EP244: Non-Zero Probabilities

By N.K. Jemisin Originally recorded by Kate Baker for Clarkesworld Magazine, and is used here with their expressed permission Guest Host: Dave Thompson of Podcastle Her neighbor — the other one, across the hall — helped her figure it out, long before the math geeks finished crunching their numbers. "Watch," he'd said, and laid a deck of cards facedown on her coffee table. (There was coffee in the cups, with a generous dollop of Bailey's. He was a nice-enough guy that Adele felt comfortable offering this.) He shuffled it with the blurring speed of an expert, cut the deck, shuffled again, then picked up the whole deck and spread it, still facedown. "Pick a card." Adele picked. The Joker. "Only two of those in the deck," he said, then shuffled and spread again. "Pick another." She did, and got the other Joker. "Coincidence," she said. (This had been months ago, when she was still skeptical.) Rated R: for Lucky Streaks and Getting Lucky. Show Notes: Enter the Escape Pod Flash Contest! It runs June 1- July 4, stories must be under 500 words. More information at the link. Editor's note: Thanks so much to Dave Thompson and Peter Wood for taking on this project of securing all five Hugo stories during the hiatus of Escape Pod. Most of the work was done before I joined, and this wouldn't have happened without them stepping up. Next week… Another Hugo-nominated story!