BCS #152 is live today, featuring two authors new to BCS and another new episode of our new podcast, The BCS Audio Vault.

Fran Wilde, whose debut fantasy novel is due from Tor next year, offers “The Topaz Marquise,” in which a jeweler trying to craft a masterwork must reckon with a hasty purchase. Sylvia Anna Hivén gives “What Needs to Burn,” a Weird Western in a strange town run by a strange person and home to a strange creature.

Our ‘From the Archives’ story is “Red Dirt” by Ian McHugh, from BCS #58, a dark story of strange things inhabiting a strange place, with a feel not unlike “What Needs to Burn.”

The BCS Audio Fiction Podcast is on hiatus for one more issue, but continuing this week is our new podcast: The BCS Audio Vault, featuring another classic episode of our two-time Parsec Award-finalist podcast introduced by a special guest author, editor, or narrator.

The second episodes of The BCS Audio Vault is “One Ear Back” by Tina Connolly, from BCS #97 back in June 2012. It’s introduced by the author, discussing how the story was inspired by an Icelandic folk tale and the extrapolations it raised, as well as one particularly expressive cat.

Coming next issue: two stories of life journeys, a new episode of the BCS Audio Fiction Podcast, another new episode of The BCS Audio Vault, and new cover art.