Episode 1 - Seasons of Glass and Iron by Amal El-Mohtar

Episode 9 - In The Dream House

We're back, and this time we're featuring an excerpt from Carmen Maria Machado's haunting, emotional, experimental and deeply powerful memoir - In The Dream House, one of my absolute favourite books of all time. It's a little spooky, very scary, and ultimately a painful, harrowing read. Why are we so masochistic? 

Read the excerpt in full here https://www.thecut.com/2019/11/excerpt-in-the-dream-house-by-carmen-maria-machado.html 

Music Featured:

Disasterpeace - Title (It Follows)

Atrium Carceri & Cities Last Broadcast - A Deeper Dream

Mount Shrine - Held Breeze

Spc X2x (Unseen Presence) by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/6738-spc-x2x-unseen-presence-

License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Episode 8 - Standard Loneliness Package

Hello listeners, we're back after an insanely long hiatus! Today we're reading Charles Yu's speculative short story 'Standard Loneliness Package' from the Nov 2010 issue of Lightspeed Magazine. Known for his work on Westworld and his spectacular novel Interior Chinatown, Yu has always been one heck of an incredible writer, and in Standard Loneliness Package, imagines a world where grief, guilt and pain can be transferred to a shift worker to feel it for you...and the consequences of that, from the worker's perspective. It's sad, it's heartbreaking, and it's better each time I read it. 

Read the full story on Lightspeed Magazine https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/standard-loneliness-package/ 

Music used:

Piano At Midnight - Andrew Holdsworth https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G41SDiy00y0&ab_channel=AndrewHoldsworth-Topic

Episode 7 - Tune In, Drop Out by Ann Babe

Hello listeners, today we're doing something a little different. Instead of a sci-fi short story, we're reading a non-fiction, longform article instead. This one is about South Korea and the culture of hanjok, or 'alone tribe', where, exhausted by the demands of modern Korean society, some Koreans have chosen to retreat into a den of solitude, reducing societal interaction to a bare minimum, almost as if preparing for the COVID-19 pandemic. How does it all work Find out when you listen.

Read the full article on Rest of World.org here https://restofworld.org/2020/south-korea-honjok-loneliness/

Music used:

Lonely Fish by Sascha Ende

Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/4655-lonely-fish

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Episode 6 - Selkie Stories Are For Losers by Sofia Samatar

Welcome back! You're listening to episode 6 of Sometimes I Read, where I'll be reading Sofia Samatar's Selkie Stories Are For Losers, which was nominated for the 2014 Hugo Award For Best Short Story. It's another brown author, and while it's not outrightly sci-fi/fantasy, it takes on the traditional European myths of selkies (seal women) to discuss ideas of absent mothers and the trauma inherited in their daughters. Slightly queer, relatively short, and very digestible. Enjoy!

Read the full story here: http://strangehorizons.com/fiction/selkie-stories-are-for-losers/

Music used:

Music for Manatees by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4102-music-for-manatees

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Episode 5 - And Now His Lordship is Laughing by Shiv Ramdas

It's been a while, but here's episode 5, and we seem to be on a trend with authors of South Asian descent. This time we're featuring a really new piece, by Shiv Ramdas, which was written in late 2019 and is up for a Hugo Award for best short story. Hope you're all taking care amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, and as always, if you like what you hear, tell your friends and share! 

Read the story in full on Strange Horizons http://strangehorizons.com/fiction/and-now-his-lordship-is-laughing/

Music used:

Deep Relaxation Preview by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5726-deep-relaxation-preview

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/