Comedy – The Drabblecast

H.P. Lovecraft Month continues with an originally commissioned story: “To Whatever” by Shaenon Garrity. To know or not to know is the penultimate question in Lovecraftian horror. What mysteries lie beyond the wall of our understanding? What if we were to commune with whatever lay beyond that wall? Or in that wall?  That is the […]

“It all began with the chicken in the end of the road,” she said. “Pardon?” I gestured. “Could you say that again?” Miss Sanderson reached out and tapped the translation device on the table, then picked it up and fiddled with its settings. She was the ugliest female of her species I’d ever seen– obscenely […]

Sheriff Lindley was asleep on the toilet in the Pachuco County courthouse when someone started pounding on the door. “Bert!” the voice yelled as the sheriff jerked awake. “Gol Dang!” said the lawman. The Waco newspaper slid off his lap onto the floor.       Night of the Cooters by Howard Waldrop   Sheriff […]

The bar is plenty kitschy: goofy statues made from coconuts everywhere and strings of shell beads hanging from the ceiling. I smile when I see a coconut sporting a pair of mouse ears made from scallop shells. Tourists from all over the world are sitting around, ordering drinks non-stop because the sun is so hot […]

Father Leggett stood on the sidewalk and looked up at the three narrow stories of gray brick that was 207 East Charlton Street. Compared to the other edifices on Lafayette Square—the Colonial Dames fountain, the Low house, the Turner mansion, the cathedral of course—this house was decidedly ordinary, a reminder that even Savannah had buildings […]

You’ve been one-legged since the lasso trap. Your personal ad says “Kids: undecided” even though you desperately want two. When the maître d’ shows you to your blind date’s table, you are pleased with her prominent forehead and symmetric face. She has potential. Before you can sit, her eyes drift to where your missing leg […]

Dear Mr. Kugelmacher, This letter is to inform you of my resignation. As you know, I have spent the last fifteen years of my life working in your department store, from the age of twelve when I was hired as a stock boy, to my years spent in the jewellery department, to my time in […]

Upon the coming of the rain and the and the reawakening of the Krr’at race, the Elder Thing returned to us and squealed Its sky-splitting squeal and waded in among us. It came with the green feet that had eyes and mouths, and with the yellow, rubbery outerskin, and with the lace and the glitter […]

This episode of the Drabblecast presents “Followed” by Will McIntosh. Norm also starts to ponder the nature of the undead. We conclude In Search of the Brain-Eating Nandi Bear serial featuring cryptozoologist Connor Choadsworth. Following that is our feature story by Will McIntosh, author of Soft Apocalypse and the upcoming Hitchers. Story Excerpt: She came […]

Okay, no one expects eldritch horror in LA. Not that I know what eldritch horror really is. My old boyfriend (about fifteen boyfriends back) called anything that inspired dread “eldritch horror.” I guess that would describe my entire job, really… Another story from Lovecraft month – elder horror in LA. Dread Unlocks is on the […]

“Are these fiddlebacks ferns mommy?” Cindy asked. Fiddlehead honey. Margery said absently. “Fiddlebacks are nasty spiders.” It was only later that she would realize Cindy, for once in her vacuous, Barbie obsessed life, was right.” The first episode of Women and Alien’s month 2011 featuring three stories, each exploring nasty, insectile alien menaces. Fiddleback Ferns, […]

In early December, Brad Miro walked into the office of his partner, Dr. John Estes, and said, “I’ve got our next target. It’s perfect. The public is going to love it.” John closed his eyes. “I haven’t even finished writing the paper about the Mongolian death worm yet” This Christmas Special episode of Drabblecast starts […]

Those damn raccoons were here again. I know it’s raccoons. Rather easy to deduce considering the scores of chocolate footprints everywhere….

You must know, Doctor, that I did not choose to seek psychiatric help. I have no faith that I shall exit this room a healed man; I know now that I have been destined for the asylum since childhood. No mere conversation with you can steer me clear of that fate. That said, let us […]

On this episode of the Drabblecast podcast, a pair of stories from decorated author Bruce Holland Rogers. Each deals with perception and the invisible rules that run our lives. Also on this episode, crytozoologist Connor Choadsworth returns with: In Search of the Mongolian Death Worm: Part Two. We have two feature stories for you today: […]

This week The Drabblecast presents “Toast” by Jamie Lackey. Jamie is the Assistant Editor for Triagulation Annual Anthology series and was previously featured on Episode #81: Snuffles. Our feature is a peculiar story about love, loss, and moldy, potentially radioactive bread. Story Excerpt: Elayne won’t eat toast anymore. A week ago, she never would have […]

This episode brings you Charlie the Purple Giraffe, by David D. Levine. It is a unique tale set inside a televised cartoon world. Our main character, Charlie the purple giraffe, has a disturbing and profound view of his world, one not shared by his best friend Jerry the orange squirrel.  Floating question marks, colored word […]

“Squidges?” This was a term I hadn’t heard before.  I was used to Maine brother colloquialisms, they had adopted a vocabulary largely unique to themselves, but this went beyond even that… Norm rewards forum participant Wonko by reading his Drabble about an unwilling exposure to the majesty of nature. Rish Outfield and Big Ankelvitch, narrators […]

Harvey retreated to the library and spent some thirty or fourty minutes in wondering whether it would be possible to compile a history, for us in elementary schools, in which there should be no prominent mentions of battles, massacres, murderous intrigues, and violent deaths… Norm thanks listeners who voted in the recent election, before punishing […]

“Well Mr. Merrill, as my associate informed your brother, it is the official opinion of Fundamental Insurance that you are not dead per se….”

The third Drabblecast trifecta. Featuring facial hair and fantasy fair!

“Get into the prep room!  We need to wash you off and destroy your pants!”

He was the size of a child. One of those twiggy ones they show you on the guilt-o-mercials that you can keep in shoes and chickens for just 30 cents a day. Only he was an old man. His black t-shirt had holes in it.

Sredni Vashtar went forth, His thoughts were red thoughts and his teeth were white. His enemies called for peace, but he brought them death. Sredni Vashtar the Beautiul…

He was a genetic disaster – holding in his impressive repertoire of infirmities: asthma, severe lactose intolerance, a disposition to rashes, acute ugliness, a chronic blob shape and an allergy to anything you can find on the periodic table…

Warning: some grossness in this one.. Some things are just too precious to leave behind… Episode 4 of the Drabblecast brings us “Uncle Ollie’s Gift,” a story of keeping your family close, and your prized possessions closer. The story’s author Kendall Marchman joins Norm to provide sound effects and records a moral for the story’s […]

The metrotrain at 6am can be a great place to make new friends… The Drabblecast’s third episode brings us Luke Coddington’s Next Stop, a short, atmospheric story of an encounter with a homeless man on Baltimore’s metro, with some unexpected consequences. Norm puts his versatile voice to good use, delivering both an unnerved protagonist and […]

In the Drabblecast’s very first episode, ‘Norman’ Sherman introduces his own story The Coughing Dog. It’s a tale about a family reuniting at Christmas, and a domestic pet with a very… unusual condition. Norm also introduces the basic concept of the show. He describes it as “flash fiction of an atypical nature […] by very […]