🚀 The story continues …
Part Two is out! Dropping this week on Lightspeed Magazine is the next installment of It Holds Her in the Palm of One Hand by Lowry Poletti, a really unique sci-fi story podcast I so enjoyed narrating. If you’ve been following along, you know things are getting interesting …
To find out what happens next, head on over to LightspeedMagazine.com, where you can listen to or read Part Two now.
Click here if you missed my post about PART ONE.
Transmission complete. 😉🎧🪐
🚀 BUCKLE UP—we’re going to Lightspeed!
Dropping this week in the February issue of Lightspeed Magazine is a new story podcast that I had the absolute pleasure of narrating for Skyboat Media!
It Holds Her in the Palm of One Hand by Lowry Poletti is a mesmerizing sci-fi novelette that turns the familiar “first contact” idea on its head. Set in deep space, on the planet Miphre, It Holds Her in the Palm of One Hand follows an uneasy, even antagonistic, relationship between humans and gastors – intelligent birds whose true intentions remain a mystery. Are they allies? Manipulators? Something else entirely? Lightspeed is serializing this story over the next two weeks, and Part One is out now!
To listen or read It Holds Her in the Palm of One Hand – Part 1, head over to LightspeedMagazine.com, Issue 177 – link is here.
Huge thanks to Lightspeed Magazine and Skyboat Media for the opportunity to bring this thought-provoking story to life.
Until next time, see you on the bit stream! 🎧✨
Summertime 🏖️ is perfect for escaping into a new story podcast! So delighted to be featured in the July Issue of Lightspeed Magazine, narrating three different story podcasts: one fantasy and two science fiction tales. Huge thanks to Stefan Rudnicki, Skyboat Media and Lightspeed Magazine for sending these beautiful gems my way.
For a flash fiction story about magic, melody and love caught in the cycles of time, check out Songs of the Sorrow of Thorns by Amayah Perveen. It’s hauntingly beautiful.
If you’re in the mood for something lighter, don’t miss The Only Writing Advice You’ll Ever Need to Survive Eldritch Horrors by Aimee Picchi, out today! This story was a blast to record. Our heroine secretly fights crime (Eldritch Horrors!) at night under the guise of being an accountant. When her boyfriend breaks up with her over her suspicious 3am “accounting emergencies,” she puts pen to paper and writes him a letter.
Lastly, if you love heist stories, The Heist for the Soul of Humanity by Filip Hajdar Drnovšek Zorko may be just what you’re looking for. Out in the solar system, Josephine Foster and her team of female thieves plot to steal Orion’s Sabre, but the real prize is much more valuable. Releases on Lightspeed July 18.
Grab your beach gear, headphones, or tablet and head to LightspeedMagazine.com to listen to or read these stories for free.
Buckle up … we’re going to Lightspeed! 🚀
Ready to descend the shadowy stairs? Dropping today in the February issue of Nightmare Magazine is a spooky new story podcast that I had so much fun narrating. 🌙
Preamble to the Death of a Small God, written by H.B. Menendez and produced by Skyboat Media, follows an outcast … the last of her kind, navigating a forest haunted by pursuers until she stumbles upon a house nestled between ancient oaks. This house, and the lingering spirit within, becomes her refuge, but its mysteries … are as enigmatic as its welcome.
Grab your flashlight and come with me over to Nightmare-Magazine.com, where you can listen to, or read Preamble to the Death of a Small God. #storypodcast #newrelease
As Lightspeed Magazine celebrates their 15th Anniversary, I’m thrilled to be featured in the February issue as both a storyteller and podcast host!
Having narrated some mesmerizing tales for Lightspeed, today brings the release of two exceptional stories. Buckle up … we’re going to Lightspeed! 🚀
As we launch into Lightspeed, Scarlett, written by Everdeen Mason, unveils the tale of an inventor shaping his own AI companion, posing an intriguing question: What would it be like to be idealized for a form you didn’t choose?
In our short shot, Further Examination and Capture of Candle Skulls Associated with the Baba Yaga, written by Mari Ness, narrated and hosted by yours truly, we delve into the mystery of Russian Folklore surrounding the Baba Yaga. Trust me, she’s not the granny you’d want to encounter in the woods at night.
Lastly, in case you missed it, check out Companion Animals in Mahō Shōjo Kira Kira Sunlight, written by Stewart C. Baker, an absorbing dive into events around an American Web Series, released just last week.
Lightspeed Story Podcasts are produced by the award-winning team at Skyboat Media, and to whom I extend heartfelt thanks for featuring me in the February issue. ❤️
If you’d like to listen to or read these stories, head over to the February issue of Lightspeed Magazine.com, where you can enjoy them at no charge, or simply follow the link here.
Until next time, see you on the bit stream … 🚀
Dropping this week in the December Issue of Lightspeed Magazine is We’ll Never Die in the Woods, by Carlie St. George – a new fantasy story podcast that I had so much fun narrating!
In the mystical realm of Hook Tree Woods, two sisters, torn apart by fate, find themselves entangled in a tale spun with curses and whispered secrets.
🐸 The elder sister, thought by villagers to be an unkind witch, bore a curse from a vengeful fairy. Now, her words summon only toads and snakes. Blame not her heart, for it was her wicked mother’s influence that shaped her path.
🌸 The younger sister, once a princess of kindness and grace, now a runaway princess, is pursued by a deceitful prince. Her words birth jewels and flowers, a gift from a benevolent fairy. Yet, her heart carries the weight of betrayal and a tower’s shadow.
👭 Sisters turned strangers, they traverse Hook Tree Woods, once bound by love, now haunted by a past of parental manipulation. As they flee for their lives, their destinies collide in a forest echoing with whispers.
🌳 Into the heart of Hook Tree Woods we venture, where the threads of sibling love unravel. Will the bonds of childhood withstand the trials, or will the shadows of betrayal consume them? The answer lies in the echoes of a love lost, as these sisters face a choice that could save or doom them.
📖 The entrance to this enchanting tale can be found in Issue 163 at Lightspeed Magazine where you can listen to, or read We’ll Never Die in the Woods at no cost. This podcast was produced by the dream team at Skyboat Media. 💫
Get ready to buckle up … we’re going to Lightspeed! 🚀 Releasing today in the February Issue of Lightspeed Magazine is a new story podcast that I had the pleasure of narrating, called Learning Letters, written by Carrie Vaughn and produced by Skyboat Media.
I have been a long time fan of Vaughn’s writing, so having the opportunity to narrate this really cool, original new sci-fi story, was truly such a treat.
Learning Letters follows Enid, an investigator living in a post-apocalyptic world, who encounters a stranger that arrives in the fields of their small community, known as Haven. This stranger is from a distant part of the world, intent on delivering a letter dated 30 years ago, just after the fall.
As the stranger slowly steps down onto the field, exiting from a type of aircraft that the folks in Haven have only ever read about in journals and letters, he speaks in an odd language – one that sounds similar to Enid’s – but at first, is just on the edge of her understanding. As we learn more about the stranger and the recipient of this letter that’s taken 30 years to deliver, these two individuals, find common ground – a way to bridge this gap of time and place – so that they might finally recapture a poignant lost moment from the past. A moment that has begged to be delivered…
You can listen to, or read Learning Letters by heading over to the February Issue of Lightspeed Magazine, where you’ll be able to access this new story for free online.
Lightspeed Magazine is a Hugo Award-winning digital science fiction & fantasy online magazine, edited by John Joseph Adams and hosted by Jim Freund.
That’s all for now. See you on the bit stream!
Hello 2023! I can’t think of a better way to start the year, than with the release of a new story podcast! Dropping this week over at Fantasy Magazine in the January Issue is an incredibly poignant and impactful story podcast that I had the immense honor and pleasure of narrating called Broodmare – written by Flossie Arend and produced by Skyboat Media.
This stirring fiction moves back and forth between two different timelines, all from the point of view of Marge. As a child, Marge discovers that she has a unique and powerful gift that not only can help save the life of the beautiful roan she is caring for, but can also be used years later to help countless women.
Broodmare begins on a lone country road in the middle of nowhere, in a car with two passengers who are embarking on an important mission. A mission that propels them straight for the border. This particular border, however, can seal their fate quicker than the blink of an eye, if even the slightest mistake is made. The tension is palpable. The road is vast. The people in need are many.
Throughout the 58 minutes or so of this story, we come to know and care for the rich characters that author Flossie Arend has so artfully crafted. From our main characters, Marge and Trace, to the woman in the grocery store, to Delores – who is always at the ready with a much needed hug, to the frightened women that Marge aids, to the beautiful roan that this moving story continues to shift back to, to Bill at the border, who thinks his mind is open and fair, yet he is unable to see Trace for who they really are, and finally – to the many people in Marge’s commune who work together tirelessly in a desperate effort to bring about change. By the time we reach the end of Broodmare, the journey has been felt, the road has been traveled, and hopefully, our minds have been opened … just a little bit more. I know mine has.
If you would like to find out more about Broodmare, it’s easy to do and won’t cost you a dime. Here’s how:
Just head on over to Fantasy Magazine in the Jan 2023 issue, where you can either read or listen to Broodmare. Here’s the link.
Releasing today on Fantasy Magazine’s story podcast is Dominique Dickey’s unique and prolific short fiction, Slow Communication. I so enjoyed narrating this captivating story that travels from generation to generation. It’s a story shared amongst a long line of women, women who have come into contact at one moment in their lifetime, with an otherworldly being. Women who are given one chance to ask the question of a lifetime.
Slow Communication follows the life of 17 year old Darla Revere. Darla is a part of this conversation, this continuum, so to speak. Each of the Revere women, have in their lifetime, been visited by this alien – this leviathan. As a child, Darla had heard over and over again, that one day the leviathan would come for her, and that it would come for her when she least expected it. The leviathan’s contact would evoke immense joy and pain, simultaneously. All words, all ideas – would be knocked out of your mind by the sheer intensity of the contact, so you had better have your question ready; you needed to have it down pat. You had to know it better than you knew anything else in your life. And if you changed yourself too much, if you did not bear a resemblance to the women in your family line, the leviathan may not be able to find you when it was your time. Generation upon generation, questions from the Revere line, along with the leviathan’s answers, were documented, recorded, and passed down to the eldest Revere daughter in the family. Each daughter waited for this moment. Their moment. And thus far, only one daughter had lived to hear the answer to her question. Darla wanted to change all that.
One question.
One question to last a lifetime.
What would your question be?
To listen to Slow Communication, come on over to Fantasy Magazine, Issue 76 of the February offering, where you can listen free of charge here. This podcast was produced by Skyboat Media.
Susan Hanfield 