In the 5th episode of SH@25, editor Kat Kourbeti sits down with author E.M. Faulds to chat about her 2022 story, Broken Blue, combining Eldritch horrors with mundane moments, writing female characters, and bigging up your crew when you have the chance.

• Want to leave us a happy birthday message? Click here to record an audio message, and here for video.
• Join our Patreon for early episode access.
• Did you know SH@25 is eligible for the Best Related Work and Best FanCast categories in the Hugo Awards? Keep us in mind for your 2025 ballot!

Episode show notes:

• Visit E.M. Faulds' website and follow her on social media (BlueSky / Instagram)
• Read E.M.'s microfiction over your coffee break on her Ko-fi page (and throw her some change while you're there)
• Read E.M.'s story Broken Blue in our archives
• Buy a copy of Gallus, the 2024 Glasgow SF Writers' Circle anthology
• Check out Nova Scotia Vol II from Luna Press
• Check out Ada King, E.M.'s novel, and Under the Moon, her short story collection featuring all-female protagonists
• Find more links to E.M.'s work, as well as recommendations and links to other media we talked about, on our episode transcript page.

In this episode of the Strange Horizons Fiction podcast, Michael Ireland presents Susannah Rand's' 'Little Lila' read by Claire McNerney. You can read the full text of the story, and more about Susannah, ⁠⁠here⁠⁠.

Subscribe to the Strange Horizons podcast: ⁠⁠Spotify Content Warnings

• Animal cruelty/death
• Body transformation
• Murder
• self_harm
• Shaming
• Violence/combat

In the 4th episode of SH@25, Editor Kat Kourbeti sits down with tabletop game designer and SFF critic Kyle Tam, whose young career has taken off in the last few years. Read on for an insightful interview about narrative storytelling from non-Western perspectives, the importance of schlock and trash in the development of taste, and the windows into creativity we find in moments of hardship.

• Want to leave us a happy birthday message? Click here to record an audio message, and here for video.
• Join our Patreon for early episode access.
• Did you know SH@25 is eligible for the Best Related Work category in the Hugo Awards? Keep us in mind for your 2025 ballot!

Episode show notes:

• Visit Kyle Tam's website for her full credits/bibliography
• Follow Kyle on BlueSky @percypropa.bsky.social
• Read Kyle's reviews for SH on her author page
• Back ⁠Devil's Due on Backerkit⁠
• Find more links to Kyle's work, as well as recommendations and links to other media we talked about, on the episode transcript page.

In this episode of the Strange Horizons Fiction podcast, Michael Ireland presents Nelly Geraldine García-Rosas' 'Embroidery of a Bird's Heart' read by L.W. Salinas. You can read the full text of the story, and more about Nelly, ⁠here⁠.

Subscribe to the Strange Horizons podcast: ⁠Spotify

Content Warnings:

• Animal cruelty/death
• Blood
• Death/dying
• Scars/scarification

In the third episode of SH@25, editor Kat Kourbeti sits down with author Arkady Martine, for an in-depth interview on her multifaceted career, her review writing, and the history that inspired her two-time Hugo Award winning Teixcalaan Empire series.

We also present a reading of Arkady's poem, Cloud Wall, which marked her Strange Horizons debut, and remains to this day one of three poems she ever published, with reading by Kat Kourbeti and sound design by Michael Ireland.

• The music heard in the poetry segment is 'Uprising' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0.
• Want to leave us a happy birthday message? Click here to record an audio message, and here for video.
• Join our Patreon for early episode access.

Show notes:

• Read a full transcript of this episode
• Find Arkady Martine in the SH Archives, including her poem 'Cloud Wall', the story 'City of Salt', and her book reviews
• Follow Arkady Martine on BlueSky (@byzantienne.bsky.social)
• Buy Arkady's books through Bookshop.org
• A full list of Arkady's short fiction elsewhere can be found on her website

In this episode of the Strange Horizons Fiction podcast, Michael Ireland presents KT Bryski's "Folk Hero Motifs in Tales Told by the Dead" read by Devin Martin You can read the full text of the story, and more about KT, here.

Subscribe to the Strange Horizons podcast: Spotify

Content Warnings:

• Body transformation
• Child death
• Death/dying
• Drug use

In the first guest interview of this series, editor Kat Kourbeti sits down with author Kate Heartfield, whose 2015 story 'Limestone, Lye, and the Buzzing of Flies' marked a turning point in her publishing career.

• Follow Kate on social media @kateheartfield, or sign up for her newsletter on her website: https://kateheartfield.com
• For fuller show notes and to read the transcript of the interview: http://strangehorizons.com/podcasts/sh25-episode2-kate-heartfield/ ‎
• Read Kate's story "Limestone, Lye, and the Buzzing of Flies": http://strangehorizons.com/fiction/limestone-lye-and-the-buzzing-of-flies/
• Kate's 2017 fund drive essay "Expanding Ambitions": http://strangehorizons.com/non-fiction/azimuth/expanding-ambitions/
• Buy Kate's books through Bookshop.org: https://uk.bookshop.org/lists/strange-horizons-25-guests

A Recipe for Life, A Tonic for Grief was originally published in the May 13th 2024 issue of Strange Horizons and is read by Emmie Christie.

You can read the full story here.

Content Warnings:

• Animal cruelty/death
• Blood
• Cancer
• Death/dying
• Drug use

Chris is a palliative care physician by day and a writer by night. He is a dad (cat and human), by his back-of-the-napkin calculations, approximately 32 hours a day. His short fiction has appeared in Galaxy’s Edge, Zooscape, and Stupefying Stories. Find him on Bluesky at chrisblake.bsky.social

Emmie Christie has narrated the sci-fi novel "Amaranth Chronicles: Deviant Rising" for Audible and other short stories. She has also been published in Flash Fiction Online, Infinite Worlds Magazine, and Daily Science Fiction. You can find her work on her website or follow her on Twitter/X @EmmieChristie33.