LeVar Burton Reads
The best short fiction, handpicked by the best voice in podcasting. In every episode, host LeVar Burton (Roots, Reading Rainbow, Star Trek) invites you to take a break from your daily life, and dive into a great story. LeVar’s narration blends with gorgeous soundscapes to bring stories by Neil Gaiman, Haruki Murakami, Octavia Butler, Ray Bradbury and more to life. So, if you’re ready, let’s take a deep breath...
Episodes
April 20, 2021 • 53 min
Theresa Anne has spent years watching her mother tell fortunes and work magical spells. But when she asks to protect the girl she loves, she learns the true cost and sacrifice involved in magical requests.
Find more from the author at www.clpolk.com.
Content advisory: Violence
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April 13, 2021 • 54 min
In a post-pandemic future where scientists have made great strides in eliminating disease, a young boy faces his fears and ventures out to his grandfather's island to give him an important vaccine.
This story appears in the anthology Make Shift: Dispatches from the Post-Pandemic Future, edited by Gideon Lichfield and available for pre-order from The MIT Press.
Content advisory: Discussion of pandemics, near-drowning
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April 6, 2021 • 49 min
A getaway driver and her crew are hired to steal a mysterious artifact, and inadvertently get locked into a time loop. Find more from Nicole Kornher-Stace at www.nicolekornherstace.com or on Twitter @wirewalking.
Content advisory: Gun violence, gore, death
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March 30, 2021 • 34 min
A teenage girl is exiled to a penal colony on an icy, inhospitable island.
But the island contains secrets, and so does the girl.
Content Advisory: Death
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March 23, 2021 • 38 min
Hoping to make their fortune (or at least climb out of debt), a trio of space traders travel on a dangerous hunt for a space whale.
"An Equal Share of the Bone" was originally published at Escape Pod. Find more of Karen Osborne's work at www.karenosborne.com.
Content Advisory: Animal death
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March 16, 2021 • 45 min
Guided by an angel, a writer pens his greatest -- and perhaps most dangerous -- work.
"Killer of Kings" appears in Anjali Sachdeva's collection ALL THE NAMES THEY USED FOR GOD.
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March 9, 2021 • 56 min
Adolescent boys are faced with the reality of friendships, old and new, as they work on plans to build their own airplane.
"Flyboys" appears in Tobias Wolff's collection OUR STORY BEGINS, published by Vintage Books, and is available in audio from Blackstone Audio.
Content advisory: discussion of death
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March 2, 2021 • 41 min
A woman helps to test the artificial intelligence based on the mind of her mother, a brilliant thinker. "The Regression Test" appears in Wole Talabi's collection INCOMPLETE SOLUTIONS from Luna Press.
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February 23, 2021 • 50 min
A government contractor deals with everyday frustrations in a small town. "Alluvial Deposits" appears in Percival Everett's collection DAMNED IF I DO. Check out other titles from Graywolf Press, including WILD SWIMS and BRING ME THE HEAD OF QUENTIN TARANTINO, at graywolfpress.org.
Content advisory: racial slur, hateful language
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February 16, 2021 • 37 min
A woman struggles to understand why her elderly father has begun to spontaneously teleport.
Content advisory: drug addiction, illness, death
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February 9, 2021 • 41 min
A teenage thief embarks on a mission to reclaim her people's sacred treasures. First published in A UNIVERSE OF WISHES in 2020 in the United States by Crown Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Penguin Random House, LLC, New York. Find more from Rebecca at www.rebeccaroanhorse.com.
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February 2, 2021 • 49 min
A waitress is jolted from her morning routine when she's visited by a mysterious child.
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January 26, 2021 • 2 min
The wait is nearly over! Join us for Season 8 of LeVar Burton Reads, beginning next week and featuring stories from Rebecca Roanhorse, Tobias Wolff, Bishop Garrison, Damion Wilson and more.
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December 1, 2020 • 51 min
LeVar talks to Africanfuturist Nnedi Okorafor about the visceral nature of her writing, writing a beautiful and green future for the Niger Delta, and how human-AI relationships can feel like parent-child relationships. Plus, she'll tell us what she thinks happens after those final tense moments in "Mother of Invention".
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November 24, 2020 • 36 min
Join us for the conclusion of this smart house story set in a future Nigeria. Will Anwuli and her child survive the storm?
Content advisory: blood
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November 17, 2020 • 42 min
A young woman in a future Nigeria finds herself in a deadly pollen storm, alone but for her smart home.
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November 10, 2020 • 1 min
LeVar announces a special three-part series featuring one of his favorite authors!
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October 27, 2020 • 51 min
A 200-year-old gnome desperately wants to become a father.
"Little Man" is from A WILD SWAN AND OTHER TALES by Michael Cunningham, illustrated by Yuko Shimizu.
Text copyright © 2015 by Mare Vaporum Corp. Used by permission of Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd, © 2015 by Mare Vaporum Corp
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October 20, 2020 • 33 min
A recently widowed woman vanishes overnight.
Content advisory: violence, death
“The Story We Used to Tell” is from DARK TALES by Shirley Jackson, published by Penguin Classics, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC.
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October 13, 2020 • 44 min
A chance encounter in a bar leads to an eventful Good Friday for a devout woman and a playboy.
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