CatsCast 19 Preview: Short Tales: Memories
This month’s CatsCast has two flash stories: The Tan One by Nathan Susnik and Alligators by Monica Joyce Evans. It’s available on the Escape Artists Premium Content feed on Patreon for patrons at the Premium Content level or above; it’s also in our premium content repository for those who donate five dollars a month by any means. We’ll be back here in the free feed next month. In the meantime, here’s a sample of what’s playing over on Patreon.
The Tan One
by Nathan Susnik
Some days I pick the white pill. Other days it’s the black. For some reason or another, I prefer the brown pill on Tuesdays. Today, feels like it’s going to be one of my bad days. So, I pinch the tan pill between my thumb and index finger, flick it into my mouth and take a slug of water. It catches halfway down, but when I swallow again, it dislodges quickly enough. As it hits my stomach, I’m already more optimistic. My cat rubs against my leg.
“Oh, hello Lionel,” I say. Abyssinians have ticked fur. It looks like one color from afar, but if examined closely, it’s actually bands of light and dark shades. I bend down, leaning hard on my cane (it’s really more of a modern crutch) and stroke him. Pain shoots out of my lower back, wrapping around my hip. But I clench my jaw, ignoring it, running my hand over the cat’s back. He purrs, and perhaps today won’t be so bad after all.
Read (or listen to) both stories over on Patreon.
About the Authors
Monica Joyce Evans
Monica Joyce Evans is a digital game scholar and designer who also writes speculative fiction. Her short fiction has appeared in multiple publications including Analog, Escape Pod, Nature: Futures, and Flash Fiction Online. She lives in North Texas with her husband, two daughters, ten million books, and an increasing number of cats named after literary figures. You can find her at www.monicajoyceevans.com.
Nathan Susnik
Nathan Susnik has been a pole vaulter, a steamboat deckhand, and a biology researcher. He is currently living with his family near Hanover, Germany. His fiction and poetry have been published by Escape Pod, PodCastle, Strange Horizons, and more. Follow him on Twitter at @NathanSusnik or visit his website: www.nathansusnik.wordpress.com
About the Narrators
George Fowlie
Over his lifetime, Ontario-born George Fowlie has: worked on the railroad, sold shoes, been a teacher, been a principal, become a father, acted in plays, directed plays, lived in Australia, given speeches, received awards, become a grandfather, built websites, travelled the world, photographed dozens of weddings and … retired.
Rather to his surprise, he now finds himself living in suburban New Brunswick with his daughter’s family—and 5 cats.
Sandy Parsons
Sandy Parsons is a Pushcart Prize nominated author and the winner of the 2022 ServiceScape fiction contest. Her fiction can be found in many places, including Analog Science Fiction and Fact, Escape Pod, and Reckoning. In addition to writing fiction, Sandy narrates audio fiction. When not writing, Sandy is the servant of two tempestuous tabbies and she works as an anesthetist in Georgia. More information can be found at http://www.sandyparsons.com.
