In this month's episode of the Anklecast, Big presents his 2008 short story "Black Angel," and he and Rish talk about it afterward. If I recall correctly, this was the second-ever Broken Mirror Story Event we did, and the premise this time had to be "A young man obtains what's supposed to be a revenge crystal, and discovers it works remarkably well."
But will it work out well for Pete in the end? Find out HERE.
If you like, check out last week's Tales To Terrify podcast, where you can hear me perform the story "The Sin Eater's Chrysalis" by Matt Hollingsworth.
It tells the story of a lonely, bitter man who, like his father before him, is able to consume the sins of the recently-dead so that they can go to Heaven, using some pretty disgusting supernatural methods. But every consumption takes its mental and spiritual toll on the sin-eater, so he determines that nobody will follow in his footsteps. It's a dark one, more so than . . . gee, any story in memory I've been asked to do, and way more so than anything I've written.
Sound fun? Go TO THIS LINK to find out.
Rish here. The last time "Cast of Wonders" asked me to narrate a story was "My Hilt Itches" in May of 2022. Seems like longer, but hey, better late(ish) than never.
Every writer has his or her strengths and weaknesses. There are naturally subjects and scenarios I am drawn to, and some I tend to stay as far away from as I can. One of those that I've struggled with is the dystopian future of Science Fiction or Horror.
This story, "Window Boy" by Thomas Ha, is a pretty masterful attempt at the age-old idea of a utopian future story . . . where it becomes clear that it's not a utopia at all. It's also a fanciful Sci-Fi tale about an innocent child that becomes a truly chilling Horror piece by the end.*
Jakey lives with his parents in a world where you don't go outside, but there are TV shows about cybernetic mailmen that protect the outside world from the monsters that roam its streets. And pretty much every night, Jakey has a conversation with the boy who comes to the window, shares a sandwich with him, and asks him questions about the house he lives in.
Dang, this was a good one--in fact, I'm going to interrupt this blog post and write the author an email about it. Well, that felt good. I suggest you do the same, if there's a writer you know of that could use a word of appreciation for their work. In the meantime, check out my performance of "Window Boy" HERE. But don't get too close.
*That is, if I interpreted it the way the author intended. Maybe I didn't. But if that's the case, well, that would mean the story was much less than the sum of its parts. And I don't think so.
Rish here.
For the past few months, Big Anklevich has been running his beefy novella, "The Elefante in the Room," on his podcast. I wasn't really involved, except to talk about his brief Eurotrip*. But now, the story is finished, and it's time for us to talk about it. So, you might as well listen to the whole darn thing (that's what I did).
A teen boy discovers some kind of alien-looking egg about to hatch in his room and uncovers a conspiracy that goes all the way to Selena Gomez. Oh, and the President. What is going on, and who will be next, and how can he possibly stop it?
Anyhow, he had me on for the last episode. We talk about the source of the idea, whether it's about what you think it's about, and would Big end it in the traditional Anklevich way? Find out the answers HERE.
*R.I.P. Michelle Trachtenberg.
Over on the Anklecast, Big has been presenting chunks (the technical term) of his novella "The Elephant In The Room." But he also got a chance to go to Europe, at least for a couple of days. So he had Rish on his show and they talked about it, after the chunk of his story, that is.
You can--and will--check it out HERE.
