<![CDATA[Strange Country]]>Strange Country is speculative and literary fiction, mostly Southern, read aloud by the author. Every other week, a new story — the kind that tilts the familiar a few degrees off-axis and sees what falls out. Set in a future looking more and more like our own.

Start with Episode One - Watch the Road.

Bring headphones.

]]>https://strange-country.com/Riverside.fm (https://riverside.com)Wed, 22 Jul 2026 07:09:34 GMTSat, 06 Jun 2026 02:05:59 GMT60Seth Ervin<p>Strange Country is speculative and literary fiction, mostly Southern, read aloud by the author. Every other week, a new story — the kind that tilts the familiar a few degrees off-axis and sees what falls out. Set in a future looking more and more like our own. <br /><br />Start with Episode One - Watch the Road. <br /><br />Bring headphones.</p>episodicSeth Ervinsethervin@gmail.comyes<![CDATA[Memory Care]]>A trader works the floor of a market where memories are the only commodity that matters — bought, held, shorted, resold to anyone wired in. The job is a windfall. The apartment, the lover, the luck: all of it arrived at once, like a gift. A near-future story about gratitude as a product, and the long con of getting exactly what you want.

]]>739d8958-7ea7-459c-8ded-0d1ca61f4f64Mon, 29 Jun 2026 13:31:38 GMT<p>A trader works the floor of a market where memories are the only commodity that matters — bought, held, shorted, resold to anyone wired in. The job is a windfall. The apartment, the lover, the luck: all of it arrived at once, like a gift. A near-future story about gratitude as a product, and the long con of getting exactly what you want.</p>no00:30:20Memory Carefull<![CDATA[Long Haul]]>Contains war content and strong language.

A long-haul trucker drives the night shift on I-85 with a dead friend riding shotgun and a war starting back up on the radio. Max has pills for the panic attacks, an audiobook on meaning, and a phone call home he's not ready to make. Then a stranger dies in his arms at a truck stop, and the bill for someone else's kid comes due.

Four years before the Turning. A story about debt, ghosts, and the math of going back.

]]>eaf50330-bd78-4d45-84f1-fd964924ad00Sun, 21 Jun 2026 21:33:39 GMT<p>Contains war content and strong language.<br /><br />A long-haul trucker drives the night shift on I-85 with a dead friend riding shotgun and a war starting back up on the radio. Max has pills for the panic attacks, an audiobook on meaning, and a phone call home he's not ready to make. Then a stranger dies in his arms at a truck stop, and the bill for someone else's kid comes due.<br /></p><p>Four years before the Turning. A story about debt, ghosts, and the math of going back.</p>yes00:30:3213Long Haulfull<![CDATA[Faithful]]>Faithful has been tending the dead at Memorial Acres for longer than most people have been alive. He digs the graves, witnesses the grief, and protects and keeps the grounds. The world and its grief continue to change, and so does Faithful.

]]>f78224d4-ff20-43d6-81ed-f4e422adafefSun, 14 Jun 2026 12:43:37 GMT<p>Faithful has been tending the dead at Memorial Acres for longer than most people have been alive. He digs the graves, witnesses the grief, and protects and keeps the grounds. The world and its grief continue to change, and so does Faithful.</p>no00:32:0012Faithfulfull<![CDATA[Episode One: Watch the Road ]]>John Franklin has surrounded his farmhouse with homemade landmines. In the post-Turning, only one thing matters - survival. The Union has fallen and Amity has arisen with its mutated human-hunting drones. John has done all he can do to prepare. To survive. To watch the road for what might be coming.

]]>ffc05748-ccea-48a8-83fb-6af6a9651d67Sun, 07 Jun 2026 15:09:28 GMT<p>John Franklin has surrounded his farmhouse with homemade landmines. In the post-Turning, only one thing matters - survival. The Union has fallen and Amity has arisen with its mutated human-hunting drones. John has done all he can do to prepare. To survive. To watch the road for what might be coming.</p>no00:47:5411Episode One: Watch the Road full