Fiction Fiction Every Where, Nor Any Cent To Pay.

Another cherry-picked collection of free speculative fiction, old and new, for your enjoyment. (Including one swiped from Regan Wolfrom, Huzzah!)  And in the other genres section) there's a very interesting, complete series of interviews at Slate "in which Tim Wu talks to a contemporary science fiction writer about whether we’re living in the future." 

  And as you may have noticed, there have been a few changes to QD as improvements and de-uglification are slowly getting underway. Currently there is a cool video of Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield covering Bowie's classic "Space Oddity" on the ISS (be sure to make it full screen and up the resolution of you have a decent connection). Videos will change fairly frequently, often without warning. And be sure to visit BestScienceFictionStories (An awesome site with an awesome webmaster) and chime in on what you'd like to see from that great resource.   More to come.

[Art from "The Horses Under Her Skin" linked below]

Fiction
• At HighLobrow: "The Clockwork Man - Part 13" by E.V. Odle. Science Fiction. (1923).
     “There was a man,” continued the Curate, in ancient-mariner-like tones, “at the Templars’ Hall. I thought he was the conjurer, but he wasn’t — at least, I don’t think so. He did things — impossible things —”

• At Nightmare Magazine: "Shiva, Open Your Eye" by Laird Barron. Horror.
      "The human condition can be summed up in a drop of blood. Show me a teaspoon of blood and I will reveal to thee the ineffable nature of the cosmos, naked and squirming. Squirming. Funny how the truth always seems to do that when you shine a light on it."

• At Weird Fiction Review: "Caterpillars" by E.F. Benson. (1912).
      "There is therefore no longer any reason for refraining from writing of those things which I myself saw (or imagined I saw) in a certain room and on a certain landing of the villa in question, nor from mentioning the circumstances which followed, which may or may not (according to the opinion of the reader) throw some light on or be somehow connected with this experience."

• Now Posted: Waylines Speculative Fiction and Film #3 [via SF Signal]

• "The Horses Under Her Skin" by Leena Likitalo.
     "I could sense the resentment that emanated from the hill tombs of the past kings and queens. They abhorred Slavik for using the curse he’d cast on his deathbed, for causing storms, draught, and famine upon a whim. I’d frequented the sauna to seek counsel from them too many times to count, but before a curse of this magnitude, the ancestors were powerless."
• "Word For Word" by Kate Heartfield,
     "Sam knew Madeline’s flushed cheeks and wide, starry eyes had nothing to do with him. As he walked her home, she stared past him and prattled about how funny her boss had been at dinner. About how nice he looked in that suit. About how he was so great."

Flash Fiction

• At Daily Science Fiction: "Three Wishes" by Melissa Mead 
• At 365 Tomorrows: "Patsy" by Jae Miles. Science Fiction.

E-Books
At Free eBooks Daily:

• Halfkinds Volume 1: Contact by Andrew Vu. Science Fiction.
• Wyvern by A.A. Attanasio. Adventure.
• Baby by J.K. Accinni. Science Fiction. 
• Destination Alpha Four by Dominic Green. Science Fiction.
• The Blight by Rachel Fisher. Science Fiction.
• Inside Evil by Geoffrey Wakeling. Paranormal Mystery.  
• The Cold Moon Run by L. Filion. Paranormal Romance.

At Smashwords:

• Initiation by Peter King. Science Fiction.. 82k words.
• "A History of Blade and Light" by Joseph Turkot. Fantasy.
• "Daisy and the Purple Wizurple" by Tommie Fremouw. YA Fantasy.
• "Red Wolf" by Gene Denham. Horror.
• "Memories" by Gene Denham. Horror. Ghost.
• "Blue"  by Michael Carter. Science Fiction.
• "Mars Inc." by Daniel A. Greathead. Science Fiction.
• "Primal Shift: Episode 1" by Griffin Hayes. Science Fiction. Apocalyptic.

Audio Fiction
• At The New Yorker: "The Daughters of the Moon" by Italo Calvino.
      Streaming Only. "The story takes place in a mythological New York City where Calvino’s shape-shifting narrator, Qfwfq, witnesses the decay and subsequent rejuvenation of the moon."  

• At Nightmare Magazine: "Shiva, Open Your Eye" by Laird Barron. Horror.
      Described

• At PodCastle: "Mermaid’s Hook" by Liz Argall. Fantasy.
     "She caught treasures from the ship with her sisters; dangerous, exotic objects that plummeted through the water. Metal not yet rusted; fractured glass and timbers not yet smoothed by the sea; woven filaments as delicate as jellyfish, and as treacherous. Curiosities from the world above to be dared, caught, examined and discarded."

• At StarShipSofa: Episode No 293.

"Paint by Numbers" by Dan Rabarts.
     "Another work complete. Still no reason why. Subroutines whir in the background, compiling the data, searching for meaning, for light in the darkness. What my hands do with the brush, the sponge, the paint, is a distant thing, something I merely observe. SYSTEM: STABLE"
“Better Phones” by Grant Stone.
      "The pack ran past a second later, not slowing, although Carl gave him a wave. No time to warm up. Kerry plugged his earphones in and started running, fumbling with his phone to patch in. The runners all had the same app, logging their time, relaying statistics and music over an ad-hoc network."

Other Genres

• Audio Interviews at Slate: Stranger Than Fiction - Robert J. Sawyer, Kim Stanley Robinson, Alastair Reynolds, Margaret Atwood, Cory Doctorow, and Neal Stephenson.
• Audio Non-Fiction: Two Years Before the Mast by Richard Henry Dana, Jr. .
• Fiction at the New Yorker: "Brotherly Love" by Jhumpa Lahiri.
• Flash Fiction at Author's Site: "Mulligans Wake" by Regan Wolfrom.
• Flash Fiction at Every Day Fiction: "In Flight" by Ryan Shiroma.

Elaine Cunningham, Kim Stanley Robinson, Weird Tales, and More Freeness

A bit of a quiet day, but still some great free items. New Fiction by Elaine Cunningham, Kim Stanley Robinson, and Peter Orullian. Classic P.K.D. and a trio of Weird Tales stories from the 1930s (and some art), comics, flash fiction, audio fiction, and more. [Illustration from "The Illusionist" by Elaine Cunningham]








Fiction
@Paizo.com: "The Illusionist" by Elaine Cunningham.
"Still, the school is world-renowned, and I felt one might reasonably expect a certain breadth of knowledge in its scholars. To my surprise, little is known of the Mwangi Expanse. We are all one to these northerners. When they express admiration for my gold ornaments and the thread-art on my garments, their manner suggests an expectation of jangar-skin loin clouts and necklaces of monkey bone."

@Tor.com: "The Lunatics" by Kim Stanley Robinson, from Brave New Worlds.
"They were very near the center of the moon, Jakob told them. He was the newest member of the bullpen, but already their leader." [via Free SF Reader]

@Tor.com: "The Battle of the Round" by Peter Orullian.
"Maral Praig knelt beside the bleeding soldier and examined his wounds. A sword or spear had punctured the man’s gut several times. He would die if Maral did not heal him."

Classic SF
@Munseys and Project Gutenberg: "Isle of the Undead" by Lloyd Arthur Eshbach, from Weird Tales (Oct. 1936.)
"A gripping, thrilling, uncanny tale about the frightful fate that befell a yachting party on the dreadful island of living dead men"





@BestScienceFiction: A review of, as well as a link to, "Paycheck" by Philip K. Dick (1953).
"ALL AT ONCE he was in motion. Around him smooth jets hummed. He was on
a small private rocket cruiser, moving leisurely across the afternoon sky,
between cities."

@Munseys and Project Gutenberg: "Here Lies" by H.W. Guernsey, from Weird Tales (Oct. 1937).
"An ironic little story about a practical communist who taught his friend when to take him seriously"

@Munseys and Project Gutenberg: "The Last of Mrs DeBrugh" by H. Sivia, from Weird Tales (Oct. 1937).
"Mr. DeBrugh was dead, but he still regarded his promise as a sacred duty to be carried out."







@StarShipSofa: Episode #184 featuring: [Fiction] "A Very Private Tour of A Very Public Museum"by Scott Edelman, [Poetry] "Poetry Planet" by Diane Serverson, and [Serial] "Grail-Diving in Shangrilla with the World’s Last Mime" by Ken Scholes, with narrators Jeff Lane and Josh Roseman.








@Flashes in the Dark: "Instinct" by Lori Titus.
@365 tomorrows: "Special Ops" by Roi R. Czechvala.
@Daily Science Fiction: "N is for Nevermore Nevermore Land" by Tim Pratt, Jenn Reese, Heather Shaw, and Greg van Eekhout.


Comics
@Crosseyed Cyclops: Journey Into Unknown Worlds #53 in CBR download. Sci-Fi.







@Pappy's Golden Age Comics Blogzine: "The Sorceress of Zoom" from Weird Comics #17 (1941). Fantasy/Crimefighter.

@The Comic Book Catacombs: Sheena, Queen of the Jungle in "Vengeance of the Talu Chief" from Sheena #1 (Spring 1942) Pulp Adventure.

@Atomic Kommie Comics: Cave Girl in "Ape God of Kor" from Thun'da #2. Prehistoric Adventure.


Other Coolness
[Art] Conan Images. "The Tree of Life" at Crom! and Weird Tales and paperback covers at Golden Age Comic Book Stories.

@Paleofuture: [Futurism Fail] "Picnics on Mars in the Year 2012" (1962).