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.

Four Free 'Zines

Four outstanding free magazines (two fiction, two gaming) available for download and/or online reading.

 [art from all four 'zines)




Fiction
Now Posted: Clarkesworld Issue 81, June 2013. Speculative Fiction

• "The Urashima Effect" by E. Lily Yu
     "Leo Aoki awoke with a shudder in the cold green bubble of the ship, nauseated and convinced that he was suffocating. He shoved his way out of the sleep spindle, found his balance, ran his hands through his sweaty hair, checked his bones: all unbroken. Well, then. There was a snaking black tube cuffed to the wall, its other end pointing into the black vacuum of space."
"• This is Why We Jump" by Jacob Clifton. 
     "I can curl myself around him like an ammonite, and call him little names, and he will smile. Arms and legs getting bigger every day. A little starfish, crowding me out. It is my name for him, but only when he will be gentled can I say. It happens less and less."
• "Free-Fall" by Graham Templeton
     "Our elevator has stalled some thirty kilometers above the surface of the Earth, and my first thought is not heroic: I need to start fasting, lean up these haunches in preparation for the Donner decision trees that most likely lie ahead. There’s food for a month below the floorboards, but thirty kilometers? Looking at my three fellow passengers, hot-shot scientists all, it is distressingly easy to imagine our mini-society devolving into tribalism"
• "Mongoose" by Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear
       "Izrael Irizarry stepped through a bright-scarred airlock onto Kadath Station, lurching a little as he adjusted to station gravity. On his shoulder, Mongoose extended her neck, her barbels flaring, flicked her tongue out to taste the air, and colored a question. Another few steps, and he smelled what Mongoose smelled, the sharp stink of toves, ammoniac and bitter."
• "Dead Men Walking" by Paul J. McAuley
     "I guess this is the end. I’m in no condition to attempt the climb down, and in any case I’m running out of air. The nearest emergency shelter is only five klicks away, but it might as well be on the far side of this little moon. I’m not expecting any kind of last-minute rescue, either."

Now Posted: Mirror Dance - Summer 2013. Fantasy.

• "Behold" by James Lecky
     ""I regret to tell you, your majesty," the Doctor said to the Queen. "That the child has been born ugly."
• "On Festival Road" by Jonathan Olfert.
     "The Festival of Forbidden Arts came every seven years to Allsoulsanchor, that most diverse and liberated of cities. Aalem couldn't quite remember the last time caravans of aloof, argumentative magicians passed his family's roadhouse."
• "Old Rootling" by Trevor Shikaze. Fantasy. Flash Fiction.
• "Hagia Sophia" by Chandler Groover.
    "If you have never seen Hagia Sophia, you should find a picture of it, or else visit it in person if you ever have the chance to. It is (or was) a church turned into a mosque turned into a museum, and it is (indeed, it is) one of this world’s greatest architectural marvels"
•  "Caught in the Weave A Story of the Crow Witch" by Mike Phillips.
     "Two women hurried in through the door. Each had a lantern in one hand, a crucifix in the other. Though it was night and well past time for decent folk to have gone to their beds, they were both fully clothed, arrayed in stout, woolen dresses that swept the floor as they hurried inside the room."
• And fantasy poems by Sandi Leibowitz, Alicia Cole, Glenn Halak, and Deborah Walker 

Gaming
Now Posted: Fighting Fantazine #11

• The conclusion of an interview with Fighting Fantasy writer Paul Mason
• A new 219 reference adventure "Ascent of Darkness" by Stuart Lloyd and illustrated by Michael Wolmarans
• The "Rogues' Guide" tourist book team paying a visit to Port Blacksand
• "The Fact of Fiction" looking at the sci-fi tale Star Strider
• An introduction to the Titannnica wiki
• A round up of the rollercoaster ride that was Bloodbones going to print
• Chapter 6 of "Aelous Raven and the Wrath of the Sea-Witch"
• The regulars such as Fighting Fantasy Collector, Chronicle of Heroes, Fighting Dantasy, Omens & Auguries, Everything I Need to Know, and The Arcane Archive.

Now Posted: Footprints #18

• The Cult of the Devourer (article)
• A Riddle (article)
• "The Mired Cathedral" (adventure)
• Magic Items (article)
• The Holy Sword (article)
• Tribal Spellcasters revisited (article)
• Creatures of the Tulgey Wood (article)
• The Sorcerer (class)
• An Unhealthy Obsession with Equipment (article)

Apex, Oz, Audio Fiction, and More Freebies

Great freebies from great sites!










Fiction
• At AE: "Captain Confederation" by Jim Robb. Superhero.
     "Captain Confederation was annoyed when he got off the elevator and it showed. It would have been so simple and logical for him to land on the roof of the Superhero Administration Centre, or in the ample grounds surrounding it, but these alternatives were no longer open to him. Last month Transport Canada had proposed a regulation requiring superheroes to take off and land from helipads unless actually fighting crime, and for some inexplicable reason the Department of Superhero Affairs had gone along with it."
    
• At Tor.com: "Fire Above, Fire Below" by Garth Nix. Fantasy.
     "'Fire Above, Fire Below' is about the crisis that the dying of a dragon living below a major city causes, and the pact made many years earlier to deal with such a situation."

• At WMG Publishing: "The Charming Way Written" by Kristine Grayson (Kristine Kathryn Rusch) Paranormal Romance.
     "But on the way to her protest at a book fair, she runs into a handsome man. A very handsome man who isn’t just her prince charming—he’s the prince charming. And he loves books."

• Now Posted: Apex Magazine Issue 48 — May 2013

“Ilse, Who Saw Clearly” by E. Lily Yu
     "Once, among the indigo mountains of Germany, there was a kingdom of blue-eyed men and women whose blood was tinged blue with cold. The citizens were skilled in clockwork, escapements, and piano manufacture, and the clocks and pianos of that country were famous throughout the world. Their children pulled on rabbit-fur gloves before they sat down to practice their etudes, for it was so cold the notes rang and clanged in the air."
“The Binding of Ming-tian” by Emily Jiang.
     "Hush, little baby, little kumquat, little bird. Ming–tian is sleeping. She has pruned the bitter melon vines and swept the porch while dancing with a broom. She has chased away the good luck fishes in the pond, where she has lost her shoe. Soon it will freeze over. Now Ming–tian is snoring."
“Tight Little Stitches in a Dead Man’s Back” by Joe R. Lansdale.
     "The tight lines around her eyes and mouth, the emotional heat that radiates from her body like a dreadful cold sore looking for a place to lie down is voice enough for her. She lives only for the moment when she (the cold sore) can attach herself to me with her needles, ink and thread. She lives only for the design on my back."
“Come to My Arms, My Beamish Boy” by Douglas F. Warrick
     "The name of the ship he had served on. The name of his commanding officer. His daughters’ names, which husband went with which daughter, which grandchildren came from which marriage, which fiancé held hands with which granddaughter. That had mostly melted away."

 Flash Fiction

• At Apex Magazine: “The Busker, Broke and Busted” by Shira Lipkin. Poem
• At Beware the Hairy Mango: "Matty Dread" by Matthew Sanborn Smith.
• At Daily Science Fiction: "Persephone at Arm's Length" by Bridget A. Natale. 
• At Every Day Fiction: "Competition For Ice Wizards" by James Reinebold. Fantasy. Humor. 
• At Flashes in the Dark: "In the Event of My Demuse" by Sara-Jane McGeachy. Horror.
• At 365 Tomorrows: "The Common Threat Doctrine" by Bob Newbell. Science Fiction.

Audio Fiction
• At Classics On-the-Go: "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - Chapter 1" by Lewis Carroll. Children's Fantasy.
     "Alice decides to follow the white rabbit and falls down the rabbit hole. She lands in a room filled with doors but she is too large to fit through the small door that she is able to open with a small key. What will she do?"

• At Drabblecast: "Liane the Wayfarer" by  Jack Vance. Fantasy.
     "Through the dim forest came Liane the Wayfarer, passing along the shadowed glades with a prancing light-footed gait. He whistled, he caroled, he was plainly in high spirits. Around his finger he twirled a bit of wrought bronze—a circlet graved with angular crabbed characters, now stained black."

• At PodCastle: "The Great Zeppelin Heist of Oz" by Rae Carson and C.C. Finlay. Fantasy.
     "Scraps, the patchwork girl, witnessed the wizard’s arrival. She sat beneath a tree watching the most spectacular show ever performed by a summer sky. White clouds swirled above an emerald colored sky like whipped marshmallow topping on a glass bowl full of lime jello spinning round and round and round on a potter’s wheel. She didn’t think it could get any more amazing when the clouds cracked open and sunlight burst through so blinding that she lifted one patchwork arm to shade her button eyes."

• At StarShipSofa:   “On 20468 Petercook” by Andy Duncan.
     "Alone in the black void, the ship thrust forward, then pivoted as it slowed to a stop. Motionless, it awaited the next flyby, the next ship-killer, the next opportunity."

Thursday Freebies

Another batch of good free fiction for you enjoyment.




[art for  "Loss, with Chalk Diagrams" linked below]







Fiction
• At Night Shade Books: "Loss, with Chalk Diagrams" by E. Lily Yu.
     "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."

• At Paizo: "Bastard, Sword - Chapter Two: Serpent and Bow" by Tim Pratt. Fantasy.
     "Rodrick had never seen a dragon or dragon-type creature in person, but this one looked more or less like the statues and drawings of such creatures: a huge reptilian head with twisted horns, immense black eyes, and a mouth full of teeth like broken daggers. It was unmistakably an apex predator of such power and size that Rodrick would barely count as a mouthful."

Now Posted: Perihelion March 2013

• "Silicon and Solitude" by Shane D. Rhinewald. 
• "Expedition of the Arcturus" by JZ Murdock
• "Nude Bargain" by Olga Godim
• "Dirtsiders on Cinnabar" by Patrick Lundrigan
• "Pulped!" by Tom Tinney.
• "History of Humanity’s First Alien Contact in the Year 2023" by Eric M. Jones
• "Space Cadets of the Apocalypse" by Dave Fragments
• "Illegal Alien" by Betsy Streeter
• "A Tangle of Brilliance" by Charles Barouch

Flash Fiction

• At Daily Science Fiction: "To Maintain the Balance" by Jamie Lackey. Science Fiction. 
• At Every Day Fiction: "The Sphinx Approaches" by Carl Steiger. Fantasy. 
• At Nature: "The Lucky Ones" by Andrew David Thaler.
• At 365 Tomorrows: "Old Gamers Never Die" by Jae Miles. Science Fiction.

Audio Fiction
• At AntipodeanSF: "The AntiSF Radio Show 176" Flash SF. 
      "the AntiSF Radio Show, right where it belongs, in audio - all of the best stories, many of them narrated by the authors who created them, all shaken up and stirred with fresh and unusual music that you won't hear on any other radio station in the universe."

• At Drabblecast: "A Riddle in Nine Syllables" by Carrie Vaughn. Science Fiction.
      "After the attack, my team brought me straight to the med lab at base camp. They must have commed ahead, because as soon as the stretcher went through the door seals, Dr. Traynor was yelling orders…"

• At Escape Pod:  "Perspective" by Jake Kerr. Science Fiction.
     "The worst part about picking my son up from the police station was the walk to get there. I hadn’t been outside in years, but it was still the same–the drab gray of the smog-stained overcast sky, the decaying concrete, the stench of gasoline, urine, and who knew what else"

Other Genres

• Audio at Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine: "Strangle Vine" by Shelley Costa 
• Audio at Forgotten Classics: "The Unforeseen, chapter 13" by Dorothy Macardle. Gothic.
• Audio at LibriVox: "The Gloved Hand" by Burton Egbert Stevenson. Mystery. 

T. G. I. Free Friday Fiction

Some quite cool stuff today including some good flash fiction, podcasts and fan audio, ongoing serials, Weekly episodes of Escape Pod and Pseudopod (one of the best reasons to look forward to fridays), some very good fiction - including a pair from two of my many favorite eZines, and today's highlighted story is "The Lamp at the Turning" by E. Lily Yu. Published at the well-respected literary magazine The Kenyon Review, this is an interesting short story by a future big-name writer.

Today's illustration is from the fan audio "Mad Max: Tomorrow's Road"







@The Kenyon Review: "The Lamp at the Turning" by E. Lily Yu. Speculative Fiction.

"For ten years the streetlamp on the corner of Cooyong and Boolee kept vigil with the other lamps along the road. They were surrogate moons for an age when the moon itself was too distant and dim to guide travelers in the night, and they performed their duties faithfully and with pride in their high purpose."

@Daily Science Fiction: "Still Life" by A.C. Wise.
@Ray Gun Revival: "Elias, Smith and Jones" by Mark English. Science Fiction.
@Macmillan Books: "Heart of the Sea" by Christine Warren. Paranormal Romance. [Via Free eBooks Daily]
@Smashwords: "Dragon Town" by Tom Lichtenberg. Science Fiction. Suspence. [Via Free eBooks Daily]
@Smashwords: "M" by Kody Boye. Science Fiction.
@Smashwords: "Grave Ties" by James Bailey. Horror.

Serial Fiction
@Author's Site: "The Journals of Doctor Mormeck–Entry #15" by Jeff VanderMeer.
@Author's Site: "Paradigm Shift #2" by Misa Buckley. Science Fiction.







@Escapepod: "Flash Extravaganza"

"London Iron" by William R. Halliar (narrator Andrew Richardson)
"Wheels of Blue Stilton" by Nicholas J. Carter (narrator Christian Brady)
"Light and Lies" by Gideon Fostick (narrator- Mur Lafferty)

@Pseudopod: "The Line" by Grady J. Gratt, read by Mark E. Phair. Horror.
@LibriVox: Twilight Land by Howard Pyle, read by many readers. YA. Fantasy. Short Stories (text 1894).

Serial Audio
@Classic Tales Podcast: "The Mark of Zorro Part 3 of 9" by Johnston McCulley, read by B.J. Harrison. Adventure.

Fan Audio
@BrokenSea Audio: "Mad Max: Tomorrow's Road" by By Paul Mannering, full cast. Science Fiction.
@Pendant Productions: Issue 6 of "Green Arrow: Shooting Star."
@Pendant Productions:Issue 66 of "Wonder Woman: Champion of Themyscira"

Non-Fiction Podcasts
Cammy’s Comic-Con Corner – Geeky Talky – Episode 79 - Thursday at Comic-Con 2011
Comic Book Page "Comic-Con 2011 Podcast Panel"

@Daily Science Fiction: "Heart of Gold" by James Valvis.
@Eschatology: "News of the End of the World" by Anthony Cuthbertson. Horror.
@Flash Fiction Friday. "F3, Cycle 40" 23 flash fiction stories. Some genre, some not.
@Flash Pulp: "Coffin: The Appearance" by J.R.D. Skinner, MP3 read by Opopanax. Pulp.
@Flashes in the Dark: "Shadows" by Neil Leckman. Horror.
@Flashes in the Dark: "The Fire Baby" by Michael Albani. Horror.
@365 tomorrows: "Oversight Governance" by Martin Sumner. Science Fiction.
@365 tomorrows: "Last Wishes of Customer 593" by K. J. Russell. Science Fiction.
@Weirdyear: "Aaron Got Drunk and Stole the Moon" by Joshua Young. Weird.