Spider Robinson and Much More

A good morning's worth of free cool items in many categories today.

New at Fantasy Magazine, "Scatter and Return, the Eyes of the Princess" by Willow Fagan.

Yes, yes, the princess is locked in the tower. But the story as you’ve heard it is lacking in several crucial details, details which you may want to listen to, if you are truly interested in rescuing her.

First of all, the princess locked herself in the tower. And the tower is not some isolated, mysterious prison in the middle of the woods. It is not covered with thorns or guarded by crystalline …

Online HERE.


New at Fantasy & Science Fiction, "The Only Known Jump Across Time" by Eugene Mirabelli (2003).

"Eugene Mirabelli's first appearance in F&SF. It ran in our Sept. 2003 issue and while it's not what you might call hardcore science fiction, it charmed a lot of our readers. This story has been incorporated into Mr. Mirabelli's new novel, The Goddess in Love with a Horse (and What Happened Next), which has recently been published by Spring Harbor press."

Online HERE. [via SF Signal]




At Manybooks, "The Man Who Came Early" by Poul Anderson. (1957)
Here F&SFs favorite Scandinavian skald takes us to Iceland near the end of the tenth century and convincingly depicts a truly "alien" way of life and teaches us the tragic truth that the role of a twentieth-century timetraveler to a "primitive" culture need not necessarily be that of Prometheus the Fire-Bringer. Approx. 10,035 words.

In various free e-book formats HERE. [also via SF Signal]






And Strange Horizons has a new weekly issue up with:

Article: "What Killed the Robot Soldier?" by Ben Crispin
Did the Army receive their new machines on the radio-clogged battlefield, relieved that all of those worrying signal problems had been resolved . . . and then discover that they hadn't been?

Column: "Wii Fitness: Rocking the Hula Hoops (And the Weight Issues)" by E. Cabell Hankinson Gathman. The release of the Wii Fit convinced me that I would actually use the Wii once I bought it, and having a ground floor apartment made it a morally defensible purchase.

Fiction: "Return" (part 2 of 2) by Eric Vogt
Before Tima had left, he and Svena used a 0.7-Turing AI to build a reactive construct of him. That construct was all that Vishi had known of her father.

Poetry: "Dream People" by Bruce Boston.
If dream people were the world / there would be no time / for reflection.

And reviews, all online HERE.



Audio Fiction
Spider Robinson has a new episode of his podcast Spider on the Web. This week featuring a reading of "Hugo and Locus Award-winning novella "The Persistence of Vision" by John Varley. Music by John Boutté, Doug Cox, Jake Thackray, David Crosby."

Available in MP3 download HERE.





Beam Me Up has its 130th podcast up featuring Part One of "9 Sundays in a Row" by Kris Dikeman.

"From the wildly imaginative author Kris Dikeman and the good graces of Strange Horizons, comes Nine Sundays in a Row. I tried to keep my comments brief this week but I still managed to run close so I will play part one of this wonderful retelling of the Cross Roads myth. (I know, not strictly science fiction, but you know me and seasonal tales....could not resist) I KNOW you will enjoy this one. From the blog, strange connections between the Earth and the Sun, mice back from the dead?, Black holes in the lab!!!!!, magnetic force fields for space craft?, Michael Crichton passes and more.....put your costumes back on chillins, All hallows eve ain't over yet!"

Available streaming and in MP3 download HERE.

PodCastle has a new "miniature" up "Okra, Sorghum, Yam" by Bruce Holland Rogers, read by An Owomoyela. 14 minutes.

“Here is part of wisdom,” Old Kwaku said, and he began to rearrange some okra pods while they were still on their mother plants. He pulled one and nudged another and coaxed a third. He moved this one and that one together and tied the pods together in the shape of a little green person.

Streaming and in MP3 download HERE.



And Listening Booth has more classic old time radio SF.

The Conclusion of Suspense: "Donovan's Brain" (Part 1 is still up).
A rare 2-part 1 hour episode. Following a fatal car accident, a vicious tycoon's brain is kept alive by an ambitious scientist, who is certain that his technique will save countless lives. Unfortunately, this brain does not have such philanthropic inclinations.

Exploring Tomorrow: "The Alien"
An alien crashes his ship into a remote section of Arizona, where a family of local yokels decide to use him to make a fortune. Story by Gordon Dickson.

Mind Webs: "The Place of the Gods."
An post-holocaust tale of a shaman's son whose rite of passage is to venture to the forbidden ruins left by the long-departed gods.

All online HERE.


Gaming
Wilderlands OD&D "Fantasy adventure gaming inspired by Judges Guild's classic 'Wilderlands of High Fantasy' setting" has new D&D monster the Cruel, or Chronobanshee inspired by The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

Online in OD&D stats HERE.






ART
Pulp Sunday is weekly blog featuring "Sunday Pulp Illustrations by Francesco Francavilla." Absolutely amazing pulp and pulp-horror illustrations.


Online HERE.







And Golden Age Comic Book Stories has a gallery of Frederic Richardson illustrations for Queen Zixi of Ix by L. Frank Baum from St Nicholas Magazine May-Oct/1905

While many of these are too cutesy for my taste, some are absolutely gorgeous fantasy illustrations.

Online HERE.



Comics
The Horrors of it All has "Epitaph!" from Weird Mysteries #9. This is a quieter than usual story, but no less creepy for being so.


Online HERE.








And Pappy's Golden Age Comics Blogzine has "See, Hear, Speak Evil" from Boris Karloff Tales Of Mystery #11. This story features art from Al Williamson, who illustrated the Flash Gordon comic strip and early Star Wars comic books.


Available online HERE.





Other Cool
BestScienceFictionStories.com reviews, and links to a free online version of, the Hugo nominated "The Chief Designer" by Andy Duncan (2001) first published in the June 2001 issue of Asimov’s Science Fiction.

The review and link are online HERE.




In anticipation of the trailer for 2009's Star Trek relaunch, Nostalgic G begins STAR TREK WEEK 2008. The first post HERE features a couple of pictures from the upcoming movie and the second post "STAR TREK: 42 Years and Counting... " looks at the original series HERE.







And Grognardia briefly looks at A. Merritt's Dwellers in the Mirage, which is available for free online reading at Project Gutenberg Australia.

The Discussion is HERE and the text is HERE.