PodCastle

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PodCastle is a weekly audio fantasy fiction podcast from Escape Artists, Inc. It releases short fantasy stories across many subgenres, including magical realism, urban fantasy, slipstream, high fantasy, and dark fantasy.

The show began on 1 April 2008 with Rachel Swirsky as founding editor and Ann Leckie as assistant editor. Swirsky left in 2010. The host is mainly Matt Dovey, with occasional guest hosts. Over the years, PodCastle has had many editors. By 2022 the editors were Shingai Njeri Kagunda and Eleanor R. Wood, with assistant editor Sofía Barker and audio producers Devin Martin and Eric Valdes.

PodCastle has published hundreds of stories, typically 2,000 to 6,000 words, by authors such as Peter S. Beagle, Nancy Kress, Jeff VanderMeer, N. K. Jemisin, Kelly Link, and Ken Liu. In addition to standalone tales, the podcast features longer “Giant” episodes and multi-part serials, and it sometimes includes reviews.

The podcast uses a Creative Commons license that allows non-commercial redistribution with attribution, while the stories remain copyrighted by their authors. PodCastle pays semi-professional rates and licenses non-exclusive audio rights.

In 2013, the site averaged about 79,900 downloads per month. PodCastle is one of several shows from Escape Artists, along with Escape Pod, Pseudopod, and Cast of Wonders. Eugie Foster described these podcasts as helping revive interest in both new short fiction and classic works.