Wednesday Freebies

Some quite good free items today. The 152nd issue of Aphelion, with stories from future greats. A couple of serialized stories, including a first time linking for Hugo nominee Eric James Stone's Unforgettable. Classic SF and Audio SF from two of the big fiction podcasts. Cool gaming items, including a free game thoroughly reviewed and a free PDF zine. And closing out with a six pack of cool comics. Likely back later with a couple of cool reviews and maybe more.

Today's illustration from "The Anglers of Arz" by Roger Phillips Dee in the classic SF section.







Issue #152 of Aphelion is posted with fiction and poetry by Christopher Owen, Emilie P. Bush, Richard Tornello, Eric Victor Neagu, John T. Bien, D. Conteur, Joseph Thompson, Roderick D. Turner, Mike Phillips, Matthew Acheson, Dave Weaver, Joseph Arechavala, Holly R. Appling, Richard Tornello, Robin B. Lipinski, Richard H. Fay, Stephanie Smith, David Barber, Harris Tobias, and Bill Wolfe.



Serial Fiction
@Dark Valentine: "Miss Elliot and the Eldritch" Chapter Six by Laura Neubert.
"My muscles burned, my bones felt as though they had been splintered, and when my eyes opened, they were scalded by the light. A groan was pulled from me as I returned to the waking world."

@The Author's Site: Chapter Eight "Unforgettable" by Eric James Stone. [via SF Signal]
"The previous time the Bukharins had caught me, I had been taken to the interrogation room. I fully expected that to happen again, and it did. As before, they ignored my request to use the restroom."

Earlier chapters can be found via this search.

Classic SF
@Munseys and Project Gutenberg: "The Anglers of Arz" by Roger Phillips Dee, from IF Worlds of Science Fiction (Jan. 1953).
"In order to make Izaak Walton's sport complete, there must be an angler, a fish, and some bait. All three existed on Arz but there was a question as to which was which."

@Munseys and Project Gutenberg: "Ye of Little Faith" by Rog Phillips, from IF Worlds of Science Fiction (Jan. 1953).
"It matters not whether you believe or disbelieve. Reality is not always based on logic; nor, particularly, are the laws of the universe...."

@Munseys and Project Gutenberg: "The Time Mirror" by Clark South, from Amazing Stories (Dec. 1942).
"Here was a strange mirror indeed! It reflected an image all right, but not an image from the same era in history!"







@StarShipSofa: Episode #190 featuring "Mohamed’s Angel" by Jack Dann and "The Big Bounce" by Walter Tevis. Read by Mike Boris and Chris White.
"Laura had loved the Prom since she was a child. She used to imagine its landmass was a stone-grey dragon rising from the sea. It still looked like the mythical creature, especially now, when it was on fire. Smoke billowed up from the eastern tip of the national park like dragon’s breath."


@Dunesteef: "The Voyage Of The Van Leeuwenhoek" by John Medaille.
"Life aboard the Van Leeuwenhoek spacecraft is tough. There’s pretty much constant war with the Venusians, not to mention the daily duties, subspace apparitions, and the difficulties with the Lunars. And then, there are the cockroaches."







Reviewed and linked to @The Free RPG Blog: The Cursed RPG by Michael Evans.
"a free roleplaying game set in the modern world with elements of the supernatural interlaced with every day life. The Cursed have The Gift: the ability to reach beyond our mundane world into a supernatural realm."


@A Character for Every Game: Dyson’s Dodecahedron Issue 4 featuring the first two of four levels of "Erdea Manor" a Labyrinth Lord adventure location for a party of level 3 to 6 characters, expecting an average level of 4.5.





@Kobold Quarterly: [Monster] "Strigoi" Part 1 of 3. 4E.
@Wizards of the Coast: [Monster] "Hound of Ill Omen" 4E. PDF download.
@A Field Guide to Doomsday: [Monster] "Anenomouth" Mutant Future.
@Sea of Stars: [Monster] "Anger Fragment"
@IX: [Monster] "Sand Men of Canopus 3"
@Underworld Kingdom: [Art] Cavern day One, Two, and Three.
@Sea of Stars: [Magic Item] "Harness of the Night"
Ancient Vaults & Eldritch Secrets: [Spells] "War Council of the Grave" and "Bringing out the Beast"







@Digital Comics Museum: The Man from Planet X (Fawcett Movie Comics #15) B&W. SciFi.




@Atomic Kommie Comics: Spurs Jackson in "Sun Masters" (Space Western Comics)




@Four-Color Shadows: "The Strangler" from Worlds of Fear (1952). Horror.




@Diversions of the Groovy Kind: Classic Sword & Sorcery "Where Broods the Demon!"






@The Comic Book Catacombs: Jann of the Jungle in "The Drum Beats At Midnight!" (1957). Adventure.



@The Horrors of It All: "The Boy Who Cried Wolf!" from Adventures into the Unknown #10 (May 1950). Horror.

Catching Up

A ton of free items today as I'm playing catch up as best I can. No need for me to blather on much as the stories, etc., can speak for themselves.

The illustration is from Space Conquerors in the comics section below.








@Philippine Genre Stories: "Kapre: A Love Story" by Erin Chupeco. Fantasy.
"This is the tale of Kapre, who lived in ancient trees tangled in shadow. Massive, stubbed fingers the color of faded coffee, scrabbling at tree trunk and bark for sustenance. "


@Beneath Ceaseless Skies: "Letters of Fire" by Margaret Ronald
"Staying with the Bull's army might not be as bad as the days with his master."

@Beneath Ceaseless Skies: "Cold Iron and Green Vines" by Wendy N. Wagner.
"Most people didn't bother replacing teeth; they all went wicker-and-cogwork as young as they could."

@Daily Science Fiction: "Facts About Gel, Gloop, and Other Semi-Viscous Substance You May Have Encountered Recently" by Michael Canfield.

@Daily Science Fiction: "Values, Vision and Mission" by James Van Pelt.
"So many commuters stood on the platform that I couldn't move away. In her grey pantsuit and severe expression, she looked ready to chop me off at the knees for breathing too loud."

@Daily Science Fiction: "As Fast As You Can" by Nathaniel Matthews Lee.
"I slowed as I neared the crash site. It's hard to see in the blue-lit twilight that comes when I push myself to my limits; I didn't want to bump anything. Might cause more damage than I prevent, at this speed."

@Ray Gun Revival: "Malfunction" by Jennifer Campbell-Hicks.
"From his perch atop the ship’s wing, Lieutenant Everett Monson singled out a wire from the tangle of an access panel and examined it under the bright lights of the docking bay: 3mm gauge, red coating. Yes, this was the right one."

@AE - The Canadian Science Fiction Review: "Remains" by Siobhan Carroll.
"We hear on the radio that a body has been found. A young woman lies facedown in a drainage ditch near Shimpling Park. Instantly, a cold tightness in the stomach. Is that her?"

Classic SF:
@Munseys and Project Gutenberg: "Monsoons of Death" by Gerald Vance, from Amazing Stories December 1942.
"Ward Harrison got himself into a barrel of trouble when he accepted a job at the Martian Observation Station. There were fearful "things" on Mars...."

@ Munseys and Project Gutenberg: "Tiger Cat" by David H. Keller, from Weird Tales October 1937.
"A grim tale of torture, and the blind men who were chained to pillars in an underground cave"

@The Internet Archive: “Nonstop to Mars” by Jack Williamson, from Argosy Weekly February 25, 1939. [via Marooned - Science Fiction & Fantasy books on Mars]
"Here is the record of Lucky Leigh’s incredible flight; how he piloted his ancient ship through the thunder between two worlds—to become the first Robinson Crusoe of Space."

Serial Fiction
@Legendo of the Five Rings: The Destroyer War, Part 11 by Shawn Carman.
“I find that unlikely,” the sentry said. The man was a Kitsuki-trained justicar, and although Areru found his volunteering of opinions rather tiresome, he was outstanding on watch. “Unless scavengers come in the form of noble-born Crane samurai-ko.”

@Paizo.com: "Two Pieces of Tarnished Silver" by Erik Mona Chapter Five: Home Fires Burn.
"I think I understand now why Durvin Gest might have chosen Juval as a companion."

@Kat and Mouse: "Payback" - Part Nine by Abner Senires.
"The run at 15:00 was a pick up and delivery from the East End to a three-story walkup in Northwood that us took twenty minutes and dropped ten thousand Creds in our hands."

@Dark Valentine: "Miss Elliot and the Eldritch" Part One, Two, Three, and Four by Laura Neubert.
"As I neared their home I heard no human sounds. In the distance there echoed an occasional bleating of a goat, or the cawing of a bird, but there was no sound of human origin. A new kind of chill set into my marrow."

@White Wolf: "Silent Knife, part 5" by David Nurenberg.
"Ariadne knelt at Liliane’s feet in the Prince’s study. The door was closed, and of course, there were no windows. The Prince sat in a great leather chair, crossing her legs as she reached for a crystalline goblet topped high with blood."







@PodCastle: Episode #157 "As Below, So Above" by Ferret Steinmetz, read by Norm Sherman.
"Up at the shimmering edge of the sky, where the water met the air, Son spread his tentacles out beneath the terrible shadow of his father. They were waiting for the ships. Son felt the approaching heart-thrum bouncing off the coral-crusted hulls below as the ships crested the painwall."

@Escape Pod: Episode #293 "A Small Matter, Really" by Monte Cook, read by Mur Lafferty. "Only the Catholic Church of Osirus would have enough money to afford not one, but two black holes. Standing within the majestic narthex, Maria McNaki imagined the vibration of complex machinery under her feet, despite the fact that the nanosensors laced into her flesh revealed nothing other than the passing of the people in the crowd and the chanting coming from deeper within the cathedral."

@Pseudopod: Episode #230 "Girls Gone Insane" by John Jasper Owens, read by George Hrab.
“It came in the mail, a little package like Netflix uses, but white cardboard. Grass stain on the back along with a deep scratch, the address handwritten and smudged, like it had been handed off in the rain. No return address, postmarked Maine."

@StarShipSofa: Episode #189 featuring "Eight Miles" by Sean McMullen, read by Simon Hildebrandt.
"Eight miles is not all that it used to be, yet seek to travel eight miles straight up and you come to a frontier more remote than the peaks of Tibet's mountains or the depths of Africa's jungles. It is a frontier that can kill."

@ScottSigler.com: Tuesday Terror #06: "Lefty & The Boxcar" Part 1 of 2 by Steve Gomez. "features the character Lefty from the Kissyman stories"

@ScottSigler.com: "The Starter" Episode #14 by Scott Sigler.
"Game on, game on, game on! Come on, Krakens! Fill that hole and let's go-go-go against the Isis Ice Storm."

@The Dunesteef Audio Fiction Magazine: "Shoveling Match"
"Kendall Anderson meets his new neighbor whilst shoveling the snow off his driveway, only to discover he’s a bit of an oddball. But not to be outdone, Kendall reveals he’s got a dark side as well."

@Cthulhu: "The Thing on the Roof" by Robert E. Howard.
"Let me begin by saying that I was surprized when Tussmann called on me. We had never been close friends; the man's mercenary instincts repelled me; and since our bitter controversy of three years before, when he attempted to discredit my Evidences of Nahua Culture in Yucatan, which was the result of years of careful research, our relations had been anything but cordial."

@Cast Macabre: "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe, read by Barry J. Northern.
"Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore--"

@Decoder Ring Theater: The Red Panda in "There Will Be Rain Tonight"
"Which is more deadly, the battle you thought was lost, or the fight you thought you had won?"

@Radio Drama Revival: Episode 225 "Sprites and Satyrs, and Cables hit the Ace"
"The saucy splendor of Ancient Greece heats up this week as Orpheus recounts the journey to find – and lose – his one true love, Eurydice."

@Drabblecast: Episode #204. "A Day Out, with Stereoscopes" and "Hard Choices" by Tina Connolly. Right click to save MP3.

@Beneath Ceaseless Skies: "The Finest Spectacle Anywhere" by Genevieve Valentine
"One night, I tried to sneak into the tent. Mistake."







@Every Day Fiction: "Night Visitors" by Leanna Timanus. Fantasy/humor
@Every Day Fiction: "Riveted" by Kevin Shamel. SF.
@365 tomorrows:

• "Arms Race" by Steve Hall.
• "Retrograde" byNic Swaner.
• "Under Surveillance" by Roi R. Czechvala.
• "Soldier Boy" by Duncan Shields.
• "Sprites" by Patricia Stewart.
• "Open House" by Brian Varcas.
  

@Flashes in the Dark:

• "Spin Top-Swan on the Rocks" by Jodi MacArthur.
• "A Cat and It's Boy" by C.D. Carter.
• "Bargains & Blackmail" by Lori Titus.
• "Doors" by Neil Leckman.
• "Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia" by Angel Zapata.
• "Mirror" by Neil Leckman.

@Weirdyear:

• "It Don't Mean a Thing" by Tom Andrews.
• "The Painter" by Smriti Prabhat.
• "The Scarf" by Samantha Mabry.
• [poem] "Spider" by Holly R. Appling.
• "Five Smiles" by Chris Dean.

@The New Flesh:

• "Power" by Dustin Reade.
• "The Jewel" by Jessica George.
• "Salt Trucks on the Highway" by Joshua Dobson.
• "Offensive Face" by Douglas Hackle.

@Daily Science Fiction:

• "S is for Solipsism" by Tim Pratt, Jenn Reese, Heather Shaw, and Greg van Eekhout.
• "Can't Stop" by K T.
• "Unveiled" by Ron S. Friedman.

@Eschatology: "Door to Door" by Ash Hauenschild.
@Eschatology: "The Swarm" by George Wilhite.
@Quantum Muse: "Mechanical Error" by Michele Dutcher.
@Rabid Fiction: "Acquisition" by Ingrid. [Via Flash Fiction Friday]






@RPG Creatures: [Monster] "Nothnock" (For most fantasy games).
"The creatures are omnivores but prefer freshly killed meat to cadavers, mushrooms, roots, and vegetables. They hunt in teams when possible and can plan and synchronise attacks well, despite their short-tempered violent nature. During the sun of day they tend to rest in great caves, and like to move about and seek out food from dusk to the early hours of morning"


@Daddy Grognard: "An Adventure for Every Monster - Blink Dogs"
@Trollish Delver: [Magic Items] "The five God-weapons" Tunnels and Trolls.
@Ancient Vaults & Eldritch Secrets: [Monster] "Vermin Wyrm" and
@Ancient Vaults & Eldritch Secrets: [Magic Items] "Goad Horn from beyond the Gnashing Hills," "Javelins of the Greenbramble Wood Elves," and "Bandoleer of the Captain of the Guard"
@Ancient Vaults & Eldritch Secrets: [Spells] "Switchlock" and "Oathbreaker’s Curse"
@DriveThruRPG: "Adventure Seeds for Ravenlands 1"
@A Character for Every Game: [Table] "Crazed Tournament Activities! (d6)"
@A Character for Every Game: [Monster] "Inquisitor Crocodiles" Mutant Future.
@Sea of Stars: [Magic Items] "Pact Shield" and "Fragments of the World Machine"
@A Field Guide to Doomsday: [Monsters] "Zotz," "Bloodbloom," "Karkhan," "Gutterfly," and "Spackal." Mutant Future.
@Kobold Quarterly: [Monsters] "Porky Pine" and "Brine Terror"4E.






@Diversions of the Groovy Kind: "Class Reunion" and "Dream House" (Bronze age horror)
@The Horrors of It All: "Mirror of Hate / Dr. Death" and "The Eerie Glen" (Pre-code horror from 1952).
@The Comic Book Catacombs: Zago, Jungle Prince in "The Insane Maiden!" (1948). Adventure.
@The Fabuleous Fifties: A run of Space Conquerors comic strips from 1955. SF.
@Grantbridge Street: "Logan's Run. City of the Nighthawks." (1978) SF. 'R' rated site.
@Digital Comics Museum: Jungle Comics #138 and #145.
@Atomi Kommie Comics: Barbarella 2.1 and 2.2
@Hero (& Heroine) Histories: "Jet Powers: Captain of Science!" SF. (195?)
@Pappy's Golden Age Comics Blogzine:

• "... For Posterity" from Weird Science-Fantasy #24 (1954) SF.
• Sheena and Lorna stories from 1947 and 1954. Adventure.
• "Twice Alive / Deadly Acres" from 1951. Horror.

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].