Free Fiction

Some good pre-holiday fiction.










@Daily Science Fiction: "A Stitch in Space-time" by Nicky Drayden.

Fina kept her aim steady. This would be the eighth time she'd watched Neil die--his face contorting in agony under the blue-white haze of the Abbey's limelight

@Daily Science Fiction: "Lures, Hooks and Tails" by Adam Colston.

The train continued its rhythmic clanking and rocking and the woman smiled back. She inclined her head towards the pile of fishing gear piled on the empty seat beside him.

@Fantasy Magazine: "Crystal Halloway and the Forgotten Passage" by Seanan McGuire.

"The dire bat’s headless body lay on the floor of the cave like an accusation, blackish blood still seeping from its neck. Crystal looked at it and shuddered, disgusted, before giving it a sharp kick."

@Lightspeed: "The Parting Glass" by Andrew Penn Romine.

"I gulp the whiskey and it burns my plastic throat, sets my nutrient sac on fire. I’ve got filters, but they haven’t been changed in six months. Too expensive."

@Tor.com: "Reading in Bed" by Joan Aiken.

He was apt to say “Put on my boots” or “Fetch my horse” to whoever was there, even the major, and he was incurably vain, and fond of good wine and reading in bed. Harmless pursuits, one might say, but they nearly led to his downfall.

Now Posted: Lovecraft eZine - Issue #9.

• "Elder Instincts" by W.H. Pugmire.
• "Among the Dark Places of the Earth" by Julio Toro San Martin.
• "At Best An Echo" by Bradley H. Sinor.
• "Stone City, Old as Immeasurable Time" by Kelda Crich.
• "Just An Accountant" by Henrik Sandbeck Harksen.

Serial Fiction
@Kat and Mouse: "Into The Woods - Part Thirteen" by Abner Senires.

While Cutter checked on Kyle, Mac sent the other Claw members back to French Gulch so that only her Humvee and ours remained. A few minutes after the last convoy vehicle disappeared around the bend in the road, a dark blue ChrysFord Bison appeared and rolled to a stop near us.

@Paizo: "Faithful Servants - Chapter Four: The Greatest Gift" by James L. Sutter.

It was utterly stupid. The priest's little mob of peasants would likely scatter at the first sign of a walking corpse, and those who stayed would be slaughtered. Worse, if this Lord Mirosoy had advanced to making ghouls, then every farmhand who fell would rise again shortly to add to his army.

@Ray Gun Revival: "The Worker Prince – Chapter Two (part two)" by Bryan Thomas Schmidt.

On the shuttle, as his pilot flew them back to Iraja, he sat in silence, replaying it over and over in his mind. Why had he gotten so angry? Farien and Yao were his best friends. They’d grown up together. Sure, he and Farien had different views on how the world should work, but it had never led to angry discussions like this.

@Strange Horizons: "Ash and Dust (Part 2 of 2)" by Jennifer Mason-Black.

In the surprised cries and furious nuzzles of those just born, in the tears of fathers too tired to hide their delight, in the amazement of mothers holding their noses to perfect smooth skin as they counted fingers and toes, I saw joy. I could not feel it though, any more than I could register anger or fear or excitement.

Audio
@Dunesteef: "Ass-Hat Magic Spider" by Scott Westerfeld.

All that stands in a young man’s way of getting on a colony ship bound for a new world and a better life is a few grams of extra weight, and Charlotte, of course.

@LibriVox: "Idylls of the King" by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, read by Elizabeth Klett.

"a cycle of twelve narrative poems by the English poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson which retells the legend of King Arthur, his knights, his love for Guinevere and her tragic betrayal of him, and the rise and fall of Arthur's kingdom."

@Lightspeed: "The Parting Glass" by Andrew Penn Romine, by Joe Barrett.

@PodCastle: "The Ghost of Christmas Possible" by Tim Pratt and Heather Shaw, read by Ian Stuart.

The hour was just before midnight on Christmas Eve when a ferocious knocking woke me from my slumber. My first muddled thought, or rather hope, was that some specter or spirit stirred beneath the cramped rafters of my newly rented accommodations.

@StarShipSofa: "Til Human Voices Take Us" by Lewis Shiner and "Fortitude" by David Brin read by Ted Delorme and Josh Roseman.

Serial Audio
@Beam Me Up: "Thief of Futures - part 3" by D. Thomas Minton and "Clockwork - part 2" by Erin Bassett.

"Eshram has been pulled reluctantly out of retirement for a theft he finds for all intents, abhorrent, but the further he delves the more complex becomes the project and less clear as to the why and even more so the who. When clarity finally comes it may be too late!" and "Ester returns to the academy only to again come in contact with the mysterious Holland ."

@Beware the Hairy Mango: "The Careerist’s Guide to the Sea, Part 4" by Matthew Sanborn Smith.

@Cthulhu: "The Damned, part 8"