Kaleidocast

Sometimes the only way forward is through fire. The only way to stay true to yourself is to change. Sometimes that can change the world. Read by Lanna Joffrey and Tatiana Grey, our grand finale comes from Amal El-Mohtar and Merc Fenn Wolfmoor. A poem of survival from Amal and a story of revolution's dawning from Merc. Resistance for the sake of love. Theirs are the words we truly need to hear, now more than ever. "A Tale of Ash in Seven Birds" by Amal El-Mohtar, Read by Lanna Joffrey Amal El-Mohtar is an award-winning author and critic. She's the science fiction and fantasy columnist for the New York Times Book Review and the author, with Max Gladstone, of This Is How You Lose the Time War. She lives in Ottawa. Lanna Joffrey is an actor, spoken-word performer and writer working in the United States and United Kingdom based in London. She has earned a New York Fringe, IRNE and Ovation Award in Performance. And her verbatim play of women’s war stories, "Valiant" has traveled the U.K. and U.S. to critical acclaim. lannajoffrey.com "Brightening Star, Ascending Dawn" by Merc Fenn Wolfmoor, Read by Tatiana Grey Merc Fenn Wolfmoor is a queer non-binary fiction author who lives in Minnesota, USA, with two adorable cats. Merc has had over 40 short stories published so far, many of which you can read for free via their website: mercfennwolfmoor.com. Tatiana Grey is a critically acclaimed actress of stage, screen, and the audio booth. She has been nominated for dozens of fancy awards but hasn’t won a single damned thing. She lives in Brooklyn, New York. See more about Tatiana at www.tatianagrey.com

We're not always aware of the world we're creating for ourselves and for others. We don't always understand our impact. But there is impact nonetheless. Read by Tatiana Grey, Maria brings us a story of the world that crept up on us screaming for our attention. Read by Lucie Pohl, Brit's story is about a hero who is rescued by the city she loves. "The Kleptographer" by Brit E.B. Hvide, Read by Lucie Pohl Brit E. B. Hvide is a writer and a Hugo Award-nominated editor. She studied creative writing and physics at Northwestern University. Originally from Singapore, she now lives in Brooklyn with her husband and their dog. Follow her on Twitter @bhvide Lucie Pohl is a German-born-NYC-raised comedian, actor, writer & creator of Edinburgh Fringe & OFF B'way solo hits 'Hi, Hitler', 'Apohlcalypse Now!' a.o. Lucie has been featured on NPR, in The NY Times and is also the voice of Mercy on Blizzard's Overwatch. Acting credits include Red Dwarf, Homeland and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. "The Scavenger's Nursery" by Maria Dahvana Headley, Read by Tatiana Grey Maria Dahvana Headley is the New York Times-bestselling author of eight books, most recently The Mere Wife. Her new translation of Beowulf comes out from FSG in August, 2020. Her stories have been short-listed for the Nebula, Shirley Jackson, World Fantasy, and Tiptree awards, and regularly appear in Year's Best anthologies. Tatiana Grey is a critically acclaimed actress of stage, screen, and the audio booth. She has been nominated for dozens of fancy awards but hasn’t won a single damned thing. She lives in Brooklyn, New York. See more about Tatiana at www.tatianagrey.com

The rarest and wisest characters tell their own tale and create their own mythology. C.S.E. Cooney, Mimi Mondal, and Joshua A.C. Newman bring you characters that refuse to conform. "The Foxgirl Cycle" by C.S.E. Cooney, Read by C.S.E. Cooney, produced by Jeremy Cooney and Stefan Mark Dollak C.S.E. Cooney is the author of World Fantasy Award-winning Bone Swans: Stories. Her short novel The Twice-Drowned Saint is included in Mythic Delirium’s anthology The Sinister Quartet. Her forthcoming novel Saint Death’s Daughter will be out with Rebellion in Spring of 2022. Other work includes Tor.com novella Desdemona and the Deep, and short fiction and poetry in Jonathan Strahan’s anthology Dragons, Ellen Datlow’s Mad Hatters and March Hares: All-New Stories from the World of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, Rich Horton’s Year’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy, and elsewhere. Aspiring dungeon master, audiobook engineer, podcaster, and musician, Jeremy Cooney draws inspiration from bawdy pirate tales, Irish and American folk music, sword and sorcery fantasy, and gritty science fiction. His projects include Hail the Void (a 5th Edition DnD podcast starring his companion, his brother, his mother, and his friends) and editing and production of the Gown of Harmonies audiobook by Francessca Forrest. ​The early music specialist Stefan Mark Dollak plays lutes, hurdy-gurdy, the pipe & tabor, the bladder-pipe, guitar, mandolin, pennywhistle, ukulele, harmonica, krummhorns, bass guitar, ocarina, and possibly other instruments. In addition to early music on period instruments, Stef has performed traditional folk music, classical, pop, world music, ambient, ritual, trance, and even a few showtunes. "Sailing to the Underworld" by Mimi Mondal with Joshua A.C. Newman, Read by Jose Febus Mimi Mondal is a Dalit writer of speculative fiction and social-justice nonfiction, and the Poetry and Reprints Editor of Uncanny Magazine. Her first anthology, Luminescent Threads: Connections to Octavia Butler, co-edited with Alexandra Pierce, was published by Twelfth Planet Press in 2017. Mimi’s writings have also appeared in Uncanny Magazine, Anathema Magazine,The Book Smugglers, Podcastle, Daily Science Fiction, Scroll.in, and other publications. She is the recipient of the Octavia E. Butler Scholarship for the Clarion West Writing Workshop in 2015. More about her background, politics, literary tastes and editorial preferences can be found at this interview with the Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association. Mimi lives in Manhattan and tweets from @Miminality. Joshua A.C. Newman is a publisher, author, illustrator, game designer, graphic designer, and experimental musician. He lives in Arkham, Massachusetts with no cats and a suspicious pile of electronic components. Jose Febus's credits include the short film " Not Guilty" for which the award of Best Actor was honored at the My Final Shot Production Film Festival. Other films include Attempted Burglary, Plurality and Chicago Boricua. Television credits include The Path, Blindspot, Law & Order, Law & Order Criminal Intent. Web Series - East Willy B. His Off-Off Broadway credits include O'Rex with the G&F Company, The Deep Run at PRTT and Acts of Mercy written by Michael John Garces at The Rattlestick Theater. Regional credits include Ana in the Tropics at the Portland Center Stage, Williamstown Theater and the Hartford Stage Co. [email protected]

"Is it ever too late to start living? Is it ever too late to find your love? E.C. Myers and Liz Riegel give two very different but oh so compelling answers to this question. Stories read by the fantastic Bradley Robert Parks and introducing Q-Lim with a fantastically moving perfromance Liz Riegel is a queer collage artist, sometimes-beekeeper, and writer who is endlessly inspired by the natural world. ​Bradley Robert Parks is a writer and sometimes singer, and founded the Brooklyn Speculative Fiction Writers in 2010. His publication credits can be found on his website, bradleyrobertparks.com. He lives in Brooklyn with his husband and one perfect cat, Ms. Magoo. "The Land of the Morning Calm" by E.C. Myers, Read by Q-Lim E.C. Myers was assembled in the U.S. from Korean and German parts and raised by a single mother and the public library in Yonkers, New York. He is the author of six young adult novels, including the Andre Norton Award–winning Fair Coin, The Silence of Six, and RWBY: After the Fall. His short fiction has appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies, most recently A Thousand Beginnings and Endings, Mother of Invention, and Feral Youth, as well as ongoing serials Orphan Black: The Next Chapter and Alternis from Serial Box Publishing. E.C. currently lives with his wife, son, and three doofy pets in Pennsylvania. You can find traces of him all over the internet, but especially at http://ecmyers.net and on Twitter: @ecmyers. Q Lim was born and raised in South Korea, then moved to New York when she was 20 knowing nothing about Musical Theatre except that it was her dream. Q's most known for playing Tuptim on the 1st Broadway National Tour of The King and I, just after finishing her broadway debut in the production at Lincoln Center Theatre directed by a Tony Award winning director, Bartlett Sher. After the tour, she had the privilege of working with a legendary composer Jason Robert Brown on his new musical in the works, Farewell My Concubine. Q has starred as Luisa in The Fantasticks! She was also featured as a soloist in an annual concert of Broadway’s Rising Stars at a broadway concert hall, Town Hall and played her favorite Disney princesses; Jasmin, Mulan and Pocahontas on Disney Cruise Line.

At the core of every mind numbing horror, there is a joke waiting for its time to shine. I dare you not to laugh out loud when listening to Kris Dikeman's perfectly paired story (read it with wine for the spit take), and Sam Schreiber takes you on a noir whodunnit with a werewolf too curious for his own good. "A Singular Event, In Several Courses" by Kris Dikeman, Read by Mary Boughey Kris Dikeman lives and works in New York City. Her stories have appeared in Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Strange Horizons, Analog and Mad Hatters and March Hares, among other places. She is currently at work on a novel about carnivorous plants. You can read more of her work at her website: www.krisdikeman.com. A career performer and storyteller, Mary Rodgershas acted in plays, musicals, television and film and was the lead singer/keyboardist for an all-women's rock band for a number of years. She is also a published novelist and screenwriter, with a focus on near-future science fiction, contemporary romance and fantasy. "Homo Homini Lupis" by Sam Schreiber, Read by Paul Karle Sam Schreiber is a writer living in Brooklyn, where he teaches science fiction and fantasy at New York University’s Tandon School of Engineering. He is an active member of the Brooklyn Speculative Fiction Writers as well as an associate member of Science Fiction Writers of America. Paul Karle is an actor living and working in New York City.

The past lives in the walls. It lives just over our shoulder. It stares at us without blinking. It stares from the mirrors. It can never just be. So neither can we. Charlie Jane Anders and Bradley Robert Parks bring us two ghost stories. One takes lives while the other saves them, one punchline at a time. "Sustenance" by Bradley Robert Parks, Read by Bradley Levine Bradley Robert Parks ​is a writer and sometimes singer, and founded the Brooklyn Speculative Fiction Writers in 2010. His publication credits can be found on his website, bradleyrobertparks.com. He lives in Brooklyn with his husband and one perfect cat, Ms. Magoo. ​Bradley Levine is a NYC based actor, creator, and producer. Recent stage credits: James & the Giant Peach (James, The Argyle Theatre), Casse Noisette (world premiere, Bridge Street Theatre), Camp Rolling Hills (NYMF). Original Devised pieces include: Gathering Sparks (Bangkok Exploriment Festival/ Theatre Row), Down the Urinal Hole & Around the Corner (Dixon Place, KC Fringe). Training: BA Acting, Pace University; The William Esper Studio; The Grotowski Institute in Poland. IG: @bradley_levine "Ghost Champagne" by Charlie Jane Anders, Read by Kim Rogers Charlie Jane Anders is the author of The City in the Middle of the Night and All the Birds in the Sky and the co-host of Our Opinions Are Correct, a podcast about the meaning of science fiction, with Annalee Newitz. Kim Rogers is an EMC actress and entertainment industry executive. She lives with her husband in Crown Heights, Brooklyn and can be heard at the top of every episode of the Kaleidocast.

What happens to the not-heroes when the story's over? Max Gladstone and Ted Rabinowitz peak through the window of those characters who must live without the benefit of plot armor. "Centaur's Lament," by Ted Rabinowitz, Read by Rish Outfield Ted Rabinowitz Ted Rabinowitz is an author and copywriter whose previous careers include electrician, script reader, and professional card player. His first novel, The Wrong Sword, was published in 2012, and his writing has appeared in the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, the Business International Money Report, the Valley Sun, Hollywood Scriptwriter, and elsewhere. Rish Outfield is a podcaster, writer, and audiobook narrator who loves Horror, the word "chalupa," Star Wars, Sean Connery, and hopes to be remembered for his lovely singing voice . . . despite his many monstrous crimes. "Late Nights at the Cape and Cane" by Max Gladstone, Read by Wilson Fowlie ​Max Gladstone has been thrown from a horse in Mongolia and nominated for the Hugo, John W Campbell, and Lambda Awards. A narrative designer, writer, and consultant, Max is the author of the Hugo-nominated Craft Sequence (starting with THREE PARTS DEAD and most recently continuing with RUIN OF ANGELS). His short fiction has appeared on Tor.com and in Uncanny Magazine. He has written games, comics, and interactive television, and is the lead writer of the fantasy procedural series BOOKBURNERS. Max’s most recent projects are the intergalactic adventure EMPRESS OF FOREVER, and, with Amal El-Mohtar, the time travel epistolary spy-vs-spy novella THIS IS HOW YOU LOSE THE TIME WAR. Wilson Fowlie lives in a suburb of Vancouver, Canada and has been reading aloud since the age of 4. His life has changed recently: he lost his wife to cancer, and he changed jobs, from programming to recording voiceovers for instructional videos, which he loves doing, but not as much as he loved Heather.

Monsters know you better than they know themselves. Val Rigodon and Zin E. Rocklyn bring you stories inspired folklore and heartache. "Little Red" by Val Rigodon, Read by Tony Perry ​Val Rigodon is a poet, writer, and occultist from Brooklyn, New York. She is a 2019 Poets’ House Fellow and a member of Brooklyn Speculative Fiction Writers. She is also a J.D candidate. One day she hopes to own a house by the sea. Val is extremely honored to have her story featured on the Kaleidocast. Tony Perry is an actor and singer-songwriter. He narrated the film Lost and Found, and the audio comic The Captain Punishment Adventure Hour. He has performed in English and Yiddish, and he’s happy to talk about all things Doctor Who. "Summer Skin" by Zin E. Rocklyn, Read by Laurice White ​Zin E. Rocklyn is a 2017 VONA, 2018 Viable Paradise (22), and 2020 Clarion West student. Her work can be found the anthologies Forever Vacancy, 2017 Bram Stoker Nominated Sycorax's Daughters (of which her story Summer Skin was long-listed for Best of Horror 2017), Kaiju Rising II: Reign of Monsters, Brigands: A Blackguards Anthology, and Nox Pareidolia; the zine Weird Luck Tales No. 7, and tor.com. Her non-fiction essay “My Genre Makes a Monster of Me” is in Uncanny Magazine’s Hugo Award-Winning Disabled People Destroy SF&F 2018 issue. Her website, terizin.com, is currently under construction. In the interim, follow her on Twitter @intelligentwat." Laurice White​ is an actress, poet, writer, and student of the art of Voice Over.

Memories of a country that never was, and the world behind the door at the top of the stairs. Nothing every trully belongs to us. Sarah Pinsker and Nikki C Smith give us bitter sweet stories that complicate the narratives we tell ourselves. "That Our Flag Was Still There," by Sarah Pinkser, Read by Stacie Chaiken Sarah Pinsker's novel A Song For A New Day won the Nebula Award for best novel, and her collection Sooner or Later Everything Falls Into the Sea won the Philip K. Dick Award. She has been nominated for the Hugo, Locus, World Fantasy, and more. She lives in Baltimore with her wife and dog. Find her online at sarahpinsker.com and on twitter @sarahpinsker. Writer-performer Stacie Chaiken’s full-length solo plays include The DIG, What She Left, and Looking for Louie. Saint Vibiana, Pray4US and Don’t Flinch !! are part of Yovaar : Porciuncula, an ongoing performance/excavation of the block where she lives in Downtown Los Angeles. ​ "All The Things You Will Never Know," By Nikki Caffier Smith, Read by J.M. Plumbley Nikki Caffier Smith lives in Brooklyn with her partner and their two cats. Her poetry has been published in Typishly. J.M. Plumbley writes fantasy, horror, and a blog about monsters. She is an active member of the Brooklyn Speculative Fiction Writers and a proud graduate of the Odyssey Writing Workshop. The bulk of her spare time is spent defending her keyboard from her cat. Find her online at jmplumbley.com.

The meek shall inherit the Earth. Carmen Maria Machado and Sondra Fink tell us how the world ends. But every ending is also the beginning of something new. "The Hungry Earth" by Carmen Maria Machado, Read by Tony Perry Carmen Maria Machado is the author of the bestselling memoir In the Dream House and the short story collection Her Body and Other Parties. She has been a finalist for the National Book Award and the winner of the Bard Fiction Prize, the Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Fiction, the Lambda Literary Award for LGBTQ Nonfiction, the Brooklyn Public Library Literature Prize, the Shirley Jackson Award, and the National Book Critics Circle's John Leonard Prize. In 2018, the New York Times listed Her Body and Other Parties as a member of "The New Vanguard," one of "15 remarkable books by women that are shaping the way we read and write fiction in the 21st century." Her essays, fiction, and criticism have appeared in the New Yorker, the New York Times, Granta, Vogue, This American Life, Harper’s Bazaar, Tin House, McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, The Believer, Guernica, Best American Science Fiction & Fantasy, Best American Nonrequired Reading, and elsewhere. She holds an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and has been awarded fellowships and residencies from the Guggenheim Foundation, Michener-Copernicus Foundation, Elizabeth George Foundation, CINTAS Foundation, Yaddo, Hedgebrook, and the Millay Colony for the Arts. She is the Writer in Residence at the University of Pennsylvania and lives in Philadelphia with her wife. Tony Perry is an actor and singer-songwriter. He narrated the film Lost and Found, and the audio comic The Captain Punishment Adventure Hour. He has performed in English and Yiddish, and he’s happy to talk about all things Doctor Who. "The Verge of Utopia" by Sondra Fink, read by Lanna Joffrey Sondra Fink is a writer whose published work appears on posturemag.com and brooklynherborium.com. She is an organizing member of the Brooklyn Speculative Fiction Writers and currently at work on a young-adult dystopian fantasy novel. “The Verge of Utopia” is her first published work of fiction. Lanna Joffrey is an actor, spoken-word performer and writer working in the United States and United Kingdom based in London. She has earned a New York Fringe, IRNE and Ovation Award in Performance. And her verbatim play of women’s war stories, "Valiant" has traveled the U.K. and U.S. to critical acclaim. lannajoffrey.com