Many Good Free Stories

Quite a few good stories today from many great sites. Thanks to OldMiser for the heads up about the latest Eclipse Online story.  And don't miss the free fiction roundup at SF Signal.




Fiction
At AE: "Tough Crowd" by Holly Schofield. Science Fiction.
     “Hey, Ship? How about this one: A skeleton walks into a bar and says, ‘Give me a beer and a mop.’”
At Daily Science Fiction:  "The Chosen One" by Huston Lowell.
     "Singh watched with a skeptical eye as the little boy came woohooing down the cyclone slide. Could this be the snotty nose of the Chosen One?"
At Eclipse Online: "One Little Room an Everywhere" by K.J. Parker. Fantasy [via OldMiser]
     “Well now,” he said, giving me a sad smile. “What on earth are we going to do with you?” A valid question, to which I’ve never been able to think of an answer. “I thought,” I lied, “maybe teaching?” He shook his head slowly. “I wouldn’t, if I were you,” he said. “It takes a [...]
At Lightspeed: "The Suicide’s Guide to the Absinthe of Perdition" by Megan Arkenber. Fantasy.
     "You cannot stop an angel who truly wants to fall. This is the first thing you learn in Pandemonium. The second thing you learn in Pandemonium is how to drink absinthe."
At Lightspeed: "Bear and Shifty" by Benjamin Parzybok. Science Fiction.
      "I ambled around the side of the after-market armored minivan and helped Mr. and Mrs. Perkinson load in the rest of the grocery goods, stashing them in the back and strapping them down. They were going to have a hell of a ride home, we all knew it, so when the work was done, I lingered there."
At Tor.com:  "The Terrible Old Man" by H.P. Lovecraft. Horror. 1921.
     "The inhabitants of Kingsport say and think many things about the Terrible Old Man which generally keep him safe from the attention of gentlemen like Mr. Ricci and his colleagues, despite the almost certain fact that he hides a fortune of indefinite magnitude somewhere about his musty and venerable abode."
At Tor.com:  "Too Fond" by Leanna Renee Hieber. Horror.
     "Eloise Browne's leaden heart becomes softened by the entrance into her world of Mr. McGill, the owner of the nearby mill. His tragic story and her compassionate gift tangle themselves into something altogether new... and not altogether welcome."
At World SF Blog: "Don’t Move a Muscle, Mr. Liberty" by Jordan Ellinger.
     "Crumpled leather the colour of a fisherman’s tan, it sits on its head in the middle of the cobblestone plaza. It is a great fisher of men, my hat. It sweeps up passing tourists and holds them before me, their jowls hanging loose like gasping catfish as I ply my trade"

Flash Fiction
At Every Day Fiction:  "Hunted" by Paul A. Freeman. Fantasy. Horror.
At Strange Horizons: "Torah and Secular Learning" by Bogi Takács. Speculative Poetry.
At 365 Tomorrows: "Food Chain" by Jae Miles. Science Fiction.


Audio Fiction
At Lightspeed: "The Suicide’s Guide to the Absinthe of Perdition" by Megan Arkenber. Fantasy.
At PodCastle: "Unpossible" by Daryl Gregory. Fantasy.
     "Twenty feet from the far wall his way is blocked by a heap of wicker lawn furniture. He pulls apart the barricade piece by piece to make a narrow passage and scrapes through, straws tugging at his shirt. On the other side he crawls up and onto the back of a tilting oak desk immovable as a ship run aground."
At PodCastle: Miniature #72. "The Best Worst Monster" by Peter S. Beagle. Fantasy.

Other Genres
Audio at LibriVox: "An Outcast Of The Islands" by Joseph Conrad. Classic. Adventure.
Audio at Protecting Project Pulp: “Kali” by Eric Taylor. Noir.
Audio at Tales of Old: "Memories of Light and Sound" by Steven Saus. Historic. Ellis Island.