Podcast · Stories

StarShipSofa

by Tony C Smith · English · Stories

The Audio Science Fiction Magazine See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/starshipsofa . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

New episodes: Every two weeks
Typical length: 47 min
Latest: 14 Oct 2026
Language: English

Latest episode

14 Oct 2026 · 55 minNew

StarShipSofa 789 Marie Vibbert

Marie Vibbert is a past Hugo and Nebula finalist with over 100 stories in pro publications from Analog to Zombies Need Brains . Her latest book is a novella, Multitude , wherein you can follow the hivemind of cephalopod aliens and explore the power of language, community, and hope. This story originally appeared in Analog Science Fiction , June 2016. Narration by: Ibba Armanas Ibba Armanas is a two time EMMY-nominated Director/Producer for KLCS-PBS Los Angeles. A huge sci-fi fan and occasional narrator, she’s excited to be back on StarShipSofa after a decade of absence. Fact: Looking Back At…

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Earlier episodes 29 most recent

29 Sep 2026 · 36 min
StarShipSofa 788 Eric Del Carlo
Eric Del Carlo's short fiction has appeared multiple times in Analog , Asimov's , and Clarkesworld , as well as many other magazines and anthologies over the years. He returns to StarShipSofa with the first story he wrote in 2026. Eric lives in the States, in his native California. "Traipsing the Else" is original to StarShipSofa . Narration by: Brian Rollins Brian Rollins is a voice actor and podcaster living in Colorado. You can hear him hosting the Dorky Geeky Nerdy Trivia Podcast every Wednesday or narrating audiobooks like the Glen and Tyler adventure series, the Uncommon Bonds fantasy…
16 Sep 2026 · 54 min
StarShipSofa 787 Kit Sedia
Kit (formerly Ekaterina) Sedia is a critically acclaimed writer of speculative fiction and noir, and a World Fantasy Award winning editor. He is the author of several novels and a short story collection, featuring stories originally published in venues such as Asimov’s , Analog , and Clarkesworld . His translations from Russian have appeared in The Big Book of Classic Fantasy and The Big Book of Modern Fantasy . He also co-wrote a script for Yamasong: March of the Hollows , a fantasy feature-length puppet film voiced by Nathan Fillion, George Takei, Abigail Breslin, and Whoopi Goldberg. Kit…
3 Sep 2026 · 28 min
StarShipSofa 786 Tim Pratt
Tim Pratt (genderfluid, any pronouns) is the author of more than thirty-five novels, most recently multiversal space opera T he Jewel and the Comet . Pratt is a Hugo Award winner for short fiction, and has been a finalist for Nebula, World Fantasy, Sturgeon, Stoker, and otherawards. She publishes a new story every month at www.patreon.com/timpratt and posts incessantly on Bluesky (bsky.app/profile/timpratt.org) This story originally appeared on Tim Pratt's Patreon account. Narration by: Zed Hope Simon Zed Hope Simon (they/them) is a Brooklyn-based performer, playwright, and fight director.…
19 Aug 2026 · 58 min
StarShipSofa 785 Jeremy Szal
Jeremy Szal was raised by wild dingoes, which should explain a lot. He writes epic fantasy and dark space opera of a character-driven, morally grey nature. He sold The Common trilogy to Gollancz/Orion when he was 23, which includes STORMBLOOD, BLINDSPACE, and WOLFSKIN, about a drug harvested from alien DNA that makes users permanently addicted to adrenaline and aggression. He’s the author of over fifty short stories, translated into seventeen languages, many of which appear in his short fiction collection BROKEN STARS. He was the editor for the Hugo-winning StarShipSofa until 2020 and has a…
5 Aug 2026 · 47 min
StarShipSofa 784 Seia Tanabe
Seia Tanabe is a horror and weird fiction writer based in Osaka. She won the 15th Japanese Horror Novel Award in the Short Story category for her debut work, "Iki-byobu" (The Living Folding Screen). Deeply inspired by local folklore, ghost stories, and urban legends, she has published numerous horror novels and edited several anthologies. Tanabe's English-language debut, "The Parrot Stone", was published in the anthology Phantasm Japan . This story was translated by the author and is original to StarShipSofa. Narration by: Will Stagl Will Stagl is Star Ship Sofa's audio engineer and…
22 Jul 2026 · 50 min
StarShipSofa 783 T. K. Rex
T. K. Rex is a science fiction and fantasy author from the western United States, whose stories can be read in numerous publications, including The Wildcraft Drones , their debut collection on shelves May 21, 2026. The Wildcraft Drones begins in the near future of "The Flowers Where Five-Eighty Used To Be" and follows the evolving relationship between humanity, nature and technology into the far future. T. K.'s stories, socials, and newsletter can be found at tkrex.wtf. This story originally appeared in Tractor Beam , March 2025 Narration by: Diane Severson Diane Severson is a lyric soprano…
8 Jul 2026 · 45 min
StarShipSofa 782 Scott Edelman
Scott Edelman has published 135+ short stories, many of which have been collected in These Words Are Haunted , W hat Will Come After, Tell Me Like You Done Before , Things That Never Happened , and 101 Things to Do Before You're Downloaded . He has been a Stoker Award finalist eight times. Additionally, he has hosted the 2026 Hugo Awards finalist Eating the Fantastic interview podcast since February 2016. This story is original to StarShipSofa. Narration by: Brian Rollins Brian Rollins is a voice actor living in Colorado with his wife. He's the prolific narrator behind the Glen & Tyler…
17 Jun 2026 · 57 min
StarShipSofa 781 Cat Rambo
Cat Rambo’s 300+ fiction publications include stories in Asimov’s , Clarkesworld Magazine , and The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction . In 2020 they won the Nebula Award for fantasy novelette Carpe Glitter . They are a former two-term President of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA). Their most recent works are space opera Devil’s Gun (Tor Macmillan, 2023) and anthology The Reinvented Detective (Arc Manor, 2023), co-edited with Jennifer Brozek. Narration by: Diane Severson Daine Severson is a lyric soprano specializing in Early Music, specifically Baroque and…
3 Jun 2026 · 56 min
StarShipSofa 780 P. A. Cornell
P.A. Cornell is a Chilean-Canadian speculative fiction writer. A two-time finalist for the Nebula Award, her stories have been published in over seventy magazines and anthologies, including Lightspeed , Apex , and eight “Best of the Year” anthologies. In addition to becoming the first Chilean Nebula finalist in 2024, Cornell has been a finalist for the Aurora and World Fantasy Awards, and in 2022 won Canada’s Short Works Prize. When not writing, she can be found assembling intricate LEGO builds or drinking ridiculous quantities of tea. Sometimes both. For more on the author and her work,…
20 May 2026 · 40 min
StarShipSofa 779 Kenneth Mark Hoover
Kenneth Mark Hoover is a professional writer who has sold over 70+ short stories, and several novels, including those of the Haxan series. He is a member of SFWA and HWA. His fiction has appeared in Beneath Ceaseless Skies , Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Strange Horizons , and many others. Mr. Hoover divides his time between New Mexico and Texas. He writes full-time. This story is original to StarShipSofa. Narration by: Christina Rau Christina M. Rau, The Yoga Poet, leads Meditate, Move, & Create workshops for various organizations in person and online. Her collections include How We Make…
22 Apr 2026 · 43 min
StarShipSofa 778 Will Waller
Kenneth Mark Hoover is a professional writer who has sold over 70+ short stories, and several novels, including those of the Haxan series. He is a member of SFWA and HWA. His fiction has appeared in Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Strange Horizons , and many others. Mr. Hoover divides his time between New Mexico and Texas. He writes full-time. This story is original to StarShipSofa. Narration by: Will Stagl Will Stagl lives in Tucson, Arizona and is a proud member of the StarShipSofa team. He’s like to kick off the new year by inviting any listeners interested in…
8 Apr 2026 · 34 min
StarShipSofa 777 Carrie Finch
Carrie Finch is a writer in San Francisco, California. Her published fiction includes fantasy, science fiction, and horror. She has two cats, who take turns lying down on the keyboard and keeping her from writing. carriefinch.com This story originally appeared in Broken Time Blues, 2011. Narration by: Doni Nicoll Doni Nicoll-Duir ( nickel-dar ) is originally from the Western Slope of Colorado. He has lived in and out of Arizona his whole life and now finds himself settling down in Tucson, AZ. Doni works in the renewable energy sector as a design engineer and permitting specialist. When Doni…
25 Mar 2026 · 43 min
StarShipSofa 776 Sandra McDonald
Main fiction: "Starpoop" Sandra McDonald is an avid writer, reader, foster mom, and cat wrangler. A military veteran and veteran teacher, she is the author of several books and several dozen published short stories in magazines and anthologies. She holds a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and has won awards for stories that explore the intersections of gender, duty, and science fiction. You can sometimes find her on social media, but more likely she is stuck in a minivan in a school pickup line in Florida, scribbling story ideas on the back of store receipts. This story originally…
11 Mar 2026 · 55 min
StarShipSofa 775 Caren Gussoff Sumption
Caren Gussoff Sumption lives in a nest of books, knitting, and rescue cats, south of Seattle, WA. The author of 6 books (most recently, her postcolonial, deep space, far-future comedy of manners, So Quick Bright Things Come to Confusion ) and more than 100 short stories, Caren received her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and in 2008, was the Carl Brandon Society’s Octavia E. Butler Scholar at Clarion West. Caren is autistic, Romany, Jewish, and can't carry a tune (she tries anyway, gods help us all). Find her online at www.spitkitten.com This story originally appeared in…
18 Feb 2026 · 1 hr 3 min
StarShipSofa 776 Sandra McDonald
Sandra McDonald is an avid writer, reader, foster mom, and cat wrangler. A military veteran and veteran teacher, she is the author of several books and several dozen published short stories in magazines and anthologies. She holds a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and has won awards for stories that explore the intersections of gender, duty, and science fiction. You can sometimes find her on social media, but more likely she is stuck in a minivan in a school pickup line in Florida, scribbling story ideas on the back of store receipts. This story originally appeared in Lightspeed…
4 Feb 2026 · 37 min
StarShipSofa 775 Lori Selke
By day, Lori Selke is an ESL instructor (and stealth adjunct composition instructor) who lives in Oakland, California. But beneath that wholesome and mild-mannered facade lurks a zine veteran, an education and social justice academic, a queer writer and activist, and a general thorn in the side of normativity. Their fiction has been previously published in Nightmare Magazine , Strange Horizons , and Asimov's ; their nonfiction has appeared at NPR.org, Offbeat Home , The Billfold , and the SF Weekly , as well as the open-access academic journals Refuge and the International Journal of Human…
21 Jan 2026 · 1 hr 3 min
StarShipSofa 774 Caren Gussoff Sumption
Caren Gussoff Sumption lives in a nest of books, knitting, and rescue cats, south of Seattle, WA. The author of six books (most recently, her postcolonial, deep space, far-future comedy of manners, So Quick Bright Things Come to Confusion ) and more than 100 short stories, Caren received her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and in 2008, was the Carl Brandon Society’s Octavia E. Butler Scholar at Clarion West. Caren is autistic, Romany, Jewish, and can't carry a tune (she tries anyway, gods help us all). Find her online at www.spitkitten.com This story originally appeared…
7 Jan 2026 · 39 min
StarShipSofa 773 K. Ceres Wright
K. Ceres Wright received her master’s degree in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University and her published cyberpunk novel, Cog, was her thesis for the program. Her short stories, poems, and articles have appeared on the Strange Horizons and Amazing Stories websites; in the FIYAH Magazine of Black Speculative Fiction; Luminescent Threads: Connections to Octavia Butler (Locus Award winner; Hugo Award nominee); and Sycorax’s Daughters (Bram Stoker Award nominee); among others. Her most recent publication is Too Old to Dance but Young Enough to Rock ’n’ Roll, a post apocalyptic…
24 Dec 2025 · 1 hr 11 min
StarShipSofa 772 Jeremy Szal
Main fiction: "Stars in a Grave, Stars in a Skull" Jeremy Szal was born in 1995 and was raised by wild dingoes, which should explain a lot. He writes epic fantasy and dark space opera of a character-driven, morally grey nature. His main series is the Common trilogy from Gollancz/Hachette, which includes Stormblood , Blindspace , and Woflskin , about a drug harvested from alien DNA that makes users permanently addicted to adrenaline and aggression. He’s the author of over fifty short stories, translated into fifteen languages, many of which appear in his short fiction collection Broken Stars…
10 Dec 2025 · 28 min
StarShipSofa 771 Alethea Kontis
This story originally appeared in Wild & Wishful, Dark & Dreaming: The Worlds of Alethea Kontis (2016). Alethea Kontis is an actress, storm chaser, and New York Times best-selling author. She has received the Scribe Award, the Garden State Teen Book Award, and is a two-time winner of the Gelett Burgess Children’s Book Award. She was twice nominated for both the Andre Norton Nebula and Dragon Award. Alethea narrates stories for multiple award-winning online magazines and does freelance work for Writing the Other. Born in Vermont, Alethea currently resides on the Space Coast of Florida where…
26 Nov 2025 · 1 hr 2 min
StarShipSofa 770 Jeffrey Thomas
This story originally appeared in Punktown (2000). Jeffrey Thomas’s books include Punktown , Deadstock , Blue War , The American , and T he Unnamed Country . He has been a finalist for the Bram Stoker Award and John W. Campbell Award, and his stories have been reprinted in The Year’s Best Horror Stories 2022, T he Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror #14 (editors, Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling), and Year’s Best Weird Fiction #1 (editors, Laird Barron and Michael Kelly). Thomas lives in Massachusetts. Narration by: Christina Rau Christina M. Rau, The Yoga Poet, leads Meditate, Move, & Create…
12 Nov 2025 · 29 min
StarShipSofa 769 Owen Kerr
Owen Kerr has been a writer, freelance editor, and indie game designer since 1999, but don't tell his mom; she thinks he's selling feet pix on MostlyPans. His most recent projects include lore for an OSR setting, a full-bore post-apocalyptic fantasy game (Splintered Moon - PbtA), and his self-published fantasy novel, Confessions of an Outlaw Locksmith . If you liked "Cycles," check out his LinkTree for more! https://linktr.ee/chantedevening Narration by: Owen Kerr Owen Kerr is also a voice actor and reader. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/starshipsofa . Hosted on Acast. See…
29 Oct 2025 · 44 min
StarShipSofa 768 Rudy Vener
Rudy Vener's stories have appeared in The Saturday Evening Post , StarshipSofa , Sally Port Magazine , and The Beast Hunt Anthology Vol 1. He has won Connecticut's Tassy Walden Award for New Voices in Children's Literature, and been a finalist in the Jim Baem Memorial Short Story Award. Rudy is a retired software engineer, former online pizza marketing entrepreneur, and cheese lover. He lives with his family and two cats in North Haven, Connecticut where he is hard at work on more short stories and novels. Readers can visit him at www.rudyvener.com This story is original to StarShipSofa.…
15 Oct 2025 · 46 min
StarShipSofa 767 Kelsey Hutton
Kelsey Hutton is a Métis author from Treaty 1 territory and the homeland of the Métis Nation, also known as Winnipeg, Canada. Kelsey was born in an even snowier city than she lives in now (“up north,” as they say in Winnipeg). She also used to live in Brazil as a kid. Her work has appeared in Analog Science Fiction & Fact , Beneath Ceaseless Skies , Augur Magazine and others. When she’s not beading or cooking, you can find her at KelseyHutton.com, on Instagram at @KelseyHuttonAuthor, or on Twitter/X at @KelHuttonAuthor. This story originally appeared in Analog Science Fiction & Fact, Jan/Feb…
1 Oct 2025 · 51 min
StarShipSofa 766 Jay Caselberg
Jay Caselberg is an Australian author and poet whose work has appeared around the world and been translated into several languages. He currently resides in Germany and can be found at Caselberg.net. This story originally appeared in Borderlands (Australia), January 2006. Narrated by Randal L. Schwartz Randal L. Schwartz is best well known for his seminal books on the Perl programming language that helped make the world wide web possible and popular. He produced a weekly audio and video podcast on open source software, but has given that up after 13 years to get those five hours per week back…
17 Sep 2025 · 40 min
StarShipSofa 764 K. A. Teryna
K. A. Teryna is an award-winning author and illustrator. She was born in two places at once, one of which is beyond the Arctic Circle. Her fiction has been translated from Russian into six languages. English translations of her stories have appeared in Asimov’s, Reactor, Apex, F&SF, Podcastle, and elsewhere. Her English-language short story collection Black Hole Heart and Other Stories has been published by Fairwood Press. As of late, Chekhov the Cat has become K.A. Teryna's co-author. He's in charge of keeping her warm and firmly in her seat. K.A. Teryna's website is…
3 Sep 2025 · 51 min
AD Free StarShipSofa 764 Richard Dansky
M The author of eight novels and two short story collections, Richard Dansky is widely regarded as a leading expert on video game narrative and writing. He has written for franchises including The Division , Assassins Creed , Far Cry , Splinter Cell , and many others, and was also a key contributor to White Wolf’s classic World of Darkness horror RPG setting. His upcoming projects include the novel Nightmare Logic from Falstaff Dread, the graphic novel Bridgewater from Delcourt, and the nonfiction book T he Video Game Writer’s Guide To Surviving an Industry That Hates You . This story is…
20 Aug 2025 · 37 min
StarShipSofa 763 Robert Guffrey
Robert Guffey is a lecturer in the Department of English at California State University – Long Beach. His books include The Expectant Mother Disinformation Handbook (Madness Heart Press, 2024), Cryptopolis & Other Stories (Lethe Press, 2024), Dead Monkey Rum (Planet Bizarro Press, 2023), Operation Mindfuck (OR Books, 2022), Widow of the Amputation & Other Weird Crimes (Eraserhead Press, 2021), Bela Lugosi’s Dead (Crossroad Press, 2021), Until the Last Dog Dies (Night Shade/Skyhorse, 2017), Chameleo (OR Books, 2015), and Spies & Saucers (PS Publishing, 2014). A graduate of the famed Clarion…
6 Aug 2025 · 54 min
StarShipSofa 762 Gustavo Bondini
Gustavo Bondoni is a novelist and short story writer with over five hundred stories published in fifteen countries, in seven languages. He has published several science fiction novels including two trilogies, six monster books, a dark military fantasy and a thriller. His short fiction is collected in Thin Air (2023), Pale Reflection (2020), Off the Beaten Path (2019), Tenth Orbit and Other Faraway Places (2010) and Virtuoso and Other Stories (2011). In 2019, Gustavo was awarded second place in the Jim Baen Memorial Contest and in 2018 he received a Judges Commendation (and second place) in…

About StarShipSofa

StarShipSofa is a English stories podcast from Tony C Smith. Melo plays each episode straight from the publisher's own feed — no ads added, no account needed — and remembers where you stopped, in this browser only.

Publisher: Tony C Smith
Language: English
Category: Stories
New episodes: Every two weeks
Typical length: 47 min
Latest episode: 14 Oct 2026
Feed: RSS — paste into any podcast app
Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id166360307
Rights: Tony C Smith

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