Celebrating the Births . . . Peter Orullian and Elizabeth Stuart Phelps

Peter Orullian (Born 31 August 1969)
 An Epic Fantasy writer best known for for The Unremembered, the first novel in The Vault of Heaven series. His short fiction has appeared at Tor.com, in Orson Scott Card's InterGalactic Medicine Show, and in various anthologies. Some of his short fiction, all set in the world of  The Vault of Heaven, is available free online.







Fiction
 At Tor.com:

• "Sacrifice of the First Sheason" Fantasy.
     "introduces a world of long, tragic history in which there are no easy answers, and many mysteries that will be revealed, each in its own time"

• "The Great Defense of Layosah" Fantasy.
      "Layosah Reyal sat at her kitchen table across from the two visitors, and ignored them. In her arms, her baby started to cry. She whispered softly to Audra to sootheher, as the two soldiers from the Recityv army patiently waited."

•  "The Battle of the Round" Fantasy.
     "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. But to make the lad whole—if it could be done at all—would cost him greatly; he’d have to use much of his own spirit to do it"

• At Terry Brooks.net: "A Creed, a Word, and a Blade of Grass" by Peter Orullian. Fantasy.
     "The familiar glow of candlelight was the only companion allowed to Ja’Nene Lorashe in the private library of the League of Civility. At the canted surface of a semi-circular desk, she sat carefully examining passages from damaged texts. The words written on the old parchments proved hard to read by candlelight."

Webisodes
• At Author's Site: "Cradle of the Scar"
      "And I wrote this six-part webisode series entitled "Cradle of the Scar" with a particular idea in mind. I wanted to write more about the Scarred Lands in the world of The Vault of Heaven. And I also wanted to try my hand at pivoting several unique points of view around the same event, much like the film Vantage Point."

 Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward (1844–1911)
       "She was one of the first American feminist authors and intellectuals to publish several books that challenged traditional Calvinist upbringing. Immediately after the Civil War, she published The Gates Ajar in 1868. It interpreted the afterlife as a place where families meet and live together rather than meet God and was tremendously popular." - Wikipedia.. He primary contribution to spaeculative ficti was through her ghost stories, including the popular "Kentucky Ghost" contained in Men, Women, and Ghosts.

Fiction
• At Project Gutenberg: Men, Women, and Ghosts 1869.
     "It was somewhere about twenty years ago last October, if I recollect fair, that we were laying in for that particular trip to Madagascar. I've done that little voyage to Madagascar when the sea was like so much burning oil, and the sky like so much burning brass, and the fo'castle as nigh a hell as ever fo'castle was in a calm; I've done it when we came sneaking into port with nigh about every spar gone and pumps going night and day; and I've done it with a drunken captain on starvation rations"

A Small Start to the Day's Free Fiction

Just a few goodies so far, but there's more to come.





Fiction
• At Nightmare: "Nightcrawlers"  by Robert McCammon. Horror.
     "'Hard rain coming down,' Cheryl said, and I nodded in agreement. Through the diner’s plate-glass windows, a dense curtain of rain flapped across the Gulf gas pumps and continued across the parking lot. It hit Big Bob’s with a force that made the glass rattle like uneasy bones."

• At Tor.com: "Swift, Brutal Retaliation" by Meghan McCarron.
      "a ghost story that cautions one against trying to win a ghostly prank war against one’s dead big brother. You can’t win that sort of war, only survive it."

Flash Fiction

• At Daily Science Fiction: "Memories of Forgetting" by Kenneth S Kao. Fantasy.
• At Every Day Fiction: "A Baker’s Dozen Loaves of Bread" by Laura Beasley. Fantasy.
• At 365 Tomorrows: "Never Going Home" by Jae Miles. Science Fiction.

The Ghosts of Sunday Free Free Fiction

 A few goodies for you today, including audio fiction "Short Ghost and Horror Story Collection 021" at Libtivox:  More later.







Fiction
E-Books at Free E-Books Daily.

• Treehugger by Kea Alwang. YA Fantasy,
• The Shadow in the Garden by Braden McElroy. Christian Fantasy. 

• Flash Fiction at 365 Tomorrows: "Used and Abused" by Nicholas Short. Science Fiction.

Audio
• At The Fantastic Worlds of Edgar Rice Burroughs: "Episode 06 - The People That Time Forgot"
        "Tom Billings, lost in Caspak, has rescued and allied himself with Ajor – a beautiful Galu girl who is making her way north back to her tribe. Tom accompanies her."

• At SFFaudio: "The Risk Profession" by Donald E. Westlake. Science Fiction.
     "The men who did dangerous work had a special kind of insurance policy. But when somebody wanted to collect on that policy the claims investigator suddenly became a member of… The Risk Profession."

• At LibriVox: Short Ghost and Horror Story Collection 021

• "The Bad Old Woman In Black" by Lord Dunsany.
• "Coco" by Guy de Maupassant.
• "The Mysterious Mansion" by Honore de Balzac
• "The Upper Berth" by Francis Marion Crawford. 
• "The Squaw" by Bram Stoker.
• "Transition" by Algernon Blackwood.
• "At the Gate" by Myla Jo Closser.
• "Lycanthropus" by C. Edgar Bolen.
• "The Night Wire" by H. F. Arnold. 
• "The Haunted Cove" by George Douglas.
• "The Tractate Middoth" by M. R. James, 
• "The Music on the Hill" by H. H. Munro (Saki)  
• "The Insanity of Jones" by Algernon Blackwood. 
• "The Monster-Maker" by W. C. Morrow.
• "The Fortunes of Sir Robert Ardagh" by J. Sheridan Le Fanu.
• "The Open Window" by H H Munro.
• "The Diary of Philip Westerly" by Paul Compton.
• "El Verdugo (The Executioner)" by Honore De Balzac.
• "The Bold Dragoon" by Washington Irving.
• "The Tomb of Heiri" by A. C. Benson.

• OTR at Journey Into: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury -CBC Stage. Science Fiction.

Other Genres

• Flash Fiction at Every Day Fiction: "Hometown Hero, Gone for Good" by Daniel Ausema.
• Mythology at Project: Fairy Taies from Spain by J. Munoz Escomez. 1913.

Some Free Fiction This Way Comes

So much good stuff today!  There's a two great new stories at Tor.com, and a great new story at Baen. Two serials reach there conclusions - "The Comet" by (A co-founder of the NAACP) and  "A Matter of Knives" by Ed Greenwood (The creator of Forgotten Realms).  Nightmare Magazine and StarShipSofa have their latest stories up - both sites always awesome. A new issue of Planetary is posted and there are great e-books, flash fiction, and comics!

A hearty hat tip to two cool Canadian bloggers, Jesse Willis of SFFaudio from which I found a cool audio fiction site The Moon Lens to link to now and in the future, and Regan Wolfrom of SF Signal which I swiped an e-book link from today.

Today's art is for Star Soldiers a classic by SF/Fantasy legend Andre Norton! Get it while it is still free.


Fiction
• At Baen: "Haunts of Guilty Minds" by John Lambshead. Science Fiction.
      "He held the gun in two hands at a low chest height using the fast “double tap” pistol technique developed by the SOE, Churchill’s Special Operations Executive. Urban encounters with the SS proved speed and firepower more useful than target-shooting accuracy. Holographic targets flicked in and out around him as he moved through the battle range, an exercise area rigged out like an office suite. The targets weren’t exactly human but he didn’t really look at them. This was a free-fire exercise where everything that moved was hostile."

• At HiLobrow: "The Comet - part 5" by W.E.B. Du Bois. Science Fiction. (1920)
      "He did not glimpse the glory in her eyes, but stood looking outward toward the sea and sending rocket after rocket into the unanswering darkness. Dark-purple clouds lay banked and billowed in the west. Behind them and all around, the heavens glowed in dim, weird radiance that suffused the darkening world and made almost a minor music."

• At HiLobrow: "The Clockwork Man - part 14" by E.V. Odle. Science Fiction. (1923)
     “I’m afraid I put you to great inconvenience,” murmured the visitor, still yawning and rolling about on the couch. “The fact is, I ought to be able to produce things — but that part of me seems to have gone wrong again. I did make a start — but it was only a flash in the pan. So sorry if I’m a nuisance.”

• At Nightmare Magazine: "The God of the Razor"  by Joe R. Landsdale. Horror.
     "Richards arrived at the house about eight. The moon was full and it was a very bright night, in spite of occasional cloud cover; bright enough that he could get a good look at the place. It was just as the owner had described it. Run down. Old. And very ugly. The style was sort of Gothic, sort of plantation, sort of cracker box. Like maybe the architect had been unable to decide on a game plan, or had been drunkenly in love with impossible angles."

• At Paizo: "A Matter of Knives - Chapter Three: An End to All Skulking Games" by Ed Greenwood. Fantasy.
      "From her hiding place behind a stack of shipping crates, Tantaerra leaned forward, trying to get as close to the conversation as possible without being seen. Bendrar was Loryn Garldrake's son, and the woman giving orders had to be Semdeira Sarpent."

• At Tor.com: "The Stranger" by Anna Banks.
      "The Syrena don’t trust many humans. Rachel is one of them. The story of how Galen met her—and how they bonded—is both exciting and heartbreaking."

• At Tor.com: "Burning Girls" by Veronica Schanoes. Dark Fantasy.
      "about a Jewish girl educated by her grandmother as a healer and witch growing up in an increasingly hostile environment in Poland in the late nineteenth century. In addition to the natural danger of destruction by Cossacks, she must deal with a demon plaguing her family."

• Now Posted: Planetary #28. Science Fiction.

"Krax Delivered" by Joel Zaptman.
     "She fought for freedom!"
"Incident on Titus Thirteen" by J Eckert Lytle
     "He went fishing and caught aliens" 
"Dragon Sword" by Jerry Johns
     "Was he using the dragons...or were they using him?"

Flash Fiction

• At Daily Science Fiction: "City of Chrysanthemum" by Ken Liu.  
• At Every Day Fiction: "The Game" by Tiffany John. Science Fiction.
• At The Moon Lens: "Shadwell Stair" by Wilfred Owen. Audio Horror. Poem.
• At 365 Tomorrows: "Dis’ Country" by James Zahardis. Science Fiction.

E-Books
• At Amazon: Province Five (The Golden String) by Al Vickers. Science Fiction. [Via SF Signal]
At Free eBooks Daily:

• Demon Trap by P.S. Power. Fantasy.
• Triangle: False Mirror by D. G. Speirs. 
• Shadow of the Sun by Merrie P. Wycoff. Paranormal Historical Fiction.
• The Cage by Jason Brannon. Horror.
• A Gateway Made Of Bone by Iain Grant. Fantasy.
• Machines of Easy Virtue by Jack Price. Mystery/Sci-Fi.
• Wanted by Jason Halstead. Science Fiction.
• Star Soldiers by Andre Norton. Science Fiction. 
• Dead and Moaning in Las Vegas by Brandon Meyers. Zombies.
• Wake Me When the Sun Goes Down by Lisa Olsen. Horror.

At Smashwords:

• "Two Percent Power" by Brian Manning, Fantasy.
• "Luck Of The Claw" by Matthew Gill. Adventure.
• Tail of the Dragon by Timothy Reihm. Fantasy. 98k words.
• "How (Not) to Play with Magic" by Elizabeth A Reeves. Paranormal.
• "The Sickening King (The Grid 2)" by Amy Cross. Fantasy.
• "Old Shock" by David Senior. Horror.
• "Corpse Garden" by Ana Patrick. Horror.
• "Shred - Cuts of Flesh" by Jacob Prytherch. Horror.
• City of Whispers by Katherine Sorin. Horror. Vampires. 67k words.
• JON-29 by Gary Mark Lee. Science Fiction. 63k words.
• "Europa" by Gene Denham. Sciencr Fiction.
• "Shelter" by George Page III. Science Fiction.

Audio Fiction
• At The Moon Lens: "The Man Who Went Too Far" by EF Benson. Horror.
      "The little village of St. Faith's nestles in a hollow of wooded till up on the north bank of the river Fawn in the country of Hampshire, huddling close round its grey Norman church as if for spiritual protection against the fays and fairies, the trolls and "little people," who might be supposed still to linger in the vast empty spaces of the New Forest, and to come after dusk and do their doubtful businesses."

• At StarShipSofa: "Philosophy of Ships" by Caroline M. Yoachim. Science Fiction.
     "The philosophy of ships being the question : if a ship has its planking replaced plank by plank over a period of years, when does it become a new ship? Yoachim applies this to humanity – once we have ultimate control of the biological self, and can engage and share/merge with others in virtual space, what is it that is the essence of humanity."

Comics

• At Atomic Kommie Comics: "First Man in History Who Could Not Die"  Science Fiction. (1951)
• At Atomic Kommie Comics:"Plaything" Science Fiction. (1953)
• At Diversions of the Groovy Kind:"The Rubber Ball Project" Adventure. (1976).
• At Four-Color Shadows: "A Little Pain Never Hurt Anybody" Horror. (1953)
• At Four-Color Shadows: "Attila the Hun" Adventure. (1952)
• At The Horrors of It All: "Greatest Horror of Them All! / The Fanged Freak" Horror. (1975/1954)
• At The Horrors of It All: "The Head of the Family!" Horror. (1954)
• At Pappy's Golden Age Blogzine: "Tomorrow's War" Science Fiction. (1952)

“To Err is Human, Free Fiction is Divine.”

There's even more great, free speculative fiction than usual today.  Be sure to check out those that sound interesting, and save everything that you can.



[Art from "Creatures of the Abyss" by Murray Leinster in audio fiction below]






Fiction
• At AE: "Put Out Every One" by Rich Larson.
      "The petrol leaks, dripping small craters into cool sand. The smell burns up inside Elliot’s nose. There’s a half-man lying at his feet, blurry in the dark. He is breathing hard. He is staring upward. There’s no starlight, but the sand glistens radioactive and Beasley provides some light where he stands beside Elliot, his skin glowing like a tribal god."

• At Buzzy Mag: "A Meek And Thankful Heart" by Jeff Somers.
     "The other customers of the Morgue knew him and regarded him as a weirdo. They didn’t notice anything different about him aside from the fact that he was taking up valuable bar space he usually had the good sense to abandon."

• At The Colored Lens: "No More Horizons – Part 2" by Adam C. Richardson.
      "'I’ll tell you why.' She rolled over to glare at me. 'You wouldn’t tell me because you’re a reporter, because you have to be the first one on the scene, so you can get the scoop on everyone else. Your journalist’s instinct is one thing, but you could at least mention it to your wife.'"

• At HiLobrow: "The Comet - part 4" by W.E.B. Du Bois. Science Fiction. (1920).
      "She stopped. She was alone. Alone! Alone on the streets — alone in the city — perhaps alone in the world! There crept in upon her the sense of deception — of creeping hands behind her back — of silent, moving things she could not see, — of voices hushed in fearsome conspiracy."

• At Lightspeed: "Mono No Aware"  by Ken Liu. Science Fiction.
     "The world is shaped like the kanji for umbrella, only written so poorly, like my handwriting, that all the parts are out of proportion."

• At Lightspeed: "The Huntsman" by Megan Arkenberg. Fantasy.
      "It’s the best bargain you’ll get in this town,” the faery woman says. She’s standing by a cracked kitchen sink with mold between the tiles, rinsing diced tomatoes and crooked green jalapeño rings. “A heart for a heart. And my heart’s more than what she’s used to, I’ll tell you that. You couldn’t find better if you went door-to-door from every house in the tithe-projects.”

• At Tor.com: "A Visit to the House on Terminal Hill" by Elizabeth Knox.
     "Tom Teal and Albert Barnes are government employees tasked with visiting a hard-to-reach house and convincing its inhabitant, a member of the Zarene family that controls the whole valley, that a large dam project is a good idea. But the Zarenes have their own way of doing things, and they don’t take kindly to outsiders…."

Flash Fiction

• At Daily Science Fiction: "Note to Self" by Hans Hergot.
• At 365 Tomorrows: "An Offer He Couldn’t Refuse" by Clint Wilson. Science Fiction.

E-Books
At Free eBooks Daily:

• The Rainbow Z by Zaria Garrison. Science Fiction.
• Change by Melissa Stevens. Fantasy.
• The Rush by Rachel Higginson. YA Paranormal.
• Dissever by Colee Firman. Paranormal.
• Dust to Dust: Fangs For Your Memories by Eden Crowne. Paranormal Romance.
• Dark County by Kit Tinsley. Horror.
• Becoming Sarah by Miranda Simon. Coming of Age Fantasy.
• Justice by Rhiannon Paille. YA Fantasy.
• The Journey of Secrets by J Robberts. Fantasy.
• Dimensional Shift: Waters of Babylon by Michelle Stone. Science Fiction/
• The Ghost of Josiah Grimshaw by Suzy Turner. YA Paranormal.
• Into Uncharted Seas by E. C. Williams. Science Fiction. 
• Faelorehn by Jenna Elizabeth Johnson. YA Paranormal Romance.
• Promise by Kristie Cook. Paranormal Romance.
• The Immortal American by L.B. Joramo. Historical Fantasy.
• Atazia by John Petts. YA Fantasy.
• The Vampires Of Livix Twin Pack by J Gordon Smith. Vampire Romance.
• Paranormal Legacy by Caitlin Hensley. YA Fantasy.
• Greenshift by Heidi Ruby Miller. SciFi Romance.
• Clandestine by Nicole Rae. YA Paranormal.

At Smashwords:

• "Blood Shadow: Book of Manuel" by Phil Wohl. Contemporary Fantasy.
• "Risky Enchantment" by Oona Roberts. Urban Fantasy.
• "Curse of Witch and War" by Matt Larkin. Epic Fantasy.
• "The Last Zoo" by Sara Zaske. Fantasy.
• "A Clone Of His Own" by Rik Hunik. Fantasy.
• "Feline Savior" by Kevin L. O'Brien. Paranormal.
• "Sky" by N. E. White. Fantasy.
• "Into the Weird: Nine Tales and then Four More" by Harry Kane. Weird.
• "The Final Flight of the Phaseship Lelantos" by Cory Mccoy. Space Opera.
• "The Hyacinth Rescue" by Rudolph Kohn, Jr. Science Fiction.
• "Wired For War" by J.D. Gallagher. Science Fiction. 66k words.
• "Ripples" by John Mc Caffrey. Horror. Ghost.
• "The Man Who Unzipped His Face" by Gareth Pryce. Horror.
• "Libertines: A Horror Story" by Grant Palmquist. Horror. Occult.
• "The Housefull Fear Room : The Journey" by Ridhwanul Haque. Weird.
• "The Boy Who Melted" by Travis McBee. Horror.
• "Heather" by Siobhan Harper. Horror.

Audio Fiction
• 19 Nocturne Boulevard: "Survival Tactics" by Al Sevcik. Science Fiction.
      "The robots were built to serve Man; to do his work, see to his comforts, make smooth his way. Then the robots figured out an additional service—putting Man out of his misery."  - from Amazing Science Fiction Stories October 1958

• At LibriVox: Creatures of the Abyss by Murray Leinster.
      "'The things that listen', whispered the superstitious fishermen when the strange occurrences began off the Philippine coast. How else explain the sudden disappearance of a vessel beneath a mysterious curtain of foam? The writhings of thousands of maddened fish trapped in a coffin-like area of ocean?"

• At LibriVox:: Treasure Island (dramatic reading)  by Robert Louis Stevenson. Adventure.
      "When a rough old seaman calling himself "the Captain" appears at the inn owned by Jim Hawkins' father, young Jim little dreams what adventures will follow in the man's wake. Soon, the once-peaceful inn is threatened by pirates, Jim's father is laid in his grave, and Jim finds himself in possession of a map showing the location of treasure buried by the legendary and notorious Captain Flint" 

• At Lightspeed: "The Huntsman" by Megan Arkenberg. Fantasy.
      Described Above

• At Protecting Project Pulp: "The Problem of Cell 13" by Jacques Futrelle
     "'Let’s suppose a case,” he said, after a moment. “Take a cell where prisoners under sentence of death are confined—men who are desperate and, maddened by fear, would take any chance to escape—suppose you were locked in such a cell. Could you escape?'
     'Certainly,' declared The Thinking Machine".- first published in 1905.

Old Time Radio

• At Plot Spot: "The Other Man" - 2000 Plus, "The Signal-Man" - Columbia Workshop, "The Potters of Firsk" by Jack Vance - Dimension X, "The Moon Moth" by Jack Vance - Seeing Ear Theatre.
• At Relic Radio: "The Robot Killer" on 2000 Plus.

Comics

• At Atomic Kommie Comics: "Death on the Earth-Mars Run!" Sci-Fi. (1952)
• At Atomic Kommie Comics: "Mission into Time" Sci-Fi. (1952)
• At The Horrors of It All: "Burn, Miser, Burn / Money Hungry" Horror. (1953/1971)
• At Pappy's Golden Age Comics Blogzine: "My City Is No More!" Sci-Fi. A-Bomb. (1947)

Other Genres

• Audio at Author's Site: "The Second Bat Guano War Chapters 1-5" by J. M. Porup. [via Scott Sigler]
• Flash Fiction at Every Day Fiction: "The Waitress’s Tattoo" by Daniel Schoonmaker.

Better Late Than Never

More great freebies- enjoy the weekend! May or may not post tomorrow.






Fiction
• At Baen: "To Spec" by Charles E. Gannon. Science Fiction.
       "Mendez, the newest guy in the squad, had been jumpy ever since the worsening solar weather updates started coming in. The most recent message—that Priestley’s replacement wouldn’t show up for at least another three hours—just made him more anxious. As Eureka command post signed off, Grim saw Mendez hold his new rifle—a flimsy piece of experimental junk called the Cochrane XM 1—a bit too tightly."

• At Buzzy Mag: "The Clean War" by Shelly Li and Ken Liu.
     "I’m not a soldier. I’m just a woman who programs computers. I don’t know what I’m doing. This was a mistake!"

• At Daily Science Fiction: "Spirit Gum" by Mike Resnick & Jordan Ellinger. 
      "Before he was The Great Bellini he was just plain old Malcolm Bell. He had a knack for magic tricks--illusions, he called them--and what had been a hobby became a profession."

• At Silver Blade: "The Guild of Swordsmen: Part 8" by Kristin Janz. Fantasy.
     "Lida suspected that her fourth match was not going to be won as easily as her first three.  She had the bad luck to have been paired against the big man she had hidden behind out on the plaza, the tallest and heaviest swordsman in the entire competition."

Flash Fiction

• At Every Day Fiction: "Abasteron House" by Paula Cappa. Horror.
• At 365 Tomorrows: "Relativity" by Patricia Stewart. Science Fiction.
• At Every Day Fiction: "The Place I Once Called Home" by Holly Jennings. Science Fiction.

E-Books
At Amazon: Essential Reading in Science Fiction by  David Scholes.

At Free eBooks Daily.

• Prison Nation by Jenni Merritt. Science Fiction.
• Fire & Ice by Patty Jansen. Fantasy.
• Alaskan Fire by Sara King. Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy.
• The Dress by Sophie Nicholls. Fantasy Romance.
• Gadgets by Kimberly Richardson. Fantasy.
• Dark Genesis by A D Koboah. Paranormal Romance.
• Forever Young by Sawyer Bennett. YA Paranormal.
• Trail of Bones by Chris Salisbury. Fantasy.
• On the Edge of Humanity by S.B. Alexander. YA Fantasy, Vampires.

At Smashwords:

• "Tooth & Claw" by Melody Hewson. 2k words.  Fantasy.
• A Spell Cast Volumes One, Two, and Three by Tessa Stokes. YA Fantasy Romance.
• "Given to Glass" by Brian Wheeler. 4k words. Fantasy.
• "Fatal Vision" by Mark Masters. 2k words. Horror.
• "The Gold Watch" by Rik Hunik. 5k words. Horror. Ghost.
• "For Joyce" by J T Pearson. 2k words. Horror. Weird.
• "My Brother's Keeper" by J T Pearson. 6k words. Science Fiction.
• "The Gravity of the Situation" by Tina Shelton. 8k words. Science Fiction.
• C-Shapes by Matthew Fish. 71 k words.Science Fiction.

Audio Fiction
• At Beware the Hairy Mango:  "The Piñata Club" by Matthew Sanborn Smith. Weird.
     No Description

• At Desert Gems Audio: "Porter of Baghdad Part I" from Sir Richard Burton's 1001 Arabian Nights.Adventure. Fantasy.
     "a handsome young  porter who is accosted by a beautiful young lady who needs his services at the market while shopping. As he is invited into her home, he haplessly stumbles into an drunken bacchanal at the house of her two sisters, on the condition he asks no questions of any goings on in the house."

• At Clarkesworld: "The Last Survivor of the Great Sexbot Revolution" by A.C. Wise.
     "She’s not what you expected, Alma May Anderson, the last survivor of the Great Sexbot Revolution. For one thing, her eyes are bluer. She must be a hundred if she’s a day, but her eyes are the blue of puddle-broken neon, and a postcard ocean, and the sky at noon."

• At Journey Into: "Fire Watch" by Connie Willis. Science Fiction. 
     "Young Bartholomew is a graduate student in history from a future Oxford who is assigned to travel back in time to join and study the famous Fire Watch Brigade-the volunteer corps whose brave members kept St. Paulâs Cathedral from being burned to the ground by Nazi incendiaries."

• At LibriVox: The Jewels of Aptor by Samuel R. Delany. Science Fiction.
      " Set several centuries after the Great Fire -- a nuclear holocaust -- a young woman seeks her destiny with the help of a four-armed youth."

• At PodCastle: "Throwing Stones" by Mishell Baker. Fantasy.
     "In the city of Jiun-Shi the third shift was known as the goblin watch, but some of us were not very watchful. I, for one, was so absorbed in the daily details of living a lie that it took me three months to learn that one of the regulars at the Silver Fish Teahouse was a goblin. By the time our paths collided three years later, I had been promoted to third-shift manager, and my lie had been promoted to widely established fact."

• At Pseudopod: "Entrance And Exit / The Terror Of The Twins" by Algernon Blackwood. Horror.
      "“Entrance And Exit” was originally published February 13, 1909 in The Westminster Gazette and republished in TEN MINUTE STORIES in 1914. “The Terror Of The Twins” was originally published November 6, 1909 in the same newspaper and republished in 1910 in THE LOST VALLEY AND OTHER STORIES."

• At Tales to Terrify: "Episode #62" Horror.
     “Cemetery Water” by Frances Snowder and “Ghost in the Graveyard” by Tim Waggoner.

Other Genres

• Audio at The Classic Tales Podcast: "The Man Who Knew Too Much" Part 6 of 8 by G.K. Chesterton. 
• Audio at Craftlit: "Jane Eyre, Chapters 25" by Charlotte Brontë.
• Fiction at Online Pulps: "Traitor Patrol" by Peter Barrett (1937) and "Wake Up and Die!" by Robert Turner (1947). Pulp/Noir.
• Flash Fiction at Every Day Fiction: "Kid Gloves" by Justin N Davies. Suspense.
• At Flash Fiction Friday: "Cycle 119 – The Good Guy Stories"

Rambo, Sigler, and other Great Free Fiction

An especially good, varied collection of freebies this time! More tomorrow. 

[Art from “Waking the Taniwha” linked in fiction and audio fiction below]




Fiction
• At Cast of Wonders: "A Song for the Season" by Eliza Hirsch. YA.
      "The sun came out today, and for the first time in five months our song returned. It changes once every three years. This time, the melody sounds slower, a little bit sad. Long, low notes shake my chest when I stand too close to the forest's edge."

• At Daily Science Fiction: "Fidelity" by Ben Heldt.
     "The flickering light of the television cast Henry's shadow across the darkened room, and across me. Through the speakers a steady voice called time to t minus zero. The rockets fired. Henry gasped, though he didn't move."

• At L5R: "Collaborations" by Shawn Carman. Fantasy.
      "Under different circumstances, the Scorpion warrior mused, the location might be quite beautiful. He could easily imagine spending an afternoon meditating by the quietly babbling waters of the nearby stream. But of course he could never trust the place, despite its innocuous appearance."

• At Weird Fiction Review: "The Black Pool" by Frederick Stuart Greene.
      "But it is not the dead trees, towering bark-stripped and bleached, that halt the trespasser; in the glen to the right, hidden from the road, lies the dread spot of the neighbourhood. Here, shut in by crowded locust trees, their scraggy tops thrust high above a thicket of underbrush and cat-briar, gleams the somber surface of the Black Pool."

• At Wily Writers:“Waking the Taniwha” by Dan Rabarts.
     "When the search for a missing ship becomes a desperate race with an unknown creature across New Zealand’s untamed wilderness, how far will one man go to rein in both the monsters roaming the wild, and those lurking within himself?"

Flash Fiction

• At Every Day Fiction: "Not the Pizza Girl" by Michelle Ann King. Fantasy.
• At Flashes in the Dark: "No Witness" by E.F. Schraeder. Horror.
• At 365 Tomorrows: "Eviction Notice" by Desmond Hussey. Science Fiction.

E-Books
At Free eBooks Daily:

• Blood Lust by Jessica L. Degarmo. Vampires. 
• The Wolfs Maine by Jinni James. Paranormal Romance.

At Smashwords:

• "The Guild" by Steve Smy. 7340 words. Fantasy.
• "Stars of the Shoemaker" by Brian Wheeler. 5070 words. Contemporary Fantasy.
• "Hemlock: Shadow Pages" by Sean-Michael Argo. 16850 words. Paranormal. 
• "The Price You Pay" by Michelle Sonnier. 5450 words. Fantasy.
• "In the Land of Plenty" by Michelle Sonnier. 3950 words. Fantasy. 
• "A Note Below (A Lansin Island Short Story)" by Andrew ButcherPrice: 12370 words. Paranormal.
• "Emma White" by M.C Queen. 2850 words. Ghost story.
• "Tranquilllity and Shadows" by Sarah Hastings. 20630 words. Horror.
• "Dead College" by Kent Reaper. 9350 words. Horror. Undead. 
• "The Plan and Other Short Stories" by Stephen Brandon. 42940 words. Science Fiction.
• "The Gravity of the Situation" by Tina Shelton. 8300 words. Science Fiction.
• "Glampire" by Chris Dolley. 8710 words. Science Fiction. 
• "The Final Battle" by Nagraj Rao. 3350 words. Science Fiction.
• "Gavin's Big Date" by Melinda Bardon. 2930 words. Science Fiction.
• "UFO 1955" by Marvin Perkins. 1460 words. Science Fiction. .

Audio Fiction
• At Author's Site: "The MVP Episode #22" by Scott Sigler. Science Fiction. Football.
     "The Krakens squre off against arch-rivals the OS1 Orbiting Death. A loss here, and the season is all but over. John Tweedy tries to bridge the inter-species cultural barrier by giving the Prawatt with a rousing halftime speech."

• At Beam Me Up: "Know How Can Do pt2" by Michael Blumlein and "In Plain Sight #18" by Jason Kahn.

• At Cast of Wonders:"A Song for the Season" by Eliza Hirsch. YA.
     Described Above.

• At Drabblecast: "Amid the Words of War" by  Cat Rambo.
     "Every few day-cycles, it receives hate-scented lace in anonymous packages. It opens the bland plastic envelope to pull one out, holding the delicate fragment between two forelimbs. Contemplating it before folding it again to put away in a drawer. Four drawers filled so far; the fifth is halfway there." 

• At Dunesteef: "Linger" by Sam Schreiber. Fantasy. Horror.
     "The phone rings in the middle of the night . . . and it’s time for Levi Keller to do his work once again. You see, sometimes he has to visit with someone after an “accident,” and let them know where they stand."

• At Journey Into: "The Age-Old Question" by Christopher Munroe.
      "Never ask a woman her age, yet a young husband feels compelled to do just that."

• At Toasted Cake: "The Cold Beyond the Pools" by Steven R. Stewart.
      "The shining ones came and took us from the boiling acid pools."

• At Wily Writers:“Waking the Taniwha” by Dan Rabarts.
      Described Above

Other Genres:

• Audio at CraftLit: Jane Eyre - Chapter 24 by Charlotte Brontë.
• Audio at Crime City Central: "Death Mouth" by Amy Sayre-Roberts.
• Fiction at Online Pulps: "Write This Way for Murder!" by Joe Archibald (1948) and "Fate Fires No Blanks" by George Bruce Marquis. 1948.

Drabblecast, Buzzy Mag, and More

Some good freebies to start the weekend.  There are new items from Drabblecast and Buzzy Mag (Both sites highly recommended). There's a new issue of the long-running Aphelion posted and tons of e-books. There's also some good items in the "Other Genres" category that are worthy of attention. 








Fiction
At Buzzy Mag: "The Fair Beneath The Ice" by A. P. Maynar. 
     "When he called her name, the rocky slope and the pine-scented trees distorted the sound of his voice, scattering it into a thousand shards, so it sounded like it came from everywhere at once."

Now Posted Aphelion #168. Science Fiction.

• Shadow Aspect By Timothy Potter
• in the Lamp By David W. Landrum
• Drift By Roderick D. Turner
• Flowers for Ackerman By Karen B. Kaplan
• Halitosis By D. A. Cairns
• Deep Freeze By E. S. Strout
• Between By T. Richard Williams
• PatienceBy Damian Delao
• Inner Child By Colin Fenwick
• And Poetry and Filk Music

Flash Fiction at 365 Tomorrows: "Security" by Christina Richard.

Audio Fiction
At Drabblecast: "Betty Flesh and the Meat Man" by Damon Shaw. Fantasy. Romance. Strange.
      “Your suitor’s here!” Ma Flesh hurried into the back room of the butcher’s shop. “Are you presentable?”

E-Books
Via Pixel of Ink: 

• Lodestone Book One: The Sea of Storms by Mark Whiteway. Science Fiction.
• The Ups and Downs of Being Dead by M. R. Cornelius. Science Fiction.

At Free eBooks Daily:

• First Crossing by Tyla Grey. Paranormal Romance.
• Barbara Reilly by Carl Grimsman. Historical Fantasy.
• The Goddess of Dance by Anna Kashina. Fantasy.
• The Kingdom of Shadows by K.W. Jeter. Fantasy.
• Forged by Greed by Angela Orlowski-Peart. Young Adult Urban Fantasy.
• The Havenshire Resistance by Diane Rapp. Fantasy.
• Lichgates by S.M. Boyce. Young Adult Paranormal Fantasy.
• Anu-Bis by T. O. Bolseen. Science Fiction.
• Six Moon Summer by SM Reine. Young Adult Dark Fantasy.
• The Dirty Mermaid by Jen Purcell. Fantasy.
• The Ghost by Sandra Brown Rarey. Paranormal.

At Smashwords: 

• "The Last Guardian" by Bruno Stella. Fantasy. 5k.
• "Evan Burl and the Falling" by Justin Blaney. Fantasy. 58k.
• "Max and the Gatekeeper" by James Todd Cochrane. Fantasy. 77k.
• "The Sweetest Stalk" by Scott Gordon. Fantasy. 9k.
• "Scarlet Ribbons" by Anita Dawes. Paranormal. 71k.
• Sword of the Gods: The Chosen One by Anna Erishkigal. Fantasy. 173k.
• "Legends From Belico; At The Gates Of Yur" by D.E. Tomas. Horror. 4k.
• "Covet and Redemption" by Gary Chiert. Science Fiction. 23k.

Other Genres

• Audio at The Classic Tales Podcast: "Head and Shoulders" by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
• Audio at Miette's Bedtime Story Podcast: "Strawberries" by J. Robert Lennon.
• Audio at SFFAudio: "Duel" by Richard Matheson.
• E-Book at Free eBooks Daily: The Highlander by Zoe Saadia. Historical Fiction.  Aztec.
• E-Book at Free eBooks Daily: There is No Otherwise by Ardin Lalui. Western.
• Fiction at Online Pulps Site: "Mystery of the Mexicali Murders" by J. Lane Linklater. Noir 1941. And "Alibi-With Sound" by Robert Wallace. Noir 1948.
• Flash Fiction at Every Day Fiction: "The Picture Book" by Ev Bishop. Surreal.
• Flash Fiction at Spinetingler: "Arranger" by Christopher E. Long. Crime.

A Few Free E-Books and Tales to Terrify

A few free E-Books and a terrifying audio story.


[Cool gruesome art from Tales to Terrify]









E-Books
Via Pixel of Ink:

• Progeny (The Children of the White Lions) by R.T. Kaelin. Fantasy.
• The Gates (The Resistance Trilogy) by Rachael Wade. Fantasy.

 At Free eBooks Daily.

• Cornerstone by Misty Provencher. Young Adult Paranormal Romance.
• The Legacy of Kilkenny by Devyn Dawson. YA Paranormal.
• The Final Winter by Iain Rob Wright. Horror.
• Dark Pursuit: The Lost Shinmahs by Kevan Dinn. Fantasy.
• Believe by Lisa Alfonso.  YA Spec. Fiction.
• Killer in Sight by Sandra Carrington-Smith. Supernatural Thriller.

At Smashwords:

• "Hidden..." by Courtney Binns. Fantasy. 17k.
• I Hated Heaven by Kenny Kemp. Paranormal. 82k.
• "Scratch" by Joe Weaver. Horror. Ghost. 5k.
• "In Search of Samuel" by John Luck. 17k.
• "The Imaginist" by TK Wade. Speculative Fiction. 6k.

Audio Fiction
At Tales to Terrify: "Big Rock Candy Mountain" by Weston Ochse. Horror.
      " a sobering, semi-political tale encompassed in a hallucinogenic yarn that entertains from start to finish" - Dreadful Tales.

Comics, Sargent, Rambo, and More Free Fiction

Some very good free stuff again! Just a couple entries in the free fiction section, but they are from two great sites.  There are many free e-books including David Scholes' Soldier of the Brell free for a couple days and a collection of fantasy short stories by the exceptional Cat Rambo.  There's audio fiction by Pamela Sargent at StarShipSofa (always great) and several classic comic book stories and contemporary flash fiction stories.

 [Art from Eyes Like Sky And Coal And Moonlight by Cat Rambo]





Fiction
At Daily Science Fiction: "Red at the End of the World" by Lynda E Rucker.
      "He's not; and you know it by looking at him. You know it first by looking at his shoes, which are brown leather, scuffed and laced up wrong with floppy worn tongues. Above the shoes, a flash of thin ankles: he's lost his socks."

At Nightmare Magazine:  "Construction Project" by Desirina Boskovich. Horror.
       "We begin in August, when the summer nights are ripe and voluptuous. Moths beat against the window, seeking solace from the darkness. August brings violent thunderstorms; cut power lines draw the darkness closer. We cup a flickering flame and make love that brings purple bruises."


E-Books
At Amazon.com: Soldier of the Brell by David Scholes. Science Fiction.

Via Pixel of Ink:

• Nine Steps to Sara by Lisa Olsen. Horror. Ghost.
• Shadowland by C.M. Gray. Fantasy. King Arthur.

At Free E-Books Daily:

• Telepaths and Traitors by K.J. Blaine, Science Fiction. Space Opera.
• Tyrant Trouble by Phoebe Matthews. Fantasy.
• Blood Rite by Stephen Penner. Paranormal. Mystery.
• Eyes Like Sky And Coal And Moonlight by Cat Rambo. Fantasy Short Stories.
• The Merchant and the Menace by Daniel McHugh. Fantasy.
• American Blood: A Vampire's Story by Gregory Holden. Vampire Romance.

At Smashwords:

• "Vampires (The Social Workshop)" by Adrianna White. Paranormal. 3k.
• "The Path to Zeal" by Marie Hamenko. Fantasy 14k.
• "Survivor's Tale: Blind Girl vs. Onion Zombie" by Sean Roney. 4k.
• "Short Story Strands: Halloween 2012 Edition" by Jade Kerrion. 12k.
• "In Apprehension How Like a God" by RPL Johnson. Science Fiction. 8k.
• "Clyde" by Dan Schwartz. Horror. 1k.

Flash Fiction

• At Every Day Fiction: "Edge Work" by Sean Jones. Horror.
• At Flash Fiction Online:  "Zombie March" by Brynn MacNabb. Horror.
• At Flash Fiction Online:  "Mid-Autumn Moon" by Lani Carroll. Horror.
• At 365 Tomorrows: "Come Tomorrow" by Jae Miles. Science Fiction.
• At Yesteryear Fiction: "Dream Keeper" by Rohini Gupta. Fantasy.

Audio Fiction
At StarShipSofa: "A Smaller Government" by Pamela Sargent. Science Fiction.
      "an unknown force shrinks the White House and the Capital to the size of doll houses."

Comics

• At Atomic Kommie Comics: Space Squadron in "Last of the Martians" Sci-Fi. 1951
• At Comic Book Catacombs: Ka'a'nga in "Caveman Killers" Adventure. 1941.
• At Comic Book Catacombs: Nyoka the Jungle Girl in "The Talking Tiger"  Adventure. 1946.
• At The Horrors of It All: "Dungeon of Doom!" Horror. 1952.
• At Pappy's Golden Age: "Out of the Screen" and "The Timeless Tribe" Sci-Fi/Horror. 1954/1967.
• At Pappy's Golden Age: "Jet Powers and the three million-year-old men!" Sci-Fi. 1951.

 One after one, by the star-dogged moon,
Too quick for groan or sigh,
Each turned his face with a ghastly pang,
And cursed me with his eye.

Poe and Mo' Freebies

More good freebies.There are quite a few horror stories today, including PRI - Selected Shorts reading a couple of classic Poe stories. Enjoy. More as soon as possible.

[Art from "Horrors of the 13th Stroke" in Comics below]




Fiction
At Black Gate: “A Phoenix in Darkness” — Part IIBy Donald S. Crankshaw. Fantasy.
       "And now the Domini in the guise of journeymen were back. He wondered how they had found him while he was on patrol. He wanted to avoid them, but that did not seem possible with the two of them walking straight toward him."

At WiFiles: "The Downfall" by D. Robert Grixti. Speculative Fiction.
     "Here is a middle aged man. He is standing in front of a large mirror in an unkempt washroom. His greying hair is dishevelled, as if he has just climbed out of bed, and a five o’ clock shadow darkens the bottom half of his face."

At Strange Horizons: "Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad" by M. R. James. Horror. 1904.
     ""I suppose you will be getting away pretty soon, now Full Term is over, Professor," said a person not in the story to the Professor of Ontography, soon after they had sat down next to each other at a feast in the hospitable hall of St James's College."

Flash Fiction

• At Daily Science Fiction: "Don't Look Down" by Anatoly Belilovsky.
• At Quantum Muse: "The Midnight Slasher Creep" by Gordon Rowlinson.

Audio Fiction
At Author's Site: The MVP episode 3 by Scott Sigler. Science Fiction. Football.
      "Quentin and the Krakens square off against the Prawatt in "the game," a hard-hitting, lethal contest that has it roots all the way back to Old Earth"

At Ever Dayday Fiction: "It Could Be Us" by Alexander Burns. Flash. Science Fiction.
     "The dissident pointed us to a cafe downtown. I took officers in plain clothes, but we were recognized. A few people took off on bicycles, shading their faces. No matter. The block was sealed and they would be picked up at the perimeter."

At LibriVox: Short Ghost and Horror Story Collection Vol. 018
     "A collection of twenty stories featuring ghoulies, ghosties, long-leggedy beasties and things that go bump in the night. Expect shivers up your spine, the stench of human flesh, and the occasional touch of wonder."

At PRI: Selected Shorts - Tales of Terror from Edgar Allan Poe.
      Best-selling fantasy writer Neil Gaiman joins SHORTS literary commentator Hannah Tinti for a celebration of that master of the macabre, Edgar Allan Poe. The program features two Poe classics, “The Tell-Tale Heart" and “The Black Cat,”

At Toasted Cake:  "Dyscrasia" by Gord Sellar.
     "You can't finish med school and still be weirded out by corpses. It's impossible. You're used to the cold, the stiffness, the lifeless stare: they're familiar, even comfortable. But sometimes older, deeper instincts kick in. Sometimes you meet their eyes, or touch their icy skin, and shiver"

Comics

• At Atomic Kommie Comics:  "Invasion from the Abyss" Science Fiction. 1951.
• At Crime & Punishment: "Vampires & Werewolves from Pluto" Sci-Fi. Horror. 1940.
• At The Horrors of It All: "Ghouls Rush In / Beneath the Grave" Horror.  1952/1954.
• At Pappy's: "Doorway to Death / Assignment Horror." Horror. 1954.
• At Pappy's: "The Thing From the Lake / Horrors of the 13th Stroke" Horror. 1952/1953.
• At Seduction of the Innocent: "Vengeful Curse" Horror. 1953.

Other Genres

• Audio at Crime City Central: "Work In Progress" by Scott Nicholson. Mystery.
• Audio at Tales of Old: "Mutiny" by Gary Ives. Historical Fiction. World War I.
• Flash Fiction at Every Day Fiction: "The Pumpkin Master" by Gretchen Bassier.

Freebies to start the weekend.

More good freebies. There are quite a few very good audio fiction stories today, as well as very good fiction, flash fiction, and more.  Back soonish.




Fiction
At Cosmos: "Anterior View" by Brenda Kalt. Science Fiction.
      "The display was impressive, but the box was heavy – full of data leaves, potentially a full view. Of something."

At Daily Science Fiction:  "Phone Booth" by Holli Mintzer. Science Fiction.
      "There aren't a lot of zeppelins these days to anchor at them, just like there aren't many ships in the harbor, but the masts are still there: two or three big freight elevators apiece, caged in a lattice of iron struts and steel cable."

At Project Gutenberg:  The Scarlet Plague by Jack London.  Science Fiction. 1912/1915.
      "is a post-apocalyptic fiction novel written by Jack London and originally published in London Magazine in 1912." Wikipedia.

At Tor.com:  "A Ghost Story" by Mark Twain. 1888. Horror.
      "The fire had burned low. A sense of loneliness crept over me. I arose and undressed, moving on tiptoe about the room, doing stealthily what I had to do, as if I were environed by sleeping enemies whose slumbers it would be fatal to break."

Reviewed at Variety SF: "Tumithak of the Corridors" by Charles R Tanner. Science Fiction. 1932.
      "It is only within the last few years that archeological science has reached a point where we may begin to appreciate the astonishing advances in science that our ancestors had achieved before the Great Invasion"

Flash
At 365 tomorrows: "Fallen" by Steve Smith. Science Fiction.
At Weirdyear: "Skull Collection" by Rob Bliss.

Audio
At Cast of Wonders: "The Great Game, Part 5 – The Dark Continent" by James Vachowski. YA.
      "Light a lamp, child, and be quick about it. The day is fading, and my eyes are not what they once were. Ah, that’s the rub. This room closes in when night falls."

At Classic Tales Podcast: Carmilla part 4 of 4 by J. Sheridan Le Fanu.
      "The General’s story comes to its horrifying conclusion, and the mystery of Carmilla is finally unearthed" Also parts one, two, and three.

At Escape Pod:  "Lion Dance" by Vylar Kaftan. Science Fiction.
      "Matt was loud–even a flu mask didn’t muffle his bellowing.  I swear, even though every restaurant in San Francisco Chinatown had been closed since February, tourists still cruised the streets.  Even a pandemic couldn’t stop them completely."

At Fantastic Worlds of Edgar Rice Burroughs:  Episode 25 - Tarzan of the Apes. Adventure.
      "Tarzan has fled into the jungle upon discovering that Jane Porter has departed his cabin. Paul D’Arnot remains there. Considering D’Arnot’s helplessness in the jungle, Tarzan reconsiders and starts back for the cabin."

At LibriVox: Fifty-One Tales by Lord Dunsany. Flash Dark Fantasy.
      Horned Pan was still and the dew was on his fur; he had not the look of a live animal. And then they said, "It is true that Pan is dead."

At LibriVox: Tales of Folk and Fairies by Katharine Pyle. Children's Fantasy.
     "Once upon a time there was a poor widow who had only one son, and he was so dear to her that no one could have been dearer. All the same she was obliged to send him out into the world to seek his fortune, for they were so very poor that as long as he stayed at home they were like to starve."

At Pseudopod: "Pumpkinhead" by Rajan Khanna. Horror.
     "He was my employer, but more than that, he was a celebrity, and a close personal friend of the queen. In fact, if it weren’t for his imminent need, she would be the one about to carve this pumpkin for him. He was basically part of the royal family."

At Tales to Terrify: "304 Adolph Hiltler Strasse" by Lavie Tidha.
     "They called him by his real name, which was Hanzi, but they knew who he really was and he knew then that it was over; the knowledge washed him in lethargy, and a sense of futility made him open his hands as if in a shrug, his fat fingers opening limply, sweat dampening his palms."


Old Time Radio
At Relic Radio: "Carmilla" by Columbia Workshop. Horror. 1940.

Other Genres
Audio at Ellery Queen: “Safe and Loft” by John Lutz. Mystery.
Flash at Every Day Stories:  "Uncle Fida’s Eid" by Sarah Crysl Akhtar. Humor.
Flash at Spinetingler: "Pool and Ice Cream" by Peter Anderson.
Text at Project Gutenberg: The Siege of Norwich Castle by Matilda Maria Blake. Historical Fiction. Medieval. 1983.

Free Enough

Some great fiction today including the conclusion of Eric Scott de Bie's "Proper Villains,"  new fiction from Tor and Nature, classic ghost stories from the Nineteen Teens at Project Gutenberg and Tor, four more stories at Phantasmacore, flash fiction, and audio fiction. And don't miss today's free fiction links at SF Signal.

 Concerning e-books: Information has been brought to my attention that complicates matters [thank you]. While I still consider free as being something that is given to, or taken by, you that cannot be taken away, the fact that some companies at Amazon do not use DRM and the fact that I don't have time to check them individually means that e-book listings will continue irregularly (just like before). So concerning yesterday's notice about e-books, I'll just quote the classic Gilda Radner character Emily Litella, "Never mind."
 
[Art from "Foundation" below].
 
Fiction
At Nature: "Glass Future" by Deborah Walker. Science Fiction.
      “Do you think she's post-human?” I whisper to my husband. She looks too good to be real.
At Paizo:  "Proper Villains - Chapter Four: The Reward"  by Erik Scott de Bie. Fantasy.
     Link is to all four parts. "He awoke in a cold spray of brackish water. The Hellknight who'd roused him drew back the half-empty bucket, then brought it forward again for another go. This time, Tarrant inhaled half the putrid stuff and gagged. "Is that really necessary?" he coughed."
At Project Gutenberg:  Great Ghost Stories by Various. Horror. 1918.
         "The Were-Wolf" - "We waited for some time, but the report of the gun did not reach us, and my elder brother then said, 'Our father has followed the wolf, and will not be back for some time. Marcella, let us wash the blood from your mouth, and then we will leave this corner, and go to the fire and warm ourselves.'"
At Tor.com:  "Foundation" by Ann Aguirre. Horror.
    "I don’t remember how the sun feels.It’s an abstract concept for me, something I know exists, but doesn’t have the meaning it once did."
At Tor.com:  "The Shadowy Third" by Ellen Glasgow. Horror. Ghost. 1916.
     “He didn’t mention me by name. Can there be a mistake?” I stood, incredulous yet ecstatic, before the superintendent of the hospital.
At Pantasmacore: 

"Dangerous Rendezvous" by Grove Koger.
     "No doubt about it, Eric Francis was my father’s meal ticket. Oh, Dad corresponded now and then with Talbot Mundy and knew Sax Rohmer well enough to have a drink with him when they happened to be in Manhattan at the same time, but the big markets had them sewn up tight."
"Dying Day" by Michael C. Keith.
     "TAKE THE DREAD OUT OF DEAD! SCHEDULE YOUR PRACTICE DYING DAY NOW BY CALLING 1-800-DEAD-DAY. DON’T WAIT UNTIL IT’S TOO LATE, read the huge digital billboard along Route 95 between Boston and Providence."
"Montalov’s Box" by Michael Griffin.
      "Some wives fear losing their husband to an office affair, some to a heart attack. Each morning Sveta watches her husband leave for work and thinks maybe today’s the day he annihilates the universe."
 "Assignment" by Sayuri Yamada.
     ‘All the students have spent their time on this project. It’s not only you. Look at this. The temperature is rising unnaturally. The air is dirty. Many species are disappearing. It’s a shambles.’

Flash Fiction
At Daily Science Fiction: "My Mother's Body" by Christie Yant.
At Every Day Fiction: "Rags to Riches" by Robert Swartwood. Horror. Jinn.
At 365 Tomorrows: "Old Cars Never Die" by Clint Wilson. Science Fiction.


Audio Fiction
At SFFAudio: Two Versions of "Time And Time Again" by H. Beam Piper. Science Fiction.
     "To upset the stable, mighty stream of time would probably take an enormous concentration of energy. And it's not to be expected that a man would get a second chance at life. But an atomic might accomplish both—"
At Drama Pod: Unhinged Worlds (Season Premiere) S02 Ep01 "Exit 34"
At Drama Pod: Unhinged Worlds (Season Premiere) S02 Ep02 "The Bench"