The Cryptonaturalist

This week we visit home territory and visit a special grove of sassafras trees.

Hidden lore segment poetry contributed by Suzannah Dalzell. Suzannah lives on Whidbey Island north of Seattle, Wa where she divides her time more or less equally between writing and land conservation. Among the journals her work has appeared in are Flyway, Pilgrimage Magazine, About Place, Earthspeak and The Raven Chronicles. She is currently working on a collection of poems that explore the places where her ancestry bumps up against race, class and environmental damage.

What creature swims through the ocean of the sky? What could graze within the storm? I know the answer. Listen and you will too.

Poetry by Priyanka Sacheti. Priyanka is a writer based in Bangalore, India. Raised in Oman and educated in United Kingdom, she has been been published in Guardian, Art Slant, The Establishment, Gulf News, and Brownbook among others. She is presently an editor at Mashallah News. Her literary work has appeared in various journals and anthologies. She tweets @priyankasacheti1. A collection of her writing can be found at priyankasacheti.contently.com

When you find the dirt road with the unnamed creature, obey the rules, respect the emptiness, and make peace with the fact that not everything is there for your convenience.

Cara Ehlenfeldt is a writer, sound studies grad student, and co-creator of the upcoming audio drama podcast the Godshead Incidental. She originally hails from the New Jersey Pine Barrens, although she considers the forests of the Pacific Northwest to be her true home. The Indegogo campaign for Godshead Incidental can be found at: https://igg.me/at/godsheadpod (Launching on Monday, 9/17/18).

This week we explore safety, discover a very unusual snake, and receive an important update about squirrels.

Saker played the voice of Jed VanDorn. Saker is a cohost of It's All Been Done: A Barenaked Ladies podcast. It's two boys talking about almost anything but Barenaked Ladies. You can find it on your favorite podcast catcher. Saker also has a nerd hip-hop group called 2d6, online at 2d6music.com.

If you stop to check, it turns out that not all barns are barns.

The voice of Valentina Blackwood was played by Sarah Rhea Werner. Sarah Rhea Werner is a professional writer and podcaster who loves to help creators find confidence and success. She is a contributor to Forbes, and creator of the Girl In Space and Write Now podcasts. She currently lives in the Midwest with one husband, two rescue cats, and a ceiling full of spiders. Learn more at sarahwerner.com.

Hidden Lore Segment poetry contributed by Amber Bulinski. Amber is an artist and writer trying survive the thralls of the Sonoran Desert by respectfully fearing the heat from indoors. Find her on twitter @ResinQuotes

This week the show takes a half-remembered expedition to a strange forest that manipulates minds, shares secrets, and consumes memories.

The voice of Cryptonaturalist Max Dean was played by Adal Rifai. Adal is the voice of Chunt on the podcast Hello from the Magic Tavern, as well as one of the hosts of Hey Riddle Riddle.

Hidden Lore Segment poetry contributed by Eric Fisher Stone. Eric is originally from Fort Worth, Texas, though now lives in Ames, Iowa as a third year MFA candidate in creative writing and the environment at Iowa State University. His poems have appeared in about 20 journals including The Hopper, The Lyric and Jersey Devil Press. His first full length poetry collection, "The Providence of Grass," has just appeared in print, published by Chatter House Press.

On this episode we visit a special amphibian perfectly adapted to life in parking lots.

Special thanks to Cal Cleary for playing the Kroger employee.

John Muir life and times: https://www.nps.gov/jomu/learn/historyculture/people.htm

A good sample of John Muir’s essays: https://www.theatlantic.com/author/john-muir/

This episode explores the wildest parts of your home. Featuring a guest voice by podcasting icon and journalist Justin McElroy. You can hear Justin on the podcasts My Brother, My Brother and Me; The Adventure Zone; and Sawbones. For more information on Justin’s work, visit www.McElroyShows.com

By Day, Evan Dicken studies old Japanese Maps and crunches data for all manner of fascinating medical research at "The" Ohio State University. By night, he does neither of these things. His fiction has most recently appeared in: Analog, Strange Horizons, and Apex, and he has stories forthcoming from publishers such as: The Black Library and Tales to Terrify. Visit Evan’s website at www.evandicken.com

Today we meet a tiny spider that defies the laws of physics in a place that is, at best, semi-real. We also hear a transmission from another Cryptonaturalist in the field and read some flash fiction by Jamie Lackey.

Jamie Lackey lives in Pittsburgh with her husband and their cat. She has had over 130 short stories published in places like Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Apex Magazine, and Escape Pod. Her debut novel, Left-Hand Gods, is available from Hadley Rille Books, and she has two short story collections available from Air and Nothingness Press. In addition to writing, she spends her time reading, playing tabletop RPGs, baking, and hiking. You can find her online at www.jamielackey.com.

We pass the long miles with a story of a rare and dangerous cryptid that lurks in the dark, lonely wilds. Not all visitors are friendly and a light in the darkness isn’t always a sign of hope. My old friend Russell Van Atta learned these hard lessons in the dark woods not far from Parkersburg, West Virginia.