Drabbleclassics

I don’t know if this is the same tape as last time, because They keep moving things around and stealing them. I don’t know who does it. It may be the staff here, or my own family when they come to visit, or the aliens, but somebody’s always doing it — taking my glasses, my […]

A change came over Charlie then, like a cloud passing in front of the sun.  He placed his hands flat in his lap, straightened his neck, and took a deep breath.  “Us,” he said at last.  “They read us.” A delightful Drabble evokes a sage summation of the style from Norm: the mark of a […]

Dexter crouched beneath the toxic fruit trees in his grassless back yard, turning over black earth with the spade he’d taken from the old man, and every shovelful revealed worse things: clumps of cinders and the dust of ashes; rusting nails, practically dripping tetanus; wickedly-curved shards of brown glass; bullets of various sizes, crusted with […]

They called  it “Synesthesia.”  It’s when the senses got mixed up and you started to hear colors or taste sounds… Norm begins this with a warning concerning graphic violence and gore. We return to one of the Drabblecast’s favorite topics, the Zombie Apocalypse. The theme receives a fresh airing, which is just as well, as […]

I’m a fan of Nirvana. I mean I’m a fan of the band rather than a fan of the concept. Although, hey, what’s not to like about the idea of being no longer subject to torture over the fires of greed, hatred and delusion? Free from all suffering – yes, that sounds pretty good. But […]

You couldn’t describe a rath. You couldn’t even look at one for more than a few seconds before you started getting a migraine aura. Rovers were just blots of shadow. The breeder was massive, armored, and had no recognizable features, save for its hideous, drooling, ragged edged maw. Irizarry didn’t know if it had eyes, […]

Izrael Irizarry stepped through a bright-scarred airlock onto Kadath Station, lurching a little as he adjusted to station gravity. On his shoulder, Mongoose extended her neck, her barbels flaring, flicked her tongue out to taste the air, and colored a question. Another few steps, and he smelled what Mongoose smelled, the sharp stink of toves, […]

The energy and personality of a person can get stuck before it evaporates from our world. Wood is a fair dumping ground. Something about its pore size and how cellulose vibrates. A person can get himself pasted inside the wall or the floorboards. The body and brain quit, but the rest of the bastard lingers, […]

Child, you sing all the time- when you’re walking, when you’re eating, even when you’re laughing.  You people make the most beautiful music in the entire galaxy…

“Pardon, Winston Sinclair, I am not here to sell you something. I am not here to buy something. Winston Sinclair, sir, I am here to apologize…” Jeff Soesbe, graduate of The Viable Paradise Workshop, gives us a tender feature about a family of the future, and a unique robot with a special purpose. In Drabble […]

I had a dog, his name was Blue Betchya five dollars he’s a good one too. Come on Blue! I’m a-comin’ too. Glum weather in Baltimore inspires Norm to treat us all to a pair of melancholy stories. In Shane Shennen’s Drabble, “Ancient Apple Tree,” the passing of an old, faithful robot is mourned by […]

And so came Creature out of the wasteland and into the city, bouncing from hilltop to hilltop like a bulbous ballerina skipping across the knuckles of a great hand. He was big as the moon and black as the night, and he came crashing into the city like a silent meteor. The cityfolk watched his […]

“I’m not sure I belong here.” “Then where do you belong?” The others stopped chewing and looked at me expectantly. What am I?… As Norm detailed his Christmas plans, the common theme of this episode became apparent:  that “Home” is not a place, but rather a choice. Before getting there, though, the Drabble News tracked […]

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 […]

“When I first met Jason he was sitting cross-legged in the middle of the studio, surrounded by burning candles. The air smelled like flowers and a sort of a fog hung in the room and I’m thinking- this dude is a little off…” This podcast begins with a content warning, beware the “f-bomb.” Norm takes […]

“I don’t want to die in the dark!” “We all die in the dark, Benny…” Norm spends this episode doing his very best cheesy Vincent Price styled horror show host (Note: not a Vincent Price imitation, but an imitation of a really bad Vincent Price imitator), complete with an interminable string of puns about “ghouls” […]

Uncle Karl shouts when he’s mad, and sometimes he smacks Mama.  That always makes the sharp things hurt me and the wiggly people come out… On this episode of the Drabblecast, a dark tale from favorite author Eugie Foster. A troubled youth, a view in to his chaotic mind, and deeply effected life. Shake hands […]

“Countdown commencing,” the computer announced. “Termination of the universe in 10 . . . 9 . . . 8 . . .” Eight seconds until the end of everything. No Earth, no galaxy, no existence…

Achtromagk shuddered, lost in nightmare images: crimson lightning dotting a wasteland, twilight despair and feeble railings, isolation in a mewling throng. It thrashed and twisted but could not escape, could not stop the unwanted vistas in its mind. It was silent. And soft. And dark… Next up in Lovecraft month, a heart-warming tale of an […]

Tompkins sighed. “What happens is this: You pay me my fee. I give you an injection which knocks you out. Then, with the aid of certain gadgets which I have in the back of the store, I liberate your mind…” This episode of Drabblecast starts with Norm recommending and playing an excerpt from Frank Key’s […]

Here it is again – the very first H.P. Lovecraft month special!  Listen in as we try to figure out what it’s all about at the end of the episode!   Unhappy is he to whom the memories of childhood bring only fear and sadness. Wretched is he who looks back upon lone hours in […]

“We cannot destroy it- it’s too valuable” said Klugscheisser “And yet, it would be dangerous to keep it.  We must hide it in the last place that anyone would ever think of looking for it…”

Annabelle’s mother closed her eyes. “Get it sharp,” she said. “Very sharp, so it doesn’t hurt much. I’ll boil some water.” Somewhere in the house, far from the green places she’d known, baby Annabelle lay on her stomach and cried…

The note itself simply read, “TUESDAY 7:13 PM”. Unsigned, undated, unadorned. Stuck into my door, just above the latch where I’d be sure to find the note immediately upon my return from my errands about the city…     The Tentacled Sky by Jay Lake The first note was scribbled on a piece of old […]

Author Jay Lake knew about the devil and he knew about the clowns. When his story, Clown Eggs, first appeared on the Drabblecast, listeners said things like “This might be, hands-down, the weirdest story I’ve ever heard on [The Drabblecast].  I think I’m going to have nightmares forever. Can I send my therapy bills to […]