Podcast of “Foot Ball” by Will Mcintosh
Narrated by Wulf Moon
Cover art by Wulf Moon
Music track sampled from “Wrapped in Dreams” by Frankum and Frankumjay, used under a Creative Commons license.
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© Copyright 2019 Will McIntosh, Wulf Moon
June 2019 issue of FUTURE SF, features eleven stories authors from five different countries totaling over 60,000 words of fiction. This issue celebrates the 50th anniversary of the moon landing with four moon-themed stories, then focuses on the theme of AI characters for much of the rest of the issue, with just a little time travel in the mix for flavor.
Table of contents
We start our third installment of the digest with a month-long celebration of the 50th anniversary of the moon landing. I’ve selected four moon-related stories that are as different from each other in style, voice, and theme as can be. Of especial interest is Oleg Divov’s “Americans on the Moon,” not only because we don’t often get to experience the Russian perspective on the space race, but also because Divov writes the story from the point of view of an American military commander, and some familiar historical figures show up in this alternate version of the 1980s....
The fireplace stuck out from the lunar surface like a middle finger directed at my future.
From a distance, it looked just like the fireplace at my house in Pasadena, all limestone and granite, sparkling in the sun. The stone was covered in black ash, as if it had burned, like things could burn here on the fucking Moon....
I’m Dixie. I’m twelve. Well, almost. My birthday is coming up, so close enough. I wear red. God gave me red hair, but I picked the rest, from my red space Keds—Mom hates them—to my matching silk cape—Dad loves it—because capes are cool, and when you drape them right, they hide the tubes....
Podcast of “Super Duper Moongirl and the Amazing Moon Dawdler” by Wulf Moon
Narrated by Wulf Moon
Cover art by Alice Wang
Music track sampled from “Wrapped in Dreams” by Frankum and Frankumjay, used under a Creative Commons license....
D.C. Fontana is a pioneer and legend in genre television writing. Her incredible career spans nearly forty different series. She was not only one of the first writers on the original Star Trek TV series, but worked closely with Gene Roddenberry as a primary architect of the show....
“At the direction of the President of the United States, it is the stated policy of this administration, and the United States of America, to return American astronauts to the moon within the next five years.”
—Vice President Mike Pence, March 26, 2019
The New York Timely
“New NASA Director Vows to Fulfill Moon Directive”
Mr....
The employment of moon-based weapons systems against earth or space targets may prove to be feasible and desirable. Moon-based military power will be a strong deterrent to war because of the extreme difficulty, from the enemy point of view, of eliminating our ability to retaliate....
“I have it on good authority,” my uninvited visitor began, “that you are discreet.”
My visitor. A meeting in the flesh, so to speak. I, of course, don’t have flesh. And I do not lightly permit anyone to approach my Fortress of Solitude—although this man was not here about any super powers I might possess....
Printichef gives Aspen-the-dog a thorough chin-scratching while it prints her a beef burger with cheddar cheese on toasted white bun. Aspen-the-dog’s favorite.
Aspen-the-dog eats half the burger, then stops and whines. Her tail wags listlessly. Her surface temperature is 35.8 degrees Celsius....
They call me evil.
I prefer misunderstood.
After all, I didn’t ask to be put in charge of this forsaken chunk of rock in the middle of nowhere, but here I am, head warden of the most secure prison in the galaxy....
The bartender says, “We don’t serve faster-than-light particles.”
A tachyon enters a bar.
We’re back to Helsinki 2017. The summer is in full bloom and the city is a sea of foliage: alive, fresh, and sunny. It looks so different from 2030, and don’t even get me started on post-war Helsinki....
One of Dunblane’s enormous replacement players elbowed Liam in the mouth. Numbing pain like the coldest of nights radiated through his lips and gums. It was one of ten thousand cuts and bruises this bloody game had dealt him in the past three days, but the inches and feet hurt more than the blows....
Podcast of “Foot Ball” by Will Mcintosh
Narrated by Wulf Moon
Cover art by Wulf Moon
Music track sampled from “Wrapped in Dreams” by Frankum and Frankumjay, used under a Creative Commons license.
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1.
Wherever the light of day cannot reach, that region belongs to the darkness. This truth applies everywhere in the universe, even in this ship named Sunlight. It is here, in the darkness of the Sunlight’s hibernation chamber, that I will kill the third person....
Of course they sent a poet. He was quick on his feet, electric, stepping lightly through the portals we opened for him into and across the committee’s carefully Chosen Moments of history. He would only ever stop at each one long enough to read the poem he had composed especially for it....
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Will McIntosh is a Hugo award winner and finalist for the Nebula and twelve other SF/F awards. His novels include Faller (Tor Books), Love Minus Eighty (Orbit) and Soft Apocalypse (Night Shade). Along with eight novels, Will has published about fifty short stories. He was a psychology professor before turning to writing full-time, and lives in Williamsburg with his wife and their twins. You can follow him on Twitter @willmcintoshSF, or on his website, www.willmcintosh.net.
Wulf Moon is an Olympic Peninsula writer, artist, and narrator. Moon wrote his first hard SF story when he was fifteen. It won the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards–the same contest that first discovered Stephen King, Peter S. Beagle, John Updike, and a host of iconic names in the Arts. It became his first pro sale in Science World.
His story “Seventh Heaven” was published in Pocket Books’ Star Trek: Strange New Worlds II. A Borg love story. What could be sweeter? His conquistador fantasy story “War Dog” was published by Third Flatiron. It won the Critters Annual Readers’ Poll award for Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Short Story of 2018. Moon recently won the international Writers of the Future Contest. His story “Super-Duper Moon Girl and the Amazing Moon Dawdler” first appeared in Writers of the Future, Volume 35.
Moon is an approved narrator for Apex Publications, PodCastle, and Escape Pod, and has narrated numerous episodes for Gallery of Curiosities and Third Flatiron. He is podcast director for Future Science Fiction Digest. Enjoy more of his work by visiting www.driftweave.com.
Also by Wulf Moon
Comments on “Foot Ball Podcast”
October 3, 2019 at 6:29 pm
Really enjoyed this one!!! Gripping story, great narration. Well done, as always. ;)
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