Showing posts with label Steampunk. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Steampunk. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Wednesday Freebies

Another day of cool free fiction, audio fiction, and comics. Once again, time is not my friend and some good stuff will have to wait until tomorrow, such as most of the comics. Still, there is some great stuff today for reading and listening to. Thanks to SF Signal for letting me know that Beware the Hairy Mango had resumed posting flash audio. So from the land of infinite typos, I "bit" you adieu until tomorrow - likely later in the day.







@Ray Gun Revival: "What the Bullet Sang" by Michael Ehart.
The last cave-in took out Harmon and half our team. Terrell was hit then, but the wound that was killing her came as the Morph was carrying her out. Spalls ran across the Morph’s back, a dotted line broken by where it had held Terrell in a fireman’s carry.

@ChiZine Volume 47, Week 11 is now posted.
"All the Pretty Boys" by Michael Rowe.
"Vulnerable, Dale thought. He smiled. New to the city? Maybe a hustler, or maybe just thinking about it. The kid’s jeans and boots were mall-cheap, and even from a distance Dale’s expert eye detected that the jacket was vinyl."
"Bombay and Mercy Chase the Long Hand" by Daniel A. Rabuzzi.
“He was nine feet tall if he was an inch,” said the sailor sitting in the office of Matchett & Frew, wholesale merchants in the City of London. “Body lean as a needle, with legs like a stork, and his nose . . . well, sirs, I could hardly credit it myself, but his nose was as long as my arm and had three nostrils.”
"Consent" by Nancy Baker.
"The planes come in, running ahead of a freak desert electrical storm. Radios crackle with pleas and threats. From the exhaust trails, the subtle, sweet tang of blood and vengeance drifts down to touch the tarmac."
"Just Like the Ones He Used to Know" by Robert J. Wiersema.
"He remembered the snow falling more than once as they had gone out to find a tree. He remembered driving the logging roads up in the hills around the lake, crammed into the cab of his father’s pick-up truck"
"Lizards" by Brent Hayward.
"This same lady brought two monsters into the world already, one of them boneless kinds that’s kid’s play to put down and another one that came out with teeth and claws and a bad attitude that hadn’t been so easy to send back to the depths these things crawl from. Put an officer in the hospital."
"Military Secrets of the Zionist Enemy" by Lavie Tidhar.
"They say he was still alive when they caught him. They say they did experiments on him. Radiation. All sorts of . . . well. Chemical, biological stuff. They had Iraqi scientists working on him."
"Radio Nowhere" by Douglas Smith.
"She stepped out of the studio and snaked an arm around Liam’s waist, pulling him into a hug. They stood there holding each other for a moment. Breaking it off, she slapped him on the bum and headed towards the door, squeezing past the crammed shelves of vinyl and CD’s. 'Let us rock.'"
"Scenes from the Skoobie Revolution" by Claude Lalumière.
"A nun got on the bus and sat in the empty two-seater facing Correy and Norman. The two white boys had been holding hands, whispering pervy jokes, and giggling, but they instinctively let go of each other as soon as they caught sight of her. "
"The Tale of the Princess and Her Hero" by Robert Boyczuk.
"At the sound the Princess went rigid; her eyes snapped open. Blackness shrouded her. She might as well have been blind. Beneath her cheek the stone flags of her cell were cold and reeked of ancient piss. She lifted her head, grit and the threads of soiled straw clinging to her jaw, and strained to listen. "






Serial Audio
@ScottSigler.com: Tuesday Terror Episode #08 "Perry Dawsey, Are You Okay?" Part 1 of 2. by OJ OgreOregon, performed by Arioch Morningstar. Horror.
"This story is written parallel to Scott [Sigler's] novel Infected" . . . [In it] "alien parasites rain down upon humanity, frequently causing violent psychotic episodes in those whom they contaminate. Perry Dawsey is one of those afflicted by the parasites."
@Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences: "Hanuman’s Gift part two" written and narrated by Helen E. H. Madden. Steampunk.
"After hearing Agent Harrison Thorne’s impossible tale of cursed monkeys and undead women Whitby must file away the physical evidence. However it just may be that Hanuman’s Gift was not totally left behind in India, and the Archives are not as boring and safe as he believes."
Flash Audio
@Beware the Hairy Mango: Episode 80 "A Hell of a Licking" by Matthew Sanborn Smith. [weird fiction]







@Atomic Kommie Comics: "The Face on Mars" from Race for the Moon (195?). Sci-Fi.
In a rather cool coincidence(?) a 1950s SF comic book published a story about a face on Mars, roughly two decades before some overzealous and less than rational individuals thrust another silly conspiracy theory upon the world. Maybe they were subconsciously inspired by having read this earlier in there lives. You be the judge.


@Pappy's Golden Age Blogzine: Two stories from Black Knight #3 (1955), "The Crusader" and an unnamed one. Historical / Fantasy.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Free Science Fiction, Steampunk Audio, and Paranormal Romance Audio

Some very good Fiction on a dreary Tuesday (hopefully you are all having better weather). We have Science Fiction from Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Lightspeed Magazine, and Daily Science Fiction. Serial fiction at Strange Horizons, audio fiction from The Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences (Steampunk) and Wily Writers Podcast (Fantasy/Paranormal Romance). And more of the classic radio Superman serial.

Classic SF and Gaming will appear either tonight or tomorrow.

Today's illustration is for the two "The Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences" stories in the audio fiction.







@Lightspeed Magazine: "Frost Painting" by Carolyn Ives Gilman. Science Fiction.
“It’s easy for you East‑Coasters to be tolerant,” the man said. “You don’t have to live near them. I’ll tell you this: If those weirdos ever decide to come out of the mountains, we’re going to be ready for them. That is, if you liberals haven’t taken away our guns by then, too.”
@Author's Site: "Elites" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. Science Fiction.
"Rowena runs the House, a place for homeless Sky veterans. The House, open only to the women who compose the Elite Squad, has only a few rules: No names, no details, no weapons. The problem? Anything can become a weapon—even a toilet bowl scrubber. Even a word. Especially a word. A word that could destroy both Rowena and her House."
@Daily Science Fiction: "Dharma Dog and Dogma" by Steven Paul Mathes.
"The door crashes open, shattered by a kicking black boot. The police have cloaking devices, noise cancellation, robots, battering rams, and computerized lock picks--technology. The big black jackboots? Awkward, but what a retro statement."

Serial Fiction
@Strange Horizons: "The All-Night Truck Stop Polka Band (part 1 of 2)" by Shaenon K. Garrity. Speculative Fiction.
"Meanwhile, the band members were busy. They were saving the world. They mentioned this pretty often, although all they seemed to do was drink beer, smoke Marlboros, watch TV, and raid the kitchen. They all loved TV. They'd missed thirteen years of it, and everything fascinated them."







@The Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences: "Hanuman’s Gift" written and narrated by Helen E. H. Madden. Steampunk. [via Parsec Awards]
"Deep in the Archives, Augustus Whitby toils through Linkhis duties in the Archives, dreaming up romantic stories far more plausible than the supposed “investigations” of the field agents. A story from Agent Harrison Thorne and an unassuming artifact from his recent case, however, proves much to Whitby’s chagrin that there are some truths that are far stranger than fiction."
@The Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences: "A Ruby in Rain" written and narrated by Grant Stone. Steampunk. [via Parsec Awards]
"From the farthest edge of the Empire, New Zealand agents Lachlan King and Barry Ferguson are called to interview a recent arrival to Auckland’s prisons. An infamous gambler, according to the constable’s account, has turned himself into their custody, not for the safety of society but for his own. The Ministry steps in to uncover a man’s story of impressive luck, and more incredible vision."

@Wily Writers Podcast: "Catch and Release" by Cassandra D’Angelo. Fantasy, Paranormal Romance. Text version also available. [via Parsec Awards]
"The story of a young man’s deep desire to be known by someone else. What he doesn’t know is that the only person who can truly appreciate him is a merwoman, destined to live her life just out of his reach"
@Wily Writers Podcast: "Fear of Darkness" by Christine Danse. Fantasy, Fiction, Paranormal Romance. Text version also available. [via Parsec Awards]
"Alena Swift, hunter of creatures that stalk the night, is terrified of the dark–and in love with a shadow. When a terrible demon is unleashed upon San Francisco, it is up to her and her mysterious hunting partner to stop it."

Classic Serial Audio
@Triplanetary: The Adventures of Superman "Looking for Kryptonite parts 6-10"
"Helped by his friends, Batman and Robin, Superman pursues the mysterious gang whose symbol is a crescent and star. It's interesting to note that unlike today's Batman, who often uses the threat of torture to get criminals to talk, this Golden Age Batman instead gets info using a clever ruse. Odd, but clever. "