It's a great start to weekend with some free fiction from great sites. There's great horror audio from Pseudopod and Tales to Terrify (If you like horror, do yourself a favor and download their entire archives. They are "that good"). Escape Pod always great SF and this time it features a story by E. Lily Yu, one of the best young writers in any genre. Ad it goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway that other sites are all quite good and you'll do yourself a disservice if you miss them. More soon.
Fiction
• At Daily Science Fiction: "A Change of Heart" by Rachel Halpern. Magical Realism.
"Clara got her first clue in preschool, just before naptime one day, as Ms. Weston read aloud from a massive gleaming book of fairy tales. Clara knew most of them already, though the versions were different, and this Snow White was stabbed with a poison comb before she ever touched an apple. Others, though, were entirely new to her, stories of huts with chicken legs and beautiful forest women with hollow backs."
• At Escape Pod: "Loss, with Chalk Diagrams" by E. Lily Yu. Science Fiction.
"She had been twelve years old when rewiring was first approved for use on a limited clinical population. The treatment involved a brew of sixteen neurotoxins finely tuned to leave normal motor, memory, and cognitive processes intact, burning out only those neural pathways associated with grief and trauma. It was recognized as a radical advancement in medicine, and the neuroscientists involved in its development had been decorated with medals, presidential visits, and a research foundation in their names."
• At HiLobrow: "The Man with Six Senses - Part 8" by Muriel Jaege. Science Fiction. 1923.
"But she added, frowning a little, “We must take what help we can get, Ralph. I am beginning to be bothered about Michael. His fits of depression are getting worse. I don’t think he will stand his job at Harding’s much longer. He’s had nearly six months of it now, you know."
Flash Fiction
At Beware the Hairy Mango: "Bottom Out" by Matthew Sanborn Smith. Audio. Weird.
At 365 Tomorrows: "Oracle" by Desmond Hussey. Science Fiction.
Audio Fiction
• At Escape Pod: "Loss, with Chalk Diagrams" by E. Lily Yu. Science Fiction.
"She
had been twelve years old when rewiring was first approved for use on a
limited clinical population. The treatment involved a brew of sixteen
neurotoxins finely tuned to leave normal motor, memory, and cognitive
processes intact, burning out only those neural pathways associated with
grief and trauma. It was recognized as a radical advancement in
medicine, and the neuroscientists involved in its development had been
decorated with medals, presidential visits, and a research foundation in
their names."
• At Every Photo Tells: "Ginnie Dare: Troubled Waters" by Scott Roche Science Fiction.
"On her last day on Neptun, Ginnie has a date. But not the one she hoped she would."
• At Pseudopod: "Apotropaics" by Norman Partridge. Horror.
"A grave, I thought, shivering. It wasn’t an ordinary grave, either,
and not just because it was in the middle of a cornfield. Imbedded in
this grave, punched into it like it was some weird pincushion, were
dozens of stakes and knives, their hilts barely visible. Tent stakes,
survey stakes. Boy Scout knives, ordinary silverware, putty knives, and
fancy stuff that must have been pure silver."
Another collection of great free fiction from many sources! Be sure to check them all out and save them however you like - many won't be available forever. And check out Regan Wolfrom's SF Signal post for good, accurate free links despite the occasionally crack inspired claims at the beginning of his posts.
[art from "Stargazer" - linked below]
Fiction
• At Amazon: "Speculative Fiction The Ultimate Collection" by David K Scholes [Kindle Edition]. "A collection of some 23 speculative fiction short stories including
science fiction, alternate history, science fantasy and an alternate
reality story."
• At Author's Site: "Shadows on the Moon" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. Urban Fantasy. "They say anything can happen in New York, but I don’t think most of the people who say that take it as literally as the folks in this delicate little fantasy."
• At Author's Site: "Gnome on Girl on Gnome: A Love Story – Part 1 of 2" by Regan Wolfrom. "Despite her best intentions, Marguerite Frunklin had never been in love before. She’d been in lust, as had all the girls back home in Ohio when they’d first found out James Franco was studying for a PhD in English, but love was something magical and mysterious to her. It was something she’d been forced to cobble together in her mind with a soulful blend of romantic passages from Twilight and Fifty Shades of Gray"
• At Daily Science Fiction: "Puppet Man" by Cate Gardner. "Walter's wife needed a hobby. In Walter's opinion, it was more of a want than a need, but he didn't dare argue the point. When Maeve needed something, she had to have it. After all, it was how they'd become a couple. She paced the living room, fingers working themselves into knots."
• At Nightmare: "Feminine Endings" by Neil Gaiman. Horror. "Let us begin this letter, this prelude to an encounter, formally, as a declaration, in the old-fashioned way: I love you. You do not know me (although you have seen me, smiled at me, placed coins in the palm of my hand). I know you (although not so well as I would like. I want to be there when your eyes flutter open in the morning, and you see me, and you smile. Surely this would be paradise enough?)."
• At Paizo: "Stargazer - Chapter Three: Blood and Information" by Chris A. Jackson. Fantasy. "Katapesh being Katapesh, however, this particular temple was far from
the humble hermitages and shrines one might find on a distant coast or
otherwise uninhabited island. The head priest wore fine robes, and
looked as if it had been some time since he last slept out under the
open sky. He sat at a beautiful wooden table next to the reflecting
pool, and looked none too pleased at being interrupted."
• At Tor.com: "Super Bass" by Kai Ashante Wilson. Fantasy. "Gian returns to Sea-john from the Kingdom's wars certain that he has skills beyond killing, death and destruction. He needs to prove to himself that love is just as strong, if not stronger, than his hate. The Summer King gives him this opportunity."
Flash Fiction
At Beware the Hairy Mango: "Newtreesean" by Matthew Sanborn Smith. Audio. Weird.
At Beware the Hairy Mango: "Computer Porn" by Matthew Sanborn Smith. Audio. Weird.
At Daily Science Fiction: "Airship Hope" by Laurel Amberdine.
At Flashes in the Dark: "The Beginning" by Dave Dormer.
At Flashes in the Dark: "The Eleventh Hour" by Michael A. Kechula. Horror.
Audio Fiction
• At Clarkesworld: "The Banquet of the Lords of Night" by Liz Williams. "The growing rain blurs the lamps of the Isle de Saint Luce so that they
look like dandelion clocks, their down blown away on the wind. The light
makes de Rais squint and peer, but the parcel warms his breast, in
spite of the rain. Heat seeps through him like the taste of honey."
• At LibriVox: "Time Crime" by H. Beam Piper. Science Fiction. "The
Paratime Police had a real headache this time! Tracing one man in a
population of millions is easy--compared to finding one gang hiding out
on one of billions of probability lines!"
• At LibriVox: Astounding Stories 01, January 1930 "In
January of 1930 a new magazine with a flashy color cover appeared on
newsstands, Astounding Stories of Super-Science. Filled with stories of
adventure, sometimes with only a tinge of science, this magazine was to
host and nurture many science fiction giants like Murray Leinster and
Ray Cummings and would help inspire many of the writers of the 'Golden
Age of Science Fiction.'"
• At 19 Nocturne Boulevard: "Scream Queen" Horror. "Tiffany Romaine, an aging star of direct to video horror, finds things to not be what they seem at the horror convention 'Schlock-O-Con!'"
• At PodCastle: "Oracle Gretel" by Julia Rios. Fantasy. "Gretel was in love with her boss. Ms. L. Thorne spoke in short, clipped sentences, and when she smiled, which was rare, it looked like the curved edge of a wicked blade."
• At StarShipSofa: "Mitigation" by Tobias Buckell & Karl Schroeder. Science Fiction. No Description
More great freebies- enjoy the weekend! May or may not post tomorrow.
Fiction
• At Baen: "To Spec" by Charles E. Gannon. Science Fiction. "Mendez, the newest guy in the squad, had been jumpy ever since the worsening solar weather updates started coming in. The most recent message—that Priestley’s replacement wouldn’t show up for at least another three hours—just made him more anxious. As Eureka command post signed off, Grim saw Mendez hold his new rifle—a flimsy piece of experimental junk called the Cochrane XM 1—a bit too tightly."
• At Buzzy Mag: "The Clean War" by Shelly Li and Ken Liu.
"I’m not a soldier. I’m just a woman who programs computers. I don’t know what I’m doing. This was a mistake!"
• At Daily Science Fiction: "Spirit Gum" by Mike Resnick & Jordan Ellinger. "Before he was The Great Bellini he was just plain old Malcolm Bell. He had a knack for magic tricks--illusions, he called them--and what had been a hobby became a profession."
• At Silver Blade: "The Guild of Swordsmen: Part 8" by Kristin Janz. Fantasy. "Lida suspected that her fourth match was not going to be won as easily
as her first three. She had the bad luck to have been paired against
the big man she had hidden behind out on the plaza, the tallest and
heaviest swordsman in the entire competition."
Flash Fiction
At Every Day Fiction: "Abasteron House" by Paula Cappa. Horror.
At 365 Tomorrows: "Relativity" by Patricia Stewart. Science Fiction.
C-Shapes by Matthew Fish. 71 k words.Science Fiction.
Audio Fiction
• At Beware the Hairy Mango: "The Piñata Club" by Matthew Sanborn Smith. Weird. No Description
• At Desert Gems Audio: "Porter of Baghdad Part I" from Sir Richard Burton's 1001 Arabian Nights.Adventure. Fantasy. "a handsome young porter who is
accosted by a beautiful young lady who needs his services at the market
while shopping. As he is invited into her home,
he haplessly stumbles into an drunken bacchanal at the house of her two
sisters, on the condition he asks no questions of any goings on in the
house."
• At Clarkesworld: "The Last Survivor of the Great Sexbot Revolution" by A.C. Wise. "She’s not what you expected, Alma May Anderson, the last survivor of the
Great Sexbot Revolution. For one thing, her eyes are bluer. She must be
a hundred if she’s a day, but her eyes are the blue of puddle-broken
neon, and a postcard ocean, and the sky at noon."
• At Journey Into: "Fire Watch" by Connie Willis. Science Fiction.
"Young Bartholomew is a graduate student in history from a future
Oxford who is assigned to travel back in time to join and study the
famous Fire Watch Brigade-the volunteer corps whose brave members kept
St. Paulâs Cathedral from being burned to the ground by Nazi
incendiaries."
• At LibriVox:The Jewels of Aptor by Samuel R. Delany. Science Fiction. " Set several centuries after the Great Fire -- a nuclear holocaust -- a young woman seeks her destiny with the help of a four-armed youth."
• At PodCastle: "Throwing Stones" by Mishell Baker. Fantasy.
"In the city of Jiun-Shi the third shift was known as the goblin
watch, but some of us were not very watchful. I, for one, was so
absorbed in the daily details
of living a lie that it took me three months to learn that one of the
regulars at the Silver Fish Teahouse was a goblin. By the time our paths
collided three years later, I had been promoted to third-shift manager,
and my lie had been promoted to widely established fact."
• At Pseudopod: "Entrance And Exit / The Terror Of The Twins" by Algernon Blackwood. Horror. "“Entrance And Exit” was originally published February 13, 1909 in The Westminster Gazette and republished in TEN MINUTE STORIES in 1914. “The Terror Of The Twins” was originally published November 6, 1909 in the same newspaper and republished in 1910 in THE LOST VALLEY AND OTHER STORIES."
• At Tales to Terrify: "Episode #62" Horror. “Cemetery Water” by Frances Snowder and “Ghost in the Graveyard” by Tim Waggoner.
A lot of cool free flash fiction and comics this morning as well as a couple each, great fiction and and audio fiction stories. More later today or tomorrow morning. Today's QD Radio is Murray Leinster's "A Logic Named Joe" adapted on Dimension X.
[Art from "Space Pirates of Lanthus IV" linked below in the comics section]
Fiction
• At Night Shade Books: "On the Arrival of the Paddle-Steamer on the Docks of V" by Peter M. Ball. "Our tiny hotel room is boiling, even now, but heat doesn’t bother
Patrick and he sleeps, shirtless, with the thin sheet coiled round him
like a loving serpent. It’s a trick for him, nodding off. He cultivates a
talent for sleep, adores the act of dozing off like it’s a second
lover. He says it keeps him young, and perhaps it does, for people are
always surprised to learn Patrick’s real age."
• At Project Gutenberg: "A Witch Shall Be Born" by Robert E. Howard. Fantasy. 1934. "'Who am I?' There was the spite of a she-cobra's hiss in the soft
response. The girl stepped to the edge of the couch, grasped the queen's
white shoulders with fierce fingers, and bent to glare full into the
startled eyes of Taramis. And under the spell of that hypnotic glare,
the queen forgot to resent the unprecedented outrage of violent hands
laid on regal flesh."
Flash Fiction
At Daily Science Fiction: "Coin Op" by David Steffen.
At 365 Tomorrows: "Judgement Day" by Clint Wilson. Science Fiction.
Audio Fiction
• At Beware the Hairy Mango: "The Slow and the Furious" by Matthew Sanborn Smith. Weird. No description Found
• At PodCastle: "My Dignity in Scars" by Cory Skerry. Fantasy.
"This time, I am at Ukaya’s house, trimming the hooves of her goats,
because her joints are too swollen and stiff to wield a knife. The
morning sun prickles my back and rough goat hair prickles my belly as I whittle off thin curls of hoof."
A bit late due to time and technical issues, but here are some fantastic freebies. More later, time permitting.
[art from Murray Leinster's Forgotten Planet, linked below]
Fiction
• At Baen: "Away in a Manger" by Wen Spencer.
"It was so cold in the tower when Jack woke, his breath turned to smoke
as he breathed out. From the windows of the overlook, dawn's pale light
revealed no telling glitter of frost on the asphalt below. Nor was there
any on the patches of green among the tall buildings that they'd deemed
pasture and hay field. The wind carried the scent of autumn leaves but
nothing of grass sheared by the cold."
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• At Black Gate: "The Renunciation of the Crimes of Gharad the Undying" by Alex Kreis. Fantasy. "To the noble citizens of the People’s Republic of Falland, and to the
General Directorate that serves them: I, Gharad Arvelaird, called the
Undying, humbly apologize for my crimes against the People and against nature during my illegitimate reign as the Supreme Archon of Falland."
• At Electric Velocipede: "North" by Kristy Truax-Nichols. "“Do you ever think about flying?” Julie asks him. She’s got her toes
tucked up under Chris’s leg, and he shifts and tries to ignore them."
• At L5R: "Scions of the Colonies, Part 2" by Shawn Carman. Fantasy. "Far from Rokugan, the samurai of the Great Clans conspire against one
another in ever-tightening circles, and the threat of simmering
hostility bursting into the flames of war grows more present with each passing day."
• At Project Gutenberg: The Forgotten Planet by Murray Leinster. Science Fiction. 1954. "Beneath dense gray clouds through which no sun shone lay a forgotten
planet. It was a nightmare world of grotesque and terrifying
animal-plant life. Gigantic beetles, spiders, bugs and ants filled the
putrid, musty earth—ready to kill and devour anything in sight."
• At Tor.com: "Intestate" by Charlie Jane Anders. SF. "My father may no longer be human. But we're still family. Kind of."
• At The WiFiles: "Blind Curve" by R. Christophe Ryber. Speculative Fiction. "“No, Matthew, it’s just a snowplow.” She bit her lip and held her breath
until the snowplow’s flashing amber lights vanished into the darkness.
“Just a snowplow,” she whispered to herself." Flash Fiction
At Enchanted Conversations: "How Beautiful She Is" by Mary Meriam. Fairy Tale Poem.
At 365 Tomorrows: "Grampa’s Stories" by Desmond Hussey. Science Fiction.
At 365 Tomorrows: "Seven Days" by Gene Davis. Science Fiction.
Audio Fiction
• At Author's Site: "The MVP Episode #10" by Scott Sigler. Science Fiction. Football. "Quentin savors the first day of practice as he and the Krakens finally get down to the business of football. John Tweedy has an agenda all his own, and Quentin will have to cope."
• At Beam Me Up: "Land of Fire & Ashes" by Colin P. Davies.Science Fiction. No description
• At The Fantastic World of Edgar Rice Burroughs: Episode 11 - The Return of Tarzan. Adventure. "Tarzan and the daughter of Kador Ben Saden have been stranded in the mountains of Algeria by the machinations of Lieut. Gernois and Nicholas Rokoff. It is night and they have come face to face with Numa, El Adrea – the huge black Algerian lion – “the lord with the large head”. Numa springs!"
Audio at Tales of Old: "Hoplite" by Leslien Lupien. Historical. Ancient Greece.
Flash Fiction at Every Day Fiction: "Space Cadet" by Wayne Scheer. Humor.
Audio at PRI: Selected Shorts: "Things Are Not What They Seem" “A Priest in the Family” by Colm Toibin, "Dusk" by James Salter, and "The Bureau" by J. Robert Lennon.
@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."
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."
"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
Some good audio-fiction to start things out - more items will be added later.
@Beam Me Up: Episode #281 "Am I still Here?" by James R. Hall and the conclusion to The Dark InSpectre by Jason Kahn.
" Here, in a tale set into the near future where any and everything can be repaired or replaced in a human body, the question is asked…when do you stop being you and become something or someone else that just thinks it is you?"
@Beware the Hairy Mango: Episode 87 - "Second Puberty" by Matthew Sanborn Smith. @Drama Pod: "The Blue Tower" by Evelyn Smith. Science Fiction.
"Humanity has a new government which is ruled by a seemingly benevolent race of aliens....or are they?"
@Escape Pod: "Night Bird Soaring" by T. L. Morganfield, read by Mat Weller. Science Fiction.
"On his sixth birthday, Totyoalli’s parents took him to the holy city to see the Emperor Cuauhtemoc, but the plane ride proved the most exciting part. He kept his nose to the window, taking in the vast lands of the One World, from the snow-capped mountains of his home in the northern provinces to the open plains of Teotihuacan"
@Misfits Audio: "Jerry Lee" by Colin Thornton, performed by a full cast.
"Before a musician sells his soul for eternal fame he wants proof that the Devil will deliver."
"It's a must-win game against the toughest-possible opponent, the defending GFL champion Jupiter Jacks. Quentin & Co. travel to the Sol System for a pitched gridiron battle in the Jupiter Net Colony."
"A mysterious mishap in a moblie home park alarms certain residents in the small town of Deilsburgh Pennsylvania who fear that supernatural forces are to blame. The town's newly elected sheriff doubts her ability to step into the job and wonders why her father is opposed to her taking the position."
A few gems for the morning with about a 70% chance of more later. There's a new story, including an audio version, at Fantasy Magazine,and a few more cool fantasy and SF stories from other great sites. New audio at 19 Nocturne Boulevard and from the always cool and strange Matthew Sanborn Smith. And serial audio at Beam Me Up, from Scott Sigler, and a new serial dramatization "Beneath The Ruined Tower Of Zenopus!"
Today's illustration is from the D&D inspired audio drama "Beneath The Ruined Tower Of Zenopus!"
@Fantasy Magazine: "Crossroads" by Laura Anne Gilman.
"John came to the crossroads at just shy of noon, where a man dressed all in black stared up at another man hanging from a gallows-tree. No, not hanging; he was being hung."
@Beware the Hairy Mango: "Episode 84 – Easy as Cake" by Matthew Sanborn Smith.
@Fantasy Magazine: "Crossroads" by Laura Anne Gilman, read by Stefan Rudnicki.
@19 Nocturne Boulevard: "The Thing on the Doorstep" adapted by Julie Hoverson from the story by H.P. Lovecraft. Horror.
Just some more great free fiction, audio fiction, and flash fiction.
Today's illustration is for the latest issue Theaker's Quarterly Fiction, which is linked below.
@Ray Gun Revival: "Godot Isn’t Coming" by Eric Del Carlo. Science Fiction.
"'Not a ship,' I pointed out, as we slogged on through damp, infested purple fronds. 'A bugboat. Godot is alive.'"
@Daily Science Fiction: "Filling up the Void" by Richard E. Gropp. "Caution Contains Mature and Potentially Disturbing Content."
"There were other genemods at my coming out party--a girl with blue skin and tentacles, an eight-foot-tall man with rippling muscles and violet eyes, a pristine-faced girl with angelic wings--but I got most of the attention."
“Apoidroids” by Douglas Thompson. “Make It Sacred” by Mike Sweeney. “The Last Testament” by Rafe McGregor. “Curios” by Ben Kendall-Carpenter. “The Model of a Boy” by Alex Smith. “Harrowing of the Barrow” by Skadi meic Beorh. “Devilry at the Hanging Tree Inn” by David Tallerman. “The Watchman” by Chris Roper.
Now Posted: Black Petals #56. Horror. SF. Weird. Featuring:
"Boxes" by Paul Strickland. "Catching Up with an Old Friend" by Paul Newman. "Harlot"by Gary Every. "Hopi Deer" by Gary Every. "A Walk in the Snow" by Paul Strickland & A. M. Stickel. "No Free Lunch" by Paul Strickland. "The Claeaner and the Collector" by Mike Mulvihill. "The End-Fiction" by Sally Angel. "The Shape" by Mike Aronovitz. "Time Share" by Cindy Rosmus. "Beyond the Falls & Blackrobe" by A. M. Stickel, "City Lights (Plus)-Six Poems" by Michael Mulvihill.
"Travelers still cross over in a one-to-one ratio with bioneered neuro-controllers that ease the transition from devouring and into contamination and reconstitution. Walking ghosts. Zombies."
"Ariadne shook her head, white paint chips spraying from her hair. Instinctively, she reached to the guitar case that should have been on her back, only to feel her splayed fingers grasp air. Of course, she had left her sword back at the sanctuary. It had seemed so easy at the time, like discarding clothes that no longer fit. Now, she felt as if she were missing a limb."
@Escape Pod: "Stone Wall Truth" by Caroline Yoachim, read by Heather Welliver. Science Fiction.
"Njeri sewed the woman together with hairs from a zebra tail. Her deer-bone needle dipped under the woman’s skin and bobbed back out. The contrast of the white seams against her dark skin was striking."
@Pseudopod: "The Talisman" by Heather McDougal, read by Heather Welliver. Horror.
"They were no longer yelling, or even talking, but moved down the hill with a curiously desperate stride, their arms flung up as they slipped and slid in the leaves, their anoraks glaring harshly in the monochrome of the forest. There were people behind them, large shapes in odd colors, moving more carefully but just as swiftly."
@Lovecraft eZine: "Allure" by Josh Wagner. Horror.
"When the creature washed up on our shore, I was among the first witnesses."
@Beware the Hairy Mango: "Jimmy Holds the Line" by Matthew Sanborn Smith. Weird. Serial Audio @Classic Tales Podcast: "The Mark of Zorro (part 2 of 9)" by Johnston McCulley, read by B.J. Harrison. Adventure.
"Don Diego Vega seeks a wife in the spirited Senorita Lolita Pulido. But the senorita is not to be won simply by the promise of wealth and position. Perhaps Senor Zorro will have better success"
@Daily Science Fiction: "Blink" by Carol Hassler. @Daily Science Fiction: "Off the Shelf" by Gaea Dill-D'Ascoli. @Eschatology: "Unsinkable Love Boat of Love" by Colleen Chen. Horror. @Every Day Fiction: "For Better or Worse" by Carla Sarett. Science Fiction. @Flashes in the Dark: "Frat Boys and Vampires" by Henry Gribbin. Horror. @Flashes in the Dark: "Shutter Oyster" by Catherine Batac Walder. Horror. @Flashes in the Dark: "It's in the Stars" by Lori Titus. Horror. @Mindflights: [poem] "My Unicorn" by Martin Elster. Fantasy. @365 tomorrows: "Cut Short" by Michael F. da Silva. Science Fiction. @365 tomorrows: "Cryo Me a River" by Ossian Ritchie. Science Fiction. @365 tomorrows: "Atmosphere" by Charlotte Lenox. Science Fiction. @Weirdyear: "Airfare" by T F Rhoden. @Yesteryear Fiction: "The Eight Thousand And Third Day" by Madeline Dyer. Fantasy.
Wow, lazy space captain prepared a full post today? Must be some sort of plot. There are several good free fiction stories (Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror) including some flash fiction for those in a hurry. Audio fiction including Beam Me Up, Pseudopod, and Star Trek fan audio. Videos, cool comics, and more. And Lt. Bob presents his streaming Mooooovviiiiiieeee!!!
Tarzan and His Mate (1934)
"When Holt and Arlington show Jane some of the modern clothes and perfumes they brought from civilization, she is impressed but not enough to return. Tarzan wrestles every wild animal imaginable to protect Jane but when he disallows the expedition from plundering ivory from the elephant burial grounds, it is he who takes a bullet from Arlington's gun."
E-Zines Issue #1 of Oniresmes"a bilingual webzine (English - French), dedicated to publishing short fiction and poetry that belong in the fields of speculative and fantastic literature (Fantasy, Science fiction, and all kinds of interstitial experiments)." is online (and available in epub and mobi downloads). Oddly requires a free membership to read/download. Featuring fiction: "The Prophet's Daughters" by Michael J. DeLuca."Herophile, Prophet of Sybaris, stopped breathing. There was no noise, no cough, no rattle. Her breath had been so soft its absence hardly made a difference.""
A Map of the World on the Shell of a Snail" by Lavie Tidhar."The map came to me from my uncle, the Great Ormond (they named the children’s hospital after him)."
and "She in Ashes" by Claude Mamier "At the time there was nothing but darkness and warmth. It felt soft, and moist, the clamor of the outside world could not reach her shelter, and so did not exist."
Cafe Irreal #38 "a quarterly webzine that presents a kind of fantastic fiction infrequently published in English." [Magic Realism] is online with Qualia by Andrew S. Taylor. "The river has produced a number of extraordinary outcomes. When flowing under the bridge at night, it transforms the objects that float upon its surface." A Woman On the Bus by Bob Thurber. "The next time he saw her she was no longer pregnant, which he thought rather odd." Hellby Remy de Gourmont "Now he distilled the filthy sulfurs in the reddening vessel, stirred the pitch in the devil’s cauldron, cooked the tar sauce, measured the doses of boiling oil, dipped the Beloved’s blond hair and Lovers’ beards in resin, for their anniversaries of enchantment." House of the Letter L by Owen Kaelin. "The house of L is a tricky one, so tricky that at first we lose the butler, and then our shoes." Glass Animals by Stephen V. Ramey. "As best Malcolm could read, the sign had said “No Glass Animals in Pool.” The sign lied." City by Maggie Mountford. "Morag paid for the city in cash. She didn’t want any record. She bought the whole package: streets, boulevards, alleys, monuments, administrative offices, shopping malls, houses, statues, and people." E-Fiction @Amazon: Dead Girl Walking by Linda Joy Singleton (Kindle Only) [via SF Signal] "Seventeen-year-old Amber Borden has a lousy sense of direction—so lousy that she takes a wrong turn when returning from her near-death experience. She ends up in the body of the most popular girl in school, who has just tried to commit suicide."
@Small Beer Press: "Girl in a Whirl" by Joan Aiken. [via SF Signal] "Her name was Daisy and she was a smasher, the crispest colleen in Killyclancy. Only, as misfortune would have it, old Mr Mulloon said she was unlucky"
@Suvudu: "Music Makers" by Kate Wilhelm (PDF). [via SF Signal] "In this case, the protagonist is not one of those music makers to whom the title refers, but the music works its magic on him none the less."
Classic Fantasy @Book View Cafe: "Dealing in Futures" by Judith Tarr, from WitchFantastic, ed. Mike Resnick and Martin H. Greenberg (DAW 1995). “Pigs,” says Circe, who crashed the meeting on a technicality. “Pork futures. Swine plague in—was it Gondwanaland?”
@Pendant Production: Free fan audio and original audio fiction downloads (all in glorious MP3).
@Beam Me Up: Episode #260 part two (the conclusion) of "The Heretic’s Son" by Fox Dunham. "The ship is an ancient generation ship and it is wearing out. The prophet needs to come soon to guide the people to nu ome. Cody is sick and near death and nothing seems to make sense."
@Giant Gnome Productions: fan audio Star Trek Outpost Episode 24 "Drawing" "With a great many things hanging in the balance, the denizens of DS3 learn that of all the things that can be hidden, the truth is the most difficult of all."
@Beware the Hairy Mango: all by Matthew Sanborn Smith [via SF Signal]
@Cthulhu: "The Mask of Romek" by T.C. McQueen part two (the conclusion). "I started with the basement, the outlines in blood and chalk a mute testament to recent history. Other than the crime scene it was neat to an obsessive compulsive level, just like his office."
"What Makes You Tick?" by David Steffan, read by W. Ralph Walters.
"Pageant Girls" by Caroline Yoachim, read by Mur Lafferty.
@Eschatology: "The Girl With Two Heads" by Richard Beland. @Weirdyear: "Notch and Cages" by Lyla Abi-Saab. @365 tomorrows: "Plaque" by Marlan Smith. @Flashes in the Dark: "Hope Bites" by E. Cheshire. @Flash Fiction Friday:
@YouTube: Mortal Kombat: Legacy is now up to episode 4 "Mortal Kombat: Legacy brings to life the complex and rich history of the gaming world of MORTAL KOMBAT. Shao Kahn and Shang Tsung are obsessed with reigning over various realms (parallel universes) and the winners of Mortal Kombat competitions are granted supreme control over these worlds."
@the Internet Archive: The Revenge Of Dr. X[1970] aka Venus Flytrap or The Revenge Of Doctor X. "A NASA scientist vacations in japan where he uses thunder and lightning to turn carnivorous plants into man-eating creatures...misleading title there's no revenge and he's not doctor x.. based on the Frankenstein story"
Fan Film: @Star Trek: Phase II "Enemy: Starfleet" "Attacked while exploring a new sector of space, Captain James T. Kirk and his crew find themselves thrust in the middle of a war. The USS Eagle, lost eight years before, is now in the clutches of a woman who bends starships and their captains to her will and has been reverse engineered into a fleet that is bent on domination and genocide. The Enterprise may be the only ship able to stop the Peshan homeworld from falling to Alersa and her enemy starfleet." This is the series that has had George Takei and Walter Koenig guest star in separate episodes. This issue guest Barbara Luna from the TOS episode "Mirror, Mirror"
@DriveThruComics and Renderwrx Productions: Renderwrx Magazine #1. "It's a free 40 page online magazine with commentary about varied aspects of the comic book industry. Plus it contains exclusive previews of upcoming comics, art and writing contests, interviews with comic book creators and lots more."
@The Horrors of It All: "The Stone Man!" and "Tower of Death!" classic monster and horror comics from Venus #17 (1951).
@Pappy's Golden Age Comics Blogzine: "Beowolf the Mighty" The Beowulf story re-imagined with Grendal being a T-Rex.
@Digital Comics Museum: Spotlight Comics #1, an anthology with stories of many genres, including a very cheesy skiffy story staring "Barry Kuda" and Merma, queen of the sunken city. CBR.
@The Comic Reading Library: The Invades #1 (1967). Based on the TV Series. Online.
@Atomic Kommie Comics: "The Hammer of Thor" (1959). Not the marvel superhero.
Other Coolness @My Star Trek Scrapbook: "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home" article scanned from Home Video Guide (Oct. 1987).
