My wife and I attended a literary sci-fi convention in Colorado with a format similar to LOSCON in 2023 and 2024. After each show, we looked up some of the author-panelists and found their audio short-stories. I realized this would be a smarter thing to do before the convention so that we might have a chance to discuss these works with their authors. I was hoping to have the full LOSCON 51 program guide and time to decide which panels I was interested in before I started looking up author-panelists, but all I have to go on at this point is the participants list.
The first thing I did was try to determine if the panelist was a speculative fiction author. My results were mixed and the list of participants is long, so I’m sure I missed many. Once I knew they were authors, I searched for short stories in an audio format (and free!). This was also very hit-and-miss. So, this is a list of LOSCON 51 participants with audio short stories that are free and relatively easy to find. If you are (or know) a LOSCON 51 author-panelist that has a free audio short story that I missed, please send it to me and I’ll add it.
David Brin is a Hugo, Nebula, and Campbell winner, so it was pretty easy to find some of his short stories: “The Giving Plague” (Hugo Winner), “Aficionado”, “Those Eyes”.
Brandon Case won an Escape Pod ‘flash fiction’ contest. His story, “Bee of Ganymede”, is the second one on this episode.
Jean-Paul Garnier hosts a podcast where he mostly reads other people’s short stories. This episode of the show includes one of his own stories, “Phrogger” (that title is calling to me!).
“Who Answers My Call?” by Robin Rose Graves.
“The Uncanny Valley” by Nick Mamatas.
Larry Niven is Grandmaster of Sci-Fi and one of my favorite authors. He has written many great short stories (I read at least one of his short story anthologies in my youth), but “Bird in the Hand” is the only one I could find a free audio version of.
“War, Ice, Egg, Universe” by G. David Nordley.
“Midnight Patron” by Mike Robinson.
Ursula Vernon (aka T. Kingfisher) is the Author Guest of Honor at LOSCON 51. When that was announced (well before the full participants list), I downloaded her short story, “Metal Like Blood in the Dark” (skip to 7:15) and we listened to it on a long drive. It’s a good story that leaves you wanting more.
“The Memory-Setter’s Apprentice” by Alvaro Zinos-Amaro.
That’s twelve stories by ten authors. I don’t know if I will have time to listen to them all before Thanksgiving, but I’m going to try. I’m sure I’ll go to at least one panel with Larry Niven and likely one with the Author Guest of Honor (if my previous experience is indicative), but otherwise I don’t know if I’ll have a chance to meet or ask questions of the other panelists on this list. Even if I don’t, listening to their sci-fi short stories will likely be its own reward!
Arthur P. Dutton 