recursal/Fanatic-Fandom huggingface dataset:
Usman T. Malik

**USMAN T. MALIK** is a Pakistani vagrant camped in Florida. He reads Sufi poetry, likes long walks, and occasionally strums naats on the guitar. His work has been nominated for the**Nebula** award, and is forthcoming in the **Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year**,**Year’s Best Weird Fiction**, **Tor.com**, and other venues. He is a graduate of Clarion West.
Sofia Quintero

**Sofia Quintero** is a writer and producer who tells stories that meet audiences where they are and take them someplace better. Raised in a working-class Puerto Rican-Dominican family in the Bronx and graduating from Columbia University, the self-proclaimed “Ivy League homegirl” has published six novels and twice as many short stories across genres including YA, “chick lit,” and erotica. Under the pen name Black Artemis, she wrote three novels described as “sister-centered hip-hop noir.”

Sofia’s stories are usually ahead of the curve, offering nuanced depictions of underrepresented communities years before the mainstream entertainment industries took up the challenge. Because her novels reflect an intentional hybrid between the commercial and the literary, exploiting popular tropes to raise socio-political issues for broad audiences, they are assigned at colleges across the nation and in multiple disciplines including English, Sociology, Women’s Studies, Criminal Justice, Latino studies, African American Studies, and Education.

In 2012, Sofia earned an MFA in Writing and Producing Television from the TV Writers Studio at Long Island University. Her latest YA novel *Show and Prove* (Knopf 2015) was published to critical acclaim, and she’s working on her next book, which is inspired by the #SayHerName movement. In 2017 Sofia was a Made in NY Writers Room Fellow and is developing a TV show based on her 2006 novel *Burn*.

## Work on Escape Artists

### PodCastle

* PC534 The Lamentation of Their Women, by Kai Ashante Wilson
* PC563 El Cantar de la Reina Bruja, by Victoria Sandbrook
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

**Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle** KStJ, DL (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician, most noted for creating the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes and writing stories about him which are generally considered milestones in the field of crime fiction. He was a prolific writer whose other works include fantasy and science fiction stories, plays, romances, poetry, nonfiction and historical novels.

## Work on Escape Artists

Pseudopod

* PP200 The Horror of the Heights, read by Ben Phillips

PodCastle

* PC228 The Terror of Blue John Gap, read by Ian Stuart
William Shunn

**William Shunn** is an American science fiction writer and computer programmer. He was raised in a Latter-day Saint household, the oldest of eight children. He attended the Clarion Workshop in 1985. In 1986, he served a mission to Canada for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but was arrested for making a false bomb threat, for the purpose of preventing his fellow missionary from returning home.

## Work on Escape Artists

Escape Pod

* EP063 Observations From the City of Angels, read by Stephen Eley

Pseudopod

* EP031 Colin and Ishmael in the Dark , read by MarBelle
Stephanie Charette

**Stephanie Charette** is a raven-brained science fiction and fantasy nerd from the wilds of Canada. She’s an alum of Viable Paradise (Go Fifteeners!) and Taos Toolbox 2017. A cat fancier, tea sniffer, and wallflower with a taste for whisky, she’ll be off hoarding office supplies but not before asking you where you got that pen. Just don’t let her borrow it.

## Work on Escape Artists

PodCastle

* PC514 Artemis Rising 4 - My Heart the Bullet in the Chamber, read by Robin McLeavy
List of Pseudopod episodes

Pseudopod manifested in 2006 and in its present carnal husk, it is edited by Shawn M. Garrett and Alex Hofelich and hosted by Alasdair Stuart.

The table below lists all episodes in order of release, from newest to oldest by default. While this list may not always be completely up to date, you can see the most recent episodes at the Pseudopod website. Head to this page for a list of the Flash on the Borderlands collections.

New Listener? Afraid to start poking around in the dark? Visit the New Listener page to see some of our favorites.
Tracey Yuen

**Tracey Yuen** is involved in education and considers listening to podcasts a big factor in getting himself to “read” fiction and dabbles in photography, videography editing, page layout and narration.

## Work on Escape Artists

Pseudopod

* PP311 Flash on the Borderlands XIV: Resistance!

PodCastle

* PC182 起狮，行礼 (Rising Lion — The Lion Bows), by Zen Cho

Cast of Wonders

* CW168 The Tale of the White Tiger, by Donald Jacob Uitvlugt
	+ CW195 Staff Pick 2015 – The Tale of the White Tiger
Thomas Hardy

**Thomas Hardy**  (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was an English novelist and poet. A Victorian realist in the tradition of George Eliot, he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by Romanticism, especially William Wordsworth. He was highly critical of much in Victorian society, especially on the declining status of rural people in Britain, such as those from his native South West England.

While Hardy wrote poetry throughout his life and regarded himself primarily as a poet, his first collection was not published until 1898. Initially, therefore, he gained fame as the author of such novels as *Far from the Madding Crowd* (1874), *The Mayor of Casterbridge* (1886), *Tess of the d’Urbervilles* (1891), and *Jude the Obscure* (1895).

During his lifetime, Hardy’s poetry was acclaimed by younger poets (particularly the Georgians) who viewed him as a mentor.

## Work on Escape Artists

### Pseudopod

* PP627 The Grave By the Handpost, read by Matt Dovey
Sarah Pinsker

**Sarah Pinsker** is the author of the novelette “In Joy, Knowing the Abyss Behind,” Sturgeon Award winner 2014 and Nebula finalist 2013. Her fiction has been published in magazines including Asimov’s, Strange Horizons, Fantasy & Science Fiction, Lightspeed, Daily Science Fiction, the Journal of Unlikely Cartography, Fireside, Stupefying Stories, and PULP Literature, and in anthologies including Long Hidden, Fierce Family, and The Future Embodied.

She is also a singer/songwriter with three albums on various independent labels (the third with her rock band, the Stalking Horses) and a fourth forthcoming. She lives in Baltimore, Maryland.

## Work on Escape Artists

### Escape Pod

* EP470 The Transdimensional Horsemaster Rabbis of Mpumalanga Province, read by Amy Robinson
* EP497 A Stretch of Highway Two Lanes Wide, read by David White
* EP652-EP655 *And Then There Were (N-One)* Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4, read by Mur Lafferty
Saki

**Hector Hugh Munro** (18 December 1870 – 14 November 1916), better known by the pen name **Saki**, and also frequently as H. H. Munro, was a British writer whose witty, mischievous and sometimes macabre stories satirize Edwardian society and culture. Influenced by Oscar Wilde, Lewis Carroll and Rudyard Kipling, he himself influenced A. A. Milne, Noël Coward and P. G. Wodehouse.

## Work on Escape Artists

PodCastle

* PC358 Gabriel-Ernest, read by Graeme Dunlop

Cast of Wonders

* CW13 The Name-Day, read by Graeme Dunlop
Sarah Monette

**Sarah Monette** and Katherine Addison are the same person.

She grew up in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, one of the three secret cities of the Manhattan Project. She got her B.A. from Case Western Reserve University, her M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Despite being summa cum laude, none of her degrees is of the slightest use to her in either her day job or her writing, which she feels is an object lesson for us all. She currently lives near Madison, Wisconsin.

## Work on Escape Artists

PodCastle

* PCMini101 National Geographic on Assignment: The Unicorn Enclosure, read by Jen R. Albert
Stephanie Malia Morris

**Stephanie Malia Morris** is a professional fangirl by day and the lone library assistant staffing a college circulation desk at night. She has narrated short stories for all four Escape Artists podcasts as well as StarShipSofa, has guest-blogs on subjects ranging from book recommendations to zombie turkeys, and performed Shakespeare in a handful of weird churches.

## Work on Escape Artists

### Writing

#### Pseudopod

* PP576 Flash on the Borderlands XLI: Flash Fiction Contest 5 Winners - Second Place: “Legal Tender”, read by Alexis Goble

### Narrating

#### Escape Pod

* EP450 Valedictorian, by N.K. Jemisin
* EP590 Four Seasons in the Forest of Your Mind, by Caroline M. Yoachim
* EP594 The Spice Portrait, by J.M. Evenson
* EP659 Caesura, by Hayley Stone

#### Pseudopod

* PP259 To My Wondering Eyes Did Appear, by Larry C. Kay
* PP269 The Burning Servant, by Steven Saus
* PP397 Gut Check, by Toni Nicolino
* PP582 The Monster, by Crystal Connor

#### PodCastle

* PC159 Judgment of Swords and Souls, by Saladin Ahmed
* PC227 The Yew’s Embrace, by Francesca Forrest
* PC247 The Three Feats of Agani, by Christie Yant
* PC432 The Beautiful Bird Sits No Longer Singing In The Nest, by Kate Lechler
* PC449 Piety, Prayer, Peacekeeper, Apocalypse, by Rati Mehrotra
* PC487 A Whisper in the Weld, by Alix E. Harrow
* PC497 Six Jobs, by Tim Pratt
* PC529 Chesirah, by L. D. Lewis

#### Cast of Wonders

* CW94 The Drove of Maris-Charlottes, by David Turnbull
* CW174 Take A Good Look, by Holly Schofield
* CW179 The Mothgate, by J.R. Troughton
* CW257 Little Wonders 13 - Death: “Chrysalis”, by Jennifer Lee Rossman
Will McIntosh

**Will McIntosh** is a Hugo award winner and finalist for the Nebula and eleven other awards. His most recent novel is *Burning Midnight* (Penguin Random House). His previous book *Defenders* (Orbit Books) was optioned by Warner Brothers for a feature film, while *Love Minus Eighty* was named the best science fiction book of 2013 by the American Library Association. Along with six novels, Will has published around fifty short stories in Asimov’s (where he won Reader’s Awards in 2010 and 2013), Lightspeed, Science Fiction and Fantasy: Best of the Year, and elsewhere. Up next is *Faller*, a wild SF adventure novel to be published by Tor Books. Will lives in Williamsburg, Virginia, with his wife, Alison, and twins Hannah and Miles. He left his position as a psychology professor in Southeast Georgia to write full time and still teaches as an adjunct at the College of William and Mary.

## Work on Escape Artists

Escape Pod

* EP144 Friction, read by Stephen Eley
* EP178 Unlikely, read by Stephen Eley
* EP247 Bridesicle (2010 Hugo Award Winner), read by Amy H. Sturgis
* EP305 Midnight Blue, read by Paul Haring
	+ EP630 Flashback Friday: Midnight Blue

PodCastle

* PC066 One Paper Airplane Graffito Love Note, read by Christopher Reynaga
Victoria Hoke

**Victoria Hoke** writes, draws, and codes in Los Angeles. Her stories have appeared in Strange Horizons, Drabblecast, and Three-lobed Burning Eye. She grew up in North Carolina and still gets cravings for hush puppies and butterscotch candy. She’s editor-in-chief of sub-Q, a new online magazine for interactive fantasy, science fiction, and horror. If you like stories that get under your skin, or you’d like to create some yourself, visit sub-Q for resources, submissions details, and a look at what they publish.

Victoria's story The Devil In Rutledge County was read by Laura Hobbs for Pseudopod episode 489.
Tad Callin

**Tad Callin** is an Associate Editor at Pseudopod and the Wikia Wrangler for Escape Artists, Inc. He has had many adventures over the years, serving as a linguist in the U.S. Air Force, failing at truck driving, and succeeding at raising his family. He published most of those stories in his 2016 memoir/novel, Tad's Happy Funtime. He graduated from Towson University with his Bachelor of Science in Music in spring 2020, and now his current projects include finishing his family history.

## Work on Escape Artists

Escape Pod

* EP802 Sentient Being Blues, by Christopher Mark Rose

Pseudopod

Host

* PP554 A Doll Full of Nails, by Ville Meriläinen, read by Riku Kanninen

Narration

* PP562 A Howling Dog, by Nick Mamatas; read with a full cast
* PP589 Flash on the Borderlands XLII - Misanthropes: *Edgar,* by Sam Gorenstein

## Work Elsewhere

Writing

* Dunesteef Audio Fiction Magazine, Episode 6: Silver

Narration

* StarShipSofa, Episode 515: How I Killed Your Mother, by Evan Dicken

Music

* Soundcloud
Wendy Bradley

**Wendy Bradley** was the TV critic for Interzone magazine for a time. She edited and published Farthing magazine, described by Ursula le Guin as “cooler than Asimov’s.” She went to the Clarion West writers’ workshop in 2003. She has been a hotel receptionist, bookseller, drama teacher, secretary and Civil Servant. Wendy lives in Yorkshire and works in London. She can be found on Twitter as @wendybradley where apparently she is “influential about football, business and drugs”. And she’s not sure what drugs they mean!

## Work on Escape Artists

Cast of Wonders

* CW010 Mrs. Jai, read by Graeme Dunlop, Marguerite Kenner and Dani Daly
Naomi Novik

**Naomi Novik** is the author of the *Temeraire* fantasy/alternate history series of nine novels. Her first book, *His Majesty's Dragon*, won the 2007 Compton Crook Award for best first novel in the science fiction and fantasy category. She was nominated for a Hugo Award for Best Novel in 2007, and won the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 2016 for *Uprooted*.

## Work on Escape Artists

PodCastle

* PC329 Araminta, Or, The Wreck Of The Amphidrake, read by C.S.E. Cooney
Saladin Ahmed

**Saladin Ahmed** is the author of the Hugo-and-Nebula nominated, Locus Award-winning novel *Throne of the Crescent Moon.*

## Work on Escape Artists

Author:

Escape Pod

* EP311 The Faithful Soldier, Prompted, read by Rajan Khanna

PodCastle

* PC102 Hooves and the Hovel of Abdel Jameela, read by Rajan Khanna
* PC150 Mister Hadj’s Sunset Ride, read by Cheyenne Wright
* PC159 Judgment of Swords and Souls, read by Stephanie Morris
* PC246 Where Virtue Lives, read by Rajan Khanna
* PCMini075 Doctor Diablo Goes Through The Motions, read by Roberto Suarez
* PC220 IronEyes and the Watered Down World, read by Cheyenne Wright
* PC324 Without Faith, Without Law, Without Joy, read by Steve Anderson
* PC476 Clay and Smokeless Fire, read by Khaalidah Muhammad-Ali
* PC516a Best of PodCastle #5: Without Faith, Without Law, Without Joy, read by Steve Anderson

Narrator:

Pseudopod

* PP383 Blood Women, by Usman T. Malik
Spencer Ellsworth

**Spencer Ellsworth** lives in Bellingham, WA, with his wife and three children. He works as a teacher and administrator at Northwest Indian College, and his work has appeared in Fantasy & Science Fiction, Michael Moorcock’s New Worlds, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, and many other places. He has been trying to get a story past PodCastle ever since Rachel Swirsky’s tenure as editor, and victory is sweet. You can read his blog, listen to his band and find links to his stories at his website.

## Work on Escape Artists

PodCastle

* PC375 The Child Support Of Cromdor The Condemned, read by Graeme Dunlop
* PC390 Flash Fiction Extravaganza: Bears: "About the Bear," read by Cheyenne Wright
* PC457 Giant: Blade and Branch and Stone, read by Graeme Dunlop, Wilson Fowlie, Kay Steele
Stephen J. Carrington

**Stephen J. Carrington** is a performer; a narrator; a dreamer. He leads an escapist's life, earning a suspect coin by assuming others' identities (until the director calls cut, that is). Through narration and voice-over, Stephen has brought characters to life in video-games and animated web-series. He believes in storytelling... and short stories... and podcasts.

## Work on Escape Artists

Cast of Wonders

* CW264 Little Wonders 14 - Lyrical Beauty: *The Sherd*, by Ryan Schapals
Thoraiya Dyer

**Thoraiya Dyer** is an Aurealis and Ditmar Award-winning, Sydney-based science fiction and fantasy writer. Her short story collection, ‘Asymmetry’, and time-travel pirate novella ‘The Company Articles of Edward Teach’ are available from Twelfth Planet Press, while the first book in her ‘Titan’s Forest’ fantasy trilogy is forthcoming from Tor. Thoraiya is an archer and a lapsed veterinarian.

Her story The Chimney-Borer and the Tanner was read by Pamila Payne for PodCastle episode 369.
J. Chant

**Jayne Chant** resides in a tiny town in Cambridgeshire with her husband, daughter and malevolent cat. Her first experience of the unmatchable thrill of a good ghost story was as a small child listening to her mother read Victorian ghost stories by candlelight.

## Work on Escape Artists

Pseudopod

* PP311 Flash on the Borderlands XIV: Resistance!, *The Conchie,* read by Kim Lakin-Smith
Toasted Cake

**Toasted Cake** is an idiosyncratic flash fiction podcast from Tina Connolly. It ran from January 2012 to May 2015, and then stopped. At least for a while. As of School Year 2017, it has returned for a limited run!

The first story featured was "Pageant Girls" by Caroline M. Yoachim; the last, Episode 150, was Yoachim's "A Million Oysters for Chiyoko." In between, the authors with the most episodes were:

* Caroline M. Yoachim - 9
* Cat Rambo - 5
* Alex Shvartsman - 5
* Deborah Walker - 5
* Anatoly Belilovsky - 4
* Samantha Henderson - 4
* Sylvia Spruck Wrigley - 4
* Nathaniel Lee - 3
* Ken Liu - 3
* David Steffen - 3

The cake icon was adapted from The Noun Project at Iconspedia, and the fiddle intro/outro music was played by Tina's talented sister, Amy Connolly.

## Stories

(Unless otherwise noted, narration is by Tina Connolly.)
Tamsyn Muir

**Tamsyn Muir** is a horror, fantasy and sci-fi author whose works have appeared in Nightmare Magazine, F&SF, Fantasy Magazine, Weird Tales and Clarkesworld. She is a graduate of Clarion 2010, and was a 2012 Shirley Jackson Award nominee this story. She is a 2015 Nebula Award nominee and 2015 Eugie Foster Memorial Award for Short Fiction for her novelette “The Deepwater Bride”. She is from Howick, New Zealand.

## Work on Escape Artists

Pseudopod

* PP515 The Magician's Apprentice, read by Louise Ratcliffe
* PP593 The Woman in the Hill, read by A. J. Fitzwater
Summer Brooks

**Summer Brooks** designs and maintains websites for clients and for fun in addition to the Slice of SciFi websites, does voiceover & narrations for StarShipSofa, Tales to Terrify, Far Fetched Fables, and Crime City Central, among others. She is a bit of a television addict, and enjoys putting her scifi media geek skills to good use in interviewing guests for Slice of SciFi as a co-host from 2005-2009. She was previously the co-host for The Babylon Podcast and host of Kick-Ass Mystic Ninjas, before returning to Slice of SciFi as host in August 2014.

She is an avid reader and writer of scifi, fantasy and thrillers, with a handful of publishing and voiceover credits to her name. Next on her agenda is writing an urban fantasy tale, and a B-movie monster extravaganza.

## Work on Escape Artists

Escape Pod

* EP531 Bend Back the Shadows, by Michael Reid
* EP588 Rocket Surgery, by Effie Seiberg
* EP605 Straight Lines, by Naru Sundar
* EP621 Artemis Rising: Assistance, by Kathryn DeFazio

Cast of Wonders

* CW001 A Suitable Pet, by Abigail Hilton
Shawna Borman

**Shawna Borman** graduated magna cum laude from Southern Methodist University in 2012 with a B.A. in English specializing in Creative Writing. During her time at SMU, she won second place in the school's annual fiction contest, as well as the Margaret Terry Crooks Award for Most Outstanding Creative Writing Student. She earned an M.F.A. in Creative Writing, specializing in popular fiction, from the University of Southern Maine’s Stonecoast program in January 2015. Though she dabbles in all genres, her true love is horror. Whether dealing with your average socially awkward serial killer or an angel/demon/mortal hybrid entering the terrible teens, Shawna is most at ease visiting with the voices in her head. She resides in Texas with her father. Shawna's work can be found in the Stonecoast Review.
Stefani Cox

**Stefani Cox** is a speculative fiction writer based in Los Angeles, and an MFA student at Stonecoast. Her work has appeared on the LeVar Burton Reads podcast, as well as in *FIYAH*, *Speculative City*, and the *Glass and Gardens: Solarpunk Summers* anthology.

Stefani has previously edited with the fabulous PodCastle team, and is also an alumna of the VONA/Voices workshops. She has another short story coming out in the anthology Black from the Future: A Collection of Black Speculative Writing and is currently in progress on her first novel.

If you like her stuff, feel free to send some support her way through Ko-fi.

## Work on Escape Artists

### Writing

#### PodCastle

* PC553: Grounded Women Never Fly, read by Khaalidah Muhammad-Ali

### Narrating

#### PodCastle

* PC537 To the Moon by Ken Liu (read by a full cast)
Spencer DiSparti

**Spencer Disparti** is a poet from Phoenix, Arizona. He loves narrating and writing music. You can find all his music on Soundcloud under the name Descendants of Nyx.

## Work on Escape Artists

### Pseudopod

* PP473 Sack Race To The River, by Chris Kuriata
* PP484 Flash on the Borderlands  XXXI: WEIRD SCIENCE HORROR!: *And Not Quite Human*, by Joe L. Hensley
* PP513 Flash on the Borderlands XXXIV: Interstices - *Zipper*, by Murf Freedmont
* PP549 Flash on the Borderlands XXXVIII: Letting Go: *A Thing In All My Things*, by Samuel Marzioli
* PP601 Flash on the Borderlands XLIII: The Grinding of Gears - *At the Bureau,* by Steve Rasnic Tem
* PP620 Farewell Concert at the World’s End, by R. K. Duncan
Theodore Sturgeon

**Theodore Sturgeon**; born **Edward Hamilton Waldo**; February 26, 1918 – May 8, 1985) was an American science fiction and horror writer and critic. The Internet Speculative Fiction Database credits him with about 400 reviews and more than 200 stories. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame inducted Sturgeon in 2000, its fifth class of two deceased and two living writers.

He is the source of Sturgeon's Law, of which the Oxford English Dictionary version is "ninety percent of everything is crap." The long version is, "I repeat Sturgeon's Revelation, which was wrung out of me after twenty years of wearying defense of science fiction against attacks of people who used the worst examples of the field for ammunition, and whose conclusion was that ninety percent of SF is crud. Using the same standards that categorize 90% of science fiction as trash, crud, or crap, it can be argued that 90% of film, literature, consumer goods, etc. is crap. In other words, the claim (or fact) that 90% of science fiction is crap is ultimately uninformative, because science fiction conforms to the same trends of quality as all other artforms."

## Work on Escape Artists

Escape Pod

* EP500 The Man Who Lost the Sea, read by Anson Mount (re-released as Flashback Friday episode EP665)
Silvia Moreno-Garcia

**Silvia Moreno-Garcia** is a writer and the publisher of Innsmouth Free Press, a Canadian micro-publishing venture specializing in horror and dark speculative fiction. She is the guest editor for Nightmare's People of Colo(u)r Destroy Horror!

Mexican by birth, Canadian by inclination. Silvia’s debut novel, *Signal to Noise*, about music, magic and Mexico City, was released in 2015 by Solaris.

Silvia’s first collection, *This Strange Way of Dying*, was released in 2013 and was a finalist for The Sunburst Award for Excellence in Canadian Literature of the Fantastic. Her stories have also been collected in *Love & Other Poisons*. She was a finalist for the Manchester Fiction Prize and a winner of the Vanderbilt/Exile Short Fiction Competition.She has edited several anthologies, including *She Walks in Shadows*, *Sword & Mythos*, *Fungi*. *Dead North* and *Fractured*.

To contact Silvia e-mail her at silvia AT silviamoreno-garcia DOT com.

Silvia is represented by Eddie Schneider at the JABberwocky Literary Agency.

Four of Silvia's stories have run on Escape Artists:

Escape Pod

EP510 Them Ships, read by Dani Cutler

Pseudopod

PP193 Bed of Scorpions, read by Christiana Ellis

PP415 Variations of Figures Upon the Wall, read by Claudia Smith

PP452 Abandon All Flesh, read by Pamila Payne
Ursula Vernon

**Ursula Vernon** is the author of many children’s books, the Hugo Award-winning comic *Digger*, and the Nebula Award winning story “Jackalope Wives”. She writes books for adults under the name T. Kingfisher, including *The Seventh Bride*, *The Raven & The Reindeer* and the latest, a web-serial entitled *Summer in Orcus*.

## Work on Escape Artists

### Cast of Wonders

* CW298 Pocosin, read by Eden Royce (also as CW298, a 2018 Staff Pick)
Wendi Dunlap

**Wendi Dunlap** has been writing speculative fiction since she was seven-years-old. Drawn to the genre by the Arthurian legends and the epic traditions of Europe, she eventually found a home in the works of Octavia Butler and Tananarive Due. She credits the novels *Wildseed* and *My Soul to Keep* for opening her eyes to the potential of combining African mythology, history and culture into the fantastic sagas she enjoyed as a child.

Her writing career has spanned across film, journalism, poetry and cultural critique. She has worked as a freelance journalist for The Amsterdam News and wrote op-eds on race and diversity for The Bergen County Record. She has won national awards for playwriting and was a regular in the NY / NJ spoken word circuit. Her literary reviews and cultural critiques have appeared in independent press publications like African Voices and New Jersey Perspectus magazine.

Wendi holds a BA in Film and Africana Studies from Cornell University. She currently resides in the Seattle, WA area with her teenage son. By day, she works in Digital Media & Advertising for a major technology company. In the evenings, she is completing her first full-length novel, a YA horror epic.

## Work on Escape Artists

PodCastle

* PC460 Artemis Rising 3 - The Settlement, read by Kimberly Taylor
Terry Ibele

**Terry Ibele** is from Ontario, Canada where he lives off a steady diet of frolicking in the woods, being stuck in transit, and pizza. He loves writing brisk, quirky stories and is currently working on a fantasy novel.

His story, Above Decks, was read by Phil Lunt for Cast of Wonders episode 175, and Dani Daly's 2015 Staff Pick (episode 188).
W.P. Johnson

**W.P. JOHNSON** is a writer of horror and weird fiction. He lives and works in Philadelphia where he is currently writing his first novel, a dark fantasy entitled **A Song For John**, and researching his second novel, an untitled horror story about comedians. You can follow him via the moniker “americantypo” on twitter, **wordpress**, and instagram. He is also featured in **American Nightmare** by Kraken Press (“The King”) and **“Cut In Half”** is available from **Perpetual Motion Machine Publishing**.
Troy L. Wiggins

**Troy L. Wiggins** was raised on a steady diet of comic books, fantasy fiction, and role-playing games.

His short fiction has appeared or is forthcoming in *Griots: Sisters of the Spear*, *Long Hidden: Speculative Fiction From the Margins of History*, *The Mash-Up Americans*, *Literary Orphans*, and *Memphis Noir*. He is a contributor at Book Riot and Panels, and he blogs about the intersection of speculative fiction, race, and nerd culture at Afrofantasy.

Troy lives in Memphis, Tennessee with his wife and their two dogs.

## Work on Escape Artists

### Writing

#### PodCastle

* PC455 A Score of Roses, read by Kimberly Taylor
* PC559 Dying Lessons, read by Dominick Rabrun

### Narrating

#### PodCastle

* PC394 Ogres Of East Africa, by Sofia Samatar, read by **Troy L. Wiggins** and Khaalidah Muhammad-Ali
Seras Nikita

**Seras Nikita** is a writer of horror fiction living in Oakland, California. She works at Tippett Studio.

Says Nikita: “I just began submitting my short stories for publication recently.  For understandable reasons, my family has never been gung-ho about my horror writing.  They like that I have a hobby, but they've always wished I worked with sunnier subject matter.  Frankly, quite understandable. Submitting stories and having stories published has been incredibly positive for my self-esteem and for connecting to a community of people who enjoy reading and listening to my 'gruesome, morbid' stories.  A community of people I didn't know existed, but have become a very accepting and supportive force in my life.  Internet FTW.

I know three extremely talented writers, and they all write very thoughtful literary fiction. Mostly essays. They know a lot about themes, & to some extent they all went to school for writing . Exchanging material with them feels like showing up to an art class where everyone else is a classically trained oil painter except me and I’ve got a ziplock baggie full of those jumbo crayons you get with the kids’ menu at Applebees. It makes me happy to have my work read on Pseudopod, because it makes me feel like there are people out there who enjoy crayon drawings just as much as they enjoy oil paintings. There aren’t as many layers, and they’re much simpler and easier to interpret. But they can be beautiful in their own way, if you press hard enough. Having stories published helped me realize that.

Thank you for listening to my story, and thank you Pseudopod, Dagny, and Alasdair for all the hours of entertainment over the years.

Seras Nikita on WriterFolio

## Work on Escape Artists

Pseudopod

* PP551 Alison, read by Dagny Paul

[1]
Terry L. Mirll

**Terry L. Mirll** is an award-winning author who has written three novels, a novelette, and numerous short stories as well as non-fiction articles. Most recently, his short story *Astrafugia* took first place in science fiction for Writer’s Digest magazine’s Ninth Annual Popular Fiction Awards. A native Texan, he currently lives in Oklahoma with his wife and three daughters.

## Work on Escape Artists

Cast of Wonders

* CW139 Little Wonders VI: A Little Laughter - *Some Assembly Required*, read by Dave Robison
Lia Swope Mitchell

**Lia Ardith Swope Mitchell** is a writer of literary fiction. Sometimes speculative, sometimes not. Real world with a twist, let’s say. She has lived in Minneapolis all her life, except for a couple years in Wisconsin and France.

Lia is also a PhD candidate in French literature at the University of Minnesota. Her dissertation is currently titled *Scientific Marvelous: Technologized Experience and Speculative Fiction in the Third Republic*. Someday, she swears, she will finish it.

## Work on Escape Artists

Escape Pod

* EP527 Plural , read by Amanda Ching

Pseudopod

* PP501 Flash on the Borderlands XXXII: Punishments: *Rat King*, read by Rish Outfield
Sandra McDonald

**Sandra McDonald** is a writer, speaker, and instructor, as well as a former commissioned officer in the U.S. Navy. She won the Lambda Literary Award for *Diana Comet and Other Improbable Stories,* as well as the Booklist Editor’s Choice, ALA Over the Rainbow book, and Rainbow Award. She also won the Silver Moonbeam Award for *Mystery of the Tempest*.

## Work on Escape Artists

Escape Pod

* EP504 End of the World Community College, read by Joel Kenyon

PodCastle

* PC074 The Firemen’s Fairy, read by David O. Engelstad
Violet Glaze

Ms. Glaze’s work has appeared in numerous online and print venues in the US (including **Bizarro**, **Baltimore Magazine**, **City Paper**, **Popmatters.com** and **Urbanite**) and the UK (**THE LITTLE BLACK BOOK: MOVIES**). Violet is also the author of paranormal erotic novel **HOTEL BUTTERFLY** (2009) and and the short story collection **I AM GENGHIS CUM** (2010) (where this story first appeared), and her short fiction appears in the anthology **WEREWOLVES AND SHAPESHIFTERS: ENCOUNTERS WITH THE BEATS WITHIN** (2010).
Sarah Gailey

**Sarah Gailey**, Hugo award winner and Campbell and Nebula finalist, lives and works in Los Angeles, California. Their nonfiction has been published by Mashable and the Boston Globe, and their fiction has been published internationally. They are a regular contributor for Tor.com and Barnes & Noble. You can find links to their work at www.sarahgailey.com.

## Work on Escape Artists

Cast of Wonders

* CW253 Single Parent, read by Rish Outfield
Suyi Davies Okungbowa

**Suyi Davies Okungbowa** tells stories from Lagos, Nigeria. His speculative fiction has been published or is forthcoming in Fireside, Podcastle, The Dark, Mothership Zeta, Omenana; and the anthologies Lights Out: Resurrection and A World of Horror; amidst other places. His nonfiction has appeared in Lightspeed and Klorofyl. He is a charter member of the African Speculative Fiction Society. Suyi also works in brand marketing and visual design. He lives online on Facebook, and chatters at his monthly jabberwock, After Five Writing Shenanigans.

## Work on Escape Artists

Writing

PodCastle

* PC496 When You Find Such A Thing, read by Solomon Osadolo

Mothership Zeta

* “Places” by Suyi Davies Okungbowa

Narration

Escape Pod

* EP517 Budo by Tade Thompson
Sarah Benkin

They say that **SARAH BENKIN** lost her right hand gambling with the devil. They say she won it back, but it wasn’t her hand anymore. They say that, but you shouldn’t believe them. Sarah Benkin makes words and pictures, not always at the same time. Her most recent project Then It Was Dark is a comic anthology (comic as in words and pictures and panels and speech bubbles, not comic as in funny, though there is a little humor to be found there) of personal paranormal experiences, true ghost stories, friend of a friend tales and brushes with the unknown. She is the editor and has a story of her own. She’s also recently started a webcomic of freeform short horror fiction that can be found at **Ragpicker**. Her main website, **Peppermint Monster**, has links to all her other work, most of which is not for children.
Margaret Ronald

**Margaret Ronald** wrote her first fantasy novel in 8th grade. That this novel no longer exists is evidence toward the existence of a merciful God.She attended the Indiana Academy for Science, Mathematics, and Humanities, graduated without knowing her left from her right, and went on to receive a B.A. in English from Williams College, where she and her clone pioneered the plastic section of the marching band.In 2004, she attended the Viable Paradise writers’ workshop on Martha’s Vineyard. She is a member of BRAWL, a Boston science fiction and fantasy writers’ group. She currently lives outside Boston.

Any allegations regarding ham milkshakes or organ enlargement are completely without merit. Really.

## Work on Escape Artists

PodCastle

* PC004 Goosegirl, read by Mary Robinette Kowal
Sam Gorenstein

**Sam Gorenstein** is a writer, journalist, and comic from the Albany, New York area. He’s a member of the improvisational theater company MopCo, and a regular at the Lark Tavern Comedy Open Mic, Mondays at 8 PM in Albany.

## Work on Escape Artists

Pseudopod

* PP589 Flash on the Borderlands XLII - Misanthropes: *Edgar,* read by Tad Callin
Samantha Henderson

**Samantha Henderson** lives in Southern California by way of England, South Africa, Illinois, and Oregon.  Her short fiction and poetry have been published in *Realms of Fantasy*, *Strange Horizons*, *Goblin Fruit* and *Weird Tales*, and reprinted in *The Year’s Best Fantasy and Science Fiction*, *Steampunk Revolutions* and the *Mammoth Book of Steampunk*, as well as being podcast in PodCastle, Escape Pod, and The Drabblecast.

She’s the author of the Forgotten Realms novels *Heaven’s Bones* and *Dawnbringer*, and is currently working on a novel based on her short story “Cinderella Suicide.”

## Work on Escape Artists

PodCastle

* PC363 L'Etoile Flamboyante, read by C.S.E. Cooney

Escape Pod

* EP373 Chandra's Game, read by Mur Lafferty
* EP203 The Legend of St. Ignatz, read by Ray Sizemore
* EP097 Cinderella Suicide, read by MarBelle

* EP616 My Generations Shall Please, read by Alethea Kontis
Sarah Prineas

**Sarah Prineas** is an American fantasy author who lives in Iowa and once worked for the honors program at the University of Iowa. She is married to John Prineas, a Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy and the Optical Science and Technology Center at the University of Iowa. They have two children. Prineas is originally from Lyme, Connecticut. She went to college in Minnesota. She has lived in Germany.

Her first novel *The Magic Thief* was published in 2008 by HarperCollins in the United States. As of June 2008, foreign rights had been sold to thirteen other countries. The sequel, *The Magic Thief: Lost* came out in 2009 and a third book, *The Magic Thief: Found* came out in 2010. Before she turned to novels, Prineas wrote fantasy short stories for adult markets. In 2008, she donated her archive to the department of Rare Books and Special Collections at Northern Illinois University.

## Work on Escape Artists

Escape Pod

* EP016 Seamstress, read by Deborah Green

PodCastle

* PC018 Illuminated Dragon, read by Steve Anderson
* PC041 Dragon Hunt, read by Wilson Fowlie
Stewart Horn

**STEWART HORN** is a professional musician and amateur writer and poet based on the West Coast of Scotland. His work has appeared in the **Horrorzine** website and two Horrorzine anthologies, Screaming Dreams Press’s magazine **Estronomicon**, **Crowded** Magazine, **the Lovecraft Ezine** and the **British Fantasy Society Journal**, as well as a few small local things. He blogs occasionally at Stewartguitar, writes reviews for the **BFS** and is a member of the **Glasgow Science Fiction Writers’ Circle**.
Sir Richard Burton

**Sir Richard Francis Burton** KCMG FRGS (19 March 1821 – 20 October 1890) was an English explorer, geographer, translator, writer, soldier, orientalist, cartographer, ethnologist, spy, linguist, poet, fencer, and diplomat. He was famed for his travels and explorations in Asia, Africa and the Americas, as well as his extraordinary knowledge of languages and cultures. According to one count, he spoke 29 European, Asian and African languages.

Burton's best-known achievements include a well-documented journey to Mecca, in disguise at a time when Europeans were forbidden access on pain of death; an unexpurgated translation of *One Thousand and One Nights* (commonly called *The Arabian Nights* in English after early translations of Antoine Galland's French version); the publication of the *Kama Sutra* in English; and a journey with John Hanning Speke as the first Europeans to visit the Great Lakes of Africa in search of the source of the Nile.

## Work on Escape Artists

PodCastle

* PC196 The Second Voyage of Sindbad the Seaman, read by Wilson Fowlie
* PC216 Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, Part 1, read by Steve Anderson
* PC217 Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, Part 2, read by Steve Anderson
Paul Alex Gray

**Paul Alex Gray** was born in the UK, grew up by the beaches of Australia, then traveled the world and now lives in Canada with his wife and two children. On his adventures, Paul has been a startup founder, game designer and mentor to technology entrepreneurs.

Paul enjoys writing linear and interactive fiction starring sentient black holes, wayward sea monsters, curious AIs and other oddities. His work has been published in *Nature Futures*, *McSweeney’s* and *The Arcanist*.

## Work on Escape Artists

### Pseudopod

* PP634 Flash on the Borderlands XLVI: The Accursed and the Monstrous - “End of the Line”, read by Trendane Sparks

### PodCastle

* PC527 Flash Fiction Extravaganza! In the Beginning...: “Of the Dreams Yet to Come*”,* read by Kaylin Norman-Slack
Scott Campbell

**Scott Campbell** searches for battles that will increase his skills for the battles to come.  The slush pile underneath Pseudopod Towers is a worthy opponent.  He also writes, directs, and performs for the queer (in every sense of the word) cabaret The Mickee Faust Club.  He also write far too infrequently at the official online home of the Sleep Deprivation Institute (and pop culture website) Needcoffee.com.  He lives in Florida with absolutely no pets.

He has been an associate editor and web peon since 2016.

## Work on Escape Artists

Pseudopod

* PP562 A Howling Dog, by Nick Mamatas; read by full cast
* PP572 Deconstructing Hillsdale, by D. Morgan Ballmer; read by a full cast
* PP578 Alarm Will Sound, by Christopher Shultz; read by **Scott Campbell** and Susan Gage
* PP601 Flash on the Borderlands XLIII: The Grinding of Gears - *Am I Repeating Myself?* by Linda Addison
Trisha J. Wooldridge

Under her full name, **Trisha J. Wooldridge** writes short stories, novellas, novels, news articles, and poetry about bad-ass faeries, carnivorous horses, social justice witches, Tarot cards, vengeful spirits—and mundane stuff like food, hay-eating horses, social justice debates, Goth bands, writer advice, and alcoholic spirits.

Her recent publications include stories and poems in *Gothic Fantasy Supernatural Horror*, *Dark Luminous Wings*, *Wicked Haunted*, the upcoming food and poetry collection *Darkling’s Beasts and Brews*, and she’ll be included in the *HWA Poetry Showcase Volume 5*. She’s a freelance editor of over fifty novels and two anthologies.

As child-friendly **T.J. Wooldridge**, she’s published poetry and three spooky children’s books. She spends rare moments of mystical “free time” with a very patient Husband-of-Awesome, a calico horse, and a bratty tabby cat.

Join her adventures at A Novel Friend.

## Work on Escape Artists

### Pseudopod

* PP630 Steadfast, read by Alethea Kontis, Kyle Akers and Alex Hofelich
T. Jane Berry

**T. Jane Berry** has held various jobs, including IT manager, political blogger, bakery owner, and a disastrous two weeks as a line worker in a razor blade factory. She now writes science fiction, fantasy, and horror from the outskirts of Seattle with considerably fewer on-the-job injuries. She is a 2016 graduate of the Clarion West writing workshop. Her fiction has appeared in Clowns: The Unlikely Coulrophobia Remix.

## Work on Escape Artists

Pseudopod

* PP559 Granite Requires, read by Laura Hobbs

PodCastle

* PCMini90 How to Survive in Room 105, read by Jen R. Albert
Scott Sigler

**Scott Sigler** is the New York Times best-selling author of fifteen novels, six novellas and dozens of short stories. His works are available from Crown Publishing and Del Rey Books.

In 2005, Scott built a large online following by releasing his audiobooks as serialized podcasts. A decade later, he still gives his stories away — for free — every Sunday at scottsigler.com. His loyal fans, who named themselves “Junkies,” have downloaded over thirty-five million individual episodes.

He has been covered in Time Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, Publisher’s Weekly, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Chicago Tribune, io9, Wired, The Huffington Post, Business Week and Fangoria.

Scott is the co-founder of Empty Set Entertainment, which publishes his Galactic Football League YA series. He lives in San Diego, CA, with his wee little dog Reesie. They’re both diehard Detroit Lions fans.

Sigler has been a runner up in both the 2006 and 2007 Parsec Awards. In 2006 Sigler was a runner up for his short story *Hero* in the Best Fiction (Short) category and for *Infected* in the Best Fiction (Long) category. In 2007 Sigler was a runner up for *The Rookie* in the Best Speculative Fiction Story (Novel Form) category. In 2008 Sigler's *Contagious*, the sequel to *Infected* was listed at 33 on the New York Times best sellers list.

In 2008 Sigler broke through and won the Parsec Award for *Red Man* in the Best Speculative Fiction Story (Short Form) category. He followed up with another win in 2009 for *Eusocial Networking* in the Best Speculative Fiction Story (Novella Form) category. 2010 saw him continue to win in the Best Speculative Fiction Story (Short Form) category with his podcast, *The Tank*, and in 2011 he again took out the Best Speculative Fiction Story (Novella Form) category with *Kissyman & the Gentleman*.

On July 31, 2015, Scott was inducted into the inaugural class of the Academy of Podcasters Hall of Fame along with other luminaries like Mur Lafferty at a ceremony in Fort Worth, Texas.

## Work on Escape Artists

Author

Escape Pod

* EP035 Hero, read by Stephen Eley
* EP057 Chuckles Mulrooney, Attorney for the Damned, read by Preston Buttons

Pseudopod

* PP001 Bag Man, read by Ben Phillips

Narrator

Escape Pod

* EP049 Union Dues - Off White Lies, by Jeffrey R. DeRego
* EP117 Reggie vs. Kaiju Storm Chimera Wolf, by Matthew Wayne Selznick

Pseudopod

* PP013 Redmond’s Private Screening, by Kevin J. Anderson
* PP031 Last Respects, by Dave Thompson
Thomas Busby

**Thomas Busby** is an up and coming Actor from South Wales, United Kingdom. He is just starting his acting career and eventually hopes to do voice work as well. Currently he is on a podcast called The Larp Book Podcast where he and three friends discuss LARPing and generally just have a good time. In addition, he streams online games at www.twitch.tv/redundantuk.

## Work on Escape Artists

PodCastle

* PC418 James and Peter, Fishing, by Anaea Lay
* PC456 Mateus Goes Higher, by Natalia Theodoridou
Tania Fordwalker

**Tania Fordwalker** is artist and writer hailing from Tasmania, the gothic little island beneath Australia. A former Disney animator, she now works as a freelance illustrator (portfolio at www.taniawalker.com) and studies Creative Writing Honours at the University of Tasmania. She lives to tell stories, swinging between pencil and keyboard to make it happen.

Prior publications include the short story “Lapis Lazuli” in Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine (writing as T L Fordwalker); contributing art to Anything That Loves and the Goblin Quest RPG rulebook; and cover art for fantasy anthology Defying Doomsday and The Mocklore Chronicles series by Tansy Rayner Roberts. Look for Tania’s tabletop card game Dracula’s Feast on Kickstarter in late 2016.

## Work on Escape Artists

PodCastle

* PCMini89 Lapis Lazuli, read by Khaalidah Muhammad-Ali
Trendane Sparks

**Trendane Sparks** was originally born in Texas, but eventually escaped and wound his way through a mystical series of jobs in the San Francisco Bay Area where he has worked as a software QA Tester for both graphics drivers and video games, a freelance mascot performer, and several jobs on a PBS kids’ show.

For most of his life, people have told him that his voice is a pleasure to listen to. But since being a werewolf phone sex operator can get boring, he decided to use his powers to entertain a broader audience.

## Work on Escape Artists

### Escape Pod

* EP529 Of Blessed Servitude, by A. Merc Rustad
* EP533 Winners of the 2016 Escape Pod Flash Fiction Contest: “Bona Fide”, by Ben Hallert
* EP546 Recollection, by Nancy Fulda
* EP559 Vegetablemen in Peanut Town, by August Marion
* EP571 Beetle-Cleaned Skulls, by J. E. Bates
* EP579 Texts From the Ghost War, by Alex Yuschik; read by **Trendane Sparks** and Adam Pracht
* EP593 Planetbound, by Nancy Fulda; read by Divya Breed & **Trendane Sparks**
* EP599 What Glistens Back, by Sunny Moraine
* EP619 Artemis Rising: A Study in Symmetry, or the Chance Encounter of an Android and a Painter, by Jamie Lackey; read by **Trendane Sparks** & Divya Breed
* EP624 Fandom for Robots, by Vina Jie-Min Prasad

### Pseudopod

* PP634 Flash on the Borderlands XLVI: The Accursed and the Monstrous - “End of the Line“, by Paul Alex Gray
Miranda Suri

Miranda Suri writes speculative fiction, teaches anthropology at Queens College, and goes on archaeological adventures that would make Indiana Jones green with envy. When she’s not curled up with a good book at her Brooklyn apartment, she can be found indulging one of her hobbies, which include exploring New York’s culinary scene, practicing Pilates, and traveling the world. Miranda’s fiction has appeared in publications such as **Fictionvale, Penumbra, Every Day Fiction**, and **Electric Spec**. Her story **The Firefly Girl** (Penumbra 2014) was included in**Tangent Online’s 2014 recommended reading list**.
Thomas Vicinanzo

**Thomas Vicinanzo** works in Mount Vernon, NY and writes fantasy and horror when he gets the chance. Some day his fantasy novel will be done (not the bad one, the good one), and all his true friends will read it and say it’s nice.

## Work on Escape Artists

Pseudopod

* PP513 Flash on the Borderlands XXXIV: Interstices - *The Void*, read by Laurice White