Wolves Till the World Goes Down

Short Story by Greg van Eekhout

Read by Dave Thompson for PodCastle

This story inspired van Eekhout's Norse Code, where he expands on some of the ideas from this story at novel length. I'm hoping to actually buy it soon, and I will then try to review it here. It looks like everything I wished American Gods had been, and I've been impressed with van Eekhout a few times this year.

Munin and Hugin fly over Southern California, preparing a pre-Ragnarok report for Odin (including windchill statistics from CNN). As the end of the world approaches, they meet Baldr and Hod, who ask the ravens to tell them a story. They tell about Vidar and Vali's plot to free Fenrir, so as to bring about Ragnarok sooner (Vidar and Vali are prophesied to survive Ragnarok, while most of the other gods die, leaving some of the younger ones to pick up the pieces.)

While this story-within-the-story gets us started with the themes of predestination, free will, and whether or not the gods are really puppets to destiny, or if they can effect their own change, the story takes off in a much more serious and emotional direction. Hugin's decision at the end is what absolutely makes this one for me, and I did love it. Possibly my favorite PodCastle of the year, this is funny, thoughtful, moving, and oddly hopeful for a story about the end-of-days. 4.5 ravens out of 5.

Free online at Ideomancer

Originally published in Starlight 3

Anthologized in Fantasy: The Best of 2001

California King

Short Story by Michael Jasper and Greg van Eekhout

Read for Podcastle by Dave Thompson

Originally published in Asimov's April/May 2005

The people of California watch their king confront his magical nemesis: his father. It's hard to tell how far apart this world is from modern day California. The king rides a Greyhound bus, fights mutants with his magical tattoos, and California is a desolate wasteland. So 2 out of 3 true to life.

The King is basically a superhero who tries to help the people of California in small ways, helping immigrants and abused women and whatnot. He mostly fails to ever change anything, but makes a valiant effort at it, and does do some good. But then his father wants to take back power and see The King deposed, so he sets an elaborate trap which has very little actual trap-ness to it, as is the way of super villains. And then shit gets interesting and magical. You get the impression his father did a whole lot less ripping out tongues of rapists and whatnot.

This is a weird, sort of surreal story where you're never really sure who has what sort or amount of power or what is really going on with all the machinations about things we don't understand. But the point is that the King wants to protect his people, and that the people need to stand up and take action for themselves too, rather than relying entirely on some superpowered regent. 3.5 out of 5 royals would like to trade themesongs with the California King.