Judith Tarr Fiction, Michael Moorcock Audio, and More

It's starting to look like another great day of genre freebies. There's an SF story by Judith Tarr, another great issue of Beneath Ceaseless Skies (They are all great), and more cool stories from other sources. Added audio fiction including the conclusion of the Michael Moorcock story and two of the big "pods." And some flash fiction for you. More categories to come.



Today's illustration (so far at least) is from "The Ironroot Deception" in the serial fiction section.







@Daily Science Fiction: "Made of Cats" by Judith Tarr.

"It all started the day the aliens landed. (Doesn't it always?) We'd been getting the odd invasion--sometimes really odd--for about a hundred years by then. The ones that came up out of the ground and down from the sky and blasted people to powder and tried to marsiform the planet?"

@Beneath Ceaseless Skies:
"From the Spices of Sanandira, Pt. II" by Bradley P. Beaulieu.

"It was Jalaad, screaming into his ear. The call of the fyndrenna was so strong that a vision of Queen Rossanal’s beautiful face was all he could think of, but then a long, mournful wail filled the cool desert air, and the closeness of it allowed him to fend off the call of the spice."

"The Godslayer's Wife" by Therese Arkenberg.

"His sobs echo through the corridors of Datheiren Keep. The old stone absorbs its husky tone, the barely-voiced beginnings of words, apologies, curses; they reflect in only a sourceless, pitiable sound of misery."

@Port Iris: Issue #5 is now posted.
"The Breaking" by Loren Eaton.

"When Mistress Manyara shook me from sleep, dawn’s rays already slanted through the chinks in the orphanage’s block walls."

"Different Every Day" by Kyle McManus.

"He stood tall and proud in that dumb tomato-red suit, his golden, gleaming boots adding an extra three inches to his already impressive height."

"Intelligent Design" by Sharon K. Reamer and Rob Rowntree.

"Pierre Bragion shoved it into a higher dimensional pocket and drew a Schwarzschild-Bekenstein horizon around it. He thought he could divorce himself from his creations."

The June issue of The Edge of Propinquity is now posted with:
"Credencium - Buried" by Kaolin Fire

"Joshua, Spike, and John Doe try to do right by Phoenix, but the family's been broken. Time may heal them, but Joshua displaces his self into the city, running from it all. Still, gears are turning; his power has grown overnight, and stranger things are coming."

"Flotsam - Crusade" by Peter M. Ball.

"Keith Murphy isn't having a good time. His safe house is wrecked, his closest ally is pissed at him, and his home town is under a dark cloud of decidedly unnatural origin. Every day he wastes brings Ragnarok ever closer, and making the decisions that could stop the end of the world will end up costing Keith even more than he's already lost."

"Idolwood - Breathless" by Ivan Ewert.

"Following the failed attempt on Alex Pajari's life, the Hanged Man and Gamine regroup in their suburban hideaway, bringing comfort and reassurance to one another even as they bring desperation and pain. Alex, after a brief encounter with the police, finds Isaac Jordan in the Morgan Glen parking lot with his 'friend' Brandon. Explaining the situation as best he can, he brings Isaac away - even as Brandon encourages the younger boy to meet him in the preserve again come midnight, under the watchful eyes of the final fetch."

"The Ones Who Call - The Kohkum Knows Best" by Alina Pete

Kohkum Agnes has disappeared and the entire Sîpisis family has gathered to search for her. Meanwhile, the other residents of the valley have noticed strange lights above the lake. Is it Kohkum's doing, or is something more sinister going on?

"Seren Draig" by T. D. Edge

Arwen Jones has a secret, one that has been discovered by the government. Her power stolen by them, she has the choice to save humanity from its folly or to burn up with it. Either way, she dies—a rock and a hard place if there ever was one.

@The Absent Willow Review: The June issue is now posted.

• "Coming Home" by Steven Avila. Horror.
• "Killing Time" by Steven Avila. Sci-Fi.
• "Abiit, Excessit, Evasit, Erupit" by Cody Little. Sci-Fi.
• "The Tattoo Artist" by Christian Riley. Fantasy.
• "The Great Stellar Migration" by by D.R. Pinney Little Cassie. Sci-Fi.
• "The Stiffening" by Nicole D. Sconiers. Fantasy.
• "Cycles" by Damian Rucci. Horror.
• "Lines of Steel" by Joseph Zieja. Sci-Fi.
• "Baby Love" by Michael C. Keith. Sci-Fi.
• "The Clock That Never Stops Ticking" by Daniel DeVoto.
• "The Wind Passes Like a Fire" by Brett J. Talley. Horror.

Serial Fiction
@Paizo.com: "The Ironroot Deception Chapter Three: The Dog" by Robin D. Laws.

"The burly prisoner sees the flash of metal and releases Gad in a twitch of panic. Knuckles white on the hilt of Ethundel's dagger—stolen when he prompted Stokh to push him into the elf on the way into the excavation that morning—Gad neatly plunges it between the startled man's well-demarcated ribs. He jams it in deep. He twists, forcing Stokh to cry out in pain."

@Phillipine Genre Fiction: "The Confessional (Part 1)" by Cyan Abad-Jugo. Science Fiction.

"The President of the Republic walked in on him then, still musing over the fading traces of eye or ear or mouth, and possibly a vine just below one of the dome’s two huge cupola windows, both of which now rendered a holograph of an almost-midnight sky."

Classic SF
@Gutenberg: On the Trail of the Space Pirates by Carey Rockwell (1953).

A metallic voice rasped over the loud-speakers and echoed through the lofty marble and aluminum concourse of the New Chicago Monorail Terminal. "Atom City express on Track Seven! Space Academy first stop! Passengers for Space Academy will please take seats in the first six cars!"

@Book View Cafe: "Holiday Station" by Judith Tarr (1993), from Christmas Ghosts, ed. Mike Resnick and Martin H. Greenberg (DAW).

"If the Stationmaster hadn't got pregnant when he did... "

@Book View Cafe: "Willie" by Madeleine E. Robins, from The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (1992).

"Even a mad scientist has to take responsibility for the life he brings into the world..."

@Escape Pod: "Amaryllis" by Carrie Vaughn. Science Fiction.

"I never knew my mother, and I never understood why she did what she did. I ought to be grateful that she was crazy enough to cut out her implant so she could get pregnant. But it also meant she was crazy enough to hide the pregnancy until termination wasn’t an option, knowing the whole time that she’d never get to keep the baby. That she’d lose everything. That her household would lose everything because of her."

@Pseudopod: "I.C.U." by Tim Burke, read by Cayenne Chris Conroy.

"Sometimes Keith would wander into the visitors’ waiting room, just so he could see time passing. The window faced south and the room was filled with autumn dusk the color of dried egg yolk. The monitors beeped and the machine fixed to his father’s throat rasped."

@Beneath Ceaseless Skies: "The Nine-Tailed Cat" by Michael J. DeLuca. Fantasy.

from Issue #70 "The cat departs from the moonbeam, flicking its tails."

Serial Audio
@StarShipSofa: "The Black Petals Pt 3" by Michael Moorcock.






Fan Audio
@Pendant Productions: Issue 34 of "Catwoman: Queen of Thieves"
@Pendant Productions: Issue 65 of "Batman: The Ace of Detectives"






@DailyScienceFiction: "W is for When" by Tim Pratt, Jenn Reese, Heather Shaw, and Greg van Eekhout.
@Daily Science Fiction: "Building a Future" by Rhonda Jordan.
@Strange Horizons: [poem] "Maelbrigte's Woman" by Anne Sheldon.
@Mindflights: [poems] "Visitors"and "Astral Dream" by Marge Simon.
@Absent Willow Review:[poetry] "Pandemic" by Pam Jessen. Horror.
@Absent Willow Review:[poetry] "Nightfall" by D L Myers. Horror.
@Flash Pulp: "The Haunted House on Willoughby Road" by J.R.D. Skinner, and read by Opopanax.
@ChiZine: [poetry]

• The Temptation of Little Red Riding Hood by Amal Al-Mohtar
• Visitation by Kim Goldberg

@Every Day Fction:

"The Dark" by Phil Oddy. Horror.
"Far Past the Moon" by David Rees-Thomas. Science Fiction.
"A Gift From Over the Sea" by Jeff Chapman. Fantasy.

@Flashes in the Dark: [Horror]

"Trading Places" by Neil Leckman.
"Ghost Writer" by Lou Antonelli.
"David Brennan" by Lori Titus.

@365 tomorrows: [Science Fiction]

Hide and Seek by Steve Smith.
Abaddon by Michael Iverson.
Nose Plugs by Natalie J E Potts.

@Weirdyear:

"If Epictetus Wrote Dear Abby" by Adam Graupe.
"A Portrait in Flesh" by Michael C. Thompson.
"Missed Connections" by Patrick D. Hume.

Via Flash Fiction Friday: [Sci-Fi]

• Gravity by Susan Alice
• Field Trip by Joyce Juzwik
• To Infinity and Beyond… by Mike Williams
• First Kiss by Veronica Marie Lewis-Shaw

St Patrick's Day

A fairly quiet Thursday, but still some good stuff. See you sometime in the next couple of days.





Fiction
At The Absent Willow Review: Several new SF, Fantasy and Horror stories online.

Fiction:
"Gnawing at the Root" by Kevin Pinkham.
"Enki" by Richard Beland.
"Digital Embrace" by Joe Jablonski.
"Something to be Said for a Little Drama" by Naomi Bergner.
"Falling Upwards" by S.G. Rogers.
"All That Was Left" by Sylvia Hiven.
"Aria" by Chris Stevens.
"Letters to Chelsea" by Oscar Connell.
"Mickie’s Stars" by AJ Brown.
"The Cursed Man" by C.B. lovas.
"The Bridge" by Steven Avila.
"Pins and Needles" by Shannon Marcello.

And an interview with Michael Moorcock.


At Book View Cafe: "The Hermit and the Sidhe" by Judith Tarr.
"In which the last hermit in Ireland meets the last of the Sidhe, and gets rather more than he bargained for."

Online HERE.


At BestScienceFictionStories: a review and link to the recent SF story "In-fall" by Ted Kosmatka.
"Two men have a thought provoking discussion as their ship falls into a black hole."

The review and link are HERE.

Classic SF
At Marooned - Science Fiction & Fantasy books on Mars: "The Foreign Legion of Mars" by Frederic Arnold Kummer Jr. from Amazing Stories (May 1939).
"IT happened when I was just a youngster, holding down a trading station on Mars. I was a sergeant in the Alien Legion at the time. You remember the Legion. Scum of the cosmos, picked up in gutters throughout the Solar System, and supposed to keep the Martians in order while our traders stole the fillings out of their teeth."


In PDF download HERE.



Flash Fiction
@Daily Science Fiction: "Tuna Fish" by Andrew Kaye.
@Every Day Fiction: "The Next Ice Age" by Paul Friesen.
@Flashes in the Dark: "Help." by Jim Bronyaur.
@Flashes in the Dark:"Of Darkness and Memory"By Lori Titus.
@365 tomorrows: "Traveler" by Duncan Shields.

Video
At The Internet Archive: Fire Monsters Against the Son of Hercules (1962).

"Wandering strongman Maxxus comes upon two warring tribes, the Sun worshipers and the Moon worshipers. He saves the leader of the Sun tribe from a sea monster, then later on when the Moon tribe attacks and kidnaps the Sun tribe's women, they call upon Maxxus for help." - IMDb.


In low-res downloads HERE.


Gaming
At RPGNow: "Escape From Khosht" by Fabled Worlds.

"Everything had gone according to plan. The Eye of the Beast---a cut, polished diamond the size of a hill giant's fist rests in your hands. It is worth 200,000 gold pieces! Escape from Khosht is a solitaire adventure written by Andrew Greene, and illustrated by J. Freels for the Tunnels and Trolls game system."

In PDF Download HERE (free membership required).



Small, But Cool, Gaming Freebies
@Blog on the Borderlands: [New Monster] Demon Boar.
@Blog on the Borderlands: [New Magic Item] Ring of Darkness.
@Axe & Hammer: [Price Guide] Paying the Troops: Cavalry.
@Axe & Hammer: [Price Guide] Paying the Troops: Footmen.
@A Hamsterish Hoard of Dungeons and Dragons: [New Magic Item] Greysoul Shards.
@The Land of NOD: [Encounters] Mu-Pan - Encounter IV/V.
@Ancient Vaults & Eldritch Secrets: [New Magic Item] Conjuring Flute of Korabal.


Comics
At Savage Tales: Wulf the Barbarian #4: "Death-Night in the Darkling Forest!"

Atlas Comics' answer to Conan online HERE.


Also online are issues one, two, and three.


Noir/Suspense
At Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine: Agatha nominees "So Much in Common" by Mary Jane Maffini.
"Luck was with her that day or Willa Bennington might never have encountered Cliff and Leann Capshaw at the Towne Center Gourmet"

Online HERE.

And "The Green Cross" by Elizabeth Zelvin.
"I had never thought to be a sailor, but my father knew the admiral."

Online HERE.

Audio
@CrimeWAV: Mark Coggins - The Immortal Game - Episode Five.
@SFFAudio: "The McWilliamses And The Burglar Alarm" by Mark Twain.

Comics
@Two-Fisted Tales of True-Life Weird Romance: "Screenplay For Murder" from Crime Illustrated. #. 2.
@The Horrors of it All: "The Rose!" from Spellbound #16.
@ Pappy's Golden Age Comics Blogzine:"A Short Step to Oblivion" from Suspense Detective #1

St. Patrick's Day
In honor of the day, a short fantasy poem by the Irish poet William Butler Yeats.

"The Stolen Child"

WHERE dips the rocky highland
Of Sleuth Wood in the lake,
There lies a leafy island
Where flapping herons wake
The drowsy water rats;
There we've hid our faery vats,
Full of berrys
And of reddest stolen cherries.
Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand.

Where the wave of moonlight glosses
The dim gray sands with light,
Far off by furthest Rosses
We foot it all the night,
Weaving olden dances
Mingling hands and mingling glances
Till the moon has taken flight;
To and fro we leap
And chase the frothy bubbles,
While the world is full of troubles
And anxious in its sleep.
Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand.

Where the wandering water gushes
From the hills above Glen-Car,
In pools among the rushes
That scarce could bathe a star,
We seek for slumbering trout
And whispering in their ears
Give them unquiet dreams;
Leaning softly out
From ferns that drop their tears
Over the young streams.
Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand.

Away with us he's going,
The solemn-eyed:
He'll hear no more the lowing
Of the calves on the warm hillside
Or the kettle on the hob
Sing peace into his breast,
Or see the brown mice bob
Round and round the oatmeal chest.
For he comes, the human child,
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world's more full of weeping than he can understand.