Sleepy Saturday Free Fiction

A few goodies to start the morning.






Flash Fiction
• At 365 Tomorrows: "Curation" by Cosmo Smith. Science Fiction.

Audio Fiction
• At Pseudopod: "The Eulogy Of Darien Meek" by Niccolo Skill. Horror.
       "Twin dark wood doors opened up to a high-ceiling-ed main room. The windows were stained half the colors of the rainbow. The room was awash in vibrant reds, oranges, and yellows. A splash of green dotted the refreshment table and the faintest lines of blue hung over the altar. A faint musky smell, not quite strong enough to be offensive, wafted out the door."

• At Radio Drama Revival: "Wormwood ‘Revelations’" Dark Fantasy.
     "where Xander Crowe is being tortured by an evil demonic spirit but finds a way to free himself, and start looking into the other weird mysteries in the town of Wormwood.  What exactly IS going down at the library?"

• At Selected Shorts:  "Too Late" Speculative Fiction.
     "Guest host Wyatt Cenac presents a program of stories about drastic solutions and last chances. Master fantasist Steven Millhauser imagines the world covered by a gigantic plastic sphere in “The Dome,” read by Alec Baldwin. Jim Shepard takes us to the greatest recorded natural disaster in history in “Cretan Love Song,” read by Joe Morton, and Mr. Potato Head is not your friend in Nicholson Baker’s “Subsoil,” read by Thomas Gibson."

• At WMG Publishing: "The Scottish Play" written and read by Kristine Kathryn Rusch.
    No Description Found

Other Genres

• Fiction at Author's Site: "Discovery" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. Mystery.
• Fiction at Online Pulps: "Death on Deposit" by Frank Johnson. 1942, "Duty" by Donald Francis McGrew. 1913, "Murder in Red" by C. S. Montanye. 1948. Pulp. Noir.
• Flash Fiction at Every Day Fiction: "The Aquarium" by Darci Schummer.
• Flash Fiction at Linguistic Erosion: "Type A - The Situation" by Anthony Mullinix. 
• Poem at Leaves of Ink: "You Move Me" by Linda M. Crate.

It's Friday, I'm In Love with Free Fiction

A little less on an insane day here today so there will be more posts.  This time there are already some good free fiction items. Back soon with more Free Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Horror.









Fiction
• At Daily Science Fiction: "Marrakech Express" by Milena Benini.
        "Marrakech Express hurdles its great bulk through stringspace. There is no speed in stringspace, but hopping as it does from one planet to the next and trading for a day or two at each, Marrakech Express could be called slow."

• At Drabblecast: "Flying On Hatred of My Neighbor's Dog" by Shaenon Garrity.  Comedy.  Sci-Fi.
     "I know my neighbor’s dog as a bark: a deep, dark, venomous yawp that begins and ends on a snarl. It’s loud, louder than it should be. Earplugs do nothing. It penetrates. Once it starts, it continues, relentlessly, for a period ranging from one to four hours. It can start at any time, day or night, dropping from the veils of morning to where the cricket sings."

• At HiLobrow: "The Man with Six Senses - Part 13" by Muriel Jaeger. Scince Fiction. 1927.
      "I ought, of course, to have warned Hilda of our coming, but it was already late afternoon, and I did not wish to let Plumer’s offer remain unclinched an hour longer than was necessary. Thus it was that we came in upon Michael lying on the couch, his face the colour of lead, while Hilda was bending over him, giving him brandy."

Flash Fiction

• At 365 Tomorrows: "The Indiginous Harvesters Project" by Desmond Hussey. Science Fiction.
• At Weirdyear: "Geese" By Lance Manion. Weird Fiction.

Audio Fiction

• At Classic Tales PodCast: "The Furnished Room" by O. Henry. Horror.
      "Restless, shifting, fugacious as time itself is a certain vast bulk of the population of the red brick district of the lower West Side. Homeless, they have a hundred homes. They flit from furnished room to furnished room, transients forever - transients in abode, transients in heart and mind"

• At Drabblecast: "Flying On Hatred of My Neighbor's Dog" by Shaenon Garrity, read by Nathan Lee.  Comedy.  Sci-Fi.
     "I know my neighbor’s dog as a bark: a deep, dark, venomous yawp that begins and ends on a snarl. It’s loud, louder than it should be. Earplugs do nothing. It penetrates. Once it starts, it continues, relentlessly, for a period ranging from one to four hours. It can start at any time, day or night, dropping from the veils of morning to where the cricket sings." and  Drabble: Crisis of Competence by Travelin' Corpse Feet.

• At LibriVox: Space Platform by Murray Leinster, read by Mark Nelson.

       "SPACE PLATFORM tells the exciting story of a young man helping to build this first station. With scientific accuracy and imagination Murray Leinster, one of the world's top science-fiction writers, describes the building and launching of the platform. Here is a fast-paced story of sabotage and murder directed against a project more secret and valuable than the atom bomb." 1953 Novel.

• At Tales to Terrify: "A Crow Among the Sparrows" by John Dodds, narration and musical bridges by Jonathan Taylor.  Horror.

    No Description Found

Other Genres

• Audio Fiction at Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine: "The Problem of the Old Gristmill" by Edward D. Hoch
• Fiction at Spinetingler: "Time and Tides" by Zen McCann. 
• Flash Fiction at Every Day Fiction: "In the Beginning" by William L Stolley.
• Poem at Leaves of Ink: "Now That I Desire" by Michael Lee Johnson.

Delirious for Free Fiction

Good Morning! There's some very good free fiction to start the weekend.  There audio fiction from three great podcasts (Escape Pod, Pseudopod, and Tales to Terrify) and good text fiction from several great sites, including Mythic Delirium (link via John DeNardo of  SF Signal).











Fiction
• At Daily Science Fiction: "I'll Never Find Another You" by C J Paget. Science Fiction.
       "It's the genie costume that snags his attention, hooks him from across this one-room-vampire-zombie-Lady-Gaga-apocalypse. It's a daring, revealing costume, but she has the figure to pull it off. She's even standing right, that poised, lost-in-fairyland stance, like a Disney princess."

• At Escape Pod: "Thirty Seconds From Now" by John Chu, read by Joel Kenyon. Science Fiction.
      "One second from now, the bean bag will thunk into Scott’s left palm. From reflex, his fingers will wrap around it before he’ll toss it back up again. The trick of juggling lies not in the catch but in the toss. The bean bag will arc up from his right hand, but Scott sees his left hand blur now. Phantom left hands at the few places his left hand may be one second from now overlap with each other, and with his real left hand about a foot above the cold tile floor he’s sitting on."

• At Silver Blade: "Little Men" by D. A. D'Amico
       "Karl Somme waited until his daughter had finished her cheeseburger before tossing the yellow wrapper, white and red paper bag, plastic ketchup packets and scraps of bread onto the newly cut grass at his feet. A twinge reminded him that the poison had begun to act."

At Mythic Delirium:

• "The Wives of Paris" by Marie Brennan.
     "So of course he chose the beautiful woman. He was a young man, after all. Power would come—don’t forget, he was the son of a king—and victory was guaranteed, because all young men are invincible … but a woman’s soft thighs are another matter. To a teenager, that is the fruit of Tantalus: only divine intervention can bring it within reach."
• "Ahalya: Deliverance" by Karthika Naïr. Poem,
• "Cuneiform Toast" by Sonya Taaffe. Poem,
• "Hexagon" by Alexandra Seidel.
     "Scheherazade feels heat blushing her cheeks but with the rain falling heavy and thick and the steel gray sky overhead, the color seems just background noise. She forgot her umbrella, and now she stands on the sidewalk, naked to the rain. All her clothes melt to her skin, and she feels like drowning."
• "Voyage to a Distant Star" by C.S.E. Cooney. Poem.
• "Rhythm of Hoof and Cry" by S. Brackett Robertson. Poem,
• "Echoes in the Dark" by Ken Liu.
      "The Chinese waiters streamed to and fro, bringing an endless array of foods exotic and strange to me: roasted duck dipped in rice wine, chilled longan fruit shaped like eyes, shrimp carved to resemble lutes. They worked efficiently and quietly, their Oriental faces impassive and inscrutable."
• "This Talk of Poems" by Amal El-Mohtar. Poem
• "Two Ways of Lifting" by Virginia M. Mohlere. Poem.

Audio Fiction
• At Escape Pod: "Thirty Seconds From Now" by John Chu, read by Joel Kenyon. Science Fiction.
      "One second from now, the bean bag will thunk into Scott’s left palm. From reflex, his fingers will wrap around it before he’ll toss it back up again. The trick of juggling lies not in the catch but in the toss. The bean bag will arc up from his right hand, but Scott sees his left hand blur now. Phantom left hands at the few places his left hand may be one second from now overlap with each other, and with his real left hand about a foot above the cold tile floor he’s sitting on."

• At Pseudopod: "The Bungalow House" by Thomas Ligotti. read by Ralph Walters. Horror.
       "The bungalow house was such a bleak environment in which to make a stand: the moonlight through the dusty blinds, the bodies on the carpet, the lamps without any lightbulbs. And the incredible silence. It was not the absence of sounds that I sensed, but the stifling of innumerable sounds and even voices, the muffling of all the noises one might expect to hear in an old bungalow house in the dead of night, as well as countless other sounds and voices."

• At Tales to Terrify: "No 87 Flash and Short Fiction" Horror.
     "Mr. Potato Head” by Ahimsa Kerp, narrated by Antoinette Bergin. “Santrai” by P.D. Cacek, narrated by Josie Babin. “In the Garden” by L.R. Bonehill, narrated by Antoinette Bergin. “The Sweetest Kind of Chaos” by Copper Smith, narrated by Brian Esterson. “Trapped” by Dennis M. Lane, narrated by the author “Binge” by Jim Pyre, narrated by Logan Waterman. “Little Sister” by Chantal Boudreau, narrated by Antoinette Bergin. “The Boy Who Became Invisible” by Joe R. Lansdale, narrated by Lawrence Santoro.

Other Genres
• Audio at Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. "The Problem of the Covered Bridge" by Edward D. Hoch
• Flash Fiction at Every Day Fiction: "Kin" by Karen Walsh.

Celebrating the Birth . . . Anthony Boucher

Anthony Boucher (born William Anthony Parker White; August 21, 1911 – April 29, 1968)

    Hugo award winning co-editor of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction from 1949-1958, Boucher also wrote science fiction stories, as well as mysteries.  His short story "The Quest for St. Aquin" (linked below), as noted in Wikipedia, was "among the stories selected in 1970 by the Science Fiction Writers of America as one of the best science fiction short stories of all time."  Only a couple of his stories are currently freely available.




Fiction
• "The Quest for St. Aquin" Science Fiction.
    "The Bishop of Rome, the head of the Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, the Vicar of Christ on Earth—in short, the Pope—brushed a cockroach from the filth-encrusted wooden table, took another sip of the raw red wine, and resumed his discourse."

Old Time Radio
• At Internet Archive:"They Bite" (direct MP3 download) Horror. Science Fiction. - Nightfall. 1982
     "An alien disregards protocols and contacts the primitive-Tale about a species of quasi-lizard creatures living in the hinterlands of the American southwest, preying on unwary humans." OTR Plot Spot.

Begin the Day with Friendly Free Fiction

Some great free speculative fiction links to start your week with!  There are some great selections in fiction, flash fiction, and audio fiction this morning. More later.  And be sure to check out our peers listed in "Free SF Sites" in the right hand column.






[Art from "The Highwater Harbor - Part One" linked below]



Fiction
• At Black Gate: "The Highwater Harbor - Part One" by Aaron Bradford Starr. Fantasy.
     "While not exactly fugitives from justice, Gloren, Yr Neh, and I have found ourselves fleeing from various legal entanglements better resolved in our absence from West Rotthe. Arising, as they will no doubt prove, from unfounded allegations of sundry flavors of negligence, we agreed last night that the best course would likely be to take some form of long journey, far from the misplaced grievances of the Viscount of Amberle and his vengeful wife."

• At HiLobrow: "Theodore Savage part 19" by Cicely Hamilton. Science Fiction. 1922.
      "When war breaks out in Europe — war which aims successfully to displace entire populations — British civilization collapses utterly and overnight. The ironically named Theodore Savage, an educated and dissatisfied idler, must learn to survive by his wits in the new England, where 20th-century science, technology, and culture are regarded with superstitious awe and terror." Prior chapter at same link.

• At Short-Story.me: "The Priory Sunday" by Daniel Ayiotis. Horror.
      "The Priory of St. Anthony had appeared unannounced and unnoticed at first in the old three story house on Dublin’s North Circular Road.  From the outside, the house looked like any other, but it was what went on inside that attracted the interest of the Gardaí, not to mention the concerned families and friends of those who counted themselves amongst the believers within."

• At Tor.com: "The Monsters of Heaven" by Nathan Ballingrud.
     "For a long time, Brian imagined reunions with his son. In the early days, these fantasies were defined by spectacular violence. He would find the man who stole him and open his head with a claw hammer. The more blood he spilled, the further removed he became from his own guilt."

• At Wily Writers: "Profiles in Survival" by Simon McCaffery. Alternate History.
      "An iconic president and band of survivors fight for survival after the USSR launches a biological weapon at the mainland during the 1962 Cuban missile crisis."

Flash Fiction

• At Beware the Hairy Mango: "Bravissimo" by Matthew Sanborn Smith. Audio. Weird.
• At Daily Science Fiction. "Of Ash and Old Dreams" by Sarah Grey. Fantasy.
• At Quantum Muse: "Welcome" by Harris Tobias. Science Fiction.
• At 365 Tomorrows: "The Lion" by J.D. Rice. Science Fiction.
• At Toasted Cake: "The Moon's Wife" by Cheryl A. Warner. Audio.

Audio
• At Author's Site: "Kissyman & The Last Song" by Scott Sigler. Horror.
      "Here it is, folks, the free serialization of our short story collection BONES ARE WHITE. The eBook is available for purchase, but you're getting the podcast even before the audiobook is in stores."

• At Beam Me Up: Episode #374. Science Fiction.
      "the last of Ed McKeown’s story, 'In the Mourning.'"

• At Cthulhu: "The Shadow over Innsmouth - conclusion" by H.P. Lovecraft.
     "During the winter of 1927-28 officials of the Federal government made a strange and secret investigation of certain conditions in the ancient Massachusetts seaport of Innsmouth. The public first learned of it in February, when a vast series of raids and arrests occurred, followed by the deliberate burning and dynamiting - under suitable precautions - of an enormous number of crumbling, worm-eaten, and supposedly empty houses along the abandoned waterfront." Parts one, two, three, and four.

• At Every Photo Tells: "The Voyage Home"  by Jeffrey Hite. Science Fiction.
     "In a distant future, the journey back to earth is not an easy one."

• At LibriVox: "Gladiator" by Philip Wylie. Science Fiction.
      "Gladiator by Philip Wylie is the story of a man who although normal in all other ways, through the genius of his Father a biologist attains the strength and impregnability of a superman. The problems he encounters in trying to fit into a society of normal human beings who show fear and hatred whenever they view his abnormal strength and physical ability pains him to the point of having to leave civilization."

• At LibriVox: "The Magic Skin" by Honoré de Balzac. Fantasy.
       "Set in early 19th-century Paris, it tells the story of a young man who finds a magic piece of shagreen that fulfills his every desire. For each wish granted, however, the skin shrinks and consumes a portion of his physical energy." - Wikipedia.

• At Wily Writers: "Profiles in Survival" by Simon McCaffery. Alternate History.
      "An iconic president and band of survivors fight for survival after the USSR launches a biological weapon at the mainland during the 1962 Cuban missile crisis."

Other Genres

• Audio at Crime City Central: "Who Killed Skippy" by Paul D Brazill. Mystery.
• Audio at Decoder Ring Theatre: "Crogan Adventures 05 - Incomplete Sentences" Mystery.
• Flash Fiction at Every Day Fiction: "Queen for a Day: What She’ll Say Twelve Years from Now, on a Therapist's Couch in Winnipeg" by Bonnie Ditlevsen.

Free Fiction, Will Robinson! Free Fiction!

It's Friday, so let the weekend begin! It's another great collection of free fiction from many generous site! It's only polite to thank Regan Wolfrom and SF Signal, from whom I swiped a couple of links. It's Monty Python's Flying Circus! OK, not really on the last one.




[Art from "Know When to Hold 'Em," linked below]







Fiction
 • At Buzzy Mag: "We’re All Super Here" by Michaele Jordan.
       "Esther opened the drawer; an old newspaper had been stuffed in on top, showing a headline which read Oldster Gang Trashes SS Office. Next to the headline, someone—probably Mom, judging by the handwriting—had scrawled, Beats Sunset Acres. Esther chuckled; Mom had never gone ten minutes without complaining about the assisted living facility where she resided. Then Esther remembered, again, and stopped chuckling."

 • At Nautilus:  "Know When to Hold 'Em" by K.G. Jewell. Science Fiction. [via SF Signal]
      "Huddled in the tiny attendant hut, Jonas checked, for the third time, the knob on the ancient space heater. It was still set on max. Usually the booth swung between hot and cold as the heater cycled on and off, but this evening the sub-zero winds of a Lake Huron cold front invaded Detroit, and the tiny glowing heating element fought a non-stop, losing battle."

• At The Red Penny Papers: "God on High or the Devil Below" by Jeffrey Wooten. [via SF Signal]
     “They’re trying to kill me.” Carl raised the head of his bed to get a better look at his new roommate. “You’ll see. They steal too, especially that big bastard.”

Flash Fiction

• At Daily Science Fiction: "I'll Leave The Light On" by Patricia Russo. 
• At Enchanted Conversations: "Ignorant Fools" by Aliza Faber. Poem.
• At Every Day Fiction: "Does Best in Ordinary Garden Soil" by Sarah Crysl Akhtar. Fairy Tale.
• At Flashes in the Dark: "The Floor that Creaked" by Adam Sear. Horror.
• At 365 Tomorrows: "The Diversity Of Life" by Clint Wilson. Science Fiction.

E-Books
At Free E-Books Daily.

• City of Blaze by H.O. Charles. Fantasy Romance.  
• Keeper of Reign by Emma Right. YA Fantasy. 

At Smashwords:

• The Torans of Andor 'Out of Time' by Linda Arditto. Fantasy. 112k words.
• "King of Rats" by Gregory Carrico. Paranormal.
• "Rez Diamond: Creation" by Geltab. Fantasy.
• "ApocalypZe - Those Left Behind: Dan Killmeyer's Story" by Ivan Turner. Horror. Zombies.
• Hardin's War by A.S. Morrison. Science Fiction. Apocalyptic. 51k words.
• "The Compound" by Christina J Adams. YA.
• "Interrogation" by J. Steven Butler. Science Fiction.

Audio Fiction
• The Classic Tales Podcast: "Through the Looking Glass, Part 2 of 5" by Lewis Carroll. Children's Fantasy.
     "Tweedledee and Tweedledum, Looking-Glass Insects, a Walrus and a Carpenter and more."

• At Escape Pod: "Growing Up Human" by Laura Hobbs. Science Fiction. 
     Jonathan was ready.  "Consider the sociological components.  One:  Juxtaposed verbiage of ‘Wake up and go to sleep.’  Two:  A slap of dominance and subservience, which defined the human condition.  And three:  Highly skilled competents feigning incompetence as part of their profession.”  Jonathan turned his back to the screen.

• At Pseudopod: "The End-Of-The-World Pool" by Scott M. Roberts. Horror.
     "The pool was as warm as sweat. Evan kicked away from the surface, algae shifting and bumping against his bare legs. Even with his mouth squeezed tight, he could taste the foulness of the water, like it had seeped through his ears to touch the back of his throat."

• At Tales to Terrify: "Episode No. 76"  "Dolls" by Drake Vaughn and "Creepdoll" by Gareth Stack. Horror.
     "a lonely bachelor takes a desperate step to finding romance by posing as a single father through the purchase of a hyper-realistic child doll he names Lucy. To his amazement, the scheme works, and he finds himself in a wonderful relationship with a spicy single mother. But what will happen when Lucy doesn’t age like a real child, or anyone discovers that she prefers being plugged into an outlet than munching cheerios?" - Tangent.

Gaming
• At DriveThruRPG: Pathways #27. (free membership required)
     "How can you say "No" to a free collection of Pathfinder templates, NPCs, Feng Shui feats, Apeiron Staffs, and a free preview of 101 Not So Random Encounters Winter? If you say no designer Steven D. Russell and artist Keith Seymour will send a Watchmen Silver Dragon after you! "

Old Time Radio

• At Boxcars711: "Lonely Sleep" - Inner Sanctum Mysteries. Horror. 1949.
• At Boxcars711: "Tunnel Under the World" by X Minus One. Science Fiction. 1956.
• At Relic Radio: "The Man Who Came Back" - Dark Fantasy. Horror. 1941.
• At Relic Radio: "Alien Presences" by CBS Radio Mystery Theater. Science Fiction. 1978.

Other Genres

• Audio at Every Photo Tells: "Never Alone"  by Odin1Eye.
• Audio at Radio Drama Revival: "Episode 336 – This Time, It’s An Open Season" Mystery.

Free Fiction for Ecclesiastes

Just a few free goodies this morning, but all worth checking out.  E-Books and more later today.




Fiction
• At L5R: "Sins of the Father, Part 5: Always War" by Robert Denton. Fantasy.
      "Twenty-eight seconds into the match, Sakura struck the bokken from her opponent’s hands, following up with a kick that sent him reeling into the far wall of the dojo. He gasped for air as she guided the wooden tip to his throat."

Flash Fiction

• At Quantum Muse: "The Kay-Ram Glossi" by Richard Tornello.
• At 365 Tomorrows: "Empathy Test" by George R. Shirer. Science Fiction.
• At Toasted Cake: "Hazelwitch vs Hazelwitch" by K. G. Jewell. Audio.

Audio Fiction
• At Beam Me Up: Episode #370. Science Fiction.
       "The Rise & Rise of Grey Power" by David Scholes and the conclusion of "No Great Magic" by Fritz Leiber.

• At Clarkesworld: "Free-Fall" by Graham Templeton. Science Fiction.
     "Our elevator has stalled some thirty kilometers above the surface of the Earth, and my first thought is not heroic: I need to start fasting, lean up these haunches in preparation for the Donner decision trees that most likely lie ahead."

Other Genres

• Audio at Crime City Central: "Fatal Tryst" by David DeLee.
• Audio at LibriVox: The Valley of Fear (Version 2) by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Sherlock Holmes.
• Flash Fiction at Every Day Fiction: "Monologues" by Alexander Burns.

Subterranean, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Tor and More

There's some great free fiction today. Beneath Ceaseless Skies has two new fantasy stories, a new SF story at Tor.com and a new issue of Subterranean Press Magazine, with four more great stories.  All these sites are fantastic, so don't even think about skipping one (We have ways of knowing). 


There are continuations of two serials, flash fiction, and more today. An interesting item in the "other genres" is the first issue of the classic mystery and short story magazine, The Strand. And more later.

[Art for Subterranean Press Magazine Winter 2013]




Fiction
• At Beneath Ceaseless Skies:

"The Storms in Arisbat" by Therese Arkenberg. Fantasy

       "Semira made her way to him, unsteady as if on a rocking deck. He took her outstretched hand, and the point of contact became an anchor, and axis; something steady to work around. The fear didn’t abate, but its quality changed: from dread to dizzy panic to the icy clutch of despair. Semira thought of rushing winds, coming and abating, and of sudden downpours of rain. Of storms."

"Casualties" by Alec Austin. Fantasy.

       "For a frozen moment, I glanced between the murder-sharp blade of my athame and Bastien's stricken expression, trying to reconcile the two. Part of me wasn't sure why I hadn't slit his throat for everything he'd done and all the people he'd betrayed. Because he didn't do any of that, the rational part of me insisted. Trouble was, I remembered him stabbing Annie in the arm on the Day of Glass, and what Gretchen had become after he got to her in Gabbleford."

• At Paizo: "Thieves Vinegar - Chapter Two: The Hall of Lies" by Kevin Andrew Murphy. Fantasy. Pathfinder.
     "Newby analyzed the contents of Norret's flask, pronouncing it ninety-nine point nine percent pure will-o'-wisp essence, with the impurities mostly consisting of honeysuckle and grape. Norret nodded, and the three old men fell to talking amongst themselves."

• At Tor.com: "Am I Free to Go?" by Kathryn Cramer.

       "The line between utopia and dystopia...is, often, who you are. Or who your neighbors think you are."

• Now Posted: Subterranean Press Magazine Winter 2013.

"Surfacing" by Walter Jon Williams. Science Fiction.
      "There was an alien on the surface of the planet. A Kyklops had teleported into Overlook Station, and then flown down on the shuttle. Since, unlike humans, it could teleport without apparatus, presumably it took the shuttle just for the ride. The Kyklops wore a human body, controlled through an n-dimensional interface, and took its pleasures in the human fashion."

"The Boolean Gate" by Walter Jon Williams. Science Fiction.
     "The dining room in Guildford had yellow wallpaper with little figures on it, and a heavy mahogany sideboard, and vases with flowers that Sam, in his carelessness, was allowing to die. The window was open as a relief against the heavy August heat, but the lace curtains barely stirred."

"Hard Rain" by Steven R. Boyett.
      "Twelve miles outside of Agville they came across a silver miner half dead from the beating and the tarring he’d been given before the town ran him out on his splithoof rackribbed mule. The tar had cooked him to the bone in places and plugs of skin had festered where he had worried at patches"

 "Raptors" by Conrad Williams.
       "You were allowed to wear shorts if the weather was good. The management never turned the air conditioning on because they wanted the punters to overheat and buy more drinks. Dervla wore shorts that were more like broad belts."

Flash Fliction

• At Every Day Fiction: "Deprescience" by Mickey Hunt. Fantasy.
• At Flashes in the Dark: "Toon" by Alun Williams. Horror.
• At Nature: "An Unintended Future" by Tristan Scott. Science Fiction.
• At 365 Tomorrows: "Bath" by Duncan Shields. Science Fiction.

Audio Fiction
• At The Fantastic Worlds of Edgar Rice Burroughs: Episode 10 - The Return of Tarzan. Adventure
      "Tarzan has been tricked by Lt. Gernois into accompanying a scouting party led by the suspected traitor, who has been seen in secret conversations with a mysterious Arab. Commanded to maintain a solo post in a valley in the mountains"

• At The Internet Archive: BBC's "The Foundation Trilogy" by Isaac Asimov. Isaac Asimov. [via SF Signal and The Verge] Science Fiction.
      "The premise of the series is that mathematician Hari Seldon spent his life developing a branch of mathematics known as psychohistory, a concept devised by Asimov and his editor John W. Campbell. Using the law of mass action, it can predict the future, but only on a large scale; it is error-prone for anything smaller than a planet or an empire"

Other Genres

• Audio at SFFaudio: Two versions of  "Was It A Dream?" by Guy de Maupassant.
• Fiction at Project Gutenberg: The Strand Magazine, Volume I, January to June 1891 by Various.
• Flash Fiction at Flash Fiction Friday: "F3, Cycle 108 [...] The Stories"

Nightmare Magazine, StarShipSofa, and AntipodeanSF

A few goodies to start the the day.  There's a new horror story with both audio and text versions, at Nightmare Magazine. StarShipSofa has a new audio SF story, and AntipodeanSF has five audio flash fiction stories in their latest podcast.  All are worth checking out as are the shorter works linked below.








 
Fiction
• At Nightmare Magazine: "Chop Shop" by J.B. Park. Horror.
      "If only she could find the right words to thank him. As he cuts into her thigh, she wants to say something, some small word of gratitude, but her tongue is gone and so she keeps quiet—utters not even a mumble as he continues his work. The scalpel shav es off small slivers of flesh and the sensation is electrifying, little jolts that flash through the drug-haze, and when it’s all over she stares down with dull curiosity at her legs, flayed to the bone. There is a detachment there in which she luxuriates."

Flash Fiction

• At Author's Site: "Ghost Of The Holloway" by Paul McAuley [via SF Signal]
• At Author's Site: "Barbara Allen And Sweet Billie" by Paul McAuley [via SF Signal]
• At Author's Site: "Heaven Is A Place" by Paul McAuley [via SF Signal]
• At Daily Science Fiction: "The Refugee" by Meg Everingham. 
• At 365 Tomorrows: "Lonely Planet" by Clint Wilson. Science Fiction,
• At Yesteryear Fiction: "Holder Of My Heart" by Linda M. Crate. Fantasy Poem.

Audio Fiction
• At AntipodeanSF: "The AntiSF Radio Show 173" Speculative Fiction.
      "five fabulous flash stories from the not so usual suspects. Weave some story time with us while we take a look at horrific love, reveal a Revelation, delve into underbelly of intellectual property rights, discover the future of human skin, well sort of, and grow our gardens in space."


• At Nightmare Magazine: "Chop Shop" by J.B. Park. Horror.
Described above.

• At StarShipSofa: "Topsider" by Jeff Carlson. Science Fiction.
     "Alexis and crew are above, literally and figuratively, the sunfish. The focus of the plot in this episode is Alexis’ coming to be a part of the new crew, the anthropological study of the sunfish – who are very hostile to intruders – and the inevitable politicking inherent when several space agencies send scientific delegations to study the only other intelligent race now known." - Review at Grasping for the Wind.

Other Genres

• Flash Fiction at Every Day Fiction: "The Shady Side" by John Palen. Mystery.
• OTR at Journey Into: "It's A Wonderful Life" - Lux Radio Theater. Holiday.

Sunday Freebies

More free fiction to finish off the weekend.




Fiction
At Adventures in Fiction: "Thieves' Honor, ep 19:"Escape" by Keanan Brand.
      "Either the rebel servant was no rebel, or the house guard had finally arrived at the notion of checking behind all the planters. Armed men escorted Finney past Bosko, lying sunburned and unconscious, into the cool interior of the villa and down dim corridors to a high-ceilinged chamber hung with gauzy curtains over the lattice-cut windows."

At The WiFiles: "A Funeral in Jerusalem" by Mark L. Glosser. Speculative Fiction.
     "The nondescript panel truck parked near the Qnai safe house in the Mea Shearim section of Jerusalem was easy to overlook.  This was intentional; it was one of the mobile command units used by the Investigation and Command Division of the Israeli National Police.  Inspector Ari Rosen, a thick slab of a man, monitored the audio and video feeds in the truck while the rest of his men were concealed in the evening darkness."

Flash Fiction

• At Every Day Fiction: "The Red Sno-Cones Are Not For Sale" by Emily C. Skaftun. Horror.
• At 365 Tomorrows: "Adaptation" by Bob Newbell. Science Fiction.

Audio Fiction
At Author's Site: "The MVP Episode #9" by Scott Sigler. Science Fiction. Football.
     "The Krakens finally leave Prawatt Jihad space, and we learn that it's more than just sports fans that have their eye on Quentin Barnes. As Quentin and his teammates return to Ionath City, he is reminded of all that has been lost in the team's endless pursuit for a title."

At Beam Me Up:  Episode #343. Science Fiction/Science Fact.
      Featuring Poul Anderson’s "Call Me Joe" pt5 and "In Plain Sight" ep16 by Jason Kahn.

At Cast of Wonders: "The Gloaming (Part 1)" by M E Garber. YA Fantasy.
       "As Halloween approached, I wondered if the rustlings and motions in the night were goblins, checking out the neighborhood. And if I didn’t believe I saw them, would they stay away?"

At Fantastic World Worlds of Edgar Rice Burroughs: "Episode 09 - The Return of Tarzan"
     "Tarzan is on assignment in Algeria as part of his new post for the French War ministry. He is investigating Lt. Gernois, who is suspected of passing state secrets to a major European power."

At LibriVox: "Cocoa Break Collection, Vol. 02" Children's Fantasy/Fairy Tales.
      "This is a collection of international fairy tales clocking in at 5-15 minutes apiece, suitable for childrens' winter cocoa breaks, or other times when quality entertainment is needed."

At Relic Radio: "The Treasure Of Kublai Khan" - The Hall Of Fantasy. Dark Fantasy. OTR.

Other Genres
Audio at Selected Shorts: "What’s Going On?"
     Jonathan Lethem’s “The Empty Room”  and two Raymond Carver stories, “Why Don’t You Dance” and "Neighbors"
Fiction at Short-Story.me: "The Fields of Sleep" by Steven Anthony George. Mystery.
Fiction at Short-Story.me: "Cora, Not Corny Coral" by Jordan Elizabeth Mierek.

Free Fiction Forever

Some very good free fiction to end the month. A trio of good short SF stories and a trio of good flash fiction stories.  There's also cool audio horror from two great sites, flash SF audio at Escape Pod, and a fantasy audio story from Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine (OK it's a Mystery-Fantasy), and some worthy entries in the other genres section.


[Art from "Head Case" linked below]




Fiction 
At Buzzy Mag: "Paint It Black" by John McIlvee.
     "She dabbed her paintbrush against the palette and applied it to the canvas, blending and feathering with quick, bold strokes until she achieved the exact effect she desired. Stepping back, she appraised her work and returned to blend a spot with her thumb. A pleased smile spread across her tired yet regal face."

At Cosmos: "Head Case" by by Kate Orman.
       "The human mind isn’t big enough for two. Especially when one of you is a ghost."

At Daily Science Fiction: "A Wizard of the Roads" by Therese Arkenberg.
      "The road was falling apart, too bumpy to walk on anymore, so he'd taken the railroad tracks instead. On and on they went, without the curves of the blacktop, and the telephone poles marched alongside them. The wires hanging from the poles were empty, and so were the wires leading to the dark lights in the towns, or to the TVs and fridges and stuff in people's homes. He felt their emptiness. Empty, empty, empty."

Flash Fiction

• At Every Day Fiction: "The Manticore" by Arthur Lorenz. Fantasy.
• At 365 Tomorrows: "The Beautiful Moon" by David Stevenson. Science Fiction.
• At Weirdyear: "Frog Fog" by Joshua Dobson. Weird.

Audio Fiction
At Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine: “Normal” by Donna Andrews. Mystery. Fantasy.
       "a tale with vampires, trolls, and other spooky creatures. Award-winning novelist and short story writer Donna Andrews reads her story “Normal” (from the May 2011 EQMM), in which her not-quite-“normal” private eye and a support cast that includes a wizard solve a classical whodunit."

At Escape Pod: Flash Collection Science Fiction.
      "Health Tips for Traveler" by David W. Goldman, "Echoes of the Bouncing Ball" by Paul Celmer, "Tornado on Fire" by Luc Reid.

At Pseudopod: "Unfeeling" by J.D. Brink. Horror.
      "‘I don’t trust them anymore,’ August tells him. They’re in the master bedroom, which is about as big as Shovel’s whole damn apartment. George and Byrd are downstairs, checking out the car and getting everyone something to eat, respectively, as instructed."

At Tales to Terrify: Episode #47  "The Horse of the Invisible" by  and "Treason and Plot" by William Meikle. Horror.
     "The bulk of the photographs were of interiors of different rooms and passages and in every one the girl might be seen, either full length in the distance or closer, with perhaps little more than a hand or arm or portion of the head or dress included in the photograph." - No description found of "Treason and Plot"

Other Genres

• Audio Fiction at Classic Tales Podcast: "The Chimes, Part 2 of 4" by Charles Dickens. 
• Audio Fiction at Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine:: “The Brick Thing” by Jack Fredrickson
• Flash Fiction at Flash Fiction Friday: "F3, Cycle 106, Seven Days: The Stories"
• Flash Fiction at Spinetingler Magazine: "It’s All Peanuts" by Emma Deanston.

Free Fiction In a Landslide! Pundits Baffled, but Pleased.

Today's a great day for free fiction. There are a couple new stories at Lightspeed, a short story by Bram Stoker and Nebula award winning author Nina Kiriki Hoffman at Strange Horizons, a new issue of Sorcerous Signals, and more great free written and flash fiction.  Don't miss the free audio fiction, including a Manly Wade Wellman story that was originally published in Weird Tales, and a new PodCastle miniature. There's a classic dramitization of a Ray Bradbury story and a couple interesting "other genres" items. There  a new free fiction listing at SF Signal  (please send poor Regan some coffee, caffeine deprivation is a serious mental health issue) And finally, some great free audio fiction news, Strange Horizons will begin  free fiction podcasts in 2013 (Huzzah!).

[Art for "As the Wheel Turns" at Lightspeed]

Fiction
At AE: "The Pack" by Matt Moore. Science Fiction. 
      "There is another complication. Each man was injected with a unique nanite model. Each man now hosts an identical hybrid model which appears to be the result of cross-contamination and replication."

At Daily Science Fiction: "Just Today" by Nina Kiriki Hoffman.
       "My best friend, Ben, is dead. We still hang. Not too many other people can see or hear him--just little kids and animals, and an occasional weirdo, so Ben is kind of stuck with me, which works for me"

At Lightspeed: "Searching for Slave Leia" by Sandra McDonald. Science Fiction.
       "A slip, slide, falling through icy coldness, white noise like TV static. A breeze of hot buttery popcorn. Giddy laughter, sweaty bodies, fanfare music over the intercom, and what’s this? A ten-foot-wide movie poster of young, pale, undernourished Carrie Fisher, posed seductively in a gold metal bikini with a collar and chain around her neck."

At Lightspeed:  "As the Wheel Turns" by Aliette de Bodard. Fantasy.
       "In the Tenth Court of Hell stands the Wheel of Rebirth. Its spokes are of red lacquered wood; it creaks as demons pull it, dragging its load of souls back into the world. And before the Wheel stands the Lady."

At Strange Horizons: "Four Kinds of Cargo" by Leonard Richardson. Speculative Fiction.
       "The Captain had spent her childhood watching bad native-language dubs of those same epics, except the implication that all this stuff was fiction had been lost in translation. When she came of age, the Captain (probably not her birth name) had bought Sour Candy with Mommy's money, hired a crew, and declared herself a smuggler."

At Weird Fiction Review: "Xebico" by Stephen Graham Jones.
      "I had my Library Science degree in one hand, a beer constantly in the other. Officially, I was taking a post-graduation break before entering the rat race. Just catching my breath before putting my soul on the auction block, all that. Unofficially, two of the three professors I’d asked for recs were putting me off."

At Weird Fiction Review: "The Night Wire" by H.F. Arnold. 1926.
      "There is something ungodly about these night wire jobs. You sit up here on the top floor of a skyscraper and listen in to the whispers of a civilization. New York, London, Calcutta, Bombay, Singapore – they’re your next-door neighbors after the street lights go dim and the world has gone to sleep."

Now Posted: the Nov '12 - Jan '13 Issue of Sorcerous Signals.

"Cycle of Justice" by Charles Kyffhausen.
"The unquiet spirit didn't know her effort to save her kinswoman would avenge her own death."
"Dead Girl's Sphinx" by Bernise Marie D. Carolino. Flash Fiction
"Dusting Pixie" by Margaret L Carter.
"Beware of accepting favors from magical creatures, even cute ones."
"To the Empty Castle of My Queen I Came" by W. Luke Hamel. Poetry.
"The Genetic Menagerie" by Mary E Lowd.
"Two cops chase down a rogue scientist, leading them to the fantastical world he's built with genetic engineering."
"Inner Mind's Pyramid" by M. K. A. Marble.
"When Gregor and his hired hands join Dr. Bloigh on an expedition to Giza to excavate an undiscovered pyramid, they find themselves confronted by an ancient Egyptian demon and a cursed sorceress."
"Spare Me" by Jerome Brooke.
"Osirus rules his world as Satrap of the Empire. He recoils in horror as his minions are loosed on the rebels who dare defy the power of the Imperium."
"They Called Me Red Hood" by Kelda Crich. Poetry.
"When Wizards Clashed" by Richard H Fay. Poetry.

Flash Fiction

• At Every Day Fiction: "The Hunter" by Ed Kratz. Fantasy.
• At Stange Horizons: "The Murder of Dionysos" by Florence Major. Poem.
• At 365 Tomorrows: "And Yet, It Moves" by Susan Nance Carhart. Science Fiction.

Audio Fiction
At Lightspeed: "Searching for Slave Leia" by Sandra McDonald. Science Fiction.

At PodCastle: Miniature 73 "Sugar Skulls" by Samantha Henderson. Fantasy.
     "Yesterday was the first of November, the Día de los Angelitos, and Abuela and Ramon and the neighborhood kids made the altar for the children." 

At Protecting Project Pulp:  "The Golgotha Dancers” by Manly Wade Wellman. Weird.
     "Hung over my own fireplace, it looked as large and living as a scene glimpsed through a window or, perhaps, on a stage in a theater. The capering pink bodies caught new lights from my lamp, lights that glossed and intensified their shape and color but did not reveal any new details. I pored once more over the cryptic legend: I sold my soul that I might paint a living picture."

At Toasted Cake: "Biding Time" by Beth Cato. Speculative Fiction.
     "What is closure? How do you close a door if the house has burned to ashes?"

Old Time Radio
At Relic Radio: NBC Short Story "The Rocket" by Ray Bradbury. Science Fiction.

Other Genres

• Fiction at Author's Site:  "Updates" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. Mystery. 2000.
• Non-Fiction at Project Gutenberg: Myths and Legends of Ancient Greece and Rome by E.M. Berens. 1880.

And all who heard should see them there,
And all should cry, Beware! Beware!
His flashing eyes, his floating hair!
Weave a circle round him thrice,
And close your eyes with holy dread,
For he on honey-dew hath fed
And drunk the milk of Paradise.

Saturday Links

Some cool gaming freebies and more. 





Fiction
At Adventures in Fiction: Thieves' Honor, ep 14: "The Game: Standoff" by Keanan Brand.
    "S-sirs?" The constable in charge aimed his gun somewhere between the extraction team and the crew. "May we settle this some other way than violence?" His words shook, but he stood straight in his dark blue uniform, shoulders back, and addressed the bounty hunter with a strong voice.

Reviewed at Variety SF: "The Can Opener"  by Rog Phillips. Science Fiction. 1949.

Audio Fiction
At Radio Drama Revival:  "Day of the Dead Returns" to New Orleans. Horror.
      "the retelling of Orpheus and Eurydice set in New Orleans"

Flash Fiction
At Every Day Fiction: "The Gift" by Dustin Adams. Science Fiction.
At Flash Pulp: "The Turnabout" by J.R.D. Skinner. Horror. (Audio and Text)
At Hereticwerks: "Gruekiller" by Garrisonjames. Fantasy. Horror.
At Spinetingler: "Me and You and the Loup-Garou" by Duncan Jones. Horror.
At 365 Tomorrows: "Touching Heaven" by Sierra Corsetti. Science Fiction.
At 365 Tomorrows: "Crash" by Duncan Shields. Science Fiction.
At Weirdyear: "A Call to Disorder" by Dixon Chance. Weird.

Gaming
At Ancient Vaults: "Goblin Vine" Monster and "Blessing of Aid" Spell.
At And The Sky Full of Dust: "Orange Spikes" Monster and "Dynamic Lair: Dragon"
At Drive ThruRPG: "NeoExodus Legacies: Campaign Setting (PFRPG)"
At Hereticwerks: Many Monsters in the "Monthly Recap"
At Kobold Quarterly: "The Many Spirits of the Shaman: Archetypes for the Shaman Class" Part One - Part Two.
At Kobold Quarterly: "Cuts and Dust" Traps.
At A Life Full of Adventure: "Tzeentch’s Blasphemous Blessing" Magic Item.
At The Land of NOD: "Reaper" Monster.
At RPG Geek: 38 free small RPGs created  for the "2012 24-Hour RPG Design Contest." [via Age of Ravens"]
At Sea of Stars: "Medium’s Mask" Magic Item.
At Underworld Kingdom: "Six Mysterious Tombs" and "Things in the Mirror" Tables.
At WotC: "Displacer Cube" Monster. 4e.

Other Genres
Audio at Alfred Hitchcock: "The First Day of Spring" by Howell Hurst. Mystery.
Fiction at Online Pulps: "Drunk, Disorderly, and Dead" by Robert Leslie Bellem and "The Man Who Had to Die" by Gilbert Riddell.
Fiction at Project Gutenberg: Gargantua and Pantagruel by François Rabelais. Satire. Comedy. Fantasy. 16th century.
Flash Fiction at Every Day Fiction: "Small Adjustments" by Rheea Mukherjee.

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.

Sunday Links

 Some good freebies today, including many e-books, some audio, and text fiction. Either there will be a second post today (with gaming and comics included) or tomorrow's will likely be larger than normal. Be sure to visit SFFAudio the source of two of today's links and this gruesome artwork, and where Jesse Willis continually proves that most Canadians are nowhere near as annoying as Justin Bieber. And be sure to check out the great free links at SF Signal, where Regan Wolfrom demonstrates that some of them are. Bwa-ha-ha.

And be sure to check out today's Little Dog Lost for a nice little comic strip Halloween story.



Fiction
At Adventures in Fiction: Thieves' Honor, ep 13: "Taw, Anyone?"
      "He shook with fatigue, and his knees threatened to buckle, but he was downright irritated at all the boardings of his ship in recent weeks. He’d be hanged if he let her be taken. If he was killed or arrested, at least he’d look like a captain."

At Short-Story.Me: "Hex" by Catina Noble. Fantasy.
     "The Hexagon just prostrates its monogamous ugly head and jumps on the upper part of my back. Between the weight of the Hexagon and its complexity, its action causes me to be thrown to the ground. I struggle to even breathe."

At Short-Story.Me: "A Song of the River" by Kevin Mackey. Fantasy.
     "She was a Maid," the Storyteller said, "a Maid such as a man would not see again his whole life."

Flash Fiction
At Every Day Fiction: "Cold Grey" by Jessica George. Fantasy.
At Every Day Fiction: "Ossuary" by J.L. Smith.. Horror.
At 365 Tomorrows: "Warriors for the Working Day" by Jake Trommer. Science Fiction.
At 365 Tomorrows: "Big Brother" by Jae Miles. Science Fiction.

E-Books
Via Pixel of Ink: 

•  The Hunting Tree - Book One by Ike Hamill. Horror.
• Kendra Kandlestar and the Crack in Kazah by Lee Edward Födi. YA Fantasy.
• Elemental Magic by Angela Wallace. Fantasy.

At Free eBooks Daily:

• Meant to Be by Tiffany King. YA Paranormal.
• The Ghost In My Bedroom by Heather Jones. YA Ghost Story.
• The Rising Dead by Devan Sagliani. Horror.
• The Necromancer by Pamela M. Richter. Paranormal.
• Granjy's Eyes by Matt McAvoy. Horror.
• Four Corners Dark by William McNally. Horror.
• Goodbye Sunshine by Craig Allen. Horror.
• Bearing Light by Lorraine DeWolf. Fantasy.
• Troll Or Derby by Red Tash. YA / Dark Fantasy.
• Dragon Soul by B.J. Whittington. Fantasy.
• The Chocolatier's Wife by Cindy Lynn Speer. Fantasy.

At Smashwords:

• "Necromancy for the Greater Good" by S.J. Drew. Fantasy 76k.
• "The Ballad of the Pipe Player" by Kate Seidel. Fantasy. 17k.
• "Living Death: Deliverance" by Kent Reaper. Horror. 19k.
• "Zombie Theater" by Scot McAtee. Horror. 6k.
• "Survivor's Tale: Blind Girl vs. Zombies" by Sean Roney. 2k.
• "The David Effect" by Mike Jansen. Science Fiction.
• "Galaxy Spies" by Philip Benge. Science Fiction. 83k.

Audio
At Antipodean:  The AntiSF Radio Show 171.
     "the program that brings you weird short speculative stories along with weird new music"

At Beam Me Up:  Episode #337 "Happy Halloween" by Colin P. Davies.

At Beware the Hairy Mango: "Food Fight" by Matthew Sanborn Smith. Weird.

At Fantastic Worlds of Edgar Rice Burroughs: Episode 26 - Tarzan of the Apes.  Adventure.
      Tarzan "and Paul D’Arnot make their way through the jungle and finally arrive at a remote outpost where a missionary welcomes them for the night."
At SFFAudio: "The Highwayman" by Lord Dunsany. Horror.

At SFFAudio: 2109: Black Sun Rising – Episode 1. Science Fiction.
     "In the year 2091 the ASIMOV-1 Deep Space Probe was launched on it’s journey to the Alpha Centauri region of the Galaxy. It was the first manned Space flight to another star…"

Other Genres
Fiction at Online Pulps:  "Shave and a Scare Cut" by Daman C. Fenwick. Mystery 1944. and "The Murder Race" by Edward Parrish Ware. Mystery 1935.
E-Book at Free eBooks Daily: Love and Honor by Harry Samkange. Historical Fiction.
E-Book at Free eBooks Daily: While Angels Slept by Kathryn Le Veque. Historical Fiction.

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.