The Drabblecast Audio Fiction Podcast

The Drabblecast presents an original story by Michael Bettendorf about football and growing up the hard way.  Read to you by Renee Chambliss. Art by DS Oswald Personal Best By Michael Bettendorf It?s hard to see eye to eye with your parents when they?re always looking down on you. I cannot help that I am [?]

Dating is weird this week on the Drabblecast.  We bring you a Drabblecast original, ?Yummy Tummy? by Chelsea Pumpkins, read by The Word Whore.  Tasty!    Cover art by Michael Butkovich         Yummy Tummy by Chelsea Pumpkins   The bell over the door chimes as Aaron pushes it open and holds it [?]

The Drabblecast returns with a sinister tale of generational ick. We present ?The Bad Ones Are Always the Best,? by Michelle Ann King. The Bad Ones Are Always the Best by Michelle Ann King Marty?s grandson takes the cup of tea he?s offered ? without saying thank you, mind ? and stares at it dubiously, [?]

On this week?s Drabblecast, Dendrology meets Criminal Psychology. A story by Harley Carnell. Art by Bo Kaier. Woods For the Trees by Harley Carnell On the second day of our search for John Shaw, John Shaw joins our search party. Frustrated after years of incompetence and inaction from the authorities, and after Shaw recently committed [?]

Ever feel Déjà vu on the road supposedly less traveled? Truth and lies on this week?s Drabblecast, we bring you an original story from Bob McHugh called ?Is This a Plate?? Enjoy! Produced by Adam Pracht Read by Dominick Rabrun   Beyond this point, two paths lie One you live, one you die Ask one [?]

This week?s show has it all: vampires, evolutionary biology, and quivering jacked up Taylor Swifts. We bring you three flash fiction pieces about the complications of being in love: Taylor Swift by Hugh Behm-Steinberg, The Evolution of a Breakup by Etgar Keret, and May I Come In by Adrienne Ryan. Narrations provided by Avery Alexander, [?]

This week we the Drabblecast brings you some interesting original historic found footage uncovered by author Jonathan Louis Duckworth called, ?The Follower?s Revel.? Enjoy! Art by Bo Kaier.

Episode Sponsor? Mothmen 1966 The secret?s out on this week?s Drabblecast, and nothing will ever be the same.  We bring you an original Drabblecast story called ?A Hymn Upon the Lips of the Dead,? by Mav Lux. Oh and Norm sings us a song about singing that he should have just told you.  Enjoy! Cover [?]

An uncanny episode of original fiction this week on the Drabblecast? we bring you, ?The Tenant? by Sarah E. Stevens. Cover created by Bo Kaier in concert with the midjourney text-to-image AI (and unidentifiable, scraped contributors). We hope to experience your enjoyment.         The Tenant by Sarah E. Stevens     Vanessa [?]

Finally, a Drabblecast episode for weird foodies. We bring you a Drabblecast original called, ?How to Impress a Top Food Critic and Put Your Restaurant on the Galactic Map? by P.A, Cornell. Enjoy? Episode Sponsor? Mothmen 1966 Cover created by Bo Kaier in concert with the midjourney text-to-image AI (and unidentifiable, scraped contributors).   How [?]

Episode Sponsor: Mothman 1966 In this week?s Drabblecast story, the only scenes that aren?t sex scenes are crime scenes. We bring you an original Drabblecast story by Tim Pratt about a dark future of vigilante justice sex toys, called ?The Distributed Denial of Sexytime.? Also, Norm and guest Executice Producer Bart Epstein treat us to [?]

Norm is cryptic this week in terms of offering information on the featured story, ?7099 Brecksville Road, Independence Ohio,? by JR Hamentaschen. He will say that that?s the story, and that?s the author. And to listen with headphones on. And also, check out our episode sponsor this week, pixel-pulp video game Mothmen 1966! Available on [?]

The Drabblecast is molting! Norm shares some exciting news in the intro this week, Drabblecast has launched a Patreon, and a new quarterly magazine, ?The Tentaculum.?  Also, welcome new Managing Editor Cameron Howard! Finally, we close out HP Lovecraft ?Month? with an original story by Aliya Whitely called, ?Plans for Expansion.? Stones contain stories. The [?]

This week?s show brings you an original commissioned HP Lovecraft mythos story by Nick Mamatas called ?When the Sun Hits.?  Afterwards, Nick talks about the story in an Author?s Note and Norm gives everyone an existential crises in a Drabble News presentation on The Boltzmann Brain. When the brain is liberated from the body, only [?]

Shark week on Drabblecast has never been so unnerving!  Enjoy an original Drabblecast story this week from Evie Mae Barber about what lurks even deeper in the depths? The great white looked like he was having a good time, swimming upside down, bone-white belly above water, teeth gnashing playfully. Like a puppy dreams of finally [?]

Norm closes out the year and existence as we know it, due to the phenomena known as ?The Continuation,? with the Drabblecast annual holiday Tim Pratt story, an original commission called ?How Lovely Are Your Branches.? Enjoy! Somebody was murdering people, but the killer?s name wasn?t showing up on my naughty list. That got me [?]

The Drabblecast kicks off H.P. Lovecraft Month with the grandfather of Weird Fiction?s cautionary dark fantasy, ?The Doom That Came to Sarnath.? There is in the land of Mnar a vast still lake that is fed by no stream and out of which no stream flows. Ten thousand years ago there stood by its shore [?]

The Drabblecast brings you three original stories this week (Modern Fairytales, if you will) from authors Alice Gauntley, Matthew Sanborn Smith, and Kevin D. Anderson. Enjoy! Our birthday was the first of March, and for two weeks beforehand it was all Caleb could talk about?cake, presents, and, most importantly, whom to invite. He would chatter [?]

We?re getting back to nature this week on the Drabblecast, with Michael Piel?s original story, ?Watch Anya Blume.?  Enjoy! Anya Blume showered, slept, and showered again. Yes, she thought, she was beginning to feel human. Exhausted, sure, but human. She popped five Advil and closed the medicine cabinet. There, at the bottom of the mirror [?]

Warning: some explicit language. Join us this week for a little Camp Dystopia! The Drabblecast brings you a story about growing up the hard way by Sofia Samatar, called ?How to Get Back to the Forest.? Enjoy! Episode Sponsor- ?You Know It?s True? by J.R. Hamantaschen   ?You have to puke it up,? said Cee. [?]

Episode Sponsor: You Know It?s True by J.R. Hamantaschen This week on the Drabblecast, we bring you a classic story by Flannery O?Conner about simpler times and a summer family vacation gone awry.  Enjoy! Warning: This story is being presented in it?s original form and contains an instance of outdated cultural language. ?Now look here, [?]

Dinosaurs gone awry on this week?s Drabblecast!  We bring you an original story by John Wiswell called The Tyrant Lizard (and Her Plus One), enjoy! Episode Sponsor: J.R. Hamentaschen?s horror anthology, ?You Know It?s True? Free on Kindle Unlimited! Dinosaurs don?t want to kill you; they just don?t care that you?re there. More people have [?]

This week?s episode is brought to you by J.R. Hamentaschen?s fourth horror fiction anthology ?You Know It?s True.? Grab a copy for kindle or otherwise, here! For our story this week, take a trip with us to the Fourteenth Floor, where you are every guest.  We bring you ?Stay,? by Davian Aw. You were every [?]

The Drabblecast is on the scene this week, with an original story by Gail Ann Gibbs, read by Starla Hutchton, that reminds us that it?s ok to be a little weird. Or maybe even, SUPER weird? I like the way Richard smells. The next time a psychiatrist asks me what makes me happy, I?ll say [?]

Weird things are afoot in the west this week on the Drabblecast!   Enjoy an original,  previously unpublished story about snails of the plains gone awry by Joshua Bush called ?The Witchita Drive.?  Yeehaw! They were down in a gully watering the cattle when Billy came thundering down the ridgeline on his sorrel mare, waving his [?]

Drabblecast wraps up Women & Aliens month with a gritty and intense story by James Tiptree Jr., aka Alice B. Sheldon.  Hope you?re hungry! Remembering? Do you hear, my little red? Hold me softly. The cold grows. I remember: ?I am hugely black and hopeful, I bounce on six legs along the mountains in the [?]

What makes a hero?  The Drabbecast brings you an original commissioned story by Cat Rambo this week called ?The Hands of Heroes.? The thing is, I was never a hero. The first wave of aliens taught me that. The war with them ? my older brothers became heroes there, one died in the stand-off at [?]

Who says Drabblecast doesn?t do Young Adult Fiction? This week we launch Women & Aliens Month with a fresh, original Drabblecast commission by Effie Seiberg. We?re grateful to be able to bring you this story this week! On the day I turned nine I didn?t get a pet nebula. I?d really really wanted one, just [?]

Sea creatures and sorority sisters on this week?s Drabblecast! We bring you an original tale by Stephanie Gray called, ?The Secret of Theta Pi.? Enjoy! We travel back to Tandy?s Cove in a caravan of three, Cindy Q?s Miata leading, followed by the rented van, dirty white with the windows rolled up, and Beneeta G?s [?]

This week on the Drabblecast? three stories about Strange Futures. We bring you Drabblecast originals, ?Department of Invention? by R.L. Thull, ?The One?s Who Won?t Be? by Martin Munks, and ?Cannabilism in the Inhuman Age? by Jaye Viner. Closing Music by 19 Action News Saul broke down in an unusual way for a robot. Saul [?]

On this week?s show, every day is Earth Day when you?re living on an Elder God! We bring you a hidden gem from the 1930?s pulp science fiction era, written by Pulp Master General Edmond Hamilton!

We?d tested plenty of missiles before, but Teeny was the only one that convulsed when we cut him open. Oh, your listeners need more background? OK, I?ll back up a bit. Lemme tell ya, kids today don?t know their history. Even locked up in here for the past ten years, I can tell. No education. [?]

Norm brings in the New Year with an original Drabblecast story by author Tim Pratt! This story is a sequel to last year?s Holiday Special story, ?Comfort and Joy,? check that one out here! She was a blonde ? the kind of blonde to make a bishop bite through his altar cloth. I used to [?]

A classic Drabblecast Tim Pratt story, presented to you by Guest Host, Avery Alexander!  The apartment was a bustle of twenty other people more extroverted and festive than himself, all dressed in the requisite hideous holiday sweaters, drinking bourbon punch and rum punch and some sort of strange vegan eggnog, flirting and joking and ranting [?]

The Drabblecast wraps up HP Lovecraft Month this year with a mythos story unlike any variety you?ve likely heard before!  We bring you ?The Shallow One,? an original Drabblecast story by Matthew Sanborn Smith. Norm closes out with a song about awkward romance called ?There?s a Fetus in Your Kitchen.? I first met Madeline at [?]

Our next original Drabblecast-commissioned story for HP Lovecraft month installment, ?The Wallpaper Out of Space!? by Adam-Troy Castro read by Jacob Boris. All right, so it?s Cheryl?s kid, okay? I didn?t know she had a kid until we were two months in and already deeply involved, and then she tells me she has a sixteen [?]

Lovecraft and love life mix on this week?s Drabblecast! As our first offering HP Lovecraft month, we present ?Maternal Instinct,? by Chris Lester. They say you can find absolutely anything on the Internet. The authenticity and good condition of said ?anything,? however, is by no means guaranteed. This caveat applies to rare movies, import CDs, [?]

Part two of a Drabblecast production of H.P. Lovecraft?s classic The Shadow Over Innsmouth. The reality of what I had been through was highly uncertain in my mind, but I felt that something hideous lay in the background. I must get away from evil-shadowed Innsmouth?and accordingly I began to test my cramped, wearied powers of [?]

The Drabblecast Annual Halloween Special kicks off this year simultaneously with HP Lovecraft month on the show, a full month of original Drabblecast-commissioned stories playing around with elements of Lovecraft?s style and mythos. We kick things off this year with a fullcast adaptation of one of Lovecraft?s most popular stories? The Shadow Over Innsmouth. Do [?]

Weirdness is in the air at Drabblecast as we bring you an original story about spousal life and home ownership by author Ao-Hui Lin. ?Hey babe, where did the closet go?? The Hubby, Victor, gives me a blank look, like the word ?closet? is Swahili for ?bratwurst?. He neither understands the question nor the purpose [?]

This week?s Drabblecast features a poignant story about patience, perspective, parenthood and the paranormal. We bring you ?A Promise,? by Jennifer Hudak. Enjoy! I reach out nonexistent fingers to catch your arm, the hem of your shirt. You, there. Sitting on the edge of the bed, head bowed, dripping with sorrow. Your hair is thinning, [?]

Drabblecast fan Jen Fischer hosts another Drabbleclassics episode this week, bringing you a touching H.P. Lovecraft mythos story called ?Maybe the Stars,? by Samantha Henderson.

This week on the Drabblecast: dirty jobs.  We bring you a quirky original tale by Bryan Miller about mad scientists and henchmen gone awry.  Enjoy! The bulletin board posting specifically stated that the internship required ?special skills,? ?unorthodox hours,? and an ?old-fashioned go-getter,? so I can?t really complain as I?m digging up coffins in search [?]

?Get Your Home Improvement On, Sucka?? Norm and author Desmond Warzel sit down and talk about fiction, ghosts, aliens, and of course his hit stor which frst appeared on the Drabblecast back in August of 2014, ?On a Clear Day You Can See All the Way to Conspiracy.? You?re listening to the Mike Colavito Show [?]

Alternate history on this week?s show? an original story by Edward J. Knight about the American Civil War that we perhaps only narrowly missed! 7 August 1865 My darling Emily, I do not know if this letter will reach you, but if it does, I hope it finds you well. General Lee has sent word [?]

On this week?s Drabblecast, Norm and author Matthew Sanborn Smith bring you a dose of perspective during these crazy times where weirdness seems to be the norm. Remember those invisible things around us that support and hold us no matter what our struggles our, and remember to cherish each moment of every day. I wonder [?]

This week, another Drabblecast Trifecta, this time with the theme:  Friends Close, Enemies Closer.  We bring you three stories, with three different narrators, by three different authors!  Time Cookie Wars, by Benjamin C Kinney, Sandy, by Bruce McAllister, and Oh What a Privilege to Dwell in the Grand Palace of the Tungerils! by Kelly Moore. [?]

Another gripping and macabre tale from Drabblecast fan favorite Tim Pratt. Finding that first body wasn?t so bad, though it rattled me at the time. The dead man was curled up on a piece of cardboard in the alleyway I cut through sometimes on my way to the good coffee shop, and I would have [?]

?My headlights were streaked pink with frog blood?? Norm and author comedian/writer Bryan Miller about comedy and horror, editing and frog country, Lovecraft and fish horror. Also, Bryan?s H.P. Lovecraft-inspired story, ?Necessary Cuts.? The manuscripts I read are haunted. Commas vanish forever into the void. Subjects and verbs struggle in bloody disagreement. Infinitives are cleaved [?]

Norm pays tribute and bids farewell to the greatest unsung hero of the podcast for the past two years: editor Sandra Odell. This fantastic story and many others have been brought to your ears through her hard work! Our story is another original Drabblecast commissioned story for Women & Aliens month, this week by Darcie [?]