Come On Read the Free Fiction, 'Cause It's Wild, Wild, Wild

It's a great start to weekend with some free fiction from great sites.  There's great horror audio from Pseudopod and Tales to Terrify (If you like horror, do yourself a favor and download their entire archives. They are "that good"). Escape Pod always great SF and this time it features a story by E. Lily Yu, one of the best young writers in any genre. Ad it goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway that other sites are all quite good and you'll do yourself a disservice if you miss them.  More soon.




Fiction
• At Daily Science Fiction: "A Change of Heart" by Rachel Halpern. Magical Realism.
     "Clara got her first clue in preschool, just before naptime one day, as Ms. Weston read aloud from a massive gleaming book of fairy tales. Clara knew most of them already, though the versions were different, and this Snow White was stabbed with a poison comb before she ever touched an apple. Others, though, were entirely new to her, stories of huts with chicken legs and beautiful forest women with hollow backs."

• At Escape Pod: "Loss, with Chalk Diagrams" by E. Lily Yu. Science Fiction.
      "She had been twelve years old when rewiring was first approved for use on a limited clinical population. The treatment involved a brew of sixteen neurotoxins finely tuned to leave normal motor, memory, and cognitive processes intact, burning out only those neural pathways associated with grief and trauma. It was recognized as a radical advancement in medicine, and the neuroscientists involved in its development had been decorated with medals, presidential visits, and a research foundation in their names."

• At HiLobrow: "The Man with Six Senses - Part 8" by Muriel Jaege. Science Fiction. 1923.
      "But she added, frowning a little, “We must take what help we can get, Ralph. I am beginning to be bothered about Michael. His fits of depression are getting worse. I don’t think he will stand his job at Harding’s much longer. He’s had nearly six months of it now, you know."

Flash Fiction

• At Beware the Hairy Mango: "Bottom Out" by Matthew Sanborn Smith. Audio. Weird.
• At 365 Tomorrows: "Oracle" by Desmond Hussey. Science Fiction.
• At Weirdyear: "Albeit of Salt" by Donal Mahoney. Weird.

Audio Fiction
• At Escape Pod: "Loss, with Chalk Diagrams" by E. Lily Yu. Science Fiction.
      "She had been twelve years old when rewiring was first approved for use on a limited clinical population. The treatment involved a brew of sixteen neurotoxins finely tuned to leave normal motor, memory, and cognitive processes intact, burning out only those neural pathways associated with grief and trauma. It was recognized as a radical advancement in medicine, and the neuroscientists involved in its development had been decorated with medals, presidential visits, and a research foundation in their names."

• At Every Photo Tells: "Ginnie Dare: Troubled Waters" by Scott Roche Science Fiction.
    "On her last day on Neptun, Ginnie has a date. But not the one she hoped she would."

• At Pseudopod: "Apotropaics" by Norman Partridge. Horror.
      "A grave, I thought, shivering. It wasn’t an ordinary grave, either, and not just because it was in the middle of a cornfield. Imbedded in this grave, punched into it like it was some weird pincushion, were dozens of stakes and knives, their hilts barely visible. Tent stakes, survey stakes. Boy Scout knives, ordinary silverware, putty knives, and fancy stuff that must have been pure silver."

 • At Tales to Terrify: "Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast" by Eugie Foster. Horror.
      "Each morning is a decision. Should I put on the brown mask or the blue? Should I be a tradesman or an assassin today?" -text here.

Other Genres

• Audio at The Classic Tales Podcast: "The Call of the Wild, part 3 of 5" by Jack London.
• Fiction at Internet Archive: Wonderful Stories for Children by H. C. Andersen. Children's Fables.