Memorial Day Free Fiction

Same very good fiction today - more (along with comics and gaming) tomorrow.










@ChiZine:

"Mrs. Kong" by Sandra Kasturi.
"Mrs. Kong sighs. Take the jungle, for instance. Its verdant insinuation into their home, their food, their bed, is a battle she fights to a standstill each day"

"Everyone on Earth" by Brett A. Savory.
"I miss his head and hear bone crunch against my knuckles. His clavicle cracks."

"A Viper Among Us" by N. R. Brown.
"The entire Flock figured he’d disappeared because he needed time to mourn—everyone but Mambo Cree, high priestess of the church."

"Not That Kind Of Town" by Daniel Kaysen.
"Then the victims’ friends and family mark the spot, with flowers in cellophane, taped to the bark or the metal."

"Dust Bunnies" by Jeremy C. Shipp.
"I can’t for the life of me remember why my mother didn’t attend her funeral yesterday, so I ask her."

@Kasma: "Manifest Error" by Gary Cuba.

"Diogenes rediscovered the wayward bio-stasis chamber while struggling with the ship's balky cargo transfer lorry. The chamber, tucked inside a machinery plenum behind the lorry's docking nest, evoked a distant memory that now flooded through his synthetically evolved chimpanzee brain."

@The New Flesh: "Noise Complaints" by Connor de Bruler.

"The man in the adjacent apartment used to listen to sitcoms all night long. The noise pollution of weak storylines and canned laughter bled through the prefabricated walls like noxious gas into a death chamber."

Classic SF
@Munseys and Project Gutenberg: "Adolescents Only" by Irving E. Cox, from Imagination Stories of Science and Fantasy (Jan. 1953. )
"Elvin wasn't sure how it had started—maybe it was the Schermerhorn twins—or the mysterious "meteorite"—or else the world had gone crazy...."


@Munseys and Project Gutenberg: "The Worlds of Joe Shannon" by Frank M. Robinson, IF Worlds of Science Fiction (March 1954).

"Strumming a harp while floating on a white cloud might be Paradise for some people, but it would bore others stiff. Given an unlimited chance to choose your ideal world, what would you specify—palaces or log cabins?"

@Munseys and Project Gutenberg: "Project Hush" by Philip Klass, from Galaxy Science Fiction (Feb. 1954).

"The biggest job in history and it had to be done with complete secrecy. It was—which was just the trouble!"

@Munseys and Project Gutenberg: "The Chameleon Man" by William P. McGivern, from from Amazing Stories (Jan. 1943).

"Perfect adaptation, that's what it was. When a human being can blend with his surroundings, funny things can happen!"

@Munseys and Project Gutenberg: "The Last Gentleman" by Rory Magill, from IF Worlds of Science Fiction (Jan. 1953).

"No one knew, no one cared. For a great lethargy was overcoming the people and their only salvation was—"

@The Internet Archive: "We're Civilized!" by Mark Clifton and Alex Apostolides, from Galaxy Science Fiction (Aug. 1953). [via Marooned - Science Fiction & Fantasy books on Mars]

"Naturally, the superior race should win, but superior by which standards, and whose?"

@Project Gutenberg: "The Beautiful People" by Charles Beaumont, from If Worlds of Science Fiction (Sept. 1952). [via Triplanetary]

"Mary was a misfit. She didn't want to be beautiful. And she wasted time doing mad things—like eating and sleeping."

Reviewed and Free
@BestScienceFictionStories.com: "Mouse" by Frederic Brown, from Thrilling Wonder Stories (1949).

"It was cigar-shaped, about seven feet long and two feet in diameter at the thickest point."

@Beam Me Up: Episode #263 featuring part two of "Simulacrum" by Ken Liu (The conclusion "We are carried deeper into the dynamics and implications of the Simulacrum device and how it has impacted the inventor’s life") and "Better Than Jelly Beans" by Doug Hilton ("a twisted tale in the vein of Damon Knights 'To Serve Man'").

@LibriVox: "The Wonderful Garden or The Three C.'s" by E. Nesbit, read by Ruth Golding. Children's Fantasy.

"Do you believe in magic? Caroline, Charles and Charlotte do, and nothing that happens during their summer holiday at their great uncle's house does anything to diminish that belief. "

Serial Audio
@The Author's Site: "The Starter" Episode #16.

"After the game with Isis is over, Quentin, Yassoud and John head out on the town. While Quentin is almost always interested in seeing the sites, tonight the boys have a surprise in store for Quentin."

Classic Serial Audio
@Triplanetary: The Adventures of Superman, now up to "Atom Man In Metropolis" parts 17-19.

"Superman recovers but can he stop the Atom Man in time? Find out as the transcription feature comes to its dramatic conclusion."

Flash Audio
@Beware the Hairy Mango: Weird.

• Episode 77 "Sex, Ice Cream, Sex"
• Episode 78 "Wedding the Dress"

@Daily Science Fiction: "Shades of Orange" by Caroline M Yoachim.
@Dark Valentine: "Passion in Venice" by Cormac Brown.
@AE: "Founding Fathers" by Edward W. Robertson. Science Fiction.
@Everyday Fiction: "The Sat-Nav of Doom" by Nyki Blatchley. Fantasy/humor.
@Everyday Fiction: "Leaf" by Douglas Campbell. Science Fiction.
@Eschatology: "Of a Disease" by Mike Sauve. Horror.
@The New Flesh: "The Keeper" by Kurt Newton. Horror.
@Quantum Muse: "The Virgin Factory" by Harris Tobias.
@365 tomorrows: Science Fiction.

• "The Lottery" by Travis Gregg.
• "The Iteration Cube" by Garrett Harriman.
• "Sign of the Times" by Roi R. Czechvala.
• "Synesthesia" by Evan McCoy.

@Flashes in the Dark: Horror.

• "Shears" by Conan Young.
  
• "The Magician" by Eleni Konstantine.
• "Breathless" by Neil Leckman.

@ChiZine: [poems]

• My Friend Ernie, Trying to Light a Match by Tom Piccirilli
• Lake Ontario Looked at During the August New Moon by Peter Block-Hansen
• Irish Witches by Clara Blackwood
• Neo by Scott E. Green
• The Mummy by Francine Lewis

@Weirdyear:

• "We Have Until Sunrise" by Frank Larnerd [poem]
• "Geronimo of the Stars" by Susan Franceschina.
• "The Para-Idiotic Table" by Ralph Puglisi.
• "Wishful Thinking" by Jeff Hill.

@Yesteryear Fiction: Fantasy.

• "Dolls for Dummies" by Deryn Pittar.
• "Mag and the Tar Pig" by Jesse Harlin.