Monday Free Fiction Blues

You know how much I love posting daily free fiction links, but I've got free fiction to read, my wedding to arrange, my wife to murder and Guilder to frame for it; I'm swamped.


Fiction

• At Mad Scientist Journal: "The Front Line" by Sylvia Spruck Wrigley. Science Fiction.
"Stand right up here with me and take a look around. This is the front line. No, that is not a euphemism. War’s not normally neat with straight lines and easy-to-understand strategies but here, we have a line. It’s that trench right there. Don’t get too close to the edge."

• At The WiFiles: "The Creeping Complacency" by Jamie Lackey. Speculative Fiction.
"Jeff laughed. Gwen hadn’t realized how much she’d missed that sound. He pressed a plate of French toast into her hands. 'Here, sleepyhead. Eat up while it’s still warm.'"

Flash Fiction

• At Every Day Fiction: "Alien Alley" by JR Hume, read by Alexander Jones. Science Fiction. Audio.
• At Every Day Fiction: "Cravings" by Todd Thorne. Science Fiction.
• At 365 Tomorrows: "Dinner Bell" by Duncan Shields. Science Fiction.
• At 365 Tomorrows: "Relayer" by Ian Hill. Science Fiction.
• At Toasted Cake: "The Fez Shackle" by Dale Ivan Smith. Audio. Speculative Fiction.

Audio Fiction

• At Cast of Wonders: "Episode 130: The Phobos Monolith" by Preston Dennett. YA Science Fiction.
"True to her nature, Vasia ran without fear or caution across the Martian landscape. She leaped in huge graceful arcs that any dancer would envy. Naira did her best to keep up, but because of legs, and she quickly fell behind. How she wished she could rid herself of the cursed robo-walker that encased her legs so she could run like Vasia. Her sister’s body was strong and healthy. Naira, unfortunately, wasn’t as lucky. It was a miracle that their parents had even let them outside, considering how protective they were."

• At Escape Pod: "EP456: To Waste" by Luke Pebler, read by Joshua Price. Science Fiction.
"When the machine beeps, it has produced almost eight ounces of clean warm water.  I sip some of it, just enough to wet my mouth, and put the rest into a second machine."

• At Fantastic Worlds of Edgar Rice Burroughs: "Episode 19 of Tarzan the Untamed" Adventure.
"Chapter XIX – The Queen’s StoryBertha Kircher and lt. Smith-Oldwick have been captured and brought to the city of the maniacs – or so they act. The two have been separated – with Snith-Oldwick being led off while Bertha Kircher is escorted to another part of the palace."









Gaming

• At DriveThruRPG: "The Last Princess" by GagMen Productions.
"Deep in the jungle lies the ruins of the ancient civilization of the Ditani, now overrun with arachno-apes and other jungle savages. Our heroes are hired by the great explorer Raeyon, the lady Ipeneth and their team to help them find and capture the legendary Gyanki’don, a massive arachno-ape rumored to protect the natives from harm." Basic Fantasy Rules compatible.

• At DriveThruRPG:Be Awesome At Dungeon Design by Raging Swan Press.
"Any GM can design a basic dungeon. A dedicated GM takes the extra time to craft exciting, logical and challenging dungeons that are so much more than a series of rooms stuffed full of monsters and treasure. Be Awesome At Dungeon Design comprises eight dungeon design essays by ENnie Award winning designer Creighton Broadhurst.  Handling such subjects as a dungeon’s purpose, design, ecology, dressing and physicality Be Awesome At Dungeon Design also includes essays on alternate dungeons and the principles of megadungeon design."

Dawn of the Planet of Free Fiction

Instead of just monkeying around (lose 1d6 sanity if you get the obvious pun), try out these great freebies.

Fiction
• Now Posted: Beneath Ceaseless Skies Issue #152 — Jul. 24, 2014. Fantasy.
• "The Topaz Marquise" by Fran Wilde.
"Her words made no sense, but neither did the lost hours. I shivered in the warmth of the day. Beyond the window, in the square, I saw a familiar figure in a tattered cloak. Even from a floor up, the smell that greeted me was unpleasant: unwashed hair, perhaps rotting leather. Suddenly, I wanted to escape from my studio and the chill that hung over it."
• "What Needs to Burn" by Sylvia Anna Hiven.
"When I woke, I found the bullet between my wound and the makeshift bandage. The flesh was already closing where my body had spit it out. I pulled off the bandage and cursed a colorful tirade at Shadow, although I knew it wasn't his fault. People with the magic can't help it sometimes. Things just happen around them, though they might not want it to."

Flash Fiction
• At Daily Science Fiction: "Wishmas" by Nina Kiriki Hoffman. Fantasy.
• At Every Day Fiction: "Leaving Rhonda for Mars" by Wilma Bernard. Science Fiction.
• At Farther Stars Than These: "UFO" by Alfonso Colasuonno. Science Fiction.
• At Nature: "A Long Way From Home" by Sylvia Spruck Wrigley. Science Fiction.
• At 365 Tomorrows: "Emotional" by Steve Smith.Science Fiction.


Audio Fiction

• At Beneath Ceaseless Skies: "One Ear Back" by Tina Connolly
"Introduced by the author, explaining how the story was inspired by an Icelandic folk tale, and what it might be like to be in that folk-tale character’s unusual situation, as well as one particularly expressive cat.

The shadows between the trees were dark and I stood between two birches, sniffing out the right way. My tail was high. This was no headless mouse. This would impress Ingy."

• At Clarkesworld: "The Halfway House at the Heart of Darkness" by William Browning Spencer, read by Kate Baker.
"Keel wore a ragged shirt with the holo Veed There, Simmed That shimmering on it. She wore it in and out of the virtual. If she was in an interactive virtual, the other players sometimes complained. Amid the dragons and elves and swords of fire, a bramble-haired girl, obviously spiking her virtual with drugs and refusing to tune her shirt to something suitably medieval, could be distracting"







Gaming

• At  DriveThruRPG: Dark Horrors Hidden Places by Dave Valderhaug. "Pay what you want"
"DHHP is a dark gothic horror system with simple rules for quick play.Included is the adventure "The purge of Portland road." . . . "The world is shattered. Where once stood streets and entire cities now lies rubble. The sadistic among the population have taken to the underground in order to torture and torment the poor and weak. Strange creatures spill forth onto the streets of towns and cities, as the governments struggle to keep these monstrosities a secret."

Hello, Sailor

Well, it had to happen.  This is the internet and EVERYBODY is selling something and that includes your humble finder of free fiction. The Treatise of Twisted Terrors is an unofficial book of monsters for "old school renaissance role-playing games" and can be used with any old school RPG or modern clones. It's a 90 page PDF (roughly 3 megabytes) and only $2 at DriveThruRPG and RPGNow.  More info is available at QuasarDragon Games and the "Full-size preview" option is available at both sellers.







However, in keeping with the QD spirit of freeness, loyal QuasarDragon readers and potential reviewers can receive a free copy. Just e-mail me at david-tackett@hotmail.com and I'll have a free copy sent to you from DriveThruRPG.  I'm not completely certain how the process works - I think they send you a code that you redeem on the site.  Feel free to let me know after you receive your copy.