P.A. Cornell is a Chilean-Canadian speculative fiction writer. A two-time finalist for the Nebula Award, her stories have been published in over seventy magazines and anthologies, including Lightspeed, Apex, and multiple “Best of the Year” anthologies. In addition to becoming the first Chilean Nebula finalist in 2024, Cornell has been a finalist for the Aurora and World Fantasy Awards, and in 2022 won Canada’s Short Works Prize. When not writing, she can be found assembling intricate LEGO builds or drinking ridiculous quantities of tea. Sometimes both. For more on the author and her work, visit her website pacornell.com.

This story originally appeared in Darkness Blooms, 2023.

Narration by: Robert A. K. Gonyo

Robert A. K. Gonyo is a theatre director, actor, sound designer, voiceover artist, podcaster, musician, and tour-guide residing in Queens, New York. He is the producer of Living Radio, a monthly series of new radio plays reimagining the news (livingradionyc.com); Go See a Show!, New York City's independent theatre podcast (goseeashowpodcast.com); and he runs Haunted Manhattan, New York City’s spookiest, most accurate, and most fun ghost tours (hauntedmanhattan.com). robertgonyo.com

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Marie Vibbert is a past Hugo and Nebula finalist with over 100 stories in pro publications from Analog to Zombies Need Brains. Her latest book is a novella, Multitude, wherein you can follow the hivemind of cephalopod aliens and explore the power of language, community, and hope.

This story originally appeared in Analog Science Fiction, June 2016.

Narration by: Ibba Armanas

Ibba Armanas is a two time EMMY-nominated Director/Producer for KLCS-PBS Los Angeles. A huge sci-fi fan and occasional narrator, she’s excited to be back on StarShipSofa after a decade of absence.

Fact: Looking Back At Genre History by Amy H Sturgis

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Eric Del Carlo's short fiction has appeared multiple times in Analog, Asimov's, and Clarkesworld, as well as many other magazines and anthologies over the years. He returns to StarShipSofa with the first story he wrote in 2026. Eric lives in the States, in his native California.

"Traipsing the Else" is original to StarShipSofa.

Narration by: Brian Rollins

Brian Rollins is a voice actor and podcaster living in Colorado. You can hear him hosting the Dorky Geeky Nerdy Trivia Podcast every Wednesday or narrating audiobooks like the Glen and Tyler adventure series, the Uncommon Bonds fantasy thriller series, and the David Rose paranormal fantasy saga. Recently, Brian began Tome Cast, a weekly classic fiction audiobook podcast where he reads books such as The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The Call of the Wild, and The Maltese Falcon. Brian is available to narrate your next audiobook and you can find him at TheVoicesInMyHead.com.

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Kit (formerly Ekaterina) Sedia is a critically acclaimed writer of speculative fiction and noir, and a World Fantasy Award winning editor. He is the author of several novels and a short story collection, featuring stories originally published in venues such as Asimov’s, Analog, and Clarkesworld. His translations from Russian have appeared in The Big Book of Classic Fantasy and The Big Book of Modern Fantasy. He also co-wrote a script for Yamasong: March of the Hollows, a fantasy feature-length puppet film voiced by Nathan Fillion, George Takei, Abigail Breslin, and Whoopi Goldberg.

Kit currently resides in the Pinelands of New Jersey, where he teaches biology at a state university, and runs a rescue for medically needy cats. He is a communist and an abolitionist. Free Palestine.

This story originally appeared in Spicy Slipstream Stories, 2008.

Narration by: Will Stagl

Will Stagl lives in Tucson, Arizona and is a proud member of the StarShipSofa team. He’s like to kick off the the autumn by inviting any listeners interested in narration to contact him at williamstagl@gmail.com to join our stellar team of volunteer voice actors.

Fact: Looking Back At Genre History by Amy H Sturgis

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Tim Pratt (genderfluid, any pronouns) is the author of more than thirty-five novels, most recently multiversal space opera The Jewel and the Comet. Pratt is a Hugo Award winner for short fiction, and has been a finalist for Nebula, World Fantasy, Sturgeon, Stoker, and otherawards. She publishes a new story every month at www.patreon.com/timpratt and posts incessantly on Bluesky

(bsky.app/profile/timpratt.org)

This story originally appeared on Tim Pratt's Patreon account.

Narration by: Zed Hope Simon

Zed Hope Simon (they/them) is a Brooklyn-based performer, playwright, and fight director. Their short plays have been produced at various digital and live festivals throughout New York City and around the United States and their first full-length play, Watchlist, received a workshop production at The Tank in February 2020. They have previously performed with Alterra Productions interactive theatre company and help coordinate the annual New York Summer Sling stage combat workshop for the Society of American Fight Directors. Zed has hosted podcasts covering film, tv, and video games for Whirlwind Podcasts, Post Show Recaps, Rob has a Podcast, and Arcade Pizza, and can be found streaming games on YouTube at youtube.com/@hardrockhope. For more, follow Zed on Bluesky @hardrockhope or visit www.zedhopesimon.com

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Jeremy Szal was raised by wild dingoes, which should explain a lot. He writes epic fantasy and dark space opera of a character-driven, morally grey nature. He sold The Common trilogy to Gollancz/Orion when he was 23, which includes STORMBLOOD, BLINDSPACE, and WOLFSKIN, about a drug harvested from alien DNA that makes users permanently addicted to adrenaline and aggression. He’s the author of over fifty short stories, translated into seventeen languages, many of which appear in his short fiction collection BROKEN STARS. He was the editor for the Hugo-winning StarShipSofa until 2020 and has a BA in Film Studies and Creative Writing from UNSW. He carves out a living in Sydney, Australia with his family, where he loves watching weird movies, eating Japanese food, exploring cities, learning languages, cold weather and dark humour. Find him at https://jeremyszal.substack.com/ or @jeremyszal

Narration by: Doni Nicoll

Doni Nicoll-Duir (nickel-dar) is originally from the Western Slope of Colorado. He has lived in and out of Arizona his whole life and now finds himself settling down in Tucson, AZ. Doni works in the renewable energy sector as a design engineer and permitting specialist. When Doni isn’t working on saving the planet, one rooftop at a time, or trying to keep up with his teenage daughter, he can be found cooking, hiking or playing board games with his friends at one of the local breweries.

Fact: Looking Back At Genre History by Amy H Sturgis

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Seia Tanabe is a horror and weird fiction writer based in Osaka. She won the 15th Japanese Horror Novel Award in the Short Story category for her debut work, "Iki-byobu" (The Living Folding Screen). Deeply inspired by local folklore, ghost stories, and urban legends, she has published numerous horror novels and edited several anthologies. Tanabe's English-language debut, "The Parrot Stone", was published in the anthology Phantasm Japan.

This story was translated by the author and is original to StarShipSofa.

Narration by: Will Stagl

Will Stagl is Star Ship Sofa's audio engineer and occasional voice talent. He lives in Tucson Arizona and would like to wish a happy August birthday to the pride of Leos in his life--Susan, Violet, Stacey, Daphne, Jeremy and Doni.

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T. K. Rex is a science fiction and fantasy author from the western United States, whose stories can be read in numerous publications, including The Wildcraft Drones, their debut collection on shelves May 21, 2026. The Wildcraft Drones begins in the near future of "The Flowers Where Five-Eighty Used To Be" and follows the evolving relationship between humanity, nature and technology into the far future. T. K.'s stories, socials, and newsletter can be found at tkrex.wtf.

This story originally appeared in Tractor Beam, March 2025

Narration by: Diane Severson

Diane Severson is a lyric soprano specializing in Early Music, especially Baroque and medieval music. Diane has been involved in the SF Poetry Scene (yes, it’s a thing) since 2010. She has narrated for StarShipSofa, and PodCastle. She produces the sporadic podcast, Poetry Planet and is a member of the Science Fiction Poetry Association. She is a staff blogger for Amazing Stories Magazine focusing on Science Fiction Poetry. The best place to find her is on the web because she tends to pick up and move to another country at the drop of a hat. She and her family currently reside in Paris.

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