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."

Quasar Dragon Spotlight On X Minus One.

X Minus One was a half-hour science fiction radio anthology that ran from April 24, 1955 to January 9, 1958 on NBC.  It was overseen by NBC staff writers Ernest Kinoy and George Lefferts, who also wrote some stories and adapted most of the rest.  The series featured stories by many of the best writers of that era (Bradbury, Asimov, Heinlein, Pohl, Dick, etc.), typically either a rewrite of a Dimension X script or taken "from the pages of Galaxy Magazine," and was one of the last great Old Time Radio series.

As with virtually every anthology series, the episodes were rather hit or miss. Some were great, while other (including most original stories by Kinoy and Lefferts) weren't very good.  But with so many episodes, if a listener likes even half of them, it's a great series.  Tastes vary so I'm reluctant to recommend any except to say that the stories by the better known writers tend to the best ones.

There was a single episode attempt to revive the series in 1973, that some purists do not consider part of the series.  And I'm the only person in the world, but I consider the 19 Nocturne Boulevard episode "The leech" to be an honorary X Minus One episode. (It's a dramatization of 1950's Galaxy Magazine story by a big name SF writer - Robert Sheckley).

While X Minus One had some flaws, such as a half-hour being a bit short for the adaptations, it was one of the high points of twentieth century science fiction.

The links after the fold are direct download MP3 from the Internet archive, except on names which lead to the original story at Project Gutenberg and on The 19 Nocturne Boulevard which leads to that site.

Monday Freebies

 Another roundup of great free science fiction, fantasy, and horror.



[Art from  "Beside Still Waters" in audio fiction below]





Fiction
• At Black Gate: “Devotion” By Robert Rhodes. Fantasy.
     "Piran’s blood ran cold, and his vision dimmed. He could not breathe, could not complete the arc of his sword. But the numbness passed like a chilling wave, and he cut down through the witch’s cloak, through the joint of neck and shoulder, collarbone and lung. She screamed — her voice terrible and shrill, crystal shattering on steel — and crumpled to the ground. She lay coughing, softly choking, then was still."

• At Cast of Wonders: "The Giant Who Dreamed of Summer" by Jess Hyslop. YA Fantasy.
     "What's this--another visitor? How tiresome. I thought I had seen the last of you when the guards departed. I thought I had finally been left to meet my end in peace."

•  At Cosmos: "The Pinocchio Complex" by Sarina Dorie.
     "She stepped closer, the sweet, Earth vanilla of her perfume overpowering the constant sulfur scent of Mars’s artificial atmosphere. 'You build toys. Puppets and dolls? Custom made, no?'"

• At Electric Velocipede: “The Tempting: A Love Story” by James Alan Gardner
    "Upon waking in a dampened bed—and it had been a poor idea to sleep in the Summer Room, but that was the way of Summer, wasn’t it? to make you forget its weight—your thoughts got all sidetracked by the languid scent of lilacs, and thunderstorms, and berries so fresh they were still hot from the sun."

• At L5R: "Coils of Madness, Part 1" by Seth Mason & Robert Denton. Fantasy.
     "The spirit worlds all shook slightly as he laughed at the words tumbling out of his thoughts. It was a secret joke, though, so he stopped his laughter quickly. He didn’t want the others to notice him. They took any excuse to say he was sick, or there was something wrong with him. Such little things they used as excuses, and he wouldn’t give them any more."

• At The WiFiles: "The Door" by Jennifer Cox. speculative fiction. 
      "“Hey Michael, can you grab the other end of this?” Stanley says, attempting to lift the heavy antique dresser. It is the final piece of furniture that needs to be removed from the guest room."

Flash Fiction

• At Beware the Hairy Mango: "Babygami" by Matthew Sanborn Smith. Audio. Weird.
• At Beware the Hairy Mango: "Ramón and You and Ramón" by Matthew Sanborn Smith. Audio. Weird.
• At Daily Science Fiction: "Shades Of The Father" by M. Adrian Sellers. 
• At Flashes in the Dark: "Mort’s Crossing, Population 10" by Flechewoun​ds. Horror.
• At Quantum Muse: "The Smell of Death…"  by Sergio Palumbo.
• At 365 Tomorrows: "Never More Than Half a Billion" by Clint Wilson. Science Fiction.
• At 365 Tomorrows: "Fregh and Young Brawl at the Skev" by Alex Grover. Science Fiction.

Audio Fiction

• At Author's Site: "The MVP Episode #30" by Scott Sigler.  Science Fiction. Football.
     The final game of the season against the To Pirates gives the Krakens an outside chance at making the playoffs. Can Quentin survive the saftey blitz of Ciudad Juarez, the leage's second-most lethal player of all time? Or will Ciudad send Barnes to "the gridiron of the immortals?"

• At Beam Me Up:  Episode #364. Science Fiction.
     Featuring "Trathh: Final Confrontation pt1" by David Scholes and "No Great Magic Ch2" by Fritz Leiber. - "The troupers of the Big Time lack no art to sway a crowd— or to change all history!"

• At Cast of Wonders: "The Giant Who Dreamed of Summer" by Jess Hyslop. YA Fantasy.
     Described Above

• At Cthulhu:  "The House on the Borderland - Conclusion" by William Hope Hodgson. Horror.
    No Description

• At Drama Pod: "Valley of the Dreams" by Stanley Weinbaum. Science Fiction. Mars.
     "Captain Harrison of the Ares expedition turned away from the little telescope in the bow of the rocket. "Two weeks more, at the most," he remarked. "Mars only retrogrades for seventy days in all, relative to the earth, and we've got to be homeward bound during that period, or wait a year and a half for old Mother Earth to go around the sun and catch up with us again. How'd you like to spend a winter here?"

• At Fantastic Worlds of Edgar Rice Burroughs: "Episode 18 - The Beasts of Tarzan"
     "Tarzan and Jane have been reunited on board the Kincaid. Mugambi and Tarzan’s beasts are safely aboard, and Rokoff has gone to meet his Maker under the fangs of Sheeta. The remainder of Rokoff’s thugs have been subdued and are now loyal to Tarzan – all seems right with the world, except …"

• At LibriVox: "The Airlords of Han" by Philip Francis Nowlan.  Science Fiction.
     "Airlords of Han is the 2nd Buck Rogers story, the sequel to Armageddon 2419 A.D.. Anthony Rogers takes the fight to free 25th Century America to the Han overlords. From the March, 1929 issue of Amazing Stories."

• At SFFaudio: "Beside Still Waters" by Robert Sheckley. Science Fiction.
     "When people talk about getting away from it all, they are usually thinking about our great open spaces out west. But to science fiction writers, that would be practically in the heart of Times Square. When a man of the future wants solitude he picks a slab of rock floating in space four light years east of Andromeda. Here is a gentle little story about a man who sought the solitude of such a location. And who did he take along for company? None other than Charles the Robot."

• At SFFaudio: "The Willows" by Algernon Blackwood. Horror.
     "After leaving Vienna, and long before you come to Budapest, the Danube enters a region of singular loneliness and desolation, where its waters spread away on all sides regardless of a main channel, and the country becomes a swamp for miles upon miles, covered by a vast sea of low willow-bushes."

• At Toasted Cake: "Sapience and Maternal Instincts" by Krystal Claxton.
     She had my teeth. I hadn't expected to recognize myself in her, but when she greeted me, her maroon lips parting into a crescent, there they were."

 Other Genres

• Audio at Crime City Central: "What Goes Around" by R J Ellory.
• Audio at Selected Shorts: "Dorothy Parker’s Wicked Pen"
• Audio at Tales of Old: "Meg Harper" by Gretchen Tessmer. Historical Fiction.
• Flash Fiction at Every Day Fiction: "Fine Young Cannibals" by Rich Matrunick

Thing From Another World, Terry Pratchet, Isaac Asimov, and More

Yay, it's Sunday, so annoying space captain has taken a day off and I Lt. Bob am in charge. First like always, we have a cool Mooooooviiiiiieeee! This time it's a classic from the 1950s, featuring an alien that fights humans. Go alien! It's your birthday! Also, unusual for a Sunday, lots of audio fiction (I notice some via SF Signals. Ha, lazy space captain). And a couple of comics. You QuasarDragon readers are OK (for humans) so have a nice day.




The Thing From Another World (1951)

"Scientist at an Arctic research station discover a spacecraft buried in the ice. Upon closer examination, they discover the frozen pilot. All hell breaks loose when they take him back to their station and he is accidentally thawed out."

Also don't miss the 1968 J.R.R. Tolkien Documentary at SF Signal.







@Beam Me Up: Episode #257 "Death and what comes Next" by Terry Pratchett, "where a mathematician tries to wrangle out of dying using physics on Death!" and "Infall" pt2 (the conclusion) "where we finally find out just exactly what faces our two combatants as the draw closer and closer to the event horizon of their destination, a monstrously huge and vastly ancient, black hole" by Ted Kosmatka. And a roundup of SF/Science tidbits.

@Pseudopod: Episode #225 "Top Of The Heap" by Nathan Robinson, read by Ben Phillips.
“I open my eyes and the dead smile back with bare teeth. In the fresh, sparse daylight I can see the bodies beneath me. I want to reach out and touch their faces, close their beseeching eyes. I recognize a few of them. Some I don’t, either through decomposition or the fact that I didn’t dump them here.

@Archive.org: The Foundation Trilogy by Isaac Asimov [via SF Signal via James Nicoll]
"an epic science fiction series written over a span of forty-four years by Isaac Asimov."

@LibriVox: Elves and Heroes by Donald Alexander Mackenzie (1873-1936, read by Matthew Reece. "This volume describes, in verse, the mythical creatures and people of ancient Scotland. It also includes explanatory notes about about the characters and folk tales that inspired the author's poetry."

@LibriVox: The Mahabharata by Vyasa: the epic of ancient India condensed into English verse by Romesh C Dutt. "The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India. Traditionally, the authorship of the Mahabharata is attributed to Vyasa. ... Mahabharata tells the story of the epic Kurukshetra War and the fates of the cousin brothers Kauravas and the Pandavas." One of the world's great epics, on a par with The Iliad and Gilgamesh. I don't know this version, but it should at least capture some of the flavor.

@SFFaudio: "The Seventh Victim" by Robert Sheckly. Two dramatized versions of the classic SF story (I Just listened to the X-Minus One version a few weeks ago - quite good).

@SFFaudio: Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, performed by a full cast (CBS Radio Workshop).








@The Warriors Comic Book Den: "The Lighthouse!" By Archie Goodwin and Al Williamson. Classic B&W horror from Eerie.

@Digital Comics Museum: Super-Mystery Comics v08 004. Horror/Mystery.

Tanith Lee Fiction, Galaxy Magazine, Scott Sigler, Monks, and More.

Another Monday and another good haul of free genre items. Good fiction, highlighted by a Tanith Lee! short, audio fiction, though I'm sad to see The Witch Hunter Chronicles reach its conclusion, gaming goodies, and more.




Fiction
@Fantasy Magazine: "The God Orkrem" by Tanith Lee.
"To a man bereaved of all as I was, distance and time are only words. For me then, and also now, only one word any more can exist: God. The god Orkrem."





@Ray Gun Revival: "The Giants" by J. Chant.
"At the age of sixteen the great Champollion had mastered a dozen languages; at the age of ten Oyla had mastered two dozen languages from eight different worlds. At the age of thirty-two Champollion translated the hieroglyphs of ancient Egypt. At the age of twelve Oyla translated the language of the people she named the Dancers."

@The Canadian Science Fiction Review: "Don't Move a Muscle, Mr. Liberty" by Jordan Ellinger.
"Crumpled leather the colour of a fisherman’s tan, it sits on its head in the middle of the cobblestone plaza. It is a great fisher of men, my hat. It sweeps up passing tourists and holds them before me, their jowls hanging loose like gasping catfish as I ply my trade."

@MindFlights: "Let My Ship Sail Like Brendan's" by Joseph C. Romano.
"A monk's cargo holds the key to Earth's salvation. "

@Dark Valentine Magazine: "A Coral Pillow" by G. Wells Taylor.
"Yes, there on the salted sea breeze, he saw a golden coil of hair. It danced in the air and beckoned, but he could see nothing more."

@BestScienceFictionStories: "The Exterminator’s Want-Ad" (2010) by Bruce Sterling. Reviewed with a link to the story online.

Serial Fiction:
@Kat And Mouse: Guns For Hire: "Payback" Part One by Abner Senires.
"Franco Bianchi, Righetti family consigliere, stood in the middle of the Red Dog's back hallway near the rear entrance, hands folded in front of him, and looked at us from beneath bushy eyebrows. 'We have a problem, ladies,' he said."

Classic SF:
@Project Gutenberg: "Palos of the Dog Star Pack" (1918) by J. U. Giesy. [via Triplanetary]
"He stood on the side of a mountain in the midst of an almost tropic vegetation. Giant trees were about him, giant ferns sprouted from the soil. But here, as on earth, the color of the leaves was green."

"Keep Your Shape" by Robert Sheckley. (from Galaxy Science Fiction November 1953.)
"Only a race as incredibly elastic as the Grom could have a single rule of war" At Munseys and Project Gutenberg.

and "Wheels Within" (from Galaxy Science Fiction May 1952.)
"Never ask 'Who am I and where do I come from?' The answers may not be what you'd expect!" At Munseys and Project Gutenberg.


Audio Fiction:





@Beam Me Up: Episode #253 featuring stories by David Steffen & Jason Kahn.
Audio fiction and SF/Science news.

@Podcastle: Miniature #60 "Cranberry Honey" by Amal El-Mohtar, read by Marguerite Croft.
There is fire in his wrists, fire in his walk, fire beneath his fingernails. He is red, redder than rowan berries, for rowan doesn’t bleed as cranberries do, and it is cranberries that he gathers and stews and crushes, cranberries in which he steeps his skin.

Serial Audio:
@Scott Sigler's website: "The Starter" part six.
"The free agents have arrived at the Touchback, and this season Quentin gets input on personnel decisions. What kind of talent will he add to the Krakens roster?"

@The Witch Hunter Chronicles: The Final Episode – "Requiem"
"The end of our series. It’s been a long time in the making and we are very happy to be able to present it to you at last."


Flash Fiction:



@Every Day Fiction: "And That's Uncle Thom" by Loren Arthur Moreno.
@365 tomorrows: "Anthropic" by Ian Rennie.
@Trollish Delver: "Markings" by Scott Malthouse.
@Daily Science Fiction: "The Cloud Dragon Ate Red Balloons" by Tom Cardamone.
@Every Day Fiction: "Impish Balance" by Douglas Pugh.
@365 tomorrows: "Biding" by Steve Smith.


Gaming
@RPG Creatures, another extremely well illustrated monster, The Mingossi, easily adaptable to nearly any fantasy RPG.
"In this case the mushroom is nothing like the delicious or toxic little things found in the forest, but a living, hungry entity, very similar to a cephalopod mollusk – an octopus."


Online HERE.


@A Character for Every Game: Dodecahedron #3 featuring, Uniquely Undead, - Undead Guardians of Veroth, Reskinning Dragons, Ruins of the Gorgon, And 48 Random Curses.



Issues one through three are in PDF downloads HERE.




@Dragonsfoot: "The Monastery of the Order of the Crimson Monks"
An Adventure Module for Original and First Edition Roleplaying Games & Their Simulacra. Suitable for a Party of 4 to 8 Player Characters, Level 5 to 9. (Early edition D&D or retro clones).



In PDF download HERE.



Small, But Cool, Gaming Freebies.
@The Land of NOD: [Encounter] Mu-Pan - Encounter VII.
@Ancient Vaults & Eldritch Secrets: [New Magic Item] Trickster’s Parchment.
@Ancient Vaults & Eldritch Secrets: [New Spell] Watery Ensnarement.
@Axe & Hammer: [Price Guide] Paying the Troops: Officers.
@Jeff's Gameblog: [New Spell] Desanguinate Foe. - Gross