A Few Freebies for Thursday.

Just a few cool freebies today. May or may not update later today.










@The author's site: Where Beauty Lies in Wait: A Peadar Ó Guilín Sampler. A free collection of short stories. [via Free SF Reader]

"Hair," "Fairy Tale," "Where Beauty Lies In Wait," "Three Hearts, "The Mourning Trees," "Winter In Japan," "The Bag," "Fantasy Tongue-Twister," "The Evil-Eater, "A Screen Play: The Boy Who Cried Wo—," and "Fairy Fort."






@Tor.com: "Crazy Me" by James Patrick Kelly.
"'Wake up.' When Crazy Me rests a hand on my forehead, it jolts me from sleep. 'It’s raccoons.'


@Book View Cafe: "Iridescence" by Jay Caselberg (2003).
"In the city in the sky, Justin and Janessa wonder what prompts anyone to take the long walk. This story originally appeared in The Third Alternative."


Classic SF/Horror
@Munseys and Project Gutenberg: "Of Stegner's Folly" by Richard S. Shaver, from If Worlds of Science Fiction (March 1952).
"When a twenty-foot goddess walked out of the jungle, they knew Stegner wasn't kidding."



@Munseys and Project Gutenberg: "Tape Jockey" by Tom Leahy, from IF Worlds of Science Fiction (March 1954.)
"Pettigill was, you might say, in tune with the world. It wouldn't even have been an exaggeration to say the world was in tune with Pettigill. Then somebody struck a sour note...."

@Munseys and Project Gutenberg: "The Secret of Kralitz" by Henry Kuttner, from Weird Tales (Oct. 1936.)
"A story of the shocking revelation that came to the twenty-first Baron Kralitz"







@LibriVox: "The Wendigo" by Algernon Blackwood, read by Amy Gramour.
"A hunting party separates to track moose, and one member is abducted by the Wendigo of legend."

Fan Audio
@Pendant Productions: Issue 33 of the Catwoman: Queen of Thieves.
"Hiro makes discoveries about himself as a typical day turns extraordinary!"

@Pendant Productions:Issue 64 of the Batman: The Ace of Detectives.
"Surprises step out of the shadows as Gotham reels from the shock of Gordon's retirement!"







@Flashes in the Dark: "The Cost" by Jim Bronyaur.
@365 tomorrows: "The Daily Commute" by J. Rohr.
@Weirdyear: "A Mermaid's Tale" by John D. Brooke.
@Daily Science Fiction: "Barb-the-Bomb and the Yesterday Boy" by Julian Mortimer Smith.







@Pappy's Golden Age Comics Blogzine: "The Werewolf's Victims" and "Death Sentence" horror (1954).
@The Comic Book Catacombs: Camilla in "The Flame Queen and the Witchman" Adventure.
@Diversions of the Groovy Kind: "Creeps" from Creepy #78. B&W horror.
@Atomic Kommie Comics: Part two of "Barbarella"
@Digital Comics Museum: Fight Comics #8 and Fight Comics #33.

Free E-zines, Fiction, Star Trek, Comics, Movies, and More.

Wow, lazy space captain prepared a full post today? Must be some sort of plot. There are several good free fiction stories (Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror) including some flash fiction for those in a hurry. Audio fiction including Beam Me Up, Pseudopod, and Star Trek fan audio. Videos, cool comics, and more. And Lt. Bob presents his streaming Mooooovviiiiiieeee!!!




Tarzan and His Mate (1934)

"When Holt and Arlington show Jane some of the modern clothes and perfumes they brought from civilization, she is impressed but not enough to return. Tarzan wrestles every wild animal imaginable to protect Jane but when he disallows the expedition from plundering ivory from the elephant burial grounds, it is he who takes a bullet from Arlington's gun."







E-Zines
Issue #1 of Oniresmes "a bilingual webzine (English - French), dedicated to publishing short fiction and poetry that belong in the fields of speculative and fantastic literature (Fantasy, Science fiction, and all kinds of interstitial experiments)." is online (and available in epub and mobi downloads). Oddly requires a free membership to read/download. Featuring fiction:
"The Prophet's Daughters" by Michael J. DeLuca."Herophile, Prophet of Sybaris, stopped breathing. There was no noise, no cough, no rattle. Her breath had been so soft its absence hardly made a difference.""

A Map of the World on the Shell of a Snail" by Lavie Tidhar."The map came to me from my uncle, the Great Ormond (they named the children’s hospital after him)."

and "She in Ashes" by Claude Mamier
"At the time there was nothing but darkness and warmth. It felt soft, and moist, the clamor of the outside world could not reach her shelter, and so did not exist."


Cafe Irreal #38 "a quarterly webzine that presents a kind of fantastic fiction infrequently published in English." [Magic Realism] is online with
Qualia by Andrew S. Taylor.
"The river has produced a number of extraordinary outcomes. When flowing under the bridge at night, it transforms the objects that float upon its surface."
A Woman On the Bus by Bob Thurber.
"The next time he saw her she was no longer pregnant, which he thought rather odd."
Hell by Remy de Gourmont
"Now he distilled the filthy sulfurs in the reddening vessel, stirred the pitch in the devil’s cauldron, cooked the tar sauce, measured the doses of boiling oil, dipped the Beloved’s blond hair and Lovers’ beards in resin, for their anniversaries of enchantment."
House of the Letter L by Owen Kaelin.
"The house of L is a tricky one, so tricky that at first we lose the butler, and then our shoes."
Glass Animals by Stephen V. Ramey.
"As best Malcolm could read, the sign had said “No Glass Animals in Pool.” The sign lied."
City by Maggie Mountford.
"Morag paid for the city in cash. She didn’t want any record. She bought the whole package: streets, boulevards, alleys, monuments, administrative offices, shopping malls, houses, statues, and people."

E-Fiction
@Amazon: Dead Girl Walking by Linda Joy Singleton (Kindle Only) [via SF Signal]
"Seventeen-year-old Amber Borden has a lousy sense of direction—so lousy that she takes a wrong turn when returning from her near-death experience. She ends up in the body of the most popular girl in school, who has just tried to commit suicide."


@Small Beer Press: "Girl in a Whirl" by Joan Aiken. [via SF Signal]
"Her name was Daisy and she was a smasher, the crispest colleen in Killyclancy. Only, as misfortune would have it, old Mr Mulloon said she was unlucky"

@Suvudu: "Music Makers" by Kate Wilhelm (PDF). [via SF Signal]
"In this case, the protagonist is not one of those music makers to whom the title refers, but the music works its magic on him none the less."

Classic Fantasy
@Book View Cafe: "Dealing in Futures" by Judith Tarr, from WitchFantastic, ed. Mike Resnick and Martin H. Greenberg (DAW 1995).
“Pigs,” says Circe, who crashed the meeting on a technicality. “Pork futures. Swine plague in—was it Gondwanaland?”








@Pendant Production: Free fan audio and original audio fiction downloads (all in glorious MP3).

• Episode 56 of Star Trek: Defiant
  
• Episode 4x11 of The Kingery
  
• Issue 48 of Supergirl: Lost Daughter of Krypton
  
• Issue 76 of Superman: The Last Son of Krypton
  
• Episode 19 of Genesis Avalon
  
• Issue 3 of Green Arrow: Shooting Star

@Beam Me Up: Episode #260 part two (the conclusion) of "The Heretic’s Son" by Fox Dunham.
"The ship is an ancient generation ship and it is wearing out. The prophet needs to come soon to guide the people to nu ome. Cody is sick and near death and nothing seems to make sense."

@Giant Gnome Productions: fan audio Star Trek Outpost Episode 24 "Drawing"
"With a great many things hanging in the balance, the denizens of DS3 learn that of all the things that can be hidden, the truth is the most difficult of all."

@Beware the Hairy Mango: all by Matthew Sanborn Smith [via SF Signal]

• Episode 55: "The Stupidity of Washing Fish"
• Episode 54: "Me and My Big Head"
• Episode 53: "Sane Cow Disease"

@Cthulhu: "The Mask of Romek" by T.C. McQueen part two (the conclusion).
"I started with the basement, the outlines in blood and chalk a mute testament to recent history. Other than the crime scene it was neat to an obsessive compulsive level, just like his office."

@Pseudopod: Episode 228 "Flash On The Borderlands VII" featuring:

• "Hunting" by Kirsty Logan, by Rick Stringer.
• "What Makes You Tick?" by David Steffan, read by W. Ralph Walters.
• "Pageant Girls" by Caroline Yoachim, read by Mur Lafferty.

@Eschatology: "The Girl With Two Heads" by Richard Beland.
@Weirdyear: "Notch and Cages" by Lyla Abi-Saab.
@365 tomorrows: "Plaque" by Marlan Smith.
@Flashes in the Dark: "Hope Bites" by E. Cheshire.
@Flash Fiction Friday:

• J.J. Ulm – “The Sword Excalibur”
• C.M. Stewart – “Stank Hen”
• Ingrid Hardy – “St. Elmo”
• Marlan – “Suffer The Little Foxes”
• Doc Shaw – “Scornful Dogs Will Eat Dirty Puddings”
• Veronica Marie Lewis-Shaw – “Sappho of Toulouse to Saturn's Tree”
• Evan Henry – “Scotch Mist”
• Rose Green – “Swords Prohibited”
• Joyce Juzwik – “Sixes and Sevens”
• Brandy Heinrich – “St. Monday”
• Barbara Bruederlin – “Sanctum Sanctorum”

@YouTube: Mortal Kombat: Legacy is now up to episode 4
"Mortal Kombat: Legacy brings to life the complex and rich history of the gaming world of MORTAL KOMBAT. Shao Kahn and Shang Tsung are obsessed with reigning over various realms (parallel universes) and the winners of Mortal Kombat competitions are granted supreme control over these worlds."

@the Internet Archive: The Revenge Of Dr. X [1970] aka Venus Flytrap or The Revenge Of Doctor X.
"A NASA scientist vacations in japan where he uses thunder and lightning to turn carnivorous plants into man-eating creatures...misleading title there's no revenge and he's not doctor x.. based on the Frankenstein story"


Fan Film: @Star Trek: Phase II "Enemy: Starfleet"
"Attacked while exploring a new sector of space, Captain James T. Kirk and his crew find themselves thrust in the middle of a war. The USS Eagle, lost eight years before, is now in the clutches of a woman who bends starships and their captains to her will and has been reverse engineered into a fleet that is bent on domination and genocide. The Enterprise may be the only ship able to stop the Peshan homeworld from falling to Alersa and her enemy starfleet." This is the series that has had George Takei and Walter Koenig guest star in separate episodes. This issue guest Barbara Luna from the TOS episode "Mirror, Mirror"







@DriveThruComics and Renderwrx Productions: Renderwrx Magazine #1.
"It's a free 40 page online magazine with commentary about varied aspects of the comic book industry. Plus it contains exclusive previews of upcoming comics, art and writing contests, interviews with comic book creators and lots more."



@The Horrors of It All: "The Stone Man!" and "Tower of Death!" classic monster and horror comics from Venus #17 (1951).




@Pappy's Golden Age Comics Blogzine: "Beowolf the Mighty" The Beowulf story re-imagined with Grendal being a T-Rex.

@Digital Comics Museum: Spotlight Comics #1, an anthology with stories of many genres, including a very cheesy skiffy story staring "Barry Kuda" and Merma, queen of the sunken city. CBR.

@The Comic Reading Library: The Invades #1 (1967). Based on the TV Series. Online.

@Atomic Kommie Comics: "The Hammer of Thor" (1959). Not the marvel superhero.

Other Coolness
@My Star Trek Scrapbook: "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home" article scanned from Home Video Guide (Oct. 1987).

@Monster Magazine World: "Monsters Are Forever" and "Scenes From Great Classic Horror Stories" Comic book/magazine articles on monsters and classic horror.

China Miéville and other Monday Freebies

It's Monday, which means the weekend is just a few days away. There's some good fiction today, including China Miéville, as well as other well known and up-and-coming writers. Some audio fiction, including the latest chapter of Scott Sigler's rather cool SF/football story The Starter. [Off topic note. If there are any pro-football fans out there, and the walkout continues, I hope you remember that the UFL and CFL play some pretty good football.] And there are flash fiction stories and gaming extras. [Today's illustration is for "A Hunter’s Ode to His Bait" in the fiction section]







@The Guardian: "Covehithe" by China Miéville.
"A trip to the Suffolk coast takes on a new urgency when Dughan decides the time is right for a night-time adventure in this exclusive story from China Miéville" [via Triplanetary]



@Fantasy Magazine: "A Hunter’s Ode to His Bait" by Carrie Vaughn.
"'I’ll take her.' He tossed the pouch of silver at the woman. It landed at her feet, and she hurried to pick it up. Her husband was dead, and she had eight other children to feed." [author spotlight here]

@Supterranean Press: "Younger Women" by Karen Joy Fowler.
"Vampire. Plain as the nose on your face."

@Anotherealm: "The Ediad" by Tim McDaniel.
"They stood on the windy plain before the walled city: Odysseus, the shrewd captain; Agamemnon, tamer of horses, and Menelaos his brother, the wargod's friend; god-reared Aias Telamonias; and Ed. They looked upon the great doors of fitted planking, bolted tight to keep the town of Troy secure."

@AE Science Fiction: "Resolution" by Adam Callaway.
"Pixelpeople passed me on both sides as I neared my home. I felt my frame of reference drag and looked back to see blocks of diffuse color exchange between them. The pixelpeople were migrating black holes with blurry event horizons."

@Hub: Issue #138 featuring "A Nose For Such Things" by Ian Watson.
"'You mean,' said Max, 'this ghost business might be a stunt to take people’s minds off politics?'"

Serial Fiction
@Kat and Mouse: "Payback" - Part Six" by Abner Senires.
"Duster lay on his side, looking at us, wide-eyed. Mouse's wakizashi stuck out from his throat, Duster's hands hanging limply off the blade. Blood pooled around his head and shoulders"

Classic SF
@Google Books: Yezad: A Romance of the Unknown by George H. Babcock (1922).
"A long-winded tale about a deceased aviator who is to be reincarnated after his spiritual instruction on the Red Planet by a ten-foot tall Martian named Marcomet" [via Marooned - Science Fiction & Fantasy books on Mars]




@Munseys and Project Gutenberg: "Mr. Spaceship" by Phillip K. Dick, from Imagination Stories of Science and Fantasy (Jan. 1953).
"A human brain-controlled spacecraft would mean mechanical perfection. This was accomplished, and something unforeseen: a strange entity called—"

SF Review
@BestScienceFictionStories.com: "Flower, Mercy, Needle, Chain" by Yoon Ha Lee (2010).
Reviewed with a link to a free online copy.






Serial Audio
@The Author's Site: "The Starter" Episode #11, by Scott Sigler.
"Quentin's growing fame brings offers for endorsement deals, including one from yacht maker Manny Sayed (remember him from The Rookie?). The Krakens' offensive line troubles continue, with no solution in sight."

Fan audio @BrokenSea Audio Productions: Episode Six of Beneath the Planet of the Apes [earlier episodes here]

Classic Audio
@SFFaudio:"Warrior Race" by Robert Sheckley, read by Gregg Margarite.
"Destroying the spirit of the enemy is the goal of war and the aliens had the best way!"

@Lovecraft eZine: Three Lovecraft Audio Stories: "The Colour Out of Space," "The Dumwich Horror," and "Pickman’s Model."

@Triplanetary: Classic Superman Audio The Atom Man Parts 17-20.






@Flashes in the Dark: "Blur" by Neil Leckman.
@365 tomorrows: "Good Man" by Jordan Whicker.
@Weirdyear: "The Zeek Files - Escape from Exkerbjann" by Mandi M. Lynch.
@Brain Harvest: "Fool" by by Steven R. Stewart.
@Strange Horizons: [Poem] "Tonight I Know" by Shweta Narayan.
@Daily Science Fiction: "The School Counselor" by Mark Sarney.
@Feedbooks: "Quick Gasps of Breath - 5 MicroHorrors" by Lyn Perry.
@Triplanetary: [Poem] "The Sorrow of the Winds" by Clark Ashton Smith.






@Netherwerks: [New Item] "Bacchune's Prototypes: The Drunkard's Gonne"





@The Land of Nod: "Two New Villains for Mystery Men!"
@Ancient Vaults & Eldritch Secrets: [New Spells] "Oath of the Acorn" and "Riddle of Perplexion"
@Ancient Vaults & Eldritch Secrets: [New Magic Item] "Dwarf Rings of Goldkeep"
@Sea of Stars: "Seirios’ Bow" and "Tempestes’ Girdle"
@Big Ball of No Fun: "Tatzlwurm" and "Uwan"
@Zalchis: [New Monsters] "Rattong" and "Triloo"

Wednesday Freebies

A quiet day, but still a few gems. A bit of fiction, including classic SF, flash fiction, and a short Sheena story, some good audio fiction (all serial), good SF music, gaming items (including several new monsters), and a rather bad movie. Today's illustration is for "The Buttoned Sky."












Classic SF/Adventure
@Project Gutenberg and Munseys: "The Buttoned Sky" by Geoff St. Reynard, from Imagination Stories of Science and Fantasy (Aug. 1953.)
"Legends spoke of Earth's glorious past, of freedom and greatness. But this was the future, ruled by god-globes, as men gazed fearfully at—"


And a mid-week QuasarDragon presents. Two short fiction stories:
"Lost Comet" from Fantastic Comics #11 (Jan-Feb. 1955).
"This is my first, and I am very much afraid, my last dispatch from the rocket ship METEOR. There is small chance of this message ever reaching Earth, much less the copy desk of my paper, but I am writing it with an eye cocked for a miracle."

and "Sheena and The Crawling Death" by Morgan W. Thomas, from Jumbo Comics #87 (May 1946).
"The village gates were open and through them poured the people who for so long had dwelt in peace in that placid spot. There was nothing peaceful about the scene, however, as the men, women, and children pushed and jostled one another, each carrying his meager possessions as best he could."







@ScottSigler.com: Tuesday Terror Episode #05: "Loyalty" Part 2 of 2 by Renee Jordan, edited and performed by Arioch Morningstar.

@StarShipSofa:"Grail-Diving in Shangrilla with the World’s Last Mime" Part 2 by Ken Scholes.

Fan Audio
@Misfits Audio Productions: Green Lantern: Man without Fear Ep 1: "The Capture"






@ScottSigler.com: Tuesday Terror Episode #05: "Loyalty" Part 2 of 2 by Renee Jordan, edited and performed by Arioch Morningstar.

@StarShipSofa:"Grail-Diving in Shangrilla with the World’s Last Mime" Part 2 by Ken Scholes.

Fan Audio
@Misfits Audio Productions: Green Lantern: Man without Fear Ep 1: "The Capture"






@Every Day Fiction: "Dr. Xiang and the Mouth in His Stomach" by Adam Lucas.
@Flashes in the Dark: "Time to Speak of Many Things" by Lori Titus.
@365 tomorrows: "Clyde" by Clint Wilson.
@Daily Science Fiction: "O is for Obfuscation" by Tim Pratt, Jenn Reese, Heather Shaw, and Greg van Eekhout.







@Zalchis: A trio of well illustrated new monsters. "Octoscholar" a race that is "cold and calculating, unforgiving and given to sorcerous feuds amongst themselves," "Ordrang, opportunistic scavengers that consume stray ectoplasm," and seen in the illustration to the left "Phorain" "grim, brooding, taciturn beings from the hot plains of some distant world, the Phorain are powerful warriors possessed of exceptional strength and resolve."



@The Land of NOD: [Encounter] "Mu-Pan - Encounter XXIV"
@Daddy Grognard: [Adventure] "An Adventure for Every Monster - Beholder"
@Trollish Delver: [Monsters] "Creatures of the tundra for T&T"
@Ancient Vaults & Eldritch Secrets: [New Spell] "Irritating Breeze"
@Ancient Vaults & Eldritch Secrets: [New Magic Items] "Glamour Apparel of Mulka" and "Mind Gems of Athra-Kla"
@A Character for Every Game: [Map] "Return to Erdea Manor – Part 2"
@DriveThruRPG: [Map] "Map of Berem Town"
@Sea of Stars: [New Magic Items] "Orcus’ Bowl" and "Paidia’s Dice"
@Underworld Kingdom: [New Monsters] "Pale Giants" and "Quartz Fungi"
@Netherwerks: [Table] "Fantasy Rooftop Environment/Encounters Table"
@Big Ball of No Fun: [New Monsters] "Obayifo," "Phi," and "Quinotaur"

Video
@The Internet Archive: Kong Island (1968).
"A beautiful woman raised by the apes, a mad scientist bent on controlling the minds of the apes and a handsome explorer." Not really worth the effort of watching it.

Other Coolness - Music
John Anealio (of the "Angry Robot" song fame) has released a new E.P. Books, Bytes & Bots E.P. now available as a pay what you want album (even free!) on Bandcamp. All are fantasy/SF related.

Free Friday Finds

A pretty good Friday for freebies. Highlights include, new free fiction from Harry Turtledove, classic fiction by Frederic Brown and Octavia Butler, new audio fiction, including two H. P. Lovecraft stories, new gaming items, fantasy art and cool comics, including Tara, Queen of the Space Pirates, from which comes the illustration to the left.

And a special thanks to the three (at least) blogs that have added QD to their links/blogrolls, it really helps attract readers, which in turn sends readers to all the great sites I link to, either directly or in the blogroll here.








@Tor.com: "Shtetl Days" by Harry Turtledove.
"Jakub Shlayfer opened the door and walked outside to go to work. Before he could shut it again, his wife called after him: 'Alevai it should be a good day! We really need the gelt!'"





@Ray Gun Revival: "Lifestealer" by Joseph Giddings.
"That you can actually steal the life from someone? Just by touching them? They say you just touch people and draw out their life, leaving them dead without so much as a weapon mark. It’s how you got your name, after all."

@Daily Science Fiction: "Outer Rims" by Toiya Kristen Finley.
"Six years earlier she'd thought of visiting NYC, the bistro where she met her husband, to honor his memory. But she fussed over the budget. Her last chance passed her by, after half of New York City had eventually been submerged by the encroaching Atlantic."

Classic SF
@Variety SF: A review and link to "The Waverlies" by Frederic Brown (1945).
"The opening guns of invasion were not at all loud, although they were heard by millions of people. George Bailey was one of the millions. I choose George Bailey because he was the only one who came within a googol of light-years of guessing what they were."

@BestScienceFictionStories: A review and link to "Blood Child" by Octavia E. Butler (1985).
"My last night of childhood began with a visit home. T'Gatoi's sister had given us two sterile eggs. T'Gatoi gave one to my mother, brother, and sisters. She insisted that I eat the other one alone. It didn't matter. There was still enough to leave everyone feeling good."

@Munseys and Project Gutenberg: "A Gift For Terra" by Fox B. Holden, from If: Worlds of Science Fiction (Sept. 1954)
"The good Martian Samaritans rescued Johnny Love and offered him "the stars". Now, maybe, Johnny didn't look closely enough into the "gift horse's" mouth, but there were others who did ... and found therein the answer to life...."







@Escape Pod: Episode #288 "Future Perfect" by LaShawn M. Wanak, read by Dani Cutler.
"I saw you at a party once. You stood by the bookshelf, reading a tattered volume on Proust. You wore an orange and yellow XTC shirt beneath brown flannel. I bumped your elbow by accident and you looked up, your eyes startling green."

@LibriVox: Short Ghost and Horror Collection #13. "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." Featuring readings of stories by Algernon Blackwood, Ambrose Bierce, H. P. Lovecraft ("Ex Oblivione" and "The Nameless City"), and others.

@Decoder Ring Theater: Red Panda Adventures - "The Wild West" "There are some situations that you just can't prepare for. You can be the cleverest mystery man on the block, there will still be days that you just never saw coming. Those are the moments that cry out for a firey horse with the speed of light, a cloud of dust and a hearty... well, you know..." Superhero/humor.


Video
Streaming at Hero (& Heroine) Histories: The Green Hornet Strikes Again "Flaming Havoc!" Classic superhero serial.







@Flashes in the Dark: "Frankenwad" by Neil Leckman.
@365 tomorrows: "Marcus Grillman, Culinary Artiste"by Steve Smith.
@Robot Trees: "Queen of Mars" by J. J. Ulm [Via Marooned]







@Greyhawk Grognard: "Adventures Dark and Deep Bestiary Now Available!"

"All of the monsters from the original Monster Manual (some in other guises for legal purposes)

Some of the monsters from the original Monster Manual II

A couple of the monsters from the original Fiend Folio

A few new monsters"

@Big Ball of No Fun: [Monster] "Mara"
@Blog on the Borderlands: [Monster] "Cthulhi (Starspawn)"
@Sea of Stars: [Magic Item] "Momus’ Mask"
@A Character for Every Game: [Map] "Erdea Manor (surface and level 1)"
@Ancient Vaults & Eldritch Secrets: [New Spell] "It’s No Secret"
@The Land of NOD [Encounter] "Mu-Pan - Encounter XXII"







@Atomic Kommie Comics: Tara, Queen of the Space Pirates in "Fabulous Jewel of Morn" from Wonder Comics #15. Sci-Fi.

@Atomic Kommie Comics: SpaceBusters in "Mission to Baldor!" from SpaceBusters #2. Sci-Fi.

@Four-Color Shadows: "Mind Reader" by Bernie Krigstein (1957). Horror/Weird.

@The Comic Book Catacombs: Garo, Prince of the Jungle in “The Curse of the God Rama” from Ramar of the Jungle #2 (Sept. 1955). Adventure.

@The Fabuleous Fifties: "The Stranger from the Stars" from Strange Adventures #3: (1951?) Sci-fi. (and other unrelated comics).

@The Horrors of It All: "Beware the Graveyard Clay" from Baffling Mysteries #14 (March 1953).

Other Coolness - Art
@Golden Age Comic Book Stories: [Art] Lensman covers and interior art.
@Fantasy Ink: [Art] "Classic Science Fiction Art"
@The Land of NOD: [Art] Fantasy art gallery by Lizzy John - GraySaphire. (PG-13ish)
For more Dark, Surreal, and Fantasy art, check out Trixie's Treats. (PG-13ish)

Free Fantasy, Speculative Fiction, Audio Fiction, and More

Another decent day of free entertainment.






Fiction
@Beneath Ceaseless Skies: Issue #66 featuring:
"Dancing the Warrior, Pt. I" by Marie Brennan.
"By sheer force of will, Sen forced herself upright. She hadn't won; that much was clear. If that had been the Grandmaster's test, then she'd failed, and this had all been a waste of everybody's time. She couldn't look at Kerestel, at Criel, at anything other than the Grandmaster's feet."

"The Fairy Gaol" by Heather Fawcett.
"I do not want his scrutiny now, with the cool blade of the dagger pressing against my thigh. On the nearest dance path, a woman laughs as a fat prince covers her ears and throat with wet kisses. I feign interest as he spins her across the path, through the starlight that pours into the atrium. Unbidden, I picture our last dance together, on a night so similar and so different."

And don't miss the latest BCS audio story "Mr Morrow Becomes Acquainted with the Delicate Art of Squid Keeping" by Geoffrey Maloney.
"They couldn't be serious, Morrow thought, could not possibly be...but then the Major allowed the squid to slip from his fingers and into his mouth."


Issue #38 (2nd Quarter 2011) of Abyss & Apex: Magazine of Speculative Fiction is out with:
Fermi’s Plague by C. W. Johnson.
"'But Ana,' he told her, 'how do you know the American CIA won’t slip something into your supplies? A bit of shrimp–you wouldn’t even taste it–and my throat would close up forever.' And he throttled himself theatrically."

Demonfire Ash by Helen E. Davis.
"Eyes still closed, Geoff Bowman shifted his head. Pain like an iron spike speared him from temple to temple. Sunlight burned through his still-closed lids; sounds hammered his ears. It was one hell of a hangover, but why would he have been drinking? Strong wine was not allowed to Journeyman Wizards, and he, despite his years, was the newest of Journeyman."

Something Wild by Manfred Gabriel.
"I am a creature of habit. I run the same course every evening. Down the hill into town, away from our modern subdivision and past the clapboard homes built a century before, when the railway rolled through filled with corn and wheat and soybeans, and barges laden with timber cleared from northern woods eased downriver. When the town was an entity onto itself, instead of the bedroom community it has become."

Bots D’Amor by Cat Rambo.
"The bots were going to run Linus out of room soon, if they didn’t scavenge away some piece vital to the ship’s functioning and leave him choking on vacuum first. He didn’t think anyone else had these problems with their ship bots. Galina would say it was his own fault for encouraging them."

Concrete by Nathaniel Lee.
"Trent sighed. Another late night of unpaid overtime, filling out forms in triplicate to update managers who didn’t care about a project that was doomed to failure. He would have minded more if he wasn’t already nervous about going home."

Hail to the Victors by Dr. Philip Edward Kaldon.
"The five of them sat in the sun, their photo-activated chlorophyll enhanced skins providing their lunch. They were beat and the sun was warm; they didn’t talk. Humans didn’t like being green‑-this was a necessary technology which could be turned on and off as needed in the face of the collapse of society and supply chains."

Trans by Paul Rogalus.
"Parker walks up the dimly lit sidewalk and stops at a nightclub called Altered States, looking out of place in his leather jacket. He hesitates at the door and adjusts the packbox on his back, puts on his mirror shades, then enters. At the bar he orders a Potion 9 and a set of green beans."


Serial Fiction:
@Paizo.com: "A Lesson in Taxonomy" by Dave Gross (Chapter Two: The Observation Post).
"I lowered my spyglass and compared what I had seen through the mist with Amadi's sketch of the dinosaurs. His illustrations were astonishing for both their simplicity and their accuracy. At first glance, the dinosaurs we observed from our treetop post appeared identical to the brachiosaurus."

Classic SF:
"Category Phoenix" by Boyd Ellanby, from Galaxy Science Fiction (May 1952).
"Man, it would appear, can adapt to any form of society ... but not one in which the knowledge of extending life becomes a passport to death!"
@Munseys and Project Gutenberg.


Audio Fiction





@StarShipSofa: Episode#183 featuring the short story "Atom Drive" by Charles Fontenay and main fiction "Linkworlds" by Will McIntosh with narrators Jim Philips and Dan Rabarts. And much more.



@The Drabblecast: Episode #200 "The Last Question" by Isaac Asimov, read/performed by a full cast. Very well done! Very good, though predictable, story.

"It all had a beginning in the original cosmic explosion, whatever that was, and it'll all have an end when all the stars run down. The sun will last twenty billion years and maybe the dwarfs will last a hundred billion for all the good they are. But just give us a trillion years and everything will be dark. Entropy has to increase to maximum, that's all..."

@Decoder Ring Theatre: The Red Panda Adventures #69 "Stop the Presses" (superhero/humor) - Campy fun.
"In the tradition of the great mystery men of radio, pulp fiction and the golden age of comics comes The Red Panda, famed protector of 1930s Toronto! Hiding his true identity as on of the city's wealthiest men behind a bright red domino mask, The Red Panda dispenses two-fisted pulp justice with strength, courage and eerie hypnotic powers. Joined in his quest by that Famed Fighting Female The Flying Squirrel, this terrific Twosome holds high the lamp of justice in a dark time!"

@LibriVox: The Mad Planet by Murray Leinster, read by Roger Melin.
"It is 30,000 years following dramatically changed climate conditions on earth [...] Much of the human and animal population would not survive the climate change, and indeed those few humans who did survive knew nothing of all which their predecessors had learned and built."


Flash Fiction



@Daily Science Fiction: "The Modern Prometheus" by Ed Wyrd.
@Every Day Fiction: "The Hurt Club" by James Van Pelt.
@Flashes in the Dark: "A Proper Burial" by Jim Bronyaur.
@365 tomorrows: "Red Tank" by John Xero.

Comics
@The Digital Comics Museum: The Lost World Archive Parts One and Two. Collecting the serialized Lost World stories from Planet Comics in CBR format.








@Four-Color Shadows: "The Man From Another World" from Journey into Unknown Worlds #19 (1953). Pure skiffy fun.






@Diversions of the Groovy Kind: "Destiny: Oblivion" by Kraft, Kirchner, and Nebres, from Haunt of Horror #5. Classic 1970's B&W horror .






@The Comic Book Catacombs: Auro, Lord of Jupiter vs. "The Tyrant of Jupiter" from Planet Comics #27 (1943). Hmm, a Tarzan-like character fighting a flying dinosaur on Jupiter, how did the Voyager and Galileo probes get it so wrong?



@The Warriors Comic Book Den: "The Thing from the Sea!" (Wally Wood art) from Eerie #2 (Aug. 1951) - The whole comic is available as a CBR download there.




@The Horrors of It All: "Bowser" by Richard Corben, a classic 1970's horror comic. "a creepy crawly classic"





Video
@The Internet Archive: Adventure Island (1947).
"Based on Robert Louis Stevenson's "Ebb Tide," this adventure pits a group of shipwrecked sailors against the mad ruler of a jungle island." A low-key adventure film in free Avi and Mpeg downloads.