Great Free Fiction - Including Audio and Flash.

Another batch of great free fiction today with three more magazines coming in, as well as a full length Daily Science Fiction story. Some top of the line audio fiction from two of the "pods" and Drabblecast, as well as Star Trek fan audio. (Seriously if you drive any distance, you should turn off your radio and give these and the other free podcasts a listen. You won't regret it.). And a good collection of flash fiction. Tomorrow should be classic fiction and a QuasarDragon presents.

Today's illustration is for the final Dark Valentine Magazine.


Sad news. This issue of Dark Valentine Magazine is the final one. It is a loss for fans of dark fantasy and for aspiring writers alike. I'll miss this one.










@Dark Valentine Archive: The Final issue of Dark Valentine is out with fiction by Kate Horsley, K. C. Ball, James Nuttall, Patricia Abbott, Katherine Tomlinson, Scott J . Laurange, Richard Godwin, Sandra Seamans, Nyki Blatchley, John Condenzio, Jamie Mason, Diane Arrelle, Anna Caro, Brian Trent, and Christine Pope.

@Expanded Horizons: [Speculative Fiction]
"The Battle of Little Big Science" by Pamela Rentz.

Agnes Wilder stared into Ike Ferris’ creased brown face. “You need what?” “A cart, you know, so we don’t have to walk all that way.” “I’ll look into it.” She kept her voice even. “My budget doesn’t allow for a lot of extras.” She couldn’t believe that her critical scientific research funding relied on people too old to walk to the conference room from the parking lot.

"The Djinn" by S. Ali.

"It was the laughter that finally drove me over the edge, the sound inexplicably bursting through the silence that had surrounded me for decades. A high, girlish peal; perfectly crafted to enthrall a young man, but with a hint of childish delight. Solomon’s eye! The energy that emanated from the girl was intoxicating."

@Ideomancer: Vol. 10, Issue 2 [Speculative Fiction]

“Rendered Down” by Cory Skerry.

"Lean muscles flex and bunch as he reaches behind his head for his towel, which he was using as a pillow. As he holds it up, I realize I’m wrong. It’s a glistening white pelt, a sealskin with empty holes for eyes and a drooping mouth with a lolling tongue and stiff, bristly whiskers. "

“A Letter From Northern Niaro” by Alter S. Reiss.

"In recent months, I have been working as a bodyguard for my friend Huang Ba, as he conducts his business in the countryside to the north of Niaro the City. It might seem odd for a former captain of the infantry to work as a hired bravo, but Ba pays as well as the army ever did, and allows me a freedom that my orders never did."

“Chrestomathy” by Anatoly Belilovsky.

"The bullet felt no exhilaration (but the man did) as the trigger broke, as the flint fell toward the striker, as the sparks fell to the pan, as the powder caught and flared and burned its way into the chamber, just behind the bullet."

@Daily Science Fiction: "Cloaks and Gloves" by Patricia Russ.

"As far as cloaks went, Rall had to admit that Verenisse's were good ones. She had fooled him more than once, and he expected her to walk abroad under guises. One time she'd crept up to him as a barely adolescent boy, all shaggy dark hair and bright curious eyes, and he'd talked with the child for half an hour before realizing that it was her."

@Escape Pod: Episode #295 "Disarm" by Vylar Kaftan, read by: Mat Weller.

"We kept in touch through the war, when he messaged me about marching through upstate New York. He always started the same way: “Dear Ryan, Please come kick my commanding officer in the balls.” Then he’d tell me about the latest mess–cracks in their radiation suits, or toxic waterholes that were supposed to be clear."

@Pseudopod: Episode #232: "The Song Of Prague" by Shane Jiraiya Cummings, read by MarBelle.

“It was the most beautiful song he had ever heard. Haunting, melancholy, but with a magical quality — a soul — infused into each note. The song drew Len to the park, from the very moment he stepped from Vltavska station.”

@Drablecast: Episode #206 "Creature" by Ramsey Shehadeh. Drabble "The End of the World" by C.S. DeFrance. Streaming.

"And so came Creature out of the wasteland and into the city, bouncing from hilltop to hilltop like a bulbous ballerina skipping across the knuckles of a great hand. He was big as the moon and black as the night, and he came crashing into the city like a silent meteor. The cityfolk watched his approach with wide eyes and open mouths, and then scattered like leaves..."

Fan Audio
@Giant Gnome Productions: Star Trek Outpost Episode 24 :"Drawing Back the Veils"

"With a great many things hanging in the balance, the denizens of DS3 learn that of all the things that can be hidden, the truth is the most difficult of all."

@Every Day Fiction: "Polar Explorations" by Annie Tupek. Science Fiction.
@Flashes in the Dark: "Toys" by Michael A. Kechula. Horror.
@Flashes in the Dark: "Unchained Dead" by Mydnight Blackthorne.
@365 tomorrows: "You and Me and an Ass Makes Three, Tonight" by Steve Smith. SF.
@365 tomorrows: "Star Light, Star Bright" by Duncan Shields. Science Fiction.
@Weirdyear: "This Fern" by Scott Root.
@Yesteryear Fiction: [Haiku] "Lost" by J. Darvin and "Burial of the Sky" by Robert William Shmigelsky.
@Eschatology: "Manhattan Love Story #6: Plastic Flowers" by Kyle Hemmings. Horror
@Flash Fiction Online: "The Girl-Shaped Jar" by Camille Alexa. Slipstream / weird.
@Flash Fiction Online: "Change" by Nikki Loftin. Fantasy.
@Flash Fiction Friday: 11 conspiracy theory based stories. Various genres.
@Daily Science Fiction: "To Soothe Ravaged Throats" by Allison Jamieson-Lucy
@Expandedhorizon: [Poem] "From Blood and Ash and Embers" by Jei D. Marcade.
@Ideomancer: [Poetry]

• “Redcap Repast” by WC Roberts
• “The Conqueror of Mars, To His Beloved” by Megan Arkenberg
• “Splendours To Devour” by Mike Allen
• “Beansidhe” by Shannon Connor Winward