This week’s podcast brought to you by imperialism! In personified, metaphorical beauty! It’s actually quite elegant, and it was really fun to do the reading. But then, given the ending, I would feel that way, now wouldn’t I?
See, you gotta go find out how it ends now. Check it out.
The story for this week’s podcast is very pretty, though if you have dry skin I’d suggest lotion because the salt imagery is rampant and compelling. Or turn off the suggestible parts of your brain, because thinking about the salt could burn a bit otherwise.
In other news, since Strange Horizons hit their stretch goals for the fund drive, we get to add external readers to our poetry podcasts. This is pretty awesome, but it does mean that I need to have external readers to hire for the various readings. We’ll be posting guidelines on the website with the guidelines for submitting to the other areas of the magazine soon. In the mean time, if you could let any voice actors you happen to know to watch that space, I’d appreciate it greatly.
Until then, have podcast!
Teenagers who I don’t want to set on fire and a “family matters” type of theme that’s genuinely sweet. That’s this week’s podcast!
You know how sometimes you dig into something and you just plain don’t know enough to even know what you don’t know? And then if you brazenly push on you’re likely to show off that you didn’t know what you were doing, even if you nail the narrow things you researched?
I had the opposite problem with this week’s podcast. I took one look at the story and went, “But I don’t know what a Cuban accent sounds like. Or a Cuban American accent. What if I read the story and all the characters sound like they’re from Argentina and everybody hates me for being an incompetent gringa?”
I may have overreacted a smidge. Joe (the author) was very good natured about the whole thing. Thanks, Joe!
The rest of you, go check it out.
The third and final story for the awesome month of awesome Halloween stories is up, and you can listen to it here. Each of the stories that we’ve done this month have been really different from the others, which makes me happy since then I don’t feel like I have to pick a favorite. I can’t. They all do what they’re trying to do really well, and they’re trying completely different things. This one is your most traditional horror-type haunted house story, but it’s got a lot more going on that that, of course. It gets its creepy on well.
I did the post-production on this week’s podcast a bit differently since I still feel like there’s a gap between where we are and where we could be. It fixed a lot of what I’ve been unsatisfied with, but introduced some different issues and I can’t decide whether this is a net improvement or not. I’d super-appreciate feedback on that front, if any of you are willing. You just have to go here to get it.
The Halloween-y themed month of awesome stories continues this week. This story manages to be both sexy and depressing which, if you know me at all, you know is a combination I adore. Reading this one was fun completely differently from how reading last week’s story was fun.
To my baby sister, who was mildly traumatized by Inventory earlier this year, you can rest assured, this one will not be disturbing for you to listen to like that one was. No first person narrator, and the relationship one is you would absolutely expect me to be interested in. (The rest of you, have me tell you the story of my sister listening to Inventory some time. It’s great)
Off you go now. Listen to a podcast.
Last day of the fund drive. We’ve got the funding we need to keep things running, but there are still some awesome stretch goals for us to hit. Check it out.
As far as the podcast for this week, well. Let’s put it this way: Halloween is my favorite holiday. I did my prep for the October stories all in one night. I usually do one a week. But they kept being so awesome that I just kept going. They’re really different, but they’re all good.
And this week’s is adorable and fantastic. I had a ton of fun with the reading, and I think you can tell from the podcast. In case it wasn’t clear, the prose in this one was positively tasty to read.
You know how, in a typical month, there are four, maybe five Strange Horizons podcasts? September is not a typical month. Just today, you get not one, but two podcasts. That’s not even fund drive bonus content, that’s just awesomeness for the sake of awesome. You see, this week’s issue is the Indian SF issue, and it’s rather jam-packed.
Though, if you’re looking for fund drive goodies, they exist. And there’s more where that came from, just as soon as the rocket gets fuller. Which means you should fill up the rocket. I know I told you that it’s too late to stress me out since I’ve finished all the bonus podcasts, but if sadism motivates you, all the bonus content is running our web team ragged, so you’ve got perks there.
Better perks, though, are prizes. Sadism is temporary, but books are forever.
Also, my happy parrot dance is hilarious. You should try to trigger that.
It is with deep regret that I must inform you that any and all attempts to give me a nervous breakdown by having the Strange Horizons fundraiser donations outpace my ability to put together the bonus content podcasts has failed – I uploaded the last of the pending podcasts last night.
What that means is that there are podcasts just sitting there in the cloud, waiting for you to listen to them, and you can’t have them until we unlock those reward levels. As of right now we’re at 37%, just shy of $5000. You’ve already unlocked one bonus podcast, Teffeu: a Book from the Library at Taarona. Now go collect them all!
As for this week’s regularly scheduled content, we’ve got some awesomeness not related to the fundraiser, an outside reader. Tony Sebastian Ukpo is reading one of the poems this week. The general consensus was that to do justice to the poem we needed some skill not contained on our regular staff. This is the sort of thing we’ll be able to do more of if we hit our first stretch goal of $12,000, because while the people who are actual Strange Horizons staff are volunteers, we pay all our contributors, and that includes outside readers for the podcasts. Check it out.
And then give us money. 🙂
One of my favorite SF story tropes is humans emotionally bashing themselves against a thing that cannot or does not feel things the way they do, but personifying and struggling with it anyway. (Ask me about my favorite scene in TNG some time and watch me gush. You want it in person, though.) The story for this week’s podcast let me get to perform it. The trope, not the scene in TNG. Super, super fun. And it’s a good story, besides, which you knew since it’s a SH story.
Speaking of Strange Horizons, we at 17% in the fundraiser. That’s good news, because that means you have the ability to add up to 83% to our goals! There’s room for you! And also, prizes. But just in case you’re uncomfortable clicking links through the page, even though you’re going to do it to listen to the podcast. here are direct links for you:
The fund drive continues. We’re off to a good start, but I’m catching up on getting the bonus podcasts ready to go. Your window of opportunity for stressing me completely out and witnessing the ensuing hilarity is closing. Go! Give Money! Now!!
And if you think my intro paragraph is frenetic, yet charming, then you should definitely check out this week’s podcast which is for a story that is actually frenetic and charming. Not that you should decide I’m not charming. I’m just saying, the podcast is better.
Anaea Lay 