Amazing Stories, Dracula, William Morris, and Much More

Ahoy mateys, 'tis a fine haul that's been plundered today. (in non-pirate that means a lot of cool sites have put up free genre items today).

E-Fiction
New at Manybooks, "Solander's Radio Tomb" by Ellis Parker Butler from Amazing Stories April 1956.

"The intricacies in radio are so great, and the changes occur so quickly that no one can afford to make a will wherein a radio provision figures. Once we thought of having a radio loud speaker installed in our coffin to keep us company and make it less lonesome. After reading this story we quickly changed our mind. The possibilities are too various."

In free e-book formats HERE.



And at Manybooks, "Hard Guy" by H.B. Carleton from Amazing Stories April 1956, first published in Amazing Stories November 1942.

"There will be fine, glittering, streamlined automobiles in 2000 A.D. Possibly they will run themselves while the driver sits back with an old-fashioned in his hands. Perhaps they will carry folks down the highways at ninety miles an hour in perfect safety. But picking up a hitch-hiker will still be as dangerous as it is today." I want my self-driving car! I could drink old-fashioneds if that's what it takes.

In free e-book formats HERE.


And finally at Manybooks "The Corsair King" by Mór Jókai (1901).

"A swashbuckling pirate's adventure tale starring the famous Captain Barthelemy." Pirates, yarrrhhh!


in E-book formats HERE.





SpaceWesterns has a new story up "Better than Gold" by Robert Mancebo.

"Beto Rivera is a prospecting on the lonely planet of Mirimar when he rescues a woman that he wishes he hadn’t."

Online HERE.

And Hub has a new issue, number 67, out featuring:
Fiction: "Life from Mars" by Penelope Friday
Reviews: Halting State, The Writer’s Tale, Cage of Night
and Feature: Big Screen Future: Alien Resurrection

Available in PDF and Mobi HERE.


Audio Fiction
LibriVox has added an audiobook of Mary Shelley's lesser known SF novel The Last Man. 18 hours.

"The Last Man is an early post-apocalyptic science fiction novel by Mary Shelley, which was first published in 1826. The book tells of a future world that has been ravaged by a plague. The plague gradually kills off all people. Lionel Verney, central character, son of a nobleman who gambled himself into poverty, finds himself immune after being attacked by an infected “negro,” and copes with a civilization that is gradually dying out around him. (Summary from wikipedia)"

This is a historically important novel but the book is rather leisurly paced (read "boring) so unless the readers pulled off a miracle, this should be approached as education not entertainment.

Available in MP3 and ogg HERE.

Also at LibriVox, William Morris' masterpiece fantasy The Wood Beyond the World. Read by Cori Samuel. Edited by Mandarine. 5 1/2 hours.

"Morris considered his fantasies a revival of the medieval tradition of chivalrous romances. In consequence, they tend to have sprawling plots of strung-together adventures. In this story, Walter leaves his father and his own unfaithful wife and sets sail in search of adventure. This he finds aplenty, encountering love, treachery and magic in the Wood of the title and travelling through the Mountains of the Folk of the Bears. But can he find happiness and peace by means of this Quest?"

Available in MP3 and ogg HERE.



A Bite of Stars, A Slug of Time, and Thou - Episode 13 is up featuring "Brian Aldiss’ 1957 short story, “All the World’s Tears”. It’s about a vitiated ecology, a mechanized society, and a desolate, wind-swept mansion where love may not be all you need." Read by Elisha Sessions.


Available streaming and in MP3 download HERE.





Pseudopod, the world's premiere horror fiction podcast has a new episode up, number 111, featuring "Radiodemonology" by John Medaille, read by Alasdair Stuart.

"I first discovered the existence of the human soul while examining the x-ray of a broken clavicle of an ugly boy named Peter Demetrios. Peter, who was the kind of kid I think of as a fly-torturing, spaghettio-bellied, dirty-fingernailed, nose-picking little crap of a little boy, had landed on a trampoline wrong and sustained a multiply displaced comminuted fracture of the collar bone."

Available streaming and in MP3 download HERE.



And Radio Tales of the Strange & Fantastic brings us another classic OTR episode Escape: "The Return." available in MP3 format HERE. And while there, don't miss last week's Dimension X adaptation of Murray Leinster's "The Lost Race."










Video
Dracula 1931


Available for free Download in MPEG4 (iPod) and Cinepack at the Internet Archive HERE.

Comics
The Horrors of it All has a man who made a rather poor career choice "He Who Robs the Dead" from Hand of Fate #23.

Online with Halloween appropriate rat chews HERE.







Pappy's Golden Age Comics Blogzine has a classic horror comic "Skulls of Doom" in B&W.


Poor guy just wants his brain back. Online HERE.




Fortress of Fortitude has the story of a creature simply wanting to be accepted for what it is in "A Simple Wish" from This Magazine Is Haunted #17.

Available for online reading HERE.






And Sweet Skulls has an adaptation of a Ray Bradbury story "Skeleton."


This story of a man who wants to get rid of his skeleton is HERE.