Two Free Magazines, Gaming Items, Noir, and More

A few free goodies to cure the mid-week blues.






Fiction
Apex Magazine Issue #22 is now free online, featuring:

"The Speaking Bone" by Kat Howard.
"The island itself was made from bones. There was a church, in another land, similarly constructed. The decayed flesh of the saints slipped from its underlying architecture, the white bones, sacred and incorruptible, incarnating the holy place."

"The Dust and the Red" by Darin Bradley.
"I was ten the first time I saw the pearl. The soil had come loose in the Sweetgrass, and to protect the family, my father dug the pearl out of its niche beneath the jamb. He had to clean it, and, since we only had one room, he had no choice but to show us."

"Rats" by Veronica Schanoes.
"What I am about to tell you is a fairy tale and so it is constantly repeating. Little Red Riding Hood is always setting off through the forest to visit her granny. Cinderella is always trying on a glass slipper. Just so, this story is constantly re-enacting itself."

And poetry:
"Quest/a>" by Jessica Wick.
"The King of Cats, the Queen of Wolves" by Mike Allen, Sonya Taaffe, and Nicole Kornher-Stace.


Theaker's Quarterly Fiction #36 is now available for free download. It publishes stories containing an "element of the fantastic. Hard sf, soft sf, fantasy, heroic fantasy, dark fantasy, humorous fantasy, slipstream, magic realism, horror and terror"

Fiction this issue is "The Photographer’s Tale" by Daniel Mills, "A Fable of Worcester" by Victor D. Infante, "Angeline of the Woods" by Dylan Fox, "Told in a Brothel on Darien" by Elaine Graham-Leigh, "The Burden of Proof" by David X. Wiggin, "Totem" by Howard Watts, "Huracan" by Matt Baxter and "'A' Story: an Animated Adventure" by Nicholas Rasche. And there are reviews as well.



BestScienceFictionStories.com reviews and links to a free online version of "The Curator" by Stuart Clark (2008).
"about a hacker that finds an unusual place inside the network."






Audio Fiction
@The Dunesteef Audio Fiction Magazine: "Tupac Shakur And The End Of The World" by Sandra McDonald.
"Where will you be when the end of the world comes? At home, able to spend the final days of your life with your loved ones? Or will you be caught far away, and spend your final days trying get back to them? And what does Tupac Shakur have to do with all of this?"

@ScottSigler.com: Tuesday Terror Episode #04: "Turnover" "a fan-generated anthology of stories based in the Siglerverse. "Turnover" is written and performed by Christiana Ellis and Tee Morris"

Flash Fiction
@Daily Science Fiction: "M is for Mall" by Tim Pratt, Jenn Reese, Heather Shaw, Greg van Eekhout.
@Flashes in the Dark: "All of the Lights" by Lori Titus.
@365 tomorrows: "For Services Rendered" by Roi R. Czechvala.

Gaming
@RPG Creatures: "Crombhalas" for nearly any fantasy RPG.

"The Crombhalas are hunter-scavenger creatures that have specialized in attacking surface-swimming prey. Their antennae are sensitive and pick up all surface disturbances, even in the unsettled waters of storm."







@Daddy Grognard: "An Adventure for Every Monster - Beetle"

"Deep in the ruins of the Caverns, all is not well. A band of dwarf and gnome miners have stumbled across a rockfall and, keen to find out what is on the other side, have broken through."






@The Land of NOD: "Monsters of Mu-Pan II" featuring more monsters from Asian mythology, Baku (Japanese), Harionago - Barbed Woman (Japanese), Kamaitachi (Japanese), and Monkey Folk (Chinese).







@DriveThruRPG: Delta Green: The Last Equation, from Arc Dream Publishing.
"The Last Equation is a complete Call of Cthulhu scenario for Delta Green."

and The Invasion of Jericho Bay (for Godlike), from Arc Dream Publishing. "In this scenario, the players take the role of Talents (Army, Navy or Marine) pulled from the cauldron of battle in Okinawa and sent through the mysterious Bubble which has engulfed a portion of the island, halting the progress of the invasion forces." [Free membership required]

Small But Cool
@Blog on the Borderlands: [New Magic Item] "Rod of Earthly Might."
@Ancient Vaults & Eldritch Secrets: [New Magic Item] "Sword of the Spider."
@Ancient Vaults & Eldritch Secrets: [New Spell] "Give Strength."
@The Land of NOD: [Encounter] "Mu-Pan - Encounter XIX."
@Big Ball of No Fun: [New Monsters] Acheri, Bicorn, Chichevache, Dwende, and Echeneis. - Mostly statless.
@Sea of Stars: [New Magic Item] Disciplina’s Bracelet.
@Underworld Kingdom: [New Monster] Elasmotherium.

Suspense/Noir
@The Online Pulps Site: "Murder's Blue Motive" by Robert Leslie Bellem, from Dan Turner-Hollywood Detective (Feb 1943).

"Dan Turner had little sympathy for the dead woman, and a lot for the girl with the pistol. This seemed the time to take the law into his own hands."

Right click to open PDF or click HERE to visit this cool site (there are far more pulp stories available there).




@The Internet Archive: Martin Kane Private Eye - Murder on Ice. An episode of a very early noir TV series in MPEG download.






@The Internet Archive: The Adventures of Ellery Queen - Death Spins a Wheel (1951). An episode of the classic detective show in MPEG download.





Online fiction @Spinetingler: "The Birthday Present" by Gary Ponzo.
"You’re here to kill me aren’t you?” Sheryl Janeck held open the front door with the demeanor of someone greeting the UPS man. She couldn’t have seen the gun, I had it tucked into the back of my jeans."


Audio Fiction @CrimeWAV. Mark Coggins'The Immortal Game - Episode Eight.
"She reached her fingers round the back of my neck and pulled my head to hers. Cushioning her lips against mine, she probed my mouth with a hot tongue that darted around like an agitated tropical fish. Her mouth tasted of fire and liquor." Earlier and future episodes here.