Now Posted Crossed Genres and Heroic Fantasy Quarterly

Two good free eZines! If you prefer science fiction, read Crossed Genres first; if you prefer fantasy, read Heroic Fantasy Quarterly first. If you love them both, you may be as cool as I am.  Even more to come. [Art from Heroic Fantasy Quarterly]



Now Posted: Crossed Genres - August 2013.

• "Touch of Tides" by Luna Lindsey. Science Fiction.
     "I swim with no light, artificial or natural. A solid ice shell, seven kilometers thick, floats above me in this single ocean that covers the entire moon of Europa. All I can hear is liquid gurgling in my ears and I taste residual salt that leaks in around my gill breather."
• "Suits and Hammers" by Michael Ben Silva III. Science Fiction. 
     "But I knew them from the sorts of stories where people spend their time in virtual reality, wearing sophisticated suits stitched with sensors and servos to give weight to the online world, so they could feel and be felt by things that weren’t in the room before they plugged in. It was physical interaction without all the fear of awkward mistiming: handshakes with an off-switch."
• "The Nest" by DeAnna Knippling. Science Fiction. 
      "As she trotted toward the end of the alley, a small, dark-colored bird flew out of the awning covering one of the doors between two scooters, and she threw up her stalks to protect her face. The bird flapped against her jaddri twice, then flew back under the eaves. It must be protecting its nest."

Now Posted: Heroic Fantasy Quarterly #17

• "A Whisper in Ashes" by Charles Gramlich. Fantasy. Sword & Sorcery.
      "A wanderer from the north is embroiled in the affairs of Jarls and monsters in this short tale. Read it. Ja!"

• "The Nature of Demons" by J. Kathleen Cheney. Fantasy. Sword & Sorcery.
     "Bizarre deaths. An educated demon-hunter. A superstitious tribesman as guide. Who’s smarter? And who can ever know their true self?"

• "Jiro" by Peter Fugazzotto. Fantasy. Sword & Sorcery.
     "Appearances can be deceiving, but perhaps clothes make the man? An excellent tale set in feudal Japan. Fast-paced action and not to be missed!"

• "Don Quixote’s Quandary" by Colleen Anderson. Poem
• "The Death of Conwynn the Wild-Eyed" by Colin Heintze. Poem.

TGIFFF (Thank God It's Friday Free Fiction)

Another great day for free fiction with free fiction, flash fiction, and audio fiction from all the big three genres (Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Horror).  And be sure to check out "SF Signal," "Free SF Reader," "Free Speculative Fiction Online," "BestScienceFictionStories.com," "Variety SF," and "SFFaudio" for more free fiction links.

 [Art from "The Plague" by Ken Liu in flash fiction.]


Fiction
• At Daily Science Fiction: "Memories of Mirrored Worlds" by Barbara A. Barnett. Fantasy.
      "The voice had no source that Alison Marie could find, for the people around her did not talk of magical realms; they did not speak with the cadence of a butterfly's flight. They filled the funeral parlor with floral-scented death and spoke of memories and such an unfortunate accident for one so young."

• At HiLobrow: "The Man with Six Senses - Part 1" by Muriel Jaeger. Science Fiction. (1927).
     "When Hilda, a beautiful young member of England’s cynical postwar generation, meets Michael, a hapless mutant capable of perceiving the molecular composition of objects and the ever-shifting patterns of electromagnetic fields, she becomes his apostle."

• At Tor.com: "Wave of Infection" by Jason Hough.
      "The aircraft rested in a windswept field a few hundred meters up from the beach. Her crew, a pilot and co-pilot, sat nearby. Gulls wheeled overhead, their occasional calls as lazy as the Mediterranean whitecaps stretching north as far as Skyler could see."

Flash Fiction

• At Every Day Fiction: "For The Empire" by Alexander Burns. Fantasy.
• At 365 Tomorrows: "Ocean" by Gabriel E. Zentner. Science Fiction.
• At Tor.com: "The Plague" by Ken Liu. Science Fiction.

Audio Fiction
• The Classic Tales Podcast: "Through the Looking Glass, Part 5 of 5" by Lewis Carroll. Children's Fantasy.
      "At long last, Alice becomes a queen. But it’s bittersweet, really. For her new cronies, the Red and White Queens drive her crazy. It’s Lewis Carroll– Today on The Classic Tales Podcast." Parts One, Two, Three, and Four.

• At Escape Pod: "Zebulon Vance Sings the Alphabet Songs of Love" by Merrie Haskell. Science Fiction.
     "Today, Robot!Hamlet is afire with Edwin Booth’s mad vigor, and runs his improv algorithms at full throttle; he kisses me dreamily, and rips my bodice in a way that would never have been allowed in Victorian America. The FACfans don’t look hyperpleased about this; it tarnishes their precious authenticity"

• At The Fantastic Worlds of Edgar Rice Burroughs: "Episode 05 - The People That Time Forgot"
      "Tom Billings has been captured by a tribe of Band-Lu. He has been taken through caverns and caves deep into the cliffs, where he is tied and left to await the next day – and the “dance of death”.  In the darkness, he hears the sound of padded feet approaching him"

• At PodCastle: "The Phoenix on the Sword, featuring Conan the Barbarian" by Robert E. Howard. Fantasy.
     "The room was large and ornate, with rich tapestries on the polished-panelled walls, deep rugs on the ivory floor, and with the lofty ceiling adorned with intricate carvings and silver scrollwork. Behind an ivory, gold-inlaid writing-table sat a man whose broad shoulders and sun-browned skin seemed out of place among those luxuriant surroundings. He seemed more a part of the sun and winds and high places of the outlands."

• At Tales to Terrify: Episode #79. Horror.

“The Scratch of an Old Record” by Cate Gardner
“Breathe My Name” by Christopher Golden
      "A group of miners are trapped underground; as the time passes and they start to lose their strength, one of them recalls an old bedtime story his father used to tell him." - Horror World.

"Repent, QuasarDragon!" Said the Ticktockman.

Rather late today, but there is a good selection of free fiction today, including a classic Leinster novel at Project Gutenberg and double shots of Beam Me Up and Drabblecast in audio fiction.




[Art from "Nightmare Planet"]






Fiction
• At Author's Site: "SeniorSource" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. Science Fiction.
     "The little boy lay face down in the dirt. Because the brown dirt was fine, loose, and powdery, I thought he had landed outside the dome, but that didn’t quite match with what I was seeing. His body was intact which it would not have been if it had been exposed to the harshness of the actual Moon"

• At Black Gate: "Falling Castles" by Jamie McEwan. Fantasy.
     "Early the next morning, still sans Tanek, King Bertham the Just girded on his sword, mounted his charger, and led his troops to the center of the high meadow to await King Luzak’s forces. It was a brave day, with a bright sun breaking just above the mountains, and Bertham felt almost cheerful. Let them come soon, he thought, while my mood holds."

• At Daily Science Fiction: "Remembrance" by David G. Uffelman. Science Fiction.
     "The news first came to the Old Mother through her feet. She leaned forward to rest more weight on the cartilaginous nodes within her padded front feet to create a solid connection with the earth, the better to receive the seismic signals that traveled through the bedrock beneath the gentle rolling grasslands of the Highveld."

• At HiLobrow: "Theodore Savage - part 18" 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."

• At L5R: "Treaty" by Seth Mason. Fantasy.
       "A conversation between two Champions yields insight into the nature and present status of their clans."m

• At Project Gutenberg: "Nightmare Planet" by Murray Leinster. Science Fiction. 1953.
     "Burl opened his mouth to shout furiously at them. But it was not a good idea for humans to draw attention. Spiders did not hunt by scent, but sound sometimes drew them. Burl closed his mouth again, in a taut straight line. The men looked at him supplicatingly. They had never been lost, and so had never learned to think even a little."

 • At Strange Horizons: "In Joy, Knowing the Abyss Behind (Part 2)" by Sarah Pinsker.
     "George had only ever taken one trip without Millie, in the fall of 1951. A letter had arrived from the army asking him to fly to New Mexico."
 
Flash Fiction

• At Flashes in the Dark: "The Live One" by A.K. Mayhew. Horror. 
• At Quantum Muse: "Dolly" by Michele Dutcher.
• At Strange Horizons: "Castle Csejthe (Bathory)" by Jennifer Ruth Jackson. Poem.
• At 365 Tomorrows: "ArmOr" by Sierra July. Science Fiction.
• At Toasted Cake: "The Custom of the Sea" by E. C. Ambrose. Audio.

Audio Fiction
• At Beam Me Up: Episode #373. Science Fiction.
     "To Bere Arms" by Wes Parish and part 3 of Edward McKeown’s "In the Mourning."

• At Beam Me Up: Episode #372. Science Fiction.
    "Trath: Return of the Quellers" by David Scholes and part 2 of Edward McKeown’s "In the Mourning."

• At Drabblecast: "Unique Chicken Goes in Reverse" by Andy Duncan. Strange.
     "Father Leggett stood on the sidewalk and looked up at the three narrow stories of gray brick that was 207 East Charlton Street. Compared to the other edifices on Lafayette Square—the Colonial Dames fountain, the Low house, the Turner mansion, the cathedral of course"

• At Drabblecast: "Sweetie" by Michelle Ann King. Horror. Strange.
      "Admittedly, my little travelling show isn’t what it once was. We’ve been on the road for a long, long time. But I like to think that for the discerning customer, we still provide value for money. An experience you can’t get from the computer screen"

• At SFFaudio: "The Machine Stops" by E.M. Forster.
     "Imagine, if you can, a small room, hexagonal in shape, like the cell of a bee. It is lighted neither by window nor by lamp, yet it is filled with a soft radiance. There are no apertures for ventilation, yet the air is fresh. There are no musical instruments, and yet, at the moment that my meditation opens, this room is throbbing with melodious sounds."

 • At SFFaudio: "The Tower Of The Elephant" by Robert E. Howard. Fantasy.
     "A strange, blood-freezing story of an idol that wept on its throne, and a valorius barbarian from the fringes of an elder civilization. First published in Weird Tales, March 1933."

• At Strange Horizons: "In Joy, Knowing the Abyss Behind (Part 2)" by Sarah Pinsker.
     "George had only ever taken one trip without Millie, in the fall of 1951. A letter had arrived from the army asking him to fly to New Mexico."

• At The Way of the Buffalo: "To the End of Time, or Lisa" by Damien Krsteski. Science Fiction.
     "Some people really do get a second chance to make a first impression in this week's story,"

Other Genres

• Audio at Crime City Central: "Sky of Brass, Land of Iron" by Joe McKinney
• Audio at LibriVox: "Motor Boat Boys' River Chase" by Louis Arundel. YA Adventure.
• Fiction at The New Yorker: "Mastiff" by Joyce Carol Oates.
• Flash Fiction at Every Day Fiction: "Genesis Novus" by Baron Weiser"

Clarkesworld and More Free Fiction

More great freebies including, two fantasy poetry 'zines (Goblin Fruit and Stone Telling) and the always exceptional Clarkesworld.  There are also short stories old and new, audio fiction and more.  More to come soon.




 [Art for Clarkesworld - linked below]






Fiction
• At Online Pulps: "Crash on Viar" by Joseph J. Millard. Pulp/Science Fiction. From Thrilling Wonder Stories - Feb. 1942.
   "The shadow of death on airless worlds drives Man to perform deeds of murder–and scientific laws bring them to justice!"

• At Project Gutenberg: "Jewels of Gwahlur" by Robert E. Howard. Fantasy. Sword and Sorcery. From Weird Tales - March 1935.
      "Conan the Cimmerian, late of the Baracha Isles, of the Black Coast, and of many other climes where life ran wild, had come to the kingdom of Keshan following the lure of a fabled treasure that outshone the hoard of the Turanian kings."

• At Silver Blade: "The Guild of Swordsmen: Part 7" by Kristin Janz. Fantasy.
     "The swordsmen were taken to a large dining hall, where a simple but generous breakfast had been set out on long tables.  Lida sat at a corner of one table, hoping no one would try to talk with her.  No one did.  The big man she had tried to hide behind out on the Eastwatch Plaza sat near the other end of the table, and he nodded politely to her once but left her alone."

Now Posted: Clarkesworld Issue 78, March 2013.

"The Weight of a Blessing" by Aliette de Bodard.

     "On her third visit to Sarah—on the last occasion that she sees her daughter, even if it is only in V-space—Minh Ha says nothing. There are no words left, no message of comfort that she could give her."

"The Last Survivor of the Great Sexbot Revolution" by A.C. Wise.

     "You didn’t expect her to be in plain sight, either. All your careful research, chasing down obscure references in mostly forgotten histories, and here she is. She’s not hiding, and if she’s not proud of her part in history, she’s not ashamed, either."

"86, 87, 88, 89" by Genevieve Valentine.

     "You are part of a vital effort to recover evidence of terrorist activity preceding the Raids, and on a larger scale, to preserve the heritage of a historic neighborhood of New York City."

Now Posted: Goblin Fruit - Winter 2013. Fantasy Poetry.

• Triumph XIII: Chaaya by Shweta Narayan
• The Journeymaker, Climbing by Rose Lemberg
• Sleeping Beauty Makes Dinner by Sally Rosen Kindred
• The Jackdaw, Married by Mathew Joiner
• Silver by Andy Humphrey
• Grief by Jennifer Jerome
• It Is Winter and Everything Is Cold, Thinks Robber Girl by Charlotte Bhaskar
• Lament for a Faithless Prince by Ada Hoffmann
• Moral by Alicia Cole
• Tent Worms by Laura Lee Washburn
• The Journeymaker to Keddar by Rose Lemberg
• As Long As There Are Husbands in Winter by Phyllis Holliday

Now Posted: Stone Telling #9.  Fantasy Poetry.

• JT Stewart - Weaver
• JT Stewart - Ancestors
• JT Stewart - Cinderella Begins Her Memoir
• JT Stewart - The Novice Takes Notes For Going South
• JT Stewart - Kiss Me / Change Me
• Dominik Parisien - Let me show you you
• Alyza Taguilaso - Aphasia
• Lisa M. Bradley - embedded
• Mat Joiner - A Black Dog
• Bogi Takács - The Tiny English-Hungarian Phrasebook For Visiting Extraterrestrials
• Brianna Belle Sulzener - Returns
• Ishita Basu Mallik - flood
• Michele Bannister - Foam, Braided with Teeth
• Minal Hajratwala - The Unicorn at the Racetrack
• Neile Graham - With Bats in Our Belfry, Dear, Earth Water and Sky

Flash Fiction
• At 365 Tomorrows: "Darwin" by Alex Bauer. Science Fiction.

Audio Fiction
• At Cast of Wonders: "Cosmetic Procedures" by Desmond Warzel. YA.
     No description found.

• At Clarkesworld: "The Weight of a Blessing" by Aliette de Bodard.
      Described above

Comic Books
•Issues One and Two of Sullivan’s Sluggers, a baseball, horror comic book. In PDF and CBZ formats (Note - the CBZ issues didn't work for me but the PDFs were fine).

Other Genres

• Audio at Craftlit: Jane Eyre Chapters 22 and 23  by Charlotte Brontë.
• Fiction at Online Pulps: "Homicide Shaft" by Robert Leslie Bellem (Noir 1949) and "The Tornado" by Raymond S. Spears (Pulp 1918).
• Flash Fiction at Every Day Fiction: "Robot Legs" by W.J. McCabe.

Comics, Flash Fiction, and More

A lot of cool free flash fiction and comics this morning as well as a couple each, great fiction and and audio fiction stories.  More later today or tomorrow morning.  Today's QD Radio is Murray Leinster's "A Logic Named Joe" adapted on Dimension X.

[Art from "Space Pirates of Lanthus IV" linked below in the comics section]



Fiction
• At Night Shade Books: "On the Arrival of the Paddle-Steamer on the Docks of V" by Peter M. Ball.
     "Our tiny hotel room is boiling, even now, but heat doesn’t bother Patrick and he sleeps, shirtless, with the thin sheet coiled round him like a loving serpent. It’s a trick for him, nodding off. He cultivates a talent for sleep, adores the act of dozing off like it’s a second lover. He says it keeps him young, and perhaps it does, for people are always surprised to learn Patrick’s real age."

• At Project Gutenberg: "A Witch Shall Be Born" by Robert E. Howard. Fantasy. 1934.
     "'Who am I?' There was the spite of a she-cobra's hiss in the soft response. The girl stepped to the edge of the couch, grasped the queen's white shoulders with fierce fingers, and bent to glare full into the startled eyes of Taramis. And under the spell of that hypnotic glare, the queen forgot to resent the unprecedented outrage of violent hands laid on regal flesh."

Flash Fiction

• At Daily Science Fiction: "Coin Op" by David Steffen. 
• At Every Day Fiction: "Radaba, Daughter of Rapunzel" by Marie Bacigalupo. Fantasy.
• At Flash Fiction Friday: "Dem Bones – The Stories" Mixed Genres.
• At Flashes in the Dark: "Mr. Yamamoto’s Fish Food" by Adam Walker. Horror.
• At Indian SF: "Behind Eyes Closed" by Anand Shankara.
• At Nature: "Tumbleweeds and Indelicate Questions" by John P. Murphy. Science Fiction.
• At 365 Tomorrows: "Judgement Day" by Clint Wilson. Science Fiction.

Audio Fiction
• At Beware the Hairy Mango: "The Slow and the Furious" by Matthew Sanborn Smith. Weird.
      No description Found

• At PodCastle: "My Dignity in Scars" by Cory Skerry. Fantasy.
     "This time, I am at Ukaya’s house, trimming the hooves of her goats, because her joints are too swollen and stiff to wield a knife. The morning sun prickles my back and rough goat hair prickles my belly as I whittle off thin curls of hoof."

Comics

• At Atomic Kommie Comics: "Weird Thrillers - Cycle of Time" Sci-Fi. 1951
• At Atomic Kommie Comics: "Outer Space - 3rd Planet" Sci-Fi. 1968.
• At Atomic Kommie Comics: "Brant Craig - Space Pirates of Lanthus IV" Sci-Fi. 1951.
• At Four-Color Shadows: "Hoof Beats of the Devil's Horse" Horror. 1952 .
• At Hero Histories: "Voodah - Justice of the Jungle" Adventure. 1945.
• At The Horrors of It All: "Out of this World!" Horror. 1954.
• At The Horrors of It All: "Vengeance from a Restless Grave" Horror. 1952.
• At The Horrors of It All: "It Happened on Valentine's Eve" Horror. 1951.
• At Seduction of the Innocent: "Her Lips Dripped Blood" Horror. 1953.

Friday Free Fiction

It's another roundup of fantastic free fiction from some of the internet's great sites.  There's a new issue of Heroic Fantasy Quarterly and more spellbinding short stories, several fun flash fiction stories and cool comic books stories, as well as awesome audio fiction from three of my many favorites.  There's also non-genre audio from some small press 'zine called The New Yorker. 

More to come barring disaster or exhaustion, your servant, Dave Tackett.

Today's QD Radio is the 1950 Dimension X adaptation of a classic story by the dean of Science Fiction, Jack Williamson, "With Folded Hands." This story is described, but with spoilers, at Wikipedia.

 Today's illustration is from "Morgan's Run" which is linked below.


Fiction
• At Aurora Wolf: "When Grandma Came to Tea" by Frances Gow.
       "I glanced at Gran over the rim of my can and sucked the cold baked beans into my mouth, swallowing without bothering to chew. They slid down my throat with slimy satisfaction. I belched loudly and she winced. Ratman looked up and grinned, as he fumbled with another can."

• At Cosmos: "Morgan's Run" by Richard A. Lovett. Science Fiction.
      "The speaker implant behind her ear had been the one that really hurt. Though the fuel cell powered by her blood glucose had run a close second."

• At Daily Science Fiction: "When She is Empty" by Damien Walters Grintalis.
      "Kat knew something was wrong the moment she opened the front door. There was a change in the weight of the air and divots in the rug where Iriana's wingback chair should be."

• At Silver Blade: "The Guild of Swordsmen: Part 3" by Kristin Janz. Fantasy.
      "Zuvius.left them soon after the parade had passed by. From that point on the afternoon passed in a blur of drinking, snacking on street food, and being accosted by Saulius’s relatives, friends, and ex-girlfriends. Towards evening, Saulius and Alzadin left to attend the Swordsmen’s Guild feast in honor of the Emperor’s birthday, leaving Lida alone with Merolliay."

• Now posted: Heroic Fantasy Quarterly – Issue 15

"Dusts of War" by Ben Godby. Fantasy.
        "Get your new year started with the kind of moral ambiguity that only this tale of sorcery noir can deliver!" 
"Shadows and Hellfire" by R. Michael Burns. Fantasy.
      "The warrior Hokage and his cursed blade are back for a descent into the afterlife that will try the iron of both! 
"Kingdom of Graves" by David Charlton. Fantasy.
       "Last but far from least, fantasy newcomer Charlton delivers some solid S&S half-orc action! A mysterious plague means extra coin in the pouch for Rakhar, but in perilous times even a gravedigger can rise to the level of hero."

Flash Fiction
• At Heroic Fantasy Quarterly: "Yashub-Geb" by James Hutchings. Fantasy. Poem.
• At Heroic Fantasy Quarterly: "The Bull of Conflict" by Lorna Smithers. Fantasy. Poem.
• At 365 Tomorrows: "Cavale" by Clint Wilson. Science Fiction.
• At Weirdyear: "Lazy Ghosts" by Tyler Gates. Weird.
• At Kazka Press:

• "Brane Surgery" by David L Clements.
• "Act of Penance" by Michael Haynes.
• "Higher Walls, Sharper Wire" by Lyn Thorne-Alder.
• "The Beholder of Io" by Laura Mae Dunlap.
• "The Hum of Refuge" by Anna Ilona Mussmann. 

Audio Fiction
• At Classic Tales Podcast: "The Wizard of Oz, part 1 of 4" by L. Frank Baum. YA Fantasy.
      "Come along, Toto,” she said, “we will go to the Emerald City and ask the great Oz how to get back to Kansas again.”

•At PodCastle: "Everything You Were Looking For" by Samantha Henderson. Fantasy.
     "Never explore a cave alone like I just did. Here at the entrance, the roof domes high in the weak light, but at the back you’ll see it starts to narrow. I just went half a mile in."

• At Tales to Terrify: "Triumph" by Damir Salkovic. Horror.
      No description found.

Comics

• At Digital Comics Museum: The Thing #11. Horror. (1953).
• At Digital Comics Museum: Jumbo Comics #162. Adventure. Sci-Fi. (1952).
• At Four-Color Shadows: "Solar Patrol" Sci-Fi (1939).
• At Four-Color Shadows: "The Frozen Death" Horror. (1954).
• At Four-Color Shadows: "The End" Sci-Fi (1957).
• At The Horrors of It All: "Oh, Baby! / The Man Who Meddled!" Horror. (1954).
• At The Horrors of It All: "Horror Show! / Nightmare!" Horror. (1952/1951)
• At Pappy's Golden Age: " Tarzan - "The Reptile With a Heart" Adventure. (1955).

Other Genres

• Audio Fiction at The  New Yorker: "Love" by William Maxwell.
• Flash Fiction at Every Day Fiction: "Basic Rules of Public Transportation" by Hashim Hassan.

Astounding, Hub, Hobbit News, and More

 Even more good free fantasy and science fiction, both classic and contemporary.  And some interesting news of likely interest to many genre readers.

[Art from Astounding Stories of Super-Science]









Fiction
In Hub 145: "Incident on Oblomov" by Eric Brown. Science Fiction.
      "I turned to Ella, my co-pilot. She was lounging in her sling, reading from her com-screen. I tried to keep my gaze from her lustrous Venezuelan eyes. For a vat-grown premier grade AI, she was disconcertingly beautiful." 

At Adventures in Fiction: Thieves' Honor ep 17: "In the Enemy's House" by Keanan Brand.
     "What were you thinking, Bosko? Talking up the merchandise like that?" Using a torch so small he appeared to squeeze fire from his fist, a bondsman welded manacles around the wrists of the prisoner lying prone in the courtyard. "The Vortuna slave run teach you nothin'?"

At Project Gutenberg: Astounding Stories of Super-Science January 1930. Science Fiction.

"The Beetle Horde" by Victor Rousseau.
     "Only Two Young Explorers Stand in the Way of the Mad Bram's Horrible Revenge—the Releasing of His Trillions of Man-sized Beetles upon an Utterly Defenseless World. (Part One of a Two-part Novel.)"
"The Cave of Horror Captain" by S. P. Meek.
     "Screaming, the Guardsman Was Jerked Through the Air. An Unearthly Screech Rang Through the Cavern. The Unseen Horror of Mammoth Cave Had Struck Again!"
"Phantoms of Reality" by Ray Cummings.
     "Red Sensua's Knife Came up Dripping—and the Two Adventurers Knew that Chaos and Bloody Revolution Had Been Unleashed in that Shadowy Kingdom of the Fourth Dimension. (A Complete Novel.)"
"The Stolen Mind" by M. L. Staley.
       "What Would You Do, If, Like Quest, You Were Tricked, and Your Very Mind and Will Stolen from Your Body?"
"Compensation" by C. V. Tench.
      "Professor Wroxton Had Disappeared—But in the Bottom of the Mysterious Crystal Cage Lay the Diamond from His Ring!"
"Tanks" by Murray Leinster. 
      "Two Miles of American Front Had Gone Dead. And on Two Lone Infantrymen, Lost in the Menace of the Fog-gas and the Tanks, Depended the Outcome of the War of 1932."
"Invisible Death" by Anthony Pelcher. 
     "On Lees' Quick and Clever Action Depended the Life of "Old Perk" Ferguson, the Millionaire Manufacturer Threatened by the Uncanny, Invisible Killer."

At Strange Horizons: "The Three Immigrations" by Rose Lemberg. Speculative Poem.

Audio Fiction
At SFFAudio: "The Queen Of The Black Coast" by Robert E. Howard. Sword and Sorcery.
     "Hoofs drummed down the street that sloped to the wharfs. The folk that yelled and scattered had only a fleeting glimpse of a mailed figure on a black stallion, a wide scarlet cloak flowing out on the wind. Far up the street came the shout and clatter of pursuit, but the horseman did not look back"

E-Books
Via Pixel of Ink: Beyond Hades (The Prometheus Wars) by Luke Romyn. Fantasy.
At Free eBooks Daily: Spell Checked by C.G. Powell. Paranormal.
At Smashwords:

• "Little Boy Blue" by G.M. Reinfeldt. Horror. 5k.
• "The Wood Sprite's Tale" by Lachelle Redd. Fantasy. 16k.
• "Watching Over Her" by Bliss Addison. Paranormal. 15k.
• Hourglass by Karina Crandon. Paranormal. 79k.
• "Deception: The Prequel" by Stacy Claflin. YA Fantasy. 25k.
• The Evanescence Chronicles: Volume I by Alexandra Pelaez. Fantasy. 152k.
• "Arcane Genesis: Depression Lock" by Sean Roney. 3k.
• "Next Door" by Lori R. Lopez. Horror. Ghost. 5k.
• "Horrendus" by Lori R. Lopez. Horror. 3k.
• "Second Chance" by Ardy. Horror. 10k.
• "Little Boy Blue" by G.M. Reinfeldt. Weird. 5k.
• "Ghoulgirls Files Number One, Sting of the Master" by David Johanek. Horror. 11k.

Science News

• "Life abounds in Antarctic lake sealed under ice"
• "Do Aliens Use Hairspray?"
• "Chemistry That Sparked Origin of Life"
• "Jikes! NASA Backpedeling!"
• "Pluto Atmosphere Larger Than Thought, Study Shows"
• "Failure Of India's Big Rocket Project Is Symbolic Of Deep Structural Problems"
• "One Year After Launch, Curiosity Rover Busy on Mars"

 Palaeontology/History

• "Giant Eocene bird was 'gentle herbivore', study finds"
• "Nordic Witchcraft in Transition: Impotence, Hersery and Diabolism in 14th-century Bergen"

 Fantasy Film News

• "Hobbit - Production video #9: what bird is that?"
• "Latest 'Hobbit' video diary offers a sneak peek at CG goblins and trolls: Watch"
• "James Franco, Michelle Williams, Rachel Weisz – OZ: THE GREAT AND POWERFUL Movie Preview"
• "Watch a Video From the Thor: The Dark World Set!"
• "'Twilight,' Bond Dominate Fruitful Thanksgiving"

 Misc.
"A Visual Timeline of the Future Based on Famous Fiction" Via Popular Science.

More Free Fiction. Apex, AntipodeanSF, Conan Motion Comic.

A bonus second free fiction post today! There are only three items, but they are three very big items. First up is the latest issue of Apex Magazine (always great). I don't know how I missed this, but SF Signal scooped me.  So credit where credit is due, though I'll be petty and put it up here, since nobody ever reads this ;-p

 Next is  the November issue of AntipodeanSF, with some cool flash fiction from down under. And lastly, the first three parts of the motion comic book Conan the Barbarian.

 More tomorrow. Art obviously for Apex.
 





Magazines 
Now Posted: Apex Magazine #42 (November 2012). science fiction, fantasy.

“Erzulie Dantor” by Tim Susman.
     "Whispers prowl through the rubble that surrounds the leaning house. Half-fallen buildings stand on either side, as though a careless giant strode through the town and only by chance missed the one house—surely when the gods choose to wreak destruction on all, they are not so capriciously merciful to one."
“Splinter” by Shira Lipkin.
     "Jay was the hippie, floppy surfer-bangs, more pot than speed, more folk than punk, and the first time I met him, he seized my hand and Michael’s—completing the circuit, he said, and I could feel it, feel the energy rushing between us, leaping like fish. Felt home. He was the mystic, of all of us."
“The Glutton: A Goxhat Accounting Chant” by Eleanor Arnason.
     "The translation of Goxhat poetry presents many problems, due in part to the Goxhat language, but also to the biological and social realities that underlie the language. The foremost problem is the Goxhat’s ambiguous sense of personal identity. Much of the time, Goxhat think of their entire species as a single being. "
“Sprig” by Alex Bledsoe.
       "The little boy gazed up at the beautiful girl seated cross-legged on a tree stump. She wore tights, a sparkly skirt, and enormous plastic wings. Her wild hair was decorated with twigs, leaves and flowers. Her small, pointed face was painted with make-up. Strands of plastic ivy decorated the guitar across her lap."
 

 Now Posted: AntipodeanSF November 2012. Speculative Flash Fiction.

• "The Duchess The Captain" by Rachel Towns.
• "The Flesh Trade" by Marcelo Rinesi.
• "Space Dock Garden" by Maggie Mundy.
• "Revelation" by Peter Grantham.
• "Sex As IPR Piracy" by Wes Parish.

 
Comics

At Dark Horse Comics: Conan the Barbarian Motion Comic Parts 1-3
"In this sweeping adaptation of Robert E. Howard's fan-favorite "Queen of the Black Coast," Conan turns his back on the civilized world and takes to the high seas alongside the pirate queen Bêlit, setting the stage for an epic of romance, terror, and swashbuckling."

She had dreams all yesternight
Of her own betrothed knight;
And she in the midnight wood will pray
For the weal of her lover that's far away. 

Tons

Another huge haul of free fiction including a few awesome eZines. Beneath Ceaseless Skies has four new stories as well as audio fiction, four more stories are up at Four Star Quarterly, there's a new issue of Heroic Fantasy Quarterly up, and a new issue of The Chiaroscuro is now online. There other great fiction and audio fiction including StarShipSofa, PodCastle, Dunesteef, and other greats. And though I'm still not ready to return to regular gaming links, there are four! free gaming eZines linked today, at least a couple of which have fiction.

Illustration from chapter two of the serial "The Box" by Bill Ward.








@AEG: "The Life of the Warrior" by Brian Yoon. Fantasy.

"The last few moments slowed to a crawl. His grip on the tetsubo tightened as the weapon sped faster and faster toward its target. Its target was an ugly face of grey and brown, peppered with ivory bone protrusions that erupted out from random spots. The jade studs of his tetsubo sizzled into the skin on contact and the monster screamed in indignant pain. The weapon splintered and shattered into a thousand pieces even as it crushed its target."

@Daily Science Fiction: "Her Majesty's Guardian" by Donald S. Crankshaw.

"The Council's vote was unanimous," Duke Richard said. He looked ridiculous in a bright yellow doublet. The color would make anyone look foolish, as the other old men seated around the table proved, but its gaiety was especially jarring against Richard's habitual dark expression. "You know your duty, Guardian."

Now Posted: Beneath Ceaseless Skies #79
"The Tiger’s Turn" by Richard Parks. Fantasy.

On the face of the matter I had to agree. While the estate would technically belong to the Imperial Family, I had been assigned the position of steward—quite a handsome income. “Security is the greatest illusion of all, Kenji-san. As for my poverty, it was more of a problem when I was drinking. Don’t mistake me—I am not ungrateful. I am merely puzzled.”

"The Calendar of Saints" by Kat Howard. Fantasy.

“She wasn’t my opponent when I executed her.” I accept mortal commissions; I’ve killed before. Those deaths were honest. Magdalena’s was a waste, and my hands are filthy with it. With a casual nod, from a cleric who knew nothing about the sword-edge of truth, I have been made to feel like a heretic.

"A Spoonful of Salt" by Nicole M. Taylor. Fantasy.

Dr. Benjamin, he was running, running through the rain from one tent to another, trying to save his Story Eater and those pasty wax circles he’s spent so long collecting and, once, he looked up. Mala was sitting there on the top of the sea wall. She wasn’t wearing a rain slicker or even shoes and she was just looking at him like he was a rat, like he was a bug. Like he was something with too many eyes and too many legs and all she wanted to know was what ridiculous thing he was going to do next.

"The Judge's Right Hand" by J.S. Bangs. Fantasy.

A Seraph approaches me with two brands, red‑hot from the coals. The first is Adultery, and it blackens my right cheek. I bite my tongue to swallow the scream. The second is Death, and it sears my forehead. This time I do scream.

Now Posted: The Chiaroscuro - Volume 49 (October–December, 2011).
"In the House of Houses" by Claude Lalumière.

"In the Persian Gulf, there's an island so small and nondescript it appears on no map. Perhaps island is too generous a term for what appears to most eyes as no more than a lifeless bunch of rocks barely rising above sea level."

"La Divina Commedia" by Katherine Mankiller.

"Last time this happened, I was Orpheus."

"Snicker-Snack" by A. D. Bloom.

"He's a meter-tall, dancing fur-belly with mono-molecular edged claws, an embroidered nose, and telomerase chains longer than your arm. He's an unnatural – a custom-coded gene-job, a chromo-tweaked talker gestated in a pickling jar and born full-grown in a pet store. "

"Stars Fell On Alabama" by Jesse Bullington.

"P.J.’s called Peej, an me an he wuz blood brothas from the first time I took Pop’s buck knife out scoutin for Talabands in them hills tween our road an the base. "

@Four Star Quarterly: "Re-Opening Night" by Lou Antonelli.

"This signal wasn't shot through the wormhole. It's spiraling like water down a drain."

@Four Star Quarterly: "Windows" by Gloria Oliver.

"Pressure suit seals--check." Claudia rolled her head in a full circle within her helmet, trying to work out the kinks in her neck muscles. There was always a bit of anticipation and fear whenever she suited up. A cut or leak or malfunction not caught during prep could mean her life.

@Four Star Quarterly: "Closet Enlightenment" by Selina Rosen.

Let me get this straight," she’d replied, making a valiant attempt to keep from reaching for his long neck and strangling him. "You want to go and sit cross-legged with a bunch of other people and listen to some guy with a beard tell you what life’s all about?"

@Four Star Quarterly: "Operation Hell" by Cathy Spangler.

"My supervisor’s voice grated across my psyche like nails on a chalkboard, churning up nausea in my stomach. I resisted banging my head on my monitor. Oh, joy, another wonderful encounter with Hell Supervisor, as I’d dubbed Mr. Turlow."

Now Posted: Heroic Fantasy Quarterly #10


"Queen of the Desert" by Alex Marshall.

"Throughout the endless afternoon he walked the trackless waste. With his coat held above to shield him from the sun’s brutal rays, Derwent toiled — his shadow and his hopes stretching to the empty distance."

"The Workshop of the Lord of the Estuary and the Wages of Heroism" by James Frederick William Rowe.

"It came from the sea, a thing of cold, slime, and teeth. Declaring its presence through murder, it took the lives of three men fishing on the open water before it claimed as its home the estuary at the orifice of the Mor Oirthearach River in Cacke. Ever since it has held this body of water, permitting none to pass but those who pay it in blood."

"Death at the Pass" by Michael R. Fletcher.

"Brushing a thousand years of dirt and rot from his robes, Khraen marvelled at how well preserved he was. Skin, sunken, cracked and grey, adhered to the bones of his long limbs. He’d never been muscular, but now he was downright skeletal."

Serial Fiction
@Paizo: "The Box - Chapter Two: Where the Heart Is" by Bill Ward. Fantasy.

"Noticing the scrutiny, the guard shifted, hooking his thumb into his broad sash, resting his hand close to the curved knife he wore naked and gleaming at his side like the chip-edged cutlass of some Shackles pirate. You had to admire the Sczarni, Kostin thought; they really played the whole Varisian thug act to the hilt."

Audio
@Beneath Ceaseless Skies: "Butterfly" by Garth Upshaw. Fantasy.

"Aidan pulled away from my hand. I could feel his finger bones slip and shift out of place."

@Dunesteef: "The Troop" by Harris Tobias. Science Fiction.

"a tale about a sole human survivor on an alien planet, and his attempts to co-exist wit the native creatures there."

@Journey Into: "The Trial of Thomas Jefferson" by David Barr Kirtley. Science Fiction.

"Time travel allows the UN to go back, capture Hitler, and execute him. But why stop there?"

@PodCastle: "The Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar Allan Poe, read by Eric Luke. Dark.

DURING the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing alone, on horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of country ; and at length found myself, as the shades of the evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher.

@StarShipSofa: "Blood Dauber" by Ted Kosmatka and Michael Poore. Science Fiction.

"Bell trudged up the path, pushing the wheelbarrow before him, already sweating under his brown khaki uniform. He squinted in the bright sunlight, eyeing the exhibits as he ascended the hill: the goats and their pandering; the silly, horny monkeys; the slothful binturongs—all moving to the front of their enclosures as he approached. "

Gaming
Now Posted: Fighting Fantazine #7.

Includes "a new 230 reference adventure Queen of Shades by Paul Struth, a "Fact of Fiction" article devoted to Seas of Blood, and the winning entry of the Advanced Fighting Fantasy competition: Stuart Lloyd's The Curse of Meraki (illustrated by Michael Wolmarans)" and more.

Free membership required on next three.
@DriveThruRPG: Hollenthon - Issue 1

Hollenthon is GROMM's premire magazine, containing new units, painting tutorials, new rules and much more.This first issue covers playing mass battles in the world of GROMM, a new faction of barbarians from the Koldaath Mountains, a painting tutorial and much more!

@DriveThruRPG: Savage Insider Issue 2

includes the following: 3 fleshed out adversaries, 9 new weapons, A Savage Insider exclusive add-on for Beasts & Barbarians, Part 2 of the Crypt of the Crystal Lich fiction series, The first in the Echoes of Rome fiction series, Part 2 of the Deadlands comics series The Kid, A sci-fi adventure, And much more!

@DriveThruRPG: Pathways #8.

"How can you say 'No' to a FREE collection of Pathfinder templates, encounters, feats and domains, and all of it bundled together with a new fiction piece by author David Bain? You'd have to be crazy to turn it down. "

Happy 4th

Happy Independence Day to those who live in the US and my sincere sympathies to those for whom it is only another Monday. Many good things today, including a ton of great free fantasy stories from some of the great sites/'zines out there and a couple of cool audio fiction entries. So enjoy reading between the hot dogs and hamburgers.

The illustration is for "Maria’s Crossroads" in the fiction section.







@Fantasy Magazine: "Union Falls" by J. S. Breukelaar. Fantasy.

"But the girl was kicking off her other shoe and at the Casio before Deel had worked out but what. And what she pounded out with her feet was Meatloaf’s 'Bat Out of Hell.'"

@Strange Horizon: "One-Eyed Jack's" by Tracy Canfield. Speculative Fiction.

"She oughter do something about the Sing. She oughter do something about One-Eyed Jack's. But if she took one of them on, the other would have the valley to itself; and she wasn't certain she had the strength to fight them both, what with keeping one eye on I-79 every minute of the day."

Now Posted: Abyss & Apex 3rd Quarter 2011. Speculative Fiction.
"Death, Rebirth. An Heir, a Karakuri." by J.M. Sidorova.

“You are,” he agreed, switching to a careful English. “But you are an outsider. A foreigner. You can look in places we will consider inappropriate to look in.”

"Maria’s Crossroads" by Richard Marsden.

"She bit her lip, forced a smile and turned. Eligio stood across the street, under the orange glow of the forge. He had his apron about his waist and in his hand a hammer. Soot dusted his frame and his smile glowed white, in the fading of the day. He was a fine figure, and Maria knew that their twined fates broke the hearts of other girls."

"The Windfarmer’s Guest" by Lucas Ahlsen.

"On clear nights the moon bathed the land in azure. The windfarmer habitually climbed the main turbine to take advantage of the vista. It reminded him of the green times, before Earth Rot ravaged the land of its flora. But those visions only came to him in dreams and moonlight."

"Holes" by Rajan Khanna.

"Roughly the size of a tennis ball, it hovered, chest-high, above the road. It changed colors, swiftly cycling through the visible spectrum before disappearing, reappearing a moment later to start the cycle again. I wanted to touch it, but held myself back."

"Black Horticulture" by David Tallerman.

"There before me, crouched upon its flattened hilltop, was our monarch’s grand second home. There was the manor he’d built to keep his family safe from the turbulent state life of Pentigern, known as the most protected building in all the seven lands. There, in short, was the place they called the Green House."

Now Posted Clarksworld Magazine #58. Science Fiction.
"Trois morceaux en forme de mechanika" by Gord Sellar.

"The city of Plzeň, once famous for its lagers, will be famous someday for this little wooden-walled workshop instead. Humanity's nonhuman descendants will wander its reconstructed streets, making pilgrimages from the ancient brewery (site of the first grand mutiny) to this tiny workshop where the Lasherites trace their own singular lineage. "

"Frozen Voice" by An Owomoyela.

"They've made us wrestle sounds slippery as fish or burly as bears through our throats. They've made us stumble through conversations, even human-to-human, that we can hardly say. We can't pronounce our names. They named me Ulrhegmk, which in Hlerig means little mountain thing."

@AE: "Planetsmith" by Chris Stamp and Lynda Williams.

"They had hardly taken half a dozen steps when the clear yellow sky lit up with a crack of white-and-blue lightning, a single arc that stretched from horizon to horizon, rippling outwards for a second or two before dissipating."

Now Posted: Heroic Fantasy Quarterly #9. Fantasy.
"Dome of Florence, Part II" by Richard Marsden. Fantasy.

"Mahir continued to berate Filippo, both in heavily accented Italian and in his own dialect as well as a few choice curses from long-dead languages as they..."

"Demon-Fang" by R. Michael Burns. Fantasy.

"Having no means of crossing this life, I make swordsmanship my hiding place. –Yagyū Muneyoshi, Heihō Kaden Sho, 17th Century Somewhere in the deep of night,..."

"Of Caustic Salts and Casting Pits" by Scott Andrews. Fantasy.

"Turusha squeezed the draft-scarab’s reins and fought the urge to scrape her itching wrists against the seat of the cart. The line of creaking..."

@Beam Me Up: Episode#268 "Manifest Error" by Gary Cuba, read by Paul Cole and "Silicon Valley" by Duncan Shields. Science Fiction.

"'Manifest Error' - What would you do if you found that a delivery is late…..by a century! I describe the tale as an “uplift” story for the real world. [. . . and] a piece of flash fiction from Duncan Shields called 'Silicon Valley.' Duncan’s story tells the tale of a future where all the humans have disappeared in-explicitly."

@Clarkesworld: "Trois morceaux en forme de mechanika" by Gord Sellar, read by Kate Baker.

"The city of Plzeň, once famous for its lagers, will be famous someday for this little wooden-walled workshop instead. Humanity's nonhuman descendants will wander its reconstructed streets, making pilgrimages from the ancient brewery (site of the first grand mutiny) to this tiny workshop where the Lasherites trace their own singular lineage. "

Free Magazines, Fiction, Audio Fiction, and Gaming.

A ton of free fiction, audio, and gaming items today!





Fiction
Magazines
Issue #55 of Clarkesworld is now online with,

Fiction
"The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees" by E. Lily Yu.
"For longer than anyone could remember, the village of Yiwei had worn, in its orchards and under its eaves, clay-colored globes of paper that hissed and fizzed with wasps."

"Matchmaker" by Erin M. Hartshorn.
"Miss Berazazz could've been Jewish, sure. The first kurz had converted only a few years after the kurz and humans had encountered each other out in space. Everyone learned of the Acceptance in Hebrew school, even if no kurz attended synagogue locally."
Non-Fiction
"Linguistics for the World-Builder" by Brit Mandelo
"Same Story with a 21st Century Sensibility: A Conversation with John Scalzi" by Jeremy L. C. Jones

Podcast
Audio Fiction: "The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees" by E. Lily Yu, read by Kate Baker

Cover Art
"Post-apolacalyptic Fisherman" by Georgi Markov.

[h/t SF Signal]


Issue number three of Lovecraft eZine is online with,

"Introduction to Issue #3" by Mike Davis

"Cockroaches" by Amanda Underwood.
"I shivered as darkness crept predator quiet between the bark, watching us, waiting for us."

"A Meeting on the Trail To Hot Iron" by Joseph S. Pulver.
"Bart looked down on the man. Looked like a man. One not from these parts mind you. His robes looked foreign, Egyptian. I’d seen pharaohs in books. He was wearing robes like a pharaoh. Wearing diamonds and rubies too. A lot of them."

"Things We Are Not" by Brandon H. Bell.
"After my third day in the City a crow alighted next to me on the park bench where I slept, squawking of a wonder at the city aquarium. Its feathers beaded with moisture, its beak dripped blood."

"Descent Into Shadow and Light" by W.H. Pugmire.
"I awakened in my windowless tower, to the smell of ancient books and the worms with which they were infested, and swept the pale winged things from where they had nestled in my coiled hair."

"The Slickens" by Jeremy Russell.
"Then they started to dig them out, but the Department of Environment Quality declared ours not to be ‘fluvially active’ and it was allowed to sit there like a noxious tumor on the farmland. "

"The Town of Autumn: Chapter 1" by Mike Davis.
"As I sit at my desk, there is a bottle of whiskey to the left of my computer, and a gun to the right."



Issue number eight of Heroic Fantasy Quarterly is now online with

"Demon Song" by A. R. Williams.
"Supernatural samurai slices some serious adventure. (Sorry, A. R. — we couldn’t resist!) Seriously, good readers, check this one out: a vengeful samurai learns a lesson from the grave . . . but just whose grave is it?"

"The Dome of Florence part I" by Richard Marsden.
"Way back in HFQ Issue 1, Richard Marsden’s MAN OF MOLDANIA was the first story we accepted — and he continues his firsts with us by delivering our first novella, this coming to you in an historical fantasy in two parts. With architecture, alchemy, and papal wizards, who could have guessed the Inquisition would be so fun!"

"The Baroness Drefelin" by David Pilling.
"Another fine offering from a writer previously published at HFQ, this one bringing some much overdo levity to our fictions. When it comes to unrequited love, we reckon there are many more bad ways than good to, um, bear the jilt. We like the way the hero in this tale goes about it. "

As well as art by Garrett Hanna and poetry by David Sklar, Keith Kennedy, and Jason M. Waltz.

Single Stories
@Fantasy Magazine: "Choose Your Own Adventure" by Kat Howard.
"Are you brave enough to begin? If so, turn to page 1. If not, remain safe. Close the book and return it to the shelf. No one will think any less of you. " In online text and MP3 audio formats. (and don't miss the author's interview here and an article "Choosing Your Own Adventure" by Molly Tanzer.)


@Daily Science Fiction: "Words on a Page" by Allison Starkweather.
"He flinches at the touch of sharp, cool metal against his shoulder. Only once and then he stills, holding himself motionless for her. She begins slowly, dragging the nib over his skin, leaving tracks that chill him as the ink dries."

@The Canadian Science Fiction Review: "Matthias Comes Home From the War" by Bev Vincent.
"After he returns from his tour of duty, Matthias notices differences everywhere he looks. Some barely discernible, but others too insidious to ignore. So much has changed, it seems impossible that it has been just two years."

@Subterranean Press: "Water to Wine" by Mary Robinette Kowal.
"Water sprayed out from beneath the wine barrel, carrying the faint stink of sulfur with it. I suppose it’s crazy to have a fondness for the smell of rotten eggs, but that means cleanliness in the wine industry. I shut off the hose and wrestled the barrel off the ancient Gamma-Jet, rolling it to the racks outside the cellar door so it could drain in the sun."

@Suvudu: "The Second Kalandar's Tale" by Francis Marion Soty, from the March/April issue of Fantasy & Science Fiction magazine [via SF Signal]
"A story of the encounters between Hassain Mohammed al-Shehr, a Prince of Arabia, and theIfrit Jirjaris bin Rajmus, in A Thousand Nights and A Night"


Serial Fiction
@Kat and Mouse: Guns for Hire: "Payback - Part Three" by Abner Senires.
"The headless body slumped back against the BMW's front grill, splashing blood and brains across the hood and windshield."

Classic SF
"Human Error" by Raymond F Jones, from If: Worlds of Science Fiction (April 1956)
"The government was spending a billion dollars to convince the human race that men ought to be ashamed to be men—instead of errorless, cybernetics machines. But they forgot that an errorless man is a dead man...."

In ebook downloads at Munseys and Project Gutenberg.


"Security Risk" by Ed M. Clinton, Jr. From If: Worlds of Science Fiction (Feb. 1958.)
"It was a touchable touching an untouchable. Both scientist and general were doing their own version of right...."

In ebook downloads at Project Gutenberg and Manybooks. [h/t Triplanetary].


@Two-Fisted Tales of True-Life Weird Romance!: "Judas Ram" by Sam Merwin Jr. From Galaxy Science Fiction (Dec. 1950).
"The house was furnished with all luxeries, including women. If it only had a lease that could be broken --" In JPEG scans.


Flash Fiction



@Flashes in the Dark: "Behind the Gaze" by Katie Prince.
@Flashes in the Dark: "What Lies ‘Neath Lake Leona" by Rosemary Youngblood.
@Flashes in the Dark: "Willpower" by Paul Kardos.
@365 tomorrows: "Communal Thought" by Patrick Condon.
@365 tomorrows: "The Light of other Universes" by Jeremy Wickins.
@365 tomorrows: "Milk Dipped Eyes" by Richard Chins.
@The New Flesh: "Frankincence, Gold & Myrrh" by Joseph M. Bouthiette, Jr.
@Every Day Fiction: "Up the Stairs" by John Lander.
@Mindflights: "Mirror, Mirror!" by Eleni Konstantine.


Audio Fiction





@Beam Me Up: Episode #255 featuring "Ghosts in My Head" by Cory Doctorow and a Libravox recording of C. H. Thames’ "Prison of a Billion Years."

@Cthulhu: "The Coastal Circuit" by D.S. Carmon.
"a great bit of mythos story telling."

@LibriVox: Tom Swift in Captivity by Victor Appleton, read by Tom Weiss.
Classic but very dated children's adventure.


Serial Audio:
@The author's website: The Starter Episode #8 by Scott Sigler.
"Quentin's efforts to take full control of the Krakens run into obstacles from an unexpected source. He finally gets to try out his receivers as the Krakens prepare for opening day."

@The Drama Pod: Journey to the Centre of the Earth Part Eight by The Drama Pod.
Part eight of Jules Verne's classic novel.

@Triplanetary: The classic radio serial The Adventures of Superman is being replayed at triplanetary. Now up to The Atom Man (parts 5-8) - Parts 1-4 are here.
"Superman will finally face a worthy adversary. First he must race to stop the mad scientist Der Teufel from completing his evil scheme to create an Atom Man, a kryptonite powered supervillain."

Gaming
@DriveThruRPG: Game Geek #16. A free 53 page PDF download featuring many Pathfinder items, comics, and fiction "She-Wolf" by Megan Robertson. [free membership required]


And Quid Novi? Perilous Penguin Edition an 8 page PDF of Pathfinder material. [free membership required]




@Mongoose Publishing: In a free PDF download Signs & Portents #91. Highlights include,

RuneQuest: A complete Gloranthan adventure that sees the players duelling with agents of Chaos, A cult designed around swordplay, and A range of shrubs, trees and other plants that will both benefit and hinder your players.

Traveller: A series of plot hooks that will get your players working for charity. They won't want to talk about it though..., and A complete adventure that will set the players against the latest entertainment craze.

Lone Wolf: The final part of the City of Lof.


@The Land of NOD: Monsters of Mu-Pan I - five monsters for the Mu-Pan setting (easily compatible with early edition D&D and retro-clones)




Small But Cool Gaming Items
@The Land of NOD: [encounter] "Mu-Pan - Encounter XVII"
@1d8: [Online Gaming Tool] "Fantasy Business Name Generator" [via Gothridge Manor which expands on two sample names here]
@1d8: [New Monster] Cadaver Dog.
@Ancient Vaults & Eldritch Secrets: [New Magic Item] Cage Arrows.
@Ancient Vaults & Eldritch Secrets: [New Magic Item] Elixir of Halfheartedness.
@Ancient Vaults & Eldritch Secrets: [New Spell] Rain of Birds.
@Blog on the Borderlands: [New Magic Item] Sandals of the Four Winds.
@Sea of Stars: [New Magic Items] Aphodite’s Anklet, Bellona’s Horn and Sword, and Cloacina’s Amulet.