Olaf Stapledon, Bram Stoker, and Newer Gems

Some good free fiction today

E-Fiction
At Manybooks, Olaf Stapledon's classic 1932 SF novel Last Men in London.

"That you may understand the significance of her words, I must explain that in our Neptunian rock-pools there are living things of three very different stocks. The first is rare. One may encounter in some sheltered cranny a vague greenish slime. This is the only relic of primeval Neptunian life, long since outclassed by invaders."

In free e-book downloads HERE





Strange Horizons has a new weekly issue out with;

ARTICLE: "Creating Dark Matter: An Interview with Sheree Renée Thomas," by Jenn Brissett.
I woke up at three o'clock in the morning and it just hit me. Bam! I'm gonna do black science fiction!

FICTION: "The First Time We Met," by Maria Deira.
"I glanced down at my arm. The gash, which had been raw and red just a few seconds earlier, was gone. The only trace of the wound was a thin white scar that curved along the muscle. "You're welcome," she said."

POETRY: "Porlock," by Robert Borski
"Fish now swim through the / libraries of Atlantis"

Online HERE.



Fantasy Magazine has "The Adventures of Petal, the Paperdoll Pirate" by Paul Jessup.

"The candle in the sky warmed their skin, making all too crisp their vellum bones. This was the Water Colored Tropics, far south from the harsh and acrylic snowlands that her Jotuns called home. Petal liked it here, this land of single hatch beaches and pop-up book natives in grass skirts."

Online HERE.


Hub has its 75th issue out with "A Little Mystery" by Len Bains.

"Wonders are not as rare as people think. In fact the world is crowded with the extraordinary, with things bizarre, arcane, occult, you name it. Each as unique as a snowflake, and yet in total as mundane as the drift that you have to dig your car from on a January morning."

Available for PDF and Mobi download HERE.



At Kat and Mouse, part seven of "Easy Money" by Abner Senires.

"The disk is encrypted, yes. I figured something pretty basic. CBC, LRW, maybe XTS. But no. The usual wasn't working. I tried a few more I picked up from Val and Kid. No go. So I had a look at the encryption itself."

Online HERE.


And a free excerpt, the first four chapters of The Kinship by the very cool Lisa Paitz Spindler.

"Kinship spy Jana Randall yearns for a mission to redeem herself and her career after the suspicious death of her partner. When she’s captured on a black ops mission to distant Ico, Jana is forced to share her mind with the memories of a long-dead queen and redemption seems beyond her grasp."


Online HERE. [via SF Signal]




Audio Fiction
Beam Me Up has its 144th episode with part two of "Paying it Forward by Michael Burstein and "Yellow Ribbon" by Asley Thomas. Both read by Paul Cole.


Streaming and in MP3 download HERE.







PodCastle has its 41st episode featuring "Dragon Hunt" by Sarah Prineas, read by Wilson Fowlie.

The peasant fell to his knees on the rush-covered floor before the high table. “Your Majesty, it is a dragon!” He dropped his hat to gesture widely with his hands. “We-we’ve seen it, My Lord! Huge it is, breathing great gobs of fire, shining in the sun, flying over our fields and houses, sharp c-claws, teeth, and–"

Streaming and in MP3 download HERE.



At Scott Sigler's website, chapter eleven of Contagious, read by the author.

"Dew exercises questionable judgement when he decides to teach Perry how to shoot. Betty Jewell is following in the footsteps of her father, The Orbital tries to find a way to stop The Sonofabitch, and Chelsea's destiny starts to solidify."

Available in MP3 download HERE.






At LibriVox, The Jewel of Seven Stars by Bram Stoker, read by Roger Melin. 10 1/2 hours.

"The Jewel of Seven Stars .. is a horror novel by Bram Stoker first published in 1903. The story is about an archaeologist’s plot to revive Queen Tera, an ancient Egyptian mummy."

In ogg and MP3 downloads HERE.


And at Free Reads, James Patrick Kelly reads part two of his story "Painting The Air"

Available in MP3 HERE. [via SF Signal]