BCS #164 is out today, featuring stories of heroines on journeys of discovery, plus the first-ever novel excerpt to appear in BCS (by a two-time World Fantasy and Nebula Award winner), a guest-narrated podcast of that novel excerpt, and a giveaway for a copy of the novel.

Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam offers “Everything Beneath You,” a lyrical tale of journey both mythic and personal. Tamara Vardomskaya pens “The Metamorphoses of Narcissus,” a tale of artistic pursuit and personal realization.

Novelist James Morrow, author of Towing Jehovah, Shambling Towards Hiroshima, and many other works of lyrical F/SF, brings to BCS an excerpt from his new novel Galápagos Regained, which hits shelves this week.  This historical steampunk novel follows Chloe Bathurst, a former actress who, inspired by her interactions with the illustrious Charles Darwin, journeys in his footsteps across the Atlantic Ocean and over the Andes to the Galápagos Archipelago. In this excerpt from Galápagos Regained, Chloe meets Mr. Darwin and learns of his theories and the theological contest that will spark her journey.

We’re also giving away a copy of the novel Galápagos Regained. Visit this giveaway post to enter. But hurry; the giveaway ends Wed. Jan. 21!

The BCS Audio Fiction Podcast episode is BCS 141: Novel Excerpt Galápagos Regained, the James Morrow excerpt. It’s guest-narrated by T.D. Edge, who has narrated many past BCS podcast episodes, including BCS 047: More Full of Weeping Than You Can Understand by Rosamund Hodge.

The BCS Audio Vault podcast episode with BCS #164 is BCS Audio Vault 013: Mr Morrow Becomes Acquainted with the Delicate Art of Squid Keeping by Geoffrey Maloney, a satire of Victorian Australian gentry in a zany science-fantasy situation with a voice not unlike BCS 141: Novel Excerpt Galápagos Regained.  It’s introduced by T.D. Edge, the narrator of both those podcasts, commenting on the Victorian upperclass’s absurd but implacable self-belief as captured in the story’s characters.

The From the Archives story with BCS #164 is “The Orangery” by the late K.D. Wentworth, from BCS #12, a tale of lushly voiced Victorian characters injected into a strange paranormal situation.