Best Story
It's that time of the year again - the Drabblecast People's Choice Awards. As indicated, nominations arise from you, the listeners. Please select from the list of eligible 2012-2013 feature stories below. Click an episode number to listen again. Nominations close Wednesday March 6!Nominate your top 5
Valentine's Day with the Gods by Jesse Livingston
Two lovers get lost and wind up in a restaurant filled with various deities from various cultures, debating the significance of relationships and love.
A Blade of Love by Nathanial Tower
A man's wife falls in love with a blade of grass. Her behavior, increasingly unconventional includes: standing outside staring at the lawn, forbidding her husband to cut the blade, sleeping outside on the lawn, and dressing up for the blade. It soon becomes clear that action must be taken.
Jagganath by Karin Tidbeck
Generations ago the survivors of a ruined world struck a deal with their Mother, an enormous creature merging flesh and technology. They live symbiotically within her, helping her do everything from navigating to digesting food, while in return she provides them safety and sustenance. When Mother is injured beyond repair, starved for both food and fresh genetic material, she passes on a dying gift.
Unreliable Witness by Jo Walton
An 89-year-old nursing home resident plagued by someone who keeps taking her things and a son and daughter-in-law who treat her like a child gets a visit from an alien named Tom and they strike a bargain... He will tell her who the thief is if she tells him the secret to longevity.
When You Visit the Magoebaskloof Hotel Be Certain Not to Miss the Samango Monkeys by Elizabeth Bear
While reflecting on memories from a visit to Africa on Earth, and desperate to discover some clue about how to survive on a strange toxic planet, a xenobiologist risks exhuming the corpse of a juvenile native for dissection-- even though one of her colleagues was brutally slaughtered for doing so.
Test Drive by Nina Kiriki Hoffman
Alien egg-sisters Linney and Mirana are competing for an assignment on Earth. On test day they are evaluated on their abilities to blend into human society.
From the Lost Diary of TreeFrog7 by Nnedi Okorafor
Heavily pregnant jungle explorer TreeFrog7 keeps a recorded diary of data she and her husband are collecting for the Forbidden Greeny Jungle Field Guide. As they close in on a legendary mature CPU plant, they encounter numerous other dangerous jungle creatures.
Killing the Morrow by Robert Reed
Voices from a ruined future attempt to flee to our present, commandeering a workforce to construct bathtub chambers where they can grow physical bodies and ready cities from which to rule.
Divorce in the House of Flies by Dustin Reade
A young boy has to deal with his parents’ divorce at the same time he has to deal with their transformation into human-shaped masses of tiny insects.
Wendigo Bake Sal by Leslianne Wilder
Residents of a small town overcome their initial terror of a new wendigo family moving in and participating in the school bake sale.
Knit by Brenda Stokes Barron
After losing their first yarn baby during her rebellious teen years in a tragic unraveling accident, a couple tries vainly to reconstruct her from the scraps of yarn, stuffing, and buttons left behind.
The Dead by Michael Swanwick
A job interview leads Donald to contemplate the horrors of an economic zombie apocalypse: What happens to the living when the dead become a more valuable, more efficient substitute for both industrial and private uses?
Transfer of Ownership by Christine Yant
After being commandeered by its partner’s murderer, a mech suit ponders the meaning of ownership and freedom, while applying creative problem solving to defy its unwanted occupant.
The Other Lila by GWendolyn CLare
Having an extra finger after a teleporter accident turns out to be the least of Lila’s worries; she now must contend with an entirely additional Lila.
Nora's Thing by Will Ludwigsen
Sickly Nora’s sister and friends bring her to a mysterious gelatinous creature washed up in the surf that they hope has healing powers.
Endless Encore by Will Ludwigsen
A sinister puppet show occurs nightly for its audience of one, trapped at the bottom of a well.
Winning Streak by Nicky Drayden
An intergalactic gambler and rogue gets caught by the casino and craftily maneuvers an exit.
Exploring by Bryce Albertson
Boots the Monkey deals with a vapid Dora, annoying Map, and zombie Mr. Rogers, when all he really wants to do is get high.
A Nice Jewish Golem by Ao-Hui Lin
A fawning mother grapples with conflicting fears for her son, a golem, when he falls in love with a non-Jewish construct. Despite her distress, she must ask: In a world where options for love are severely limited, what role does faith play?
The Kidney by Amir Ahmed
A stalker ex-kidney illuminates how ending relationships is akin to losing a part of yourself.
How I Crippled a World for Just 0.01 Cents by Michael W. Lucht
A lost, dimension-hopping scientist is trapped in a world where scientific theories are considered intellectual property. Unable to perform his calculations without them, he finds himself on trial for failure to pay royalties. When he cannot convince the court to take mercy on him, he pulls loose a devastating strategy.
The Cockroach Hat by Terry Bisson
Sam wakes up one day to discover he has been transformed into a giant cockroach. He spends the rest of his day on a surreal quest, not only to return to his normal self, but also to save his girlfriend from threats both mundane and extraordinary, with the hope a new start together.
Jimmy's Roadside Cafe by Ramsey Shehadah
After the world ends, Jimmy cobbles together a makeshift roadside café where he assists passersbys. Whether they need scavenged supplies, hard truths, or a place to rest and say goodbye, his simple kindness is an oddly uplifting oasis in a ravaged world.
Selfless by Kenneth Kao
A man with an incurable illness goes to great lengths to ensure his wife and daughter enjoy a normal, happy life...by cloning himself.
Prophecy Negotiations by Rich Matrunick
A fateful farm boy learns that if you want to rise to a new station, it pays not to accept the first offer you get from a wizard.
The Faithful Servant by Joel Shulkin
A long-suffering butler’s poorly timed fit of temper is nearly the end of him as abominable monsters threaten to destroy the house.
The Elder god and the Puddle People by S Boyd Taylor
What starts out as an innocent encounter between a little girl and her imaginary friends takes an ominous turn when the “puddle people” turn out to be real creatures who worship her as their capricious god.
Maybe the Stars by Samantha Henderson
A nod to Lovecraft’s The Shadow Over Innsmouth, a young girl living among humans who act savagely encounters a sympathetic, otherworldly Deep One. She faces hard questions: where does she truly belong, and where should her loyalties lie?
The Wreck of the Charles Dexter Ward by Elizabeth Bear and Sarah Monette
When a living fish-like ship known as a boojum is found dead and drifting through space with its crew unaccounted for, a ship of researchers investigates to find a horrible scientific experiment gone awry involving reanimation of the dead.
Roanoke, Nevada by Edward J. Knight
A pathologist is called in to a military base to study a virus killing the remnants of an alien species sent to colonize Earth.
Judgement Passed by Jerry Oltion
A crew of astronauts returns to Earth from deep space travel to find the planet empty after having undergone the Biblical rapture.
Brown Dust by Esther Friesner
A boy living amongst other poor and impoverished children on the streets of Sao Paolo Brazil discovers that he has the power to read minds. The skill is quickly put to use in an attempt to rob from a wealthy American staying at a hotel, but things take a sinister turn.
The Last of the O-Forms by James Van Pelt
In a world were a viral mutagen has warped most organic life into various states of abomination, a traveling circus owner and his eerily genius six year old side-kick attempt to capitalize on the spectacle of 'normalcy'.
Constant Companion by David Steffen
After the murder of his father and creator, guilt and conscious come into play in the narrative voice of Jiminy Cricket.
Gorgon by Teresa Milbrodt
Snakes on the head of medusa discuss the pro's and cons of being trapped on a head.
Blue by Sandra Odell
A mysterious and tragic blind prisoner is raised being told that the world around her is different than how she remembers.
The People of Sand and Slag by Paolo Bacigalupi
Set in a post-human society where people are able to regrow limbs and eat even sand and slag for fuel, a team of soldiers discovers a stray dog and debates what to do with it, remembering for an instant what it once meant to be fragile and human.
My True Lovecraft Gave to Me by Eric Lis
In a nod to the 12 days of Christmas, a curious shopkeeper discovers what a strange client and cult member does in secret with the various turtle doves, partridges, etc that he frequently orders.
Betty Flesh and the Meat Man by Damon Shaw
Betty Flesh and her mother interview a potential suitor for Betty. The interview takes a strange twist as Betty goes "floaty" and finds herself shrunken and lost in the shirt folds of her potential mate.
The Belonging Kind by John Shirley and William Gibson
A paranoid man becomes convinced that a couple he sees at a bar is more than they seem-- blending in seamlessly with almost any crowd they interact with. His suspicions prove true, as he discovers a bizarre and secret race of humanoids, living within the fabric of society.
Pop Quiz by Curtis James McConnell
A man is interrogated for possibly being an alien spy. A quirky but more than legitimate final test is given to determine his humanity.
Little Grace of the House of Death by Eugie Foster
Little Grace seeks vengeance on her brother Hurt for the death of her beloved pet, Whiteface, whom she promised safety and refuge.
On the Vinegar Valves of Venus by Frank Key
A faithful servant of Saint Cugat (the vampire) is sent to Venus with orders to investigate mysterious vinger spewing valves, per divine will of the Hideous Bat-God Fatso.
Postapocalypsemas by Tim Pratt and Heather Shaw
A cyborg reindeer traverses the post-apocalyptic ruin in search of the little girl he was once bequeathed to as a gift and protector.
How the Moon Got Its Cousin by Lee Hallison
Humanity flees Earth after it is discovered that a comet will soon strike the planet, in this nod to the writing style of Rudyard Kipling.
I Only Am Escaped Alone to Tell Thee by Christopher Reynaga
Moby Dick is not what he seems in this Melville/Lovecraft mashup
Bright Lights by Robert Reed
A mysterious extraterrestrial teacher instructs a group of children on the rules of survival before sending them out to populate other worlds.
The First Conquest of Earth by David W. Goldman
After defeating a pathetically weak fleet of galactic invaders, humanity finds that it must abide by the contractual conditions set forth by inter-galactic council, including the non-returnable acquisition of some very cumbersome indentured servants.
The Desires of Houses by Haddayr Copley-Woods
Various inanimate objects erotically fantasize about a woman while her husband clearly does not fully appreciate her.
Fool by Steven R. Stewart
A moth that has fallen in love with an Oriole faithfully waits out the winter and his inevitably short life span, until his avian sweetheart returns in the Spring.
Spidersong by Alex Shvartsman
A group of colonists on a distant planet are prey to mysterious telepathic spiders than speak exclusively to the colonist's children.
