TGIFFF (Thank God It's Friday Free Fiction)

Another great day for free fiction with free fiction, flash fiction, and audio fiction from all the big three genres (Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Horror).  And be sure to check out "SF Signal," "Free SF Reader," "Free Speculative Fiction Online," "BestScienceFictionStories.com," "Variety SF," and "SFFaudio" for more free fiction links.

 [Art from "The Plague" by Ken Liu in flash fiction.]


Fiction
• At Daily Science Fiction: "Memories of Mirrored Worlds" by Barbara A. Barnett. Fantasy.
      "The voice had no source that Alison Marie could find, for the people around her did not talk of magical realms; they did not speak with the cadence of a butterfly's flight. They filled the funeral parlor with floral-scented death and spoke of memories and such an unfortunate accident for one so young."

• At HiLobrow: "The Man with Six Senses - Part 1" by Muriel Jaeger. Science Fiction. (1927).
     "When Hilda, a beautiful young member of England’s cynical postwar generation, meets Michael, a hapless mutant capable of perceiving the molecular composition of objects and the ever-shifting patterns of electromagnetic fields, she becomes his apostle."

• At Tor.com: "Wave of Infection" by Jason Hough.
      "The aircraft rested in a windswept field a few hundred meters up from the beach. Her crew, a pilot and co-pilot, sat nearby. Gulls wheeled overhead, their occasional calls as lazy as the Mediterranean whitecaps stretching north as far as Skyler could see."

Flash Fiction

• At Every Day Fiction: "For The Empire" by Alexander Burns. Fantasy.
• At 365 Tomorrows: "Ocean" by Gabriel E. Zentner. Science Fiction.
• At Tor.com: "The Plague" by Ken Liu. Science Fiction.

Audio Fiction
• The Classic Tales Podcast: "Through the Looking Glass, Part 5 of 5" by Lewis Carroll. Children's Fantasy.
      "At long last, Alice becomes a queen. But it’s bittersweet, really. For her new cronies, the Red and White Queens drive her crazy. It’s Lewis Carroll– Today on The Classic Tales Podcast." Parts One, Two, Three, and Four.

• At Escape Pod: "Zebulon Vance Sings the Alphabet Songs of Love" by Merrie Haskell. Science Fiction.
     "Today, Robot!Hamlet is afire with Edwin Booth’s mad vigor, and runs his improv algorithms at full throttle; he kisses me dreamily, and rips my bodice in a way that would never have been allowed in Victorian America. The FACfans don’t look hyperpleased about this; it tarnishes their precious authenticity"

• At The Fantastic Worlds of Edgar Rice Burroughs: "Episode 05 - The People That Time Forgot"
      "Tom Billings has been captured by a tribe of Band-Lu. He has been taken through caverns and caves deep into the cliffs, where he is tied and left to await the next day – and the “dance of death”.  In the darkness, he hears the sound of padded feet approaching him"

• At PodCastle: "The Phoenix on the Sword, featuring Conan the Barbarian" by Robert E. Howard. Fantasy.
     "The room was large and ornate, with rich tapestries on the polished-panelled walls, deep rugs on the ivory floor, and with the lofty ceiling adorned with intricate carvings and silver scrollwork. Behind an ivory, gold-inlaid writing-table sat a man whose broad shoulders and sun-browned skin seemed out of place among those luxuriant surroundings. He seemed more a part of the sun and winds and high places of the outlands."

• At Tales to Terrify: Episode #79. Horror.

“The Scratch of an Old Record” by Cate Gardner
“Breathe My Name” by Christopher Golden
      "A group of miners are trapped underground; as the time passes and they start to lose their strength, one of them recalls an old bedtime story his father used to tell him." - Horror World.

"Repent, QuasarDragon!" Said the Ticktockman.

Rather late today, but there is a good selection of free fiction today, including a classic Leinster novel at Project Gutenberg and double shots of Beam Me Up and Drabblecast in audio fiction.




[Art from "Nightmare Planet"]






Fiction
• At Author's Site: "SeniorSource" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. Science Fiction.
     "The little boy lay face down in the dirt. Because the brown dirt was fine, loose, and powdery, I thought he had landed outside the dome, but that didn’t quite match with what I was seeing. His body was intact which it would not have been if it had been exposed to the harshness of the actual Moon"

• At Black Gate: "Falling Castles" by Jamie McEwan. Fantasy.
     "Early the next morning, still sans Tanek, King Bertham the Just girded on his sword, mounted his charger, and led his troops to the center of the high meadow to await King Luzak’s forces. It was a brave day, with a bright sun breaking just above the mountains, and Bertham felt almost cheerful. Let them come soon, he thought, while my mood holds."

• At Daily Science Fiction: "Remembrance" by David G. Uffelman. Science Fiction.
     "The news first came to the Old Mother through her feet. She leaned forward to rest more weight on the cartilaginous nodes within her padded front feet to create a solid connection with the earth, the better to receive the seismic signals that traveled through the bedrock beneath the gentle rolling grasslands of the Highveld."

• At HiLobrow: "Theodore Savage - part 18" by Cicely Hamilton. Science Fiction. 1922.
      "When war breaks out in Europe — war which aims successfully to displace entire populations — British civilization collapses utterly and overnight. The ironically named Theodore Savage, an educated and dissatisfied idler, must learn to survive by his wits in the new England, where 20th-century science, technology, and culture are regarded with superstitious awe and terror."

• At L5R: "Treaty" by Seth Mason. Fantasy.
       "A conversation between two Champions yields insight into the nature and present status of their clans."m

• At Project Gutenberg: "Nightmare Planet" by Murray Leinster. Science Fiction. 1953.
     "Burl opened his mouth to shout furiously at them. But it was not a good idea for humans to draw attention. Spiders did not hunt by scent, but sound sometimes drew them. Burl closed his mouth again, in a taut straight line. The men looked at him supplicatingly. They had never been lost, and so had never learned to think even a little."

 • At Strange Horizons: "In Joy, Knowing the Abyss Behind (Part 2)" by Sarah Pinsker.
     "George had only ever taken one trip without Millie, in the fall of 1951. A letter had arrived from the army asking him to fly to New Mexico."
 
Flash Fiction

• At Flashes in the Dark: "The Live One" by A.K. Mayhew. Horror. 
• At Quantum Muse: "Dolly" by Michele Dutcher.
• At Strange Horizons: "Castle Csejthe (Bathory)" by Jennifer Ruth Jackson. Poem.
• At 365 Tomorrows: "ArmOr" by Sierra July. Science Fiction.
• At Toasted Cake: "The Custom of the Sea" by E. C. Ambrose. Audio.

Audio Fiction
• At Beam Me Up: Episode #373. Science Fiction.
     "To Bere Arms" by Wes Parish and part 3 of Edward McKeown’s "In the Mourning."

• At Beam Me Up: Episode #372. Science Fiction.
    "Trath: Return of the Quellers" by David Scholes and part 2 of Edward McKeown’s "In the Mourning."

• At Drabblecast: "Unique Chicken Goes in Reverse" by Andy Duncan. Strange.
     "Father Leggett stood on the sidewalk and looked up at the three narrow stories of gray brick that was 207 East Charlton Street. Compared to the other edifices on Lafayette Square—the Colonial Dames fountain, the Low house, the Turner mansion, the cathedral of course"

• At Drabblecast: "Sweetie" by Michelle Ann King. Horror. Strange.
      "Admittedly, my little travelling show isn’t what it once was. We’ve been on the road for a long, long time. But I like to think that for the discerning customer, we still provide value for money. An experience you can’t get from the computer screen"

• At SFFaudio: "The Machine Stops" by E.M. Forster.
     "Imagine, if you can, a small room, hexagonal in shape, like the cell of a bee. It is lighted neither by window nor by lamp, yet it is filled with a soft radiance. There are no apertures for ventilation, yet the air is fresh. There are no musical instruments, and yet, at the moment that my meditation opens, this room is throbbing with melodious sounds."

 • At SFFaudio: "The Tower Of The Elephant" by Robert E. Howard. Fantasy.
     "A strange, blood-freezing story of an idol that wept on its throne, and a valorius barbarian from the fringes of an elder civilization. First published in Weird Tales, March 1933."

• At Strange Horizons: "In Joy, Knowing the Abyss Behind (Part 2)" by Sarah Pinsker.
     "George had only ever taken one trip without Millie, in the fall of 1951. A letter had arrived from the army asking him to fly to New Mexico."

• At The Way of the Buffalo: "To the End of Time, or Lisa" by Damien Krsteski. Science Fiction.
     "Some people really do get a second chance to make a first impression in this week's story,"

Other Genres

• Audio at Crime City Central: "Sky of Brass, Land of Iron" by Joe McKinney
• Audio at LibriVox: "Motor Boat Boys' River Chase" by Louis Arundel. YA Adventure.
• Fiction at The New Yorker: "Mastiff" by Joyce Carol Oates.
• Flash Fiction at Every Day Fiction: "Genesis Novus" by Baron Weiser"

Clarkesworld and More Free Fiction

More great freebies including, two fantasy poetry 'zines (Goblin Fruit and Stone Telling) and the always exceptional Clarkesworld.  There are also short stories old and new, audio fiction and more.  More to come soon.




 [Art for Clarkesworld - linked below]






Fiction
• At Online Pulps: "Crash on Viar" by Joseph J. Millard. Pulp/Science Fiction. From Thrilling Wonder Stories - Feb. 1942.
   "The shadow of death on airless worlds drives Man to perform deeds of murder–and scientific laws bring them to justice!"

• At Project Gutenberg: "Jewels of Gwahlur" by Robert E. Howard. Fantasy. Sword and Sorcery. From Weird Tales - March 1935.
      "Conan the Cimmerian, late of the Baracha Isles, of the Black Coast, and of many other climes where life ran wild, had come to the kingdom of Keshan following the lure of a fabled treasure that outshone the hoard of the Turanian kings."

• At Silver Blade: "The Guild of Swordsmen: Part 7" by Kristin Janz. Fantasy.
     "The swordsmen were taken to a large dining hall, where a simple but generous breakfast had been set out on long tables.  Lida sat at a corner of one table, hoping no one would try to talk with her.  No one did.  The big man she had tried to hide behind out on the Eastwatch Plaza sat near the other end of the table, and he nodded politely to her once but left her alone."

Now Posted: Clarkesworld Issue 78, March 2013.

"The Weight of a Blessing" by Aliette de Bodard.

     "On her third visit to Sarah—on the last occasion that she sees her daughter, even if it is only in V-space—Minh Ha says nothing. There are no words left, no message of comfort that she could give her."

"The Last Survivor of the Great Sexbot Revolution" by A.C. Wise.

     "You didn’t expect her to be in plain sight, either. All your careful research, chasing down obscure references in mostly forgotten histories, and here she is. She’s not hiding, and if she’s not proud of her part in history, she’s not ashamed, either."

"86, 87, 88, 89" by Genevieve Valentine.

     "You are part of a vital effort to recover evidence of terrorist activity preceding the Raids, and on a larger scale, to preserve the heritage of a historic neighborhood of New York City."

Now Posted: Goblin Fruit - Winter 2013. Fantasy Poetry.

• Triumph XIII: Chaaya by Shweta Narayan
• The Journeymaker, Climbing by Rose Lemberg
• Sleeping Beauty Makes Dinner by Sally Rosen Kindred
• The Jackdaw, Married by Mathew Joiner
• Silver by Andy Humphrey
• Grief by Jennifer Jerome
• It Is Winter and Everything Is Cold, Thinks Robber Girl by Charlotte Bhaskar
• Lament for a Faithless Prince by Ada Hoffmann
• Moral by Alicia Cole
• Tent Worms by Laura Lee Washburn
• The Journeymaker to Keddar by Rose Lemberg
• As Long As There Are Husbands in Winter by Phyllis Holliday

Now Posted: Stone Telling #9.  Fantasy Poetry.

• JT Stewart - Weaver
• JT Stewart - Ancestors
• JT Stewart - Cinderella Begins Her Memoir
• JT Stewart - The Novice Takes Notes For Going South
• JT Stewart - Kiss Me / Change Me
• Dominik Parisien - Let me show you you
• Alyza Taguilaso - Aphasia
• Lisa M. Bradley - embedded
• Mat Joiner - A Black Dog
• Bogi Takács - The Tiny English-Hungarian Phrasebook For Visiting Extraterrestrials
• Brianna Belle Sulzener - Returns
• Ishita Basu Mallik - flood
• Michele Bannister - Foam, Braided with Teeth
• Minal Hajratwala - The Unicorn at the Racetrack
• Neile Graham - With Bats in Our Belfry, Dear, Earth Water and Sky

Flash Fiction
• At 365 Tomorrows: "Darwin" by Alex Bauer. Science Fiction.

Audio Fiction
• At Cast of Wonders: "Cosmetic Procedures" by Desmond Warzel. YA.
     No description found.

• At Clarkesworld: "The Weight of a Blessing" by Aliette de Bodard.
      Described above

Comic Books
•Issues One and Two of Sullivan’s Sluggers, a baseball, horror comic book. In PDF and CBZ formats (Note - the CBZ issues didn't work for me but the PDFs were fine).

Other Genres

• Audio at Craftlit: Jane Eyre Chapters 22 and 23  by Charlotte Brontë.
• Fiction at Online Pulps: "Homicide Shaft" by Robert Leslie Bellem (Noir 1949) and "The Tornado" by Raymond S. Spears (Pulp 1918).
• Flash Fiction at Every Day Fiction: "Robot Legs" by W.J. McCabe.

Comics, Flash Fiction, and More

A lot of cool free flash fiction and comics this morning as well as a couple each, great fiction and and audio fiction stories.  More later today or tomorrow morning.  Today's QD Radio is Murray Leinster's "A Logic Named Joe" adapted on Dimension X.

[Art from "Space Pirates of Lanthus IV" linked below in the comics section]



Fiction
• At Night Shade Books: "On the Arrival of the Paddle-Steamer on the Docks of V" by Peter M. Ball.
     "Our tiny hotel room is boiling, even now, but heat doesn’t bother Patrick and he sleeps, shirtless, with the thin sheet coiled round him like a loving serpent. It’s a trick for him, nodding off. He cultivates a talent for sleep, adores the act of dozing off like it’s a second lover. He says it keeps him young, and perhaps it does, for people are always surprised to learn Patrick’s real age."

• At Project Gutenberg: "A Witch Shall Be Born" by Robert E. Howard. Fantasy. 1934.
     "'Who am I?' There was the spite of a she-cobra's hiss in the soft response. The girl stepped to the edge of the couch, grasped the queen's white shoulders with fierce fingers, and bent to glare full into the startled eyes of Taramis. And under the spell of that hypnotic glare, the queen forgot to resent the unprecedented outrage of violent hands laid on regal flesh."

Flash Fiction

• At Daily Science Fiction: "Coin Op" by David Steffen. 
• At Every Day Fiction: "Radaba, Daughter of Rapunzel" by Marie Bacigalupo. Fantasy.
• At Flash Fiction Friday: "Dem Bones – The Stories" Mixed Genres.
• At Flashes in the Dark: "Mr. Yamamoto’s Fish Food" by Adam Walker. Horror.
• At Indian SF: "Behind Eyes Closed" by Anand Shankara.
• At Nature: "Tumbleweeds and Indelicate Questions" by John P. Murphy. Science Fiction.
• At 365 Tomorrows: "Judgement Day" by Clint Wilson. Science Fiction.

Audio Fiction
• At Beware the Hairy Mango: "The Slow and the Furious" by Matthew Sanborn Smith. Weird.
      No description Found

• At PodCastle: "My Dignity in Scars" by Cory Skerry. Fantasy.
     "This time, I am at Ukaya’s house, trimming the hooves of her goats, because her joints are too swollen and stiff to wield a knife. The morning sun prickles my back and rough goat hair prickles my belly as I whittle off thin curls of hoof."

Comics

• At Atomic Kommie Comics: "Weird Thrillers - Cycle of Time" Sci-Fi. 1951
• At Atomic Kommie Comics: "Outer Space - 3rd Planet" Sci-Fi. 1968.
• At Atomic Kommie Comics: "Brant Craig - Space Pirates of Lanthus IV" Sci-Fi. 1951.
• At Four-Color Shadows: "Hoof Beats of the Devil's Horse" Horror. 1952 .
• At Hero Histories: "Voodah - Justice of the Jungle" Adventure. 1945.
• At The Horrors of It All: "Out of this World!" Horror. 1954.
• At The Horrors of It All: "Vengeance from a Restless Grave" Horror. 1952.
• At The Horrors of It All: "It Happened on Valentine's Eve" Horror. 1951.
• At Seduction of the Innocent: "Her Lips Dripped Blood" Horror. 1953.

More Free Fiction. Apex, AntipodeanSF, Conan Motion Comic.

A bonus second free fiction post today! There are only three items, but they are three very big items. First up is the latest issue of Apex Magazine (always great). I don't know how I missed this, but SF Signal scooped me.  So credit where credit is due, though I'll be petty and put it up here, since nobody ever reads this ;-p

 Next is  the November issue of AntipodeanSF, with some cool flash fiction from down under. And lastly, the first three parts of the motion comic book Conan the Barbarian.

 More tomorrow. Art obviously for Apex.
 





Magazines 
Now Posted: Apex Magazine #42 (November 2012). science fiction, fantasy.

“Erzulie Dantor” by Tim Susman.
     "Whispers prowl through the rubble that surrounds the leaning house. Half-fallen buildings stand on either side, as though a careless giant strode through the town and only by chance missed the one house—surely when the gods choose to wreak destruction on all, they are not so capriciously merciful to one."
“Splinter” by Shira Lipkin.
     "Jay was the hippie, floppy surfer-bangs, more pot than speed, more folk than punk, and the first time I met him, he seized my hand and Michael’s—completing the circuit, he said, and I could feel it, feel the energy rushing between us, leaping like fish. Felt home. He was the mystic, of all of us."
“The Glutton: A Goxhat Accounting Chant” by Eleanor Arnason.
     "The translation of Goxhat poetry presents many problems, due in part to the Goxhat language, but also to the biological and social realities that underlie the language. The foremost problem is the Goxhat’s ambiguous sense of personal identity. Much of the time, Goxhat think of their entire species as a single being. "
“Sprig” by Alex Bledsoe.
       "The little boy gazed up at the beautiful girl seated cross-legged on a tree stump. She wore tights, a sparkly skirt, and enormous plastic wings. Her wild hair was decorated with twigs, leaves and flowers. Her small, pointed face was painted with make-up. Strands of plastic ivy decorated the guitar across her lap."
 

 Now Posted: AntipodeanSF November 2012. Speculative Flash Fiction.

• "The Duchess The Captain" by Rachel Towns.
• "The Flesh Trade" by Marcelo Rinesi.
• "Space Dock Garden" by Maggie Mundy.
• "Revelation" by Peter Grantham.
• "Sex As IPR Piracy" by Wes Parish.

 
Comics

At Dark Horse Comics: Conan the Barbarian Motion Comic Parts 1-3
"In this sweeping adaptation of Robert E. Howard's fan-favorite "Queen of the Black Coast," Conan turns his back on the civilized world and takes to the high seas alongside the pirate queen Bêlit, setting the stage for an epic of romance, terror, and swashbuckling."

She had dreams all yesternight
Of her own betrothed knight;
And she in the midnight wood will pray
For the weal of her lover that's far away. 

Part One: Audio Fiction and Gaming

Some cool freebies - More later.






@PodCastle: Episode #162 "Gods of the North" featuring Conan the Barbarian, by Robert E. Howard, read by Graeme Dunlop.

Across the red drifts and mail-clad forms, two figures glared at each other. In that utter desolation only they moved. The frosty sky was over them, the white illimitable plain around them, the dead men at their feet. Slowly through the corpses they came, as ghosts might come to a tryst through the shambles of a dead world. In the brooding silence they stood face to face.

@19 Nocturne Boulevard: "Poe-etic Justice" by Julie Hoverson, adapted from Edgar Allen Poe.

(loosely adapted and modernized from "Hop-Frog" by Edgar Allen Poe) In a classic 1970s frat house, pranks turn dark, and revenge is ...toasty.

@Wily Writers Podcast: “Upon a Star” by Debbie Cowens.

"In a city where Prince Charmings can’t be trusted and getting what your heart desires can be deadly, a string of murders leads PI Robin Goodfellow to the Blue Fairy night club. Noir meets Fae in a tale of lust, betrayal, corruption and broken dreams."

Serial Audio
@Pendant Audio Production: "The Line episode 2x04: Solus, Part II" Fantasy.







@DriveThruRPG: "Nightmare on Hill Manor"

"Quickstart scenario for the World of Darkness. There are times when the rational world seems, if only for a second, to fall away. The leaves rustling in the trees on a still day. The movement just past the corner of your eye. We are taught to ignore the foolish impulse to react."

@The Free RPG Blog: Reviewed and linked to "Dave’s Mapper"

"a free online mapping tool that takes the community Geomorphs and allows you to generate maps, either by random or by semi-random switch and rotate."

@The Savage After World: "World of Thundarr the Barbarian Sourcebook for Mutant Future."
@DriveThruRPG: [Sidetrek] "Shrine of the Risen" D20/Pathfinder.
@Kobold Quarterly: [Monsters] "Sand Giants" and "Mnemonic Slime" 4E.
@WotC: [Cartoon] "Epic Campaign #5"
@A Field Guide to Doomsday: [Monsters] "Briarbear" and "Narl" Mutant Future.
@Sea of Stars: [Magic Item] "Blessed Soil of the Green Mother"
@Blog on the Borderlands: [Magic Items] "Wand of Lethargy" and "Club of Endless Beatings"
@Ancient Vaults & Eldritch Secrets: [Monsters] "Stray Sod," "Seether," and "Rat, Infernal"

Elaine Cunningham, Kim Stanley Robinson, Weird Tales, and More Freeness

A bit of a quiet day, but still some great free items. New Fiction by Elaine Cunningham, Kim Stanley Robinson, and Peter Orullian. Classic P.K.D. and a trio of Weird Tales stories from the 1930s (and some art), comics, flash fiction, audio fiction, and more. [Illustration from "The Illusionist" by Elaine Cunningham]








Fiction
@Paizo.com: "The Illusionist" by Elaine Cunningham.
"Still, the school is world-renowned, and I felt one might reasonably expect a certain breadth of knowledge in its scholars. To my surprise, little is known of the Mwangi Expanse. We are all one to these northerners. When they express admiration for my gold ornaments and the thread-art on my garments, their manner suggests an expectation of jangar-skin loin clouts and necklaces of monkey bone."

@Tor.com: "The Lunatics" by Kim Stanley Robinson, from Brave New Worlds.
"They were very near the center of the moon, Jakob told them. He was the newest member of the bullpen, but already their leader." [via Free SF Reader]

@Tor.com: "The Battle of the Round" by Peter Orullian.
"Maral Praig knelt beside the bleeding soldier and examined his wounds. A sword or spear had punctured the man’s gut several times. He would die if Maral did not heal him."

Classic SF
@Munseys and Project Gutenberg: "Isle of the Undead" by Lloyd Arthur Eshbach, from Weird Tales (Oct. 1936.)
"A gripping, thrilling, uncanny tale about the frightful fate that befell a yachting party on the dreadful island of living dead men"





@BestScienceFiction: A review of, as well as a link to, "Paycheck" by Philip K. Dick (1953).
"ALL AT ONCE he was in motion. Around him smooth jets hummed. He was on
a small private rocket cruiser, moving leisurely across the afternoon sky,
between cities."

@Munseys and Project Gutenberg: "Here Lies" by H.W. Guernsey, from Weird Tales (Oct. 1937).
"An ironic little story about a practical communist who taught his friend when to take him seriously"

@Munseys and Project Gutenberg: "The Last of Mrs DeBrugh" by H. Sivia, from Weird Tales (Oct. 1937).
"Mr. DeBrugh was dead, but he still regarded his promise as a sacred duty to be carried out."







@StarShipSofa: Episode #184 featuring: [Fiction] "A Very Private Tour of A Very Public Museum"by Scott Edelman, [Poetry] "Poetry Planet" by Diane Serverson, and [Serial] "Grail-Diving in Shangrilla with the World’s Last Mime" by Ken Scholes, with narrators Jeff Lane and Josh Roseman.








@Flashes in the Dark: "Instinct" by Lori Titus.
@365 tomorrows: "Special Ops" by Roi R. Czechvala.
@Daily Science Fiction: "N is for Nevermore Nevermore Land" by Tim Pratt, Jenn Reese, Heather Shaw, and Greg van Eekhout.


Comics
@Crosseyed Cyclops: Journey Into Unknown Worlds #53 in CBR download. Sci-Fi.







@Pappy's Golden Age Comics Blogzine: "The Sorceress of Zoom" from Weird Comics #17 (1941). Fantasy/Crimefighter.

@The Comic Book Catacombs: Sheena, Queen of the Jungle in "Vengeance of the Talu Chief" from Sheena #1 (Spring 1942) Pulp Adventure.

@Atomic Kommie Comics: Cave Girl in "Ape God of Kor" from Thun'da #2. Prehistoric Adventure.


Other Coolness
[Art] Conan Images. "The Tree of Life" at Crom! and Weird Tales and paperback covers at Golden Age Comic Book Stories.

@Paleofuture: [Futurism Fail] "Picnics on Mars in the Year 2012" (1962).

Tobias Buckell, Theodore Sturgeon, and Hot Elf Chicks.

It's Saturday and we (the royal "we" apparently) have a googleplex of chores to do, but here are a few rather cool free items from the digital multiverse.




Fiction
At Subterranean Press: "The Fall of Alacan" by Tobias S. Buckell.
"Mynza clung to the side of a stone tower like a bug to a wall. He was hundreds of feet above the dirt street below, halfway up to the bulging copper-plated dome at the very top of the tower. From here he could see the last few merchants of the day who camped out in front of the Mayor’s Mansion leaving their brightly colored stalls."


Online HERE.



At Munseys: "Hoiman and the Solar Circuit" by Gordon Dewey, from If: Worlds of Science Fiction (July 1952).

In e-book downloads at Munseys HERE and Project Gutenberg HERE.



Audio Fiction
The latest episode, number 88, of Spider on the Web is up featuring SF great Spider Robinson hosting readings of "Bianca's Hands" and "Godbody" by another SF great, Theodore Sturgeon.


In MP3 download HERE.




Fetidus is a complete online audio-book, "FETIDUS: The Damned Heir by James Durham. This "future-noir" urban fantasy features a talented cast and original music score, and can be freely downloaded and shared. Join us in the post-apocalyptic world of Art Blanchard, as he takes on a thrilling, twisted case set in the fetid alleys of Washington, DC, circa 2034." Likely R rated.


All twenty episodes are available streaming and in MP3 download HERE. [via The Guild of Cowry Catchers]



The Guild of Cowry Catchers is a series of serialized audio books (now on book three Ashes ). It is "a dark, nautical fantasy for people who shop in the grown-up section of the bookstore." I listened tp book 3, episode one and thought it quite well done, though I would recommend starting from book 1.

The latest episode is Book 3 – Episode 4. Streaming and in MP3 download HERE, or start with Book 1 – Episode 1 HERE (approximately R rated). This a good site to look around in as there are lots of extras.



Episode 11, Ignis, of The Witch Hunter Chronicles is now available.
"What awaits now? The kindling flame of hope? Or the destructive fires of punishment and vengeance? The final hours approach and the skies redden over Sevenpeaks…"

Streaming and in MP3 download HERE.

Flash Fiction
@Every Day Fiction: "God Machine" by Ajit Dhillon.
@Flashes in the Dark: "She Took in Silence" by Matthew C. Funk.
@365 tomorrows: "Incarnate" by Ian Rennie.

Gaming
At DriveThruRPG, Salvage Crew: Star Mogul Game.

"The focus of this game is on running a salvage crew operation and earning money. If your company goes broke, you simply open a new one and continue playing your opponents. A two or more player table top game. Future menacing alien encounters will be controlled by all players involved so no DM is necessary for this system."

In a free PDF download HERE. (free membership required).




At Earthdawn Blog: 255 Earthdawn Spells. "The Tableau Infractus Internet Archive released a collection of spells in four brand new fanzine Ebooks. The four books about elemental, illusionary, nethermantic and wizardry spells were collected from various internet sources. The layout of the Ebook spells is based on the editable Spellcards of Maskhim, which I introduced some time ago over here on the Earthdawn Blog."


In four PDF downloads HERE.




At Ancient Vaults & Eldritch Secrets, for D&D or Labyrinth Lord:

"[New Spell] Encounter Iconic Nemesis" online HERE

and "[New Monster] Crimson Arbiter" online HERE.




At A Character for Every Game, "[Friday Map] the Ancient Temple of Torrel"

A nice ruined temple map for any fantasy rpg - HERE.




And at A Rust Monster Ate My Sword, "Hot Elf Chicks with Swords!" A must see -- Trust me, this is as safe for work as it gets (assuming it's safe to look at gaming sites at your work).

Online HERE.

Comics
At Crom!: "From Star-Studded Comics #14 (1968), comes this old-school adaptation of Robert E. Howard's 'Gods of the North'!"



Available in CBR download HERE.

Lazy Sunday

Lazy space captain take day off 'gain so Lt. Bob play good Mooooooooooooovie! Supposed to play somethin' classy, imaginative, and intellectual so me play Cat-Women of the Moon, it fit well, no? Also captain leave three comics 'cause Sunday without comics is just a misspelled Monday. Lt. Bob no understand.







Cat-Women of the Moon (1953)





Comics
At The Horrors of It All, a trip beyond death in "Beyond Death!" from Mystic #30 (May 1954)


Online HERE.




Battlepug is a new online fantasy comic about, well it's too early to tell much, but it looks cool.



Online HERE. [via Crom!]





At Crom! "The Tomb of the Grey Monster"a "19 page Conan comic retaining the original title... El Túmulo del Monstruo Gris! Check it out now by downloading the English version..." Very well illustrated.



In CBR download HERE.