Various Cool Stuff.

A good variety of genre fiction in various formats today (which is the goal everyday). I hope to expand and organize the links section soon, their are at least a couple dozen great sites I need to add (Warning - the Dave definition of soon is similar to an Ent definition of soon).

And I read an interesting, rhetorical question wondering about "how many folks are overwhelmed by the amount of good free speculative fiction in the vast pixelated lands of the Internet." Obviously unanswerable but I do have some friendly advice to anyone feeling overwhelmed. Don't try to read, watch, listen to, etc. everything - it's impossible. Focus on what you enjoy most, whether it is a genre (SF, Horror, etc) or a format (comics, e-books, audio, etc.). Just do what you enjoy. However, if you have a fast connection you can save far more than you can read, and you can save it in case you ever do have the time -if you want.

E-Fiction
Beneath Ceaseless Skies has its third issue up with.

Part One of "The Crystal Stair" by Charles Coleman Finlay & Rae Carson Finlay.

and "Kingspeaker" by Marie Brennan.

Both online HERE.




Subterranean Online has a new story “Waiting for Rain” by Mary Robinette Kowal.

"The sun peeking through the grapevines felt hotter on Bharat Mundari’s neck than twenty-four degrees. Another perfect day. Bharat scowled and worked his way down the row of vines, thinning the grapes so the remaining Shiraz crop would become fuller and riper."


Online HERE. [via Variety SF]





Futurismic has "Resurfacing Billy" by Douglas Lain.

"a moody and multilayered metaphor that compares our approach to waste management with our approach to our own minds… and the minds of our children."

Online HERE. [via SF Signal]


And Apex Magazine has a pair of election horror stories.

Election Horror #1: "Plebiscite AV3X" by Jason Fischer. (flash)

and Election Horror #2: "Shaded Streams Run Clearest" by Geoffrey W. Cole.



Audio Fiction
StarShipSofa has its latest episode of their awesome Aural Delights, number 48, up featuring:

Poem: "Clockmakers Wife" by Mikal Trimm.

Flash Fiction: "UFO" by A Bertram Chandler.

Book Review: Sean Keogh.

Fact: "Arkham House Sample" by Amy H Sturgis.

Main Fiction: "Dhuluma" by Gord Sellar.

Narrators: Diane Serverson, David Munger, Dale Manly.

Online HERE. Or right click to save the MP3 here. [via SF Signal]


The Internet Archive has a new LibriVox audiobook "Masters of Space" by E. E. "Doc" Smith and E. E. Evans, read by R. J. Davis.

The Masters had ruled all space with an unconquerable iron fist. But the Masters were gone. And this new, young race who came now to take their place--could they hope to defeat the ancient Enemy of All?

In MP3 and ogg HERE.


Clonepod has a new episode, number 22, of Union Dues up, "The Sojourn of Taizen Kiro" by Jeffrey R DeRego, read by Leslie Ann Moore.

"I’m on my second Martini when I feel Miss Jennifer enter the Jumpin’ Catfish Lounge: Home of the Buck-Fifty Draft. The bar is attached to a seedy little candlepin bowling alley wedged between an abandoned church, Baptist I think, and a dirt parking lot stuffed with pickup trucks. The walls are papered with posters for low-rent country cover bands, amateur wrestling, and The World Famous Solomon Brothers Traveling Circus. A wagon wheel chandelier throws enough light that I can’t even blend into the shadows so she’s sure to see me."

Online HERE.


And The Zombie Astronaut has five abridged Algernon Blackwood stories, read by Hugh Ross. "The Willows," "The Empty House," "Ancient Sorceries,"Smith - An Episode In A Lodging House," and "The Glamour Of The Snow"

All are in MP3 HERE.


Video
Newly up at the Internet Archive War of the Robots (1978).

This is a movie so bad, it will make your eyes bleed! It's in competition with its predecessor War of the Planets for the title of worst "SF" film ever made. (Honest, they make Plan 9 from Outer Space look brilliant in comparison)

So if you want to torture yourself, or someone else, it's available in MPEG4 HERE.



Art/Gaming
Curmudgeons & Dragons is a fairly new blog that features "art for Old School Gaming by Steve Zieser."

The description is quite complete. The site features fantasy illustrations similar to those the filled RPGs during the 70s and 80s. While mostly of interest to gamers, non-gaming fantasy fans might enjoy some of the evocative art.

The site is HERE.





Comics
The Horrors of it All completes Voodoo #15 with story that's "more of a murder mystery than a tale of terror" but necessary to complete the issue.


"Dead Man's Pajamas" is online HERE.




And Dark Horse Presents has out a new issue of its monthly online comic book. Featuring, "Witchfinder: Murderous Intent," "Creepy: Om Nom Nom," "Emily the Strange," and "I See the Devil in My Sleep."

All online HERE.



Other Cool
Variety SF has a review of, and a link to, Larry Niven's 1993 short story "The Color of Sunfire" set in the "Known Space" universe.



Online HERE.






BestScienceFictionStories.com has a review of, and a link to, Robert Silverberg's short story "Yokel with Portfolio" originally published in the November 1955 issue of Imaginative Tales.

The review and link are HERE.




"My Star Trek Scrapbook" has a well-illustrated, six page article from 1976 "Star Trek Comes Back." Definitely worth a look.


Online HERE.







13 has a look at First Spaceship on Venus (1960). Many cool screen captures for this quiet little film HERE. (This is a public domain film so if the pictures there intrigue you, it is available for download at the Internet Archive here and here).

The site also looks at the adventure film Prehistoric Women (1950) HERE. This is a laughably bad film that is also available for download here.





And Jim C. Hines has a humerous essay that makes an imprtant point. "And the Award Shall be Known as ... The Dangerfield" argues that SF takes itself to seriously.

Online HERE. [via SF Signal]