Friday Freebies

More cool freebies from great sites.










@AE: "Dinner Guests" by Ivan Dorin.

"Six thousand feet above sea level in Banff National Park two wardens paused at the side of a backcountry trail. Their exhalations steamed in the January air as they stared at a tree ornamented by a two-pound Atlantic lobster in a resealable plastic bag."

@Daily Science Fiction: "Sea Charm" by Ann Chatham.

"It's not my rule," said the sorceress, crossly. "It's a rule of magic, child. If you want a thing, you must be prepared to offer something you value as much in exchange. If you take my advice, you'll forget about this nonsense and speak to the young man on your own." She leaned on her hoe and watched the girl over her garden fence.

@Tor.com: "Apologue" by James Morrow.

"The instant they heard the news, the three of them knew they had to do something, and so, joints complaining, ligaments protesting, they limped out of the retirement home, went down to the river, swam across, and climbed onto the wounded island."

@Tor.com: "The Dead" by Michael Swanwick.

"Three boy zombies in matching red jackets bussed our table, bringing water, lighting candles, brushing away the crumbs between courses. Their eyes were dark, attentive, lifeless; their hands and faces so white as to be faintly luminous in the hushed light."

@Tor.com: "Wishbones" by Cherie Priest.

"At the Andersonville camp there is a great, stinking dread. The Confederates don’t have enough food of their own, so they sure as hell aren’t feeding their prisoners of war; and the prisoners who aren’t wasting away are dying of diseases faster than they can be replaced."

@Tor.com: "Trading Hearts at the Half Kaffe Café" by Charles de Lint.

"We all buy so heavily into how we hope things will turn out, how society and our friends say it should be, that by the time we actually have a date, we’re locked into those particular hopes and expectations and miss everything that could be."

Serial Fiction
@Author's Site: "The Journals of Doctor Mormeck (Mountain)–Entry #24" by Jeff VanderMeer.

"Millions of alt-Earths died out every year. One experienced mass extinctions due to cat litter and plastics and on top of that nuclear holocaust. Another remained verdant but personless when warlike aliens that resembled large terrestrial sharks declared the human race guilty of marine genocide."

@Author's Site: "Deluge (Part 88)" by Brian Keene.

"Leviathan trudged toward them. Sarah could only imagine the skyscraper-sized legs plodding along beneath the surface. Each step sent huge waves surging outward from the beast. The thing shook its massive, misshapen head, flapping its tentacles, and its roar echoed across the ocean, drowning out all other sound."

Audio Fiction
@About SF: "The Deadly Mission of Phineas Snodgrass" by Fred Pohl, read by Geoffrey A. Landis. [Via SF Signal]

"The Deadly Mission of Phineas Snodgrass" was first published in Galaxy Magazine in 1962, and has since been included in numerous collections of Mr. Pohl’s work.

@Classic Tales Podcast: "In Letters of Fire" by Gaston Leroux, read by B.J. Harrison.

"Rumors run up and down the mountainside of the strange and dangerous man who made a deal with the devil. In the hollow of a terrible storm, four hunters meet a melancholy madman who offers them shelter. But has this man really lost his mind, or is he laboring under the burden of a terrible curse?"

@Escape Pod: "Site Fourteen" by Laura Anne Gilman, read by Mat Weller.

"Robinachec nodded confirmation as though the pilot could see him. ”Roger that. Bringing you in.” Palming the flat-topped lever, I watched as he moved it gently back towards him, pulling the bullet-shaped transport into the shed, an external framework of metal beams just large enough to hold two minisubs, or one shuttle."

@StarShipSofa: "Her Acres of Pastoral Playground" by Mike Allen.

"a desperate father does everything he can (including the most terrible Black Magic) to stave off the inevitable weight of Cthulhu’s conquest. The story features a non-linear progression of events that explores an existentialist angle, while plunging the reader into some of the most ghastly imagery this side of Lovecraft himself." - Blackgate.com