PodCastle was the third show conceived by Escape Artists, Inc. founder, Serah Eley, which also produces Escape Pod, Pseudopod and Cast of Wonders. PodCastle launched on 1 April 2008 with Rachel Swirsky as founding editor and Ann Leckie as assistant editor. Swirsky left in 2010 to focus on her own writing, and went on to win the 2013 Nebula for her short story "If You Were A Dinosaur, My Love". Ann Leckie's 2013 novel, Ancillary Justice, won multiple awards, including the 2014 Hugo Award for best novel. Editors Anna Schwind and Dave Thompson stepped down at the end of March 2015 and were slated to be replaced by Kitty NicIaian and Dawn Phynix, with Leckie continuing to serve as associate editor. However, the new editors were unable to take the helm, and Rachael K. Jones and Graeme Dunlop began sharing editing and hosting duties instead. In 2018 the editorial reins were handed over to the current staff, an international cohort headed by co-editors Khaalidah Muhammad Ali and Jen R. Albert.
Content
PodCastle has released hundreds of stories on a weekly basis with stories generally between 2,000 and 6,000 words long, written by authors such as Peter S. Beagle, Nancy Kress, Jeff VanderMeer, N.K. Jemisin, Kelly Link and Ken Liu. Although focused on short fiction, PodCastle has also run reviews and longer stories, both as hour-plus "Giant" episodes and as multi-part serials. PodCastle is distributed under a Creative Commons license that allows non-commercial redistribution, requires attribution, and forbids derivatives. The fiction itself remains copyrighted by its respective authors. PodCastle contracts with authors for non-exclusive audio rights and pays semi-professional rates. The site averages 79,900 monthly downloads of the podcast. Podcasts such as Podcastle, Pseudopod, and EscapePod provide a means of accessing speculative fiction online.
Reception
The podcast has been a finalist for the Parsec Award for Best Speculative Fiction Story for "Restless in My Hand" by Tim Pratt and again in 2015 for Best Speculative Fiction Story: Large Cast for “Super-Baby-Moms Group Saves the Day” by Tina Connolly. PodCastle won the 2017 Academy of Podcasters award for Fiction and was a finalist for the 2018 World Fantasy Award in their category
