Welcome back to Worlds Without Warning. This week, Jon Negroni reads aloud his new contemporary short fiction story, "Your Inner Sourdough." Set on a BART train in the Bay Area, this story follows Marina, who has claimed a specific seat as her daily sanctuary, only to find a stranger sitting in it every morning. Blending self-help culture satire with relatable commuter anxiety and awkward human connection, the story explores boundaries, control, and what happens when our carefully constructed inner peace meets someone else's completely reasonable existence in the most embarrassing ways possible.

You can find the written version of "Your Inner Sourdough" right here.

About the Author

Jon Negroni is a Puerto Rican author based in the San Francisco Bay Area. His published books include The Pixar Theory (Slimbooks, 2015), a pop culture nonfiction, and his debut novel Killerjoy (5050 Press, 2017). His recent short fiction includes "Men Who Are Strong" (IHRAM Press) and "Upon a Dream," an original fable published in The Fairy Tale Magazine. His upcoming anthology appearances include a cryptid horror tale, a speculative fiction piece for Neon Hemlock, and a superhero story for Oddity Prodigies. He's also the co-founder of the entertainment website, InBetweenDrafts.

Listen toward the end of the show for Jon’s full author’s notes on the making of this story.

• Read "Your Inner Sourdough" with original artwork.
• Explore our full archive of stories and poetry.
• Submit your own story to be featured on Cetera.

About Cetera

Cetera is a literary magazine publishing original short fiction every Thursday. Our stories span literary fiction, speculative tales, horror, sci-fi, fantasy, and weird fiction. All written without AI assistance and curated by editor Natalia Emmons.

Credits

• Host & Author: Jon Negroni
• Editor: Natalia Emmons
• Artwork: Jon Negroni
• Music: "Magic Escape Room" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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