CatsCast

Escape Artists Foundation
  • 4.5 (20)
  • SCIENCE FICTION
  • UPDATED MONTHLY

CatsCast publishes fun speculative cat stories. We hope that each story leaves its cat-loving listeners a little happier -- or at least amused or hopeful -- after listening than they were before.

  1. CatsCast 28: The Cemetery Cat

    MAR 30

    CatsCast 28: The Cemetery Cat

    Laura Pearlman (Host), Matt Dovey (Back cover art), Dave Robison (Audio production) Author : Jennifer Lee Rossman Narrator : Diane Severson Host : Laura Pearlman Audio Producer : Dave Robison This story originally appeared in From a Cat's View: An Anthology of Stories Told by Cats The Cemetery Cat by Jennifer Lee Rossman Night crept into the cemetery earlier than in the rest of town, and dawn came later than usual. Perhaps the mountains to either side snatched up the sun in late afternoon and held it ransom until long after breakfast. Or maybe Nature, lover of all things atmospheric, decided a glorified skeleton farm was too unsettling a place on which to bestow so many hours of daylight. Gothic iron fences and chipped granite angels looked best in twilight, after all, especially when the fog blew in from the river to wind around the gravestones like tulle. Whatever the reason, geology or spookiness, cemetery nights were longer, and people avoided cemeteries at night. As if ghosts and ghoulies only worked the late shift, and the daylight would protect them from invisible echoes of the past and the dark things that hovered at the corners of their eyes. Nonsense. It was the same superstitious thinking that made otherwise rational people toss spilt salt over their shoulder and say their prayers at night. But if they believed the nonsense protected them—and kept them from admitting they were nothing but helpless specks of carbon and water floating in an infinite void of evil that wanted to steal their souls and wear their faces like Halloween masks—so what? If a little nonsense keeps society from falling apart, more power to them. But cats know better. Visit us at: https://escapeartists.net/catscast/ Released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives International 4.0 license.

    30 min

  2. JAN 26

    CatsCast 27: Lost in Translation

    Author: Y.M. Resnik Narrator: Tatiana Grey Host: Laura Pearlman Audio Producer: Dave Robison This story is a CatsCast Original Lost in Translation by Y.M. Resnik             The first sign of trouble came from the panda enclosure. Speak Now Zoo's headliner attraction spent most of her time munching bamboo and sleeping. Occasionally, she'd climb a tree. Never in Laura's ten-year tenure as proprietress had Mindy, the Giant Panda, actually acknowledged the onlookers who paid to speak to her through the universal translation app.             So why was she now uttering string after string of gibberish?  Visit us at https://escapeartists.net/catscast/. Released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives International 4.0 license.

    18 min
  3. CatsCast 26: The Gingerbread House

    10/30/2024

    CatsCast 26: The Gingerbread House

    Author: Jenny Hart Narrator: Katherine Inskip Hosts: Laura Pearlman and Katherine Inskip Audio Producer: Wilson Fowlie This story is a Cast of Wonders and CatsCast original. The Gingerbread House by Jenny Hart The air has only just begun to smell of autumn as I head for Gingerbread Cottage, where I am to house sit two cats for the winter. I have packed warm clothes and antihistamines, and the emailed instructions are both simple and strange. Feed the cats and clean up after them and yourself. But don't let them out, no matter how much they ask. Read the rest on Patreon.   Released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives International 4.0 license.

    16 min
  4. CatsCast 25: The Invention of a Cat

    08/04/2024

    CatsCast 25: The Invention of a Cat

    August, 2024 Author: Carolina Valentine Narrator: Laura Pearlman Host: Laura Pearlman Audio Producer: Dave Robison This story is a CatsCast original. The Invention of a Cat by Carolina Valentine  The haunting had started at 2 a.m., and my local Joann didn't open until nine. I was in the parking lot at 8:30, and while several Joann employees passed by my car on the way to the doors, I kept scrolling on my phone, feigning disinterest, instead of begging to be let in early. Even after the night I'd had, I wasn't going to be That Customer.              I focused my bloodshot eyes on the featured article in the Journal of Theoretical Witchcraft—something about the potency of blood moon spells—and checked once or twice on the spectral wound I'd slathered in dubious Taint-Be-Gone and expired Neosporin. Despite the mustiness of the gauze wrapping I'd found for it, the four claw-like marks probably wouldn't fester.             In theory. Which is what I did. Theory. Read the rest on Patreon. Visit us at https://escapeartists.net/catscast/. Released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives International 4.0 license.

    29 min
  5. CatsCast 24: Queen of the Mouse Riders

    07/06/2024

    CatsCast 24: Queen of the Mouse Riders

    Author: Annie Reed Narrator: Summer Brooks Host: Laura Pearlman Audio Producer: Wilson Fowlie This story originally appeared in Pulphouse Fiction Magazine. Queen of the Mouse Riders  by Annie Reed Gurgling yowls echoed off the tiled floor in Sarah's bathroom. Bounced off the ceiling, gaining strength, and intruded on what was turning out to be a very, very nice dream featuring the star of a movie she'd watched just before bed. In the dream, the star turned his incredibly expressive eyes in Sarah's direction, smiled his best enigmatic smile, and said, "Pardon me, darling, but is that your cat?" (In the dream he'd turned British. She happened to know he'd been born and raised in the Bronx. Dreams were just plain weird sometimes.) "Yes," she said. "She's apparently caught a mouse." Starlight the Cat had a battle cry like a two-note yodeler gargling mouthwash. She reserved that particular cry for whenever she caught a mouse. Or something that looked like a mouse. Or a mouse-shaped stuffed toy. Most of the time she'd only caught one of her toys. Thank goodness. But on at least on memorable occasion she'd interrupted a visit from Sarah's mother by presenting a live mouse as the third course for their lunch date. Sarah's mother was deathly afraid of mice. Read the rest on Patreon. Visit us at https://escapeartists.net/catscast/. Released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives International 4.0 license.

    54 min
  6. CatsCast 23 Preview: The Best Way to Procure Breakfast

    SEASON 1, EPISODE 23 TRAILER

    CatsCast 23 Preview: The Best Way to Procure Breakfast

    February, 2024. Author: Dana Vickerson Narrator: Peter Adrian Behravesh Host: Laura Pearlman Audio Producer: Dave Robison This story [originally appeared in Zooscape. A content note: this story deals with themes of grief and loss. The Best Way to Procure Breakfast  by Dana Vickerson. If Mama doesn't get up soon, we're going to miss our chance to get off Mars. Mama is a human, but I call her "Mama" because she says I am her baby kitty and her special boy. She is sleeping, but I am hungry. It's a delicate art, waking up your human. If you're too eager, they'll likely get cross with you, and while Mama is a sweet and kind soul, I do not like to see her cross. If you are too gentle, though, your human is likely to continue their blissful sleep while you sit on the floor with a rumble in your belly. So, like most mornings, I start today by walking back and forth across my human's pillow. This is less startling than just going right for patting her face. The soft rhythm of my paws around her head signals to Mama that it's time to start the process of bringing her consciousness to the here and now, where my kibble lives. Read (or listen to) the rest on Patreon. Visit us at https://escapeartists.net/catscast/. Released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives International 4.0 license.

    2 min
  7. CatsCast 22: Blood Water

    01/05/2024

    CatsCast 22: Blood Water

    Blood Water by J.A. Bryson The blood on Zip's hands is dried the color of rust and sticks like clay under her fingernails. Mostly, it isn't hers. Mostly, it belongs to the man she shivved, the one who mistook her for an easy mark. Zip is gray-eyed and hunger-slight. She's a lot of things – fast, fierce, speechless since birth – but she isn't easy. The old timers know this. The man waiting at the pits to grab her while she took a piss, he did not know this. He's a newcomer. His people came when jets rained fire on their homeland. They have no code. They left their children and their old timers to burn. Their language is violence. One needn't words to speak it. Outside camp, Zip finds shade in a stand of scraggly pines with peeling bark and sun-bleached needles. She drags her palms over the parched earth. The blood remains. It doesn't flake or rub away. She thinks to spit on it, to make a paste, to paint its warning on her sunken cheeks, but her tongue is swollen with thirst. She hasn't spit to spare. If it doesn't rain soon, her band will strike up camp. Better to move than to choke on dust – to become dust. She closes her eyes and swallows. Her heart beats too fast. The man she shivved will die. Serves him right for making her sweat. Propped against a tree, Zip drifts. She doesn't hear Cat come. She wakes to his rough tongue grazing her knuckles. Groggily, she peeps an eye. The sun is not where she remembers it. Read the rest on Patreon. Visit us at https://escapeartists.net/catscast/. Released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives International 4.0 license.

    24 min
  8. CatsCast 21 Preview: Kindly, Stop for Me

    SEASON 1, EPISODE 21 TRAILER

    CatsCast 21 Preview: Kindly, Stop for Me

    December, 2023. Author: K. M. Veohongs Narrator: Dave Robison Host: Laura Pearlman Audio Producer: Dave Robison This story originally appeared inTranslunar Traveler's Lounge, February 2022 A content note: there is some death in this one. Kindly, Stop for Me by K.M. Veohongs I rise from my spot by the window in Room 126 of the Sunny Glades Home for Health and Rehabilitation. The sun set an hour ago, so it's no great loss. My front paws extend, claws out, before I shift my weight forward and kick out each hind leg. I don't have the range of motion I once did — everything creaks and clicks now — but since the moment I selected my first feline host, I found there is nothing quite so satisfying as a good stretch. I jump down and land on the tiled floor, hard. I wish they'd carpet the rooms, but that's hardly sanitary, is it? The hop up onto the bed is more difficult still. We're in the hospice wing, of course, and these beds are tall. I've still got the ups to make it, but it's a near thing. Finding a replacement body should be on the top of my to-do list. This one is rather past its natural expiration date, and if I don't find a new host before it gives out completely, I'll be as rudderless as the souls I'm supposed to help. It's only that I'm rather attached to the form I'm currently inhabiting. I've been Archimedes for so long now, I'm not sure I remember how to be anyone else. Read (or listen to) the rest on Patreon. Visit us at https://escapeartists.net/catscast/. Released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives International 4.0 license.

    4 min
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Trailers

4.5
out of 5
20 Ratings

About

CatsCast publishes fun speculative cat stories. We hope that each story leaves its cat-loving listeners a little happier -- or at least amused or hopeful -- after listening than they were before.

Information

  • Creator
    Escape Artists Foundation
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2026
  • Episodes
    32
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2005-2025 Escape Artists Foundation (EIN 88-1480693). All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    CatsCast

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