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A crew of weary explorers finally finds the world they’ve been searching for through years of interstellar decline — lush, fertile, and seemingly abandoned, except for a handful of ragged, violent survivors hiding in the ruins of a bombed-out city. As the scholar aboard finally deciphers what’s left of the dead civilization’s language, the story lands on a gut-punch final line that’s stuck with readers for decades. William J. Brittain remains one of classic science fiction’s great mysteries — he published only three short stories in the 1940s, with “The Burnt Planet” appearing in the Winter 1948 issue of Planet Stories as his final known work, and virtually nothing else is known about him. If you have a story you’d like to contribute to the series, you can visit https://submissions.soundconceptmedia.com/ You can support the show by becoming a paid subscriber on Substack: https://auditoryanthology.substack.com By becoming a paid subscriber you can listen to every episode completely ad-free! Curator: Keith Conrad linktr.ee/keithrconrad Narrator: Darren Marlar https://darrenmarlar.com/ Other shows hosted by Darren: Weird Darkness: https://weirddarkness.com/ Paranormality Magazine: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/paranormalitymag Micro Terrors: Scary Stories for Kids: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/microterrors Retro Radio – Old Time Radio In The Dark: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/retroradio Church of the Undead: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/churchoftheundead Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After accidentally running over a groundhog on a sunny drive home, Jerry Humphreys assumes the whole thing is forgotten — until a tiny, fedora-wearing detective shows up at his office with questions, and Jerry finds himself hauled before a groundhog court to answer for his “crime.” Lyle Talbot delivers a wonderfully absurd dark comedy that takes a small domestic mishap somewhere nobody could see coming. We love bringing you stories from listeners just like Lyle — if you’ve got a tale of your own itching to be told (sci-fi, horror, supernatural, or anything in between), we’d love to hear it. If you have a story you’d like to contribute to the series, you can visit https://submissions.soundconceptmedia.com/ You can support the show by becoming a paid subscriber on Substack: https://auditoryanthology.substack.com By becoming a paid subscriber you can listen to every episode completely ad-free! Curator: Keith Conrad linktr.ee/keithrconrad Narrator: Darren Marlar https://darrenmarlar.com/ Other shows hosted by Darren: Weird Darkness: https://weirddarkness.com/ Paranormality Magazine: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/paranormalitymag Micro Terrors: Scary Stories for Kids: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/microterrors Retro Radio – Old Time Radio In The Dark: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/retroradio Church of the Undead: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/churchoftheundead Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On the maiden voyage of the MV Atlas, the world’s largest cruise ship, a ghost operative team attempts a silent extraction of a high-value defector carrying an impossible secret: an ancient, non-human artifact. Hidden amongst twenty-two thousand passengers and stalked by an elite foreign intelligence network, the team must execute a precise, high-stakes tradecraft operation in international waters. One wrong move could blow their cover and trigger a confrontation that could break the global order. Our companion short story, “Signal Loss,” sends journalist Hannah Bennett to a tiny West Virginia town where a strange radio interference has been disrupting life for weeks. She soon finds herself with a story she can’t prove and an experience she can’t explain. It’s a quiet, unsettling look at how far a reporter will follow the truth when the evidence won’t follow her. If you have a story you’d like to contribute to the series, you can visit https://submissions.soundconceptmedia.com/ You can support the show by becoming a paid subscriber on Substack: https://auditoryanthology.substack.com By becoming a paid subscriber you can listen to every episode completely ad-free! Curator: Keith Conrad linktr.ee/keithrconrad Narrator: Darren Marlar https://darrenmarlar.com/ Other shows hosted by Darren: Weird Darkness: https://weirddarkness.com/ Paranormality Magazine: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/paranormalitymag Micro Terrors: Scary Stories for Kids: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/microterrors Retro Radio – Old Time Radio In The Dark: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/retroradio Church of the Undead: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/churchoftheundead Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A lone alien scientist slips down to Earth on a scouting mission, hoping to prove that this planet is the answer to his dying race’s prayers. Everything goes smoothly until his first steps out among the locals, when things start going very wrong in ways he can’t begin to understand. It’s a sharp little twist on the classic alien-invasion tale, best enjoyed without knowing where it lands. Alfred Coppel (1921–2004) was a fighter pilot in the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II before becoming one of the most prolific pulp writers of the 1950s and 60s, working across science fiction, action thrillers, and suspense. He also wrote young adult space operas as Robert Cham Gilman, and “The Invader” first appeared in Imagination Stories of Science and Fantasy in February 1953. If you have a story you’d like to contribute to the series, you can visit https://submissions.soundconceptmedia.com/ You can support the show by becoming a paid subscriber on Substack: https://auditoryanthology.substack.com By becoming a paid subscriber you can listen to every episode completely ad-free! Curator: Keith Conrad linktr.ee/keithrconrad Narrator: Darren Marlar https://darrenmarlar.com/ Other shows hosted by Darren: Weird Darkness: https://weirddarkness.com/ Paranormality Magazine: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/paranormalitymag Micro Terrors: Scary Stories for Kids: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/microterrors Retro Radio – Old Time Radio In The Dark: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/retroradio Church of the Undead: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/churchoftheundead Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A casual date at a neon-lit arcade takes a turn when Olivia wants to try a fortune-telling android, and her skeptical boyfriend Danny can’t resist explaining exactly why it’s a scam. Aurea Fenn delivers a witty, bittersweet short about cynicism, missed connection, and what happens when a machine says the thing neither person is ready to admit. We love bringing you stories from listeners just like Aurea — if you’ve got a tale of your own itching to be told (sci-fi, horror, supernatural, or anything in between), we’d love to hear it If you have a story you’d like to contribute to the series, you can visit https://submissions.soundconceptmedia.com/ You can support the show by becoming a paid subscriber on Substack: https://auditoryanthology.substack.com By becoming a paid subscriber you can listen to every episode completely ad-free! Curator: Keith Conrad linktr.ee/keithrconrad Narrator: Darren Marlar https://darrenmarlar.com/ Other shows hosted by Darren: Weird Darkness: https://weirddarkness.com/ Paranormality Magazine: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/paranormalitymag Micro Terrors: Scary Stories for Kids: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/microterrors Retro Radio – Old Time Radio In The Dark: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/retroradio Church of the Undead: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/churchoftheundead Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On the maiden voyage of the MV Atlas, the world’s largest cruise ship, a ghost operative team attempts a silent extraction of a high-value defector carrying an impossible secret: an ancient, non-human artifact. Hidden amongst twenty-two thousand passengers and stalked by an elite foreign intelligence network, the team must execute a precise, high-stakes tradecraft operation in international waters — one wrong move could blow their cover and trigger a confrontation that could break the global order. Our companion short story, “The Winner,” follows an ordinary man named Dennis who improbably wins a full-ownership condo aboard Atlas through a contest — only to find small, impossible details waiting for him in his new home that make the win feel a lot less like luck. It’s a quieter, stranger corner of this world, and it raises questions about Atlas itself that the main story hasn’t answered yet. If you have a story you’d like to contribute to the series, you can visit https://submissions.soundconceptmedia.com/ You can support the show by becoming a paid subscriber on Substack: https://auditoryanthology.substack.com By becoming a paid subscriber you can listen to every episode completely ad-free! Curator: Keith Conrad linktr.ee/keithrconrad Narrator: Darren Marlar https://darrenmarlar.com/ Other shows hosted by Darren: Weird Darkness: https://weirddarkness.com/ Paranormality Magazine: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/paranormalitymag Micro Terrors: Scary Stories for Kids: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/microterrors Retro Radio – Old Time Radio In The Dark: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/retroradio Church of the Undead: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/churchoftheundead Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When a Los Angeles housewife’s cat accidentally freezes solid in her deep-freeze and thaws out completely unharmed, it sparks a bizarre new industry: quick-freezing human beings, for a fee, until they’re ready to be defrosted. From fleeing criminals to lovesick husbands, Ann Griffith spins a wickedly satirical history of the business that grows up around it — and the law that finally shuts it all down. Ann Warren Griffith (1918–1983) was an American writer best known for her humorous essays in The New Yorker and The Atlantic, and for her collection Who Is Hiding in My Hide-a-Bed? She served as a pilot with the Women Airforce Service Pilots during World War II, and “Zeritsky’s Law,” first published in Galaxy Science Fiction in November 1951, remains one of her few forays into science fiction. If you have a story you’d like to contribute to the series, you can visit https://submissions.soundconceptmedia.com/ You can support the show by becoming a paid subscriber on Substack: https://auditoryanthology.substack.com By becoming a paid subscriber you can listen to every episode completely ad-free! Curator: Keith Conrad linktr.ee/keithrconrad Narrator: Darren Marlar https://darrenmarlar.com/ Other shows hosted by Darren: Weird Darkness: https://weirddarkness.com/ Paranormality Magazine: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/paranormalitymag Micro Terrors: Scary Stories for Kids: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/microterrors Retro Radio – Old Time Radio In The Dark: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/retroradio Church of the Undead: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/churchoftheundead Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Inspector Ivan Yegorov spends his days at a border checkpoint stamping papers APPROVED or DENIED with quiet, methodical pride — a devoted bureaucrat serving his nation. But as the day unfolds, Samantha E. Pierce peels back the horrifying human cost hiding underneath his routine, in a chilling story about complicity, dehumanization, and the banality of evil. We love bringing you stories from writers just like Samantha — if you’ve got a tale of your own itching to be told (sci-fi, horror, supernatural, or anything in between), we’d love to hear it. If you have a story you’d like to contribute to the series, you can visit https://submissions.soundconceptmedia.com/ You can support the show by becoming a paid subscriber on Substack: https://auditoryanthology.substack.com By becoming a paid subscriber you can listen to every episode completely ad-free! Curator: Keith Conrad linktr.ee/keithrconrad Narrator: Darren Marlar https://darrenmarlar.com/ Other shows hosted by Darren: Weird Darkness: https://weirddarkness.com/ Paranormality Magazine: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/paranormalitymag Micro Terrors: Scary Stories for Kids: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/microterrors Retro Radio – Old Time Radio In The Dark: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/retroradio Church of the Undead: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/churchoftheundead Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On the maiden voyage of the MV Atlas, the world’s largest cruise ship, a ghost operative team attempts a silent extraction of a high-value defector carrying an impossible secret: an ancient, non-human artifact. Hidden amongst twenty-two thousand passengers and stalked by an elite foreign intelligence network, the team must execute a precise, high-stakes tradecraft operation in international waters — one wrong move could blow their cover and trigger a confrontation that could break the global order. Our companion short story, “Breaker’s Yard,” follows Marcus Webb — soon to join Mercer’s team — during a routine compliance job aboard a decommissioned Navy ship being torn apart for scrap. What he encounters alone in her stripped, powerless corridors is impossible to explain, and impossible to shake. It’s another quiet thread of the unexplained, and our first real look at the man who’s about to become part of something much bigger. If you have a story you’d like to contribute to the series, you can visit https://submissions.soundconceptmedia.com/ You can support the show by becoming a paid subscriber on Substack: https://auditoryanthology.substack.com By becoming a paid subscriber you can listen to every episode completely ad-free! Curator: Keith Conrad linktr.ee/keithrconrad Narrator: Darren Marlar https://darrenmarlar.com/ Other shows hosted by Darren: Weird Darkness: https://weirddarkness.com/ Paranormality Magazine: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/paranormalitymag Micro Terrors: Scary Stories for Kids: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/microterrors Retro Radio – Old Time Radio In The Dark: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/retroradio Church of the Undead: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/churchoftheundead Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

An alien named Keeter makes an unplanned emergency landing near the Jefferson Memorial and treats the entire assembled US government with breezy, condescending indifference — right up until he needs a favor. What follows is a wry first-contact comedy where Earth’s eager officials keep giving away more than they realize, chasing the promise of a “test” for interstellar federation membership that may not be quite what it seems. Murray F. Yaco was born in Queens, New York in 1927, served in the Army in Japan during World War II, and later worked as a war correspondent in Vietnam and Kuwait. He wrote only a handful of science fiction stories in the mid-20th century, with “Membership Drive” appearing in Amazing Stories in July 1960. If you have a story you’d like to contribute to the series, you can visit https://submissions.soundconceptmedia.com/ You can support the show by becoming a paid subscriber on Substack: https://auditoryanthology.substack.com By becoming a paid subscriber you can listen to every episode completely ad-free! Curator: Keith Conrad linktr.ee/keithrconrad Narrator: Darren Marlar https://darrenmarlar.com/ Other shows hosted by Darren: Weird Darkness: https://weirddarkness.com/ Paranormality Magazine: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/paranormalitymag Micro Terrors: Scary Stories for Kids: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/microterrors Retro Radio – Old Time Radio In The Dark: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/retroradio Church of the Undead: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/churchoftheundead Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Late for school and dreading the stares of her classmates, Olivia gets an anxiety she never asked for when she suddenly realizes no one around her can see or hear her at all. What starts as a terrifying morning quickly turns into something else entirely, as Olivia begins to understand exactly what she can get away with when nobody’s watching. F. Davies-Mouncher delivers a sharp coming-of-age story about visibility, power, and the temptation of getting away with it. We love bringing you stories from listeners just like F. Davies-Mouncher — if you’ve got a tale of your own itching to be told (sci-fi, horror, supernatural, or anything in between), we’d love to hear it. If you have a story you’d like to contribute to the series, you can visit https://submissions.soundconceptmedia.com/ You can support the show by becoming a paid subscriber on Substack: https://auditoryanthology.substack.com By becoming a paid subscriber you can listen to every episode completely ad-free! Curator: Keith Conrad linktr.ee/keithrconrad Narrator: Darren Marlar https://darrenmarlar.com/ Other shows hosted by Darren: Weird Darkness: https://weirddarkness.com/ Paranormality Magazine: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/paranormalitymag Micro Terrors: Scary Stories for Kids: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/microterrors Retro Radio – Old Time Radio In The Dark: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/retroradio Church of the Undead: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/churchoftheundead Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On the maiden voyage of the MV Atlas, the world’s largest cruise ship, a ghost operative team attempts a silent extraction of a high-value defector carrying an impossible secret: an ancient, non-human artifact. Hidden amongst twenty-two thousand passengers and stalked by an elite foreign intelligence network, the team must execute a precise, high-stakes tradecraft operation in international waters — one wrong move could blow their cover and trigger a confrontation that could break the global order. Our companion short story, “They Can’t Stop All of Us,” follows Bennett before all of this began — covering the infamous “Storm Area 51” gathering as a journalist, and catching something in the Nevada night sky that her camera can barely explain, let alone she can. It’s a quiet, personal glimpse at the woman who’s about to become central to Mercer’s plan, and one more thread in this world’s stranger undercurrent. If you have a story you’d like to contribute to the series, you can visit https://submissions.soundconceptmedia.com/ You can support the show by becoming a paid subscriber on Substack: https://auditoryanthology.substack.com By becoming a paid subscriber you can listen to every episode completely ad-free! Curator: Keith Conrad linktr.ee/keithrconrad Narrator: Darren Marlar https://darrenmarlar.com/ Other shows hosted by Darren: Weird Darkness: https://weirddarkness.com/ Paranormality Magazine: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/paranormalitymag Micro Terrors: Scary Stories for Kids: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/microterrors Retro Radio – Old Time Radio In The Dark: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/retroradio Church of the Undead: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/churchoftheundead Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After a nuclear war wipes out all life on Earth, Seligman — an experimental soldier engineered to survive the unsurvivable — finds himself the planet’s sole occupant, marked forever by a strange green glow that clings to his skin. Alone and searching for any remaining trace of humanity among the stars, he begins to realize that what was done to his body may have cost him something far more permanent than he first understood. Harlan Ellison (1934–2018) was one of the most prolific and celebrated writers in science fiction, winning eight Hugo Awards, four Nebula Awards, and five Bram Stoker Awards over a career that spanned television, film, and prose. “Glow Worm” was first published in the February 1956 issue of Infinity Science Fiction, early in a career that would go on to include work on The Outer Limits, Star Trek, and the acclaimed anthology series Dangerous Visions. If you have a story you’d like to contribute to the series, you can visit https://submissions.soundconceptmedia.com/ You can support the show by becoming a paid subscriber on Substack: https://auditoryanthology.substack.com By becoming a paid subscriber you can listen to every episode completely ad-free! Curator: Keith Conrad linktr.ee/keithrconrad Narrator: Darren Marlar https://darrenmarlar.com/ Other shows hosted by Darren: Weird Darkness: https://weirddarkness.com/ Paranormality Magazine: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/paranormalitymag Micro Terrors: Scary Stories for Kids: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/microterrors Retro Radio – Old Time Radio In The Dark: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/retroradio Church of the Undead: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/churchoftheundead Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ash has spent three days convincing a skeptical partner to search a stretch of empty ocean for a shipwreck he swears is carrying something impossible: cars made of a rare element the world thinks was mined to extinction decades ago. When their meter finally comes alive, it turns out Ash’s “story” might be worth more than either of them imagined. K.C. Ozden delivers a tight, tension-filled treasure hunt with a sharp sci-fi twist. We love bringing you stories from listeners just like K.C. — if you’ve got a tale of your own itching to be told (sci-fi, horror, supernatural, or anything in between), we’d love to hear it.  If you have a story you’d like to contribute to the series, you can visit https://submissions.soundconceptmedia.com/ You can support the show by becoming a paid subscriber on Substack: https://auditoryanthology.substack.com By becoming a paid subscriber you can listen to every episode completely ad-free! Curator: Keith Conrad linktr.ee/keithrconrad Narrator: Darren Marlar https://darrenmarlar.com/ Other shows hosted by Darren: Weird Darkness: https://weirddarkness.com/ Paranormality Magazine: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/paranormalitymag Micro Terrors: Scary Stories for Kids: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/microterrors Retro Radio – Old Time Radio In The Dark: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/retroradio Church of the Undead: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/churchoftheundead Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On the maiden voyage of the MV Atlas, the world’s largest cruise ship, a ghost operative team attempts a silent extraction of a high-value defector carrying an impossible secret: an ancient, non-human artifact. Hidden amongst twenty-two thousand passengers and stalked by an elite foreign intelligence network, the team must execute a precise, high-stakes tradecraft operation in international waters — one wrong move could blow their cover and trigger a confrontation that could break the global order. Our companion short story, “North Sea Retrieval,” pulls Mercer, Novak, and a salvage specialist onto a listing, half-sunken supply ship to recover a mysterious sealed case — and into a locked compartment that shouldn’t be making any sound at all. It’s another quiet thread of the unexplained running underneath this world, tangled up with a job that’s already dangerous enough on its own. If you have a story you’d like to contribute to the series, you can visit https://submissions.soundconceptmedia.com/ You can support the show by becoming a paid subscriber on Substack: https://auditoryanthology.substack.com By becoming a paid subscriber you can listen to every episode completely ad-free! Curator: Keith Conrad linktr.ee/keithrconrad Narrator: Darren Marlar https://darrenmarlar.com/ Other shows hosted by Darren: Weird Darkness: https://weirddarkness.com/ Paranormality Magazine: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/paranormalitymag Micro Terrors: Scary Stories for Kids: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/microterrors Retro Radio – Old Time Radio In The Dark: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/retroradio Church of the Undead: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/churchoftheundead Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.