Ash Tales | Stories of the Apocalypse

The snow has stopped falling for now, the gloomy black clouds have gone their separate ways, leaving a strangely pretty dusk. My thoughts are shattered by the badly aging intercom speakers crackling and hissing a demand. "ALL STAFF TO WARD 5, ROOM 3, IMMEDIATELY." Read "Lakeside Doomsday Cult" on Ash Tales: ashtales.com/episodes/lakeside-doomsday-cult About the author: Benjamin Blake was born in the July of 1985, and grew up in the small town of Eltham, New Zealand. He is the author of the novel, The Devil's Children, the poetry and prose collections, A Prayer for Late October, Southpaw Nights, Reciting Shakespeare with the Dead, and Standing on the Threshold of Madness. Find more of his writing (and photography) at www.benjaminblake.com. About the narrator: Josh Moynehan is a writer and voice actor from Aylesbury in the UK. You can find him online at https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-moynehan/. Discover more original post apocalyptic stories: ashtales.com/episodes Read "The Green Priest," on sale now: https://www.rainmakerwritings.com/

After nearly a decade of analysis, the Linguistics Department of Gabonium University cracked the enigma that is the Sea Lords Script. Read "The Sea Lords Script" on Ash Tales: ashtales.com/episodes/the-sea-lords-script About the author: Jason E. Maddux is an aviation attorney, who uses writing speculative fiction and children's stories as a creative outlet each night once his two daughters are in bed. After spending his youth moving around the south-eastern United States, he now resides in northern Virginia. Follow his writing online at https://jasonemaddux.com/ and @Jason_E_Maddux. Discover more original post apocalyptic stories: ashtales.com/episodes Read "The Green Priest," on sale now: https://www.rainmakerwritings.com/

It’s dangerous out there, especially when food becomes scarce and crime picks up. But when you wear body-parts jewelry, well - people take you seriously. Read "Body Parts Jewelry Store Man" on Ash Tales: ashtales.com/episodes/fourteenth-birthday-chat About the author: Michael Carter is a short fiction and creative nonfiction writer from the Western United States. He’s also ghostwriter in the legal profession, a Space Camp Alum, and a volcanic eruption survivor. He enjoys fly fishing and wandering remote wilderness areas with no cell service. You can find him online at michaelcarter.ink and @mcmichaelcarter. About the narrator: Josh Moynehan is a writer and voice actor from Aylesbury in the UK. You can find him online at https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-moynehan/. Discover more original post apocalyptic stories: ashtales.com/episodes Read The Green Priest, on sale now: https://www.rainmakerwritings.com/

The generator fails, the temperature begins to rise, and you realise: this may be the last conversation you ever have. Some birthday, eh? The Green Priest, on sale now: https://www.rainmakerwritings.com/ Read "Fourteenth Birthday Chat" on Ash Tales: ashtales.com/episodes/fourteenth-birthday-chat About the author: Sharni Wilson is a New Zealand writer of fiction and Japanese-to-English literary translator, whose work has appeared in Takahē and the Tokyo Poetry Journal. She can be found at www.sharniwilson.com Discover more original post apocalyptic stories: ashtales.com/episodes Get featured on the podcast: ashtales.com/submit

Follow two sisters, Terra and Ada, as they forage through humanity's far-future, in a world littered with high-tech relics and ruins from a civilisation long-since destroyed. Read "The Poppies' Secret" on Ash Tales: ashtales.com/episodes/the-poppies-secret Discover more original post apocalyptic stories: ashtales.com/episodes Get featured on the podcast: ashtales.com/submit

One man and his dog retrace their footsteps through the wreckage of a life forever changed by a deadly disease. Read "Digging" on Ash Tales: ashtales.com/stories/digging Discover more original post apocalyptic stories: ashtales.com/stories Get featured on the podcast: ashtales.com/submit

In the wake of catastrophe, the return to normal life happens slowly, uncertainly, as Mia and Anders reclaim forgotten memories and desires, piece by piece. Read "The Supermarket" on Ash Tales: ashtales.com/stories/the-supermarket Discover more original post apocalyptic stories: ashtales.com/stories Get featured on the podcast: ashtales.com/submit Get 25% off The Green Priest with the code ASHTALES25: https://ashtales.com/the-green-priest

As the New Year rings in and the sky is illuminated by the glow of red, white and blue, a deadly conspiracy unfolds in the heart of London. Read "Happy New Year" on Ash Tales: ashtales.com/stories/happy-new-year Discover more original post apocalyptic stories: ashtales.com/stories Get featured on the podcast: ashtales.com/submit Get 25% off The Green Priest with the code ASHTALES25: ashtales.com/the-green-priest

It has rained for centuries, and the sprawling cities of the Elders have drowned beneath the floodwaters. The survivors of Shelter, a hollowed-out mountain-side refuge, eke out a simple existence amidst the flooded, overgrown ruins of a forgotten civilisation. But at the edge of every tale can be found rumours, whispers and nightmares of the Green Priests, a mythical religious order with powers beyond reckoning and secrets beyond count. When a young hunter called Halvar discovers a curious artefact of the ancients, the Priests are spurred to action. For the people of Shelter have stumbled dangerously close to a truth that will reshape the world. And now, the rainmakers have arrived. --- Enjoyed chapter one? Explore the full-length novel from Ash Tales: https://ashtales.com/the-green-priest As a "thank you" for subscribing to the podcast, use code ASHTALES25 for 25% off.

As the winds roll in and ash blankets their town, there's only one chance left to the survivors: dancing up the sun, and chasing away the eternal Winter. Read "Dance up the Sun" on Ash Tales: ashtales.com/stories/dance-up-the-sun Discover more original post apocalyptic stories: ashtales.com/stories Get featured on the podcast: ashtales.com/submit

The fat-cats sheltering in their vaults might be safe from the nuclear fallout, but they haven't escaped the Handyman. Read "This Is Not An Exit" on Ash Tales: ashtales.com/stories/this-is-not-an-exit Discover more original post apocalyptic stories: ashtales.com/stories Get featured on the podcast: ashtales.com/submit

The seas are rising and the end is sight for the final few residents of a once tropical paradise. Read "After the Deluge" on Ash Tales: ashtales.com/stories/after-the-deluge Discover more original post apocalyptic stories: ashtales.com/stories Get featured on the podcast: ashtales.com/submit

Scouring winds are blowing on the last cherry orchard, and Bastian, the garden's caretaker, is waiting for the end. Read "The Last Cherry Orchard" on Ash Tales: ashtales.com/stories/the-last-cherry-orchard Discover more original post apocalyptic stories: ashtales.com/stories Get featured on the podcast: ashtales.com/submit

The palisade that surrounds the survivors of Lakewall can only offer protection for so long. Listen to the original post-apocalyptic story from John L Davis IV. Read "Lakewall" on Ash Tales: ashtales.com/stories/lakewall Discover more original post apocalyptic stories: ashtales.com/stories Get featured on the podcast: ashtales.com/submit

Jacob and Katy travel with their family through the shattered ruins of a forgotten world. But from within the empty buildings that line the roads, a strange beautiful music can be heard... a siren song too alluring to resist. Listen to the mesmerising short story from author by AE Stueve. Read "Jacob and Katy and the Building People" on Ash Tales: https://ashtales.com/jacob-and-katy-and-the-building-people/ Discover more original post apocalyptic stories: ashtales.com/post-apocalyptic-short-stories/ Get featured on the podcast: ashtales.com/short-story-submissions/

Who said the end of the world had to be so serious? In today's episode, we're entering the lives of lonely, disillusioned moon colonists, stranded on the lunar surface when the world ends. Written by Tyler Bumpus, author of "The Swallowed World" series, today's story is a pitch perfect combination of sci fi horror and dark humour. Read "Mooners" on Ash Tales: https://ashtales.com/mooners/ Discover more original post apocalyptic stories: ashtales.com/post-apocalyptic-short-stories/ Get featured on the podcast: ashtales.com/short-story-submissions/

Today, we're exploring a world wracked by rain and flood water, overgrown and unrecognisable. Set hundreds of years after the downfall of civilisation, we're following a mysterious order - known as the Green Priests - as they investigate a suspicious disappearance, and try to quell a dangerous insurrection in the process. Read "The Gates of Morbach" on Ash Tales: https://ashtales.com/stories/the-gates-of-morbach Discover more original post apocalyptic stories: https://ashtales.com/stories/ Get featured on the podcast: ashtales.com/short-story-submissions/

Today's story comes courtesy of Lorin R. Robinson, author of the Climate Fiction compilation "Tales from the Warming". Earth Day 2117 follows the plight of the McIntyre clan, as they seek refuge from a seemingly unending climate catastrophe, known as "The Warming", in an isolated and hidden valley. Like his Cli-Fi contemporaries, Lorin's fantastic and poignant short story shines a much-needed light on climate change. If you enjoyed today's story, check out Lorin's Book, "Tales from the Warming": http://www.open-bks.com/library/moderns/tales-from-the-warming/about-book.html Read "Earth Day 2117" on Ash Tales: http://ashtales.com/earth-day-2117/ Get featured on the podcast: ashtales.com/short-story-submissions/

Today's episode is written by Melissa Dykes. Melissa is the author of All the Elders Orphans, a powerful & moving post-apocalyptic novel that pits one woman’s humanity against the dark realities of a brutal new world – and at the heart of it all, a child’s life hangs in the balance. The story we're sharing today is part of Melissa's debut novel - it's one of the best indie novels I've come across in the last few months (and that's saying something), and if you're down to find out how the story finishes, you can find All the Elders Orphans on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/All-Elders-Orphans-Book-One/dp/1536911445/ Get featured on the podcast: ashtales.com/short-story-submissions/

In today's episode, we're discovering the story of Elani, a lonely huntress, cast adrift in a world of violence and magic. Set hundreds of years after the Apocalypse, Elani's world is one of constant danger - and, thanks to a disaster, long lost to memory, home to a never-ending storm that threatens to swallow the earth. But, Elani isn't the only inhabitant of the Drowned World - and upriver, darker creatures dwell. Download and keep this episode's original short story: ashtales.com/drowned-world-part-1-elani/ Get featured on the podcast: ashtales.com/short-story-submissions/