QuasarDragon Presents "Around Infinity" and Gaming Links

"Around Infinity" by Oliver E. Saari, from Wonder Story Annual 1952 Edition, originally published in Captain Future (Winter 1940).
"THROUGH the three quartz windows showed darkness, far deeper than the black of interstellar space. It made one feel totally alone, forever removed from the familiar things of Earth."

A short, but mildly interesting idea driven story, which is less implausible than when it was written.

Full story HERE.








@A Character For Every Game: "Challenge of the Frog Idol"
"Challenge of the Frog Idol is an adventure aimed towards clever Labyrinth Lord" [or D&D] "characters of levels 3-6. The encounters may be a bit rough (didn’t get much playtest time in on this, being that it was a throw-together for a challenge), and the treasures are fairly skimpy."





@DriveThruRPG: [Game] Chronicles of Blood - Solo War Game.
"Chronicles of Blood is a game where you, the reader, takes on the role of an army commander in the world of Arax. It is your job to fight lead your troops to glory, destroying the enemy and either saving or conquering the world, depending on the army you choose."





@DriveThruRPG: [Game] Badass by Stargazer Games.
"BADASS kicks that logic in the face, twists its arm behind its back and makes it cry for its momma. Kick a reinforced metal fire door down off its hinges? BADASS Catch a bullet with your teeth? BADASS"



@RPG Creatures: [Monster] "Con'Laih."
"In deep burrows, inside the great glaciers and polar ice sheets, live the Con’laihs. The natural cracks and shafts produced by water are intersected by extensive mazes of Con’laih produced tunnels and caves. They hunt in the areas surrounding these ices, and occasionally send out groups to scout and find food in regions further away. "




@Ancient Vaults & Eldritch Secrets: [Spell] "Mystic Internment."
@Ancient Vaults & Eldritch Secrets: [Magic item] "Banner of the Two-Tailed Serpent."
@DriveThruRPG: "Observatory - Free Paper Model"
@Sea of Stars: [Magic Item] "Stone Axe of Blasphemy"
@A Field Guide to Doomsday: [Monster] "Landloach" Mutant Future.
@WotC: [Cartoons] "Alignments #1" and Aaron Williams' "Epic Campaign #1"
@WotC: [Monster Makeover] "The Demilich" 4E

Online Goodies - Flash Gordon

Welcome back to another day of freeness. While the e-fiction category is a bit small today, other categories make up the slack. The comics section is well stocked, as is the gaming section, non-RPG gamers might still enjoy the Agora boardgame, and the irregular category is here today. Also, I'm very happy to anounce the Flash Fiction category, a whole category dedicated to my personal hero Flash Gordon!

What? That's not what Flash Fiction means? Well flaming febelcarbs, what am I going to say about it? Well, whatever it is, it's here.



E-Fiction
"The Enormous Room" by H. L. Gold and Robert Wilson Krepps, from Amazing Stories Oct.-Nov. 1953.

"The orange-blue rolling stock hit the bottom, slammed around a turn and shot upward again, the wind of its passage whistling boisterously. But by then there were none to hear the wind, to feel the gust of it in watered eyes or open shouting mouths. The cars were empty."

At Munseys HERE and Project Gutenberg HERE.


Serial Fiction
At Paizo.com, chapter two of "The Walkers from the Crypt" by Howard Andrew Jones.
"Elyana was eager to keep moving; she meant to lose the Galtans only after she'd led them deeper into the woods, but she hadn't reckoned on them pressing so close. Perhaps the sight of their quarry fleeing before them on the plain had excited them, for they were now crashing through the brush a few bowshots behind with almost reckless intensity."

Online HERE.


Audio Fiction
At StarShipSofa, episode #179 featuring "The Sandal-Bride" by Genevieve Valentine, an interview with John Joseph Adams, and More.

Streaming and in MP3 download HERE.



At the Internet Archive, A Canticle for Liebowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr., dramatized by John Reed, and produced at WHA by Carl Schmidt and Marv Nunn.
"Set in a Roman Catholic monastery in the desert of the southwestern United States after a devastating nuclear war, the story spans thousands of years as civilization rebuilds itself."

In ogg and MP3 download HERE.


Flash Fiction "He'll save with a mighty hand (he'll save with a mighty hand); He'll save with a mighty hand (he'll save us); Every man every woman every child; With a mighty Flash a-ah"

@Daily Science Fiction, "I is for Inertia" by Tim Pratt, Jenn Reese, Heather Shaw, Greg van Eekhout
@Every Day Fiction, "Will Work For Food" by James C.G. Shirk
@Flashes in the Dark, "The Priest and His Demon-Hunting Dog" by C.D. Goble
@Flashes in the Dark, "Second-Hand Soul" by Lori Titus.
@365 tomorrows, "The Mantinai" by Edd Vick


Gaming
At A Character for Every Game, "Stag Centaurs" a monster for Labyrinth Lord (or early D&D editions).

"Although imbued with even more natural armament than normal centaurs, stag centaurs are at least as non-aggressive as their typical kin."


Online HERE.




At Cheapass Games, four free games to download, including Agora "the ever-changing Ancient Greek Marketplace. It's a wide-open space filled with chaos and commerce. And it's what you're afraid of when you have agoraphobia."

In PDF downloads HERE [via freewargamesrules]


At Sham's Grog 'n Blog, "One-Hundred NPC Personalities" a nice little "on-the-fly random determination of NPC personality types/traits." Good for pretty much any RPG.

Online HERE.




At A Hamsterish Hoard of Dungeons and Dragons, a pair of D&D compatible spells "Shining Tear of Time" and "Snapping Clockwork Teeth"


Online HERE or follow the thread for more spells here.



Comics
At Diversions of the Groovy Kind, a creepy, werewolf tale "A Change of Identity"



Online HERE.




At Four-Color Shadows, a rare, made for comics Brick Bradford tale fron 1967. Bradford was a "second string version of Flash Gordon."


Online HERE.





At The Comic Book Catacombs, The prehistoric adventures of Tor in “Isle of Fire” (May 1954)




Online HERE.



At The Horrors of It All, "House for Sale" and "The Burning Flame" a pair of horror tales from Mystic #8 (May 1952).



Online HERE.





Noir/Suspence
At CrimeWAV, The Immortal Game by Mark Coggins is being serialized in audio format.

"It's a true find, a well-written and sophisticated addition to the heralded San Francisco private-detective story…a panoramic tour de force" and selected it as a book of the year."


In MP3 downloads, Parts ONE, TWO, THREE, and FOUR. (likely R rated)





At 19 Nocturne Boulevard, "A Jury of Her Peers" (adapted from a play and short story by Susan Glaspell, published in 1917).

"In the horse and buggy days, a sheriff probes the motive behind a man's murder. "

Audio drama in MP3 download HERE.



At the author's website, "Discovery" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, first published in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, November, 2008.

"Pita Cardenas has taken the case of her life. The only attorney in small Rio Gordo, she has decided to fight the biggest railroad company in the state to get compensation for the widow of a man who may have raced a train. He’s guilty—or is he?"

Online HERE until 14 March 2011.



At the Internet Archive, The Shadow of Silk Lennox (1935).

"A crooked nightclub owner (Lon Chaney Jr.), pretending to go straight, is forced to kill a henchman when the latter tries to run off with the gang's latest haul."

In ogg, MPEG4, and DivX downloads HERE.

Mondays aren't all bad - Free Fiction

Lots of cool free items today! There is fiction in many formats, text, audio, serial, illustrated (comics), and collaborative (gaming). It takes a bit of the sting off the fact that it's a Monday. And if anyone sees Lt. Bob, please kick him hard for yesterday's movie.




E-Fiction
At Daily Science Fiction, "Waiting In The Corners" by Brian Dolton.
"We used to be there all the time. In the background, but there, in the dark corners. We'd come out at night, or when you were alone. When there were strange sounds in the jungles of Cambodia, or on the wild Scottish cliffs. Then you'd remember us, and look around, and be afraid."

Online HERE.



At Ray Gun Revival, "Catastrophe Baker and the Cold Equations" by Mike Resnick.
"If you really want to know about the cold equations, there’s only one person to ask, and that’s me—Catastrophe Baker, hero by trade but all too frequently fugitive by misunderstanding."

Online HERE.


At Fantasy Magazine, "The Sandal-Bride" by Genevieve Valentine.
"Pilgrims always cried when they crested the hill and saw the spires of Miruna; they usually fell to their knees right in the middle of traffic. All I saw was the gate that led to the Night Market."

Online text and MP3 download HERE.



At Anotherealm, "Keeping Up appearances" by Shawn Murphy and Tana Lyma.

"What big teeth you have, grandma—and your breath! — Little about-to-be-eaten Riding Hood"

Online HERE.



The Fifth Dimension fantasy and SF e-zine has its edition 13, #1--March 2011 issue up with

"Unnatural Selection" by Adam La Rusic & Johan Thornton
"Real Good Looking Boy" by Daniel C. Smith
"The Dance of Predator and Prey" by Joyce Reynolds-Ward
"The Girl with Two Eyes" by Eric Del Carlo


These, as well as poetry and editorial" are HERE.



Aoife's Kiss has a sample story and poem from its March 2011 issue free online. "Nights of Wonder," by K. S. Hardy, and the poem, "When I Was Numb," by Maria Kelly



Both online HERE (probably temporarily)





Mirror Dance, a free online magazine of fantasy stories, art, and poetry has its Spring 2011 online featuring

Fiction by Chrystalla Thoma, Laura Kjosen, Cheryl Wood Ruggiero, and Crowerd Robinson.

Poetry by Laura Garrison, Sari Krosinky, Robert Shmigelsky, and Deborah Walker.

All online HERE.



Serial Fiction
At Kat and Mouse: Guns For Hire, part two of "Taking Care of Business" by Abner Senires.
"Sakura looked up from her plate of waffles and eggs and smiled at the short-haired blond in the opposite seat. She was dressed just like in the surveillance shots Simon took. Knee-length black leather coat. Black shirt and pants."

Online HERE.



Audio Fiction
At Beam Me Up, episode 251, with classic fiction "The Salesman" by Waldo Boyd and "part two of David Steffen’s retelling of the Wizard of Oz theme called 'The Utility of Love'. In Part two we meet more of the cast of characters but there are some pretty major differences that leads the main characters in substantially different directions."

Streaming and in MP3 download HERE.




At Scott Sigler's website, The Starter episode #4.
"Quentin & Company deal with the aftermath of the championship parade. With the Tier One season fast approaching, can the Krakens manage these distractions?"


In MP3 download HERE.





At The Drama Pod Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne is being serialized.

Parts one through five are available in MP3 downloads HERE.


At Cthulhu, episode 97 featuring "The Spawn of Dagon" part 2.

In Mp3 download HERE.




Gaming
At Dragonsfoot, "The Howling Hills" This module is one of a series of adventures created in homage to the deadliest adventure ever created, The Tomb of Horrors! An Adventure of characters of level 10-14

In a free PDF download HERE.




At DriveThruRPG, Oubliette #5 is available as a free download for a limited time (through March, 2011).
"Written for Labyrinth Lord, but also ideal for use with any Basic/Expert/Advanced original or clone, with little or no adjustment required." Contains a large article on Paladins.



In PDF download HERE.




At The Land of Nod, part one of Mu-Pan, a pseudo-Asian setting for NOD.
"Mu-Pan is the fabulous land of jade, silk and lotus blossoms that makes princes of Motherlander merchants."

Online HERE.



Comics
At The Comic Book Catacombs, ""The Red Hills of Uganda" from Amazing Adventures #5 (Nov.1951) . Giant Ants!




Online HERE.





At Grantbridge Street & Other Misadventures, "Requiem for a Werewolf!" from Tales of Evil #2. The title says it all.



Online HERE (caution PG post nut R rated site).