Late Thursday Freebies

Lots of good free fiction, including a horror short by genre great Tanith Lee.


 [Art from  "Cyberpunk Issue #2 - Failsafes and Escapes"  in Audio Fiction]







Fiction
At Daily Science Fiction: "Ichor" by Jess Hyslop.
     "Peter Whitt, you have been sentenced to death by the order of the High Priesthood. Your crime is that of the grossest treason: the attempted assassination of our most treasured Angel Ikrael, upon whom this nation's spiritual health depends."

At Nightmare Magazine: "Doll Re Mi"  by Tanith Lee. Horror.
     "Folscyvio saw the Thing in a small cramped shop off the Via Silvia. In fact, he almost passed it by. He had just come from the Laguna, climbed the forty mildewy, green-velveted steps to the Ponte Louro, and crossed over to the elevated arcades of the Nuova. Then he glanced down, and spotted Giavetti, who owed him money, creeping by below through the ancient alleys."

At Paizo: "Stargazer - Chapter Two: Stealing the Stars"  by Chris A. Jackson. Fantasy.
     "'Smells like half-orc day at Trillia's Bathhouse!' Snick chimed from beside him, her sea-green hair fluttering in the breeze. The crew chuckled and Grogul growled low in his throat."

At Tor.com: "The Button Man and the Murder Tree" by Cherie Priest.
     "It’s Chicago in 1971, and Raul is a button man—a professional ender of lives that the Mob needs ended. But something’s odd about his most recent assignments. And then there are those mushrooms growing out of his skin...."

Flash Fiction

• At Beware the Hairy Mango: "Cetacean Creation" by Matthew Sanborn Smith. Audio.
• At Beware the Hairy Mango: "Movie Gamera" by Matthew Sanborn Smith. Audio.
• At Daily Science Fiction: "Puss" by Melissa Mead. 
• At Flashes in the Dark: "Guard Duty" by James C. Clar. Horror.
• At Flashes in the Dark: "Dragon’s Tears" by John D. Ritchie. Horror.
• At Nature: "The Plague" by Ken Liu. 
• At 365 Tomorrows: "The Spotter Alone" by Jay Hill. Science Fiction.
• At 365 Tomorrows: "Good to Have Company" by Townsend Wright. Science Fiction.

Audio Fiction

• At Clarkesworld: "Tachy Psyche" by Andy Dudak. Science Fiction.

     "The woman who means to kill Wang Zhe is, like the rest of the universe, apparently frozen, though actually in glacial motion."

• At Escape Pod: "Dead Merchandise" by Ferrett Steinmetz. Science Fiction.
     "The ad-faeries danced around Sheryl, flickering cartoon holograms with fluoride-white smiles. They told her the gasoline that sloshed in the red plastic canister she held was high-octane, perfect for any vehicle, did she want to go for a drive?"

• At Journey Into: "Cyberpunk Issue #2 - Failsafes and Escapes" by D.K. Thompson. YA.
     No Description

• At Nightmare Magazine: "Doll Re Mi"  by Tanith Lee. Horror.
     Described Above

• At PodCastle: "Fine Flying Things" by Adele Gardner. Fantasy.
     "All he could think of was Dali’s photograph, that crazy one where the cat flew across a stream of water while Dali perched on a chair. He ran outside."

Other Genres
Audio at LibriVox: The Tale of the Genji by Murasaki Shikibu, translated by Suematsu Kencho.
Flash Fiction at Every Day Fiction: "Dragons" by Rachel Baxter-Green.
Flash Fiction at Every Day Fiction: "Fool’s Gold" • by Julia August. Historical. Rome.