Updates Weekly Website podcastle.org | Debut 1 April 2008 | |
Genre Fantasy fiction Short Stories | ||
PodCastle is a fantasy podcast. The podcast releases audio performances of fantasy short fiction, including all the subgenres of fantasy, including magical realism, urban fantasy, slipstream, high fantasy, and dark fantasy. PodCastle launched on 1 April 2008 with Rachel Swirsky as founding editor and Ann Leckie as assistant editor. Swirsky left in 2010 to focus on her own writing. Editors Anna Schwind and Dave Thompson stepped down at the end of March 2015 and were slated to be replaced by Kitty NicIaian and Dawn Phynix, with Leckie continuing to serve as associate editor. However, the new editors were unable to take the helm, and Rachael K. Jones and Graeme Dunlop began sharing editing and hosting duties instead. PodCastle is part of Escape Artists, Inc., which also produces Escape Pod and Pseudopod.
Contents
Content
PodCastle has released hundreds of stories on a weekly basis with stories generally between 2,000 and 6,000 words long, written by authors such as Peter S. Beagle, Nancy Kress, Jeff VanderMeer, N.K. Jemisin, Kelly Link and Ken Liu. Although focused on short fiction, PodCastle has also run reviews.
PodCastle is distributed under a Creative Commons license that allows non-commercial redistribution, requires attribution, and forbids derivatives. The fiction itself remains copyrighted by its respective authors. PodCastle contracts with authors for non-exclusive audio rights and pays semi-professional rates. The site averages 79,900 monthly downloads of the podcast. Podcasts such as Podcastle, Pseudopod, and EscapePod provide a means of accessing speculative fiction online.
Reception
The podcast has been a finalist for the Parsec Award for Best Speculative Fiction Story (Short Form) for "Restless in My Hand" by Tim Pratt and again in 2015 for Best Speculative Fiction Story: Large Cast (Short Form) for “Super-Baby-Moms Group Saves the Day” by Tina Connolly.
Short fiction audio podcast magazines like Escape Pod and its sister publications, Pseudopod and PodCastle, have caught the interest and imagination of fiction enthusiasts, and doing a wonderful job at reviving awareness in both new short fiction and classic works