The ship’s manifest
About the Sofa
One battered sofa, twenty years, 812 transmissions — and the finest short science fiction in the galaxy.
StarShipSofa is the Audio Science Fiction Magazine — a weekly podcast that has been beaming short SF out into the universe since 2006. Every issue carries a piece of short fiction from the genre’s finest writers — grand masters and brand-new voices alike — narrated by a volunteer crew from all over the world, alongside essays on genre history, science news, poetry and the occasional transmission from the Captain’s chair.
The Sofa was launched by Tony C Smith and Ciaran O’Carroll in 2006 as two mates from the North East of England talking about the giants of science fiction. In 2007 it grew into Aural Delights, a full audio-magazine format, and it has run every week since — through 812 episodes and counting.
In 2010, StarShipSofa became the first podcast in history to win a Hugo Award, science fiction’s most famous prize. The rocket sits proudly on the mantelpiece; the show carried on the very next week, as ever.
Over the years the Sofa has carried stories and interviews from Michael Moorcock, Ursula K. Le Guin, Joe Haldeman, David Brin, Bruce Sterling, Pat Cadigan, Peter Watts, Cat Rambo and hundreds more — and it has always made room next to them for first-time authors. That mix is the whole point.
StarShipSofa is also the flagship of the District of Wonders network, which has launched sister ships over the years — Tales to Terrify, Protecting Project Pulp and Far Fetched Fables among them.
Get in touch
Love the podcast? Got a tip, some juicy gossip from the SF world, or a story you think the Sofa should carry? Write in: [email protected]. (Story submissions have their own airlock — see the submission guidelines.)