Apex, Oz, Audio Fiction, and More Freebies

Great freebies from great sites!










Fiction
• At AE: "Captain Confederation" by Jim Robb. Superhero.
     "Captain Confederation was annoyed when he got off the elevator and it showed. It would have been so simple and logical for him to land on the roof of the Superhero Administration Centre, or in the ample grounds surrounding it, but these alternatives were no longer open to him. Last month Transport Canada had proposed a regulation requiring superheroes to take off and land from helipads unless actually fighting crime, and for some inexplicable reason the Department of Superhero Affairs had gone along with it."
    
• At Tor.com: "Fire Above, Fire Below" by Garth Nix. Fantasy.
     "'Fire Above, Fire Below' is about the crisis that the dying of a dragon living below a major city causes, and the pact made many years earlier to deal with such a situation."

• At WMG Publishing: "The Charming Way Written" by Kristine Grayson (Kristine Kathryn Rusch) Paranormal Romance.
     "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."

• Now Posted: Apex Magazine Issue 48 — May 2013

“Ilse, Who Saw Clearly” by E. Lily Yu
     "Once, among the indigo mountains of Germany, there was a kingdom of blue-eyed men and women whose blood was tinged blue with cold. The citizens were skilled in clockwork, escapements, and piano manufacture, and the clocks and pianos of that country were famous throughout the world. Their children pulled on rabbit-fur gloves before they sat down to practice their etudes, for it was so cold the notes rang and clanged in the air."
“The Binding of Ming-tian” by Emily Jiang.
     "Hush, little baby, little kumquat, little bird. Ming–tian is sleeping. She has pruned the bitter melon vines and swept the porch while dancing with a broom. She has chased away the good luck fishes in the pond, where she has lost her shoe. Soon it will freeze over. Now Ming–tian is snoring."
“Tight Little Stitches in a Dead Man’s Back” by Joe R. Lansdale.
     "The tight lines around her eyes and mouth, the emotional heat that radiates from her body like a dreadful cold sore looking for a place to lie down is voice enough for her. She lives only for the moment when she (the cold sore) can attach herself to me with her needles, ink and thread. She lives only for the design on my back."
“Come to My Arms, My Beamish Boy” by Douglas F. Warrick
     "The name of the ship he had served on. The name of his commanding officer. His daughters’ names, which husband went with which daughter, which grandchildren came from which marriage, which fiancé held hands with which granddaughter. That had mostly melted away."

 Flash Fiction

• At Apex Magazine: “The Busker, Broke and Busted” by Shira Lipkin. Poem
• At Beware the Hairy Mango: "Matty Dread" by Matthew Sanborn Smith.
• At Daily Science Fiction: "Persephone at Arm's Length" by Bridget A. Natale. 
• At Every Day Fiction: "Competition For Ice Wizards" by James Reinebold. Fantasy. Humor. 
• At Flashes in the Dark: "In the Event of My Demuse" by Sara-Jane McGeachy. Horror.
• At 365 Tomorrows: "The Common Threat Doctrine" by Bob Newbell. Science Fiction.

Audio Fiction
• At Classics On-the-Go: "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - Chapter 1" by Lewis Carroll. Children's Fantasy.
     "Alice decides to follow the white rabbit and falls down the rabbit hole. She lands in a room filled with doors but she is too large to fit through the small door that she is able to open with a small key. What will she do?"

• At Drabblecast: "Liane the Wayfarer" by  Jack Vance. Fantasy.
     "Through the dim forest came Liane the Wayfarer, passing along the shadowed glades with a prancing light-footed gait. He whistled, he caroled, he was plainly in high spirits. Around his finger he twirled a bit of wrought bronze—a circlet graved with angular crabbed characters, now stained black."

• At PodCastle: "The Great Zeppelin Heist of Oz" by Rae Carson and C.C. Finlay. Fantasy.
     "Scraps, the patchwork girl, witnessed the wizard’s arrival. She sat beneath a tree watching the most spectacular show ever performed by a summer sky. White clouds swirled above an emerald colored sky like whipped marshmallow topping on a glass bowl full of lime jello spinning round and round and round on a potter’s wheel. She didn’t think it could get any more amazing when the clouds cracked open and sunlight burst through so blinding that she lifted one patchwork arm to shade her button eyes."

• At StarShipSofa:   “On 20468 Petercook” by Andy Duncan.
     "Alone in the black void, the ship thrust forward, then pivoted as it slowed to a stop. Motionless, it awaited the next flyby, the next ship-killer, the next opportunity."