Fantastic Free Fiction

Some great free fiction today, including new fiction by some very big name writers, as well as classics and more. Many goodies for your eReader - even if your eReader is your computer.

An early heads up. Likely starting Monday or Tuesday, QuasarDragon will be adopting a much more streamlined look for the freebies posts. The amount of time spent on thumbnails and descriptions is causing me to fall behind in categories that deserve more attention.

Illustration from "The Dala Horse" below.








@Tor.com: "The Dala Horse" by Michael Swanwick. Fantasy.

"Long after the wars, there are things abroad in the world—things more than human. And they have scores to settle with one another"

@Tor.com: "Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes" by Michael Bishop.

"Dai had always wanted his own house, perhaps one that he built himself from the ground up—but not necessarily. After all, he’d built many structures in the past, either storage sheds or warehouses, each with its own purposes and symmetries, its own architectural eloquences and enduring specific satisfactions."

@Subterranean Press: "Valley of the Girls" by Kelly Link. Fantasy.

"[Hero], of course, knew something was up. Twins always know. Maybe she saw the way I watched her Face when there was an event and we all had to do the public thing."

@L5R: "Insurgency" by Shawn Carman. Fantasy.

The blindfold covering his eyes was completely saturated with seawater, and his clothes hung heavily on his frame, dripping with the essence of the ocean itself. The wind tore at his hair and threatened to rip his blindfold off, but he had wrapped it far too tightly for that. “Komori!” he roared above the sound of the sea and the thrashing of a huge, violent beast. He could feel its flesh rolling and pitching beneath his feet and hands. “Komori!”

Free Kindle Book @Pixel of Ink: "Right Ascension" by David Derrico. [via SF Signal]

"Set in the year 3040, Right Ascension explores mankind’s place in the Universe, how we ascended to that lofty position, and the horrifying price of that ascension."

Serial Fiction
@More Red Ink: "Kin (part 1 and Part 2)" by Bruce McAllister, from the February 2006 issue of Asimov's Science Fiction. [via SF Signal]

"The alien and the boy, who was twelve, sat in the windowless room high above the city that afternoon. The boy talked and the alien listened."

@More Red Ink: "Guerrilla Mural of a Siren's Song" by Ernest Hogan (Part 1 of 3)

"Like a miniature Jupiter gone insane, the paint-blob hangs in the middle of the room—a Jupiter whose tides and weather and powerful gravity snapped on the strain of the secret of its monstrous microscopic inhabitants"

Classic Science Fiction & Ghost Stories
@Internet Archive: "The Retreat to Mars" by Cecil B. White, from the August 1927 issue of Amazing Stories.

"An archaeologist discovers documents and artifacts from an advanced but deceased Martian civilization buried in the dark of Africa."

@Gutenberg:The Best Psychic Stories edited by Joseph Lewis French (1920).

Featuring stories by Jack London, Algernon Blackwood, Edgar Allan Poe, Ambrose Bierce and others.

@Gutenberg: "The Scapegoat" by Richard Maples, from Galaxy Science Fiction June 1956.

"Who would not have pity for a poor, helpless victim? Nobody —except another poor victim!"

@Munseys and Gutenberg: "The Huddlers" by William Campbell Gault, from If Worlds of Science Fiction May 1953.

"He was a reporter from Venus with an assignment on Earth. He got his story but, against orders, he fell in love—and therein lies this story."

@Munseys and Gutenberg: "The Victor" by Bryce Walton, from If Worlds of Science Fiction March 1953.

"Under the new system of the Managerials, the fight was not for life but for death! And great was the ingenuity of—The Victor."

Reviewed Free Fiction
@BestScienceFictionStories.com: "Mouja" by Matt London. Fantasy / Horror.

"From the window of his guard hut, Takashi Shimada watched the trees. Three of the mouja lurked at the edge of the forest on the far side of the rice paddies. Takashi could just make out their shapes through the thick misty rain that made the flooded paddies seem to boil. [. . .] It did not matter if they traveled one mile per day or a hundred. The dead were coming, and they carried with them a hunger for human flesh."

Free Fiction (Verne, Swirsky, VenderMeer, Vardeman), Comics, Fan Audio, More

Another day of cool freebies, and even though it has been a rough week here at QD (too little time and too much fatigue), the freebies must go on.

Some cool free fiction, including two complete 'zines and an Electric Velocipede classic. Continuing serial fiction by greats Jeff VanderMeer and Robert E. Vardeman. The start of an audio serial at StarShipSofa by also great Rachel Swirsky and a continuing one by Jules Verne (I think I might have heard of him) and Star Trek fan audio. And for the icing on the cake - some very fun classic comics.

Today's illustration is from "Plow and Sword" in the fiction section.







Now Posted: On the Premises #14 (July 2011). Speculative Fiction.
"Three-Quarter Martian" by C. R. Hodges. Science Fiction.

"The first man to walk on the moon was a hero to five generations. The first woman to walk on Mars was forgotten even before her boots plunked into the red dust."

"The Knuth Number" by Micah Joel. Science Fiction.

"Vivek dropped his naan. It actually worked?"

"Marma Shells" by Deborah Walker.

“I’ve seen the patterns, Marma. You said I should come and tell you, if I ever saw them.”

"Advertise Here" by Kelli D. Meyer.

"Vampires don’t pay much attention to advertising."

"Time Was" by Alyson Hilbourne. Science Fiction.

"The fractions disappeared first."

@Electric Velocipede: "The Bear Dresser’s Secret" by Richard Bowes. Fantasy.

"Early one morning Sigistrix the Bear Dresser left the Duchess and her castle. He gave no warning before he slammed the golden tricorn hat, the sign of a Grand Master of the Animal Dressers Guild onto his head and picked up his suitcase."

Now Posted: Aphelion June/July 2011. Science Fiction.

With science fiction by Francisco Mejia, E. S. Strout, P. B. Hampton, Andrew Nagel, C. B. Lovas, P. F. White, John Dougherty, Bruce Memblatt, Richard Tornello, David Barber, Kurt Heinrich Hyatt, Christopher Berry, Kurt Heinrich Hyatt, Benjamin Green, James O'Sullivan, George Morrow, Richard Tornello, Francis Bass, Mike Wilson, Jeremy Kuban, Dave Weaver, Dave Weaver, Matthew Acheson, and S. H. Hughes. (And poetry and filk music)

Serial Fiction
@Author's Site: "The Journals of Doctor Mormeck (Mountain)–Entry #12" by Jeff VanderMeer.

"Everything that rises must resolve. But when I drift, I drift, and a mountain can drift for a long time. A mountain can drift and still function. This language cannot convey the concept so I must repeat, must keep trying in different ways. I drift, I resolve, I fold inward while turning outward. No, it’s no use."

@Paizo.com: Pathfinder Tales "Plow and Sword - Chapter Two: The Lord's Due" by Robert E. Vardeman

"Rorr exploded through the wall of flames and stumbled past, finding relative cool beyond. The fire arrow had not yet spread its fury deeper into the granary, but he knew that the building and its grain stores were already far past saving."

Serial Audio
@StarShipSofa: "The Lady Who Plucked Red Flowers Beneath The Queen’s Window Pt 1 of 3" by Rachel Swirsky, read by Amy H. Sturgis.

"My story should have ended on the day I died. Instead, it began there. Sun pounded on my back as I rode through the Mountains where the Sun Rests. My horse’s hooves beat in syncopation with those of the donkey that trotted in our shadow. The queen’s midget Kyan turned his head toward me, sweat dripping down the red-and-blue protections painted across his malformed brow."

@Drama Pod: Journey to the Centre of the Earth - Part Fifteen by Jules Verne

The cool classic continues.

Fan Audio
@Pendant Productions: Episode 58 of Star Trek: Defiant.

"Murder and espionage are exposed as Captain Bridges vies with the Klingons for a world!"

@Atomic Kommie Comics:"Return of the Azteks" "Strong Bow meets up with Aztecs from the stars in this tale from Space Western Comics #42." Sci-Fi.




@Diversions of the Groovy Kind: "Slime World" cool black and white horror from Nightmare #5 and "Mr. Beazely's Ghosts" a ghost story from Ghost Manor.







@The Horrors of It All:"Master of the Undead" "Time to walk with the zombies, from the Sept. '53 issue of Baffling Mysteries #17" Horror.

Marie de France Audio and Other Fantasy and SF Freebies

A good mix of audio fiction today with both fiction stories having audio versions. Some very good stuff today, including a selection of Medieval fantasy stories by Marie de France, which is not nearly as stuffy as the title and art suggests. Really, could anyone write a stuffy werewolf story? The other freebies are cool too, but they already sound that way.

Comics and Classic SF to come later today or tomorrow.

Today's illustration is for "Emmett, Joey & The Beelz" in the audio section.








@Fantasy Magazine: "You Have Been Turned into a Zombie by a Friend" by Jeremiah Tolbert. Also in audio format read by Paul Boehmer.

"You know all about bending and breaking their terms of service; it would take some serious hacking, magical or mundane, to pull this off. But you suspect magic."

@Wily Writers: "Crucible" by Dan Rabarts. Also in audio format. Sci-Fi.

"After millennia spent crossing the galaxy, spawning new worlds out of barren wastes, meteorologist Cyran considers himself no longer a man, but a god. But when his lover Kayla betrays their ship, the Crucible, Cyran must choose between love and immortality as the life he has known spirals into chaos."

@Dunesteef: Episode 105 "Emmett, Joey & The Beelz" by Ralph Sevush. Fantasy.

"Seven years ago, loser drug-addict Joey and his bullying, hulking friend Emmett made a deal with the Beelz. The details are hazy, maybe something about a job, maybe something about a book, but now the word on the streets is that Beelz is back, and ready to collect."

@LibriVox: French Mediaeval Romances from the Lays of Marie de France translated by Eugene Mason, read by many readers. Fantasy.

"It is a certain thing, and within the knowledge of all, that many a christened man has suffered this change, and ran wild in woods, as a Were-Wolf. The Were-Wolf is a fearsome beast. He lurks within the thick forest, mad and horrible to see. All the evil that he may, he does. He goeth to and fro, about the solitary place, seeking man, in order to devour him. Hearken, now, to the adventure of the Were-Wolf, that I have to tell."

Serial Audio
@Author's Site: "The Starter chapter 20" by Scott Sigler. Science Fiction. Football.

"Quentin realizes he has to bond with the entire team -- not just the humans -- if the Krakens are going to change their losing ways. Sharing a meal with the huge and vicious Ki offensive linemen will prove to be a multicutural experience not soon forgotten."

Mike Resnik, Five Fiction eZines, Huge Comics Lists, All Free

Looking for something good to read? Wallet and/or purse empty? Then just keep reading because in the links below should be something for all readers.

Illustration from the Dark Horse Comics link below.













Now Posted: Enchanted Conversions Volume Two, Issue Two

"It's June according to the calendar, but in the land of Enchanted Conversation, it's cold and treacherous and filled with revenge. It's the "Snow White Poetry Issue," and it's very clear that our poets have read, and were inspired by, the ancient, dark versions of 'Snow White.'" Featuring fairy tale poetry by Katrina Robinson, Sarah Stasik, Ace G. Pilkington, Julia H. West, Rachel Ayers, Candace L. Barr, Deborah Walker, Lorraine Schein, Mary Meriam, and Frances McQuillan.

Now Posted: Allegory Volume 15/42 with Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror.

"Chet McKenzie and the Moment of Truth" by Meredith Galman
"The Urn" by John Barnes
"The Possibility of Flat Sea Ghosts" by P.F. White
"Skinny Jeans of the Zombie Apocalpyse" by Nicky Drayden
"The Manipulator" by Chris Stageman
"The Underbelly" by Danielle Abramsohn
"Pearl" by Stephanie Charette
"Preying for Help" by John C. Tremblay

@Aurora Wolf:
"Fairview 619" by Rebecca Schwarz.

"The house is quiet but not empty. Maybe an hour before sunrise, it’s one of my favorite times. While the system preference is to monitor all cameras simultaneously, I prefer to run them in sequence as if on patrol."

"God-Deaf" by Cheryl Barkauskas

"Yes, daughter, the Goddess replied. Her voice shimmered soundlessly. The question was rhetorical—Erai felt the divine presence like a warmth."

Now Posted: The Gloaming Magazine Volume 2, Issue 4: Wonderland June, 2011.

"Reverie" Milo James Fowler. Science Fiction.
"A Spriggan Moon" By Laura L. Hill. Fantasy.
"The Devil's Moccasins" By Madeline Bridgen. Horror.
"Pretty Simone" By Jamie Killen. Horror.
"Summer Jumpers" By A.J. Brown. Spec. Fiction.
"We Meet Again" By J.M. Ferguson. Horror.

Now Posted: Journal of Unlikely Entomology Issue 1.

"Here you will find Arachne, weaving for her lost love; a group of school children who are among the last witnesses to a dying world; an immortal cowboy, his most unusual horse, and the scorpion he tries to befriend; a world devoid of both mosquitoes and love; a museum, slowly being devoured from within; the rise of a new kind of humanity, triggered by an earworm of a song; and a terrifying childhood nightmare, made horribly real."

"Arachne" by J. M. McDermott
"Love in the Absence of Mosquitoes" by Mari Ness
"So Speaketh the Trauma Gods" by John Medaille
"Plague of Locusts" by Sylvia Spruck Wrigley
"Museum Beetles" by Simon Kewin
"They Wait" by Steve Barber
"The Cowboy, the Horse, and the Scorpion" by Nathaniel Lee

Serial Fiction
@More Red Ink: "The 43 Antarean Dynasties (Part 3 of 3)" by Mike Resnick.

When the Antareans learned that Man's Republic wish to annex their world, they gathered their army in Zanthu and then marched out onto the battlefield, 300,000 strong. They were the cream of the planet's young warriors, gold of eye, the reticulated plates of their skin glistening in the morning sun, prepared to defend their homeworld.

@Free SF Reader: Two mega-lists of free online comics, many of which fall into genres covered here (all in flash format, but you can't have everything). These lists are Dark Horse Comics, which includes Falling Skies shown above, but requires a free account, and the even larger list of other companies. (and of course you should check out the rest of the site while there).

ChiZine, Pathfinder Fiction, Eric James Stone Audio and More Freebies.

A bunch of good free fiction today, led off by ChiZine which has another batch of professional dark fiction out. Tor has a free story by Ken Macleod and there is another cool Daily Science Fiction Story up. There's a new 'zine, plus great serial and audio fiction in a variety of flavors. Probably other categories tonight.








@ChiZine: Volume 47, Week 12

"The Burn Victim" by Sarah Langan.

"“Your turn. Where to?” Henry asked. His lips shined with cheese grease, and I added slob to my mental list: Things I hate about Henry, # 32."

"Familiar Eyes" by Barry Hollander.

"Each time she returned, he killed her. She lurched from the woods again. By the time he grabbed an aluminum bat, she was fumbling with the back gate."

"Final Girl Theory" by A. C. Wise.

"Everyone knows the opening sequence of Kaleidoscope. Even if they’ve never seen any other part of the movie (and they have, even if they won’t admit it), they know the opening scene. "

"Grandmother" by Samantha Henderson.

"They’ve sunk a shaft deep in the dirt of the meadow and chained her there. Her hands are unbound, and she is very afraid. Fifty feet away and crouched in the ferns I can smell her fear."

"Hotline" by David Sakmyster.

"“Hotline Central. This is John. Talk to me.” He pressed the phone’s mute button for a moment as a sudden, long yawn struggled free. God, this night shift was an infuriating mixture of extremes—either the hours stretched on intolerably, requiring a superhuman capacity to remain awake, or else the phone rang incessantly with the tragic or the depressed and their cries of woe."

"Machina" by An Owomoyela.

"We gave up on AI long before the war. Not to say we didn’t come close. We made good strides: diagnostic doctors, air traffic assistants, anything that could be sorted through a rubric or summited with pure computational power"

"Mindfuck" by Donald Jacob Uitvlugt.

"Will Hartford pressed his way through the crowd gathered in front of his dorm. Two paramedics guided a gurney down the steps. Will’s roommate Devon was on the gurney, asleep or unconscious. Will rubbed the dataplug at the base of his skull."

"Night is a Clear Green Gem" by Darren Speegle.

"Ah, back again. And the night that same emerald I remember. The reflections of the Mediterranean dancing on every surface, from the volcanic rock formations of the shore to the silky dome of the September sky. All radiating from a central, as yet invisible beacon below: the Church of Absinthe, whose bottle-stocked chancel faces out over the sea like the prow of a mighty ghost ship."

"The Third Bride" by David de Beer.

"Gaby walked down the aisle towards the man who’d killed her sisters. You are stone."

@Tor.com: "Earth Hour" by Ken Macleod. Science Fiction.

"There are ever so many ways to conduct a war. Only a few of them look like war."

Sci-Fi Freedom has its fourth quarterly issue online, showcasing up and coming talent. It looks very good, though reading online flash is beyond the capabilities of my clunky computer.

Online Here [via SF Signal]




@Daily Science Fiction: "Blivet in the Temporal Lobes" by Dave Raines.

"June put her nametag on. It was blank. She stepped past the flying carpet hovering beside her bed and whistled. On the wall, the pages of the calendar flapped past April and May, held themselves open until the name "June" could wiggle out from under the mountain wildflowers and attach itself to her nametag."

Serial Fiction
@Paizo.com: "The Ironroot Deception Chapter Four: The Beast" by Robin D. Laws.

"The weirdness of the creature's distant cries washes over the prisoners like a crashing wave. The elves have arrayed themselves behind them. With swords outstretched, they impel the captives into the newly revealed inner chambers of the Ironroot."

@Philippine Genre Stories: "The Confessional (Part 2)" by Cyan Abad-Jugo. Science Fiction.

"Around him, the Eve’s festivities went on, people crowding around the glassed-in balconies of the townrise to view the endless volumetric displays hovering in the synthetic heavens above the yearly re-imagined wilderness, but a dark blot spread in his mind and blinded him to all."

@StarShipSofa: "That Leviathan, Whom Thou Hast Made" by Eric James Stone, read by Mike Allen. (Nebula nominated story)

"Sol Central Station floated amid the fusing hydrogen of the solar core, 400,000 miles under the surface of the sun, protected only by the thin shell of an energy shield, but that wasn’t why my palm sweat slicked the plastic pulpit of the station’s multidenominational chapel."

Serial Audio
@The Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences: "Night’s Plutonian Shore" Part One by Jack Mangan.

"This epic tale opens in 1849 when a poet is murdered in the streets of Baltimore. The man behind the seemingly random murder manages to elude the law until — in 1889 — Agents Bruce Campbell and Brandon Hill track him down. The assassin, Mikael Scharnusser, gives the slip to the agents on revealing his “talent” and the madman’s intentions to bring down the House of Usher."

Fan Audio

	@Pendant Productions: Issue 5 of Green Arrow: Shooting Star. Ollie and Dinah spar with lovers and each other while a tip-off leads them to a crime ring!
	@Pendant Productions: Issue 65 of Wonder Woman: Champion of Themyscira.

Diana strives to build peace while Doctor Psycho powers up and General Lane bulldozes INSCOM!