We want to thank you for choosing to listen to Variant Frequencies. We have now completed our move to Farpoint Media. We are sorry for any inconvenience, but we will no longer be updating this feed. To continue receiving Variant Frequencies stories, please go to www.varianfrequencies.com and subscribe to our new rss feed there. We are looking forward to sharing many more stories with you.

http://www.variantfrequencies.com

War remains a constant throughout human history. How we wage war does not. When a man that has battled with Spartans, Celtic barbarians, and Mongol hoardes joins today's techno military, the question becomes: Is there a place for warriors among soldiers? And when you've seen the rise and fall of a thousand nations and empires, can war still hold any meaning?
***
Written by Matt Wallace
Narrated by Rick Stringer

Promos
Wander Radio
http://www.wanderradio.com/

7th Son
http://www.jchutchins.net

(c) 2007 Rick Stringer and Matt Wallace
http://www.variantfrequencies.com

"Don't do the crime if you can't do the time." But for a man who lives outside the fringe of society, there's never been a choice. Time is all he's got, and he's serving a life sentence of a different kind.
***
Written by Anne Stringer
Narrated by Jeff Frank
Promos
Podiobooks.com
http://www.podiobooks.com/podiobooks/book.php?ID=110
(c) 2007 Rick Stringer and Anne Stringer
http://www.variantfrequencies.com

One unusually warm winter morning, she wakes up and finds that something she took for granted -- about the entire universe -- has radically changed.
It is either the end of reality -- or the beginning of a new one...
****
Written by A.R.Yngve
Narrated by A.R.Yngve
http://www.variantfrequencies.com
http://yngve.bravehost.com

PROMOS
The Sci Fi Podcast Network
http://www.tsfpn.com/
The Failed Cities Monologues
http://www.podiobooks.com/podiobooks/book.php?ID=110

Variant Frequencies (c)2007 Rick Stringer and Matt Wallace
See (c)2007 A.R.Yngve
January 2007

A traveling salesman learns that a story or two can help ease the burdens of a post-apocalyptic world—not to mention push a sale or two. But, of course, some stories don't always turn out the way you think....
****
Written by Carmelo Rafala
Narrated by Rick Stringer
http://www.variantfrequencies.com
http://carmelorafala.blogspot.com/

PROMOS
The Immortals by Tracy and Laura Hickman
http://www.podiobooks.com/podiobooks/book.php?ID=76
The Failed Cities Monologues
http://www.podiobooks.com/podiobooks/book.php?ID=110

Sound Effects from The Freesound Project
http://freesound.iua.upf.edu

Variant Frequencies (c)2006 Rick Stringer and Matt Wallace
A Story of Kindness (c)2006 Carmelo Rafala
December 2006

I've heard that the body becomes lighter at the moment of death. Just a little, but enough to measure. As if the soul could be weighed, its departure verified. I look closely, to see if I can detect its ascent...
***
Written by Anne Stringer
Narrated by Jan Dalton
Promos
StarShipSofa
http://www.starshipsofa.com
Lipstick Aliens Podcast
http://lipstickaliens.libsyn.com/
(c) 2006 Rick Stringer and Anne Stringer
http://www.variantfrequencies.com
November 2006

It's October, and in the spirit of the month we're turning our dial to horror with a story written just for All Hallows Eve. This frightening frequency is the tale of two strangers who meet on a lonely night in a grand old hotel. They're about to learn that sometimes it's better to stay home and weather the storm, and that it's all well and good to go looking for ghosts . . . until you actually find one.
****
Written by Matt Wallace
Narrated by Rick Stringer
http://www.variantfrequencies.com
The Time Traveler Show
http://www.timetravelershow.com
Variant Frequencies (c)2006 Rick Stringer and Matt Wallace
October 2006

Life on the very edge of the solar system is a bleak nightmare, punctuated only by the blissful euphoria afforded by the drug, trace. Andi is a trace addict. Trace is Andi's only escape from his crushing life. But a new drug is taking hold of Andi. Cell is strong, addictive and, above all else, the cell is being hunted.
****
Written by Darren Reid
Narrated by Rick Stringer
http://www.variantfrequencies.com
http://www.myspace.com/darrenreidcell
Skepticality
http://www.skepticality.com
Variant Frequencies (c)2006 Rick Stringer and Matt Wallace
Cell (c)2006 Darren Reid
September 2006

This episode was originally posted in August 2006.

Every season it grew stronger.
Every season more children vanished.
Every season the gardeners dwelling grew, forcing the village to retreat its borders, until at last it could shrink no further...
****
Written and Narrated by Adrian Grey Marsden
http://www.variantfrequencies.com
http://www.adriangrey.com/
The Dark Harvest (c)2006 Adrian Grey Marsden
Variant Frequencies (c)2006 Rick Stringer and Matt Wallace
August 2006

Spend a night in the far reach with Sherk Maxwell, doctor of broadcast journalism. Sherk is humanity's last voice of dissent, set forth on a mic and beamed out across deep space to every rift-tripper and manic ET roaming the great void. But as the same slimy threat that evacuated Earth encroaches on Dr. Maxwell's weird corner of the big black, will it signal the final broadcast of mankind's last frequency? You'll have to tune in to find out...
****
Written by: Matt Wallace
Narrated by: Evo Terra
Music by: Cagey House, Neil Stringer & Greg Seaman, Rick Stringer, and The Traverse Symphony Orchestra
http://www.variantfrequencies.com
http://v-frequencies.livejournal.com
http://www.podiobooks.com
http://www.sliceofscifi.com
http://www.myspace.com/cageyhouse
http://www.tso-online.org
http://www.gregseamanmusic.com
Variant Frequencies (c)2006 Rick Stringer and Matt Wallace
July 2006

This story was originally posted in June of 2006.

Pohraen's childhood was dominated by the interminable war on her planet; only the music of the 100th Day gatherings could lift her mood. Then, in a last desperate arms race, a bizarre turn of events sowed the seeds of change.
****
Written by DJ Burnham
Narrated by Rick Stringer
http://www.variantfrequencies.com
http://www.djburnham.com
http://v-frequencies.livejournal.com/
Variant Frequencies (c)2006 Rick Stringer and Matt Wallace
The Spoils of War (c)2006 DJ Burnham
June 2006

This episode was originally posted in May of 2006

Every night I strolled the same path, looking for him. The nights were getting colder. Even in the short time I was out, my fingers were aching from it, and I worried that he was frozen somewhere. I didn't know where to begin to look...
****
Written by Anne Stringer
Narrated by Heidi Jones
Music performed by Neil Stringer
Music composed by Greg Seaman
http://www.variantfrequencies.com
(c)2006 Rick Stringer and Anne Stringer
May 2006

This podcast was originally posted in April 2006 on our main site.

In the 1930's 52nd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenue was home to the speakeasy. In the 2030's it's all about the breakdowns, where they mix biochem cocktails and spark the Ash of the Dead, sucking its acrid smoke through bone pipes. The big ticket is, of course, shooting distilled endorphins. Yes, they'd found the last fix, and it was inside the human body all along.
****
Written by Matt Wallace
Narrated by Anne Stringer
http://www.variantfrequencies.com
(c)2006 Rick Stringer, Anne Stringer, and Matt Wallace
April 2006

This episode of Variant Frequencies contains two stories by Anne Stringer, "Any Other Name" and "Evelyn." It was originally posted in March 2006.

At least Mom doesn't walk me all the way to the door. That would be so embarrassing!... They can be stolen away and terrible things can be done to them... I used to be that little girl, the one walking with her mom... What does she think is gonna happen in this dumb neighborhood?... I think she watches the kids walking to school... I wonder if I'll make it until spring....
****
Written by Anne Stringer
Narrated by Stacey Griffith
http://www.variantfrequencies.com
(c) 2006 Anne Stringer and Rick Stringer
March 2006

I'd spotted Carey. He heard the Whirring too. He'd grabbed my baseball bat out of the front seat, and now he was standing, braced against the open passenger side door, in his best Sammy Sosa stance. I couldn’t believe it, not even after knowing the guy for two years. He was actually going to try to tee off on the lo-gi.
****
Written by Matt Wallace
Narrated by Rick Stringer
http://www.variantfrequencies.com
(c)2006 Rick Stringer and Matt Wallace
February 2006

You thought that was the sun rising over Saturn and ain’t that a sight when really a superflare of magnesium was covering the approach of a creepy-creeper. And by the time the light dissipated they were right on top of you.

****
This is the second of a two-part podcast.
Written by Matt Wallace
Narrated by Rick Stringer
http://www.variantfrequencies.com
(c)2006 Rick Stringer and Matt Wallace
January 2006

They weren't family in the office. It wasn't a brotherhood. They weren't even friends. But they'd all been assigned a singular shitty fate, and that made them the same. When Management descended to rob a corpse of that departed man’s few meager possessions it didn't stand with the other postmen. One day all of them would be that corpse.

And there were some actions even dead men jerked at.

****
This is the first of a two-part podcast.
Written by Matt Wallace
Narrated by Rick Stringer
http://www.variantfrequencies.com
(c)2006 Rick Stringer and Matt Wallace
January 2006

Variant Frequencies - Your speculative fiction dial. Find us at www.variantfrequencies.com

Variant Frequencies is a podcast that stretches the entire bandwidth of genre fiction, modulated by a constant element of the fantastic. Every month we give you a new story.

Our goal at Variant Frequencies is to entertain and expose you to our work, and we work hard on every story you will hear. So tune in, turn the volume up, and let some of our weird carrier waves distort your reality....for just a little while.

****
(c)2006 Rick Stringer, Matt Wallace, and Anne Stringer