You are listening to a Clark's World magazine podcast with your host and narrator Kate Baker.

Greetings Clark World Citizens. I hope this podcast finds you well. This is our second

podcast for the month of April 2014. And as I mentioned, we will be having that

extra story, so keep an ear out for that. Our second story is

titled Passage of Earth and is by Michael Swanwick. Michael Swanwick has

received the Nebula Theodore Sturgeon World Fantasy and Awards, and has the odd distinction of having

been nominated for and lost more of these same awards than any other human being. He has just finished a new novel, Chasing the Phoenix, in which post-utopian con men,

darker and surplus, accidentally conquer China, and he is currently relaxing with short fiction before

beginning a new novel. He lives in Philadelphia with his wife. relaxing with

his short fiction before beginning a new novel.

He lives in Philadelphia with his wife Mary Ann Porter.

You can find Michael at his website

flogging babel that blog spot.com.

And if you like what you hear, he's also got from Bable's fallen glory we fled, which was featured in the May 2013 issue.

So I invite you to sit down, relax, and let me tell you a story.

The ambulance arrived sometime between three and four in the morning. The morgue was quiet then cool and faintly damp.

Hank savored this time of night and the fainty damp.

Hank savored this time of night in the faint shadow of contentment it allowed him like a cup of bitter

coffee, long grown cold waiting for his occasional sip.

He liked being alone and not thinking.

His rod and tackle box waited by the door,

and Casey felt like going fishing after his shift,

...