Podcasts These Fantastic Worlds

Akycha falls through to a hidden cave, on an Alaskan mountain-top. There, she discovers ancient giants, a custodian and time distorted. Custodian of Giants Alaska. Mount Sanford. Akycha ignored her father’s strict instruction to wait for him at this safe, snowy platform while he trudged ahead into the thin air of the mountain peak. For years they had explored the ... Read More The post Micro-fiction 050 – Custodian of Giants (Echoes series) appeared first on These Fantastic Worlds.

Elections and lockdowns… Intermission This week sees a short break while greater distractions overtake our lives. Next week, all returns to normal. if you’d like to listem or read to some recent episodes, do take a look at the links below. In the meantime, stay safe and well in these challenging times, and good health to your family, friends and ... Read More The post Micro-fiction 049a – Intermission appeared first on These Fantastic Worlds.

Discoveries at two ends of history and civilisation determine very similar futures. A journey into space takes a unexpected turn. Discoveries 2040 saw the first mission to the solar system around Kepler 10, the furthest journey for any team of astronauts in the history, as much as it was understood, of human space exploration. A small crew, on the tiny ... Read More The post Micro-fiction 049 – Discoveries (Post-Apocalypse series) appeared first on These Fantastic Worlds.

They arrived to protect us, but we treated them shamefully. Quantum Loop It had happened very quickly when the Ozone layer across the entire planet collapsed. The fierce heat of the sun melted the polar icecaps, oceans rose and flooded coastal settlements on almost every landmass. Wild fires tore through the townships on lower grounds, in the Americas, in Europe ... Read More The post Micro-fiction 048 – Quantum Loop (Post-Apocalypse series) appeared first on These Fantastic Worlds.

In this election, the winner takes it all. The prisoner, brother of the New President, receives an unexpected visit. Peak Democracy In the simple cell, the prisoner, lying on the unfamiliar, narrow bed listened to the TV news watched by the guard outside. The voice of the new President, was relayed from a recent campaign broadcast from the victory rally, ... Read More The post Micro-fiction 047 – Peak Democracy (Post-Apocalypse series) appeared first on These Fantastic Worlds.

A new bio-tech program offered total surveillance, and eternal life to the world. But there were consequences. Lifer Sometime in the not too distant future. For its own protection humankind adopted a bio-process that enabled total surveillance of individuals and all their actions. The process was known as LiL (for Life Long) and those who took part in the first ... Read More The post Micro-fiction 046 – Lifer (Post-Apocalypse series) appeared first on These Fantastic Worlds.

A visit to the the psychotherapist brings back memories and dreams to Alex Hunter, whose past rears up into the present. The Good Doctor It was late evening in winter, with the darkness already settled into the city streets, and it rained. Stripes like vertical spears rattled at the brickwork of the tall apartments and broke against the guardrails along ... Read More The post Micro-fiction 045 – The Good Doctor (Echoes series) appeared first on These Fantastic Worlds.

Maria is snatched, from her home, by the State Militia, and her father seems to be responsible.  Complicit The knock came in the middle of the night. The door smashed in, and Maria was grabbed by the armed militia. That really happened, here? Now? It was chaos. An armed swat team shouting, the teenage kids screamed and her father speechless ... Read More The post Micro-fiction 044 – Complicit (Post-Apocalypse series) appeared first on These Fantastic Worlds.

A field, a death and a return. Josefina is the last surviving member of her family, and now she’s home for the funeral of the father she’s always hated. Corn Field Josefina had come home from the city, to attend the funeral. She’d not been seen near the family home for more than a decade, trying to forget her past. ... Read More The post Micro-fiction 043 – Corn Field (Echoes series) appeared first on These Fantastic Worlds.

An ancient species from the beginnings of the universe contemplates a strange debate between an old woman and a young man from the past. Age The year is 5055, at least it would be if earth years were still useful to the universe. In orbit around the once named Barnard’s Star a floating laboratory retains particles from dead planets, and ... Read More The post Micro-fiction 042 – Age (Post-Apocalypse series) appeared first on These Fantastic Worlds.

A late night trip through the Pando Forest brings Jas and Cody to a Crossroads Hotel for some respite and a truly warm welcome. Crossroads Hotel It was past midnight and the two of them scrambled through the darkness of the Pando Forest. It was her idea to camp out, but he had agreed enthusiastically. Perhaps now they regretted their ... Read More The post Micro-fiction 041 – Crossroads Hotel (Echoes series) appeared first on These Fantastic Worlds.

The last human in the universe finds there’s more to life than living when she plunges to her death from her starfighter. Cosmic Hall The year is 3020. Pýri’s starfighter hurtled from the deathmatch, the final confrontation between the last fleet of the human race, and the combined forces of five star systems aligned now against their former allies. The ... Read More The post Micro-fiction 040 – Cosmic Hall (Post-apocalypse series) appeared first on These Fantastic Worlds.

The Warrior Priests bring gifts and religion to a planet that has no use for either. How long will it take them to overcome the guardians of the land? Righteous The Ten Brothers of the Illuminated Order of Salvation, the warrior zealots of the Empire arrived at the entrance to the Reservation. They’d landed on the overnight shuttle, groggy from ... Read More The post Micro-fiction 039 – Righteous (Echoes series) appeared first on These Fantastic Worlds.

She walks along Main Street, and shouts, but nobody answers, all avoid her gaze. What is the shame hidden within the townsfolk? Lost Voice She slithered down the filthy hill, scattering crushed cans and discarded ribs. She had lost her patience at last, the adrenaline of youth propelling her downwards. She had just woken up and stretched her ebony limbs. ... Read More The post Micro-fiction 038 – Lost Voice (Gothic series) appeared first on These Fantastic Worlds.

Moloch and Gadreel lead the last vestiges of humanity in their escape from deep underground. But now they can break out, should they? Break Out “From the Beginning Times after the Fall there is a tale.” Penemue spoke, rubbing his ancient chin, his heavy-lidded eyes casting out to the thick of listeners gathered in the shadows of the Great Mother’s ... Read More The post Micro-fiction 037 – Break Out (Post-Apocalypse series) appeared first on These Fantastic Worlds.

In this Utopian city just six masks were left for his daily choice – sad, content, amused, neutral, angry, happy, but something has gone awry, and they’re not quite sure what it is… The Daily Mask Asrar woke to familiar morning music. It was chosen from an extensive playlist created  to reflect the varying moods of the day. He liked ... Read More The post Micro-fiction 036 – The Daily Mask (Post-Apocalypse series) appeared first on These Fantastic Worlds.

The Big Man and his big truths, a fable of power, ignorance and his election to the most powerful office in the land. The Big Man The Big Man was the biggest man in the biggest country in the world. That’s what he told himself. His own achievements were big, and that’s what he told everyone else. He knew if ... Read More The post Micro-fiction 035 – The Big Man (Post-Apocalypse series) appeared first on These Fantastic Worlds.

A good bookseller knows exactly what a customer needs… Bewildered It is always said that a good bookseller knows exactly what a customer needs… Cass finally gave in. He seemed to have passed the Antiquarian bookshop five times today. Perhaps it was stalking him, he grunted to himself. Every time he passed the main window, with its jumble of old ... Read More The post Micro-fiction 034 – Bewildered (Echoes series) appeared first on These Fantastic Worlds.

She fled from the temple into the mountainside, the voice still in her head. But was it really her curiosity that set the destruction in motion? The Voice Xi Wang shivered on the mountainside, cowed by the bone-chilling snowstorm. Dark hair slicked around her neck and froze into the flesh of her face. A simple gown barely covered her legs, ... Read More The post Micro-fiction 033 – The Voice (Post-Apocalypse series) appeared first on These Fantastic Worlds.

Was family lunchtime ever like this? The family gathered, dressed on their fine white clothes, but Patsy bears a frustrated frown… “Can’t you see what’s happening around you?” Patsy yells, inside her head. It is Sunday. While not being a religious family, they do observe a long tradition of polite lunchtime gathering. Patsy’s father, his bloated body dressed in an ... Read More The post Micro-fiction 032 – Two Faces (Gothic series) appeared first on These Fantastic Worlds.