Main Fiction: "Rockhoppers" by Ramez Yoakeim

A one-time engineer and educator, Ramez Yoakeim’s work favors the darker side of speculative fiction but mostly he writes about hope, including "More Than Trinkets," named one of Tor.com’s Must-Read Speculative Short Fiction. You’ll find more of his stories in Hidden Realms from Flame Tree Press, Sci Phi Journal, Translunar Travelers Lounge, Andromeda Spaceways, and many others. Discover more on his website, yoakeim.com, and Twitter @RamezYoakeim.

This story is original to StarShipSofa.

Narrated by: Christina M. Rau

Christina M. Rau is the author of the 2021 poetry collection What We Do To Make Us Whole (Alien Buddha Press), the Elgin Award winning sci-fi fem poetry collection Liberating The Astronauts (Aqueduct Press) and the chapbooks WakeBreatheMove (Finishing Line Press) and For The Girls, I (dancing girl press). She is currently serving as Poet In Residence for Cedaremere, Poet In Residence for Oceanside Library and was named Long Island Poet of the Year 2020 by Walt Whitman Birthplace Association . She is also the founder of Poets In Nassau, a reading circuit on Long Island, NY. She teaches English at Nassau Community College where she also serves as Editor for The Nassau Review.

She earned her MFA in Creative Writing at LIU Southampton, her MA in English and Creative Writing at Hofstra, and her BS in English at SUNY Oneonta.

Fact: Looking Back At Genre History by Amy H Sturgis

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This story originally appeared in Uncanny Magazine, #40.

José Pablo Iriarte is a Cuban-American writer, high school math teacher, and parent of two. Their fiction has been finalist for the Nebula, Hugo, Locus and Sturgeon Awards, longlisted for the Otherwise Award, and reprinted in various Year's Best compilations. Their debut novel is slated for publication in spring of 2024 from Knopf Books for Young Readers. José currently serves as Director-at-Large for SFWA. Learn more (but frankly not much more) at www.labyrinthrat.com, or look for José on twitter @labyrinthrat.

Narrated by: Bob Hole

Bob Hole is a bon-vivant (hermit), author, podcaster, blogger, and social media addict. He loves science fiction, fantasy, mysteries, stamp collecting, cactus, and most of the sciences (geek AND nerd). He lives in the Sonoran Desert with his partner.

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What Is Happening To StarShipSofa in 2023

Hey up,

Just wanted to wish you all have MASSIVE and amazing Happy New Year for 2023. It truly means a lot to know you are still out there and still listening to my little podcast that I started nearly 17 years ago. That makes me so proud just to type those words. And... the big thing... we are still going after all these years thanks to you.

So... not just a massive thank you but a Ultra Massive thank you.

But... I'm hellish selfish and I want StarShipSofa to keep going well into the future but I simply can't do it without your help. This show has lasted all those years because you have all supported me and StarShipSofa...

... please please... help us with a donation to keep StarShipSofa's engines running. At one time hit 500 Patreon supporters. We have dropped now to 305

There's two ways to support:

One off donation... go here.

And... Monthly via Patreon... go here.

With the excellent Nick Mamatas as editor picking the stories and Will Stagl choosing the narrators StarShipSofa has a formidable team pushing out some truly amazing science Fiction. Long may it last... and it will with your help!

As ever,

Tony C Smith

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Main Fiction: "An Elegy for the Bucephalus" by Rhiannon Rasmussen

This story originally appeared in Unlikely Wonders (Robot Dinosaur Press, 2022).

Illustrator and writer Rhiannon Rasmussen creates dark fantasy, horror, and science-fiction that juxtaposes humanity and queerness with elements of monstrosity, phantasm, and the weird. Rhiannon’s work has appeared in galleries & magazines including Lightspeed Magazine, HEARTWOOD, and Magic: the Gathering. Find more work on http://www.rhiannonrs.com/ and @charibdys on Twitter.

Narrated by: Alethea Kontis

Alethea Kontis is a princess, storm chaser, and bestselling author of over twenty books and fifty short stories. Alethea has received the Jane Yolen Mid-List Author Grant, the Scribe Award, and is a two-time winner of the Gelett Burgess Children’s Book Award. She was nominated twice for both the Dragon Award and the Andre Norton Nebula. In her spare time, Alethea narrates stories for a myriad of award-winning online magazines. Born in Vermont, currently resides on the Space Coast of Florida with her teddy bear, Charlie.

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Main Fiction: "The Hunt" by Gerri Leen

Gerri Leen lives in Northern Virginia and originally hails from Seattle. In addition to being an avid reader, she's passionate about horse racing, tea, and collecting encaustic art and raku pottery. She has work in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Nature, Strange Horizons, Galaxy's Edge, Dark Matter, and others. She's edited several anthologies for independent presses, is finishing some longer projects, and is a member of SFWA and HWA. See more at gerrileen.com.

This story originally appeared in Footprints (Hadley Rille Books, 2009).

Narrated by: Bob Hole

Bob Hole is a bon-vivant (hermit), author, podcaster, blogger, and social media addict. He loves science fiction, fantasy, mysteries, stamp collecting, cactus, and most of the sciences (geek AND nerd). He lives in the Sonoran Desert with his partner.

Fact: Looking Back At Genre History by Amy H Sturgis

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Main Fiction: "That Feeling You're Feeling" by Matthew Sanborn Smith

Matthew Sanborn Smith was born and raised in New England and has spent so many years in Florida, even his Florida-born children are well into adulthood. His fiction has appeared here at StarShipSofa, Tor.com, Nature, Apex Magazine, and the Drabblecast, among others. He is the keeper of the Beware the Hairy Mango podcast and its progeny. You can support his future works by way of patreon.com/matthewsanbornsmith.

This story is original to StarShipSofa.

Narrated by: Anthony Babington

Anthony Babington is a voice actor who looks just slightly off from how he sounds. From his secret volcano lair in Minnesota he narrates podcasts, and leases his soul to corporate America. he can also be heard on the Tales to Terrify podcast, and has recorded for both the Far-Fetched Fables and The Cursed Inn podcasts.

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Main Fiction: "The Moon and Mahasti" by Peter Adrian Behravesh

Peter Adrian Behravesh is an Iranian-American musician, writer, editor, audio producer, and narrator. For these endeavors, he has won the Miller and British Fantasy Awards, and has been nominated for the Hugo, Ignyte, Stabby, and Aurora Awards. His interactive novel Heavens' Revolution: A Lion Among the Cypress, is forthcoming from Choice of Games, and his essay “Pearls from a Dark Cloud: Monsters in Persian Myth,” is forthcoming in The Oxford University Press Handbook of Monsters in Classical Myth. When he isn’t crafting, crooning, or consuming stories, Peter can usually be found hurtling down a mountain, sipping English Breakfast, and sharpening his Farsi.

This story originally appeared, in slightly different form, in Holy C.O.W: SF Stories from the Center of the World (Holy C.O.W Publishing, 2019).

Narrated by: Tahereh Safavi 

Tahereh Safavi is grateful to be part of the Iranian diaspora, and for the opportunity that affords her to share art with the world. When she's not teaching wine-tasting, bellydance, or flying trapeze, she writes about medieval history with brown people–more at twodrunkhistorynerds.com. She's thrilled to help get this story out into the world at a time when Iranian women urgently need people to remember they exist, and are full human beings, too. Zan, zendegi, azadi. Women, life, freedom.

Fact: Looking Back At Genre History by Amy H. Sturgis

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Main Fiction: "Whale Meat" by Ekaterina Sedia

Ekaterina Sedia resides in the Pinelands of New Jersey. Her critically-acclaimed and award-nominated novels, The Secret History of Moscow, The Alchemy of Stone, The House of Discarded Dreams, and Heart of Iron, were published by Prime Books. Her short stories appeared in Analog, Baen's Universe, Subterranean, and Clarkesworld, as well as numerous anthologies, including Haunted Legends and Magic in the Mirrorstone. She is the editor of the anthologies Paper Cities (World Fantasy Award winner), Running with the Pack, Bewere the Night, and Bloody Fabulous as well as The Mammoth Book of Gaslit Romance and Wilful Impropriety. Her short-story collection, Moscow But Dreaming, was released by Prime Books in December 2012. She also co-wrote a script for Yamasong: March of the Hollows, a fantasy feature-length puppet film voiced by Nathan Fillion, George Takei, Abigail Breslin, and Whoopi Goldberg (Dark Dunes Productions).

This story originally appeared in The Future Is Japanese (Haikasoru, 2012).

Narrated by: Ibba Armancas

Ibba Armancas is a writer/director living in Los Angeles known for her PBS kids show Pandemic Playhouse–while she occasionally appears on screen or in voice acting roles, she is quick to assure everyone she is not, in fact, an actor but instead, an incurable ham.

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/starshipsofa.

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Main Fiction: "The Leader Principle" by Naomi Kanakia

Naomi Kanakia is the author of YA novels (HarperTeen and Little, Brown), literary short stories (West Branch, Gulf Coast), science fiction stories (Analog, Asimov's, F&SF), poetry (Cherry Tree, Vallum), essays (LitHub and the Los Angeles Review of Books) and a self-published cynical guide to the publishing industry. She lives in San Francisco with her wife and daughter.

This story originally appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Jan/Feb 2020.

Narrated by: Mark Nelson

Mark Nelson began audiobook narration in 2006, and now has over 180 titles at LibriVox, and recording as “Harry Shaw,” more than 100 for Audible. While Mark mainly records sci-fi, fantasy, and horror titles, he has also ventured into the classics, including Hugo and Dostoyevsky.

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Main Fiction: "After the Atrocity" by Ian Creasy

Ian Creasey lives in Yorkshire, England. Several of his stories have previously been podcasted at StarShipSofa, most recently "The Language of Flowers" in episode 542, June 2018. A collection of his science-fiction stories, The Shapes of Strangers was published by NewCon Press in 2019. For more information, please visit his website at iancreasey.com

This story originally appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction, March/April 2017.

Narrated by: Christina M. Rau

Christina M. Rau is the author of What We Do To Make Us Whole, the Elgin Award-winning Liberating The Astronauts, and two poetry chapbooks. She serves as Poet in Residence for both Cedarmere and the Oceanside Library (NY) and was 2020 Walt Whitman Birthplace Poet of the Year. Her poetry airs on Destinies radio show (WUSB) and appears in various literary journals. When she's not writing, she's teaching yoga or watching the Game Show Network. http://www.christinamrau.com

Fact: Looking Back At Genre History by Amy H Sturgis

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/starshipsofa.

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