The Oddcast: Tales of the Occult, Weird, and Arcane

Episode 35: 2BR02B by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

Published in the January 1962 in the Worlds of “If” Science Fiction magazine.A painter in the Chicago Lying-In Hospital witnesses an absurd scene in the lobby while he creates a mural immortalizing VIPs in a time of overpopulation.Cast (Instagram Handles):Painter – Gabriel Clausen (@g_period)Orderly – Jim Tobe (@jimtobe)Leora Duncan – Miranda Friel (@miranda.friel)Dr. Hitz –…

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Episode 34: Leiningen Versus the Ants by Carl Stephenson

Originally published in the December 1938 edition of Esquire. It is a translation, probably by Stephenson himself, of “Leiningens Kampf mit den Ameisen” which was originally published in German in 1938.Summary: A Brazilian plantation owner and his 400 workers brave an onslaught of millions of merciless and ravenous ants.Narration, Music, and Sound Design by Jon…

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Episode 33: Darkness by Lord Byron

Written in July of 1816 and inspired by “The Year Without Summer”, the aftermath of the eruption of Mount Tambora in the Dutch East Indies the previous year, in which enough sulphur was cast into the atmosphere to change global temperatures and weather patterns.A post-apocalyptic “last man” poem.Sound Design and Narration by Jon Fredette.

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Episode 32: In the Court of the Dragon by Robert W. Chambers

First published in his collection The King in Yellow in 1895.An unnamed narrator attends an afternoon mass at the church St. Barnabe and has several frightful encounters with a menacing organ player.Sound Design, Music, and Narration by Jon FredetteMonseigneur C – Nik Marvin

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Episode 31: The Black Meat by Eric Dean

Published on Monologging.org, on S.H. Roddey’s Haunted Head, and in Literati Presents #5 by Literati Press. The original audio version, hosted on youtube.com/ericdean, was Recorded by Rish Outfield and released on his fiction podcast The Dunesteef (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-dunesteef-audio-fiction-magazine/id284671097).Follow Eric on Instagram at /ericidean or at his website www.ericwrites.comSummary: A journalist ruminates on the cultural impact of…

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Episode 30: The Boarded Window by Ambrose Bierce

First published in the San Francisco Examiner on April 12, 1891 and reprinted in Bierce’s collection Tales of Soldiers and Civilians the same year.A narrator recounts what he knows of an old woodsman who lived in a mysteriously boarded up cabin for several years before his death.Music, Narration, and Sound Design by Jon Fredette.

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Episode 29: The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula K. Le Guin

Originally published in the October edition of New Dimensions 3 in 1973. The story was nominated for the Locust Award for Best Short Fiction in 1974 and won the Hugo Award for Best Short story in the same year.The utopian Omelas enjoys its annual summer festival amid the dark secret that is kept within a…

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Episode 27: The Screwfly Solution by Raccoona Sheldon

Originally published in the anthology “Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact” (June, 1977) the novelette went on to win the Nebula Award that year under the pen name James Tiptree Jr.As an unprecedented sickness spreads around the globe, a scientist hurries home to be with his wife and daughter.Alan – Jon FredetteAnne – Miranda FrielAmy – Megan…

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Episode 26: Orientation by Daniel Orozco

Originally published in The Seattle Review and subsequently in The Best American Short Stories 1995.A new office employee is given orientation on the first day of work by a detached, yet knowledgable, veteran of the job.Narration, Sound Design, and Music by Jon Fredette.

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Episode 25: The Mirror by Haruki Murakami

Written in 1981/2 and published in 1983 in an undisclosed Japanese periodical. Later added to his short story collection Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman which was published in 2006.A man recalls a frightening experience he had in his brief time as a night watchman at a school in the Niigata Prefecture.Translated by Philip Gabriel.Narration, Sound Design,…

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