Does this current dystopia got you down? Well, at the Mix Taped Stories podcast, we replace your

existential dread with original speculative short stories and miniseries filled with humor, hope,

and wonder, and brought to life with music and a cast of human actors. Check out Mix Taped Stories wherever you get your podcasts.

At Mix Taped Stories, we're creating beautiful fiction in a disappointing timeline.

Content warning. The following episode of EscapePod has some brief violence and bigotry towards a transgendered character.

Escape Pod, episode

138, Meet the Mets, by Ace Tilton Bradcliffe.

Ace is a genderqueer, disabled metal smith, multidisciplinary artist, photographer, and writer, who also

moonlights as a narrative and death care consultant. The Little Book of Dog Care with Simon

Element was their first book.

They rarely seem without their service dog Rupert.

If they aren't in their studio, you'll find them in their garden.

It's narrated for us by Jordan Corella.

Jordan is a trans and disabled author who has lived all over the world, including Moscow and Manhattan.

In his past lives, he was a photographer, radio DJ, and social worker.

His fiction has been nominated for the Nebula and Sturgeon Awards.

This is an Escape Pot original.

So batter up.

It's story time. Meet the Mets by Ace Tilton Ratcliffe, narrated by Jordan Corolla.

Nineteen Sixty-four. Bobby didn't know who threw the first punch.

"'A fist glanced off his cheek,

"'then a smattering of blows rained down in the darkness,

...