It's Raining Free Fiction! Hallelujah!

Plenty of great free, legal fantasy, science fiction, and horror today. There are items from Baen, Tor, Nightmare Magazine, StarShipSofa, and more links, including one obtained from the ever the ever vigilant Regan Wolfrom of SF Signal. There will Likely be a second  post today with e-books and comics.



[Art from "The Best We Can" linked below]





Fiction
• At Baen: "Dog’s Body" by Sarah A. Hoyt.
     "Now Goldport, holding on to its rugged image, was a mixture of white collar geeks, the students who would become white collar geeks, and the people who catered to their interests and needs. It was rumored to have the best comic shop west of the Mississippi River, the best microbreweries in the world, and one of the best 'weird and geeky' presses anywhere in the universe."

• At HiLobrow: "Herland - Part 1" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Speculative Fiction. 1915.
     "This is written from memory, unfortunately. If I could have brought with me the material I so carefully prepared, this would be a very different story. Whole books full of notes, carefully copied records, first-hand descriptions, and the pictures — that’s the worst loss. We had some bird’s-eyes of the cities and parks; a lot of lovely views of streets, of buildings, outside and in, and some of those gorgeous gardens, and, most important of all, of the women themselves"

• At Mad Scientist Journal: "On Dragon Eyes" by Sarah Frost. Fantasy.
       "The eyes of the dragon possess qualities unique in the animal kingdom. The seeing-scale, or spectacle, covering the dragon’s eye can, after being removed and treated, provide the wearer with extraordinary insight. Currently, the scarcity of these scales prevents their widespread use."

• At Nightmare Magazine: "They Called Him Monster" by Anaea Lay. Horror.
      "The sprite feels wood against her fingertips. Old wood. It’s the wild, gnarled trunk of an oak tree hewn, shaped and molded back together as a table. It’s a free thing bound into shape by a carpenter until it becomes simply, elegantly, something tamed. Just like her."

• At Tor.com: "The Best We Can" by Carrie Vaughn. Science Fiction.
      "First contact was supposed to change the course of human history. But it turns out, you still have to go to work the next morning."

Flash Fiction

• At Daily Science Fiction: "Bedtime Stories" by Jayson Sanders. Fantasy.
• At 365 Tomorrows: "Orion’s Blet" by David Stevenson. Science Fiction.

Audio Fiction

• At Clarkesworld: "Across the Terminator" by David Tallerman.Science Fiction.
     "At forty-three, Fasbender was the oldest member of their three-man team. With his shock of prematurely white hair and pale skin scarred by some vindictive childhood illness, he tended to look even older—especially when he was seized, as now, with what Hank considered his ‘mad scientist fits’."

• At Classics On-the-Go: "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - Chapter 7" by Lewis Carroll.  Children's Fantsy.
      "Alice stumbles upon a mad tea party with the Mad Hatter and the Dormouse."

• At StarShipSofa: "Mars Opposition" by David Brin. Science Fiction.
      "The Martians land. They have a list of names and they are seeking people from that list – and they are ready to pay handsomely of the information. If they find someone, who is mentioned on the list he is coolly and efficiently killed" - Tpi's reading diary.

OtherGenres
• Flash Fiction at Every Day Fiction: "The Wreck" by steven woods

Three Great Zines, Brin/Ellison, and More Freebies

Some more great freebies from great sites, including an audio story "Bubbles" by David Brin, read by Harlan Ellison at Lightspeed Magazine (I hate to be the one to count how many awards those two greats have won.) There's quite a bit more greatness this time and a second post is quite likely - but no promises.




Now Posted: Clarkesworld Magazine #60 - Sept. 2011.
"Pack" by Robert Reed.

"He was standing in front of my castle, watching windows. When I came out, he bent down low, mouth to the plastic grass, and asked if he could stay."

"Signals in the Deep" by Greg Mellor.

"There's a place in our future where we are all heading, driven by our instincts and the deep heritage of our genes. It is a place where we are more at peace, in harmony with the universal fabric from which we were born. It's what I was taught, and it's what I believe"

Now Posted: Expanded Horizons #31 - Sept. 2011

"Kuda Kepang" by Fadzlishah Johanabas.

"Malik watched his bride as she cheered at the Kuda Kepang troupe performing in honor of their wedding. Nine men astride legless horse puppets woven from nipah palm leaves danced in choreographed silat martial art movements, with his brother Hassan leading them on a black-painted stallion."

"Blue Dahlia" by Larisa Walk.

"After six years of therapy, Melissa’s voice still calls me from the lake. My shrink’s three hundred and twelve cream-colored business cards sit on my desk. One card for each appointment that failed to stop me from hearing my lover’s whispers in the patter of rain on dead leaves, in the footsteps on a flagstone path, in terror-soaked dreams."

"Unfit to Eat" by Tyus Barnwell.

"When I was still a juvenile an old man made the long climb from the village to our mountainside home. A boy walked at his side to aid him. I remember studying the elder carefully as he stood in the arched entry to our cavern casting a stocky shadow."

Now Posted Redstone Science Fiction #16 - Sept. 2011.
"The Jenny" by Cheryl Rydbom.

"There are A.I.s for the street, A.I.s for the shopping market, and A.I.s for the bars. Some bars even require holoprojections. If they fill their quota for say, Marilyn Monroes or Grace Kellys, and that’s the only projection you have, too bad."

"The Day the Pod Landed" by Jeff Cross.

"Tremors shake the earth. Buildings in the village topple over. Blasts of hot air roll across the land in its wake. The bells in the village church ring in alarm, but the sound is lost in the roaring wind."

@Strange Horizons: "Messengers from the Stars Will Come To Help Us Overcome the Obstacles That Hold Us Back From Achieving Our True Potential" by Grady Hendrix,

"The Staging Area was full of purpose that morning. Everyone was excited about the Upload and we were all on task for Mission Success. I woke up full of glory and went down to Room A to calorie load, which was what we called breakfast."

@Lightspeed: "Bubbles" by David Brin.

"Serena still felt the heat of her passage through Kaluza space. That in­candescent journey via the bowels of a singu­larity had raised her temperature dangerously near the fatal point."

@Pixel of Ink [Kindle]

• "The Human Addict" by Scott William Carter. YA. Fantasy.
• "Clockwork Fagin" by Cory Doctorow. Science Fiction.
• "Thirst" by Claire Farrell. Paranormal. Vampire.
• "Anathema" by Megg Jensen. YA. Fantasy.
• "Legacy Universe: Wandering Man" by Martin Perry. Science Fiction.
• "Once a Princess" by Sherwood Smith. Fantasy. Romance.

Serial Fiction
@Author's Site: "Deluge - Parts 82, 83, and 84" by Brian Greene. Horror.

"They sailed on, and over the next few days, the mood of everyone aboard the ship became even tenser and more paranoid. On the first night, only a few hours after Simon and Novak lured the crew of Locke’s ark into a trap, Henry snuck onto the bridge and tried to radio the vessel while"

Audio
@Clarkesworld: "Pack" by Robert Reed, read by Kate Baker.
@Lightspeed: "Bubbles" by David Brin, read by Harlan Ellison. Science Fiction.
@Ministry of Peculiar Occurences: "Darkest before the Darkwater" by Tee Morris. Steampunk.

"A group of survivors from the airship Guy Fawkes find themselves washed ashore on an uncharted island. In their search for survival they uncover one mystery after another."

Comics
@Digital Comics Museum [free membership required]: Weird Terror 006 (inc), Champion Comics 009, Rangers Comics 008, Rangers Comics 028, Jumbo Comics 148, Web Of Evil 019,