Tuesday Free Fiction

More good free fiction and audio fiction - all credit, as always, to the great sites linked.




Fiction
@Author's Site: "The Charming Way" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

"Mellie has a secret: she blames fairy tales for ruining her life. She believes she can stop fairy tales from ruining other people’s lives by forcing booksellers to stop selling fairy tales. But on the way to her protest at a book fair, she runs into a handsome man. A very handsome man who isn’t just her prince charming—he’s the prince charming. And he loves books. Even fairy tales."

@Daily Science Fiction: "A Great Destiny" by Eric James Stone.

"The village streets were uncrowded. The Emperor Dal's slavers had come through five months ago, choosing a third of the able-bodied men by lottery to work on building the new capital city. Most of the men's families had followed."

@Electric Velocipede: "Fastening" by Patricia Russo

That time R&R had thrown the tea cups from the fourth-floor window of Rae’s room and busted two of them, they’d filched the bottle of Maker’s Mark right out of Melvina’s nightie drawer. They were decently ashamed afterwards, but Melvina still gave them both the silent treatment for a week.

@Fantasy Magazine: "Christopher Raven" by Theodora Goss.

"Why had I come back to Collingswood? That was what I asked myself, standing on the path that led to the main school building, a structure built of gray stone and shadowed by oaks that had stood for a hundred years."

@Lightspeed: "Houses" by Mark Pantoja.

“I was on Stand-By Mode,” I said, speaking through my house android, a gray unisex full-maintenance model. I tossed up an image of the bear on the wallscreen: A hulking shadow in the predawn dark. “I didn’t know what it was.”

@Philippine Genre Stories: "Makisig’s Heart" by Kate Osias.

"Listen, daughter. This story begins before the beginning, because that is the way of our people."

@Ray Gun Revival: "The Veterans’ Club" by Robin Bailes.

"If you’re ever on Mars and in the capital, and perhaps find yourself on Jutland Street where it joins Tranquillity, then look to your left (standing facing the War Memorial) and you will see a side street, half hidden by the statue of General Goshe."

@Strange Horizons: "Eight" by Corinne Duyvis.

"If everything went well, I'm back in safe, familiar 2020, and across from me in this slowly forming room, in the center of all these people awaiting my arrival, is twenty-one-years-young me."

@Wily Writers: "The Bobble Head of Doom" by Robert C. Eccles.

“Nice night for a murder, wouldn’t you agree, Mr. President?” Nick Singletary watched the people walk past on the sidewalk outside his ground floor apartment.

@World SF Blog: "Dancing Together Under Polarized Skies" by Milena Benini.

"In the time before time, when everyone was anyone, a grazwiq sat on the seashore and enjoyed the sun. It was the time before time, so the grazwiq who was anyone and everyone did not know that shu did this every day. Shu knew only the light, and the heat, and the calm, salty smell of the sea. Shu was not-hungry and not-sleepy, and that meant not-bad. It was the time before time, and the grazwiq had very few words."

Serial Fiction
"Into The Woods - Part Eight" by Abner Senires.

"The mine entrance sat in the hillside some fifty meters from the rear of the house, set back into the hill and framed by a supporting arch of thick wooden beams."

Audio
@LibriVox: "The Book of Ghosts" by Sabine Baring-Gould, read by many readers.

"includes stories that are run-of-the-mill, horrifying, bizarre, humorous, and moralistic. As an example of the variety: "The White Flag" shows the need and power of forgiveness, even when it seems impossible, but many of the stories, such as "Mustapha," feature a ghost out for revenge." - Amazon.com

@PodCastle: "The God-Death of Halla" by Tina Connolly, read by Jen Rhodes

"Halla got halfway out the window, stolen brooch in hand, and then the dizzies hit. She swore as the world rocked around her. She kicked off the sandstone wall by instinct and thumped to the ground. The gold plate stuffed down her shift knocked her ribs and all her breath whooshed out. She gasped like a fish in the humid air."

@Wily Writers: "The Bobble Head of Doom" by Robert C. Eccles.


Serial Audio
@Author's Site: "The All-Pro - Episode #3" by Scott Sigler.

"Quentin goes head-to-head with Hokor the Hookchest as the team decides on new rookies. Is Quentin ready to play the manipulation game with Quyth Leaders? Also, Quentin gets a full tour of the Touchback, and meets the overly friendly Captain Kate Cheevers"

@Beam Me Up: "On The Mend" by Jason Kahn "once again takes us to New Arden and our favorite physic detective Jack Garrett." and "This Must Be the Place - part 2" by Elliot Bangs. Andria uncovers what has got to be one of the strangest retirement plans ever!

@Beware the Hairy Mango: "The Careerist’s Guide to the Sea - Part 2" by Matthew Sanborn Smith.

@Lightningbolt Theater: "One Drop of Blood - Episode II" by Tanja Milojevic and Amanda Furr.

Angela’s business is slaying those who have the thirst. When she gets a call about another body discovered, things turn sour. But someone from her past is pursuing Angela, someone she has sworn to destroy at their next meeting.

@19 Nocturne Boulevard: "The Dunwich Horror - Part 4" by H.P. Lovecraft, adapted by Julie Hoverson, performed by full cast.

The final showdown with the unseen monster - with the fate of the world at stake!