Do You Wanna Party? It's Free Fiction Time

Even more free fiction! What a good day!  For even more, including e-books, be sure to check out Regan Wolfrom's fantastic free links at SF Signal.  [Art from Kaleidotrope Autumn 2013, linked below]







Fiction
• At Author's Site: "The Voodoo Project" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. Urban Fantasy. 2012.
     "Rebekah uses her Sight to fight for good. She works for the Voodoo Project, although her work involves psy ops, not voodoo. She fears retirement and a normal life. So she keeps working, going on missions, never knowing when her next mission will be her last. Because she can see anyone’s future—except her own."

At Short Story.me:

• "The Boy Who Called The Naga" by Michael Schaper. Fantasy.
      "When Vanchay was born, the old village shaman declared him unusual, one to look out for. A boy who could call naga. The boy's mother looked at him, puzzled and a little frightened, but proud as well. She lay on the small birthing bed whilst below them the mighty Mekong rushed by, and for a minute she thought she could hear the water serpent move below."

• "Message in a Rock" by Stewart Mc Kay. Horror.
     "Finally he forces it into my hand and, right enough, it's incredibly light. The colour and the shape remind me of a terracotta bathroom tile, one with irregular, smoothed edges. Is it made of polystyrene? A film prop?"

Now Posted: Quantum Muse - October 2013.

• "The Haunted House " by Harris Tobias- - Alternative.
     "You shouldn't try to do scary on the cheap."

• "Slacker Zombie" by Stephen Hernandez. Alternative.
     "Short horror story for the Halloween edition"

• "Béba Daio's Prayers" by Chris DelGuercio. Alternative.
      "A failing New Orleans store owner calls on a local voodoo priestess to help his business. But at what cost?"

• "The Mortician's Confession" by Michele Dutcher. Science Fiction.
      "The mortician on a small island comes beating frantically on his best friend's door, whispering about cults, and secret books. What could have him so upset?"

• "Grim Park" by Robert Hegwood. Science Fiction.
      "People hear voices in Grim Park, or rather a voice…sometimes when the need is great. It's clearest near the old hanging tree, and if it's in the mood the voice may tell you more than you want to hear."

• "Dr Mephistopheles" by Alex Mair. Alternative.
      "Halloween submission - Sludworth College has a new GCSE chemistry teacher, a man who comes with dark secrets and harbors diabolical intentions. Can the chemistry class stop him before it's too late? Warning - contains weird British acronyms like 'GCSE', 'BBC' and 'A level'."

Now Posted Kaleidotrope Autumn 2013:

• "Mister Bob" by Dan Campbell     
       “It all began with the chicken in the end of the road,” she said.  

• "Lightning Strikes" by Lindsey Duncan     
      "Storm-clouds gathered over the city of Calrhayas, immense hands catching the smoke from fires below. In her training, Diyesari had learned of diviners who could read the future in fallen ash; there was too much here to interpret, and only one possible answer." 

• "Lone White Seagull" by Geoffrey W. Cole     
      "The first officer announced that the plane was lost three hours after they entered the cloud."

• "Camouflage" by Eden Robins     
      "Today, I’m taking the train to the end of the line. Then I’m going to get on another train and another, and eventually I’ll end up in Wisconsin. And then? I’ll keep going north to where the trains stop. Is there a train to Nunavut? To the Arctic Circle? I intend to find out." 

• "Heart-Song" by Danielle Davis.
       "Nycalla shifts on the dusty ground, unnerved by the shouting of the crowd. The voices of the Men rattle the soil beneath her, cluttering her senses with their vibrations and setting her tail to twitching." 

• "Nice"” by Jamie Mason     
       "It is the anniversary of the Overthrow. The execution of Emile Vonnegut, child frightener, has just been broadcast and Michelle Michelle, host of Group Spank (“your liNk’s social equity enforcement program”) is announcing the round-up of four thousand middle-aged Eurasian grandmothers for their collective violations of the Kindarchy’s Social Consideration Code. A festive mood prevails. People are in the streets."

Poetry
At Kaleidotrope. Speculative Poetry.

• "Picking Up Aliens: A Guide" by John Grey.
• "Propelled by Beauty" by Dan Smith. 
• "Musings of a Tower Jockey" by Bruce Golden.
• "Implants" by Noel Sloboda.

 Audio Fiction
• At Apex Magazine: "Becca at the End of the World" by Shira Lipkin
     "She has about an hour, we think. And I have about an hour on this camera, an obsolete Flip mini. I guess all cameras are obsolete now. I don’t know if I’ll ever have a device on which to play this. But she wants to do it. And right now, Becca gets anything she wants. Ice cream or a visit to the zoo, a stolen car or a cliff dive; for the next hour, Becca gets anything and everything she wants."

• At Clarkesworld: "The Symphony of Ice and Dust" by Julie Novakova read by Kate Baker.
     “It’s going to be the greatest symphony anyone has ever composed,” said Jurriaan. “Our best work. Something we’ll be remembered for in the next millennia. A frail melody comprised of ice and dust, of distance and cold. It will be our masterpiece.”

Lightspeed and More Free Fiction

It's a good free fiction Tuesday with new fiction from Lightspeed, Daily Science Fiction, and The Colored Lens.  There's audio fiction from Lightspeed and new audio for a classic science fiction story at Protecting Project Pulp.  And there are flash fiction stories, a continuing serial, and other genres (including historical fiction and fairy tales).  [Art from The Colored Lens]








Fiction
• At The Colored Lens: "The Shallows" by Jarod K Anderson. Fantasy.
     "Merpeople are just like regular people, except that they’re hideous and alien and inscrutable. Okay, forget the regular people comparison. The point is, they sorta saved me from drowning after they sorta almost drown me and now we’re friends. Okay, acquaintances."
 • At Daily Science Fiction: "Virtually Human" by Melanie Rees. Science Fiction.
       "The curtains billowed as a cold gust swept through the open window. Unknown voices whispered on the breeze with a metallic tincture, sending chills down Miranda's spine."

• At Lightspeed: "Dry Bite" by Will McIntosh. Science Fiction.
     "Josephine had been up all night, her heart pounding, thinking about this day, about whether she would survive it. Now, out on the road and exposed on all sides, she was so scared she could barely breathe."

• At Lightspeed: "And Then Some" by Matthew Hughes. Fantasy.
      "Erm Kaslo came to Cheddle on the Adelaine, a tramp freighter that didn’t mind taking passengers who didn’t mind the quality of the accommodations. He could have come on a liner, but he preferred, when working, to make his entrances unnoticed."

• At Weird Fiction Review: "The Divinity Student: Part Five" by Michael Cisco.
     "He was dreaming, a river carrying him away; now he sits up shaking his head alarmed, doesn’t know where he is — walked in his sleep. These are all symptoms of something . . . his mind is too foggy, he can’t remember."

Flash Fiction

• At Every Day Fiction: "Once Upon a Time in Deadbone" by Sam Bellotto Jr. Science Fiction.
• At Strange Horizons: "The Loss" by Mari Ness. Poem.
• At Strange Horizons: "September Poetry" Audio.

Audio Fiction
• At Lightspeed: "Dry Bite" by Will McIntosh, read by Gabrielle de Cuir. Science Fiction.
     "Josephine had been up all night, her heart pounding, thinking about this day, about whether she would survive it. Now, out on the road and exposed on all sides, she was so scared she could barely breathe."

• At Lightspeed: "And Then Some" by Matthew Hughes, read by Barry J. Northern. Fantasy.
      "Erm Kaslo came to Cheddle on the Adelaine, a tramp freighter that didn’t mind taking passengers who didn’t mind the quality of the accommodations. He could have come on a liner, but he preferred, when working, to make his entrances unnoticed."

• At Protecting Project Pulp: "The Servant Problem" by Robert F. Young. read by Mike Wood. Science Fiction.
     "Selling a whole town, and doing it inconspicuously, can be a little difficult … either giving it away freely, or in a more normal sense of “selling”. People don’t quite believe it…."

Other Genres

• Audio at LibriVox: The Fairy Book by Dinah Maria Mulock Craik. Children's fairy Tales.
• Fiction at Author's Site: "The Dead Line" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. Historical Fiction.
• Flash Fiction at Smashed Cat Magazine: "At The Hospital" by Saul Jennings. 
• Flash Fiction at Linguistic Erosion: "Floyd the Barber" by E.S. Wynn.
• Poem at Leaves of Ink: "Such Beauty" by Collin Stanhope. 

I'm Pickin' Up Good Free Fiction. It's Giving Me Excitations

Yeah! There's quite a bit of really outstanding free fantasy and science fiction this morning. Be certain not to miss any of the greatness.And mystery fans will want to check out the "other genres" for a couple of good ones. [Art from "Ragged Claws" by Lisa Tuttle in fiction and audio fiction.]






Fiction
• At The Colored Lens: "Another Life" by Michael Siciliano. Science Fiction, Slipstream
     "I stood on a hill, overlooking a city. A giant mushroom cloud dominated my field of view. White hot at the base. Yellow as it extended up. Red as it billowed outward. Dark gray at the rounded top. Each color shot through with streaks of black. It was beautiful and horrific at the same time. Larger than I could have imagined."

• At Drabblecast: "Five Ways to Fall in Love on Planet Porcelain" by Cat Rambo. Science Fiction Romance.
      "Over the years, Tikka’s job as a Minor Propagandist for the planet Porcelain’s Bureau of Tourism had shaped her way of thinking. She dealt primarily in quintets of attractions, lists of five distributed by the Bureau: Five Major China Factories Where the Population of Porcelain Can Be Seen Being Created; Five Views of Porcelain’s Clay Fields; Five Restaurants Serving Native Cuisine at Its Most Natural."

• At HiLobrow: "Herland -  part 10" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Science Fiction. 1915. 
      "When I asked her about it, she tried at first to tell me, and then, seeing me flounder, asked for more information about ours. She soon found that we had many, that they varied widely, but had some points in common. A clear methodical luminous mind had my Ellador, not only reasonable, but swiftly perceptive."

• At Lightspeed: "Ragged Claws" by Lisa Tuttle. Science Fiction
      "Last night, after a short struggle, I went out. It’s like that most evenings, the slow, silent battle between my desire to stay in, with my thoughts and dreams and memories, and the need to go where other people gathered. Much as I preferred my own company, no one, these days, was paying me to keep it. I lived as frugally as I could on what I’d saved, but the price of electricity had soared recently, and I was in the red again. If I went out, there was at least the chance of making money."

• At Lightspeed: "Bellweather" by Marc Laidlaw. Fantasy.
      "They had struggled for days through a wasteland of broken rock, high in the mountains, on their way through a pass that maps had indicated would take them to a country of promise. The first of the rocks were chipped and quarried, and showed signs of having been worked by artisans as much as by nature. But after a time, the unfashioned stone gave way to broken figures. The general impression was that a nation of statues, its entire populace, had been carried to the heavens and then dropped, so that all were shattered. Fractured heads and torsos, truncated limbs, toes and fingers of every size, from gnomic to gigantic, lay strewn from peak to peak, as if spread across the high mountain valleys by glacial action."

• At Strange Horizions: "ARIECC 1.0" by Lillian Wheeler. Science Fiction.

     "You are speaking to the Automated Road Information and Emergency Contact Computer, version one point zero. How may I help you?"

• At Weird Fiction Review: "The Divinity Student" by Michael Cisco. Part Two and Part Three.
      "Pausing in mid-stride, two black dogs stare at the Divinity Student as he emerges from the office. Recoiling, he claps his hands and steps backwards into the threshold; they scrabble headlong down the stairs with clicking feet — a bad omen. With a rustle of papers, he recollects himself and follows them down slowly."

Flash Fiction

• At Classics On-the-Go: "The Hungry Wolf" Audio. Children's Fantasy.
• At Daily Science Fiction: "Tunnel Vision" by Zach Shephard. Science Fiction. 
• At Quantum Muse: "Lights Out" by Gabriel E Zentner.
• At Strange Horizons: "When Ever Young" by Mukete Samuel Oreh. Poem.
• At 365 Tomorrows: "Ringminer’s Daughter" by Duncan Shields. Science Fiction.

Audio Fiction
• At Drabblecast: "Five Ways to Fall in Love on Planet Porcelain" by Cat Rambo. Science Fiction Romance.
      "Over the years, Tikka’s job as a Minor Propagandist for the planet Porcelain’s Bureau of Tourism had shaped her way of thinking. She dealt primarily in quintets of attractions, lists of five distributed by the Bureau: Five Major China Factories Where the Population of Porcelain Can Be Seen Being Created; Five Views of Porcelain’s Clay Fields; Five Restaurants Serving Native Cuisine at Its Most Natural." and drabble "The Octopus Train" by Jason Jones.

• At Lightspeed: "Ragged Claws" by Lisa Tuttle. Science Fiction, read by Alex Hyde-White.
      "Last night, after a short struggle, I went out. It’s like that most evenings, the slow, silent battle between my desire to stay in, with my thoughts and dreams and memories, and the need to go where other people gathered. Much as I preferred my own company, no one, these days, was paying me to keep it. I lived as frugally as I could on what I’d saved, but the price of electricity had soared recently, and I was in the red again. If I went out, there was at least the chance of making money."

• At 19 Nocturne Boulevard: "The Invader" by Alfred Coppel, read by Julie Hoverson.
     "Invading Earth was going to be a cinch, the Triomed scout decided. But to make certain he must study its inhabitants—as one of them!" from Imagination Stories of Science and Fantasy February 1953. Text here.

• At Protecting Project Pulp: "Letter from the Stars" by A. E. van Vogt, read by Josh Roseman. Science Fiction.
     "It was just a peaceful correspondence between two lonely shut-in strangers — but the destiny of the universe was to depend on the answers" first published in Out of This World Adventures, July 1950.

• At Strange Horizions: "ARIECC 1.0" by Lillian Wheeler, read by Anaea Lay. Science Fiction.

     "You are speaking to the Automated Road Information and Emergency Contact Computer, version one point zero. How may I help you?"

Other Genres

• Audio at Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine: "Ghost Negligence" by John Shepphird, read by John Cramer.
• Fiction at Author's Site: "What People Leave Behind Written" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. Mystery.
• Fiction at At Baen: "Sweothi City" by Larry Correia. Military adventure.
• Flash Fiction at Every Day Fiction: "Tomorrow I Will Skydive" by Stephen V. Ramey.

The Call of the Free Fiction

It's a good start for the free fiction on this fabulous Friday morning.  There's a fantasy short by best-selling author Kevin J. Anderson, and audio story by Kristine Katherine Rusch, the conclusion of The Classic Tales Podcast's reading of The Call of the Wild, Tales of Terror and more!  More to come!











Fiction
• At Daily Science Fiction: "Dark Angel, Archangel" by Kevin J. Anderson. Fantasy.
     "The train thundered toward him, its sharp light pinning him like a spear. He stood in the center of the tracks facing it, not moving. Defiant. Impotent. The night seemed to laugh around him."


• At HiLobrow: "The Man with Six Senses -  Part 10" by Muriel Jaeger. Science Fiction. 1927.
      "I went away and began to write an article setting out a philosophical view of Michael Bristowe’s peculiarity, so far as I had been able to form one."

• At Mad Scientist Journal: "Dr. Derosa’s Resurrection: Part II" by R.G. Summers. Science Fiction.
     "Tt was almost as if my mother was still alive, but not quite. It was a soap opera twist gone horribly wrong. I had spent my whole life without a mother. It was only when Dad was apprehended by the Trongodian government police that I realized how much was missing from my life. By the time I turned thirteen, I was acutely aware of how badly my life sucked."

• Flash Fiction at 365 Tomorrows: "Birds of a Feather" by Desmond Hussey. Science Fiction.

Audio Fiction
• At Tale to Terrify: "www.sellyersoul2satin.hel" by William Markley O’Neal, narrated by James Phillips and Veronica Giguere. Horror.
    No Description. Also poem, “Dr. Volmer” by Robert Payne Cabeen, narrated by Robert Neufeld

• At WMG Publishing: "Chameleon" by Kristine Katherine Rusch. YA Fantasy.
      "The other kids call Wilhelmina “Cry-Baby Witch.” They’re right about one thing even if they don’t know it: she’s a witch, but she doesn’t have control of her magic yet. If she did, she’d protect all the animals in Mrs. Anderson’s room, but Willi can’t even protect herself"

Other Genres

• Audio The Classic Tales Podcast: "The Call of the Wild, part 5 of 5" by Jack London, narrated  by B.J. Harrison. Parts One, Two, Three, and Four. 
• Fiction at HiLobrow: "The Zayat Kiss - Part 1" by Sax Rohmer. Pulp. Noir.
• Flash Fiction at Every Day Fiction: "Moving Up" by L.A. Fields.

I Got a Feeling... That This Week's Gonna Be a Good Week for Free Fiction

More great freebies.  Steven Baxter (One of the best living SF writers) has an audio story at Clarkesworld. There's a new reading of Ray Bradbury's unforgettable "The Veldt" at Selected Shorts (Hosted by Neil Gaiman, with the second story read by Leonard Nimoy).  There's more greatness by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Mur Lafferty, etc.  Be sure to check back here regularly and to visit SF Signal for more free fiction.  [Art from "The Thrill of the Hunt" in audio fiction.








Fiction
• At Buzzy Mag: "Unremembered, Unforgotten" by Ken Altabef. Urban Fantasy.
      "Flakes of red crumbled away from her fingertips as Dolorza brushed absently at the mark. None found in the home, she thought, but three victims all the same. Her father, who had succumbed to lymphoma seven years after the exposure, her mother, who had died of a broken heart soon thereafter, and the silent price she herself had paid over the years."

• At The Silver Blade: "The Greatest Shade – Part 2" by Bryan Wein. Fantasy.
      "The next morning Dressen smacked his hand against the water sensor three times before the shower finally gurgled to life. A few seconds later the fluorescent tube overhead came on as well, thanks to some problem with the circuitry. Dressen cursed and dimmed the light with blind, groping fingers." - part one here.

Audio Fiction
• At Author's Site: "The Shambling Guide to New York City - Chapters 1-18" by Mur Lafferty. Urban Fantasy. [via SF Signal]
      "A travel writer takes a job with a shady publishing company in New York, only to find that she must write a guide to the city - for the undead!"

• At Clarkesworld: "Cilia-of-Gold" by Stephen Baxter. Science Fiction.
     "She climbed up through the water, her flukes pulsing, and prepared to lead the group further along the Ice-tunnel to the new Chimney cavern"

•  At Decoder Ring Theater: "Red Panda Adventures (97) - The Phantom" Noir. Superhero. Humor.
       "As the tides of war begin to shift in favor of the Allies, all is far from quiet on the Home Front. A new boss of bosses has taken control of the city and declared war upon the Red Panda and his allies!"

• At Selected Shorts: "Dreams and Schemes" Science Fiction.
     "Guest host Neil Gaiman introduces two American classics. In Ray Bradbury’s futuristic “The Veldt,” a virtual reality nursery turns on its owners. The reader is Stephen Colbert. In James Thurber’s “The Catbird Seat,” a mild-mannered employee plots revenge. read by Leonard Nimoy"

• At WMG Publishing: "The Thrill of the Hunt" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. Paranormal.
      "Her family called her Hilda, before the war, before the Great Wulf murdered them all with his mind. Now the war is over, Europe is in ruin, and the remaining Nazis have scattered. Hilda hunts them, but really, she hunts him. And thanks to an old friend, she has tracked him to Argentina. She’s supposed to kill him, but she’s not sure if she can. She won’t know until they’re face to face, until it’s time for one of them to die."

E-Books
At Amazon: [via Pixel-of-Ink]

• The Guardian of Threshold - A Young Adult Paranormal Fantasy by A.A. Volts. 

At Amazon: [via Freebook Sifter]

• Titan Lost (Galactic Lineage) by Colin Kortekaas. Science Fiction.
• Arbitraria by Lucia Hodinka. Michael Hoh (Translator)
• The Adventures of Redman Red by Nick Hall and Nathaniel Haynes.
• This Machine Kills by Steve Liszka. Dystopian.
• Novum by Joseph Rhea. Post-Apocalyptic.
• H W J N by Ibraheem Abbas. Yasser Bahjatt (Translator)
• The Circling Song by Russell Cruse.
• The Chronokey: Death's End by Carmel Morris. Fantasy. Paranormal.
• Una'ria The Vanguard Echoes by Daniel Cruz. Science Fiction.
• Defenders of Rades by Carol Blackhurst. Science Fiction.
• Tyme and Yon Serpent (Serpent's Tail) by MJ Holmes. Fantasy.
• With Dragons She Walks by Brit Darby, Fela Dawson Scott, Patricia McAllister. Fantasy.
• On the Back of the Beast by S F Chapman. Apocalyptic.
• Black As Night (The Augmentamancer Chronicles) by Daniel Mckay. Paranormal. 
• Venus Rising (Linda Kay Daniels Adventures) by Rowena Tulley. YA Science Fiction.
• Adela Arthur and the Creator's Clock (The Chronicles of A) by Judyann McCole. YA Fantasy.
• The Grave Artist by Paula Lynn Johnson. YA Paranormal.
• Winged Descent (The Winged Trilogy) by Heather Allen Dencker. Paranormal Romance.
• Solar War by Kevin Griffis. Military Science Fiction.
• Caleo (Leech) by James Crawford. YA Paranormal.
• Spell/Sword by G. Adams. Fantasy.

Other Genres
• At WMG Publishing: "Name Calling" by Kristine Grayson (Kristine Kathryn Rusch). Romance.

Free Fiction - No Twerking Celebs

Another great Tuesday for free fiction.  More later today. [Art for "Deadly City" in audio fiction]






Fiction
• At AE: "An Operatic Tour of New Jersey, with Raptors" by Ada Hoffman.  Science Fiction.
      "The Apocalypse begins when Diego sings Count Almaviva in The Barber of Seville in Dover, New Jersey. He doesn’t notice anything wrong until after the curtain call, when he steps out of the Baker Theater onto West Blackwell Street, struggling to balance the three bouquets of roses in his arms, and walks into a horde of running, screaming people, pursued by a Tyrannosaurus"

• At Author's Site: "Folk Lure" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. Fantasy.
      "Drew, a private investigator, protects Karen. Lonely, sad, vulnerable Karen. So, when Karen decides to respond to a suspicious-sounding personal ad about a music audition, Drew tags along. What he observes puts his instincts on high alert. Drew fears the Folklorist plans to use her and toss her away. But the truth will prove far more surprising that Drew can ever imagine."

• At Daily Science Fiction: "The Matchmaker" by Sara Puls. Fantasy.
      "Don had been delivering mail to Ruthetta Bell's house for almost thirty years before she finally asked him inside. It was the day he'd been waiting for, but never had the courage to make happen. Now, though, it wasn't like he imagined. He'd waited too long."

• At HiLobrow: "Herland  - Part 7" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Speculative Fiction.
     "Being at last considered sufficiently tamed and trained to be trusted with scissors, we barbered ourselves as best we could. A close-trimmed beard is certainly more comfortable than a full one. Razors, naturally, they could not supply."

• At Lightspeed: "Brisneyland by Night"  by Angela Slatter. Fantasy.
       "'How many kids now?' I asked. 'Twenty-five we can identify for sure. But that’s out of a couple of hundred a week. Not all those are ours.' 'Don’t say ours, Bela. They’re nothing to do with me.' I looked out the window. My reflection stared back. Beyond that I watched the night speed past. I should have been at my next-door neighbour’s eighth birthday party, pretending I didn’t like children; I shouldn’t have been here."

• At The Colored Lens: "Bottle This" by J.J. Roth. Science Fiction.
       "Stir fry bubbled in a line of industrial pans that gave off clouds of oily-smelling steam. The jock’s plastic-wrapped hand dropped grey tofu lumps into the first pan and greenish chicken cubes into the next three. His other hand, ungloved and permanently dingy, sloshed a ladle of grainy, tan liquid across all the pans."

• At Lightspeed: "Face Value"  by Sean Williams. Science Fiction.
      "News of the disappearance of inventor Felix Frey spread through the Air with electric ease. It was exactly the kind of distraction I needed. There are only so many quaint old thefts and counterfeit scams I can pluck from policing archives while my girlfriend Billie works in her studio, adjusting facial nerves, muscles, and skin cells to fit her clients’ desires."

Flash Fiction

• At Strange Horizons: "St. Patrick and the Snakes" by Jane Yolen. Poem.
• At Strange Horizons: "August Poetry" by Jane Yolen,  Laura Madeline Wiseman, John W. Sexton, Andrew Brenza, and Lynette Mejía.
• At 365 Tomorrows: "Quintari At The End" by Clint Wilson. Science Fiction.

Audio Fiction
• At Lightspeed: "Face Value"  by Sean Williams. Science Fiction.
      "News of the disappearance of inventor Felix Frey spread through the Air with electric ease. It was exactly the kind of distraction I needed. There are only so many quaint old thefts and counterfeit scams I can pluck from policing archives while my girlfriend Billie works in her studio, adjusting facial nerves, muscles, and skin cells to fit her clients’ desires."

• At 19 Nocturne Boulevard: "Deadly City" by Ivar Jorgenson. (Paul W. Fairman). Science Fiction.
     "You're all alone in a deserted city. You walk down an empty street, yearning for the sight of one living face—one moving figure. Then you see a man on a corner and you know your terror has only begun." Text here.

Other Genres
• Flash Fiction at Every Day Fiction: "The Indian" by Melody Feldman.

Free Fiction to Help Us Forget That Ben Affleck Is Now Batman.

More great free fiction, including a pair of stories from Kristine Kathryn Rusch, an SF story by Nancy Kress, a Ken Liu story in both audio and text format, the latest episode of the Antipodean podcast, audio by Eleanor Arnason at Clarkesworld, and a ton of e-books after the fold (including David Drake and John Ringo).  I'd say to check out Regan Wolfrom's SF Signal post for more free fiction e-book links, but since many of you have come here from there, I won't.  [Art from Ken Liu's story at Drabblecast]



Fiction
At Baen [via SF Signal]

• "Migration" by Nancy Kress. Science Fiction
     "Welcome to Freedom, a Libertarian society, the only planet in the Coalition where genetic engineering is not only allowed but common. But that hasn’t changed things for the pupcats, with their drive to migrate yearly back to the ice from which they came. Shipped off planet, captured, sold, many suffer and die each year from being kept away, so Lukas has come to put a stop to it."

• "The Hanging Judge" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. Science Fiction
    "No matter how remote, colonies need law and order like anywhere else. Someone has to hold people accountable and keep the criminals at bay, right? You’d think a judge who travels with an execution chamber and a prison ship would be feared throughout the Colonies, but Judge Morell quickly discovers that’s not true of everyone in this interesting tale"

• "Flipping the Switch" by Jamie Todd Rubin. Science Fiction.
   "No journey to the stars could begin without a starship, and so we continue our journey with a tale about one of those without whom colonization of the stars will never happen: a colonial ship pilot, called upon to take an adventure and sacrifice life at home, until he begins realizing the cost. Did he make the right decision? Would you choose the same?"

• "The Bricks of Eta Cassiopeiae" by Brad R. Torgersen. Science Fiction
     "Someone has to go and prepare planets for colonist’s arrival. In some cases, this will consist of advance teams of volunteers or government officials, in others, perhaps laborers will be recruited. In the case of our next story, those laborers are prisoners working off their hard time. The service in the brick fields is far better than other options, however. Unless, of course, one of your fellow inmates wants even more ."

• "The Far Side of the Wilderness" by Alex Shvartsman . Science Fiction
       "Sometimes human colonists themselves can be away so long, they begin seeing the Earth as a romantic, hopeful place different from what their ancestors who founded the colony might remember. In a reverse of our other stories, a bit of a Moses-esque promised land mythology arises amongst a religious sect of isolated colonists in regards to the Earthly home they left behind, driving some of them to live for one goal: to return home. But what if home is not the place their legends recall?"

• "Legio Patria Nostra (The Legion is Our Country)" by William C. Dietz. Science Fiction
     "If the moon had a name, it was a Hudathan name, since the satellite was orbiting a world that the Hudathans laid claim to. But, like everything else in the sector of space sandwiched between the Hudathan Empire and the Confederacy of Sentient Beings, the moon was open to attack."

• At Drabblecast: "The Call of the Pancake Factory" by Ken Liu. Comedy. Horror,
      "The bar is plenty kitschy: goofy statues made from coconuts everywhere and strings of shell beads hanging from the ceiling. I smile when I see a coconut sporting a pair of mouse ears made from scallop shells." Also flash audio "Lovecraft" by Chris Munroe.


• At WMG Publishing: "Advisors at Naptime" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. Science Fiction. Humor.
     "She’s important because the grown-ups believe she’s an average five-year-old. Average five-year-olds have uses for bad guys who want to conquer the world. Only no one realizes that Carol isn’t average. Carol’s smart. And tired. And will do anything to get her nap"


Audio Fiction
• At Antipodean: The AntipodeanSF Radio Show #181.
     The 181st episode of this quality flash fiction podcast, featuring audio speculative fiction stories.

• At Clarkesworld: "The Lovers" by Eleanor Arnason.
     "There was a woman of the Ahara. She came of a good line within the lineage1 and grew up to be tall and broad with thick, glossy fur. Her eyes were pale gray, an unusual color in that part of the world. From childhood on, her nickname was Eyes-of-crystal. If she had a fault, it lay in her personality. She was a bit too fierce and solitary"

• At Drabblecast: "The Call of the Pancake Factory" by Ken Liu. Comedy. Horror,
      "The bar is plenty kitschy: goofy statues made from coconuts everywhere and strings of shell beads hanging from the ceiling. I smile when I see a coconut sporting a pair of mouse ears made from scallop shells." Also flash audio "Lovecraft" by Chris Munroe.
 
• At Internet Archive [LibriVox]: John Silence by Algernon Blackwood. Horror. Dark Fantasy.
       "There are, it would appear, certain wholly unremarkable persons, with none of the characteristics that invite adventure, who yet once or twice in the course of their smooth lives undergo an experience so strange that the world catches its breath—and looks the other way! And it was cases of this kind, perhaps, more than any other, that fell into the wide-spread net of John Silence, the psychic doctor, and, appealing to his deep humanity, to his patience, and to his great qualities of spiritual sympathy, led often to the revelation of problems of the strangest complexity, and of the profoundest possible human interest." Text here and here.

• At Tales to Terrify: "The Red Empress" part one of The Black Fire Concerto by Mike Allen. Dark Fantasy.
     "She settled in her chair on the stage, balanced the soundbox of her harp between her knees, braced its neck against her shoulder and caressed the strings. All twenty-two were in tune, and their song brought a sliver of comfort, for as long as she was allowed to play, she would live another day."

Other Genres
• Audio at Selected Shorts: "Odd Couples"

 E-Books after fold

It Doesn't Take Six Senses to Appreciate These Great Free Stories

Plenty of good free fiction this morning, including two ongoing Edgar Rice Burroughs serials, the latest from Escape Pod and Pseudopod, a limited time streaming audio fiction by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, the welcome return of weird year, and more.  And there's an even bigger post coming later today, so read or listen to all these as quickly as you can!





[Bizarre art from The Moon Men in fiction below]




Fiction
• At Daily Science Fiction: "The Black Bough" by Conor Powers-Smith. Science Fiction.
      "The room was dimly lit, and dominated by the bulky white tube of the scanner. It looked hungry, the proverbial gaping maw. That would make the narrow gurney projecting out into the room its tongue; projecting now, but soon to be sucked back into the monster's mouth."

• At Escape Pod: "Nutshell" by Jeffrey Wikstrom. Science Fiction.
       "Carpet ocean, stretching over miles; hills and valleys and ravines, all upholstered.  The green indoor-outdoor gives way to blue, as land gives way to sea, but the texture never changes.  When it rains, as it sometimes does, the drops pass through the carpet without making contact, as though they or it aren’t really there."

• At HiLobrow: "The Man with Six Senses - part 7" by Muriel Jaeger. Science Fiction. 1927.
     "I thought about him and his peculiarity and his affairs as little as I possibly could. I do not like oddities. And I could no longer conceal from myself that he was definitely an oddity. I even feared secretly that, as Hilda thought, he might be a momentous sort of oddity, though this I would never admit even to myself."

• At HiLobrow: "The Moon Men - Part 9" by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Science Fiction. Adventure. 1925.
      "We passed days of mental anguish — hearing nothing, knowing nothing — and then one evening a single Kash Guard rode up to father’s house. Juana and I were there with mother. The fellow dismounted and knocked at the door — a most unusual courtesy from one of these."

Flash Fiction

• At 365 Tomorrows: "Testimony" by Jae Miles. Science Fiction.
• At Weirdyear: "A Missed Opportunity" by Alex Munkacsy. Weird Fiction.

Audio Fiction
• At Escape Pod: "Nutshell" by Jeffrey Wikstrom. Science Fiction.
       "Carpet ocean, stretching over miles; hills and valleys and ravines, all upholstered.  The green indoor-outdoor gives way to blue, as land gives way to sea, but the texture never changes.  When it rains, as it sometimes does, the drops pass through the carpet without making contact, as though they or it aren’t really there."

• At Fantastic Worlds of Edgar Rice Burroughs: "Episode 4 - Out Of Time's Abyss"
     "Bradley has been captured by the eerie flying creatures. He discovers that the creatures can speak and reason and are named Wieroos. He is taken to a large island in the center of Caspak’s inland sea. His captor, Fosh-bal-soj, tells him he is to be taken before 'He Who Speaks for Luata.'"

• At Pseudopod: "The Easily Forgotten" by Philip M. Roberts. Horror.
       "You know how much money he’s invested in this whole state? Besides, I’ve seen him boot two people, one for stealing, and one for hitting someone else. Both went on their way with a black eye, probably a few other bruises. More embarrassing than painful I’d imagine."

• At WMG Publishing: "Geeks Bearing Gifts" by Kristine Grayson (AKA Kristine Kathryn Rusch). Paranormal Romance. Streaming only.
       "Bethanne Dupree runs a computer dating service and pretends she doesn’t need it too. She manages to separate her personal life from her business life until Ray Greco comes to the office of the dating service to make a video"

Other Genres

• Audio at Classic Tales Podcast: "The Call of the Wild - part 2 of 5" by Jack London. Adventure.
• Flash Fiction at Every Day Fiction: "David's Test" by Jesse Knifley. Mystery / Suspense.

Go Ahead, Make My Free Speculative Fiction Day.

I really can't say enough good about this morning's free fiction.  There are new and classic stories by big name writers (Rusch, Kress, Liu, Sheckley), stories at great pro sites (Lightspeed, Strange Horizons, PodCastle, StarShipSofa), stories at some of the best flash fiction sites, an audio version of the BSFA shortlisted "Limited Edition" and a reading of a classic SF story by the supercool and talented Julie Julie Hoverson.  And there's more to come! [Art from "Breathless in the Deep"]


Fiction
• At Author's Site: "Killing Time" by  Kristine Kathryn Rusch. Science Fiction.
       "JP pedals her ancient Schwinn with Paula on the handle-bars, laughing, her head thrown back. Paula keeps her bare feet outstretched, afraid that her toes will get caught in the spokes. The morning is bright, the sun a yellow demon that will create haze in the afternoon. It is seven a.m. It is summer. And they are off to play tennis before arrival of the blistering heat."

• At Lightspeed: "Breathless in the Deep" by Cory Skerry. Fantasy.
     "When Jantz spotted a black skeleton jutting up above the water, at first she thought it was just a tide-battered tree, but before long she could make out the shredded ropes and scraps of sail. The wooden bones were the charred yardarms of a sunken ship."

• At Lightspeed: "End Game" by Nancy Kress. Science Fiction.
     "Allen Dodson was sitting in seventh-grade math class, staring at the back of Peggy Corcoran’s head, when he had the insight that changed the world. First his own world and then, eventually, like dominos toppling in predestined rhythm, everybody else’s, until nothing could ever be the same again. Although we didn’t, of course, know that back then."

• At Strange Horizons: "A Plant (Whose Name is Destroyed)" by Seth Dickinson.
     "He must in retrospect have been a god the entire time. He has not just now transcended whatever limen encompasses the mortal. Rather, Naveen has systematically eliminated all other hypotheses regarding Hayden's provenance, and only this remains."

Flash Fiction

• At Daily Science Fiction: "Nova Verba, Mundus Novus" by Ken Liu. Magical Realism.
• At Every Day Fiction: "Giuseppe’s Boughs" by Brandon Nolta. Fantasy.
• At Flashes in the Dark: "And The Darkness Fell" by Dawn Napier. Horror.
• At Strange Horizons: "Abduction" by Laura Madeline Wiseman. Poem.
• At 365 Tomorrows: "Intentional Paradox" by Clint Wilson. Science Fiction.

Audio Fiction
• At Lightspeed: "Breathless in the Deep" by Cory Skerry. Fantasy.
     "When Jantz spotted a black skeleton jutting up above the water, at first she thought it was just a tide-battered tree, but before long she could make out the shredded ropes and scraps of sail. The wooden bones were the charred yardarms of a sunken ship."

• At 19 Nocturne Boulevard: "Ask a Foolish Question" by Robert Sheckley. Science Fiction.
      "It's well established now that the way you put a question often determines not only the answer you'll get, but the type of answer possible. So ... a mechanical answerer, geared to produce the ultimate revelations in reference to anything you want to know, might have unsuspected limitations."

• At PodCastle: "Far as You Can Go" by Greg van Eekhout. Fantasy.
     "I didn’t go to school because I was allergic to the neuroboosters, but that didn’t mean I was stupid. It just meant I had a lot of time on my hands. Mostly, I hung out with Beeman, scrap-combing all over Ex-Town and trading metal and electronic bits and whatever for food and goods and services. We were good businessmen."

• At StarShipSofa: "Limited Edition" by Tim Maughan.
     "Eugene Sureshot, one mile tall, strides through the wasteland. Where his limited edition trainers hit the ground deserts bloom, city blocks rise and mountains rip themselves from the ground. Vistas erupt from each footfall, spreading like bacteria, mingling, creating landscapes. New places from the dead ground. Civilisations rise, intricate detail evolves around the soles of giant feet."

• At Strange Horizons: "A Plant (Whose Name is Destroyed)" by Seth Dickinson.
     "He must in retrospect have been a god the entire time. He has not just now transcended whatever limen encompasses the mortal. Rather, Naveen has systematically eliminated all other hypotheses regarding Hayden's provenance, and only this remains."

Free Fiction from Frogs to Dragons

Let the weekend begin!  A few good free fiction links to begin the day, including a pair of links swiped from Regan Wolfrom at SF Signal, a free Kristine Kathryn Rusch story, a complete e-zine, flash fiction, audio fiction, and some quite cool classic comics.  More to come.




[Art From "Dragon Slayer" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch.]






Fiction
• At Baen: "Frog Water" by Tony Daniel. Science Fiction.
     "The ship soothed my legs with the slop wands. Aleria had ordered it to do so. She thought I was upset about the blisters on my thighs and shins, but the truth was that I was used to those now. I let her keep thinking that was what it was, though. This was something I’d learned to do back home, even though maybe I didn’t know I’d learned it at the time: you know, act like something bad that happened is much worse than it actually is until you can figure out your next move"

• At Baen: "She Sells Sea Shells" by Paul Darcy Boles. Dark Fantasy.
      "Humans seem to be nature's xenophobes, hell-bent on conquest, ravaging the land and everything growing and living on it in order to "possess" it. We destroy and conquer out of fear . . . fear of anyone or anything unlike ourselves."

• At WMG Publishing: "Dragon Slayer" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. Fantasy. Noir.
      "Rumaad, a different kind of dragon, collects information about the killings the way some dragons collect jewels. So he’s perfectly suited to see the differences in the latest crime scene, the murder of a dragon he knows all too well."
 
• Now Posted: Yellow Mama #39. Noir. Horror.

• "Summer Job"-Fiction by Joe Malone
• "Pike N Flytrap"-Fiction by Richard Godwin
• "No Effect on Me"-Fiction by Willie Smith
• "Dick Dyce-The A-B-C's"-Fiction by Paul Dick
• "Road Kill"-Fiction by Rex Sexton
• "Minnesota"-Fiction by Kenneth James Crist
• "Hangdog"-Fiction by Cindy Rosmus
• "My Gypsy Girl" from Bluefield-Fiction by Robb White
• "My Salad Days"-Fiction by Rudy Ravindra
• "The Judge"-Flash Fiction by Rob Pierce
• "Mom Met the New Neighbors"-Flash Fiction by Paul Beckman
• "John Doe"-Poem by Mark Rosenblum
• "Killing the Poetry Professor"-Poem by Doug Draime
• "Running on Empty"-Poem by Marc Carver
• "Van Gogh"-Poem by Marc Carver
• "Scalp"-Poem by Ian Mullins
• "Bottled Up"-Poem by Ian Mullins

Flash Fiction

• At Every Day Fiction: "Here Today…" by Rob Butler. Mystery. Ghost.
• At 365 Tomorrows: "Of Quints and Quads" by Joshua Ginsberg. Science Fiction.

Audio Fiction
• At Radio Drama Revival: "Kaboom!" - Supernatural noir with Harry Strange.
     "Harry Strange is a noir detective of a different stripe – solving supernatural crimes. Weird frequencies come to a head with “Kaboom!”, an episode from that podcast’s second season."

Comics

• At Atomic Kommie Comics: "Cosmic Brain" Sci-Fi. 1951.
• At Atomic Kommie Comics:"Winged Death on Venus" Sci-Fi. 1950.
• At Captain Video's Secret Sanctum: "Space Pirates" Sci-Fi. 1952.
• At The Horrors of It All: "That Stray Cat"  Horror. 1954/1985.
• At Pappy's Golden Age Comics Blogzine: "Morass of Death" 1953. Adventure. Dinosaurs.

Other Genres
• Audio at Selected Shorts: "Pushing the Limits"

God Save the Free Fiction - We Mean It Man - We Love Our Free Fiction.

Break out your reading glasses and hearing aids because there are many great free stories this morning. Wow! E-books and more to come.  A couple of links were swiped from Regan Wolfrom at SF Signal.

[Art from "A Meeting With The Elder"]




Fiction
• At Author's Site: "Skin Deep" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. Science Fiction.
     "When Cullaene learns the colonists want to question him about a murder, he fears for his life. But he must also think about the daughter of the people who took him in. She appears sick, and Cullaene soon realizes only he can help her. But helping her might mean sacrificing his own life.'"

• At The Colored Lens: "Garden of Little Angels" by Kevin Kekic. Speculative Fiction.
     "'Katelyn, d-do you think they are p-poison?' Arabella asked me. Her voice sounded hoarse, the cold air sending small puffs of mist from her lips. Next to her, little Gregory bounced on his feet, the possibility of food giving the boy a sudden burst of energy. It was our third day alone in the Whispering Forest, our third day without food. The waterskin I had stolen from Father was almost empty, and dusk was fast approaching."

• At Daily Science Fiction: "Sparg" by Brian Trent. Science Fiction. Aliens.
     "From his cage, he had watched them conduct this peculiar ritual enough times to understand it was how they prepared their food. More elaborate than the brown fish-pellets they gave him. When his food dish was empty, they usually noticed as they shuffled in from the bedroom each morning. If they didn't, Sparg would gently thump his tentacles against the bars until they came over to see what was the bother. Then strange sounds would issue from their red mouths:"

• At Fantasy Faction: "Selleuk’s Bridge" by Nathan Hawke. Fantasy.
      "Thanni Ironfoot poked a stick in the fire and tried not to hear what the two Lhosir beside him were saying about the nioingr who’d sided with the Marroc up in Varyxhun castle. Taking the damned place was going to be bloody enough without having to think about whether he was on the right side of the fight."

• At HiLobrow: "Herland - Part Five" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Science Fiction. 1915.
      "It is no use for me to try to piece out this account with adventures. If the people who read it are not interested in these amazing women and their history, they will not be interested at all."

• At Lightspeed: "The Litigation Master and the Monkey King" by Ken Liu. Fantasy.
      "The tiny cottage at the edge of Sanli Village—away from the villagers’ noisy houses and busy clan shrines and next to the cool pond filled with lily pads, pink lotus flowers, and playful carp—would have made an ideal romantic summer hideaway for some dissolute poet and his silk-robed mistress from nearby bustling Yangzhou."

• At Lightspeed: "At Budokan"  by Alastair Reynolds Science Fiction.
     "I’m somewhere over the Sea of Okhotsk when the nightmare hits again. It’s five years ago, and I’m on the run after the machines went berserk. Only this time they’re not just enacting wanton, random mayhem, following the scrambled choreography of a corrupted performance program. This time they’re coming after me, all four of them, stomping their way down an ever-narrowing back alley as I try to get away, the machines too big to fit in that alley, but in the malleable logic of dreams somehow not too big, swinging axes and sticks rather than demolition balls, massive, indestructible guitars and drumsticks."

• At SciFi Ideas: "A Meeting With The Elder" by Cory Trego-Erdner. Science Fiction.
      "His contact among the kahoons met him the moment he stepped off the dropcraft. The sensory proboscis above its single, gaping intake nostril lifted in greeting, and the tendrils at its tip quivered as it tasted his scent. It then uttered a spoken greeting to him, the words emerging from its nostril. A kahoon’s four jaws were a formidable masticatory apparatus"

• At Strange Horizons: "Din Ba Din" by Kate MacLeod. Speculative Fiction.
   "I look down at my hands, past the dirt. Sun-darkened, wrinkled, but not loose skin on bone. I'm forty, maybe nearly fifty. This isn't the rocket launch I dread, not yet."

Flash Fiction

• At Strange Horizons: "All That Her Mother Left Her" by John W. Sexton. Poem.
• At 365 Tomorrows: "Art of War" by Desmond Hussey. Science Fiction.

Audio Fction
• At Author's Site: "Beam Up on Aisle Five, Part 2" by Scott Sigler.
     "In the first episode, the Rabbi and Big Ugly were supposed to find the President and bring his money back to Chad LaTilton, only before our heroes could complete this task, the President wound up dead. Now Rabbi and Big Ugly are on the hook for that cash — they have to find a lady named "Carnie" who might have a clue as to the money's wherabouts. Listen in for more lubesters, violence, a few shots of Sea Breeze and some Pomeranian poop"

• At Lightspeed: "The Litigation Master and the Monkey King" by Ken Liu. Fantasy.
      "The tiny cottage at the edge of Sanli Village—away from the villagers’ noisy houses and busy clan shrines and next to the cool pond filled with lily pads, pink lotus flowers, and playful carp—would have made an ideal romantic summer hideaway for some dissolute poet and his silk-robed mistress from nearby bustling Yangzhou."

• At 19 Nocturne Boulevard: "Compensation" by C.V. Tench. Science Fiction.
      "Professor Wroxton Had Disappeared—But in the Bottom of the Mysterious Crystal Cage Lay the Diamond from His Ring!"

• At Protecting Project Pulp: "The Shadow on the Doorstep" by James Blaylock. Lovecraftian Horror.
     "It was several months after I had dismantled my aquaria that I heard a rustling in the darkness, a scraping of what sounded like footsteps on the front porch of my house."

• At Strange Horizons: "Din Ba Din" by Kate MacLeod. Speculative Fiction.
   "I look down at my hands, past the dirt. Sun-darkened, wrinkled, but not loose skin on bone. I'm forty, maybe nearly fifty. This isn't the rocket launch I dread, not yet."

Other Genres

• Flash Fiction at Every Day Fiction: "Negative Amortization" by Camille Griep.
• Non-Fiction at Project Gutenberg: The Master of Game by Thomas Edwards and Second Duke of York. 1413. Hunting.

Friday Freenes Continued

 Free e-books, comics, and more, good stuff, Maynard!  And be sure to check out Regan Wolfrom's column at SF Signal for even more goodies.














Fiction
• At Author's Site: "June Sixteenth at Anna’s" by Kristine Katherine Rusch. first published in Asimov’s SF Magazine, April, 2003. Science Fiction.
      "Leta has died, leaving her husband Mac with his memories and one famous holorecording. On June 16, 2001, Leta ate at a restaurant called Anna’s, and a time travel recording made of that day later became a sensation"

Fan Fiction
• At Author's Site: "James Potter and the Morrigan Web- Chapters 1-25" by G. Norman Lippert. Fantasy.
     "Figures moved beyond the heaving silvery fog, accompanied by the faint echo of vo ices . James recognized the sound -- it was the same as he had heard wafting from the portal of Merlin’s portrait, earlier that evening, the sound his father had warned him back from. The man that had recently been Rechtor Grudje watched and listened , his eyes wide, worried, even fearful. The others backed away, forming a respectful semi - circle in the darkness."

E-Books
• At Amazon: Night of the Purple Moon by Scott Cramer. Apocalyptic. [via Pixel-of-Ink]
• At Barnes & Noble: Nazi Zombie Army: Gotterdammerung by Jonathan Green. Zombies. [Nook]
At Free eBooks Daily:

• Kill Me by Alex Owens. Paranormal Fantasy.
• Cry of an Angel by Richard T Green. Paranormal.
• Shine: The Knowing Ones by Amy Freeman. Paranormal. 
• The Reluctant Wolf by Susan G. Charles. Paranormal Romance. 
• Warrior Unleashed by Lindsay Avalon. Fantasy Romance.
• Night of the Fae by Lyneal Jenkins. Contemporary Fantasy.

At Smashwords:

• "For Valor, Fly" by CA Morgan. Fantasy.
• "Elouise – A tale of The Light" by Belinda Crawford. Historical Fantasy.
• "The Mirror Queen" by Sarah Carter. Fantasy.
• "There Are No Children In The Castle" by Hank Florentine McLoskey. Fantasy.
• "Colossus" by Gary Mark Lee. Science Fiction.
• "Escape to the Stars!" by Glenn Erickson. Science Fiction. Apocalyptic.
• "Commanding Ray" by Andrew Veda. Science Fiction. Mystery.
• "Death Blimps of Doom!" by J.I. Greco. Cyberpunk. 

Comics

• At Atomic Kommie Comics: "Flame Women of Vulcan" Sci-fi. 1952
• At Atomic Kommie Comics: "Attack of the Wasp-Women" Sci-fi. 1952
• At Atomic Kommie Comics: "Spaceship of the Dead"  Sci-fi. 1952
• At Four-Color Shadows: "I Am the Changing Man" Sci-fi. 1959.
• At Heroines: Agar-Agar "Martian Visitors" Sci-fi. 1971.
• At The Horrors of It All: "The Cry of Satan" Horror. 1952.
• At True Love Comics: Agar-Agar "Rendezvous with Aquarius" Sci-fi. 1971.

Other Genres

• Audio at Selected Shorts: "Romantic Disasters"
• E-Book at Free eBooks Daily: Fallen Angel by Melissa Jones. Western Romance.

Well, When This Free Fiction Train Ends I'll Try Again

Some Tuesdays are great! With Lightspeed, Escape Pod, Strange Horizons, and so much more, this is certainly one of them. 

The Lightspeed story "The Knight of Chains, the Deuce of Stars" is supposed to have an audio version, but it isn't working at this time. Hopefully it just me or else it's fixed by the time you read this.

Much more to come, including at least one link swiped from the extremely effecient Regan Wolfrom of SF Signal.

[Art from "Blood Trail" linked in Fiction directly below]




Fiction
• At Author's Site: "Blood Trail" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. Science Fiction. Time Travel. 2001.
     "Detective Zack Wheldon solves cases. The tough cases no one else figures out. So, when the FBI comes seeking his help, he must decide which to choose: the serial killer he desperately wants to catch or the as-yet-unknown cases that will grow cold in his absence"

• At The Colored Lens: "The Land of Dreams" by Kate O'Connor.
     "Cass set the last feed bucket down and leaned against the paddock fence, idly tugging a soft clump of gray-green dream pig fur out of the wire. The sun was breaking free of the distant mountains just in time to be swallowed up by blossoming amber clouds. She frowned, twisting the wool around her fingers. Just another normal day on the farm."

• At Escape Pod: "Mono No Aware" by Ken Liu. Science Fiction.
    "The world is shaped like the kanji for _umbrella_, only written so poorly, like my handwriting, that all the parts are out of proportion."

 
• At Lightspeed: "Catamounts"  by Marc Laidlaw. Fantasy.
     "'I have my limits,' said Gorlen Vizenfirthe, hooking a full mug of cheap brew toward him with one of the petrified fingers of his stony right hand. A coarse black strand of beard-hair poked up from the foamy head like a sick fern’s frond. 'And you, sir, are quickly approaching several of them at the same time.'"

• At Lightspeed: "The Knight of Chains, the Deuce of Stars" by Yoon Ha Lee. Science Fiction.
     "The tower is a black spire upon a world whose only sun is a million starships wrecked into a mass grave. Light the color of fossils burns from the ships, and at certain hours, the sun casts shadows that mutter the names of vanquished cities and vanished civilizations. It is said that when the tower’s sun finally darkens, the universe’s clocks will stop."

• At Short-Story.Me: "A Helping Hand" by Rachel Anne Sloan. Horror.
     "Hands, not eyes, are the windows to the soul. The study of hands has long been a fascination for people the world over. Palmistry began several hundred years before the birth of Christ. Leonardo Da Vinci is famous for his artistic study of human hands. I am no different in my quest for the knowledge hidden in hands"

• At Strange Horizons: "Complicated and Stupid" by Charlie Jane Anders 
      "The doctor was a gray-haired woman with a tongue piercing and a faded bluebird tattoo on one exposed forearm. She wore a white coat over a lacy halter top and hotpants. She kept looking down Benjamin's throat with a penknife as if his malaise could be pharyngeal."

Flash Fiction

• At Daily Science Fiction: "Super-Parents Last All Childhood Long" by Erica L. Satifka. Science Fiction. 
• At Every Day Fiction: "A Song Not Fully Sung" by Beth Cato. Science Fiction.
• At Strange Horizons: "my father as a sonnet on the human meaning of inhuman stars" by Andrew Brenza. Poem.
• At 365 Tomorrows: "Djedi’s Device" by Jae Miles. Science Fiction.

Audio Fiction

• At Escape Pod: "Mono No Aware" by Ken Liu. Science Fiction.
    "The world is shaped like the kanji for _umbrella_, only written so poorly, like my handwriting, that all the parts are out of proportion."

• At Protecting Project Pulp: "Rose Face" by Harold A. Lamb. Adventure.
     "Where is the man who knows what is hidden in the heart of a woman?"

• At Strange Horizons: "Complicated and Stupid" by Charlie Jane Anders 
      "The doctor was a gray-haired woman with a tongue piercing and a faded bluebird tattoo on one exposed forearm. She wore a white coat over a lacy halter top and hotpants. She kept looking down Benjamin's throat with a penknife as if his malaise could be pharyngeal."


Other Genres

• Fiction at Short-Story.Me: "Rules of Everday Life" by Marilyn J. Holt. Mystery. 
• Fiction at the Western Online: "Incident at Canyon Diablo" by Lowell "Zeke" Ziemann.

It's Your Free Fiction Wake-Up Call

A few free goodies to start the weekend. [Art from "Doorway to the Future" in comics below]







Flash Fiction
• At Every Day Fiction: "Everything is Going To Be All Right" by Faisal Pakkali. Science Fiction.
• At 365 Tomorrows: "Eve" by Sean A Murphy. Science Fiction.
• At Flash Fiction Online August 2013: [via SF Signal]

• "Rumpelstiltskin in Love" by K.C. Norton. Fantasy.
• "Fifty-Year-Old Face" by Kurt Newton Surreal.
• "Beyond Long Radio" by Andy Dudak. Science Fiction.

Audio Fiction
• At Every Photo Tells: "A Pirate’s Life For Me" by Katharina Bordet. YA Adventure.
     "Being a pirate captain isn’t always all it’s cut out to be"

• At Dunesteef: "The Calling" by Rish Outfield. Horror.
      "Joshua McGinty grew up in an unusual family. The family has a religious calling, but it’s one that Joshua desperately wants to escape. And he thought he had, until suddenly, his twin sister January showed up to bring it all back again…"

Comics

• At Atomic Kommie Comics: "Doorway to the Future" 1954. Sci-fi.
• At Pappy's Golden Age Comics Blogzine: "Airboy" 1952. Sci-fi. UFO. Aliens,

E-Books
• At Amazon:  The Girls From Alcyone by Cary Caffrey. Science Fiction. [via Pixel-of-Ink]
•At Barnes & Noble:  What's for Dinner? by Robert L. Arend. Zombies.[Nook]
At Amazon: [via Freebook Sifter]

• Siege of Titan (Star Crusades Uprising, Book 1) by Michael G. Thomas. Science Fiction.
• Nighthawks at the Mission (Off-World Blues Series) by Forbes West and Chris McGuire. Futuristic Fantasy.
• Get Off My L@wn by Perry Kivolowitz. Zombies.
• Petrina: A 2070 Novel by Edward M. Grant. Science Fiction.
• Memories of Space and Magic by Paul Comstock. Fantasy. Science Fiction.

At Free eBooks Daily:

• Witchwood Estate - Books 1 & 2 by Patti Roberts. YA Paranormal
• Urban Necromancer by Phil Chard. Horror.
• Aetna Adrift: Part 1 by Erik Wecks. Science Fiction.
• The Bank of the River by Michael Richan. Horror.
• The Soul Garden by Cege Smith. SciFi Dystopian.
• Spree by Jonathan DeCoteau. YA Paranormal.
• Cage of Gears (The Books of Meticulation) by Mark Reagan. Fantasy. Vampires.

Other Genres

• Audio at Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine: "Won't You Come Out Tonight?" by Josh Pachter
• Fiction at Online Pulps: "Death With Pictures" by John L. Benton (1949),  "The Call From Stateroom 37" by Philip M. Fisher, Jr. (1920),  "The Lottery Racketeer" by Nels Leroy Jorgensen. (1948). 
• Fiction at WMG Publishing: "Spinning" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. Mystery.