Free Fiction Part 2: Clarkesworls and Much More.

Even more great freebies, including the latest issue of Clarkesworld Magazine, one of the best magazines available (free or not).  There's more worthwhile free fiction, including a few quite good ezines, audio fiction, old time radio, and more.Check everything out; you won't be disappointed.



[Art from Clarkesworld]








Fiction
At Aurora Wolf: "In a Dragon’s Age" by Eric J. Juneau. Fantasy.
      “Get off my lawn, ya damn kid,” the old dragon slayer said.

At L5R: "Scenes from the Empire" by Robert Denton & Yoon Ha Lee. Fantasy.
      "Few ever visited theTempleofVigil. Indeed, few even knew of the temple’s existence. Far from the settlements on theIslandofSilk, it was connected only by an unfrequented road ever-fading into tropical brush. The canopy masked it, except for its pointed pagoda, which jutted abruptly from the green landscape like a broken ship’s bow. On this night, it was nearly invisible, even to the gilding touch of the waning moon."

Now Posted:  Aoife's Kiss - Issue #43.: Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror.

"Just Another Cothoc Vys" by D. Gansen. Science Fiction.
     "He knew the enemy, even if he didn’t understand them. The Cothoc Vystrians who were trying to kill him were humans in that they had emigrated from Earth in the Great Exodus with the ancestors of everybody else who now lived in the galaxy. There were, however, subtle differences between Renfro and them."
"Broken" by Jennifer Juneau.
     "Had she left the baby in the changing room?  No, she hadn’t taken the baby shopping today.  Others began staring at her as she stood stock still.  A woman rolled her eyes in disgust.  A man gazed at her and shook his head.  That was it—it was her head.  She had forgotten her head."
"Property Values" by Wayne Carey.
     "I didn't see the necessity of my joining the entourage as it trekked through the forests of Enyo from the landing site. Robert “Bobby” Carter, owner and CEO of Carter Industries, led the way, his huge form in its cream-colored suit stomping along the path. I followed dutifully behind, wishing to be back in the yacht and out of the stifling heat"
"Forever Love" by Rone Wisten. Poem
"Rusted World" by JD DeHart. Poem.
"The Monolith" by Christina Sng. Poem.

Now Posted: Clarkesworld Magazine Issue #75, December 2012 Science Fiction and Fantasy.

"Your Final Apocalypse" by Sandra McDonald .

      "This is not a story about the end of the world, although Casual Visitor arrived here in search of such a tale approximately .03 seconds ago. (It, not him or her or they. There is no gender in this corner of the future. There is nothing physical about Casual Visitor, but I’m a different story.)"

"The Wisdom of Ants" by Thoraiya Dyer.

     "As I plunged shoulder-deep into fetid sink-silt, I had time to think, I’m not fit to take Mother’s place, before the arboreal ant’s nest I’d been reaching for dropped after me, cracking open on my upturned face."

"Sweet Subtleties" by Lisa L Hannett.

     "Javier calls me Una, though I’m not the first. There are leftovers all around his studio. Evidence of other, more perishable versions. Two white chocolate legs on a Grecian plinth in the corner, drained of their caramel filling."

 Now Posted: The Fifth Dimension - Edition 14, #4--December 2012. Fantasy and science Fiction.

"Crimes of Passion" by Daniel C. Smith.
       "Diane Greenwood. She had had it all, young, beautiful, from a good family, officially confirmed within a fine church and excelling at a reputable college. And then she pissed it away for one of them-- an Antarian no less."
"What the Dormouse Said" by Tessa Bennett.
       "Looking in the bathroom mirror, she was could see the bags under eyes, the pimples on her face, and the cracks in her chapped white lips. It was becoming harder and harder to deny the reality of her situation and the more she tried to rationalize the physical ailments away, the more acutely aware she became of just how bad it had become."
"Six Step Recovery for Hacker-Inventors" by Marilyn K. Martin.
       "I hear I'm like most of you. Hacked a Roompa and built a mobile android," began Bruce nervously. "Called mine Robby, after a Classic TV Series with a robot named Robby."

Now Posted Nightblade - Issue 22 - The Language of Flowers: Fantasy and Horror.

"Tonight, Tonight" by W.P. Johnson
      "The harmonics ring out and he winds the tuning peg down for the E string. The two notes start to shimmer and throb against one another, creating a wave of sound that fluctuates slower and slower until a single harmony is created."
"The House That Did Not Breathe" by Gwendolyn Edward and Andrew Austin     "I remember a volume I had seen once in the rare book room at my university, and how there was a locking hinge made of rusted metal, attached to the wooden, worm eaten covers, and how when the hinge was unlatched the book sprang open as if begging to be read, the folded pages of the manuscript parched and dry and written upon in black ink with illustrations of many colors and the occasional golden embellishment."
"The Garden" by Christopher DeWan.     "We shined the light through the glass. The windows looked dirty and thin. Somewhere, there was a beast outside. We thought we heard the sound of breathing but realized maybe it was our own. We didn’t see a thing." "Hieronymus" by Megan ArkenbergThe alcove is always full of papers. I leave them stacked on the floor around me, and between toasting muffins, sending maids for laundry and tallying fees for the few and increasingly shabby guests, I sit by the window with a cup of tea and a scissors and search for Hieronymus.

Now Posted:  Spaceports & Spidersilk -.Vol. 5 No. 4: Children's Fantasy and Science Fiction.

Flash Fiction and Poems
At 365 Tomorrows: "Android CG" by Alice Brook.
At The Fifth Dimension: Fantasy and Science Fiction Poems

• Beachhead by Marge Simon and Michael Fosburg
• Battle Hymn of the Robot Army by Robert Hanson
• What Martian Wouldn't by Ruth Sabath Rosenthal
• In the Arena by Bruce Boston

At Nightblade: Fantasy and Horror Poems

• The Maiden-Harp by Sara Cleto
• The Language of Flowers by Alicia Cole
• Orphean Habit by Erik Amundsen
• Glacial Raft by Carolyn Agee 
• Curse of the Reaper's Wife by Bruce Boston

Audio Fiction
At Cast of Wonders: "The Quarrel of the Monkey and the Crab" by Yei Theodora Ozaki. Fairy Tale.
      From a book called Japanese Fairy Tales (published 1908). "Long, long ago, one bright autumn day in Japan, it happened, that a pink-faced monkey and a yellow crab were playing together along the bank of a river. As they were running about, the crab found a rice-dumpling and the monkey a persimmon-seed."

At Clarkesworld: "Your Final Apocalypse" by Sandra McDonald
     Described above..

At Decoder Ring Theater: The Red Panda in "Last Flight of the Valkyrie" Adventure. Superhero. 
      "These days even the arrival of old friends almost always seems to mean trouble. They never seem to show up without news of some new doomsday menace, hurtling through the sky at terrible speed. Will the Red Panda and the Flying Squirrel catch The Last Flight of the Valkyrie?"

At LibriVox: "Brood of the Dark Moon" by Charles W. Diffin. Science Fiction.
      "Once more Chet, Walt and Diane are united in a wild ride to the Dark Moon—but this time they go as prisoners of their deadly enemy Schwartzmann."  [The audio version of the first story "Dark Moon" is here]

Old Time Radio

• At Journey Into: "The Black Door" - Suspense.
• At OTR PlotSpot: "The Snowman Killing" - Fear on 4 (1988). Horror.
• At OTR PlotSpot: "The Black Room" - CBS Radio Mystery Theater (1974).
• At Relic Radio: "Fever" - The Hermits Cave. Horror.
• At Relic Radio: "The Planet Zevius" by The Mysterious Traveler. (1951) Sci-Fi.

Other Genres

• Fiction at The New Yorker: "Literally" by Antonya Nelson.
• Flash Fiction at Every Day Fiction: "A Geronimo Autumn" by Ruth Schiffmann.