Innsmoth Free Press, Pathfinder Tales, Star Pirates, and More

There's some terrifyingly good Lovecraft inspired fiction today as the seventh issue of Innsmoth Free Press is out. And there's plenty more good free fiction (classic, new, and serial) linked below.

And there are some good free audio fiction and comic book stories.


Today's illustration is from "The Ironroot Deception" in the serial fiction section.











Issue #7 of Innsmoth Free Press is posted featuring:

"Cool Mist" by W.H. Pugmire.

"Night seeped into the early evening sky and made it black. I remember wandering that realm of ink in search of perfect solitude, hunting for one uninhabited place where I could sit undisturbed and weep for the soul of my young lover, dead by his own hand. "

"A Tour of the Catacombs" by Stephen Woodworth.

"And I hope there shall be no stragglers among you. As we say in the Abbey, only two sorts enter the Catacombs: the quick and the dead."

"On The Generation of Insects" by Byron Alexander Campbell.

"Democritus bears witness that men first appeared in the form of small worms, which little by little assumed human shape…After a long period of fertility, during which many monstrous and marvelous generations were brought forth, the Earth Mother became at last exhausted and sterile…."

"Nyarlathotep" Don Webb.

"I stood on the high balcony, looking eastward to the rising sun. The pillars were deep-red and the roof slightly curved, suggesting “China ” to me. But it was not China – at least, not the China of now. "

"Black Sand" by Regina Glei.

"Despite his many layers of clothing, Orin almost froze to death and cursed the Elders who had sent him on the journey through the plain to the Cone Islands in the Lake of Stone."

"Every Little Sparrow" by Melissa Sorensten.

"Phebe had overheard one of the nurses saying that Ruth White, Phebe’s 12-year-old best friend, would be the next to be lowered into such a lead-lined pit."

@Tor.com: "Six Months, Three Days" by Charlie Jane Anders .

"The man who can see the future has a date with the woman who can see many possible futures."

Classic Fiction
@Munseys and Project Gutenberg: "Fly by Night" by Arthur Dekker Savage, from IF Worlds of Science Fiction (May 1954).

A young man and a young woman alone on the first over-the-moon ship. The world cheered them as the most romantic adventurers in all history. Do-gooders decried them as immoral stunters. Gaunt, serious militarists pronounced them part of the most crucial experiment ever undertaken....

@Munseys and Project Gutenberg: "Mr. President" by Stephen Arr, from Galaxy Science Fiction (Nov. 1953).

He had been overwhelmingly elected. Messages of sympathy poured in, but they couldn't help ... nothing could.

@Munseys and Project Gutenberg: "Death of a B.E.M." by Berkeley Livingston, from Amazing Stories (Oct. 1948).

The writer hated to create bug-eyed monsters, but they hated him too!

@Munseys and Project Gutenberg: "Forsyte's Retreat" by Winston Marks, from IF Worlds of Science Fiction (May 1954).

Sextus Rollo Forsyte had his trouble with the bottle, but nothing out of a bottle ever produced such a hotel as the Mahoney-Plaza: only 260 rooms ... only two guests to a room ... but accommodating 5200 guests—all at the same time!... Floor please?

@Munseys and Project Gutenberg: "Uniform of a Man" by Dave Dryfoos, from IF Worlds of Science Fiction (May 1954).

After rescue, revenge was uppermost in Chet Barfield's mind; the hideous, bestial Agvars had to be taught a lesson they'd never forget. His rescuers seemed to disagree, however—until Chet learned his lesson too!

@The Internet archive: "The Blonde from Barsoom" by Robert F. Young, from Amazing Stories (July 1962). [via Marooned - Science Fiction & Fantasy books on Mars]

"The Tarks were attacking, the bosomy princess was clinging to him in terror, and Harold smith realized he was at the end of his plot line. What a dilemma! And what an opportunity!!"

@The Internet archive: Amazing Stories Volume 01 Number 01 (April 1926). [Via Triplanetary]

"Scanned copy of a pulp magazine published by Experimenter Publishing Co. and edited by Hugo Gernsback."

Serial Fiction
@Pathfinder Tales: "The Ironroot Deception - Chapter Two: The Hole" by Robin D. Laws.

"On massive, clawed legs, the forest-beast bounds toward the elves and their captives. Its beady eyes, shielded by rootlike extrusions, seem to lock onto Gad. It stops to snort and paw the ground."

Reviewed Free Fiction
@BestScienceFictionStories.com: "Spider The Artist" by Nnedi Okorafor.

"A Nigerian woman escapes from her abusive husband to the quiet land behind her house where she plays her guitar and finds a bit of peace and solitude. However, this is dangerous because she is so near the fuel pipeline that is guarded by Zombies"

Serial Audio
@The Drama Pod: "Journey to the Centre of the Earth: Part Thirteen" by Jules Verne.

"The story involves a German professor who believes there are volcanic tubes going toward the center of the Earth. He, his nephew Axel, and their guide Hans encounter many adventures, including prehistoric animals and natural hazards." - Wikipedia.

Classic Serial Audio
@Triplanetary: The adventures of Superman "Looking For Kryptonite" Parts 1-5."

"In this story arc Superman once more teams up with Batman and Robin to hunt down the remaining pieces of kryptonite."

Fan Audio
@Pendant Audio: "Star Trek: Defiant -Episode 57 - Wednesday Night Regatta"

"Darcy races to unravel a mystery as Task Force Defiant joins the games!"

@Digital Comics Museum: "Star Pirate Archive Pt.1" Sci-Fi from Planet Comics 12-39.




@The Bloody Pulp: " "Torture Garden" & "The Living Dead" B&W. Horror.
@The Horrors of It All: "Vampires Two" 1954. Horror.
@Atomic Kommie Comics: "Barbarella 3.1" Sci-Fi.

Seven Kick-Butt Free E-Zines and Much More

An overwhelming amount of free goodness today! Three great free fiction magazines (Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Clarkesworld, and Redstone Science Fiction) have new issues out today. And a couple more good free stories are up. There is an interesting variety of audio fiction today to check out. Four (Really!) free gaming magazines are available for PDF downloads. And if all that isn't enough, there are more gaming itemes, and several free comic book stories - heavy on adventure today.








Clarkesworld Magazine has its June issue out with

"Semiramis" by Genevieve Valentine.

"Ever since Svalbard had been put under review, it had been hell and a half trying to figure out how to recruit a domestic cover who could carry seeds off the island."

"Trickster" by Mari Ness.

"The god came to me on a night when both moons were dark, allowing us to see the stars. Not that I could, hidden as I was behind mats and screens and hangings, but I knew the stars were there, one of the rare nights we could be sure of this."

The audio version of "Semiramis" by Genevieve Valentine, read by Kate Baker is HERE.


@Redstone Science Fiction: The June 2011 issue is out with fiction:

"An Infallible System of Roulette"by Christopher Miller.

"The first time I died might’ve been back in ‘65 on a community farm up in Forest River, North Dakota. Although there was an earlier summer where I’d tiptoed out to a Lee Street beach sandbar and gotten stranded by Lake Michigan’s tide, or maybe wind swells"

"Love and Anarchy and Science Fiction" by Angela Ambroz.

"Of course, he has changed since prison. His hair is whiter. His jowls droop; he’s filled out. But I don’t see a big difference. And I’ve known him for years; I’ve known him longer than anyone else in the empire has."

@Beneath Ceaseless Skies: "From the Spices of Sanandira, Pt. I" by Bradley P. Beaulieu.

"Uhammad ben Yazr woke with someone nudging his shoulder. By the pale light of the moon through the open window of his dhoba he could see his friend of twenty years, Jalaad, holding a finger to his lips."

"The Nine-Tailed Cat" by Michael J. DeLuca.

"I arrive at the door of my house in the dark with lamp and spade, jungle mud caked past my ankles, thickets of scratches streaking my limbs. I set the lamp on the step, sling the sack of stinking goat’s meat off my shoulder, and reach for the knob. "

@Dark Valentine: "Fine Fire" by Richard Godwin.

"She was always there. In the corner of the bar with her cigarette burning in her hand, her long and slender holder tapering at the enhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifd and oozing smoke like dry ice."

Serial
@Pathfinder Tales: "The Ironroot Deception" by Robin D. Laws. Chapter One: The Snare.

"Gad feels the roughness of the burr-oak's bark as its branch constricts tighter around his ankles. Though he is upside down, blood rushing to his head, his face retains its symmetry. A roguish skiff of stubble softens his jutting jaw. Gray-peppered hair clings closely to his scalp. Blue eyes sear out at his elven captor."

@LightningBolt Theater of the Mind: "The Swamp" [via Radio Drama Revival]. Horror.

"When Rachel sleeps, the swamp awaits her. Every night, the dreams of something pursuing her through the twilight-lit marshland, come. Her real life isn’t much better."

@PodCastle: PodCastle Special: The Alphabet Quartet (A Primer) by Tim Pratt, Jenn Reese, Heather Shaw, and Greg van Eekhout. Fantasy.

“D is for De Gustibus,” read by Norm Sherman (of The Drabblecast).

“F is for Flotsam,” read by Dave Thompson.

“L is for Luminous,” read by Rish Outfield (of The Dunesteef Audio Fiction Magazine)

“N is for Nevermore Nevermore Land,”

@Pseudopod: Pseudopod Special: The Alphabet Quartet (A Primer) by Tim Pratt, Jenn Reese, Heather Shaw, and Greg van Eekhout. Horror.

“Q is for Quit,” read by Graeme Dunlop.

“F is for Flotsam,” read by Dave Thompson of PodCastle.

@Lovecraft eZine: "Fungi from Yuggoth" by H. P. Lovecraft. Horror.

"Fungi from Yuggoth is a sequence of 36 sonnets by cosmic horror writer H. P. Lovecraft. Most of the sonnets were written between 27 December 1929 – 4 January 1930; thereafter individual sonnets appeared in Weird Tales and other genre magazines. "

@ScottSigler.com: Tuesday Terror: "Lefty and the Boxcar" Part 2 of 2 by Steven Gomez, read by Arioch Morningstar. Horror.

@Kung Fu Action Theater: KFATales 05- "Gen San-Mi Yorimasa- The Knight" by Yei Theodora Ozaki, read by Richard Bartok III. Adventure.

A "look instead at one of the legendary Samurai from Japanese history- Gen San-Mi Yorimasa. This story is from the collection Warriors of Old Japan and Other Tales by Yei Theodora Ozaki, which was published in the early 20th century"

@Beneath Ceaseless Skies: "Cold Iron and Green Vines" by Wendy N. Wagner. Fantasy.

"Most people didn't bother replacing teeth; they all went wicker-and-cogwork as young as they could."

@Beware the Hairy Mango: Episode 79 – "A Question of Benefits" by Matthew Sanborn Smith. Weird.








@DriveThruRPG: Rite Publishing's Pathways #4

"Rite Publishing continues its free e-zine with templates, new monsters, domains, feats, encounters, and reviews all bundled together with a Greg A. Vaughn (Pathfinder Chronicles: Into the Darklands and Slumbering Tsar) interview about Tome of Horrors Complete!"




@DriveThruRPG: Infinite Horizons #2.

"The second issue of Avalon Game's great Sci-Fi e-zine, Infinite Horizons will bring to you all the great Sci-Fi stuff you have been wanting, and more."





@DriveThruRPG: Game Geek #18.

This free 55 page PDF contains free gaming articles, reviews, serial fiction, comics and more.






@Mongoose Publishing: Signs & Portents #93 featuring
Traveller - "the fully updated classic adventure Annic Nova. Your players will discover a strange ship floating in deep space."
Lone Wolf - "We are talking Giak this month - who need Klingon?"
RuneQuest II - "A brand new cult to insert into your campaign"
RuneQuest II Vikings - "A complete adventure for north men with horned helmets."

And other articles in the free PDF download.


Other Cool Gaming Items

• @A Field Guide to Doomsday: [monsters] "RANAbot" and "Apocra" Mutant Future.
• @Sea of Stars: [magic item] "Dress of Assignations"
• @A Character For Every Game: [maps] "Random Dungeon Entrances I (d8)"
• @Ancient Vaults & Eldritch Secrets: [monster] "Hornet, Limbo"
• @Ancient Vaults & Eldritch Secrets: [spell] "Frogtrap"

@The Horrors of It All: "Miser in the Coffin" Horror (1953).
@The Comic Book Catacombs: Kara the Jungle Princess in "Shrine of the Moon God" Adventure. 1945.
@The Comics Reading Library: Adventures Into the Unknown #120. SF/Adventure.
@Digital Comics Museum: Sheena and the Hawk in Jumbo Comics #27. Adventure and Tiger Girl in Fight Comics #34, #44, and #45. Adventure.
@Ditko Comics: "You Can Make Me Fly" (1957). Science Fiction.
@Four-Color Shadows: an untitled "Stuart Taylor in Weird Tales of the Supernatural" story. SF.
@Atomic Kommie Comics: Space Western "Hank Roper and the Riddle of Skull Valley"
@Hero (& Heroine) Histories: Cave Girl "Ape God of Kor" Adventure.

Fantasy and Dark Fiction and Audio, and Classic SF - All Free

Some great free fantasy and dark fiction today as three of the premiere sites (Tor, ChiZine, and Beneath Ceaseless Skies) have new stuff. Classic SF, Flash Fiction and Poetry, and some cool audio (fantasy, dark, and wuxia). And now cool Comics.

Illustration for "Shannon’s Law" by Cory Doctorow, also added since the partial posting earlier.








@Tor.com: "The Iron Shirts" by Michael F. Flynn.
"To the battles of 13th-century Ireland come new warriors...from across the Western Sea."



Also at Tor.com: "Shannon’s Law" by Cory Doctorow.
"When the Way opened again, the day I turned seventeen, I didn’t hesitate. I packed everything I could carry—every scratched phone, every half-assembled laptop, every stick of memory, and every Game Boy I could fit in a duffel bag."


@Beneath Ceaseless Skies: Issue #68 featuring fantasy fiction:
"The Finest Spectacle Anywhere" by Genevieve Valentine.
"I could hardly keep from laughing at the rubes that panicked and then applauded three times as loud as they would have if it had all been perfect. Elena and the others had Boss's copper bones—what could happen to them that couldn't be mended?"

and "Buzzard's Final Bow" by Jason S. Ridler.
"They ran through the tumbles and bumps, grips and leaps, Buzzard tossing and turning with Razor as she barely noticed, thrashing about to make it look real."

@ChiZine.com: The Chiaroscuro: Volume 47, Week 5 featuring Dark fiction.
"Dogs Want to Eat You" by Ralph Robert Moore.
"Upstairs, in the bedroom, flat on his back, paralyzed, James heard, from below, his wife’s moans, her final scream."

"Fortune" by Shira Lipkin.
"A man, shuffling and reshuffling a deck of oversized cards . . . one leg extended, one folded, a mirror of Vegas Vic above him. He was talking to himself—no, singing, with the buzz and hiss of neon drowning him out almost completely."

"The Performer" by Philip Nutman.
"None of this came as a surprise: he had suggesting remaking Cammell & Roeg’s PERFORMANCE as a joke just to piss off the suits at Warners, who’d paid him $3 million for a two picture deal after his remake of Disney’s 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA had grossed $190 M domestically."

"Dirty Money" by S. E. Ward.
"Quick-change, one hand to the next, liquid far from its source. A bill, a suck; money, money, money. Pop the cap. Drink it down. Ooze, jet, scarlet, spray. Wait for the shudder of someone else’s sight to pass."

"The Spider House Rules" by Rain Graves.
"They had a club like important boys do, and there were secret words, secret things to keep in boxes like a candle and matches, secret handshakes, and secret things to do. It was important to be secret; no girls allowed."

and "Last of His Kind" by Sandra McDonald.
"Those of you who still explore graveyards and scour old records might as well hang up your wooden stakes, or use them to mark seedlings in vegetable gardens, or burn them in fires; the vampiri are gone, finito, they no longer swoop through the sky or glide before mirrors which do not show their reflections."

Classic SF
@The Internet Archive: "The Lost Machine" by John Beynon Harris (John Wyndham), from Amazing Stories (April 1932 ) [via Marooned - Science Fiction & Fantasy books on Mars].
"Psychologists -- and others -- are greatly concerned about the effects -- possible and assured -- of machines and the machine age, on human life and endeavor. But who has ever stopped to consider the possible reactions -- or thoughts -- of the advanced machine of the future?"

@Project Gutenberg: Four Philip K Dick science fiction stories have been updated with additional e-book options.

• The Crystal Crypt
  
• Mr. Spaceship
  
• Second Variety
  
• The Variable Man
  

Serial Fiction
@Paizo.com: "Two Pieces of Tarnished Silver" by Erik Mona, Chapter Three: Beyond the Demon Lens.
"For a long moment Korm Calladan felt only a pleasant warmth. Gone were the fears of starvation, the thrill of combat in the cramped underdeck of the Queen's Lament, the suspicion of the Lady Iranez and her imposing crew."







@Dark Fiction Magazine: Issue 7: "Sacred Fire" [via Free SF Reader].
"Dark Fiction Magazine is a monthly, short fiction podcast magazine, bringing [. . .] the very best that horror, fantasy, and science-fiction has to offer."

"Xenos Beach" by Graham Joyce, read by Danny Davies.
"The Winter King" by Liz Williams, read by Kim Lakin-Smith.
"Who Slays The Gyant, Wounds The Beast" by Mark Chadbourn, read by Marty Perrett.
"Paying For Rain" by Jaine Fenn, read by Emma Newman.

@Beneath Ceaseless Skies: "The Fairy Gaol" by Heather Fawcett, from Issue #66 (Apr. 7, 2011).
"I will fashion a dagger worthy of his jeweled throat."

@Kung Fu Action Theater: Kung Fu Action Tales, Episode Four - "The Inuyama Rebellion, Part 1- The Two Samurai"
"Knowing that the declaration of independence will surely bring the deaths of her sons, the clan lord’s wife, Lady Murasaki, has secretly dispatched two of the clan’s samurai -the elder Jiro and his apprentice Masato- to Kurokawa lands in an effort to rescue the boys"







@Every Day Fiction: "His Mother's Son" by JR Hume. SF.
@Flashes in the Dark: "La Muerte" by Cynthia (cina) Pelayo.
@365 tomorrows: "The Vendetta" by Patricia Stewart.
@Weirdyear: "Snowflakes" by Ian Chung.
@Eschatology: "The Icicle" by Rick McQuiston.
@Daily Science Fiction: "Vacuum Decay" by Ramon Rozas.
@ChiZine: [Dark Poetry]

• Mississippi Twilight by Chad Hensley
• Moon Ship Sailing by Robin Mayhall
• Bluebeard by Joanne Merriam
• Comet Flyby by John Park
• Lucan in Averno by Sonya Taaffe

Classic Comics

• @The Horrors of It All: "Demon from the Deep!" (1952). Horror
• @Crosseyed Cyclops!: The Green Planet #1 (1962). SciFi. and many issues of Ghostly Tales.
• @Ditko Comics: "Stranger In The House" (1957) and "Free" (1957). Horror.
• @Fantasy-Ink: "Has-Been" (1955) SciFi.
• @Secret Sanctum of Captain Video: The adaptaion of Dr. Who and the Daleks part 1 and part 2.

Online Comic
Escape From Terra "is a continuing story set in the late 21st Century. and concerns humanity's advance both through outer space and social evolution. People living in the frontier are liberated from traditional power structures and free to develop new customs and rules as may suit them -- although the United World government on Terra (Earth) is envious of colonial success and anxious to establish its grip on human lives and wealth as far as it can." Looks interesting.

Two Free Magazines, Free Comics, Reviews, Etc.

Two cool magazines today as well as other good fiction (including audio and flash). Quite a bit of good reading altogether. Several cool comics, including a complete, online graphic novel. My take on three recent fantasy adaptations ["Like anyone cares" Lt. Bob]. And More. Today's illustration is for A Game of Thrones, briefly reviewed below.







Issue #21 of Apex Magazine is now available free online with.
Fiction
“The Eater” by Michael J. Deluca.
"Not like the Eater, who walks among us bouncing and gangly like a marsh bird with a broken leg, grey but full of life, showing us those things he may show whose place the Speaker’s words will take."

“Biba Jibun” by Eugie Foster.
"Papa said that Mama left because she was one of the obake, the spirit folk. She tricked him into marrying her when he was a rich man and could buy her French perfume and trinkets from Cartier’s."

“The Button Bin” by Mike Allen.
"Yet why would he worry? In a throwback town like this, with every house from a 1950s-era postcard, crime remains distant, alien, a single murder strange as an apocalypse."

“Ghosts of New York” by Jennifer Pelland.
"Poets and sages like to say that there is clarity in certain death. That a calm resignation settles over the nearly deceased, and they embrace the inevitability of the end of life with dignity and grace."


Issue #151 of Aphelion is up with "D.A.V.E." by Dean Giles, "Genesis" by Ché Francis Monro, "Debtor" by Noah Zachary, "Sacred Logs and Crocodiles" by Walter G. Esselman, "Rapid Transit" by E. S. Strout, "swodahS" by J. E. Deegan, "Liam's Bridge" by Mary Brunini McArdle, "Death with French Bread" by Chris Sharp, "Finding Our Voices" by Richard Tornello, "In Their Eyes" by Ian Cordingley, and "Pretty Little Foxes" by Lester Curtis.




@Book View Cafe: "Arroyo de Oro" by Pati Nagle (1999/2009).
"By time I got there it was almost 11:30. I left the field office as soon as the call came in, but downtown Albuquerque is a long way from "Arroyo de Oro." That's what they call the strip. It runs right up the Sandia Reservation on the north edge of town, and it rivals Las Vegas for glitz."







Serial Fiction
@Paizo.com: The conclusion of "Two Pieces of Tarnished Silver" by Erik Mona - Chapter Two: Breaking Fast.
"'You seem to know a lot about us,' Aebos said warily, rubbing his meaty hands clean on a bit of shirt stolen from one of the dead crewmen at the top of the stairs. 'But we don't know anything about you.'"

Classic SF
@Munseys and Project Gutenberg: "Deepfreeze" by Robert Donald Locke, from Imagination Stories of Science and Fantasy (Jan. 1953).

"Life and the future belong to the strong—so Dollard laughed as he fled Earth and Mankind's death agony. But the last laugh was yet to come...."











@SFFaudio: "Warrior Race" by Robert Sheckley. "Destroying the spirit of the enemy is the goal of war and the aliens had the best way!" Available there in an MP3 download, in a pdf scan of the original story from Galaxy Magazine, and with a link to the story at Project Gutenberg. Thorough as always.











@Daily Science Fiction: "Writing on the Wall" by Vaughan Stanger.
@Every Day Fiction: "Answers" by C.L. Holland.
@365 tomorrows: "Pilgrimage" by Roi R. Czechvala.
@Eschatology: "A Visitor to Zennor" by Les Merton.
@The New Flesh: "Wild Ride" by Laura Eno.
@Aphelion [Poetry]

• Report On The Recent Excavations At Norwich by David Barber.
• Wondrous Gobbledygook by Richard H. Fay.
• Gumshoe by Thomas Reynolds.
• I’m Sorry, But… by Stuart Sharp.
• Last Man by Chris Wood.
• Life's A Party by Richard Tornello.
• Out There by Brian S. Lingard.
• The Arousal Indicator by Mike Wilson.
• White Pinnacle of Pain by Robin B. Lipinsk.
  

@Secret Sanctum of Captain Video: The conclusion of the Time Machine. SF / Classic.





@Diversions of the Groovy Kind: Jason Monarch #1 (1979) B&W Sci-Fi.





@The Comic Book Catacombs: Dr. Voodoo in "Quest For the Golden Flask:Part II" from Whiz Comics #18 (June 1941). Well illustrated adventure.




@Parishi's Vision: Flash Gordon in "Plant Attack" and "Death Trap" Space Opera Sci-Fi.








@Digital Comics Museum: Eerie Tales #1 (Nov. 1959) B&W horror / suspense magazine.








Online Comic
"The Phoenix Requiem" by Sarah Ellerton, a complete online (800 page!) graphic novel. [or start at the beginning] "The Phoenix Requiem is a Victorian-inspired supernatural fantasy story about faith, love, death, and the things we believe in." Very well drawn. [via TopWebComics.com]


Dave's Views
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One (blu-ray). The beginning of the end. The film does nearly as good a job as possible in adapting the material, though the first half of the seventh book is far from the strongest material in the series.

Good: Captures the mood of the book. Engrossing. Very good cinematography.

Bad: S . . . l . . . o . . . w. The film, like most of the latter HP films, is better if you've read the book. They cut out the scene of Dudley saying goodbye (and the version in the extras is only a dress rehearsal).

Grade: B+

A Game of Thrones on HBO is a solid adaptation of George R. R. Martin's material. After two episodes, the series is off to a good start. All the strengths (and weaknesses) of the novel are here.

Good: Acting, reasonably faithful to the story, cinematography.

Bad: You already need a scorecard for all the characters and it's only going to get worse, much worse. My there's a lot a skin here.

Grade: A-

Camelot on Starz is, at least in theory, a retelling of the various Arthurian legends. Thus far, however, it seems to be more about finding excuses for nudity and sex scenes. Oh, and there's a sword named after a girl Merlin killed.

Good: Very good acting. Beautiful scenery, costumes, props, etc.

Bad: Miscasting (Jamie Campbell Bower as King Arthur? Really?), Arthur and Guinevere come off far worse than in any classic version of the myths, odd changes (The whole Excalibur storyline is a strange interpolation at best), and enough gratuitous sex that no one would be surprised if Misty Mundae guest starred.

It may get better, but after three episodes it seems a waste of all the acting talent. Grade C-


"Please argue with Dave. He gets so arrogant when he thinks people agree with him! And he's usually wrong. Except about to much gratuitous nudity. Keep your clothes on! Humans are ugly enough dressed." Lt. Bob.





Other Coolness
@Apex Magazine: “An Introductory Guide to the Nebula Awards” by Michael A. Burstein.
@SF Signal: Podcast #46 Interview with Daniel Abraham.
@Online Degree “10 Most Believable Natural Disaster Movies”

Elaine Cunningham, Kim Stanley Robinson, Weird Tales, and More Freeness

A bit of a quiet day, but still some great free items. New Fiction by Elaine Cunningham, Kim Stanley Robinson, and Peter Orullian. Classic P.K.D. and a trio of Weird Tales stories from the 1930s (and some art), comics, flash fiction, audio fiction, and more. [Illustration from "The Illusionist" by Elaine Cunningham]








Fiction
@Paizo.com: "The Illusionist" by Elaine Cunningham.
"Still, the school is world-renowned, and I felt one might reasonably expect a certain breadth of knowledge in its scholars. To my surprise, little is known of the Mwangi Expanse. We are all one to these northerners. When they express admiration for my gold ornaments and the thread-art on my garments, their manner suggests an expectation of jangar-skin loin clouts and necklaces of monkey bone."

@Tor.com: "The Lunatics" by Kim Stanley Robinson, from Brave New Worlds.
"They were very near the center of the moon, Jakob told them. He was the newest member of the bullpen, but already their leader." [via Free SF Reader]

@Tor.com: "The Battle of the Round" by Peter Orullian.
"Maral Praig knelt beside the bleeding soldier and examined his wounds. A sword or spear had punctured the man’s gut several times. He would die if Maral did not heal him."

Classic SF
@Munseys and Project Gutenberg: "Isle of the Undead" by Lloyd Arthur Eshbach, from Weird Tales (Oct. 1936.)
"A gripping, thrilling, uncanny tale about the frightful fate that befell a yachting party on the dreadful island of living dead men"





@BestScienceFiction: A review of, as well as a link to, "Paycheck" by Philip K. Dick (1953).
"ALL AT ONCE he was in motion. Around him smooth jets hummed. He was on
a small private rocket cruiser, moving leisurely across the afternoon sky,
between cities."

@Munseys and Project Gutenberg: "Here Lies" by H.W. Guernsey, from Weird Tales (Oct. 1937).
"An ironic little story about a practical communist who taught his friend when to take him seriously"

@Munseys and Project Gutenberg: "The Last of Mrs DeBrugh" by H. Sivia, from Weird Tales (Oct. 1937).
"Mr. DeBrugh was dead, but he still regarded his promise as a sacred duty to be carried out."







@StarShipSofa: Episode #184 featuring: [Fiction] "A Very Private Tour of A Very Public Museum"by Scott Edelman, [Poetry] "Poetry Planet" by Diane Serverson, and [Serial] "Grail-Diving in Shangrilla with the World’s Last Mime" by Ken Scholes, with narrators Jeff Lane and Josh Roseman.








@Flashes in the Dark: "Instinct" by Lori Titus.
@365 tomorrows: "Special Ops" by Roi R. Czechvala.
@Daily Science Fiction: "N is for Nevermore Nevermore Land" by Tim Pratt, Jenn Reese, Heather Shaw, and Greg van Eekhout.


Comics
@Crosseyed Cyclops: Journey Into Unknown Worlds #53 in CBR download. Sci-Fi.







@Pappy's Golden Age Comics Blogzine: "The Sorceress of Zoom" from Weird Comics #17 (1941). Fantasy/Crimefighter.

@The Comic Book Catacombs: Sheena, Queen of the Jungle in "Vengeance of the Talu Chief" from Sheena #1 (Spring 1942) Pulp Adventure.

@Atomic Kommie Comics: Cave Girl in "Ape God of Kor" from Thun'da #2. Prehistoric Adventure.


Other Coolness
[Art] Conan Images. "The Tree of Life" at Crom! and Weird Tales and paperback covers at Golden Age Comic Book Stories.

@Paleofuture: [Futurism Fail] "Picnics on Mars in the Year 2012" (1962).