written by David Steffen
Escape Pod is the weekly science fiction podcast, one of the Escape Artists family of podcasts. At the beginning of 2017 it was edited by Norm Sherman, but when he stepped down from the role two co-editors have filled the positions: S.B. Divya and Mur Lafferty.
In February Escape Pod once again participated in the Artemis Rising event across the Escape Artists podcasts, publishing fantasy stories written by women and nonbinary authors.
Escape Pod published a total of 42 stories in 2018, which is lower than usual because of a combination of longer stories that were split across multiple episodes, as well as mixing in “Flashback Friday” episodes this year, which are republications of stories published earlier in Escape Pod’s history–since Flashback Friday stories have already been considered for previous Best of Escape Pod lists here, they were not considered this time.
Every short story that is eligible for Hugo nominations this year which were first published by Escape Pod are marked with an asterisk (*).
The List
1.”And Then There Were (N-One)” (Parts 1, 2, 3, 4) by Sarah Pinsker
The author Sarah Pinsker attends a convention of Sarah Pinskers from other dimensions. And then Sarah Pinsker is murdered! Dun dun DUUUUN.
2.”The Revolution, Brought to You By Nike” (Parts 1, 2) by Andrea Phillips
Nike’s new viral marketing campaign is aimed at changing the world.
3.”Caesura” by Hayley Stone
Finding ways to make an AI write poetry as a form of grieving.
4.”Beatrix Released” by Shaenon K. Garrity*
Beatrix Potter, controlling a team of clever animals.
5.”Anna and Marisol in Time and Space” by Tim Pratt
Time travel romance!
Honorable Mentions
“After Midnight at the Zap Stop” by Matthew Claxton*
