Friday

More free fiction from many great sites.










@Beneath Ceaseless Skies: "The Gardens of Landler Abbey" by Megan Arkenberg.

I spent the whole of the night lying awake, watching the sickly reflection of the moon in my wall of gilded mirrors. At last the sun rose, and I left my rumpled and sweat-soaked sheets with a great and sudden desire to see Gethsemane von Reis again.

@Beneath Ceaseless Skies: "Princess Courage" by Nadia Bulkin

I went to see the specimens, because I thought I should know the face of the Enemy--my father would have been in there prodding and cutting himself--and immediately wished I hadn’t. Cleaned of swamp sludge they looked like the gray ice mummies that had been found in caves along the Blue Belt.

@Daily Science Fiction: "Sand-Child" by Marie Croke.

On the first day of building her Sand-child, Abi took grains from the Jurida Desert, breathing joy into their tiny souls. On the second day of building her Sand-child, Abi found grains at the base of the Nieradka Range, breathing anger. On the third day, Abi drained silt from the bottom of the Enmdi River, breathing love.

@Notes From the Lair: "Invasion: 2012 by Dr. Ace T. Jericho, Rogue Journalist" by Abner Senires.

I was sitting in a Starbucks on New Montgomery Street in San Francisco with a large white mocha when my old compatriot Cordwainer Duke walked in and looked around. He wore his customary dark gray tweed jacket with elbow patches, a pair of tinted aviator-style glasses, and carried a thick leather satchel slung over one shoulder.

@Red Lemonade: "The Sovereignties of Invention" by Matthew Battles. [Via SF Signal]

"Without warning, the dogs move into the trees to escape the human world; a lonely man befriends a spectacularly ugly mythological beast; at a summer cottage by the sea, a boy discovers a camera that takes pictures of unknown people in faraway places. The stories in Sovereignties of Invention explore the uncanny magic of technology, memory, meaning, and time."

@Tor.com: "The Rotten Beast" by Mary E. Pearson.

In “The Rotten Beast,” a sixteen-year-old girl named Allys, living in a near future version of the U.S., is vehemently opposed to the way scientists are meddling with human and artificial life. In fact, she blames such scientific overreaching for the illness which is killing her.

Audio Fiction
@Beam Me Up: "Claude and the Henry Moores" by Casey Wolf

"this story for all the world tell the tale of a man who comes to love art and his expression is probably one of the most unusual I have ever read before."

@Beneath Ceaseless Skies: "To the Gods of Time and Engines, a Gift" by Dean Wells.

"The silent commands were with her all the time now, haunting and familiar."

@Drabblecast: "Unintended Consequences" and "Expired" by John P. Murphy

James Kennedy had stared at his sock drawer for a good ten minutes that first morning, dumbfounded. He’d never seen it so neat, and he didn’t remember doing it. But there they were: threadbare, but tidy and folded…

@LibriVox: "Short Ghost and Horror Collection 015"

Featuring stories by Poe, Dickins, Lovecraft, Bierce, Chambers, James, Doyle, and others.

@19Nocturne Boulevard: "People Who Live in Wax Houses" by Julie Hoverson, performed by full cast.

Three stories, separate and intertwined, center around a failing wax museum.

@Pseudopod: "The Stink of Animosity" by Rob E. Boley, read by Rish Outfield.

"So, what did she do?” These are the first words the stranger says to you as he takes the bar stool on your right. The hotel lounge has at least two-dozen seats scattered between the bar and four tables, and only half of those seats are filled. Yet he sits next to you. His voice is almost a growl – all gravel and broken glass – too ragged for someone his age."

@StarShipSofa: "Raft of The Titanic" by James Morrow.

"about a world where the giant body of the Deity is found and must be towed through the ocean." - Amazon.com

Serial Audio
@Author's Site: "The All-Pro Episode #5" by Scott Sigler.

As the season gets underway, Yitzhak takes Quentin to meet Danny Lundy, agent to the stars. Like he's done for Yitzhak and John Tweedy, Danny thinks he's the one to help Quentin manage the intricate contract negotiations.

@Beware the Hairy Mango: "The Careerist’s Guide to the Sea, Part 3" by Matthew Sanborn Smith.