Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Goodbye, Free Fiction Tuesday, Who Could Hang a Name on You?

Wow! Three free Ezines on the same day, Apex Magazine, Black Treacle, and Sorcerous Signals.  These three cover it all, science fiction, speculative fiction, horror, fantasy, and dark fantasy.  And as if that weren't enough, there are new stories.at Mad Scientist Journal and Phantasmacore. HiLobrow continues its serialization of Herland, there are some comics from very cool sites, plenty of ebooks, and even an audio short. Can I get a Huzzah?

It's only goodbye to free fiction Tuesday for a week.





 Fiction
• At HiLobrow: "Herland - Chapter 4: Our Venture" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. 1915.
     "We were standing on a narrow, irregular, all too slanting little ledge, and should doubtless have ignominiously slipped off and broken our rash necks but for the vine. This was a thick-leaved, wide-spreading thing, a little like Amphelopsis."

• At Mad Scientist Journal: "The Warning Sign: Dr. Maxwell’s Notes on First Contact" by S. R. Algernon. Science Fiction. [via SF Signal]
     "The Star-Weavers have contacted us! For decades, they have ignored our transmissions, even as they scattered their interstellar beacons across the solar system. This morning, everything changed. A Star-Weaver was here, on our little campus, and not just for a recon flyby, but to see us face-to-face. What follows below is for posterity."

• At Phantasmacore: "Procedural Generation" by Tom Graham. Science Fiction.
     "The days of the hermitage, his small urban sanctuary. Steven, for as long as he could remember, had been agoraphobic. His food was delivered (meals-on-wheels) and he spent his time between an indoor orchid garden, reading stacks of old newsprint, and mindlessly computing, data entry his method of maintaining his seclusive lifestyle."

• Now Posted: Apex Magazine #51 August 2013.
• "Victimless Crimes" by Charlie Jane Anders. Science Fiction.
     "The baby that had been Florence sighed. 'Okay fine. I have to do everything myself. I assume you at least brought an exo? Not that this body isn’t lovely and all, but these hands aren’t going to be karate–chopping henchmen any time soon.'"
• "A Matter of Shapespace" by Brian Trent
     "It stabbed up from the center of his otherwise empty room, its three sides so steep they were nearly vertical, converging to a sharp point that aimed towards the skylight. Jacob gaped at it, disbelieving the sight. The rest of his house was a blank desolation, bereft of furniture, color, and of course, pyramids"
• "Sister Twelve: Confessions of a Party Monster" by Christopher Barzak
     "It didn’t take with me, the world and its rules, the things it expected of me. In the end, that’s the only reason why I find myself still here after all these countless years, and still I refuse to leave the scene. If you drop a beat, I’m on it. If I hear the slightest scratch, I’m ready to spin. If my shoes give out, if I split a sole or break a heel, it doesn’t matter. I kick them off and keep on dancing like the music and my body can’t be put on pause"

• Now Posted: Black Treacle #4. Horror. Dark Fantasy.
• "The Devil’s Due" by Mike Rimar.
    "I leaned forward hoping to appear sufficiently inquisitive and peered at the Soul List. Created from the flayed skin of the eternally damned, the scroll unfurled across his obsidian desk. Smoke trailed from the blackened rim of the hole he’d made with his stiletto-like finger. Around the hole the remaining letters of a name fading from view."
• "Nainaine of the Bayou" by Christopher Keelty.
     "The white lady’s gun lay in the dirt. Nell thought about taking it, but it was too heavy and too long–at least twice as long as the rifle Mama was teaching her to shoot. Instead she dragged it into the shadows and hid it beneath some scrap wood. The spyglass on top looked valuable, but Nell didn’t have time to salvage it."
• "Corn-fed Baby and Gravy" by Christian Riley
     "The stink of shit and animal parlayed with a cloud of dust, rising up and through the opened windows of the Cadillac. Lawrence cursed, reached for a handkerchief and covered his nose. When the dust settled, he grabbed his clipboard and stepped outside, shielding his eyes against the rays of a setting sun."
• Now Posted: Sorcerous Signals Aug - Oct '13. Fantasy.
• "Blood Will Out" by Edward Ahern. . Fantasy.
     "The deadly downside to the obligations of nobility."
• "A Close Call" by Matthew Wilson.  Poetry
• "The Heart of a Diamond" by Lillian Csernica. Fantasy.
     "When murderous conspirators armed with magic attack the House of Treymorr, Lady Tavia's only ally is the Spirit trapped inside a prize diamond." 
• "A Legendary Snooze" by Brandon Barrows. Flash Fiction
• "The Men From the Council" by Robina Williams. Fantasy.
     "A modern twist to an ancient myth: When two besuited men drive up in their smart sedan to the hillside home of Baucis and Philemon to talk about planning issues, the old couple fear they are about to lose their home."
• "The Oak Witch's Helper" by Anna Sykora. Fantasy.
      "Maybe I'm a little batty, but every witch needs a helper like me."
• "The Odyssey of the Penelope Ann" by Ken Goldman. Fantasy.
     "Richard, the captain of the Penelope Ann ship, hardly qualifies as a mythic hero -- although he has some appeal to the local Sirens."
• "The Ragnarok Interrupt" by Mike Jansen. Fantasy.
    "Thor is his name, Norse God of Thunder and Lightning, always in for a good fight. With the end of times approaching, he departs for the battlefield, filled with divine anticipation. But the world has changed and Thor discovers he may just be a little outdated."
• "Sunniva" by David W. Landrum.    "The sorceress Sunniva wins the heart of Prince Dalin when they are very young. His parents do not approve and send her into exile. Dalin also travels far away. But to a sorceress, distances mean very little."
• "To The Fates" by John Grey. Poetry.
• "The Woodcarver's Angel" by E. M. Sole.
    "Lord Hennin finds a marvel to delight a king."
E-Books
• At Amazon: Exile of Lucifer: Chronicles of the Host, Vol 1 by D. Brian Shafer. [via Freebook Sifter]

At Free eBooks Daily:
Comics
Audio Fiction
• At Apex Magazine: "The Face of Heaven So Fine" by Kat Howard. Flash.
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