that meant in terms of experience. I wanted to be cool about it. I wanted to be able to handle it. Whatever went before didn’t matter.

 

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Pseudopod 203: Flash on the Borderlands III

Show Notes

Ladies’ night at the meat market. A threesome of delectable flash fiction morsels.


“My Body Your Banquet” first appeared in Hell in the Heartland.

“Sight Unseen” and “The Lot” are PseudoPod originals.


My Body Your Banquet

By C.S.E. Cooney

The man next door was interested in eating human flesh. He said as much, last time I took the trash out to the alley.


Sight Unseen

By R. Scott Shanks, Jr.

“Wherever you touch yourself, you will feel my hands touching you.” Sylvie reached for her aching head and felt a man’s rough hand twined in her hair, gently but firmly pushing her face into her graying sheets.


The Lot

By C.M. Harris
Read by Eve

It’s The Call of The Hydrae. It’s started.

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scheduling


Episode 203, scheduled for July 16, will be tardy by perhaps a week or so I can tell you now. All this schedule craziness is what you get when you’re working at the last minute and have no time, a syndrome which I intend to terminate with the assistance of a two-month hiatus over August and September 2010. We will return with a vengeance in October. It’s the first such hiatus Pseudopod has ever taken. Oh, I’m not taking a vacation of any kind, and we’re not closing to submissions either — our associate editors continue to slave away all month, every month, giving as much personal feedback to authors as they have time to give. I’ve just fallen so far behind with submissions, production, and administrative duties, that if Pseudopod doesn’t air for those two months it will *just* let me, and incidentally the budget, keep from sinking. Assuming donations don’t drop off as a result… but we have to do this. Delegating only gets me so far, and I would rather take a break and come back with quality shows than resort to stopgap measures.

The winners of our flash fiction contest will still be produced, either in October or sooner. Voting in our final poll closes July 22, so you can go there for some free online fiction! Vote for your favorites. (Free registration is required to see the candidates and vote. No, we’re not going to spam you — it’s a legal kludge so they remain technically unpublished.)

Enjoy the rest of July — we’ll post them as soon as we can.

– Ben Phillips, chief editor