Gustavo Bondoni is a novelist and short story writer with over five hundred stories published in fifteen countries, in seven languages. He has published several science fiction novels including two trilogies, six monster books, a dark military fantasy and a thriller. His short fiction is collected in Thin Air (2023), Pale Reflection (2020), Off the Beaten Path (2019), Tenth Orbit and Other Faraway Places (2010) and Virtuoso and Other Stories (2011).

In 2019, Gustavo was awarded second place in the Jim Baen Memorial Contest and in 2018 he received a Judges Commendation (and second place) in The James White Award. He was also a 2019 finalist in the Writers of the Future Contest.

His website is at www.gustavobondoni.com

This story is original to StarShipSofa.

Narrated by: Alethea Kontis

Alethea Kontis is an actress, storm chaser, and New York Times bestselling author. She has received the Scribe Award, the Garden State Teen Book Award, and is a two-time winner of the Gelett Burgess Children’s Book Award. She was twice nominated for both the Andre Norton Nebula and Dragon Award. Alethea narrates stories for multiple award-winning online magazines and does freelance work for Writing the Other. Born in Vermont, Alethea currently resides on the Space Coast of Florida where she watches K-dramas with her teddy bear, Charlie. Together they are ARMY, VVS, and Black Roses.

Fact: Looking Back At Genre History by Amy H Sturgis

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Hugo- and Nebula nominated author Marie Vibbert’s short fiction has appeared over 90 times in top magazines like Nature, Analog, and Clarkesworld, and been translated into Czech, Chinese and Vietnamese. Her debut novel, Galactic Hellcats, was long listed by the British Science Fiction Award and her work has been called “everything science fiction should be” by the Oxford Culture Review. She also writes poetry, comics, and computer games. By day she is a computer programmer in Cleveland, Ohio.

This story originally appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, January/February 2019.

Narrated by: Christina Rau

Christina M. Rau, The Yoga Poet, leads Meditate, Move, & Create workshops for various organizations in person and online. Her collections include How We Make Amends, What We Do To Make Us Whole, and the Elgin Award-winning Liberating The Astronauts. She moderates the Women’s Poetry Listserv and has served as Poet in Residence for Oceanside Library (NY) since 2020. Her poetry airs on Destinies radio show (WUSB) and appears in various literary journals like fillingStation and The Disappointed Housewife while her prose has appeared in Punk Monk Magazine and Reader’s Digest. During her downtime, she watches the Game Show Network. http://www.christinamrau.com

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Libby Cudmore is the author of The Big Rewind (William Morrow 2016) and Negative Girl (Datura 2024) as well as the Wade & Jacks series in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Alfred Hitchock Mystery Magazine, and Tough. Her work has been published in Orca, Dark Waters, Stone's Throw and the Anthony Award-nominated Lawyers Guns & Money: Crime Fiction Inspired By the Songs of Warren Zevon, which she co-edited with Art Taylor.

She is the recipient of the Eleventh Hour Innaugural Literary Prize, the Shamus Award and the Black Orchid Novella Prize, as well as a finalist for the 2025 International Thriller Writers Award for Best Standalone Mystery.

This story originally appeared in Orca, A Literary Journal, #13, Spring/Summer 2023.

Narrated by: Theo Kipnis

Theo Kipnis sits slowly in a red and pink room, not choosing, not doing. Horseshoes and dominoes line the casements and built-in shelves, on which framed pictures cherish quiet images of ancestors and cartoon cats. Again and again, he slows in the small room, feeling the steady shadow around him drip through his vision. He has wings on his tongue and a tiny, pumping heart in each eye socket. He lives in Tucson, Arizona.

Fact: Looking Back At Genre History by Amy H Sturgis

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Alex Shvartsman (Brooklyn, NY) is the author of Kakistocracy (2023), The Middling Affliction (2022), and Eridani’s Crown (2019) fantasy novels. Over 120 of his stories have appeared in Analog, Nature, Strange Horizons, et al. He won the WSFA Small Press Award for Short Fiction and was a three-time finalist for the Canopus Award for Excellence in Interstellar Fiction.

His translations from Russian have appeared in F&SF, Clarkesworld, Tor.com, Analog, Asimov’s, et al. Alex has edited over a dozen anthologies, including the long-running Unidentified Funny Objects series.

This story originally appeared in Galaxy's Edge, no. 25, March 2017.

Narrated by: Will Stagl

Will Stagl lives in Tucson Arizona and is a proud member of the StarShipSofa team. This month you'll likely find him tearing through The Devils by Joe Abercrombie at a local café or waiting for the next installment of Murderbot to air.

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Pedro Iniguez is a Mexican-American Bram Stoker, Elgin, and Rhysling Award-nominated horror and science-fiction writer from Los Angeles, California. He is the author of Mexicans on the Moon: Speculative Poetry from a Possible Future, and Fever Dreams of a Parasite, among others. Forthcoming books include his SFF collection, Echoes and Embers: Speculative Stories, and his debut picture book, The Fib, which are slated for 2025 releases.

This story originally appeared in Infinite Constellations, 2023.

Narrated by: Mary Murphy

Mary is a New York based actor/voice-over artist. She loves the world of audio drama and is delighted to be back on board the StarShipSofa. She has performed in theatre, film, TV, animation, radio, and video games. A few of her recent credits include the one-woman play An Evening With Lola Montez, It’s A Wonderful Life, a streamed performance of the piece Near Nellie Bly, Divination of The Three for Asheville Fringe, and the audio dramas Frontier Gentleman, Chinook, and Newfield. She can be heard voicing various characters for Disney, GoKidGo, LeapFrog, the Center For New American Media, Audible, and Audimance. She has also been a regular performer on the audio drama series Fireside Mystery Theatre, The NoSleep Podcast, The Wicked Library, To the Manor Borne By Robots, and Campfire Radio Theater. marymurphyonline.com

Fact: Looking Back At Genre History by Amy H Sturgis

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Maggie Slater’s (she/her) speculative fiction has appeared in Apex Magazine, Metaphorosis, and Redivider, among other venues. She lives in an 1800s farmhouse in New England with two half-tamed boys, one half-trained dog, her husband, her parents, and at least one benign ghost. For more information about her and her current projects, visit her blog at maggieslater.com or find her on Instagram: @maggiedot_writes or on Bluesky: @maggiedotwrites.

"Any Day But Today..." originally appeared in Andromeda Spaceways Magazine, #79, 2020.

Narrated 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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Tina Connolly writes fantastical stories for kids, teens, and grown-ups. Some of them are serious and some of them involve flying bananas. Her books include the Ironskin and Seriously Wicked series, the collection On the Eyeball Floor, and the official Choose Your Own Adventure book Glitterpony Farm. She has been a finalist for the Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy awards. She also co-hosts Escape Pod, narrates stories, and runs the intermittent flash fiction podcast Toasted Cake. Find her at tinaconnolly.com.

This story originally appeared in Helix #9, 2008.

Narrated by: Tahereh Safavi

Tahereh Safavi is an improv kid and your biggest fan. She runs the Ubergroup, a 501(c)3 nonprofit providing low-cost fine arts education for adults. The Ubergroup offers university-level coursework, support, and networking for all writing-related art formats (including but not limited to: commercial and literary novels, stage and screen plays, short fiction, comics, nonfiction and academic, podcasts and webseries, picture books, poetry, IP writing, and some writing-adjacent arts such as acting and illustration) at a pace suitable for adults with full-time jobs and families. Check out theubergroup.org for more.

Fact: Looking Back At Genre History by Amy H Sturgis

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Akis Linardos is a writer of bizarre things, a biomedical AI scientist, and maybe human. He’s also a Greek that hops across countries as his career and exploration urges demand. Find his words at Apex, Strange Horizons, Uncharted, Heartlines Spec, and visit his lair for more: https://linktr.ee/akislinardos

This story originally appeared in The Colored Lens #49, Autumn 2023.

Narrated 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. This is his second narration for StarShipSofa.

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