Book Review Line

As we just mentioned in this week’s podcast, Escape Pod is launching a new voicemail number for call-in book reviews. If you’d like to be heard on our show, please call:

206-666-EPOD (3763)

and leave a one-minute review of any book. You can rave, you can rant, you can say whatever you want. You don’t have to leave your own name if you don’t want to, but of please do give the title and author of the book.

Each week we’ll pick a review and play it in the closing segment of the Escape Pod podcast. As for the rest… Depending on how many we get, we’ll surely do something with them. We’re eco-friendly here, we try to find a use for everything.

Escape Pod 04: In His Footsteps

Originally appeared in Space and Time Magazine

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 24:30 — 11.2MB)

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Show Notes

Rated PG. Contains sexual innuendo and lighthearted heresy.

In His Footsteps

By Paul E. Martens

The dinner was not what you could call an unqualified success. The best that could be said for it was that we survived. And Uncle Dennis couldn’t even say that much.

That was my fault, too, I guess. I pissed God off, and all of your major religions will tell you that that’s something you want to try and avoid. But I still think of Him as ‘Dad,” and when was the last time you just meekly did what your father told you to do? Okay, sure, your father isn’t God, but mine wasn’t always God, either.

Logo!

If you’re looking at our [main page](https://escapepod.org) right now, you can see **Escape Pod** has a new logo. If you’re looking at the RSS feed instead, click back over, it’ll be worth the couple seconds.

This terrific rendering is the work of my good friend [Doug Triggs](http://www.douglastriggs.com), geek outdoorsman and 3D artist extraordinaire. Check out his Web site for some other fine work, and help me convince him that he really ought to be selling this stuff.

And if anyone here has a driving need for a promotional image to help spread the word, hey, don’t let me stop you:

Geek Fu Action Grip

I just caught up with the last six episodes of [Geek Fu Action Grip](http://www.geekfuactiongrip.com) today. I’d heard Mur Lafferty’s essays on [The Dragon Page](http://www.dragonpage.com) for a while, but I’ve been sadly remiss in tracking back to her own (http://essentialmath.com/geekfu/wp-rss2.php).

She’s smart. She’s got a great voice. She understands the virtues of *Babylon 5*. She can rant about babies and gaming in the same sentence. She’s a SF/F writer. And she’s *sarcastic*.

I have a new geek crush.

Escape Pod 03: Three Wish Habit

Originally published in the anthology Aladdin: Master of the Lamp by Mike Resnick

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 19:30 — 8.9MB)

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Show Notes

Rated PG. Contains some profanity, vehicular violence, and poor judgment.

Three Wish Habit

By Janni Lee Simner

The man opens his hand, the one that’s been in his pocket all this time. A shiny brass bottle lies there, small in his large palm. A band of flowery, unreadable lettering is etched just beneath the narrow neck. Otherwise the surface is flawless: no dents, no scratches, no dirt.

My hands tremble; my heart pounds so loud I have trouble thinking. That’s the real thing he’s holding, no doubt about it. He might still be a cop. But I flip into park, and roll the window down.

The Serenity Spoiler Review

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 3:23 — 1.5MB)

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(Clarification: No, this isn’t a real spoiler review. It’s a joke, okay?)

**Escape Pod #3** will be up later tonight. It’ll probably be uploaded at the same time some of you will be in one of twenty theaters around the country, watching the unfinished preview screener of [Serenity](http://www.serenitymovie.com/).

(*Note:* an earlier version of this same rant appeared on the [Slice of SciFi](https://www.sliceofscifi.com) podcast earlier this month. If you’ve heard it twice… C’mon, it was funny both times, right?)

Escape Pod 02: Feng Burger

Originally published in the Spring 2001 issue of On Spec.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:00 — 13.3MB)

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Show Notes

Rated PG. Contains sexual innuendo, mild profanity, and food service employees slacking off.

Feng Burger

By John Aegard

The Chinese are particular about their designs, and for good reason. A design with good feng shui — one that satisfies the universe’s sense of metaphor — attracts chi, the energy that raises mountains and pushes rivers and draws good fortune near and keeps tax collectors far away. Whether by accident or design, no one can say, but the Burger Pods have potent feng shui. Where normal men would see nothing but gleaming stainless-steel cabinets and a charbroiling grill, a feng shui practitioner would see arms and hands, cradling the Burger Pod’s occupant and bathing her in chi.

The Seanachai

[A great podcast I just discovered this morning.](http://goodwordsrightorder.com) A seanachai was an Irish bard or storyteller, and Patrick McLean has nailed the art of packing an entertaining story into a five minute (give or take) podcast. His voice is excellent, his sound production is clean and diverse, and above all, his stories are *fun.* The one about [the man who stole a semi truck full of nickels](http://goodwordsrightorder.com/index.php?blog=2&title=episode_6_a_very_slow_getaway&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1) was all it took to get me hooked.

Schedule

Just a clarification, as I realized it wasn’t mentioned anywhere here:

**Escape Pod** is a weekly podcast. New issues will be released here on Thursdays. Exactly *when* on Thursday may be variable, although hopefully it won’t be just before midnight again.

Between Thursday releases we may put up other content on an irregular basis. It could be simple blog posts like this one, with genre news or book reviews or mentions of other interesting sites; or we may podcast short “flash” fiction pieces, or anything else that amuses us.

So it’s worthwhile to check here often. But if you can’t do that, check here late Thursday or early Friday. Even better, point your RSS newsreader or podcatcher at us and let it all happen automagically.

Any questions?

Escape Pod 01: Imperial

Originally published in Monolith 6

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 39:39 — 18.2MB)

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Show Notes

Rated R. Contains profanity, sexual content, politics, and sarcasm.

Our debut episode! May 12, 2005!

Imperial

By Jonathon Sullivan

Dennis blinked through his dripping eyelashes at the irresistible abomination seated on the blue-green grass two meters in front of him. The Pig smiled her bio-engineered leopard-smile at him and kept her right hand prominently in contact with the stun-gun at her hip.

He stared, too choked with shock, desire and tepid river water to speak.