LIGHTSPEED MAGAZINE - Science Fiction and Fantasy Story Podcast (Sci-Fi | Audiobook | Short Stories)

597 episodes - English - Latest episode: 6 days ago - ★★★★★ - 467 ratings

Edited by bestselling anthologist John Joseph Adams, LIGHTSPEED is a Hugo Award-winning, critically-acclaimed digital magazine. In its pages, you'll find science fiction from near-future stories and sociological SF to far-future, star-spanning SF. Plus there's fantasy from epic sword-and-sorcery and contemporary urban tales to magical realism, science-fantasy, and folk tales. Each month, LIGHTSPEED brings you a mix of original short stories and flash fiction featuring a variety of authors, from the bestsellers and award-winners you already know to the best new voices you haven't heard yet. When you read LIGHTSPEED, you'll see where science fiction and fantasy have come from, where they are now, and where they're going. The LIGHTSPEED podcast, produced by Grammy Award-winning narrator and producer Stefan Rudnicki of Skyboat Media, features original audio short stories 6-8 times a month.

Science Fiction Fiction
Homepage Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed

Episodes

Marissa Lingen | On the Acquisition of Phoenix Eggs (Variant)

January 17, 2012 08:00 - 50 minutes

Lloyds was not willing to insure a phoenix egg, not even of the most impeccable pedigree. Hence the inspection of the purchase became a great deal more important. Narrated by Hillary Huber. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sarah Monette | Blue Lace Agate

January 03, 2012 11:01 - 45 minutes

Jamie Keller and his partner hadn’t found the shoggoth larva smugglers yet, but his boss, the head of the Bureau of Paranormal Investigation’s southeast hub, had other things on his mind. Narrated by Paul Boehmer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Megan Arkenberg | How Many Miles to Babylon?

January 03, 2012 11:00 - 29 minutes

It’s getting harder and harder to pretend we aren’t racing along the edge of a knife, one box of flashlights and a fistful of batteries away from the mercy of the things in the darkness. Narrated by Cassandra Campbell. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Andrew Penn Romine | The Parting Glass

December 03, 2011 11:01 - 37 minutes

I gulp the whiskey and it burns my plastic throat, sets my nutrient sac on fire. I've got filters, but they haven't been changed in six months. Too expensive. Narrated by Joe Barrett. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Vylar Kaftan | The Sighted Watchmaker

December 01, 2011 11:01 - 31 minutes

The Makers had been dead for billions of years, yet Umos discovered one caught in the starship's net. A young one, naked, with still-fused dorsal fins. Narrated by Paul Boehmer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

John Crowley | Snow

November 22, 2011 08:01 - 47 minutes

Georgie got rid of most of what she'd inherited from him, liquidated it. It was cash that she had liked best about that marriage anyway; but the Wasp couldn't really be got rid of. Georgie ignored it. Narrated by Stefan Rudnicki. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lisa Nohealani Morton | How Maartje and Uppinder Terraformed Mars (Marsmen Trad.)

November 01, 2011 07:01 - 21 minutes

As her breath hissed out it thickened and spread and wrapped around the planet. Before long it was pushing everything down; my mother's breath became the atmosphere of Mars. Narrated by Claire Bloom. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

David Farland | Against Eternity

October 18, 2011 10:01 - 14 minutes

The wan gray of polluted skies will weigh on your soul, and you will recall bluer days, and wish for your childhood, when the grass seemed taller and would rub your inner thighs as you rambled through the fields. Narrated by Stephan Rudnicki. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Adam-Troy Castro | Her Husband’s Hands

October 04, 2011 10:01 - 41 minutes

They opened the box and showed her Bob’s hands, resting side by side on a white pillow. The left one lay palm-down, the right one palm-up. The one that was palm-up twitched and waggled fingers at Rebecca when it saw her. Narrated by Kathe Mazur. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ursula K. Le Guin | The Island of the Immortals

September 27, 2011 10:01 - 32 minutes

Somebody asked me if I'd heard that there were immortal people on the Yendian Plane, and somebody else told me that there were, so when I got there, I asked about them. Narrated by Gabrielle De Cuir. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

David Brin | Bubbles

September 13, 2011 07:01 - 38 minutes

Serena still felt the heat of her passage through Kaluza space. That incandescent journey via the bowels of a singularity had raised her temperature dangerously near the fatal point. Narrated by Harlan Ellison®. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Genevieve Valentine | The Nearest Thing

August 16, 2011 10:01 - 54 minutes

We know you love your family. We know you worry about leaving them behind. And we know you've asked for more information about us, which means you're thinking about giving your family the greatest gift of all: You. Narrated by Arte Johnson. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

John Varley | Just Another Perfect Day

August 09, 2011 07:01 - 36 minutes

I know how you’re feeling. You wake up alone in a strange room, you get up, you look around, you soon discover that both doors are locked from the outside. It’s enough to unsettle anybody. Narrated by Stefan Rudnicki. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kat Howard | Sweet Sixteen

July 19, 2011 07:01 - 14 minutes

When it came time for her restructuring on her sixteenth birthday, she was going to walk into the room, and ask to be made a Tiffany. Narrated by Taylor Meskimen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jake Kerr | The Old Equations

July 12, 2011 10:01 - 1 hour

I miss you already. But you know that. What you don’t know is just how proud I am of you. You were born for this, and no one could possibly be able to handle such a demanding job as well as you. Narrated by Stefan Rudnicki, Heather Scott, Gabrielle de Cuir, Ted Scott. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Grady Hendrix | Transcript of Interaction Between Astronaut Mike Scudderman and the OnStar Hands-Free A.I. Crash Advisor

June 21, 2011 10:01 - 14 minutes

The following transcript details the last known use of the OnStar Hands-Free A.I. Crash Advisor, once a mandatory install on all craft equipped for interstellar travel. Narrated by Amanda Carlin, with Stefan Rudnicki and Paul Boehmer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

K.C. Ball | Snapshots I Brought Back from the Black Hole

June 07, 2011 07:01 - 53 minutes

No one knows what happens when an object crosses the point around a black hole known as an event horizon and falls into the singularity. Narrated by Stefan Rudniki. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nancy Kress | Eliot Wrote

May 17, 2011 10:01 - 35 minutes

Eliot’s father had been entered into Ononeida Psychiatric Hospital ten days ago, for a religious conversion in which he saw the clear image of Zeus on a strawberry toaster pastry. Copyright 2011 by Nancy Kress. Narrated by Jim Meskimen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Eric Gregory | The Harrowers

May 03, 2011 07:01 - 52 minutes

Narrated by Stefan Rudnicki. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Anne McCaffrey | Velvet Fields

April 26, 2011 10:01 - 28 minutes

Of course we moved into the cities of the planet we now know we must call Zobranoirundisi when Worlds Federated finally permitted a colony there. | Copyright 1973, 2001 by Anne McCaffrey First appeared in Worlds of If, from The Girl Who Heard Dragons Reprinted by permission of the author and the author’s agent, The Virginia Kidd Agency. Narrated by Paul Boehmer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tom Crosshill | Mama, We are Zhenya, Your Son

April 19, 2011 10:01 - 26 minutes

Narrated by Stefan Rudniki. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Robert Reed | Woman Leaves Room

March 22, 2011 07:01 - 24 minutes

Narrated by Stefan Rudnicki. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Maggie Clark | Saying the Names

March 01, 2011 08:01 - 36 minutes

Narrated by Emily Janice Card. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

James Patrick Kelly | Breakaway, Backdown

February 22, 2011 08:01 - 29 minutes

Narrated by Gabrielle de Cuir. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ken Liu | Simulacrum

February 15, 2011 08:01 - 25 minutes

Narrated by Gabrielle De Cuir and Stefan Rudnicki. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cat Rambo | Long Enough and Just So Long

February 01, 2011 08:01 - 32 minutes

Narrated by Susan Scott. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Orson Scott Card | The Elephants of Poznan

January 25, 2011 08:01 - 47 minutes

Narrated by Orson Scott Card. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tanith Lee | Black Fire

January 18, 2011 08:01 - 33 minutes

Narrated by Rosalyn Landor. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ursula K. Le Guin | The Silence of the Asonu

December 28, 2010 11:01 - 22 minutes

The silence of the Asonu is proverbial. We know now that the Asonu are not dumb, but that once past early childhood they speak only very rarely, to anyone, under any circumstances. | Copyright 1998 by Ursula K. Le Guin. Originally published in Orion. Reprinted by permission of the author. Narrated by Gabrielle de Cuir. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

David Tallerman | Jenny’s Sick

December 21, 2010 08:01 - 29 minutes

Narrated by Mirron Willis. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kristine Kathryn Rusch | The Observer

December 14, 2010 08:01 - 16 minutes

Narrated by Sarah Tolbert (via Drabblecast). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nancy Kress | Ej-Es

November 23, 2010 08:01 - 50 minutes

Narrated by Sheri Mann Stewart (via Escape Pod). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alice Sola Kim | Hwang’s Billion Brilliant Daughters

November 16, 2010 11:01 - 25 minutes

Narrated by Cassandra Campbell. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Charles Yu | Standard Loneliness Package

November 02, 2010 10:00 - 53 minutes

Root canal is one fifty, give or take, depending on who’s doing it to you. A migraine is two hundred. Not that I get the money. The company gets it. What I get is twelve dollars an hour, plus reimbursement for painkillers. Not that they work. I feel pain for money. Other people’s pain. Physical, emotional, you name it. Copyright 2010 by Charles Yu. Narrated by Christian Rummel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

John R. Fultz | The Taste of Starlight

October 19, 2010 07:00 - 1 hour

Narrated by Kristoffer Tabori. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joe R. Lansdale | Tight Little Stitches in a Dead Man’s Back

October 12, 2010 10:00 - 46 minutes

(Boom!) That’s a little scientist joke, and the proper way to begin this. As for the purpose of my notebook, I’m uncertain. Perhaps to organize my thoughts and not to go insane. | Copyright 1986 Joe R. Lansdale. First appeared in Nukes edited by John MacLay. Reprinted by permission of the author. Narrated by Stefan Rudnicki. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cat Rambo | Amid the Words of War

September 21, 2010 07:01 - 22 minutes

Narrated by Don Leslie. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Yoon Ha Lee | Flower, Mercy, Needle, Chain

September 07, 2010 10:01 - 25 minutes

Narrated by Stefan Rudnicki. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joe Haldeman | More Than the Sum of His Parts

August 24, 2010 07:01 - 50 minutes

21 August 2058. They say I am to keep a detailed record of my feelings, my perceptions, as I grow accustomed to the new parts. To that end, they gave me an apparatus that blind people use for writing, like a tablet with guide wires. It is somewhat awkward. But a recorder would be useless, since I will not have a mouth for some time, and I can't type blind with only one hand. | Copyright 1985 by Joe Haldeman Originally appeared in Playboy. Reprinted by permission of the author. Narrated by Ste...

Adam-Troy Castro | Arvies

August 17, 2010 04:01 - 35 minutes

Narrated by Christie Yant (for StarShipSofa). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Catherynne M. Valente | How to Become a Mars Overlord

August 03, 2010 07:01 - 33 minutes

Welcome, Aspiring Potentates! We are tremendously gratified at your interest in our little red project, and pleased that you recognize the potential growth opportunities inherent in whole-planet domination. Of course we remain humble in the face of such august and powerful interests, and seek only to showcase the unique and challenging career paths currently available on the highly desirable, iconic, and oxygen-rich landscape of Mars. | Copyright 2010 by Catherynne M. Valente. Narrated by Rob...

Genevieve Valentine | The Zeppelin Conductors’ Society Annual Gentlemen’s Ball

July 20, 2010 04:01 - 21 minutes

Narrated by Rosalyn Landor. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Carol Emshwiller | No Time Like the Present

July 06, 2010 07:01 - 37 minutes

Narrated by Judy Young. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Carrie Vaughn | Amaryllis

June 22, 2010 10:00 - 43 minutes

I never knew my mother, and I never understood why she did what she did. I ought to be grateful that she was crazy enough to cut out her implant so she could get pregnant. But it also meant she was crazy enough to hide the pregnancy until termination wasn't an option, knowing the whole time that she'd never get to keep the baby. That she'd lose everything. That her household would lose everything because of her. | Copyright 2010 by Carrie Vaughn. Narrated by Gabrielle De Cuir. Learn more abo...