PodCastle

#PC930: Parsley Girl, Parsley Girl, Let Down Your Trichobezoar by Natalie Zutter, read by ValerieValdes. A #PodCastleOriginal! Rated PG. Content notes for pregnancy loss, post-natal depression, and second-person narration If I were your mother, I would share with you this cautionary tale: Once there was a couple who yearned for a child. When the woman was finally pregnant, she craved naught but rapunzel. Unfortunately, this plant only grew inside a neighboring garden, walled off from the world. As the expectant mother began to waste away, her desperate husband stole into the garden and snatched as much of the leafy plant as he could. But he could not outsmart the enchantress, who protected the garden as if it were her own offspring. When she caught him, she demanded he trade her their newborn baby. He said yes. After the birth, the enchantress whisked the baby away to a tower in the woods.

#PC930: Parsley Girl, Parsley Girl, Let Down Your Trichobezoar by Natalie Zutter, read by ValerieValdes. A #PodCastleOriginal! Rated PG. Content notes for pregnancy loss, post-natal depression, and second-person narration

podcastle.org/2026/02/10/p...

Reminder! PodCastle is open for submissions through April! SUBMIT (your stories) TO THE DRAGON!!🐉🐉🐉

with that winter storm coming in idk if anyone’s thinking abt global warming rn BUT you should still listen to/read my new waterworld-riff-but-with-giant-singing-turtles at @podcastle.org 🐢 can’t overstate how much of a dream come true this is
podcastle.org/2026/01/20/p...

#PC927: The One Who Carries Abinakhee Has Died by Jay Kang Romanus, read by John Chu. A #PodCastleOriginal! Rated PG. Content note for drowning I’m leaning in to kiss a stranger when the shooting star passes overhead. The sounds of people celebrating nearby swim through the humid air like the ancient turtle below us swims through the world’s ocean and the shooting star above swims through waves of night sky. I’m still breathing heavy from my performance, glowing from the warmth of so many eyes on me and the warmth of the stranger’s body next to me. “Did you see it?” I ask, momentarily distracted from his well-shaped lips. He nods. “My mother used to say they were the starships of those who left us behind.” He smiles at me with those extremely well-shaped lips. “I don’t think she was right about that, though.”

#PC927: The One Who Carries Abinakhee Has Died by Jay Kang Romanus, read by John Chu. A #PodCastleOriginal! Rated PG. Content note for drowning

podcastle.org/2026/01/20/p...

#PC926: TALES FROM THE VAULTS - The Gold Silkworm by Tony Pi, read by S. Qiouyi Lu Previously ran as #PC423 and first published in Fantasy Magazine. Rated PG-13 When I first became keeper of the Spirit of Grass, she and I made a pact to never turn away one in need, whether they be rich or poor. Madame Ke was one of the rich. She had heard of my skills in medicine from her sister, and asked if I would come to the Garden of Timely Rains. I accepted the invitation and arrived in the early afternoon, when the high sun gave glow to the garden pond and terraces. A servant escorted me to the Pavilion for Tasting Autumn Pears where a woman in her thirties awaited me. Madame Ke, radiant in a dress printed with gold hibiscuses, bade me to join her at the tea table. Though eager to consult a woman doctor, she asked first for proof that I wasn’t a wandering healer.

#PC926: TALES FROM THE VAULTS - The Gold Silkworm by Tony Pi, read by S. Qiouyi Lu
Previously ran as #PC423 and first published in Fantasy Magazine. Rated PG-13

podcastle.org/2026/01/13/p...

#PC925: The Immortal Rabbit by Audris Candra, read by Zilla Paramita. A #PodCastleOriginal! Rated PG-13 - content notes for homophobia, violence, the death of a spouse, and second-person narration. Your most painful death fell upon you when your soulmate had forgotten who you were. You’d shared a kiss in a previous life, under the lush grape vines on the cusp of Mediterranean hills. His lips were tender with wine, yours raw from his two front teeth. “We’re immortal,” you said. “Because when our flesh fails us, I will find you.” You had died together then, on the same battlefield, to defend your homeland against the Romans. In this life you’re forced to balance on your toes under the golden brush of the ginkgo tree just to catch a glimpse of him. Here he sat on a porcelain garden stool, spine straight and hands smooth from a good life led as a Qing dynasty imperial official.

#PC925: The Immortal Rabbit by Audris Candra, read by Zilla Paramita. A #PodCastleOriginal! Rated PG-13 - content notes for homophobia, violence, the death of a spouse, and second-person narration.

podcastle.org/2026/01/06/p...

Delighted that my story, “CoverLetter_Version,5” appeared as a reprint with two other fantastic flash pieces in @podcastle.org today! They did my story proud! 🖤

Thanks specially to Kaitlyn Zivanovich for bringing my story to life so beautifully.

My latest story is up @podcastle.org ! You can read my flash story, "The Only Map is Memory" along with shorts by David McGuire and Courtney Floyd.
podcastle.org/2025/11/25/p...
This is, astoundingly, my 12th story published this year, far outstripping any previous year.

The Only Map is Memory and Valfierno are #PodCastleOriginal! CoverLetter_Version5 was previously published by Small Wonders issue 01.

podcastle.org/2025/11/25/p...

#PC919: FLASH FICTION EXTRAVAGANZA: Possibilities! The Only Map is Memory (PG) by B. Morris Allen, narrated by Hugo Jackson, Valfierno (PG-13) by David McGuire, narrated by Steve Anderson and CoverLetter_Version5 (PG) by Courtney Floyd, narrated by Kaitlyn Zivanovich.

#PC919: FLASH FICTION EXTRAVAGANZA: Possibilities! The Only Map is Memory (PG) by B. Morris Allen, narrated by Hugo Jackson, Valfierno (PG-13) by David McGuire, narrated by Steve Anderson and CoverLetter_Version5 (PG) by Courtney Floyd, narrated by Kaitlyn Zivanovich.

#PC918: Waterways by Diana Dima read by Matt Dovey. A #PodCastleOriginal! Rated PG. Content warning for self-harm and coercive control. When his father died and left him the boat, he thought to himself, I can do it. I’m a boat-son, a boat-man, I’m no longer a child and no longer have to go home at sunset, when mother and sisters gather around the table and talk about the will and the debts. In the will his father had written to my son, who may yet feel at home on the water. So David spent days in the yard, scrubbing and polishing and waxing, and often fell asleep under the boat tarp in the cool May night. When he left, he did look back at the hunched house and the village, faint as a smear of dirt on the green and the blue. He did feel a pang of guilt deep under the ribs. But mostly he was driven like a powerboat, like a steering wheel under his father’s hand. So he steered toward the northern shores where they used to go fishing for pike and drop anchor for the night in quiet coves.

#PC918: Waterways by Diana Dima read by Matt Dovey. A #PodCastleOriginal! Rated PG. Content warning for self-harm and coercive control.

podcastle.org/2025/11/18/p...

#PC917: TALES FROM THE VAULTS - To Follow the Waves by Amal El-Mohtar read by Marguerite Croft. Previously ran as episode 139 and originally published in Steam-Powered: Lesbian Steampunk Stories. Rated R.

#PC917: TALES FROM THE VAULTS - To Follow the Waves by Amal El-Mohtar read by Marguerite Croft. Previously ran as episode 139 and originally published in Steam-Powered: Lesbian Steampunk Stories. Rated R.

podcastle.org/2025/11/11/p...

#PC916: Woodpecker, Warbler, Mussel, Thrush by by Ruth Joffre read by Julia Rios. A #PodCastleOriginal! Rated G Yesterday, I was a bird. A slender-billed curlew, to be exact. My girlfriend helped me ID the bird. Took photographs of my decurved bill, the flash of white under my tail, the small brown speckles on my cream-white breast. “Some of these spots look like hearts,” I said this morning, once I was human again and able to compare her pictures to the one in an article I found: “The Slender-Billed Curlew Is Declared Extinct.” It always happens like this: a species disappears once and for all, and I transform into a replica of it for one day. Thirteen hours, at least, maybe more if I wake up especially early. It takes about an hour each way for the metamorphosis to be complete — long enough, in theory, for me to prepare. To lock the doors, rush to the bathtub if I feel gills opening in my throat. I often track the process in the mirror as it unfolds. Watch scales harden over my flesh, feathers push through my pores. It never stops feeling like magic.

#PC916: Woodpecker, Warbler, Mussel, Thrush by Ruth Joffre read by Julia Rios. A #PodCastleOriginal! Rated G

podcastle.org/2025/11/04/p...

#PC915: The Hunter, the Monster, and the Things That Could Have Been by Leah Ning, read by Amanda Ching. Previously published in Monster Lairs (Dark Matter INK, October 2023). Rated PG-13 You find the dying woman-thing in an alley, breathing her final wet, rasping breaths in a heap of white trash bags that seems more like a throne. Everything tells you to run: twenty-four years of instinct, the government monster information pamphlets, the hard, practical voice at the back of your head that sounds a lot like your monster hunter girlfriend. And then the woman-thing looks up. Her dark, scaled cheek drags on the distended belly of plastic that makes her pillow. Her chapped lips part and she says, in a voice like acid and smoke: “Eiko.” That should make you run, too. Things that know your name and shouldn’t are firmly in “get the hell out and don’t look back” territory. But something in her voice hooks into the bottom of your soul and tugs.

#PC915: The Hunter, the Monster, and the Things That Could Have Been by Leah Ning, read by Amanda Ching. Previously published in Monster Lairs (Dark Matter INK, October 2023). Rated PG-13

podcastle.org/2025/10/28/p...

A background of a green, hilly city on a rock suspended in the clouds. In the lower left corner, the PodCastle logo sits, a teal dragon circling a multi-turreted castle with a gold flag flying above it. Text reads: The Magnolia Returns Written by Eden Royce Read by Laurice White PodCastle Episode 914 "The Magnolia blooms out of nowhere at any time of year it chooses, bringing its dilapidated wooden slats and rickety front steps to a neighborhood that somehow believes it has always been there. The butcher shop itself is well-worn, looking like it has seen better days: peeling seafoam green paint on salt-blasted boards, the once-vivid red front door now a faded smear like lipstick after an ardent lover’s attention."

Thrilled my story "The Magnolia Returns" is up at @podcastle.org! It's a tale of a lonely, traveling butcher shop serving its community and finally finding companionship.

The audio is narrated by the incredible Laurice White, who always nails the dialect.

podcastle.org/2025/10/21/p...

#booksky

If you’ve been listening to the pod recently, you’ll have heard…

• Ads are coming at the start and end of episodes from Oct 1st
• BUT Patreon subscribers can get ad-free versions!

#PC914: The Magnolia Returns by Eden Royce, read by Laurice White. A #PodCastleOriginal! Rated PG. The Magnolia blooms out of nowhere at any time of year it chooses, bringing its dilapidated wooden slats and rickety front steps to a neighborhood that somehow believes it has always been there. The butcher shop itself is well-worn, looking like it has seen better days: peeling seafoam green paint on salt-blasted boards, the once-vivid red front door now a faded smear like lipstick after an ardent lover’s attention. Once it arrives, the locals begin to talk about visiting. They have always talked of the things they miss in life, and more often than not, it’s the food, the ingredients. Depending on when and where the Magnolia appears, either the supermarkets don’t stock the items the locals crave — the chicken feet, the pig tails, jowl, and ear — or these once-reviled parts of the animal have become so popular with the wealthy, it’s impossible for the poor to attain them.

#PC914: The Magnolia Returns by Eden Royce, read by Laurice White. A #PodCastleOriginal! Rated PG.

podcastle.org/2025/10/21/p...

We at the Castle are still reeling from this wonderful news, thank you everyone!

Immense congratulations to every finalist and winner and OH MY GOD TEAM @podcastle.org ! Amazing work!

How wonderful to see this story landing over at Podcastle! We're so glad to have found it in our slush pile, and I'm pleased she found a home for the audio rights that would do it justice.

Announcement: PodCastle Is Trialling a Six Month Submissions Window!! We will open in November and close in April. See our announcement on the website for details. All our usual Submissions Guidelines still apply.

podcastle.org/2025/10/17/a...

Congratulations to @podcastle.org for winning an Ignyte Award! 👏

What a beautiful happenstance that my new narration is up there today - 'Vedritsa of the River' by @catchingwords.bsky.social is a sapphic Rusalka story with cli-fi elements, and I was deeply honoured to work on it. Give it a listen!

#PC913: Verditsa of the River by Adriana Kantcheva, read by Kat Kourbeti. Previously published by Trollbreath Magazine. Rated PG - CW for drowning The Kamchia river had grown turgid after a storm. I surfaced from my habitual pool and bent over the young girl as she lay washed on the bank, her limbs cold and pale as the settling twilight. A small tin boat lay near her half-opened hand — the reason she took a tumble into my river. I paused. Yes, though weak, a current flowed beneath the child’s skin; her heart still worked. I placed a palm on her chest. The river water in the girl’s lungs had no choice but to obey me. I willed it out, and it obliged in a single great spurt. As if she had waited for just that, the girl’s eyes flew open, her hand clamping around my wrist with desperate strength.

#PC913: Verditsa of the River by Adriana Kantcheva, read by Kat Kourbeti. Previously published by Trollbreath Magazine. Rated PG - CW for drowning

podcastle.org/2025/10/14/p...

If you’ve been listening to the pod recently, you’ll have heard…

• Ads are coming at the start and end of episodes from Oct 1st
• BUT Patreon subscribers can get ad-free versions!

#PC912: TALES FROM THE VAULTS - The Tanuki-Kettle by Eugie Foster, read by Tina Connolly. Previously ran as #PC28 and first published by Cricket Magazine. Rated G. When Hisa was a baby, her mother called in a soothsayer to cast her daughter’s horoscope. The old woman pulled out her astrology charts and consulted them while incense turned the air blue with perfumed smoke. That day, the fortuneteller had a headache and was in a black mood. Though Hisa’s mother brought her a cup of hot, green tea and fanned her sweating brow, the old woman continued to scowl. “This child will be too bold for her own good,” the fortuneteller grumbled. “Is there nothing I can do?” asked Hisa’s distraught mother. “I could hire tutors to teach her the folly of brashness.” “That is not sufficient.” The soothsayer’s eyes lit upon the brimming teapot. “She must grow up to be a lowly tea girl.”

#PC912: TALES FROM THE VAULTS - The Tanuki-Kettle by Eugie Foster, read by Tina Connolly. Previously ran as #PC28 and first published by Cricket Magazine. Rated G.

podcastle.org/2025/10/07/p...

"Mycelium" is out at Podcastle.

The narration is wonderful and gives such a voice to the story. I'm so grateful to narrator Tatiana Grey and the whole @podcastle.org team for the amazing work they did on this story.

podcastle.org/2025/09/30/p...

If you’ve been listening to the pod recently, you’ll have heard…

• Ads are now at the start and end of episodes from Oct 1st
• BUT Patreon subscribers can get ad-free versions!
• Sign up now to lock in ad-free access at the current $5 level

#PC911: Mycelium by Beth Goder, read by Tatiana Grey. Originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. Rated PG. I only travel to the golden head when the dragonflies are in season. It’s Piack and me this year, rafting up the river past the lilies and arched trees. While I steer us through the river’s gentle snarls, he sings about lost keys to pass the time — he’s always had a thing about lost keys and the doors they’ll never open, the places we’ll never find. “Are you going to eat what the head gives you?” asks Piack. He’s one year older than I am — nineteen. With the sun behind him, his form swims in light. The dragonflies buzz around us, brush their wings against our faces.

#PC911: Mycelium by Beth Goder, read by Tatiana Grey. Originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. Rated PG.

podcastle.org/2025/09/30/p...

Dear Patreon subscribers: we’re aware of the multiple Patreon notifications/emails. We’re working on it. We recommend you turn off notifications for the moment and, if you can, set up a filter for emails. Please bear with us 😩

PodCastle enthusiasts! We're getting reports of hundreds of notification emails being sent by Patreon and have received them ourselves.

We're aware of it and are working on it.