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Overcast 136: Where the Grass May Be Greener by Rob Butler Oct 15, 2020

Show notes

Where the Grass May Be Greener by Rob Butler. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword recorded by Rob Butler. #scifi #timetravel

For Stenson the start of the walk was the highlight. He had never seen one tree, let alone the dozens now arrayed before him. The only trees left in his world were in botanical zoos. He always encouraged Ben to reach out and feel the foliage. Vision and touch he had decided to experience but not sound, taste or smell – too expensive. Hence the drone of the motorway did not destroy his pleasure. Where Ben saw grass and scrubland, Stenson saw a green beauty he had only ever known in the pages of books or in recordings. And when there was wildlife, like the horses, or the fox he had once glimpsed, these were sensations he could feed on for days as he grubbed and toiled to get the credits for his next trip.

Rob lives in Reading in the UK and has had around 40 pieces of short fiction published in a number of print and online magazines including Shoreline of Infinity and Daily Science Fiction. He particularly enjoys writing Drabbles and a short book of these appears on his Amazon Author pages, along with some other examples of his writing. https://www.amazon.com/Rob-Butler/e/B01ELRD8XS/

Please help support The Overcast. Become a Patron Today!

Subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher or Spotify so you never miss an episode. While you're there, don't forget to leave a review!

J.S. Arquin's Crimson Dust Cycle trilogy is complete! Go to www.arquinworlds.com to download your free prequel story.

Are you an author who loves J.S. Arquin's narrations? Ask him to narrate your audiobook at www.arquinaudiobooks.com

Overcast 135: Cuckoo's Nest by Nina Kiriki Hoffman Sep 21, 2020

Show notes

Cuckoo's Nest by Nina Kiriki Hoffman. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword written by Nina Kiriki Hoffman. #fantasy #urbanfantasy

She reached out and gripped his chin in her too-hard grasp. He tried to draw back, but she was too strong. She stared at his mouth, leaned closer, suddenly pulled his head down and pressed her lips to his. Before he could react, her tongue was in his mouth. She tasted like lemon, like rosemary, like something wild. She bit his lower lip, sucked on the wound until he had vampire fears. There was nothing arousing about her actions; all of him was damped down with fear.

Over the past thirty-odd years, Nina Kiriki Hoffman has sold adult and young adult novels and more than 350 short stories. Her works have been finalists for many major awards, and she has won Stoker and Nebula Awards.

Nina's novels have been published by Avon, Atheneum, Ace, Pocket, Scholastic, Tachyon, and Viking. Her short stories have appeared in many magazines and anthologies.

Nina does production work for The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction and teaches writing. She lives in Eugene, Oregon.

For a list of Nina's publications: http://ofearna.us/books/hoffman.html.

Please help support The Overcast. Become a Patron Today!

Subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher or Spotify so you never miss an episode. While you're there, don't forget to leave a review!

J.S. Arquin's Crimson Dust Cycle trilogy is complete! Go to www.arquinworlds.com to download your free prequel story.

Are you an author who loves J.S. Arquin's narrations? Ask him to narrate your audiobook at www.arquinaudiobooks.com

Overcast 134: The Button at the Base of his Spine by Robert Bagnall Sep 11, 2020

Show notes

The Button at the Base of his Spine by Robert Bagnall. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword written by Robert Bagnall.

Jeff didn't think he'd ever seen that look in Mandy's eyes before.

He'd opened the front door, as he always did, hung his hat up, as he always did, and hollered, "Hi, honey, I'm home." They'd exchanged kisses, lingering rather than obligatory, they were still virtually newlyweds, and Jeff wondered if he could get her to do that thing she did with his back later that night. He loved that thing she did with his back. He'd never met anybody else who could do that.

Robert Bagnall was born in Bedford, England, in 1970 and now lives in Devon, between Dartmoor and the English Channel. He is the author of the novel '2084', and the anthology '24 0s & a 2', which collects two dozen of his thirty-plus published stories. He can be contacted via his blog at meschera.blogspot.co.uk.

Please help support The Overcast. Become a Patron Today!

Subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher or Spotify so you never miss an episode. While you're there, don't forget to leave a review!

J.S. Arquin's Crimson Dust Cycle trilogy is complete! Go to www.arquinworlds.com to download your free prequel story.

Are you an author who loves J.S. Arquin's narrations? Ask him to narrate your audiobook at www.arquinaudiobooks.com

Overcast 133: Toilet Gnomes at War by Beth Cato Aug 21, 2020

Show notes

Toilet Gnomes at War by Beth Cato. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword written by Beth Cato. #fantasy #gnomes #grandma #coffee

"The wailing within the walls worsened, like someone packed a hive of banshees inside and told them to sing Michael Bolton."

Nebula-nominated Beth Cato is the author of the Clockwork Dagger duology and the Blood of Earth trilogy from Harper Voyager. She's a Hanford, California native transplanted to the Arizona desert, where she lives with her husband, son, and requisite cats. Follow her at BethCato.com and on Twitter at @BethCato.

Please help support The Overcast. Become a Patron Today!

Subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher or Spotify so you never miss an episode. While you're there, don't forget to leave a review!

J.S. Arquin's Crimson Dust Cycle trilogy is complete! Go to www.arquinworlds.com to download your free prequel story.

Are you an author who loves J.S. Arquin's narrations? Ask him to narrate your audiobook at www.arquinaudiobooks.com

Overcast 132: Ice in D Minor by Anthea Sharp Aug 08, 2020

Show notes

Ice in D Minor by Anthea Sharp. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword recorded by Anthea Sharp.

Rinna Sen paced backstage, tucking her mittened hands deep into the pockets of her parka. The sound of instruments squawking to life cut through the curtains screening the front of the theater: the sharp cry of a piccolo, the heavy thump of tympani, the whisper and saw of forty violins warming up. Good luck with that. Despite the huge heaters trained on the open-air proscenium, the North Pole in February was cold.

And about to get colder, provided she did her job.

Anthea Sharp is a USA Today bestselling, award-winning author of Fantasy-flavored fiction.

Growing up on fairy tales and computer games, Anthea Sharp has melded the two in her award-winning, bestselling Feyland series, which has sold over 150k copies worldwide.

In addition to the fae fantasy/cyberpunk mashup of Feyland, she also writes Victorian Spacepunk, and fantasy romance. Her books have won awards and topped bestseller lists, and garnered over a million reads at Wattpad. Her short fiction has appeared in Fiction River, DAW anthologies, The Future Chronicles, and Beyond The Stars: At Galaxy's edge, as well as many other publications. Find her at www.antheasharp.com and follow her on Twitter @AntheaSharp.

Please help support The Overcast. Become a Patron Today!

Subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher or Spotify so you never miss an episode. While you're there, don't forget to leave a review!

J.S. Arquin's Crimson Dust Cycle trilogy is complete! Go to www.arquinworlds.com to download your free prequel story.

Are you an author who loves J.S. Arquin's narrations? Ask him to narrate your audiobook at www.arquinaudiobooks.com

Overcast 131: The Empress's Knife by dave ring Jul 24, 2020

Show notes

The Empress's Knife by dave ring. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword recorded by dave ring.

Behold, the ziggurat.

We stood atop Arida Peak, at the western edge of the Empire's hold.

"Let me see it," I said. Scalid, my handler, stepped away from the spyglass. I removed my hood and pressed my eye socket against the cool metal.

Vormundine was unfurling its massive wings, four or five times the size of the rest of its body. Its musculature was pale grey, almost white from this far away, but pinkening until the wingtips shone a nearly translucent ruby.

"Are you ready?" the sergeant asked, impatient. She likely wished to be back at the border, where the Empress's army held back the barbarian horde.

dave ring is the chair of the OutWrite LGBTQ Book Festival in Washington, DC. He has stories featured or forthcoming in a number of publications, including Fireside Fiction, GlitterShip, and A Punk Rock Future. He is the publisher and managing editor of Neon Hemlock Press, as well as the editor of Broken Metropolis: Queer Tales of a City That Never Was from Mason Jar Press. More info at www.dave-ring.com. Follow him on Twitter at @slickhop.

Please help support The Overcast. Become a Patron Today!

Subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher so you never miss an episode. While you're there, don't forget to leave a review!

J.S. Arquin's Crimson Dust Cycle trilogy is complete! Go to www.arquinworlds.com to download your free prequel story.

Are you an author who loves J.S. Arquin's narrations? Ask him to narrate your audiobook at www.arquinaudiobooks.com

Overcast 130: What Can't Be Undone by Sim Kern Jul 10, 2020

Show notes

What Can't Be Undone by Sim Kern. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword recorded by Sim Kern.

A young woman with a toddler on her hip stands on the flagstone path between the rosemary bushes. That she's made it inside the garden means there's no malice in her heart. But just behind her, a broad-shouldered man is trying and failing to step over the border of thyme encircling Lorra's homestead. It looks like his foot is stuck in a wall of invisible marshmallow stretching above the groundcover. Grunting, he jerks his foot free and stumbles back. He spots Lorra, and hate flares across his face, but only for a moment. Then his furrowed brow lifts, his scowl melts into a smile, and his clenched fists open in supplication.

"Madam Stitcher, please, there's been a terrible mistake."

Sim Kern is a speculative fiction writer living in Houston, Texas, with recently published stories in Metaphorosis, The Colored Lens, and Wizards in Space. Their upcoming novella, Depart, Depart! is a literary horror story about climate change, Jewish ghosts, and what you take with you when it all goes to hell—coming from Stelliform Press in September 2020. Find them at www.simkern.com and on Twitter @sim_kern.

Please help support The Overcast. Become a Patron Today!

Subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher so you never miss an episode. While you're there, don't forget to leave a review!

J.S. Arquin's Crimson Dust Cycle trilogy is complete! Go to www.arquinworlds.com to download your free prequel story.

Are you an author who loves J.S. Arquin's narrations? Ask him to narrate your audiobook at www.arquinaudiobooks.com

Overcast 129: Good Neighbors by Frank Oreto Jun 24, 2020

Show notes

Good Neighbors by Frank Oreto. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword recorded by Frank Oreto.

"You remember Frank Graves, used to live down at 1523 ... All this woodworking stuff—joinery, carving. I sort of got it from him. So did Joe Hecher, Phil Mackey, and a few other guys on the block."

"What? He was giving lessons from the gazebo?" asked Jacob, with a laugh.

"No, not lessons. It wasn't like that. You see… I kind of..." Ed blew out a sigh and tried again. "All right, I know how to do the stuff Frank did, but he didn't teach it to me."

"Okay fine, so how did you learn it?"

"Well Jacob, here it is. I know how to build a table and inlay floors because when Frank Graves passed away—" Ed took a deep breath and looked Jacob straight in the eye. "I ate him."

Frank Oreto is an editor and writer of weird fiction living in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. When not writing new stories, he spends his time cooking up elaborate meals for his wife and perpetually hungry children. You can follow his exploits both literary and culinary on Twitter @FrankOreto.

Please help support The Overcast. Become a Patron Today!

Subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher so you never miss an episode. While you're there, don't forget to leave a review!

J.S. Arquin's Crimson Dust Cycle trilogy is complete! Go to www.arquinworlds.com to download your free prequel story.

Are you an author who loves J.S. Arquin's narrations? Ask him to narrate your audiobook at www.arquinaudiobooks.com

Overcast 128: Memory and Iron by Kelly Sandoval Jun 12, 2020

Show notes

Memory and Iron by Kelly Sandoval. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword recorded by Kelly Sandoval. #fantasy #fairies #mother

She is a good mother.

She lines her newborn's crib with iron bars and nails horseshoes above every door in the cottage. Then the windows. And, when she still can't sleep, she hangs one directly above the crib, so it spins and twists and warns.

"Fairies, Katherine?" Stephen asks. "Where's this fancy come from?"

She holds her daughter to her breast, looks down into her piercing blue eyes. The color of any babe's eyes.

It means nothing. Nothing at all.

Kelly Sandoval's fiction has appeared in Strange Horizons, Uncanny, and Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy. She lives in Seattle, where the weather is always happy to make staying in and writing seem like a good idea. Her family includes a patient husband, an anarchist tortoise, and a put-upon cat. You can find her online at kellysandovalfiction.com

Please help support The Overcast. Become a Patron Today!

Subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher so you never miss an episode. While you're there, don't forget to leave a review!

J.S. Arquin's Crimson Dust Cycle trilogy is complete! Go to www.arquinworlds.com to download your free prequel story.

Are you an author who loves J.S. Arquin's narrations? Ask him to narrate your audiobook at www.arquinaudiobooks.com

Overcast 127: Reading the Room by Aeryn Rudel May 20, 2020

Show notes

Reading the Room by Aeryn Rudel. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword recorded by Aeryn Rudel.

"You take him off the floor, Pete?" Jesse asked.

Howard cleared his throat. "Yeah, Jesse, like I said--"

Jesse turned and glared at Howard. "I'm talking to Pete." The owner of the Lucky Load closed his mouth with a wet snap.

"I did, Mr. Deacon," Pete replied.

"What was he doing?"

"Playing poker. Winning."

"Anything unusual?"

Pete cocked his head. It reminded Jesse of a cobra or a praying mantis just before it strikes. "People were upset, nervous."

"Nervous how?"

"They didn't like how he was winning," Pete said. "He made bad bets, against the odds, but won anyway."

Jesse grinned. That actually confirmed some of his suspicions. "He's a little spooky, ain't he?"

Aeryn Rudel is a freelance writer from Seattle, Washington. He is the author of the Acts of War novels published by Privateer Press, and his short fiction has appeared in The Arcanist, The Molotov Cocktail, and Pseudopod, among others. Aeryn is a notorious dinosaur nerd, a baseball fanatic, and knows far more about swords than is healthy or socially acceptable. He occasionally offers dubious advice on the subjects of writing and rejection (mostly rejection) at www.rejectomancy.com or Twitter @Aeryn_Rudel.

Please help support The Overcast. Become a Patron Today!

Subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher so you never miss an episode. While you're there, don't forget to leave a review!

J.S. Arquin's Crimson Dust Cycle has launched! Go to www.arquinworlds.com to download your free prequel story.

Are you an author who loves J.S. Arquin's narrations? Ask him to narrate your audiobook at www.arquinaudiobooks.com

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