Tuesday Freebies

As always, a variety of free Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, and other cool genres from many cool sites.









E-Zines
Infinities edited by Keith Brooke. A free sampler of short stories, novel extracts and a complete novelette from infinity plus and friends. [via SF Signal] Complete stories [mostly fantasy/sf] include:
"The Man Who Built Heaven" by Keith Brooke.
"Last night I dreamed. The same old dream. The same old dream, and different every single time."
"Venus Macabre" by Eric Brown.
"Devereaux chose Venus as the venue for his last public performance for two main reasons: the stars cannot be seen from the surface of the planet, and Venus is where he first died."
"Wooden Horse" by John Grant.
"I wasn't born a movie fan. As I say, I was in my mid-twenties and studying for a doctorate when circumstances conspired to germinate an interest that I suppose, on reflection, must have been latent somewhere inside of me from the outset"
"Phoenix Man" by Garry Kilworth.
"The world's gone crazy lately. Eruptions, earthquakes, floods. Two nights ago there were meteorite showers in the northern hemisphere."
"One Step Closer" by Iain Rowan [crime]
"I mean it," the gunman shrieked, and he pointed the revolver at Ward, the end of the barrel moving in tiny circles with the shaking of his hands. "I mean it. One step closer..."


Issue #30 of Crossed Genres features "Luck" crossed with science fiction and fantasy.
"How the Goddess Came to Spring Flowering Valley" by Andrew Penn Romine.
"The food market at Hanging Cloud Gate was empty; the vendors had already scurried home ahead of the curfew drums. Not that there had been much to sell lately, not with the humans’ war driving all the farmers away."

"Little Magic" by Tom Howard.
"Uncle Seymour was magic. None of the grown-ups believed it, but me and my cousins knew strange and wonderful things happened whenever he visited."

"Luck Be a Lady" by Amy Sundberg.
"The day after I broke up with Death, I was in a bad mood. By noon, I was lounging on a pile of embroidered pillows, huddled over a pint of S’mores ice cream."

"Paid" by DeAnna Knippling.
"I came up with a solid time travel theory in 2007 and swore I’d never build an actual machine. I built it 2009 anyway; long story. If you’re reading this, it means you’re stuck here with me—or you are me."

"I Can't Imagine" by Sandra Wickham.
"My little brother had always been a little crazy, but as I watched him pace circles around my kitchen table I thought he might finally have taken a giant leap off the edge."


E-Fiction
@Daily Science Fiction: "This Life"by Lee Hallison.
"Hope grabbed at the railing as the surge of people pushed her off-balance. She hung on as she made her way down the rain-slick subway stairs, exhaling with relief at the bottom"

@Strange Horizons: "The Thick Night" by Sunny Moraine.
"She doesn't look at it the whole way home. She doesn't know how to look at it: you look at a person one way, and a thing another way, and the two are not the same."

@The author's Site: "Without End" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, from The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction (April 1994). SF. Online until May 9, 2011.
"He stared at the black box. He could picture Geneva inside as she had looked the night before: black hair cascading on the satin; skin too white; eyes closed in imitation sleep. Geneva had never been so still."

Hub #139 is up with "All your needs and wishes" by Steven Ellis.
"The Universal Provider floats silently near the ceiling in the corner of the room. If its programming had contained anything similar to curiosity it might have wondered about the scene unfolding in the room below it."

@Science In My Fiction: “The Long Toss” by Gary Cuba.
"Hell of a way to lose, I thought, as I plowed my way through the detritus covering the parking lot."

Classic SF
@The Internet Archive: "Notice of Intent" by Phyllis Sterling Smith, from Startling Stories (Oct. 1952). [via Marooned - Science Fiction & Fantasy books on Mars]
"From Mars comes the wonder-drug Marcillin and a selfish plot by Earthly monopolists to corner the market on this precious new commodity."


@Munseys and Project Gutenberg: "Big Stupe" by Charles V. De Vet, from Galaxy Science Fiction (March 1955).
"Smart man, Bruckner—he knew how to handle natives ... but they knew even better how to deal with smart terrestrials!"

Reviewed
@BestScienceFictionStories.com: "Whisper’s Voice" by Elena Gleason (2010).
Reviewed with a link to a free online version.







@Every Day Fiction: "The Pale Farmer" by Rich Matrunick.
@Flashes in the Dark: "Decay" by Neil Leckman.
@365 tomorrows: "Librarians" by Noah Katz.
@Weirdyear: "The Night I lost Harry" by Deryn Pittar.
@The New Flesh: "Death by Limited Palette" by Kirk Jones.
@Strange Horizons: [Poem] "What Ray Taught Me" by Jenny Rossi.
@Sam's Dot Publishing: [Poetry] Scifaikuest Vol.8 No. 4.







@The Internet Archive: Lights Out - Will O The Wisp (1951). Episode 6 from the third season of this classic horror anthology. No description available.









@The Horrors of It All: "Demon From the Deep!" and "The Kiss of Death!" from Venus #19 (April 1952) Horror.



@Digital Comics Museum: Jumbo Comics #91 (Sept. 1946). Adventure featuring Sheena, The Hawk, and others.
@Ditko Comics: "The Man Who Disappeared" from This Magazine is Haunted #14 (1957)
@Four-Color Shadow: "Sir Prize" from Prize Comics (1945). Fantasy / Humor.
@Hero (& Heroine) Histories: "Thor: God of Thunder" from Weird Comics #1 (Superhero but not the Marvel Comics character).

Other Coolness
@Diversions of the Groovy Kind: [Art/superhero] A Thor comic book gallery.
@Secret Sanctum of Captain Video: Power Records Space 1999 "Breakaway" [video]

Wednesday Freebies

A quiet day, but still a few gems. A bit of fiction, including classic SF, flash fiction, and a short Sheena story, some good audio fiction (all serial), good SF music, gaming items (including several new monsters), and a rather bad movie. Today's illustration is for "The Buttoned Sky."












Classic SF/Adventure
@Project Gutenberg and Munseys: "The Buttoned Sky" by Geoff St. Reynard, from Imagination Stories of Science and Fantasy (Aug. 1953.)
"Legends spoke of Earth's glorious past, of freedom and greatness. But this was the future, ruled by god-globes, as men gazed fearfully at—"


And a mid-week QuasarDragon presents. Two short fiction stories:
"Lost Comet" from Fantastic Comics #11 (Jan-Feb. 1955).
"This is my first, and I am very much afraid, my last dispatch from the rocket ship METEOR. There is small chance of this message ever reaching Earth, much less the copy desk of my paper, but I am writing it with an eye cocked for a miracle."

and "Sheena and The Crawling Death" by Morgan W. Thomas, from Jumbo Comics #87 (May 1946).
"The village gates were open and through them poured the people who for so long had dwelt in peace in that placid spot. There was nothing peaceful about the scene, however, as the men, women, and children pushed and jostled one another, each carrying his meager possessions as best he could."







@ScottSigler.com: Tuesday Terror Episode #05: "Loyalty" Part 2 of 2 by Renee Jordan, edited and performed by Arioch Morningstar.

@StarShipSofa:"Grail-Diving in Shangrilla with the World’s Last Mime" Part 2 by Ken Scholes.

Fan Audio
@Misfits Audio Productions: Green Lantern: Man without Fear Ep 1: "The Capture"






@ScottSigler.com: Tuesday Terror Episode #05: "Loyalty" Part 2 of 2 by Renee Jordan, edited and performed by Arioch Morningstar.

@StarShipSofa:"Grail-Diving in Shangrilla with the World’s Last Mime" Part 2 by Ken Scholes.

Fan Audio
@Misfits Audio Productions: Green Lantern: Man without Fear Ep 1: "The Capture"






@Every Day Fiction: "Dr. Xiang and the Mouth in His Stomach" by Adam Lucas.
@Flashes in the Dark: "Time to Speak of Many Things" by Lori Titus.
@365 tomorrows: "Clyde" by Clint Wilson.
@Daily Science Fiction: "O is for Obfuscation" by Tim Pratt, Jenn Reese, Heather Shaw, and Greg van Eekhout.







@Zalchis: A trio of well illustrated new monsters. "Octoscholar" a race that is "cold and calculating, unforgiving and given to sorcerous feuds amongst themselves," "Ordrang, opportunistic scavengers that consume stray ectoplasm," and seen in the illustration to the left "Phorain" "grim, brooding, taciturn beings from the hot plains of some distant world, the Phorain are powerful warriors possessed of exceptional strength and resolve."



@The Land of NOD: [Encounter] "Mu-Pan - Encounter XXIV"
@Daddy Grognard: [Adventure] "An Adventure for Every Monster - Beholder"
@Trollish Delver: [Monsters] "Creatures of the tundra for T&T"
@Ancient Vaults & Eldritch Secrets: [New Spell] "Irritating Breeze"
@Ancient Vaults & Eldritch Secrets: [New Magic Items] "Glamour Apparel of Mulka" and "Mind Gems of Athra-Kla"
@A Character for Every Game: [Map] "Return to Erdea Manor – Part 2"
@DriveThruRPG: [Map] "Map of Berem Town"
@Sea of Stars: [New Magic Items] "Orcus’ Bowl" and "Paidia’s Dice"
@Underworld Kingdom: [New Monsters] "Pale Giants" and "Quartz Fungi"
@Netherwerks: [Table] "Fantasy Rooftop Environment/Encounters Table"
@Big Ball of No Fun: [New Monsters] "Obayifo," "Phi," and "Quinotaur"

Video
@The Internet Archive: Kong Island (1968).
"A beautiful woman raised by the apes, a mad scientist bent on controlling the minds of the apes and a handsome explorer." Not really worth the effort of watching it.

Other Coolness - Music
John Anealio (of the "Angry Robot" song fame) has released a new E.P. Books, Bytes & Bots E.P. now available as a pay what you want album (even free!) on Bandcamp. All are fantasy/SF related.

Flying Disc Man From Mars and Cool Free Comics

It's Sunday so that means it's Moooooviiiiieeee and comics time again.








Streaming online at Youtube, the 1950 Republic Serial Flying Disc Man From Mars.
"A strange craft spying on industrialist Bryant's plant is brought down by Bryant's new atomic ray. Bryant meets the one survivor... Mota from the planet Mars! Not exactly benevolent, Mota enlists the aid of Bryant (a former Nazi) in a scheme to bring Earth under control of a supreme dictator, for its own good of course, using advanced atomic weapons." IMDb


Chapter 1/12-A, 1/12-B, 2/12, 3/12, 4/12, 5/12, 6/12, 7/12, 8/12, 9/12, 10/12, 11/12, and 12/12.

Comics
@Pappy's Golden Age Comics Blogzine: A few short comic book stories including "Where Dinosaurs Dwell" from Marvel Tales #143 (1956) and "The Flying Horse" from Uncanny Tales #37 (1955).






@Beware, There's a Crosseyed Cyclops in my Basement: Chilling Tales of Horror #4 - classic B&W horror tales.








@Diversions of the Groovy Kind:"Harry" from Comix International #5 (1975). An unusual horror story, accurately described as "Poetic. Haunting. Sad. Ironic. Gorgeous."




Online @Four-Color Shadows: Sci-Fi humor "Adonis 2 PX-89" (1951) by Henry Enoch Sharp.

Also supernatural horror "The Evil Eye" from Chilling Tales (1953)



@Digital Comics Museum: Jumbo Comics #24 and Jumbo Comics #80.

Featuring the adventures of Sheena: Queen of the Jungle, the nautical adventures of the Hawk, and the supernatural adventures of Stuart Taylor. Both in CBR format [free membership required.]





@The Comic Book Catacombs: "The Man Who Killed A World" from Amazing Adventures #6 (Fall 1952). Golden age sci-fi.

And "Nyoka the Jungle Girl and the Human Leopards" (Oct-Nov 1954)




@DriveThruComics: Snatcher Bodies "Old sci-fi invasion movies get a kick in the fanny ... We've been invaded by aliens, there's a mad scientist on the loose, and someone has kidnapped Miss America! Can we defeat the alien horde before Earth becomes an inter-galactic rest stop and petting zoo?"

More SF humor with Akashik issue one, two, and three. (later issue not free) "Taus tricks her boyfriend into letting her steal his ship and leave him stranded on some undock spaceport. From there she runs out of wine, captures a stowaway and creates a strange sandwich." [free membership required].