S01E10 - A Crown of Posies, by Elishia Merricks

When Niamh accepted her place at the University of St. Andrews to study medicine, she didn’t think she’d be doing it without Alexis. And now the moment is here, after years of obsessively working towards their shared future, Niamh doubts she can make the next step in life without her best friend pushing her.

Elishia Merricks

Elishia Merricks is a British-born, New York City-dwelling, writer and audiobook producer. She is part of the  @Y.A.hype critique community on Instagram and is the host and producer of In Short, The Podcast. She typically writes about the unstoppable dread behind the experience of growing up, for teenagers and adults alike.

S01E09 - Detective Parminter's Guide to Detective-ing, by M. G. Lockhart

Detective Saul Parminter is a man of many hats: detective (no prizes on that one); artist; author; trilby. And once again, he has managed between portraits to pontificate his, and his assistant Jeffrey's, way into a murder mystery. Of sorts. But most importantly, he has great attention to detil.

M. G. Lockhart

M. G. Lockhart is the alter-ego of a neuroscientist at Columbia University, who spends his spare time trying to stay well-rounded by painting, making music, and writing short stories about his other alter egos. When publishing as a scientist, his research has been featured in multiple journals, focusing primarily on clinical studies of neurological disorders, but also, like his stories, occasionally venturing into more philosophical questions.

When it comes to fiction-writing, he has a particular penchant for a short story and tends to focus on finding the gentle absurdity of normality, and generally avoiding writing "about me" sections.

S01E08 - The Flock is Your Blood, by P. H. Low

The Flock is Your Blood

She does not want her half-grown wings. But he might have them, too. On loneliness, and unexpected kinship, and the stories we tell ourselves about monsters

* The Flock is Your Blood was originally published in If There’s Anyone Left

What we talked about:

The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Horrow

Jade City by Fonda Lee

P. H. Low

Phoebe (P. H.) Low is a Malaysian Chinese American writer with work published or forthcoming in Strange Horizons, Tor.com, and Fantasy Magazine, among others. She is a proud graduate of Viable Paradise 2019, and currently serves as a first reader for khōréō, a speculative fiction magazine featuring immigrant and diaspora writers and stories. Phoebe can be found on Twitter @_lowpH and at her website, ph-low.com. 

BONUS - Ruth Ware on the audiobooks of her award winning thrillers

Ruth Ware

Ruth Ware is an international number one bestseller. Her thrillers In a Dark, Dark Wood, The Woman in Cabin 10, The Lying Game, The Death of Mrs Westaway and The Turn of the Key have appeared on bestseller lists around the world, including the Sunday Times and New York Times. Her books have been optioned for both film and TV, and she is published in more than 40 languages. Ruth lives near Brighton with her family. You can find her on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @ruthwarewriter or at ruthware.com

S01E07 - Next Stop: Dreams by Tina Ehsanipour

Next Stop: Dreams

17-year-old Azar lives in a dying world where dreams are illegal because they offer too much hope. When she wakes up one morning to her parents’ disappearance, she comes to realize how little she knows about them and the resistance movement to which they belong

Tina Ehsanipour

Tina is an Iranian-born, California-raised writer and high school English teacher. Her work has appeared in various presses, including (No-ruse) Nowruz Journal, as well as on stage with Golden Thread Productions. Never outgrowing her childhood obsession with the magical, she enjoys writing fiction with a touch of magic. Tina lives with her husband and twins in the Bay Area, where she can be found experimenting in the kitchen or tweeting about books, teaching, and other random things.

BONUS - Caitlin Davies on Narrating and Directing Audiobooks

Caitlin Davies

Caitlin is a New York City-based actor, theater and audiobook director, voiceover actor, and award-winning audiobook narrator. She has voiced characters for the video game "Magic: The Gathering Arena" and has narrated over 200 titles. Audiobooks narrated by Caitlin have received AudioFile Earphones Awards, starred Booklist reviews, Parents' Choice Awards, Society of Voice Arts and Science Voice Arts Award nominations, and have been Young Adult Library Services Association Top Ten Selections. Caitlin received a BA in English from Vassar College and MFA in Acting from Brown /Trinity Rep.

S01E06 - Mancos, by Scotty Milder

Mancos

Rhiannon has just about had it with her girlfriend, Tyler. The road trip across the snowy length of Colorado has brought out all of Tyler's most maddening traits. But when Tyler insists on pulling off the highway to investigate a strange abandoned building, Rhiannon's anger rapidly turns to fear. Because this building has no business being here, tucked in the trees high up in the San Juan Mountains. And it may not be abandoned at all.

Scotty Milder is a writer, filmmaker, and film educator living in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He received his MFA in Screenwriting from Boston University. His award-winning short films have screened at festivals all over the world, including Cinequest, the Dead By Dawn Festival of Horror, HollyShorts, and the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival and CthulhuCon. His independent feature film "Dead Billy" is available to stream on Amazon.com and Google Play.

His short fiction has appeared or will appear in Dark Moon Digest, KZine, and Lovecraftiana Magazine, as well as anthologies from Dark Peninsula Press, Sinister Smile Press, Dark Ink Books, and others.

He teaches screenwriting and film production at Santa Fe Community College, Sol Acting Studios, and the Seattle Film Institute. He is also the co-host of "The Weirdest Thing" history podcast with actor/theatre artist Amelia Ampuero.

S01E05 - Getting By, by Elizabeth Dwyer

Getting By

Trapped at a corporate leadership conference, an artist reflects on her blissful past and impotent present.

Elizabeth Dwyer

Elizabeth Dwyer is a multifaceted writer with bylines, screenwriter credits, and published essays. She wrote and co-produced two award-winning short films, Imagining Vera and Pinky Promise, and two of her academic essays were published in the collection "When Women Wrote Hollywood: Essays on Female Screenwriters in the Early Film Industry" (MacFarland, 2018).

After earning an MFA in TV & Screenwriting through Stephens College, Elizabeth’s scripts have placed in numerous competitions, including the Austin Film Festival (Second Rounder), the ISA Fast Track Fellowship (Finalist/Top 8), the ColorCreative Teen Movie Contest (Semifinalist/Top 8), WeScreenplay Diverse Voices (Finalist), and the George R.R. Martin Screenwriting Grant (Finalist). Her reporting work is available at news.unm.edu, and examples of Elizabeth’s creative nonfiction essays can be seen on ElephantJournal.com and the blog Beauty Coup.

The foundation of Elizabeth’s writing is to tell inclusive, engaging stories that speak in particular to queer and female-identified people from all walks of life. The stories she writes champion those of us who are too often relegated to the margins, illuminating our humanity through universal themes that are accessible to a broad spectrum of audiences and communities. She also writes short-form feminist erotica (under a pen name), with a focus on LGBTQ+ and nonbinary smut.

In addition to her myriad word nerd interests, Elizabeth is also an actor, singer, director, and novice photographer, further exploring the connective thread that links all creative endeavors and ambitions – storytelling. 

Things we talked about:

THE IDEA OF YOU, written and narrated by Robinne Lee

S01E04 - Like Rapture, by Katie Zeigler

While they were courting, Orval told Vera she had the world's prettiest set of teeth. Over the years, however, this compliment has evolved into something sinister; an obsession that leaves Vera with a terrible choice. "Like Rapture" is the story of one woman's marriage and her battle against the decay that threatens to destroy her.

Katie Zeigler

Katie M Zeigler is a writer and professor living in Walnut Creek, CA. Zeigler holds a BA and MA in English from Stanford University and is currently pursuing her MFA at St. Mary's College of California. She has had short fiction and non-fiction published in a variety of outlets, including Digging, Griffel, Wilson Quarterly, Fish Anthology and Stanford Magazine. Zeigler won the Stanford Magazine Fiction Contest, was a finalist in Glimmer Train’s short fiction contest and placed second in Fish Anthology’s international flash fiction contest. She has also performed readings of her short fiction for Why There Are Words and the Peninsula Literary Society. She currently teaches creative writing at Diablo Valley College.

BONUS - Sam Taylor on We Are The Fire

As electrifying as it is heartbreaking, Sam Taylor's explosive fantasy debut We Are the Fire is perfect for fans of An Ember in the Ashes and the legend of Spartacus.

In the cold, treacherous land of Vesimaa, children are stolen from their families by a cruel emperor, forced to undergo a horrific transformative procedure, and serve in the army as magical fire-wielding soldiers. Oksana and Pran―both taken from their homeland at a young age―only have each other to hold onto in this heartless place. Pran dreams of one day rebelling against their oppressors and destroying the empire; Oksana only dreams of returning home and creating a peaceful life for them both.

When they discover the emperor has a new, more terrible mission than ever for their kind, Oksana and Pran vow to escape his tyranny once and for all. But their methods and ideals differ drastically, driving a wedge between them. Worse still, they both soon find that the only way to defeat the monsters that subjugated them may be to become monsters themselves. 

Photo credit Tamara McMurdie

Things we talked about:

I’LL GIVE YOU THE SUN, by Jandi Nelson

SADIE by Courtney Summers

THE GIRLS - Macmillan podcast

WINTERSONG by S. Jae-Jones

THE ARCTIC FURY by Greer Macallister

Sam Taylor

Sam Taylor grew up in Arizona’s desert, but decided she likes trees and seasons better, so she moved to New England. She’s worked as a proofreader, copywriter, and instructor of university writing courses before creating her own books. When she’s not writing, Sam spends her time being mom to the world’s cutest toddler, whirling through dance workouts, and baking too many cakes. She does not possess fire magic, but does have one fire-colored cat. We Are the Fire (Swoon Reads/Macmillan) is her debut novel.

S01E03 - O Galinheiro, by Barnabas D Kirk

"O Galinheiro" (The Henhouse) is the latest story from The Ivoti Tales, a series that presents vignettes of life from the foothills of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. In this installment, Mauro, the last representative of a respected agricultural family in Ivoti, must confront the stark realities of financial and emotional upheaval that come to a head when he meets an old acquaintance.

Barnabas D Kirk

Barnabas is a British-Brazilian writer, translator, and academic. He currently lives in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, where he is finishing up his PhD thesis in Slavic Literature. Barnabas has taught courses on language and literature at the University of Toronto, and when he has a spare moment, he can be found taking plant cuttings from the gardens of (un)suspecting neighbours.

Things we talk about:

A Tale of Two Cities, narrated by Simon Vance

The True Glamour of Clarice Lispector, by Benjamin Moser - The New Yorker

BONUS - Meredith Tate on The Last Confession of Autumn Casterly

When band-geek Ivy and her friends get together, things start with a rousing board game and end with arguments about Star Wars.

Her older sister Autumn is a different story. Enigmatic, aloof, and tough as nails, Autumn hasn’t had real friends–or trusted anyone–in years. Even Ivy.

But Autumn might not be tough enough. After a drug deal gone wrong, Autumn is beaten, bound, and held hostage. Now, trapped between life and death, she leaves her body, seeking help. No one can sense her presence–except her sister.

When Autumn doesn’t come home, Ivy just knows she’s in trouble. Unable to escape the chilling feeling that something isn’t right, Ivy follows a string of clues that bring her closer to rescuing her sister… and closer to danger.

Autumn needs Ivy to find her before time runs out. But soon, both sisters realize that finding her also means untangling the secrets that lead to the truth–about where they’re hiding Autumn, and what Autumn has been hiding.

Meredith Tate

Meredith grew up in Concord, New Hampshire where she fell in love with her two passions–writing and traveling. She earned her master’s degree in social work from the University of New Hampshire and worked in Boston for several years before deciding to pursue her true dream of telling stories. After spending three wonderful years in St. Louis, Missouri, and three more amazing years in Zurich, Switzerland, Meredith now lives in Houston with her husband and her spoiled rescue dog. When Meredith’s not writing, she loves photography, playing the piano, trying new recipes, and chasing her goal of seeing every continent (four down, three to go!).

S01E02 - Salt, by Rosemary Melchior

16-year-old Sigga is exiled to an icy island prison for a crime she didn't commit. But the island isn't what it seems...and neither is she.

Rosemary Melchior

Rosemary Melchior lives in New York City. She writes speculative fiction set in futuristic cities or cold northern landscapes, always in the present tense. Her work has been published in Writer’s Digest as a contest winner and in Luna Station Quarterly.

Luna Station Quarterly

Writer’s Digest

S01E01 - The Alonso Research Center for Studies of the Undead, by Samantha Rose Panepinto

When she accepted the internship at The Alonso Research Center for Infectious Diseases, Ella thought she’d be studying the bird-flu, or something standard. A brain-eating-virus, her mysterious witchy boss, and her ex-girlfriend’s corpse have other plans for her.

Sam Panepinto

Sam is a writing teacher in Brooklyn, NY, where she lives with her partner and two beautiful, inconsiderate cats. Her YA fiction is inspired by the ways young people take back their power and wreak havoc on attempts to keep them in line. Her work centers queer teens with big voices, navigating situations both familiar and far-off.

Sam’s short fiction has been featured in Queers in Space, the Image OutWrite literary journal, and her nonfiction on Autostraddle. Sam is a participant in the 2021 Tin House YA Fiction Workshop, with mentor Mason Deaver.

Mentioned in the episode

Tin House

SSR Podcast with Alli Hoff Kosik

First Draft with Sarah Enni

Trailer

If you like short stories, craft chats with authors, and audiobooks you're in the right place. In Short, have a listen to see what the podcast is all about.