Give Me Speculative Fiction, I'll Take Anything. Now Quiet While I Read My Good Free Fiction

  The free fiction week's off to a good start with fiction, flash fiction, audio fiction, and other genres from some fantastic sites. Huzzah!  I'll be back later with more, and be certain to check out the latest free fiction post from Regan Wolfrom at SF Signal for additional links.  [Art from "Turnip Girl" in fiction below]









 Fiction
 • At Black Gate: "Stand at Dubun-Geb" by Ryan Harvey. Fantasy.
       "Under a downpour of rain the slate faces of the Dubun-Geb Mountains were dreadful, and they stirred memories in the warriors clustered at their feet of campfire tales of the secrets lurking among the crags. In the days of the Hegemony, the Shapers had carved fortresses in the Dubun-Geb where they worked the magic of the Art on stone and metal. The Shapers had vanished, but no place stained with their sorceries forgot them."

 • At Mad Scientist Journal: "Diary of a Turnip Girl" by Finale Doshi-Velez. Science Fiction.
      "'You crossed me with a bunch of turnips.' Teens with glossy hair and perfect teeth smiled at me from the racks of fashion magazines. I blew at a few strands of my own wiry frizz. Stupid turnip hair. 'Radhika’s mom always buys her the silky pear shampoo.'"

• At Short-Story.me: "Tammy Lynn's Burden" by Rachel Villalobos. Horror.
     "She wished she didn't live way out in the outskirts of town. In the middle of a half dead corn field with the nearest neighbor two miles away. She continued on at the slow pace, taking her time. Even as the 100 degree weather baked her brain, she would not hurry to reach the dirty little trailer sooner than she had to, Tammy Lynn refused to call it home. It was a prison, a cage, a place she dreaded returning to. Inside the trailer was the burden that would be chained to her for the rest of her life."

Flash Fiction

• At Daily Science Fiction: "Uh... Guys?" by Luc Reid. Science Fiction.
• At 365 Tomorrows: "Junkyard Funeral" by Aiza Mohd. Science Fiction.
• At 365 Tomorrows: "Lucky" by Gabriel E. Zentner. Science Fiction.
• At 365 Tomorrows:  "Deafening Silence" by Adam Levey. Science Fiction.
• At Toasted Cake: "Extracts from the Parahistorical Literature Review, Volume 1 (Fall 2026") by Benjamin Blattberg. Science Fiction Audio.

Audio Fiction
• At Author's Site: "Bones are White #10: Passenger, Part 2" by Scott Sigler.
     "A recon team just crash-landed on Vee-Seven just before SAM fire tore into their troop carrier. Duck is dead. Chesque and Nguyen are MIA. Jennings has lost a leg and is screaming for help. Sgt. Marcus Crowley tries to keep the survivors together. Can Cheryl and Psycho stay alive long enough to help him complete the mission? "

• At Beam Me Up: "Episode #377" 
    Featuring Kevin Phyland’s "Long Shot" - "The line for betting on Melbourne Cup Day was ridiculously long. All hoping to bring home a long shot." and part one of Dean Giles "Dave"- "The room was dimly lit by a single window set high on the once white-tiled walls, now faded to a putrid yellow. The unwashed concrete floor bore no furniture apart from the plastic stool where Simon sat, and his Grandfather’s wooden rocking-chair opposite him."

• At Clarkesworld: "One Flesh" by Mark Bourne & Elizabeth Bourne, read by Kate Baker. Science Fiction,
        "Jupiter’s immense horizon appears flat as a flitter, stretching beyond the reach of vision. Cloud banks the size of continents drift in what might be sky. Organic molecules paint them in autumn colors: oranges and browns and peach and gold. Behind the clouds, the rising sun shines like a silver coin"

• At Radio Drama Revival: "Paradox" by Jack Feldstein. Fantasy.
    "Inspired by The Little Prince, Alice in Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz [. . . ] Paradox is a modern fairy tale that has fun and whimsy and absurdity but also adult and philosophical concepts."

• At SFFaudio: "The Red Room" by H. G. Wells, read by Simon Vance.  
     "I can assure you," said I, "that it will take a very tangible ghost to frighten me." And I stood up before the fire with my glass in my hand.

Other Genres

• Audio at Crime City Central: "In the Name of the Father" by Alan Baxter
• Audio at Forgotten Classics: "A Daughter of Rameses" by Lord Dunsany.
• Fiction at WMG Publishing: "Stomping Mad" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. Mystery.
• Fiction at Short-Story.me: "What's that noise?" by Carol Michaels. Mystery.
• Flash Fiction at Every Day Fiction: "Un-Conspiracy Theory" by Chloe Banks.

Free Fiction Has Broken, Like the First Morning.

Some good free fiction to start the day, including audio horror from Pseudopod and new fiction from Tor and Crossed Genres.  A couple links were swiped from the honorable Regan Wolfrom of SF Signal.  E-books and more when I return.


[Art from  "In The Abyss" in audio fiction below]






Fiction
• At Tor.com: "Rocket Ship to Hell" by Jeffrey Ford. Science Fiction.
      "Twelve years ago, I was at the Millennium Worldcon in Philly, and with the exception of the incident I’m about to relate, I only remember three other things about that long weekend."

Now Posted: Crossed Genres Magazine -  Issue 7: Expectations (July 2013)

 • "The Parched Lands" by N.A. Ratnayake
     "When the bell rang at the end of class, Amanthi was crashing from a dopamine high. She raised her slight, brown hand as her thin body shook, and when her arm brushed against her long, black hair she felt the slick dampness of sweat."
• "As Large as Alone" by Alena McNamara
     "As the boat slowed, Julia watched the girl on the public raft. She wasn’t pretty, in the normal way, but her whole body inclined toward a secret hinted at in the curve of her fingers toward her knee and the way she raised her head, half self-conscious."
• "The God-Seed" by Claire Humphrey
      "Walking up Genesee Road in the country dark, I thought I was seeing the northern lights. Rose-coloured streaks, twisting upward, half-obscured stars on the far side. I stopped and threw my head back to look. Then I smelled smoke and I knew."

• Flash Fiction at Garbled Transmissions: "Elmer" by Eric Thomas. Science Fiction.

Audio Fiction
• At Pseudopod: "Magdala Amygdala" by Lucy Snyder. Horror.
     "I have excellent health insurance. There’s no bliss for me. What I and every other upstanding, gainfully-employed, fully-covered Type Three citizen gets is an allotment of refrigerated capsules containing an unappetizing grey paste. Mostly it’s cow brains and antioxidant vitamins with just the barest hint of pureed cadaver white matter. It’s enough to keep your skin and brains from ulcerating. It’s enough to keep your nose from rotting off. It’s enough to help you think clearly enough to function at your average white-collar job."

• At SFFaudio: "In The Abyss" by H.G. Wells. Science Fiction. Horror.
     "Two large and protruding eyes projected from sockets in chameleon fashion, and it had a broad reptilian mouth with horny lips beneath its little nostrils. In the position of the ears were two huge gill-covers, and out of these floated a branching tree of coralline filaments, almost like the tree-like gills that very young rays and sharks possess. But the humanity of the face was not the most extraordinary thing about the creature."

Other Genres
• Audio at CraftLit: Edith Wharton’s Age of Innocence, chapters 7–8
• Flash Fiction at Every Day Fiction: "You Ain't the Only Catfish" by Walt Giersbach.
• Pulp Fiction at Online Pulps:

• "No Favors Asked" by B. E. Cook. 1946.
• "The Baron Makes a Photo Finish" by Curtiss T. Gardner. 1944. Noir.
• "A Little Psychology" by Arnold Grant. 1951. Noir.

Tuesday Treats

 More great free fiction.



[Art from "Dinner in Audoghast" linked in fiction below]





Fiction
• At Author's Site: "Moments" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. Science Fiction.
     "“We have to be prepared,” Hoa Nguyen said as she strapped on her laser pistol. She also carried a stun stick. She had attached an emergency aid patch to the inside of her left wrist. Her black hair was pulled back, and she wore a medium-level environmental suit. With a soft voice command, the suit would seal around her ankles and wrists, raise a hood that would cover her entire face, and protect her against a hostile environment. She hoped she wouldn’t have to use it. “Everything could change in an instant.”

• At Beneath Ceaseless Skies: "The Barber and the Count" by Michael Haynes. Fantasy.
    "With the first snip, the count spoke again. 'Filip's hand shook the last time I was in his shop. A man can't have his hair cut by someone he does not trust. Your hand will be true. Will it not, barber?'"

• At Beneath Ceaseless Skies: "The Mermaid Caper" by Rich Larson. Fantasy.
     "The Baron stared long at the tank, and Crane and Gilchrist saw for the first time an unfocused quality to his eyes, a faint gray fog. 'I want her to be real,' he muttered, folding his scarred hands together. 'She does look real.'"

• At The Black Gate: "The Cremator’s Tale" by Steven H Silver, Fantasy.
     "Hoggar, staggering home from Rathskill’s tavern, was blown sideways by the blast and instantly sobered up. He looked at Pargama’s Tower and saw the last remnants of the explosion fade to nothingness. A shower of brilliant stars rained down on the stone tower, leaving small green spots in his vision. He sat down on a rainbarrel and waited for his eyesight to clear."

• At The Colored Lens: "Those Who Do Not Reap" by Kris Millering.
      "From horizon to horizon, water. Trade winds go from west to east, and carry weather and fish with them. Wind and weather bring us news of the world, in the form of all manner of things that float. A string of islands are our own, we and the cousins. Fifteen islands, from tiny Ike to the largest, Yuhime. Ours is the northernmost, Liipil, an island that catches the winds, the volcano beneath dead as our ancestors. As you go south, the land becomes more active, and the cousins become more numerous."

• At Daily Science Fiction: "Legerdemain" by Gabriel Murray.
       "When he looks at you it's obvious he has no idea what manner of fellow you are, and that is how you know that you've got him. No one likes knowledge, after all, least of all curious individuals like Spencer."

• At Lightspeed: "Dinner in Audoghast" by Bruce Sterling, Fantasy.
      "Delightful Audoghast! Renowned through the civilized world, from Cordova to Baghdad, the city spread in splendor beneath a twilit Saharan sky. The setting sun threw pink and amber across adobe domes, masonry mansions, tall, mud-brick mosques, and open plazas thick with bristling date-palms. The melodious calls of market vendors mixed with the remote and amiable chuckling of Saharan hyenas."

• At Lightspeed: "Deep Blood Kettle" by Hugh Howey. Science Fiction.
     "They say the sky will fill with dust in a bad way if we don’t do something soon. My teacher Mrs. Sandy says that if the meteor hits, it’ll put up enough dirt to block the sun, and everything will turn cold for a long, long while. When I came home and told Pa about this, he got angry. He called Mrs. Sandy a bad word, said she was teaching us nonsense. I told him the dinosaurs died because of dust in the sky. Pa said there weren’t no such thing as dinosaurs."

• At Tor.com: "Do Not Touch" by Prudence Shen.
     "Lane doesn’t understand why people have such a hard time following directions. All these paintings are clearly marked “DO NOT TOUCH” for a reason."

Flash Fiction

• At Every Day Fiction: "Wish Fulfillment" by Georgina Allen. Fantasy.
• At Quantum Muse: "Starry Night" by Roi Czechvala.  19
• At 365 Tomorrows: "The Loaner" by Dave Rigby. Science Fiction.

Audio Fiction
• At Author's Site: "The MVP Episode #28" by Scott Sigler, Science Fiction. Football. 
      "Quentin learns of a love triangle between John Tweedy, Rebecca Montagne, and a mystery person. The Krakens struggle to keep their playoff hopes alive as we head into the final three games of the season. It's not over yet, folks, can Ionath put together a late-season run and take a shot at the title?"

• At Beneath Ceaseless Skies: "The Barber and the Count" by Michael Haynes. Fantasy.
     Describes above

• At Clarkesworld: "Guest of Honor" by Robert Reed. Science Fiction.
     "One of the robots offered to carry Pico for the last hundred meters, on its back or cradled in its padded arms; but she shook her head emphatically, telling it, “Thank you, no. I can make it myself.” The ground was grassy and soft, lit by glowglobes and the grass-colored moon."

• At Lightspeed: "Deep Blood Kettle" by Hugh Howey. Science Fiction.
    Described above.

• At SFFaudio: "The Door In The Wall" by H.G. Wells.
    "Afterwards, as I sat up in bed and sipped my morning tea, I found myself trying to account for the flavour of reality that perplexed me in his impossible reminiscences, by supposing they did in some way suggest, present, convey--I hardly know which word to use--experiences it was otherwise impossible to tell."

• At Tales of Old: "The Book Box" by Roberta Branca. Ghosts.
      "Darts of arctic air puncture my skin through layers of underclothes, dress, coat, and wool blanket. Ari huddles against my bosom, his small arms wrapped tightly around my waist. Like my fellow passengers, I try to limit my movements so as not to rock the boat further. The waves around us all seem to defeat our purpose."

Other Genres

• Audio at Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine: "The Method in Her Madness" by Tom Savage.
• Audio at Classics On-the-Go: "The Tale of Two Bad Mice" by Beatrix Potter. 
• Audio at Protecting Project Pulp: “The Queen of Wheats” by Anonymous. Confession.
• Fiction at the New Yorker: "The Night of the Satellite" by T. Coraghessan Boyle.
• Fiction at Online Pulps: "The Frustrations of Wang Soo" by Wilbur S. Peacock [1949] and "Shadow of Fear" by Wayland Rice [1945]. Pulp-Western-Noir.

Monday Part One

A good eclectic mix of free genre fiction to begin the day.

 Today's QD Radio is Dimension X - "No Contact"
"A strange invisible barrier is frustrating Man's attempts to explore the depths of space. Six expeditions have been lost trying to cross it, their fate a mystery since no signal can pass through the barrier. This is the story of the seventh..." - OTR PlotSpot.

Fiction
• At Author's Site: "Thieves' Honor, ep 23: "Walking Through Walls" (pt 1)" by Keanan Brand.
      "Mars held out his hand. The sergeant returned his sidearm; Mars holstered it then shouldered his duffle and strode across the security bay, the clearing area for all the personnel and goods coming aboard the Orpheus. Being part of the captain’s security detail, Gaines shouldn’t have seemed so out of place down here, but he looked as nervous as a quenya bug stranded in sunlight."

• At Kat and Mouse: "Ties That Bind - Part Three" by Abner Senires.
      I turned back to Rachel. "I think you two better start talking," I said. "We're not taking your job until we know who he is"--I nodded at Isaac--"and what's going on."
• At L5R:  "Finding the Balance" by Seth Mason. Fantasy.
    "In Rokugan, a simple priest of the Dragon Clan finds himself embroiled in the battle against the Dark Naga, the sinister serpentine threat to the entire Emerald Empire."

• At The WiFiles: "Crimes Against Humanity" by Rhonda Parrish.
     "I don’t need your pity. There are the whiners who will go on and on about how we’re the unfortunate ones, like somehow surviving is worse than being turned into one of them. Bullshit, man, that’s just utter crap. Sure it’s tough, surviving, but it beats the crap out of the alternative. Dead is, well, dead and undead is worse."

Flash Fiction

• At Daily Science Fiction: "Unwanted" by Holly Jennings.  
• At 365 Tomorrows: "Priest Hole" by Morrow Brady. Science Fiction.
• At 365 Tomorrows: "The Needs of the Few" by Patricia Stewart. Science Fiction.
• At LibriVox: "Annabel Lee" by Edgar Allan Poe. In Short Poetry Collection 115. Audio. Poem. Dark.

Audio Fiction
• At Author's Site: "The MVP Episode #13" by Scott Sigler. Science Fiction. Football.
      "A pre-season injury throws the Krakens future into question. John Tweedy demands new players for his defense, but the way he wants to do it rubs Quentin the wrong way. And once again, the rumors start up of Becca "The Wrecka" Montagne taking Quentin's spot at quarterback."

• At Beam Me Up: "Equalization" by David Scholes.Science Fiction.
       No description found.

• At Drama Pod: "A Visit to the Catacombs" by J  J. Weintrau.
        "And yes, to remove anything from the premises, from the smallest stone to an undiscovered fragment of a relic, is a criminal offense. The Altamontivecchi catacombs are a national treasure."

• At Fantastic Worlds of Edgar Rice Burroughs: "Episode 15 - The Return of Tarzan"
     "Tarzan has found himself thrown overboard into the Atlantic. Finding a derelict lifeboat, he successfully navigates to land – the very beach whereon lies the cabin of his father – the place where he was born and raised"

• At Selected Shorts: "Exchange" by Ray Bradbury.
     "Guest host John Lithgow introduces three stories about reading and writing. First, Walter R. Brooks’ talking horse Mr. Ed learns to read, with hilarious consequences, in “Ed Has His Mind Improved,” performed by Tony Roberts. In Ray Bradbury’s “Exchange,” read by Rochelle Oliver, an overworked librarian has her spirits lifted by a lonely soldier. Finally, late SHORTS host Isaiah Sheffer dreams of tigers in a Jorge Luis Borges short."

• At Toasted Cake:  "The Tides" by Ken Liu.
      ""When I was little," Dad says, softly chuckling, "the Moon was so small I thought I could put it in my pocket, like a coin."

Other Genres

• Audio at CraftLit:  Jane Eyre, Chapter 13 by Charlotte Brontë. Classic.
• Audio at Every Picture Tells: "Souls and Locks" by Katharina Maimer Bordet.
• Audio at LibriVox: The Passionate Friends by H. G. Wells. Literary. 
• Flash Fiction at Every Day Fiction: "Through the Fence" by Gavin McCall. Literary.
• Flash Fiction at Every Day Fiction: "Do You Know Who I Am?" by Susan Lanigan.
• Non-Fiction at Project Gutenberg: King Arthur in Cornwall by W. Howship Dickinson. 1900. Speculative History.

Free E-Books and Audio Fiction

There are some quite good sounding free E-Books today as well as audio fiction of different categories. There many audio fiction sites that are now on QuasarDragon's radar for the first time, thanks in part to Audio-Drama.com, so expect to see a few "new" sites being linked.  (If you have young children, you might want to check out Classics on the Go in the other genres category).


[Art from Underlife linked below]






E-Books
At Free eBooks Daily:

• A Soul For Trouble by Crista McHugh. Fantasy.
• Deke Brolin Rhol by Doug Backus.  Fantasy. Sci-Fi.
• The Sky Between Two Worlds by Glen Books. Science Fiction Thriller.
• Mace Of The Apocalypse by Daniel J Williams. Horror.
• Underlife by Marissa Farrar. Fantasy.

At Smashwords:

• "Lark's Quest: The Search (The Deeds of the Ariane Novellas #1)" by Barbara Cool Lee. Fantasy. 23k
• "A Touch of Sky" by Elizabeth Westbrook. Fantasy. 5k.
• "Alicanto" by Allison Graham. Fantasy 3k.
• "Fast Fears #1: Bats in the Attic" by M.D. Stephens. Horror. 15k.
• "Theytus -4" by Sebastian Viasus. Science Fiction. 1k.
• "STALKER Southern Comfort by Balazs Pataki. YA SF/Adventure. 135k.
• "Two Flowers" by Jon Morgan. Science Fiction. Adventure. 12k.
• "An Optical Delusion" by Robert Waggoner. Science Fiction. 1k.
• "Deathforger" by K.Z. Freeman. Science Fiction. 4k.
• "Revenge is Sweet" by Richard Johnson. Military SF. 10k. 
• "Buck Johnson: Trailing the Herd" by Wyatt McLaren. Fantasy. Sci-Fi. Western. 4k.

 Audio Fiction
• At American Radio Theater: "The Big Hand" Adventure. OTR reconstruction.
     "An adventure story from 1951. There's lost treasure in the jungle and Doctor Becker leads an expedition to find it.  But first she needs a guide."

• At Brain Drops Keep Falling on My Head: "The Red Room" by H. G. Well. Horror.
      "One of Wells’s most famous non-science fiction stories, The Red Room, though ostensibly a ghost story, may instead be an allegorical tale about the dawn of the 20th Century. If anything, that makes it even scarier…"

• At Campfire Radio Theater:  Twilight Road by John Ballentine. Horror.
      "A young woman, pronounced dead hours earlier, springs to life on the embalming table. Haunted by disembodied voices and recollections of a shadowy afterlife, Cerina is desperate to escape the ghoulish confines of the city morgue. Might she suffer delusions due to her accident or is something far more grisly amiss?"

Old Time Radio

• At Boxcars711: "Dimension X - The Kaleidoscope" Science Fiction (1951)
• At BunGs: Frankenstein. Horror (1931),  Space Force. Sci-Fi. (1984), and World Adventurers Club. Adventure. (1932)
• At Relic Radio: "Escape - The Earthmen" by Ray Bradbury. Science Fiction (1951).

Other Genres

• Audio at Classics on the Go:  "Lazarus and the Dragon" Children's Fantasy.
• Audio at Classics on the Go: "Snow-white " The Brothers Grimm. Fairy Tale
• Audio at CrimeWav: "Hoosier Daddy" by Jed Ayres. Crime. (not for kids)
• Audio at 19Nocturne Avenue: "Afterlives 1.5 - Memento Mori"
• E-Book at Smashwords: Now They Call Me Gunner by Thom Whalen. Crime.

Lightspeed and More Great Free Fiction.

There's some very good free fantasy, science fiction, and horror fiction today, including stories from Lightspeed and Nightshade Books, a simultaneously posted story at The World SF Blog and Weird Fiction Review, and many more.  And don't miss this week's Protecting Project Pulp, which is in the other genres category. Special Thanks to the honorable Sir Regan Wolfrom for the heads up on a couple stories. More tonight or tomorrow.

[Art from "La Alma Perdida de Marguerite Espinoza" in fiction and audio fiction]


Fiction
At Author's Site: "Well-Chosen Words" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. Alternate history.
     "The Gettysburg Address has become an authoritative expression of the American spirit—as authoritative as the Declaration [of Independence] itself, and perhaps even more influential, since it determines how we read the Declaration"

At Daily Science Fiction: "Since You Seem to Need a Certain Amount of Guidance" by Alexander Jablokov.
       "Thank you for your query. Violating the laws of physics in that way was quite enterprising, and we feel you deserve a reply. Just don't do it again."

At Lightspeed: "Ace 167 " by Eleanor Arnason. Science Fiction.
     "It was after I lost my job as the manager of a traveling troupe of precision unicyclists that I met Ace 167. I was down and out in a bar in Venusport, my last credit gone to buy cheap Venusian wine. The jukebox was playing an old, tinny-sounding Beatles tune"

At Lightspeed: "La Alma Perdida de Marguerite Espinoza" by Jeremiah Tolbert. Fantasy.
     "He had falsely predicted her passing four times in the past three days, but the passing was unmistakable. As Maestro Eusebio had said many times, “When the moment comes, you will know.” And he did."

At Nightshade Books: "Holmes Sherlock: A Hwarhath Mystery" by Eleanor Arnason. Science Fiction.
      "She did not translate military information, since that was done by hwarhath men in space. Nor did she translate technical information, since she lacked the requisite technical knowledge. Instead, she translated human fiction."

At The World SF Blog: "Brita’s Holiday Village" by Karin Tidbeck. Horror.
At Weird Fiction Review: "Brita’s Holiday Village" by Karin Tidbeck. Horror.
      "The cab ride from Åre station to Aunt Brita’s holiday village took about half an hour. I’m renting the cottage on the edge of the village that’s reserved for relatives. The rest are closed for summer. Mum helped me make the reservation—Brita’s her aunt, really, not mine, and they’re pretty close. Yes, I’m thirty-two years old. Yes, I’m terrible at calling people I don’t know."

Flash Fiction

• At Every Day Fiction: "Damsels and Distress" by Kat Otis. Fantasy.
• At Flashes in the Dark: "Room With a View" By David Elliott. Horror.
• At 365 Tomorrows: "Who’s Better, Who’s Best" by Steve Smith. Science Fiction.

Audio Fiction
At Lightspeed: "La Alma Perdida de Marguerite Espinoza" by Jeremiah Tolbert. Fantasy.

At 19 Nocturne Boulevard: "The Rats in the Walls" by H. P. Lovecraft, adapted by Julie Hoverson. Horror.
     "An American returns to the family's ancestral home in England, only to discover that heredity can be terrifying."

Old Time Radio

• At Relic Radio: "The Old Die Rich" - Tales Of Tomorrow. Science Fiction. 1953.
• At SFFAudio: "The Grove Of Ashtaroth" - Escape. Horror.

Other Genres

• Audio at LibriVox: Kipps by H.G. Wells.
• Audio at Protecting Project Pulp: "Hide-Away" by H. A. DeRosso. Noir.
• Audio at Tales of Old: "The Jungle & Ex-Con Man" Historical Fiction.
• Non-Fiction at Project Gutenberg: The Golden Bough (Vol. 2 of 2) by Sir James George Frazer, Mythology.

Online Freebies

A very good day for free fiction with great free genre stories from many big sites - seriously awesome!. And a bit of an unusual gaming/fiction hybrid as Kobold Quarterly's free Midgard preview contains two short, short stories. And there;s more free fiction in a variety of formats (E-Book, Audio, Comic Book, etc).  More great free fiction links are available at SF Signal and Free SF Reader. And as always, lice are welcome. 

 The lovely lady to the left is from "Proper Villains Chapter Three: The Caper" below.




 
Fiction
At Beneath Ceaseless Skies: "A Song of Blackness" by Nancy Fulda. Fantasy.
     "I had never met this man, this gnarled old usurper who lounged on furniture emblazoned with my ancestors' crest."
At Beneath Ceaseless Skies: "Hold a Candle to The Devil" by Nicole M. Taylor. Fantasy.
    "Florence sat in Miss Em’s desk and felt small and wrong there."
At Black Gate: “The Daughter’s Dowry” by Aaron Bradford Starr. Fantasy.
    "I inserted the key into the lock, amazed at how free of corrosion or accumulated grit the inner mechanism was. Yr Neh cocked his ears forward in surprise as well. Our eyes met, and we smiled to each other as I turned the key."
At Nature:  "The Tell-Tale Ear" by Alex Shvartsman. Science Fiction.
    "We seem to be having an equipment malfunction. I can hear bits broadcast from the Grand Cayman Casino and Erectile Dysfunction marketing campaigns while at the office. Somebody get on top of this."
At Paizo:  "Proper Villains Chapter Three: The Caper" by Erik Scott de Bie. Fantasy.
     "Humming anxiously under his breath, Tarrant watched as the last cart of treasure arrived from the docks as the sun set. This time was always torture and ecstasy for him: he could hardly stand the waiting, and yet he could not help his excitement for the game to come."
At Project Gutenberg: "The Metal Moon" by Everett C. Smith and R.F. Starzl. Science Fiction.
"The ship was now coming close to the vast curve of the crystal city. The earthmen became aware that the part below the city level was a dull ugly black." from Wonder Stories Quarterly Winter 1932.
At Tor.com: "Jacks and Queens at the Green Mill" by Marie Rutkosk.
      "Few know that the Great Chicago Fire was started deliberately, bringing genocide to deadly creatures called Shades. Fewer still know that they didn't die, not quite...and one human will confront the truth when an ominous beauty makes him gamble for his life."
At The WiFiles:  "The Hunt" by John Krissilas. Speculative Fiction.
    "I had been tracking it for several kilometers, I reminded myself, and finally, finally my patience had paid off. This is it. The animal was pausing to graze, confident that it was free from danger, unaware of the fact that I’d been watching and waiting."
Reviewed at Variety SF:  "The Chronic Argonauts" by H. G. Wells. (1888).
    "About half-a-mile outside the village of Llyddwdd by the road that goes up over the eastern flank of the mountain called Pen-y-pwll to Rwstog is a large farm-building known as the Manse. It derives this title from the fact that it was at one rime the residence of the minister of the Calvinistic Methodists."
At Kobold Quaterly In Free Midgard Preview:  [Requires Free Membership]
     “At the Sign of the World Serpent” by Wade Rockett. Fantasy.“I confess that I do not like the look of this so-called inn,”said Benedict, gazing at the rickety building before them"  and “The Bloodtide” by Jeff Grubb. Fantasy. "It had all seemed so simple, back in Savoyne, safely behind the protection of the Raven’s Wall. A simple mission into the Wasted West, to the reputed wreckage of a particular now-dead necromancer’s tower."

Flash Fiction
At Daily Science Fiction: "This is the Way the World Begins" by C.L. Holland.
At 365 Tomorrows: "A Practical Trip" by Robert White. Science Fiction.

E-Books
At Free eBooks Daily:

• Worlds Unseen by Rachel Starr Thomson. Fantasy.
• Outside That Door by Judith Johnson Kypta. Fantasy.
• Arms of the Storm by M Todd Gallowglas. Fantasy.
• Extinct Doesn't Mean Forever by Phoenix Sullivan. Anthology.
• Wraith by Angel Lawson. YA Paranormal.

At Smashwords:

• "The Ocean Goddess and The Home Run Queen" by Regan Wolfrom. Fantasy. 9k.
• Ice Will Reveal by Eric T. Reynolds. Fantasy. 134k.
• "To Sail The Dark Sea"  by Steve Smy. Science Fiction. 10k.
• "Dead End Bridge" by Will Weisser. Science Fiction. 10k.
• "Half Past One" by Jennifer Douwes. Science Fiction. 5k.
• Songs for a Machine Age by Eric T. Reynolds. Science Fiction. 131k.
• "You Never Know What's Going to Come Through the Door" by Fred Schaefer. Horror. 3k.

Via Pixel of Ink:

• Oathbreaker: The Knight’s Tale by Colin McComb. Fantasy.

Audio Fiction
At Beneath Ceaseless Skies: "Cursed Motives" by Marissa Lingen. Fantasy.
     "Safy laughed despite herself. 'Unnatural? Of course I am.'"
At The Fantastic Worlds of Edgar Rice Burroughs: Episode 22 - Tarzan of the Apes
    "Paul D’Arnot, Lieutenant from the French cruiser, has been captured by Mbonga’s tribe and subjected to the ordeal of torture by the cannibals."At SFFAudio: Two versions of  "The Nine Billion Names Of God" by Arthur C. Clarke.

Old Time Radio
At Journey Into: Mind Webs: "The Fog Horn" by Ray Bradbury.
At OTR Plot Spot: "'Return Trip" - Suspense (1946) and "The Talkers" - Theatre 5 (1964) up until around: 25 Oct.

Video
At Internet Archive:  The Invaders-Unseen Pilot pt I and II (1967). Science Fiction.
 
Comics
At Atomic Kommie Comics: "World War III with the Ants" Sci-Fi.
At The Yellowed Pages: "A Ghastly Tale - No.1" and "A Ghastly Tale - No.2"  Horror.

Other Genres
At Project Gutenberg: "The Vinland Champions" by Ottilie A. Liljencrantz. Historic Adventure. Vikings. 1904.

Part 2

Some good free audio fiction. Sorry some have little or no detail, but I included what I could find at the sites, or easily elsewhere.


Illustration for Wells' "The War in the Air"





Audio
@Beam Me Up: "We Honor those Who Serve" by Steve Singleman.

@Beware the Hairy Mango: "Halfway House" by Matthew Sanborn Smith.

@Cast of Wonders: "The Name-Day" by Saki, read by Graeme Dunlop.

"Adventures, according to the proverb, are to the adventurous. Quite as often they are to the non-adventurous, to the retiring, to the constitutionally timid."

@Dramapod: "The Man who was Dead!" by Thomas Knight.

@Dramapod: "The Man from the Future" by Edmond Hamilton.

@Journey Into: "The Box" by Christopher Munroe, read by Graeme Dunlop.

"There is a box in the corner of his room; and he will not open it."

@LibriVox: "The War in the Air" by H. G. Wells, read by many readers.

Wells "published twelve books between 1901 and 1911, including this one. while many British citizens were surprised by the advent of World War I, Wells had already written prophetically about such a conflict. War in the Air predicted use of airplanes in modern war."

@PodCastle: "The Gateway of the Monster (Featuring Carnacki)" by William Hope Hodgson, read by Paul S. Jenkins.

"But it was the door slamming that chiefly bothered the old butler. Many and many a time, he told me, had he lain awake and just got shivering with fright, listening; for sometimes the door would be slammed time after time - thud! thud! thud! - so that sleep was impossible."

@StarShipSofa: "Never Blood Enough" by Joe Haldeman, read by Simon Hildebrandt.

first published in Fantasy & Science Fiction, Oct./Nov., 2009

@Author's Site: "The Starter - Episode 36" by Scott Sigler.

"Final season standings, including who wins the Galaxy Bowl and a bit of looking forward to the next season already."

@19 Nocturne Boulevard: "The Dunwich Horror - Part 2 of 4" by H.P. Lovecraft, adapted by Julie Hoverson.

"Our heroes arrive in Dunwich - and find something is on the loose"

eZines and Audio Fiction

A few more cool freebies to start the weekend.





Fiction
Now Posted: Aurealis #45 [Via SF Signal]
"Aurealis is the Australian magazine of fantasy, science fiction and horror. It has been publishing continuously since 1990, but this issue is its first e-publication. Aurealis #45 features the return of the legendary bunyipslayer in a brilliant story by Lachlan Huddy, a harrowing fairy tale from Aimee Smith, and an interview with Glenda Larke, as well as reviews, news and more. "




Now Posted: Theaker's Quarterly #38.

• “The Lives and Spacetimes of Thornton Excelsior” by Rhys Hughes.
• “The Daylight Witch” by Jim Steel.
• “Off and On Again” by Alison Littlewood.
• “Old Preach’s Gods” by Z.J. Woods.
• “Better than Llandudno, eh?” by Michael W. Thomas.

Now Posted: Stone Telling #5 featuring speculative poetry by Patricia Monaghan, Yoon Ha Lee,
Shira Lipkin, JT Stewart, Delia Sherman, Erik Amundsen, Sofia Samatar, Alexandra Seidel, Elizabeth McClellan, Sonya Taaffe, Koel Mukherjee, Jennifer Givhan, Mike Allen, Eliza Victoria.

Audio
@Classic Tales Podcast: "The Lord of the Dynamos" by H.G. Wells, read by B.J. Harrison.

"Azuma-zi came to London from the dark jungles of Asia. Nearly penniless, he secures a job and is constantly bombarded with verbal and physical abuse. But to Azuma-zi, each beating holds a hidden justification. For he alone has uncovered the secret of the Lord of the Dynamos."

@Escape Pod: "Playing Doctor" by Robert T. Jeschonek, read by Josh Roseman.

"The problem with having a crush on your mad scientist boss is, every day she doesn’t see how wonderful you really are seems like the end of the world."

@Pseudopod: "The Voice In The Night" by William Hope Hodgson, read by Wilson Fowlie.

No — I DARE NOT,’ replied the voice, and it seemed to me that in its tones I detected a note of stifled craving — as though the owner hushed a mortal desire.”

Tuesday Free Fiction

Made it. Didn't know if I was going to be able to post after all. A few good ones here today.











@Lightspeed: "Just Another Perfect Day" by John Varley. (1989) Science Fiction.

"I know how you’re feeling. You wake up alone in a strange room, you get up, you look around, you soon discover that both doors are locked from the outside. It’s enough to unsettle anybody."

@Daily Science Fiction: "Trails" by James Bloomer.

"Clarke stood on the dunes, watching the party coalesce on the beach. Over the horizon, and the grey swell of the ocean, lay Africa. Beyond their borders. Outside. Lands of suffering."

@Pixel of Ink [Kindle]:

• "Personal Demons" by Gregory Lamberson. Horror.
• "The Strange Case of Finley Jayne" by Kady Cross. Fantasy. YA.
• "The Abandoned Edge of Avalon" by Eden Tyler. Fantasy.
• "The Amulet" by Alison Pensy.

@Smashwords:

• "Alter Egos" by Andrew Marx. Superhero.
• "The Seventh Sister (book 2 of the Parched)" by Z.L Arkadie. Paranormal Romance.

Serial Fiction
@Author's Site: "The Journals of Doctor Mormeck’s Avatar–Entry #9" by Jeff VanderMeer. SF.
@Strange Horizons: "The Rugged Track (part 2 of 2)" by Liz Argall.
@White Wolf: "Silent Knife (part 16)" by David Nurenberg. Horror.







@PodCastle: "The Duke of Vertumn’s Fingerling" by Elizabeth Carroll, read by Tina Connolly.

After I opened my eyes they dressed me in silk. A bone-white gown slipped over my head and I raised my arms for it like a child. With my hair undone, I must have looked like a bride. I was nothing of the kind.

@LibriVox: "The Time Machine" by H. G. Wells, read by Mark Nelson.

"H.G. Wells’ classic science fiction-fantasy story, in which a scientist known only as “The Time Traveller” tells the tale of his journey to the year 802,701 A.D. and beyond, where he witnesses the end of human civilization as we know it, as well as the beginning of the end of the world. "

@Lightspeed: "Just Another Perfect Day" by John Varley, read by Stefan Rudnicki.

Free Fantasy, SF, and Horror

Some very good free fiction today (new, classic, and audio)










@Fantasy Magazine:"The Machine" by M. Rickert. Fantasy.

"Graveyards creak with too many bones, and the weight of headstones, and when the wind blows the air is dusty with the dead. Ah life, its hoary inevitability. What’s the point?"

Now Posted: Expanded Horizons #30 (July 2011). Speculative Fiction.
"The School" by Lavie Tidhar.

"There had been another boy at the school, called Ender, but he’d attacked and seriously hurt and in at least one case we knew of killed one of the other boys, and they finally had to put him down, though he kept protesting, the day they came for him, that it wasn’t his fault."

"A Handful of Earth" by Silvia Moreno-Garcia.

"He left, crates filled with earth, bound for England. Left us behind, promising to send for us. We believed him. But as the days went by, I realized he’d lied."

"Standing in Line at the End of the World: How One Man Became a God As Told to Isha Kiss" by Malon Edwards.

"For you, the Day of the Redeemer is a day to throw off the genteel and chaste Iaran shackles of society, let your hair down (or preen your crest feathers or touch-up your nacreous black lips), raise your petticoats and fulfill your every desire."

"The Representative" by T.N. Collie.

"Alex Haley, a man big on freedom and dignity, once said, “When you clench your fist, no one can put anything in your hand.” Well, my hands were clenched when the woman’s business card appeared in one of them as I sat outside of Beanie’s Café sipping a zebra mocha."

@Week in Rewind: Free Kindle eBook: “Draugr” by Arthur Slade [via SF Signal]. Horror.

“Are you afraid of the dead?” her grandfather asked. Sarah Asmundson will discover the answer to that question. She is prepared for her grandfather’s scary stories, but is anything but prepared when events from the story about a draugr–a man who comes back from the dead–begin to happen around her.

Serial Fiction
@Author's Site. "The Journals of Doctor Mormeck (Mountain)–Entry #13" by Jeff VanderMeer. Science Fiction.

"It has been five days since my last confession, father, and I have sinned…Except I don’t believe in God or priests, despite the fact Marty does, and my “father” was my mother, too,"

@L5R: "Goddess (Part 1)" by Shawn Carman. Fantasy.

"The Hiruma scout carefully surveyed the land to the south and then crept back down the stone outcropping like the shadow of a cloud crossing a midday garden. He hurried back to the command group and bowed sharply. “There is movement again to the south, my lord Benjiro-sama,” he reported. “I believe the Destroyers definitely know that we are here, and are moving to separate any avenue of escape we might have.”"

Classic SF/Horror
@Gutenberg: A Book of Ghosts by S. Baring-Gould (1904). Horror. Ghost Stories.

"If He Went Out For a Walk They Trotted Forth With Him, Some Before, Some Following."

@Munseys and Project Gutenberg: Pharaoh's Broker by Ellsworth Douglass (1899). Science Fiction. Mars.

"I now understood the more composed behaviour of the women. They were accustomed to the idea of being taken in war, and never suffered slaughter or hardship thereby, but merely a change of masters. As they now left the Park they eyed me curiously, as if wondering from what sort of new master they had escaped. I imagined I could detect some signs of disappointment among them, at being cheated out of a trip to a new star or being dismissed from the service of a god. "

@Munseys and Project Gutenberg: "The Premiere" by Richard Sabia, from Amazing Science Fiction Stories September 1959. Science Fiction.

"The young actor was great.... They didn't realize just how great until the night of"

@Munseys and Project Gutenberg:"The Merchants of Venus" by A. H. Phelps, rom Galaxy Science Fiction March 1954.

"A pioneer movement is like a building—the foundation is never built for beauty!"

@Internet Archive: "The Black Brain" by Robert Bloch, from Fantastic Adventures (March 1943). [via Marooned - Science Fiction & Fantasy books on Mars]

"If this was the brain of a Martian millions of years, how could it be alive? How could it keep on growing?"

Reviewed Free SF
BestScienceFictionStories.com: "Cucumber Gravy" by Susan Palwick (2001). Science Fiction.

"I do not need the government crawling up my backside to regulate me, and I have a lot more customers this way, and I make a lot more money. Being legal would be nothing but a pain in the ass, even if I didn’t have to worry about keeping people from finding out about the space cucumbers."

BestScienceFictionStories.com: "Ej-Es" by Nancy Kress (2003). Science Fiction.

"You had to be a little insane to leave Earth for the Corps, knowing that when (if) you ever returned, all you had known would have been dust for centuries."

Escape Pod has posted it's 300th episode!! "We Go Back" by Tim Pratt, read by Mur Lafferty. Science Fiction.

"My best friend Jenny Kay climbed in through my window and nearly stepped on my head. If I’d been sleeping a foot closer to the wall, I would’ve gotten a face full of her boot, but instead I just snapped awake and said “What who what now?” and blinked a lot."

@Beam Me Up: "Greeters" by Zachery Cole. "What is it like to be a greeter for a big box department store now imagine you have been built expressly for that purpose – and all you want is a little time to figure out how the world works."and part 1 of "Paid" by Deanna knippling. "Boregard is both a multi-dimensional time traveler or a down and out gum-shoe. Neither and both are correct depending on what version of himself you ask….." Science Fiction.


@SFF audio: "The Stolen Bacillus" by H.G. Wells, read by Dawn Keenan.

"An anarchist, intent on wreaking ruin on a city, steals a phial from a bacteriologist."

@LibriVox: A new reading of The Time Machine by H. G. Wells, read by Mark F. Smith. Science Fiction.

"Surely the Time Traveler threw great dinner parties! His guests were treated to a once-in-forever trial of a miniature time machine – an exquisite miniature that acted so flawlessly as to appear to be stage magic."

@LibriVox: A new reading of Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, read by Caden Vaughn Clegg.

"Frankenstein starts to recover from his exertion and recounts his story to Walton. Before beginning his story, Frankenstein warns Walton of the wretched effects of allowing ambition to push one to aim beyond what one is capable of achieving."

@LibriVox: Violet: A Fairy Story by Caroline Snowden Guild, many readers.

"A charming fairytale -- with realistic touches -- from the mid-19th Century."

Serial Audio
@Journey Into: "Cyberpunk (Part 1)" by D.K. Thompson, full cast. [Via David Barr Kirtley] Science Fiction.

"Log on or die. Test gamer Billy Gibson didn't realize his next job would change his life and family forever."

@Author's Site: "The Starter (Episode 22)" by Scott Sigler. Science Fiction.

"Quentin and the Krakens head to To to square off against Quentin's favorite team from his childhood. Quentin will lead his team against Frank Zimmer, the best QB in the league, and the hero of Quentin's youth. Will the Krakens prevail?"

@Triplanetary: The Adventures of Superman "The Radar Rocket (Parts 1-5)"

"Leapin' lizards! Jimmy Olsen is trapped in space aboard the radar rocket. Can even Superman save him?"

Fan Audio
@Misfits Audio: "GL-Man Without Fear: “History Lesson – Part 1”"

"Sodam Yat, holder of the mighty Ion powers, has questions for Guy and Kyle about Sinestro. In an attempt to find such answers the trio consults the great “Book of Oa”, which explains exactly how the most disciplined GL became their most feared foe!"

Midweek Free Fiction

Some cool classic SF, including part one of a serialized story by Mike Resnick, and a new story at Ray Gun Revival. All free. Likely, something more later

Today's illustration is from "Tillie" below. The art looks better than the story description sounds.






@Ray Gun Revival: "Mercurial Nights" by Gareth D Jones. Science Fiction.

"Lieutenant Robbins stood patiently on the barren surface of Mercury and concentrated on what he wanted to say. He had to be very literal for the non-corporeal Mercurials to grasp any concept that he vocalized."

Serial Fiction
@More Red Ink: "The 43 Antarean Dynasties, part 1 of 3" by Mike Resnick, from Asimov's Science Fiction, (Dec. 1997). [via SF Signal]

"A man, a woman, and a child emerge from the Temple of the Honored Sun. The woman holds a camera to her eye, capturing the same image from a dozen unimaginative angles. The child, his lip sparsely covered with hair that is supposed to imply maturity, never sees beyond the game he is playing on his pocket computer."

Classic SF
@Munseys and Gutenberg: "The Dark Goddess" by Richard S. Shaver, from Imagination (Feb. 1953). Science Fiction.

"Deep within her caverns the great mer-woman longed for death to end her loneliness. But then came a voyager from space—a man—also lonely...."

@Munseys and Gutenberg: "Success Story" by Robert Turner, from If (Jan. 1953). Science Fiction.

"What is to be will be. Our only refuge lies in that which might not have been."

@Munseys and Gutenberg: "Tillie" by Rog Phillips, from Amazing Stories (Dec. 1948). Science Fiction.

"She was just a blob of metal, but she had emotions like any woman. She, too, wanted ROMANCE, and wasn't coy about running after her 'guy'"

@Munseys and Gutenberg: "The Impossible Voyage Home" by F. L. Wallace, from Galaxy Science Fiction (Aug. 1954).

"The right question kept getting the wrong answer—but old Ethan and Amantha got the right answer by asking the wrong question!"

@Munseys and Gutenberg: "The Moralist" by Jack Taylor, Galaxy Science Fiction (June 1956). Science Fiction.

"Aye, 'tis a difficult thing to be a lady on a far world—but who needs them there?"

@Internet Archive: Complete issues of Amazing Stories. Volume 01 Number 07 (Oct. 1926), Volume 01 Number 08 (Nov. 1926), and Volume 01 Number 09 (Dec. 1926).

Classics by Verne, Wells, and other classic science fiction writers.

Reviewed Free SF
@BestScienceFictionStories: "Hindsight, In Neon" by Jamie Todd Rubin (2009)

"the story of a science fiction writer who is unhappy that he no longer has any readers."

@BestScienceFictionStories: "The Chameleon Man" by William P. McGivern (1943)

"science fiction short story. It is about a man with a peculiar condition that renders him nearly invisible."