ClonePod

Read and audio engineering by Bruce McDonald Manny the Mailmobile was first published in the Jan/Feb 2002 issue of Cicada and was reprinted in Greek in issue 2 of Ennea in Feb 2005. Eugie Foster has many credits to her name such as stories in the Realms of Fantasy, The Third Alternative, Cricket, Orson Scott Card's InterGalctic Medicine Show, and anthologies Best New Fantasy (Wildside Press), Heroes in Training (Daw Books), and Magic in the Mirrorstone (Wizards of the Coast/Mirrorstone Books).  Her work has been translated into Greek, Hungarian, Polish and French. I am a Mark VII Mail Assistant Navigation Instrument, although everyone calls me Manny for short.  My life at Amlgig Inc. was comfortable, if a little humdrum.  My route was programmed in so I wouldn't get lost or tumble down the stairs by mistake -- don't laugh, it happened to one of the prototypes.  The only thing I had to watch out for were the stray peds lurking around corners.  That wasn't even a real problem; once I scanned them with my sensors, a few good beeps usually scattered them from my path.

Read by Zach Friedman Audio Engineering by Chris Moody (http://steampod.org) Parental Guidance Suggested Most of our listeners are familiar with Heffery DeRego's Union Dues series both on escapepod (http://escapepod.org)and now his new series of the Team Shikaragaki on our podcast.  If you haven't yet been infected with the Union Dues bug, you will have the joy of getting to go back into our archives and escapepod's Union Dues archives (http://escapepod.org/index.php?s=union+dues)to catch up with the stories. The smell of greasy hamburgers and the sound of calliope music sneaks into the small dark dressing room off the main stage of the Missouri State Fair. Kitty and TK are already in costume, Johnny Toruko is in the back getting dressed, and Miss Jennifer is alternating between looking at her watch and glaring at us for not being quicker. "Five minutes," she says. "Almost ready Miss Jennifer," we answer in sing-song voice. I've barely got my last white glove on before the Team Shikaragaki Go! theme music starts. Kitty is out first. She handsprings across the center stage then leaps up and crouches on the light rig. TK walks out next, waving and smiling. Her yellow tights catch the early Saturday afternoon sunlight and almost glow. Some kids are waving drawings of us on homemade signs. Johnny goes out next. He stops and makes a "bang-bang" motion with his hands until bolts of flickering blue/white lightning snake up his arms. He flashes each hand down and blasts the lightning into a grounded steel plate in the stage floor. The fans, especially the young girls, scream so loud it vibrates the dressing room. I was supposed to wait until our theme music hits the second bridge before taking the stage but all I can hear is the carousel, all I can smell is the food, and I come out early.

Read by Leslie Ann Moore Music by Robert Farmer Forget Me Not is Mary E Lowd's first publication and we are very excited to be presenting it.  It has already appeared in Northwest Passages: A Cascadian Anthology and in a Greek magazine, Ennea, which translates to "9". His confidence drew him to her.  The gleam in his eye said, "I can take on the world," and she believed it.  She was fascinated, and her fascination endeared him to her. Michael introduced them, but neither Joan nor Leeland bestowed a second glance at Leeland all night.  Their eyes and conversation were reserved for each other.

This story is PG13 which we neglected to mention in the intro.  Parental Guidance is strongly recommended. Read by Bruce McDonald Music by Robert Farmer Audio Engineering by Bruce McDonald Yes, the story really is by the Neil Gaiman!  Neil Gaiman works magic in all fields of speculative fiction.  He has won many awards.  He has written Coraline, American Gods and Anansi Boys.  Most recently he has released a short fiction collection titled Fragile Things.  M is for Magic is a new collection coming out soon. "Come on," said Vic.  "It'll be great." "No it won't," I said, although I'd lost this fight hours ago, and I knew it. "It'll be brilliant," said Vic, for the hundredth time. "Girls! Girls! Girls" He grinned with white teeth.

(http://media.clonepod.org/incarnationday.jpg) Read by Dani Cutler of The Truth Seekers Podcast (http://audioaddict.libsyn.com/) Music by Robert Farmer Illustration by Lorraine Schleter Walter Jon Williams began his writing career in the 80's and he has been a very prolific writer eversince.  His first SF novel was Ambassador of Preogress, followed by Hardwired, Aristoi, Metropolitan, City on Fire, The Rift and his Dread Empire's Fall series.  He won a Nebula for "Daddy's World" and "The Green Leopard Plague."  His short fiction is colected in Facets and Frankenstein's and Foreign Devils.  His most recent novel is Implied Spaces which the clonepod team can't wait to read. This coming of age story is PG because it is a coming of age story where not every child gets to become an adult.  Younger children may be frightened, but parents should decide for themselves. It's your understanding and wisdom that makes me want to talk to you, Doctor Sam.  About how Fritz met the Blue Lady, and what happened with Janis, and why her mother decided to kill her, and what became of all that.  I need to get it sorted out, and for that I need a real friend.  Which is you. Janis is always making fun of me because I talk to an imaginary person.  She makes even more fun of me because my imaginary friend is an English guy who died hundreds of years ago.

We are proud to announce that we have a second promo, which is so much better than our first promo we decided to get rid of the first promo. If you have a blog or podcast and would like to play this one, please do!

Read by Kada McDonald Music by Robert Farmer Audio Engineering by Bruce McDonald Nicholas Ozment teaches English at Winona State University. By night he is an sf writer of stories and poetry for publications such as Weird Tales, Mythic Delirium, SUSURRUS: THE LITERATURE OF MADNESS, MYTHIC CIRCLE, AFTERBURN SF, and RAVEN ELECTRICK. Two of his stories have been podcast on PSEUDOPOD. He reviews books and movies at DOWN IN THE CELLAR (http://downinthecellar.com) and MANNING'S MANLY MOVIES (http://manning.coldfusionvideo.com). He lives in Minnesota with his wife and a strange black dog. by Nicholas Ozment Marigold was bending over to pick a morel mushroom when she heard something crashing through the woods. It grew louder, coming towards her. Her heart jumped and she stood up straight, hoping it was only a spooked deer. She grasped the handle of the knife she carried beneath her cape, fearing it might be a far less pleasant denizen of the forest—a wolf or a boar or a bear. Not that the small knife would do the young girl much good against boar tusk or bear claw. It was more handy for whittling pocket-sized boars and bears out of sticks. Then it—or rather he—burst from the trees not forty yards from her, running at full tilt. He came leaping over brambles and branches and bushes, his great long legs taking huge strides so that in the span of a heartbeat he was already nearly upon her. He was a gaunt, wiry giant of a man. He didn’t notice Marigold until he nearly ran her over. Then his gangly body, all waving limbs like a daddy-longlegs spider, came to an abrupt halt. He towered over her, glaring down with gray, owl-like eyes

(http://media.clonepod.org/TeamShik.jpg) The story today is not for young children. It is PG13 for language, mature topics and violence Read by Abby Kim Music by Robert Farmer Audio Engineering by Chris Moody   Jeffrey DeRego's fiction has appeared at Escape Pod and Tales of the Zombie War. He also contributes funny commentaries about writing to The Writing Show (www.writingshow.com (http://www.writingshow.com/)) and has appeared on both SciFi Dig, and The Eclectic Word.   So, we're like in this mall in Wisconsin or Michigan or some other place I can't find on a map, roped off and on a little stage. And, all I can concentrate on is how good an Orange Frosty from the food court would taste right now. Do I notice that a couple of hundred kids, mostly girls around between five and fifteen are screaming questions and snapping pictures? Sure, but that isn't anyway near as interesting as how they mix orange juice, coconut milk, and soda water with a chopped banana.

(http://media.clonepod.org/invisiblemanpicture.PNG) Read by Bruce McDonald Music by Robert Farmer Audio Engineering by Bruce McDonald The Invisible Man is Innocent was originally published at McSweeneys.net He has had other humor pieces published at McSweeneys Online Tendency, The Big Jewel, MonkeyBicycle, The Morning News, Weird Tales, Fantastic Stories of the Imagination and Talebones.  You can find Mr. Gamelli at http://webpagewithlinks.blogspot.com/ (http://webpagewithlinks.blogspot.com/) Regarding today's front-page story:  I'm surely just one of thousands dismayed to read that Mayor Pendleton's pants slipped down around his ankles during last night's address at City Hall. However, while I think we can all agree it was unfortunate (and no doubt humiliating), I must take issue with your reporter, Alan Hendale, who went out of his way to label the incident "suspicious." We all know what he was implying.

(http://media.clonepod.org/desert.jpg) PG-13 - not for young children! Read by Leslie Ann Moore Music by Robert Farmer Audio Engineering by Bruce McDonald    Ms Kelly received my MFA from Pacific University in 2006, and since leaving school, she has taught composition and fiction writing at Pacific. She has a short story appearing this summer in The Rose & Thorn. She was a finalist in a Glimmer Train short story contest in 2006, and in 2007 she won an artist residency at Caldera. In 1998 she was a writer in residence at Hedgebrook in Washington state, and in 1999, her short story "Scorched" was selected by Stephen King for his On Writing contest.         After the cat died, time began to creep up on me.       One day I set out to water and prune the tomato plants, and the next thing I knew I’d spent most of the day going through old clothes, shaking out the wrinkles and remembering when I last wore this dress, that blouse.       In the trunk I also found a notebook. I don’t know how it got there, maybe scooped up in my last frenzy of packing. We are taught never to write anything down, not even directions or lists. I’ve obeyed this rule so well that I had to teach myself to hold a pen.       You see, that was one way the cat helped. I wouldn’t have lasted a month out here without her, in the beginning.

Read by Bruce McDonald Music by Robert Farmer Audio Engineering by Bruce McDonald A special thanks to Chris Moody of Podiomedia Chat for web design assistance. Alien Hunt is the story of a Men in Black style "agent" looking for aliens on earth who is given a hit and run case. Our author this week is James Hartley who is a retired computer programmer. He has published a fantasy novel, "Teen Angel," and stories in many ezines. He is currently working on a second novel, "The Ghost of Grover's Ridge.   It was just another hit-and-run. Beat up green Chevy, drunk driver, careless pedestrian. The cops got the driver later in the day--witnesses not only got the license number, but were able to identify the "Stop DWI" bumper sticker--and he's now in jail, but that didn't help the pedestrian any. He was dead before he hit the sidewalk. Only on thing was unusual, he wasn't human. And that's how I got involved.

(http://media.clonepod.org/Tannis.jpg) Read by Rufus Nagel Tannis is a standalone short story, but also forms the bulk of the opening chapter of the young adult SF novel Generations. Tannis is currently in production as a short animated movie by a student filmmaker in South Africa. The story previously appeared in the UK small press magazine Xenos Issue 5 1993. William Meikle is a Scottish writer, now living in Canada, with seven novels published in the States and over 150 short story credits in the US, Canada, UK, Ireland, Saudi Arabia, Greece, India and Romania. The autumn sun drifted through the trees dappling the ground around him in soft shades of yellow and gold and green. But Tom didn’t notice. All his attention was on the pond in front of him. He’d been stalking the newt all morning -

(http://media.clonepod.org/hantingcluespic.jpg) by Leslie Ann Moore Haunting Clues was first published at www.TheTownDrunk.org (http://www.thetowndrunk.org/) in March 2007.  This story is a light-hearted ghost story.  This story is also available at www.AnthologyBuilder.com (http://www.anthologybuilder.com/).   Maria Schneider work can also be found at www.CoyoteWildMag.com (http://www.coyotewildmag.com/) in the January 2008 issue and in Toil, Trouble and Rot at www.CoyoteWildMag.com (http://www.coyotewildmag.com/)  (forthcoming issue)  When he walked into my detective agency, I was suspicious. No one hired me these days, not since the elves moved into the building across the street with their big sign, “We Can Find... Anything!” Semi-nude fairies peered out between the letters.       “I need your help,” he said, swinging his keys around on one finger. He was bald, fortyish, and covering it well. I almost didn’t catch the hair transplant, but the black replacement on the top of his head was thicker than the flatter, thin strands at the sides.       “Why don’t you hire the elves?” I asked, jerking my thumb towards the window.

  PG Read by Leslie Ann Moore, author of Griffin’s Daughter Mathew Spence's work has appeared in Black Satellite, Brew City Magazine, Cyber Oasis, Down in the Cellar, and Sciencefictionfantasyhorror.com. I look through the glass wall that separates their world from mine and see them as they must see me-as curiosities; creatures that are clever enough but which lack true sentience. I know now that is a false impression, for I have seen more of their world than the others of my kind have.

(media.clonepod.org/DaughterColor.jpg)(http://media.clonepod.org/DaughterColor.jpg)  Warning PG13 for violence and suggestive language Illustration is by Rikki Niehaus. You can find more of her work at http://rikkiniehaus.com (http://rikkiniehaus.com/). Read by Leslie Ann Moore, author of Griffin's Daughter "I Have a Daughter", was first published by Earlyworks Press in the high fantasy anthology, "The Sleepless Sands." Ms. Edmunds is an English poet, novelist and short story writer, with many works in various anthologies, as well as one published novel.  Catherine Edminds' recent poetry book can be found at our site's bookstore. “I have a daughter.”       My father’s deep tones rang out, commanding silence, and the moment I’d been dreading since I turned sixteen finally arrived. I clutched Shull’s fur and watched intently from behind the grill that had helped keep me invisible all these years.       The tall warrior’s eyes lit up. These were the first words of a ritual, and barbarian or no, he knew them well, but had never expected to hear them himself. None in the hall would have known of my existence; the fact that my father had a daughter. There was a murmuring of surprise, then a hushing to silence.       “I have a daughter,” my father repeated, softly this time, and this time the warrior responded. The ritualistic words were spoken harshly, his voice cracking with the strain of sudden unexpected hope.       “I have need of a wife.”