Pseudopod 235: Flash On The Borderlands VIII – Warped Love
Show Notes
Three flash fictions about the strange shapes love can bend us into
“In Memoriam” first appeared online in Shadowed Realms #8, November-December 2005.
“Pieces” and “Home Is Where the Heart Is” are both PseudoPod originals.
IN MEMORIAM
By Matthew Chrulew
She approaches the spot and pulls into the gravelly emergency lane. It is still there, like always, in the traditional place to the side of the road – her husband’s memorial cross, attesting his memory in some little way to the passing drivers. Still bearing the wreath of carnations she left last week.
She visits at that interval. She remembers his life, his weekend surprises, and his stupid jokes.
And she remembers his death, as it must have happened – that shrieking scratch of metal, that infinite slide, that smash into the tree.
PIECES
By M.C. Funk
I knew your demon would be hungry the moment I found it. How it crouched toad-like behind the cleaning products under our sink. From its eight-ball eyes to the mouth that spread atop its stomach, your demon’s shape was fat with appetite.
I came to you terrified and smelling of bleach. “Oh yeah.” You had sad-dog eyes. “I was meaning to tell you about that.”
HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS
By Bint Arab
‘”I made you young, Mother, so you won’t have to worry about your heart problems any more.” He swiped some of the dirt off her face and wrapped her in the towel so he wouldn’t have to touch her as he guided her to the house.
About the Authors
Matthew Chrulew
Matthew Chrulew is a writer who combines the flaws of the Hedgehog and the Fox, with the benefits of neither. His novella from Twelfth Planet Press, “The Angælien Apocalypse” is a finalist in the Aurealis Awards’ science fiction short story category.
About the Narrators
Donna Lynch
Ego Likeness was created in 1999 by artist Steven Archer, a DC native, and writer Donna Lynch in Baltimore, Maryland. Taking their name from Frank Herbert’s classic science fiction novel ‘Dune’, the band began as an experimental/ dark trip hop project. A demo called ‘Songs From a Dead City’, recorded on a four track, was released in 1999.
Marshal Latham
Marshal Latham is known around Escape Artists as Swamp and runs the podcast Journey Into…
Philippa Ballantine
Born in Wellington, New Zealand, Philippa (Pip) Ballantine has always had her head in a book. For this she blames her father who thought Lord of the Rings was suitable bedtime reading for an eight year old. At the age of thirteen she began writing fantasy stories for herself.
She first earned a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature and Political Science and then a Bachelor of Applied Science in Library and Information Science. So soon enough she found herself working in the magical world of libraries where she stayed for over a decade.
Her first professional sale was in 1997, and since then she has gone on to produce mostly novel length fiction. In 2006 she became New Zealand’s first podcast novelist, and her podcasts have won both a Parsec Award and a Sir Julius Vogel award.
