Friday Freebies

Another good day of free fiction, including a well-written short story by my nemesis, Regan Wolfrom (I'm pretty much Superman and he's Mister Mxyzptlk).



[art for "The Raven’s Head Dagger and the Custom of the Seas" linked below]




Fiction
• At Author's Site: "The Raven’s Head Dagger and the Custom of the Seas" by Regan Wolfrom. [via SF Signal]
      "Stephanie Munro travels by sailboat to the edge of the world, with friends she thought she knew. But when things go wrong, they go very, very wrong…"    

• At Baen Books: "Pittsburgh Backyard and Garden" by Wen Spencer.
     ""No way in hell," Jane murmured. She did not need five years experience of filming in Pittsburgh to know that a half-eaten deer did not make good ratings. It might be sensational news on Earth. It was, however, a fairly typical outcome when an Earth animal met any number of Elfhome carnivorous plants. Eighty percent of their Pittsburgh viewers would not be impressed, and the other twenty would call the studio the next day, pissed off that their dinner had been ruined by the sight.

• At Beneath Ceaseless Skies: "Singing Like a Hundred Dug-Up Bones" by Alex Dally MacFarlane. Fantasy.
     "Out by the mounds, the ground thaws slowly. Frost-got grass and heather crunch under Knowe’s boots. There’ll be no digging for at least another month, probably closer to two. Knowe walks alone, wrapped in winter wools and hides, but the day is mild enough that she goes un-hooded, letting the wind grasp at her long hair."

• At Beneath Ceaseless Skies: "Our Dead Selves Lie Like Footsteps in Our Wake" by Jeff Isacksen. Fantasy.
     "I close my eyes and listen to the gentle beating of her heart, the rhythm of her life. I can almost feel the warmth of her blood. Intensely intimate—more even than the earlier tangle of limbs and lips—the fabric of her physicality is laid bare in her heartbeat. Like I’m part of her, I press so close that I am among the tiny, fleshy machines that move her parts and breathe her air and do all the other miraculous, incredible, completely mundane things that came together to be Adalia."

• At Daily Science Fiction: "The Princess and Her Tale" by Mari Ness.
     "Understand this: everything you have been told about my beauty is a lie. I am beautiful only as a princess is beautiful, glittering in silk and gems in the smoky candlelight. In the day, stripped of jewels and silks, I am as any other, not ugly, but not beautiful either, a woman you would not remember if you saw her a second time."

E-Books
Via Pixel of Ink: "The Spirit Keeper" by Melissa Luznicky Garrett. YA.
At Pixel of Ink:

• Pivot by L.C. Barlow. Paranormal. Horror.
• Enoch's Device by Joseph Finley. Historical Fantasy.
• Deathgrip by Brian Hodge. Horror. Dark Fantasy.
• Thunder Rise by G. Wayne Miller. Horror. Dark Fantasy.
• The Possession of Cassie Quinn by Kathryn Knutson. Paranormal Horror.
• Floating Staircase by Ronald Malfi. Horror.
• Intwine by Christina Moss. Science Fiction.
• Taken by Storm by M.J. Schiller. Fantasy Romance.
• The Vitalis Chronicles: White Shores by Jay Swanson. Fantasy.
• Illiom, Daughter of Prophecy by Claudio Silvano. Fantasy.
• Child of the Ghosts by Jonathan Moeller. Fantasy.
• Horded by Frances Pauli. Fantasy.
• Patalosh: The Time Travelers by Z Altug. Children's Fantasy / Science Fiction.
• The Vitalis Chronicles: Tomb of the Relequim by Jay Swanson. Fantasy.
• Taken By Moonlight by Dorothy McFalls. Paranormal Romance.
• Lake Caerwych by J. Conrad. YA Fantasy.
• Humanity Gone: After the Plague by Derek Deremer. Science Fiction.

Flash Fiction

• At Beware the Hairy Mango: "The Seventeenth Wise Man" by Matthew Sanborn Smith. Audio.
• At Every Day Fiction: "Perfect Pet Co." by Tim W. Boiteau. 
• At Flashes in the Dark: "No Deal" by Wayne Hunter. Horror.
• At 365 Tomorrows: "Scrap" by Jae Miles. Science Fiction.

Audio
• At Beneath Ceaseless Skies: "Singing Like a Hundred Dug-Up Bones" by Alex Dally MacFarlane. Fantasy.

• At The Classic Tales Podcast: "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar" by Edgar Allan Poe.
       "Can a man be mesmerized, and remain in a hypnotic state while he dies? It is this question which we explore as we delve into the unbounded depths of the imagination of Edgar Allan Poe."

• At Pseudopod: "The Curse Of The Mummy" by Andre Harden. Horror.
     "“She’d driven out of town a thousand times. Sometimes east, sometimes west, always alone. Anywhere was better than here. She tried to keep it real for the most part: a safety deposit on an apartment, a total make over, a new job; waitressing or maybe something else. Maybe a photographer. Maybe a dog walker. Maybe a nanny for rich people."

• At Tales of Terror: "Shared Hunger" by Matt Neputin and "At the Sign of the Black Dove" by Lou Morgan. Horror.
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Misc. Fun
• At Slate: "The Ultimate Spaceship Face-Off" [via RealClearScience]
     "A highly speculative search for the fastest ship in science fiction.  By Chris Kirk