Take Root

Frances, if you hear me delete this message. Stop listening at once. Delete this …

A flash piece written for audio. Whatever you do, do not listen.

Listen if you like: The “Blink” episode of Doctor Who except ears; Angine de Poitrine; thinking about how strange it is that you can be reading this shapes we call letters and words come fully formed into your brain and what could possibly go wrong if …

Listen for free online. Or read it for free at Small Wonders.

• Originally written as a part of PseudoPod’s Flash Fiction Contest VII in 2021, for which it was a finalist.

Published in PseudoPod 866 Flash on the Borderlands LXVI: Quod Nomen Mihi Est?, May 2023. (Narrated by Dave Robison. Presented by Alisdair Stuart. Audio production by Chelsea Davis.) Reprinted in Small Wonders, issue 31. (Edited by Cisyln Smith and Stephen Granade. Art direction by Grace Choi.)