More Great Free Fiction

Another large post of great free fiction as the October free fiction flood continues unabated. [Art from "Speaking to Mother"]






Fiction
• At Anotherealm: "The Comet" by Adrienne Ray.
     "The drug store was quite sparse. Several of the shelves were completely empty. The looters had probably been here already. They were hardly ever prosecuted anymore. Although, as the weeks had gone by, the looters had become less violent, more resigned to their fate. The red haired clerk sat at the cash register reading a girly magazine."

• At Decoder Ring Theater: Red Panda "The Locked Room" Superhero. Noir. Comedy.
     "A daring crime, striking at the very heart of public trust... is it a page from the playbook of a foe thought long gone? If so, what about the lone witness, who is not quite as he seems? The horrifying truth to one of the most sinister mysteries of the Red Panda's career may lay within"

• At HiLobrow: "Herland - Part 12" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Science Fiction. 1915.
      "We had all meant to go home again. Indeed we had not meant — not by any means — to stay as long as we had. But when it came to being turned out, dismissed, sent away for bad conduct, we none of us really liked it."

• At Kasma: "Speaking to Mother" by Tom Doyle. Science Fiction.
     "After long hours observing the black hole devour matter, Lakshmi watched Harry consume spicy squid. From the tension in his jaw, and decades of watching his face, she knew that he wasn't really happy, and that it wasn't the squid's fault. It was the other thing."
• At Mad Scientist Journal: "My Gran the Time Traveler" by Adam Sear. Science Fiction.
     "My Gran is a time-traveler. Not by choice or force, even. It was purely accidental. My parents didn’t believe me when I told them. It was only when a portal opened during a summer barbeque and my Gran came through in Tudor dress, riding a large machine, that they believed. Salad and sausages splattered against their faces as they fainted."

At Strange Horizons:

• "Runaway Cyclone" by Jagadish Chandra Bose.
     "A few years ago a supernatural event was observed which rocked the scientific communities of America and Europe. A number of articles were published in various scientific journals to explain the phenomenon. But till now no explanation of the event has been found satisfactory."

• "Sheesha Ghat" by Naiyar Masud.

      "Father must not have known that I had already heard mention of Sheesha Ghat from visitors in his house. I knew that it was the most widely known and least inhabited ghat on the Big Lake, and that a scary woman by the name of Bibi was its sole owner."

• At Tor.com: "The Rain is a Lie" by Gennifer Albin.    
     "In Arras, space and time aren’t ideas, they are tangible substances woven together by beautiful girls into the very fabric of reality. The looms that create Arras are as controlled as the Spinsters who work them, ensuring a near idyllic world for the average citizen. But at what price? As an election approaches, a surprise weather forecast and a mysterious stranger hint that not all is as it seems, and a young boy learns that in Arras nothing can be trusted, not even memories."

Now Posted: Crossed Genres Magazine 2.0 - Issue 10.

• "Adrenaline" by Priya Chand
      "I was wasting microseconds outside – and not only to gather data. Maybe it wasn’t too late to abandon this ridiculous deal. No shame in one loss, right? And she didn’t play by any rules I ever learned, which was almost cheating."

• "This Dark and Narrow Way" by Memory Scarlett.
     "Dela paused on the landing to peer outside. The house demanded she take ownership of the wide lawn and the willow trees and the cobbled path she had never trod herself. It revelled in the cold, hard ache that came every time she looked upon that which she longed for and couldn’t have."

Flash Fiction
• At Flash Fiction Online: "Swan Maiden" by Barbara Barnett. Fantasy.
• At Flash Fiction Online: "His Brother’s Bite" by Gillian Daniels. "creepily fun fantasy"
• At Strange Horizon: "Tatakai" by Shweta Narayan.
At AntipodeanSF:

• "The Regersek Zone" by Mark Webb
• "Nothing To Something" by Leonie Rogers.
• "Mea Culpa" by Ed Errington.
• "Scavenger" by Leslie Blake.
• "Underground Agency" by D.W. Walker.
• "The Public Transport Virgin" by Kathryn Yuen.
• "Fifty Worders"       

Audio Fiction
• At 19 Nocturne Boulevard: "The Black Lamp" by Captain S.P. Meek, read by Julie Hoverson. (part 2 of 2). Part One here. Science Fiction.
     "Dr. Bird and his friend Carnes unravel another criminal web of scientific mystery."

• At Strange Horizons: "Runaway Cyclone" by Jagadish Chandra Bose, read by Anaea Lay.
     "A few years ago a supernatural event was observed which rocked the scientific communities of America and Europe. A number of articles were published in various scientific journals to explain the phenomenon. But till now no explanation of the event has been found satisfactory."

Other Genres

• Audio Drama at American Radio Theater: "Let Me Tell You About My Operation"
• Audio Fiction at LibrVox: The Heptameron of the Tales of Margaret, Queen of Navarre, Vol. 1. Medieval Literature.
• Fiction at Project Gutenberg: The Boy Chums Cruising in Florida Waters by Wilmer M. Ely. YA Adventure. 1914.
• Fiction at Project Gutenberg: The Galloping Ghost by Roy J. Snell. YA Mystery. 1933.
• Flash Fiction at Linguistic Erosion: "Boxes And Ladders" by E.S. Wynn.
• Flash Fiction at Flash Fiction Online:  "Bats at Dusk" by Jorie Daniels.
• Flash Fiction - Now Posted: SmokeLong Quarterly #41.
• Flash Fiction at Smash Cat Magazine: "Love Choices" by Jerry Guarino.
• Poetry at Leaves of Ink: "Penitentiary Mystic" by David Rutter.