More goodies.
@Daily Science Fiction: "Like Origami in Water" by Damien Walters Grintalis.
Johnny is angry again. I hate this part, but I won't try to stop him. I would feel the same way, too. "It's not fair," he yells, spit flying out of the corners of his mouth. "And it's not right. Why can't they figure out what this is? Why can't they fix it?"@Fantasy Magazine: "The Invisibles" by Charles de Lint.
"Here’s what you do, Jerry says. You get one of those little pipe tobacco tins and you put stuff in it. Important stuff. A fingernail. Some hair. A scab. Some dirt from a special place."@GigaNotoSaurus: "Sauerkraut Station" by Ferrett Steinmetz.
“The sauerkraut is what makes us special,” Lizzie explained as she opened up the plastic door to show Themba the hydroponic units. She scooped a pale green head of cabbage from the moist sand and placed it gently into Themba’s cupped hands.@Lightspeed: "How Maartje and Uppinder Terraformed Mars (Marsmen Trad.)" by Lisa Nohealani Morton.
"As her breath hissed out it thickened and spread and wrapped around the planet. Before long it was pushing everything down; my mother’s breath became the atmosphere of Mars."@Ray Gun Revival: "Catastrophe Baker and the Fall of the House of Usher" by Mike Resnick.
"Every now and then I hear some highbrow talking about the fall of the House of Usher as if it was some fiction story. Well, take it from me, Catastrophe Baker, it’s all perfectly true. I ought to know, because I was there when it fell"@Strange Horizons: "Particle Theory" by Edward Bryant.
"If you're right," she said, "it could be the most fantastic event a scientist could observe and record." Her eyes refocused and met mine. "Or it might be the most frightening; a final horror."@Wily Writers: "I’m My Own Kryptonite" by Donald Jacob Uitvlugt.
"Kenley Williams’s alter ego is killing him. Literally. Is a painful life in the hospital worth everything he goes through as a superhero? Does he have to sacrifice love along with everything else? Excerpt: His eyes close. He can sense them, their lives a shout in the Flow of all things. Fear, anger, greed."Now Posted: Abyss & Apex - Issue 40: 4th Quarter 2011
"The Old Factory Award" by Grey Freeman.
"The Old Factory stands forgotten upon a small and narrow road folded between a street filled with shops, cafes and bakeries and another beaded with pubs, clubs and wine bars.""Keeping Tabs" by Kenneth Schneyer.
"I was so excited when I could finally buy a Tab. They cost so much, you know, but I saved up for maybe six months. I waitressed at Antonio’s in the North End, and let me tell you, it’s murder on the feet. Those trays are heavy, too, and Nico screams at everybody the whole shift, not to mention the way you smell after six hours. But the customers tip really well, and I was able to save up enough money, even after paying rent and stuff.""Silvergrass Mirror" by Amanda M. Hayes.
"Dozens of stalks of stonespear thrust up through the swamp waters, some of them as big around as Eisle’s fist; she hadn’t seen such a patch in years. She had a hatchet. She had a water-bag to keep the pith moist. She loved the harvest of a rare component as much as its discovery, and the money as much as either.""Random Fire" by Van Aaron Hughes.
"I never kept a journal. I made day-to-day notes on my research, but a file for personal thoughts always struck me as vanity. Today, however, a little vanity is appropriate. Someday, people will wonder what went through my head at this moment.""Hungry" by Ryan J. Southworth
"The royal carriage clattered and shook. It seemed to bounce from one rock to the next, intent on ignoring the road in favor of its largest obstacles, and with every jolt the old woman’s bones rattled in time to the creaking wood and glass. She found herself wondering –several times–whether the driver was going blind. Or whether perhaps he was taking vengeance for some accidental wrong she’d done him."Now Posted: Crossed Genres - Issue 35 – Dark Comedy
"Jezebel's Blouse" by Timothy T. Murphy.
"Sixteen hundred and thirty-two years ago, the assembled gods of the world abandoned humanity, leaving us to our self-determined fates, the bastards. I can’t say as I blame them, really.""Jason's Shoes" by Richard Bist.
"At first it was kinda funny, ya’ know? He’d come in and pull his shoes off and after a few minutes this smell would just overwhelm you.""The Execution of Zacharius Grubb" by Bethan Claire Price.
"As it turned out, being hanged was only the second most unpleasant thing to happen to me on the worst day of my arduous existence.""Chasing Persephone" by Natalie Stachowski.
She threw a horseshoe. The latest projectile almost sent him backwards over the railing as he evaded it. His eyes flashed a bright yellow color as he regained his footing. “Give it up! Just invite me in already!”"Worse Than a Devil" ..by Sarina Dorie
"When my best friend, Mandy, offered to set me up with a hot, handsome man, I had no idea he would also have horns and hooves."Now Posted: Expanded Horizons - Issue 31 (Sep 2011)
"Kuda Kepang" by Fadzlishah Johanabas.
"Malik watched his bride as she cheered at the Kuda Kepang troupe performing in honor of their wedding. Nine men astride legless horse puppets woven from nipah palm leaves danced in choreographed silat martial art movements, with his brother Hassan leading them on a black-painted stallion. A middle-aged man, the Kuda Kepang master, stood beside four seated men playing gongs and percussions and snapped his leather whip.""Blue Dahlia" by Larisa Walk.
"After six years of therapy, Melissa’s voice still calls me from the lake. My shrink’s three hundred and twelve cream-colored business cards sit on my desk. One card for each appointment that failed to stop me from hearing my lover’s whispers in the patter of rain on dead leaves, in the footsteps on a flagstone path, in terror-soaked dreams. I can’t tell what she is saying, but I know the voice is hers.""Unfit to Eat" by Tyus Barnwell.
"When I was still a juvenile an old man made the long climb from the village to our mountainside home. A boy walked at his side to aid him. I remember studying the elder carefully as he stood in the arched entry to our cavern casting a stocky shadow. From what I could see past my mother’s broad body, the man looked filthy and tired, leaning on the boy and his walking stick as though he had a boulder strapped to his back."Now Posted: Redstone Science Fiction #18 - November 2011
"Passive Resistance" by David Tallerman.
"Alec turned just in time to see Ennis begin to fall, to feel wetness spray across his face. Ennis, his bodyguard, his friend, wavered for an instant – then collapsed backward, emptying a flower of red over the steps behind him.""On the Sabbath Day Be Ye Cleansed" by Amanda C. Davis.
"We knelt, arching our faces to the temple like flowers strain toward the sun. We remembered the week, the loves gained and friends won. Those lost. Our conflicts. Our sins. We remembered."Serial Fiction
@Author's Site: "The Journals of Doctor Mormeck’s Avatar–Entry #18" by Jeff VanderMeer.
"You can lose yourself in certain types of spaces, at a certain time. I discover this every day as I pass further into the East. In becoming a shadow, in needing to hide, to avoid, to make myself invisible, I have begun to experience the strange sensation of no longer existing, of floating, even though most days I am an enormous komodo dragon."@Kat and Mouse: "Into The Woods - Part Six" by Abner Senires.
"Outside, standing two meters away, the aerodyne looked even worse than before. The RPG had taken out the rear left thrusterpod and part of the rear fuselage. Burned and twisted metal still smoked and what paint scheme there was on the main body had been scraped off, as if by some monster talons, exposing bare metal beneath."Audio
@Dunesteef: "Silk For Moisture, Mud For Shine" by Amanda C. Davis.
"A Silkie Wrap. All the beautiful people are getting them. After you’ve had yours, you’ll feel like a butterfly emerging from its cocoon. Hopefully, you can afford the price."@Fantasy Magazine: "The Invisibles" by Charles de Lint, read by by Stefan Rudnicki.
@Librivox: "The World Set Free" by H. G. Wells, read by Jules Hawryluk and William Tomcho.
Radioactive decay is a major theme in the novel The World Set Free, published in 1914. Wells explores what might happen if the rate of decay could be sped up. The book may have encouraged scientists to explore theories of nuclear chain reaction.@Lightspeed: "How Maartje and Uppinder Terraformed Mars (Marsmen Trad.)" by Lisa Nohealani Morton, read by Claire Bloom.
@PodCastle: "Still Small Voice" by Ben Burgis, read by David Rees-Thomas.
A few patrons looked up at the sound of the door opening and closing, then turned back to their business when they saw no one there. Under his cloak, Jack luxuriated in the artificial cool of the café.@Wily Writers: "I’m My Own Kryptonite" by Donald Jacob Uitvlugt.
Serial Audio
@Beam Me Up: "The Things - Part 2" by Peter Watts.
"the creature comes to realize the horror of just the type of beings he is dealing with. Horrifying creations that violently react when faced with anything that changes. Creatures that never change, born and die with the same shape and can not imagine anything different."@Beware the Hairy Mango: "The Careerist’s Guide to the Sea, Part 1" by Matthew Sanborn Smith.
