LIGHTSPEED MAGAZINE - Science Fiction and Fantasy Story Podcast (Sci-Fi | Audiobook | Short Stories) "The Tide Folk" by Jennifer Hudak + "Espie Droger Dreams of War" by Matthew Kressel
Mar 12, 2026
A dusk-lit tale of tide folk drawn to land by liminal beauty and the peril of staying after dark. An insomnia-haunted protagonist relives apocalyptic war dreams and faces a future officer’s grim reckoning. Memory, duty, and guilt collide as a devastating choice about erasing the past and remaking the world unfolds.
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Liminal Tide Folk Collect Human Detritus
- Tide folk are liminal scavengers who emerge at dusk to collect human detritus from tide pools and return to the sea before nightfall.
- Jennifer Hudak highlights their ephemeral beauty through details like soda-tab bracelets, chip-bag necklaces, and jars of limpets.
Beauty Causes Lingerers To Become Stones
- The tide folk knowingly linger for beauty though it dooms some to stranding, implying valuing ephemeral beauty over longevity.
- Hudak uses transformed objects (marbles turning to silica, stones dulling when dried) to show impermanence.
Espy Droger The Exhausted Data Engineer
- Espy Droger is introduced as a burned-out data engineer haunted by dreams of ruin and nostalgia for snow.
- Matthew Kressel frames his malaise with details: a private island, locked laptop, and nine months in a sub-basement storeroom.