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Direct link: Why Don't You Ask the Doomsday Machine? (mp3)

In this episode of the Strange Horizons podcast, editor Anaea Lay presents Elliott Essex's “Why Don't You Ask the Doomsday Machine?.“ You can read the full text of the story, and more about Elliott, here.

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Anaea Lay lives in Chicago, Illinois where she writes, cooks, plays board games, reads too much, and questions the benevolence of the universe. Her work has appeared in many places including Apex, Penumbra, Lightspeed, Daily Science Fiction, and Nightmare. She lives online at anaealay.com.
Elliott Essex lives and writes in Bedfordshire, England, unless he happens to be somewhere else, in which case he does it there. He likes hats and spaceships. This is his first published work of fiction, and he is very excited about it.
Current Issue
9 Feb 2026

sometime in the night, we heard rocking and knocking and rapping and tapping, a million trillion tiny feet
“I’ve never actually visited the pā before,” she said out loud. “Is this where they gather lāʻī to make the pūʻolo?” she asked. “Yes,” Benny responded, glancing to see where Nanea was pointing. “Here and in other places as well. Many of these ti have been growing for decades now.” She paused for a moment. “I think about all the work you guys do, you know, up in those offices, and I think that all of that work actually starts from right here, in the ground, all covered in the earth and the pōhaku and the ti. Most people don’t even know it, but it all starts right here.
The triangles bred and twisted, replicating themselves.
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