StarShipSofa

Latest Episodes:

StarShipSofa 778 Will Waller Apr 22, 2026

Show notes

Kenneth Mark Hoover is a professional writer who has sold over 70+ short stories, and several novels, including those of the Haxan series. He is a member of SFWA and HWA. His fiction has appeared in Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Strange Horizons, and many others. Mr. Hoover divides his time between New Mexico and Texas. He writes full-time.

This story is original to StarShipSofa.

Narration by: Will Stagl

Will Stagl lives in Tucson, Arizona and is a proud member of the StarShipSofa team. He’s like to kick off the new year by inviting any listeners interested in narration to contact him at williamstagl@gmail.com to join our stellar team of volunteer voice actors.

Fact: Looking Back At Genre History by Amy H Sturgis

GrowMore CookMore

GrowMore CookMore: https://apps.apple.com/app/id6755640310

GrowMoreCookMore Website: https://growmorecookmore.com/

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/starshipsofa.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

StarShipSofa 777 Carrie Finch Apr 08, 2026

Show notes

Carrie Finch is a writer in San Francisco, California. Her published fiction includes fantasy, science fiction, and horror. She has two cats, who take turns lying down on the keyboard and keeping her from writing. carriefinch.com

This story originally appeared in Broken Time Blues, 2011.

Narration by: Doni Nicoll

Doni Nicoll-Duir (nickel-dar) is originally from the Western Slope of Colorado. He has lived in and out of Arizona his whole life and now finds himself settling down in Tucson, AZ. Doni works in the renewable energy sector as a design engineer and permitting specialist. When Doni isn’t working on saving the planet, one rooftop at a time, or trying to keep up with his teenage daughter, he can be found cooking, hiking or playing board games with his friends at one of the local breweries.

GrowMore CookMore

GrowMore CookMore: https://apps.apple.com/app/id6755640310

GrowMoreCookMore Website: https://growmorecookmore.com/

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/starshipsofa.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

StarShipSofa 776 Sandra McDonald Mar 25, 2026

Show notes

Main fiction: "Starpoop"

Sandra McDonald is an avid writer, reader, foster mom, and cat wrangler. A military veteran and veteran teacher, she is the author of several books and several dozen published short stories in magazines and anthologies. She holds a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and has won awards for stories that explore the intersections of gender, duty, and science fiction. You can sometimes find her on social media, but more likely she is stuck in a minivan in a school pickup line in Florida, scribbling story ideas on the back of store receipts.

This story originally appeared in Lightspeed Magazine, July 2023.

Narration by: Lucy Simpson

Lucy Simpson is a caregiver, published poet, artist, and sometimes voice actor. She is wending her way through the byzantine maze that is her first novel with the invaluable assistance of the Ubergroup, which offers low-cost fine arts education for adults. Check out theubergroup.org for more.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/starshipsofa.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

StarShipSofa 775 Caren Gussoff Sumption Mar 11, 2026

Show notes

Caren Gussoff Sumption lives in a nest of books, knitting, and rescue cats, south of Seattle, WA. The author of 6 books (most recently, her postcolonial, deep space, far-future comedy of manners, So Quick Bright Things Come to Confusion) and more than 100 short stories, Caren received her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and in 2008, was the Carl Brandon Society’s Octavia E. Butler Scholar at Clarion West.

Caren is autistic, Romany, Jewish, and can't carry a tune (she tries anyway, gods help us all). Find her online at www.spitkitten.com

This story originally appeared in Interzone, July/August 2014.

Narration by: Rodney Lopez

Rodney D. Lopez is a software developer and self-described nerd. He enjoys consuming science fiction & fantasy in multiple mediums and is a proud alumni of the Ubergroup, a 501c3 nonprofit providing low-cost collegiate level fine arts education for working adults. More info at theubergroup.org.

My App: GrowMore CookMore

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/starshipsofa.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

StarShipSofa 776 Sandra McDonald Feb 18, 2026

Show notes

This story originally appeared in Lightspeed Magazine, July 2023.

Narration by: Lucy Simpson

Lucy Simpson is a caregiver, published poet, artist, and sometimes voice actor. She is winding her way through the byzantine maze that is her first novel with the invaluable assistance of the Ubergroup, which offers low-cost fine arts education for adults. Check out theubergroup.org for more.

Fact: Looking Back At Genre History By Amy H Sturgis

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/starshipsofa.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

StarShipSofa 775 Lori Selke Feb 04, 2026

Show notes

By day, Lori Selke is an ESL instructor (and stealth adjunct composition instructor) who lives in Oakland, California. But beneath that wholesome and mild-mannered facade lurks a zine veteran, an education and social justice academic, a queer writer and activist, and a general thorn in the side of normativity. Their fiction has been previously published inNightmare Magazine, Strange Horizons, and Asimov's; their nonfiction has appeared at NPR.org, Offbeat Home, The Billfold, and the SF Weekly, as well as the open-access academic journals Refuge and the International Journal of Human Rights Education.

This story originally appeared in Outlaw Bodies (2012).

Narration by: Will Stagl

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/starshipsofa.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

StarShipSofa 774 Caren Gussoff Sumption Jan 21, 2026

Show notes

Caren Gussoff Sumption lives in a nest of books, knitting, and rescue cats, south of Seattle, WA. The author of six books (most recently, her postcolonial, deep space, far-future comedy of manners, So Quick Bright Things Come to Confusion) and more than 100 short stories, Caren received her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and in 2008, was the Carl Brandon Society’s Octavia E. Butler Scholar at Clarion West.

Caren is autistic, Romany, Jewish, and can't carry a tune (she tries anyway, gods help us all). Find her online at www.spitkitten.com

This story originally appeared in Interzone #253.

Narration by: Will Stagl

Will Stagl lives in Tucson Arizona and is a proud member of the StarShipSofa team. This month you’ll likely find him tearing through some fantasy epic at a local café or waiting for the next sci-fi TV show to air.

Fact: Looking Back At Genre History by Amy H Sturgis

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/starshipsofa.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

StarShipSofa 773 K. Ceres Wright Jan 07, 2026

Show notes

K. Ceres Wright received her master’s degree in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University and her published cyberpunk novel, Cog, was her thesis for the program. Her short stories, poems, and articles have appeared on the Strange Horizons and Amazing Stories websites; in the FIYAH Magazine of Black Speculative Fiction; Luminescent Threads: Connections to Octavia Butler (Locus Award winner; Hugo Award nominee); and Sycorax’s Daughters (Bram Stoker Award nominee); among others. Her most recent publication is Too Old to Dance but Young Enough to Rock ’n’ Roll, a post apocalyptic military sci-fi novella she cowrote with L. Gene Brown, a Vietnam War veteran. Ms. Wright is the founder and president of Diverse Writers and Artists of Speculative Fiction, an educational group for creatives.

This story first appeared in Sycorax's Daughters (2017).

Narration by: Donna Schmidt

Donna Schmidt lives in Seattle, recently retired from a career in tech, now spending her days playing violin, singing, finding gigs for her band, drawing, sewing and gardening. Oh, and talking. Because she really likes to talk and hear the sound of her own voice. Pretty embarrassing, right? But hey, it sure comes in handy when you get the chance to do voice narration! Plus, you get to play with fun toys like microphones and audio equipment.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/starshipsofa.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

StarShipSofa 772 Jeremy Szal Dec 24, 2025

Show notes

Main fiction: "Stars in a Grave, Stars in a Skull"

Jeremy Szal was born in 1995 and was raised by wild dingoes, which should explain a lot. He writes epic fantasy and dark space opera of a character-driven, morally grey nature. His main series is the Common trilogy from Gollancz/Hachette, which includes Stormblood, Blindspace, and Woflskin, about a drug harvested from alien DNA that makes users permanently addicted to adrenaline and aggression. He’s the author of over fifty short stories, translated into fifteen languages, many of which appear in his short fiction collection Broken Stars. He was the editor for the Hugo-winning StarShipSofa until 2020 and has a BA in Film Studies and Creative Writing from UNSW. He carves out a living in Sydney, Australia with his family, where he loves watching weird movies, eating Japanese food, exploring cities, learning languages, cold weather and dark humour. Find him at https://jeremyszal.substack.com/ or @JeremySzal

This story first appeared in Broken Stars (2024).

Narration by: Will Stagl

Fact: Looking Back At Genre History by Amy H Sturgis

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/starshipsofa.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

StarShipSofa 771 Alethea Kontis Dec 10, 2025

Show notes

This story originally appeared in Wild & Wishful, Dark & Dreaming: The Worlds of Alethea Kontis (2016).

Alethea Kontis is an actress, storm chaser, and New York Times best-selling author. She has received the Scribe Award, the Garden State Teen Book Award, and is a two-time winner of the Gelett Burgess Children’s Book Award. She was twice nominated for both the Andre Norton Nebula and Dragon Award. Alethea narrates stories for multiple award-winning online magazines and does freelance work for Writing the Other. Born in Vermont, Alethea currently resides on the Space Coast of Florida where she watches K-dramas with her teddy bear, Charlie. Together they are ARMY, VVS, and Black Roses.

Narration by: Will Stagl

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/starshipsofa.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected