Big Catching Up Free Fiction Post.

Too many good free items to single out any.  Be sure to check out today's excellent free fiction post at SF Signal by Regan Wolfrom. And if you know anything about Hockey, be sure to check out Regan's rather delusional Stanley Cup prediction (Ottawa? Seriously? So is it drugs or some strange form of Canadian humor? - "Next year: Jets" - OK, I'm guessing both!)




Fiction
• At Cast of Wonders: "Loma’ai" by Jessie Bishop Powell. YA.
     "When people asked about Johnna’s dark skin and hair and her grey-violet eyes, her mother Manda said, 'She was my surprise baby.' Those traits, especially the eyes, belonged to the Auric tribe, whose standing with the ruling council was never stable."

• At The Colored Lens: "The Boy, the Bug, and the Marked Man" by Richard Levesque. Speculative Fiction.
     "The station hummed with life, people arriving and departing, coming together and splitting apart like nervous little animals come to size each other up before going about their business. A thousand conversations hung above the people like a cloud. Harried mothers struggled to keep their broods and their bags within sight while shooting wary glances at the huge clock that hung suspended from the forty-foot ceiling."

• At Cosmos: "Non-Stop Party" by James Bloomer. Science Fiction.
    "Reality groaned as the party jumped wholesale, Anywhere orchestrating the hundreds of people in a delicate space-time dance."

• At Daily Science Fiction: "Things We Leave Behind" by Alex Shvartsman.
     "Some of my earliest memories are of books. They were everywhere in our apartment back in the Soviet Union; shelves stacked as high as the ceiling in the corridor and the living room, piles of them encroaching upon every nook and available surface like some benign infestation."

• At Daily Science Fiction: "Smaug, MD" by Andrew Kaye.
     "Doctor Longtooth tapped at the x-ray images with a single gold-sheathed talon. A troubled series of clicks rattled at the back of his throat. Smoke dribbled from the corners of his mouth. 'I am sorry, Mr. Callahan," his voice rumbled. "It is at stage four. And the tissue is dying.'" 

• At L5R: "Coils of Madness, Part 2" by Seth Mason & Robert Denton. Fantasy.
     "'This is disgusting,' Shinjo Sanenari said, frowning as he took another drink of the bitter, brown-black liquid he had been handed. 'And you might note I say that as both a Unicorn and a veteran of the Colonies, Fujimura-san.'"

• At Lightspeed: "The Missing Metatarsals" by Sean Williams. Science Fiction.
     "His head swiveled to track me as we walked in lockstep through security. A birth defect called Möbius syndrome inherited from distant Nepalese ancestors left him with underdeveloped VI and VII cranial nerves, so he can’t blink, bite, or form expressions without the help of a series of tiny implants."

• At Lightspeed: "Always, They Whisper" by Damien Walters Grintalis. Fantasy.
     "She was not a monster, nor did Perseus cut off her head. The whole Athena and shield bit? Bullshit. Perseus was a self-absorbed fool who barely had the strength to lift a sword over his shoulder, let alone swing it hard enough to sever sinew and bone. As far as the rest of her story, the snakes and stone might be true, but not in the way you think. It’s always easy to paint a villain; harder to scrape below the gilt to find the real."

• At Nightmare Magazine: "Houses Under The Sea" by Caitlin R. Kiernan. Horror.
     "When I close my eyes, I see Jacova Angevine. I close my eyes, and there she is, standing alone at the end of the breakwater, standing with the foghorn as the choppy sea shatters itself to foam against a jumble of gray boulders. The October wind is making something wild of her hair, and her back’s turned to me. The boats are coming in."

• At Strange Horizons: "Hiding on the Red Sands of Mars (Part 1 of 2)" by Anaea Lay. Science Fiction. 
       "While we were on our way, when Mars was still a tiny ball in the distance, I plucked it out of the sky and rolled it between my hands to warm it up for us. Just like I do for you when you get cold."

• At Tor.com: "Shall We Gather" by Alex Bledsoe. 
      "When one world brushes another, asking the right question can be magic…."

• At Weird Fiction Review: "Special" by Kit Reed.
     "The thing is, if you’ve touched the hand and God just happens to drop in on you, the last thing He wants is to fight off gangs of rapt admirers, Bill says, so she’s going into seclusion– here!"

• At The WiFiles: "A Wish for Mama" by Julie Minicozzi. Speculative Fiction.
    "Now that she’s had them a long time, Mama appreciates her second set of eyes. But twenty years ago when it first happened, Mama didn’t like the new eyes in the back of her head, not one bit. She had always said she needed them, so I thought she’d be happy that I used my one-and-only wish for her. But, Mama never liked anything I did, even when I was trying to be good, trying to be nice."

• At World SF Blog: "Synchronicity" by Victor Fernando R. Ocampo.
     "For the third time since he had crawled out of the wreckage, Felix pressed the power button on his phone. He hoped against hope that something, anything, would happen, but nothing did. It was exactly the same as the last time. His phone was inert, impotent."

Flash Fiction

• At Beware the Hairy Mango: "Riding in Cars with Cars" by Matthew Sanborn Smith. Audio.
• At Beware the Hairy Mango: "Make Like a Leaf and Kill People" by Matthew Sanborn Smith. Audio.
• At Beware the Hairy Mango: "Petroleum Jellyfish" by Matthew Sanborn Smith. Audio.
• At Beware the Hairy Mango: "Gettin’ Cold and Heavy" by Matthew Sanborn Smith. Audio.
• At Beware the Hairy Mango: "Potato Plant" by Matthew Sanborn Smith. Audio.
• At Every Day Fiction "Passing Through a Trailer Park" by James Guin. Fantasy.
• At Every Day Fiction "Abasteron House" • by Paula Cappa. Audio. Horror.  
• At Flashes in the Dark: "Cecily Garden" by Peter Schranz. Horror.
• At Flashes in the Dark: "Leidenfrost" by Jamie Mason. Horror. 
• At Strange Horizons: "The Houses of Girl-Ghosts" by Cassandra de Alba. Speculative Poem.
• At 365 Tomorrows: "The Suicide Concerts" by Morrow Brady. Science Fiction. 
• At 365 Tomorrows: "Dockside" by Duncan Shields.
• At 365 Tomorrows: "Chronoscope" by Desmond Hussey.
• At 365 Tomorrows: "Foomf!" by David Stevenson.
• At 365 Tomorrows: "A Swirl of Chocolate" by K Esta.
• At Toasted Cake: "Darren is Updating his Facebook Status" by Sylvia Spruck Wrigley. Horror. Audio.

Audio Fiction

• At Author's Site: "The MVP Episode #31" by Scott Sigler. Science Fiction.
    "The Krakens squeeked into the big show, but their crappy record pits them against the Yall Criminals, also known as "The Best Team Ever Assembled." Yes, even better than the 60s Packers, the 70s Steelers, the 80s Niners, the 90s Cowboys and so on. Thanks for making the post-season, Krakens, enjoy it while it lasts."

• At Beam Me Up: "Trath: Final Intervention - conclusion" by David Scholes and "No Great Magic - ch.3" by Fritz Leiber. Science Fiction.
     No Description

• At Cast of Wonders: "Loma’ai" by Jessie Bishop Powell. YA.
      Described Above

• At Dunesteef: "The Templar" by Edward McKeown. Urban Fantasy?
    "Jeremy Leclerc is a Knight Templar. In his journeys, he’s encountered many supernatural beings, some friendly, some less-than-friendly. But now, women have been disappearing throughout Charlotte because of a hideous, soul-sucking creature. Has he met his match this time?"

• At Fantastic Worlds of Edgar Rice Burroughs: "Episode 20 - The Beasts of Tarzan" Adventure.
     "Tarzan and Jane are safe – after a fashion. The Kincaid has blown sky high, thanks to Paulvich’s infernal machine. The ship has sunk – and the survivors have made their way to Jungle Island, where they now lie stranded!"

• At LibriVox: "The Ice-Maiden: and Other Tales" by Hans Christian Andersen. Children's Fantasy.
     "Short-stories/fairy tales by H. C. Anderson, includes The Ice-maiden -- The Butterfly -- The Psyche -- The Snail and the Rose-tree The Ice-Maiden:"

• At Lightspeed: "The Missing Metatarsals" by Sean Williams. Science Fiction. 
     Described Above

• At Pseudopod: "Gig Marks" by Ed Ferrara. Horror.
     "I scramble off the apron to check on Carlos. He isn’t moving. I didn’t see it happen, although the panicked look on Jesse’s face tells me everything I need to know. The jacked-up idiot wasn’t in his spot to catch the plancha, and Carlos went straight down on his melon. That’s why I leave flip-flop-flyin’ to these younger guys."

• At Strange Horizons: "Hiding on the Red Sands of Mars (Part 1 of 2)" by Anaea Lay. Science Fiction.    
     Described Above

• At Tales to Terrify: "Little Girl Down the Way" by Lawrence Santoro.  Horror.
     No Description


Other Genres

• Audio at CraftLit: "Jane Eyre, chapter 35" by Charlotte Brontë
• Audio at Crime City Central: "File Under Jazz" by Bill Moody.
• Audio at Forgotten Classics: "The Mouse in the Mountain, chapter 6 " by
• Audio at Protecting Project Pulp: "Wanted: A Wife" by Carlotta M. Hardy. Pulp. 1916.
• Audio at Selected Shorts: "What Would You Do?" by Norbert Davis.
• Fiction at Online Pulps!: "They Had to Flee Paris" by Joe Archibald and "Stickup at Stafford's"  by Hapsburg Liebe.
• Flash Fiction at Every Day Fiction "After the Tsunami" by Linda Simoni-Wastila
• Flash Fiction at Every Day Fiction "Sunset" by Amy Altmiller.  
• Flash Fiction at Every Day Fiction "Homework" by Madeline Mora-Summonte.
• Flash Fiction at Every Day Fiction "Tag, You’re It" by Karen Walsh.