Great Freebies and Happy Hobbit Day!

Some more awesome free genre items today. Another great issue of the bi-weekly eZine Beneath Ceaseless Skies, a new story up at Tor.com, a new issue of the always impressive StarShipSofa, the continuation of Amber E. Scott's story at Paizo, and a couple of audio versions of classic SF stories at The Drama Pod.

Today's illustration is from "The Night Children"

@Beneath Ceaseless Skies: "Butterfly" by Garth Upshaw. Fantasy.

The train jerked forward the instant I boarded. Steam chuffed, and wheels scraped metal rails. I stumbled against the guard, a beefy, middle-aged halfbreed. She wrinkled her nose and checked me off a list. “Maia Carson. Sit down.”

@Beneath Ceaseless Skies: "The Magick" by Kristina C. Mottla.

“Once a Magick visibly manifests its skills, said Magick must be immediately transported, as community property, to the nearest Hith Auction House in order to establish control over its nascent iniquity pre-sale.”

@Tor: "The Night Children" by Alexander Gordon Smith. Horror.

"There are worse things hiding in the snow than soldiers"

Serial Fiction
@Paizo: "The Seventh Execution - Chapter Three: The Fettered Freed " by Amber E. Scott. Fantasy.

"The moon was a yellow bruise in the sky as I hurried through the streets of Edme. Sweat poured off me as if I raced through a furnace. I ran without seeing, navigating the streets by long practice. I felt I had left part of myself back at home, as if I had lost a limb."

Audio Fiction
@Beneath Ceaseless Skies: "Gone Sleeping" by Heather Clitheroe. Fantasy.

"Well, what was I supposed to do? I wished harder. I couldn't just stop."

@The Drama Pod: "Youth" by Issac Asimov. Science Fiction.

"Red and Slim found the two strange little animals the morning after they heard the thunder sounds. They knew that they could never show their new pets to their parents."

@The Drama Pod: "The Burning Bridge" by Poul Anderson. Science Fiction.

"A starship captain has to make a terrible choice. Should they go on or should they turn back?"

@StarShipSofa: Episode #204 "Dolly" by Elizabeth Bear and "Secret Identity" by Paul Cornell.


Holiday
Happy Hobbit Day! Today (Sept. 22) is the birthday of both Frodo and Bilbo Baggins today so do something appropriate to celebrate. Start one of the books, watch one of the movies, raise a toast, or whatever you think is best.