Podcasts These Fantastic Worlds

The fateful, dystopian tale of a painter and the power of art … Surreal Revolution. “The artist Abigor shuffled in a long queue for bread. The tall towers that surrounded her in the Central City District were quietly occupied by those who had bowed their heads when the Auto-Generals swept to power. The streets too were subdued except for the ... Read More The post Micro-fiction 090 – Surreal Revolution (Echoes series) appeared first on These Fantastic Worlds.

A detective is called to a series of strange deaths at the furthest City in the Universe. But all is not what it seems… Feathers. “They’ve found another one boss!” The detective recently assigned to the station rushed in, looking both excited and distressed. “Well that’s why you’re here Zhang, gather whoever you need and get back out there. The city ... Read More The post Micro-fiction 089 – Feathers (Echoes series) appeared first on These Fantastic Worlds.

Can Aadya, mother of the long-abandoned Cyrus outwit the Quantum Police and find her son? Only time will tell… Quantum Police. Aadya had lost count of the number of time jumps, she’d taken to be here. The exhaustion showed in her narrowed eyes, now lost of their youthful vitality in her long search for her son.  She knew the Quantum ... Read More The post Micro-fiction 088 – Quantum Police (Echoes series) appeared first on These Fantastic Worlds.

There’s a fine line between prophecy and manipulation in the creation of Empire in the star system of Alpha Centauri… Prophecy. In the far future, on a distant planet in the twin star system of Alpha Centauri settlers had forged a life from the few ingredients left them by the Terraformers, the generation of star jumpers who fled Earth at ... Read More The post Micro-fiction 087 – Prophecy (Echoes series) appeared first on These Fantastic Worlds.

What are the boundaries between being human and a robot? A new tale of time and space… Reclassify. It is 2282 of the Common Era, on the planet Earth. Visitors from other star systems measure time using different metrics, revolutions of their own planets against their own stars, now measured in Galaxy-wide terms that would not make sense to the ... Read More The post Micro-fiction 086 – Reclassify (Robot series) appeared first on These Fantastic Worlds.

The old folk tale of a young man and a beautiful woman in need of rescue… The Rescue Always, I think back, and wonder how I ended up here, at the lake in the valley. I was named Hillar by my proud parents and as a young man was carefree enough not to worry about others, or indeed to be ... Read More The post Micro-fiction 085 – The Rescue (Echo series) appeared first on These Fantastic Worlds.

The view at the front of the train from Mombasa to Kimbusa offers the twin tracks of life and death… Twin Tracks It is often said that the good and the bad within us fight for supremacy, but over the years I’ve found they coexist quite happily. The murderer who is kind to their family, the thief who loves his ... Read More The post Micro-fiction 084 – Twin Tracks (Echo series) appeared first on These Fantastic Worlds.

The strong, the weak and the robots, who shall inherit the earth? A new tale from the not-so-far future… The Strong “Once upon a time there was a great land divided between the strong and the weak. That division was present throughout society, and in every region of the land. Strength of body, purpose and ambition was the prime motivating ... Read More The post Micro-fiction 083 – The Strong (Echo series) appeared first on These Fantastic Worlds.

A session between a psychotherapist and her patient takes a strange turn, as she digs deep into the unconscious mind of humankind… Genetic Memory In a loft apartment in Cadiz, its tall, majestic windows facing out to the gentle waves of the Atlantic, Kahina, has just returned from a conference of psychotherapists in New Istanbul. It left her with much ... Read More The post Micro-fiction 082 – Genetic Memory (Echo series) appeared first on These Fantastic Worlds.

A tale about identity and consciousness from a near future when robots and travel are commonplace. I Am What I Am The train rattles above the tracks, hovering aloft ancient steels no longer used except as a guide through the countryside and preserved in memoriam of less complicated times. It is 2080 of the Common Era and the joy is ... Read More The post Micro-fiction 081 – I Am What I Am (Echo series) appeared first on These Fantastic Worlds.

An exploration of religion, mysticism, injustice and sanctuary, on a distant planet in a distant future. Sacred Words On a world in the far future a woman, Jaha, flees into the temple. The commotion outside halts for a moment as those chasing her contact their superiors for instruction. On this planet, some thousand years after the Great Expansion from OId ... Read More The post Micro-fiction 080 – Sacred Words (Echoes series) appeared first on These Fantastic Worlds.

I look up into the stars with the gentle sounds of breathing next to me, so why does it make me feel so sad? Guardian Angel I It is dark in this pre-Dawn, with distant light filtering through, mingling with the remaining stars as the mantle withdraws from the skies. I sit on an ancient wall, a perch that stares ... Read More The post Micro-fiction 079 – Guardian Angel (Echoes series) appeared first on These Fantastic Worlds.

From ancient Sumeria, a tale about the eternal Lapis Lazuli, a tomb and a thief, an unbeliever whose only god is greed… Lapis Lazuli It is the dead of night, some hundred years after the great floods that destroyed our world. Now the people of the earth tremble still at the mention of the wrath of the gods, but not ... Read More The post Micro-fiction 078 – Lapis Lazuli (Echoes series) appeared first on These Fantastic Worlds.

A tale of identity, entanglement, time and a voice that’s not quite what it seems to be Different I have always felt different. Disorientation the doctor had called it, although he was clearly puzzled, and dismissive of my tendency to talk to myself. Then the town was bombed, the surrounding region with its industrial network was decimated too, leaving only ... Read More The post Micro-fiction 077 – Different (Post-Apocalypse series) appeared first on These Fantastic Worlds.

A new plane of existence looms over planet Earth forcing humankind to struggle with identity, purpose and its own place in the universe… New Dimensions Since it arrived, hovering across the entire planet everyone’s lives have changed. The desire to strive, to forge new memories has gone, the urgency of any form of action was halted when the new reality, ... Read More The post Micro-fiction 076 – New Dimensions (Post-Apocalypse series) appeared first on These Fantastic Worlds.

There’s only one way to stop the robots in their tracks… Infinity Trap In the distant future, on a planet once called Kepler 62e long-colonised as part of by Earth’s original evacuation, and renamed Kane the forest covered surface had begun to resemble the decimated mother planet. Humanity quickly descended into the have’s and the have-nots, already defined by the ... Read More The post Micro-fiction 075 – Infinity Trap (Post-Apocalypse series) appeared first on These Fantastic Worlds.

In the far future on Titan, Saturn’s resource-rich moon, comes a tale of a family feud, a cherry orchard, and the death of a father… Cherry Blossom The breeze flutters at the petals on the cherry blossom In a distant future in 3030 of the Common Era, on Titan, the most inhabited of all Saturn’s moons, Arturo sits within the ... Read More The post Micro-fiction 074 – Cherry Blossom (Echoes series) appeared first on These Fantastic Worlds.

A tear in the wallpaper brings the past and the present together as a man lies struggling with his last breath… The Tear A rip in the bright, floral wallpaper, a fold that once fell listlessly, is now suspended in time, its animus halted by a lack of motivation. But its inaction reveals what lies behind, with layers of older ... Read More The post Micro-fiction 073 – Tear (Echoes series) appeared first on These Fantastic Worlds.

In the far future, the robot shepherd of the last server farm on Planet Earth begins to question his existence… Shepherd It is 3880 of the Common Era and I am the last Robot Shepherd on Earth. There have been others, but they either left with the Star Wanderers of the last hundred years, the Great Escape, or shut themselves ... Read More The post Micro-fiction 072 – Shepherd (Echoes series) appeared first on These Fantastic Worlds.

In the far future the trade in body parts, multiple body parts, is a way of life for those who live by The Code. The Code New Year’s Day, 3050 of the Common Era. Everyone’s having a party, but the world economy is run by rival gangs from the conglomerated nations and big media corps who suck data, money and ... Read More The post Micro-fiction 071 – The Code (Echoes series) appeared first on These Fantastic Worlds.