More

More great free fiction for you, including e-books, two poetry (fantasy and spec. fiction) ezines, online fiction and audio fiction.  [Art from Perchance to Dream (The Amazing Morse) by James Rozoff. in e-books]













Fiction
At Chilling Tales for Dark Nights: "Bob the Butcher" by Kyle Dorsey,  narrator Matt Grant.
     "The mask was different from other masks I’d seen in many ways. The texture had me curious as to what it might be made out of. To hold the mask in place, two leather straps ran along the back and connected to the sides. I placed the mask back onto the desk and continued my inspection. At the side of the desk sat a large box which was covered in dust" Audio version at same link.

• At Dark Futures: "Isolation Run"  by Tom Howard . Science Fiction.[via SF Signal]
      “Pilot Fuller,” said the distant voice from the nearby Pau Tai system, a more populated region where his company’s station relayed communications between the Cluster and galactic central. “It is fortunate you were delayed at your last port. Please remain calm. A ship is in distress in your area, and we need you to rendezvous with it and provide assistance pursuant to space directive 137.”

• At Mad Scientist Journal: "Dr. Derosa’s Resurrection: Part IV" by R.G. Summers. Science Fiction.
     "On the day that I was to break my father out of prison, I woke up to the sound of sirens in the streets below. I stumbled out of bed, rubbing my eyes and walking to the window to see what all the commotion was about. I snapped out of my groggy state when I saw what was happening in the street below."

Poetry
At Through the Gate: "Fantastical" poems.

• "Boat-husk" by Sara Norja
• "Flee to Far Shores" by Bogi Takács
• "Resh" by Rose Lemberg
• "Mountain" by Mari Ness
• "Mari Mild" by Sonya Taaffe

• Now Posted Inkscrawl #6  (21 short speculative poems)

E-Books
At Amazon:

• Perchance to Dream (The Amazing Morse) by James Rozoff. Dark Fantasy.
• True of Blood (Witch Fairy Series) by Bonnie Lamer. Paranormal. [via Pixel of Ink]

At Free eBooks Daily:

• The Blue Velvet by Kathleen Andrews Davis. Ya Time Travel.
• Disrupt by Imran Siddiq. Fantasy Romance.
• Mail From The Dead by Andrew Eyes. YA Horror. 
• Shadowbound by Kathlena L. Contreras. Fantasy.
• Dead Man's Hand by Richard Levesque. Zombies.
• The Rescue by Alana Siegel. YA Fantasy.
• Pure by Catherine Mesick YA Paranormal Romance.
• The Temporal Man by Robert Appleton. Time Travel Romance. 
• The Fivefold Prophecy by J. Aaron Flynn. Fantasy.
• The Fire Stone by L.A. Young. Fantasy and Romance.

Other Genres
• Audio at Selected Shorts: "A Thurber Festival"

Celebrating the Births . . . Linda Addison, W. W. Jacobs, and Ariosto

 Linda D. Addison (born 8 September 1952)
     Addison is an American poet and writer of horror, fantasy, and science fiction.  She has one two Bram Stoker Awards for her poetry collections. Some of her fiction and poetry is available online.










Fiction
 At Author's Site:

• "One Night At Sheri-Too-Long's Popcorn Bar"
      "Why does this always happen to me? I could go to the loneliest, faraway bar--a place on a planet outside the known universe and some unnamed genetic hybrid will find me. They always treat me like a long lost brother. They talk and talk and talk until I'm all sticky and wet with their words."

• "Excerpts from The Unabridged Traveler's Guide as UFOs in Galaxy A.G.2"
      "Maintain an acceptable holo image at all times when visiting the most interesting planet, native-named Earth, in the 'Milky Way' galaxy. Neatness and a good fitting image will gain high marks on the believability scale if inadvertently seen by Earth's sentient beings. Several varieties of images have been tested and rated in this galaxy. Certain highly stylized images have been found to invoke agitated states in members of the species."

• "After The Fire" Poem.
• "The Barn" Poem.
• "Inevitable Singularity" Poem.
• "Storm of Souls" Poem.
• "Dragon Love" Poem.

William Wymark Jacobs (8 September 1863 – 1 September 1943)
      Best known for his wonderful short story "The Monkey's Paw," Jacobs wrote several other short horror stories, including "The Toll House." His horror stories are definitely worth reading.








Fiction
At Project Gutenberg:

• "The Monkey's Paw" Horror. 1902
      "It had a spell put on it by an old fakir," said the sergeant-major, "a very holy man. He wanted to show that fate ruled people's lives, and that those who interfered with it did so to their sorrow. He put a spell on it so that three separate men could each have three wishes from it."

• "The Toll House" in Sailor's Knots. 1909.
     "It's all nonsense," said Jack Barnes. "Of course people have died in the house; people die in every house. As for the noises—wind in the chimney and rats in the wainscot are very convincing to a nervous man. Give me another cup of tea, Meagle."

• Other stories indexed here.

Audio Fiction
"The Monkey's Paw:

• At LibriVox.
• At Need Coffee:
• At Internet Archive: (MP3 direct download) OTR Nightfall.

Ludovico Ariosto (8 September 1474 – 6 July 1533)
      An Italian poet, Ariosto is best known for rhe fantastic epic Orlando Furioso (1516).  The poem takes "place against the background of the war between Charlemagne's Christian paladins and the Saracen army that is attempting to invade Europe. Ariosto has little concern for historical or geographical accuracy, and the poem wanders at will from Japan to the Hebrides, as well as including many fantastical and magical elements (such as a trip to the moon, and an array of fantastical creatures including a gigantic sea monster called the orc, and the hippogriff)" - wikipedia.  The poem, while long and sometimes difficult, was extremely important in the development of fantastic literature.

Fiction
At Project Gutenberg:
• Orlando Furioso translated by William Stewart Rose (1831)
      "No empty fiction wrought by magic lore,
  But natural was the steed the wizard pressed;
  For him a filly to griffin bore;
  Hight hippogryph. In wings and beak and crest"

Audio Fiction
At LibriVox:
• Orlando Furioso translated by John Harington (1561 - 1612)

Science and Hobbit News and a Bit More

A bit more coolness for you today.




Speculative Poetry
At Silver Blade:

• "On the Recycling Day" by Changming Yuan.
• "Expanding, Morning Mists" by Changming Yuan.
• "At an Autumn Auction" by Changming Yuan.
• "Rioting " by Changming Yuan.
• "The Plague Tree" by J. P. Wickwire.
• "Planet of the _______" by Laura Madeline Wiseman.
• "A Cautionary Note from the Time Thief " by Bruce Boston. 
• "Tinsel Rose" by Adele Gardner.

Audio Fiction
At The Fantastic Worlds of Edgar Rice Burroughs: Episode 08 - The Return of Tarzan
      "Now in North Africa in the small town of Sidi Aissa, Tarzan has come to the rescue of a pretty dancing girl, and has fought a roomful of angry Arab men."

At Relic Radio: "The Sense Of Wonder" -  X Minus One. Science Fiction. OTR.

Science News

• "'Time Reversal' Research May Open Doors to Future Tech" ScienceDaily.
• "Mysterious Gravity Waves May Explain Clear-Skies Turbulence" LiveScience.
• "What really caused the Oracle at Delphi to utter mad prophesies?" io9
• "Mars Rover Discovery Revealed" NYT.
• "Golden Spike Company Unveils Plans to Fly Commercial Crews to the Moon" Wired.
• "Saturn Moon Enceladus Eyed for Sample-Return Mission" Space.com
• "Should the UN govern the internet?" CBC
• "Fossilized raindrops hold clues to early Earth?" Times of India.

 Hobbit and Oz News

•  "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey – 13-minute TV special!"  [Video]
• "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" Review. Variety.
• "Hobbit TV spot 10 officially up" Video.
• "Sneak Peek Of Disney's "Oz The Great and Powerful"
• "Oz: The Great and Powerful Wallpapers"
• "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Wallpaper"
• "The Hobbit Movie: Will This Prequel Be as Awesome as X Men or as Terrible as The Phantom Menace"

Free Fiction Part 2: Clarkesworls and Much More.

Even more great freebies, including the latest issue of Clarkesworld Magazine, one of the best magazines available (free or not).  There's more worthwhile free fiction, including a few quite good ezines, audio fiction, old time radio, and more.Check everything out; you won't be disappointed.



[Art from Clarkesworld]








Fiction
At Aurora Wolf: "In a Dragon’s Age" by Eric J. Juneau. Fantasy.
      “Get off my lawn, ya damn kid,” the old dragon slayer said.

At L5R: "Scenes from the Empire" by Robert Denton & Yoon Ha Lee. Fantasy.
      "Few ever visited theTempleofVigil. Indeed, few even knew of the temple’s existence. Far from the settlements on theIslandofSilk, it was connected only by an unfrequented road ever-fading into tropical brush. The canopy masked it, except for its pointed pagoda, which jutted abruptly from the green landscape like a broken ship’s bow. On this night, it was nearly invisible, even to the gilding touch of the waning moon."

Now Posted:  Aoife's Kiss - Issue #43.: Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror.

"Just Another Cothoc Vys" by D. Gansen. Science Fiction.
     "He knew the enemy, even if he didn’t understand them. The Cothoc Vystrians who were trying to kill him were humans in that they had emigrated from Earth in the Great Exodus with the ancestors of everybody else who now lived in the galaxy. There were, however, subtle differences between Renfro and them."
"Broken" by Jennifer Juneau.
     "Had she left the baby in the changing room?  No, she hadn’t taken the baby shopping today.  Others began staring at her as she stood stock still.  A woman rolled her eyes in disgust.  A man gazed at her and shook his head.  That was it—it was her head.  She had forgotten her head."
"Property Values" by Wayne Carey.
     "I didn't see the necessity of my joining the entourage as it trekked through the forests of Enyo from the landing site. Robert “Bobby” Carter, owner and CEO of Carter Industries, led the way, his huge form in its cream-colored suit stomping along the path. I followed dutifully behind, wishing to be back in the yacht and out of the stifling heat"
"Forever Love" by Rone Wisten. Poem
"Rusted World" by JD DeHart. Poem.
"The Monolith" by Christina Sng. Poem.

Now Posted: Clarkesworld Magazine Issue #75, December 2012 Science Fiction and Fantasy.

"Your Final Apocalypse" by Sandra McDonald .

      "This is not a story about the end of the world, although Casual Visitor arrived here in search of such a tale approximately .03 seconds ago. (It, not him or her or they. There is no gender in this corner of the future. There is nothing physical about Casual Visitor, but I’m a different story.)"

"The Wisdom of Ants" by Thoraiya Dyer.

     "As I plunged shoulder-deep into fetid sink-silt, I had time to think, I’m not fit to take Mother’s place, before the arboreal ant’s nest I’d been reaching for dropped after me, cracking open on my upturned face."

"Sweet Subtleties" by Lisa L Hannett.

     "Javier calls me Una, though I’m not the first. There are leftovers all around his studio. Evidence of other, more perishable versions. Two white chocolate legs on a Grecian plinth in the corner, drained of their caramel filling."

 Now Posted: The Fifth Dimension - Edition 14, #4--December 2012. Fantasy and science Fiction.

"Crimes of Passion" by Daniel C. Smith.
       "Diane Greenwood. She had had it all, young, beautiful, from a good family, officially confirmed within a fine church and excelling at a reputable college. And then she pissed it away for one of them-- an Antarian no less."
"What the Dormouse Said" by Tessa Bennett.
       "Looking in the bathroom mirror, she was could see the bags under eyes, the pimples on her face, and the cracks in her chapped white lips. It was becoming harder and harder to deny the reality of her situation and the more she tried to rationalize the physical ailments away, the more acutely aware she became of just how bad it had become."
"Six Step Recovery for Hacker-Inventors" by Marilyn K. Martin.
       "I hear I'm like most of you. Hacked a Roompa and built a mobile android," began Bruce nervously. "Called mine Robby, after a Classic TV Series with a robot named Robby."

Now Posted Nightblade - Issue 22 - The Language of Flowers: Fantasy and Horror.

"Tonight, Tonight" by W.P. Johnson
      "The harmonics ring out and he winds the tuning peg down for the E string. The two notes start to shimmer and throb against one another, creating a wave of sound that fluctuates slower and slower until a single harmony is created."
"The House That Did Not Breathe" by Gwendolyn Edward and Andrew Austin     "I remember a volume I had seen once in the rare book room at my university, and how there was a locking hinge made of rusted metal, attached to the wooden, worm eaten covers, and how when the hinge was unlatched the book sprang open as if begging to be read, the folded pages of the manuscript parched and dry and written upon in black ink with illustrations of many colors and the occasional golden embellishment."
"The Garden" by Christopher DeWan.     "We shined the light through the glass. The windows looked dirty and thin. Somewhere, there was a beast outside. We thought we heard the sound of breathing but realized maybe it was our own. We didn’t see a thing." "Hieronymus" by Megan ArkenbergThe alcove is always full of papers. I leave them stacked on the floor around me, and between toasting muffins, sending maids for laundry and tallying fees for the few and increasingly shabby guests, I sit by the window with a cup of tea and a scissors and search for Hieronymus.

Now Posted:  Spaceports & Spidersilk -.Vol. 5 No. 4: Children's Fantasy and Science Fiction.

Flash Fiction and Poems
At 365 Tomorrows: "Android CG" by Alice Brook.
At The Fifth Dimension: Fantasy and Science Fiction Poems

• Beachhead by Marge Simon and Michael Fosburg
• Battle Hymn of the Robot Army by Robert Hanson
• What Martian Wouldn't by Ruth Sabath Rosenthal
• In the Arena by Bruce Boston

At Nightblade: Fantasy and Horror Poems

• The Maiden-Harp by Sara Cleto
• The Language of Flowers by Alicia Cole
• Orphean Habit by Erik Amundsen
• Glacial Raft by Carolyn Agee 
• Curse of the Reaper's Wife by Bruce Boston

Audio Fiction
At Cast of Wonders: "The Quarrel of the Monkey and the Crab" by Yei Theodora Ozaki. Fairy Tale.
      From a book called Japanese Fairy Tales (published 1908). "Long, long ago, one bright autumn day in Japan, it happened, that a pink-faced monkey and a yellow crab were playing together along the bank of a river. As they were running about, the crab found a rice-dumpling and the monkey a persimmon-seed."

At Clarkesworld: "Your Final Apocalypse" by Sandra McDonald
     Described above..

At Decoder Ring Theater: The Red Panda in "Last Flight of the Valkyrie" Adventure. Superhero. 
      "These days even the arrival of old friends almost always seems to mean trouble. They never seem to show up without news of some new doomsday menace, hurtling through the sky at terrible speed. Will the Red Panda and the Flying Squirrel catch The Last Flight of the Valkyrie?"

At LibriVox: "Brood of the Dark Moon" by Charles W. Diffin. Science Fiction.
      "Once more Chet, Walt and Diane are united in a wild ride to the Dark Moon—but this time they go as prisoners of their deadly enemy Schwartzmann."  [The audio version of the first story "Dark Moon" is here]

Old Time Radio

• At Journey Into: "The Black Door" - Suspense.
• At OTR PlotSpot: "The Snowman Killing" - Fear on 4 (1988). Horror.
• At OTR PlotSpot: "The Black Room" - CBS Radio Mystery Theater (1974).
• At Relic Radio: "Fever" - The Hermits Cave. Horror.
• At Relic Radio: "The Planet Zevius" by The Mysterious Traveler. (1951) Sci-Fi.

Other Genres

• Fiction at The New Yorker: "Literally" by Antonya Nelson.
• Flash Fiction at Every Day Fiction: "A Geronimo Autumn" by Ruth Schiffmann.

Saturday Freebies

 We have quite a bit of free reading for a Saturday morning.  There's a new issue of the wonderful fantasy poetry magazine Goblin Fruit (illustrated to the left) and a new issue of the long-running Science Fiction magazine Aphelion (there's much more there than just the linked stories). There are some good sounding E-Books (hurry as the ones not at Smashwords are often only free for a very limited time).  Two great audio SF stories, the always great Escape Pod has a new episode and LibriVox has a story by the classic SF writer Poul Anderson.  And, as if that wasn't enough, there are a few flash and pulp fiction stories.  And to keep up ny evil plot to work SF Signal to death, there will almost certainly be more posts this weekend.  


Magazines
Now Posted: Goblin Fruit Autumn 2012 featuring fantasy poetry.

• "The Vigil" by Mike Allen.
• "Blueshift" by Sonya Taaffe.
• "A body that is bold to come" by Rose Lemberg.
• "Stone" by Kelly Rose Pflug-Back.
• "Feral" by Ruth Jenkins.
• "In the Sun-Sweet Desert" by Alex Dally MacFarlane.
• "lisa" by Brock Marie Moore.
• "Vigor Mortis" by C. W. Johnson.
• "The Last Wife" by Jennifer Crow.
• "Cardiomythology" by Virginia M. Mohlere.
• "Kingdom" by Rachel Dacus.

 Now Posted: Aphelion #167 Featuring Science Fiction including

• "Obscured by Madness" by Gary W. Feather.
• "From the Depth" by Sam Best.
• "The Crystal Ghost" by Matt Spencer.
• "Living the Lie " by J. I. Charles.
• "Lord of Snakes" by John Rovito.
• "Microwave" by P. C. Van Slyke.
• "In Shadows I'm Gone" by Evan Davies.
• "Indigo Puree" by Connley (Lee) Landers.
• "Sleeping Dogs Lie" by I. Verse.

E-Books
Via Pixel of Ink:  The Girls From Alcyone by Cary Caffrey. Science Fiction.
At Amazon: Alien Hunter, Star Trooper by David Scholes. Science Fiction.
At Smashwords:

• "The Lady in the Forest" by Jeanne Olivier. Fantasy. 4k.
• "Destined To Be Damned" by David Blake. Fantasy. Horror. 1k.
• "Army of Skeletons" by W. Freedreamer Tinkanesh. Urban Fantasy. 11k.
• "The Green Loch" by W. Freedreamer Tinkanesh. Urban Fantasy. 4k.
• "Mondays with Langford" by Johnny Rivas. Horror. Humor. 2k.

Flash Fiction
At 365 Tomorrows: "The Uprising" by Bruce Meyer. Science Fiction.
At Flashes in the Dark: "Hollow" by Mike McLaren. Horror.

Audio Fiction
At Escape Pod:  "Some of Them Closer" by Marissa Lingen. Science Fiction.
      "Coming back to Earth was not the immediate shock they expected it to be for me. It was something, certainly, but I’d been catching up on the highlights of the news as it cascaded back to the ship on our relativistic return trip"
At LibriVox: "The Chapter Ends" by Poul Anderson. Science Fiction.
     "Far, far in the future the Earth is still spinning around the Sun, on the edge of the galaxy, dozing in obscurity, forgotten by it's trillions of progeny and completely irrelevant."

Other Genres 
At Online Pulps Site:  "Ace Killer" by Bruce McAlester from Sky Fighters, May, 1937 and "Harlequin's Death Mask" by Lawrence Treat from Ten Detective Aces, Feb, 1941. [Pulp/Noir]

Clarkesworld, PodCastle, and More

Quite a bit of good, free fiction from some of the better sites on the web, as well as good free audio fiction and flash fiction. Today's illustration is for the two highlighted stories stories in the latest issue of the awesome Clarkesworld magazine.












@Clarkesworld: "Conservation of Shadows" by Yoon Ha Lee.

"There is no such thing as conservation of shadows. When light destroys shadows, darkness does not gain in density elsewhere. When shadows steal over earth and across the sky, darkness is not diluted."

@Clarkesworld: "The Fish of Lijiang" by Chen Qiufan, translated by Ken Liu.

"After ten years, everything here has changed. The only thing that remains the same is the color of the sky."

@Lightspeed: "Defenders" by Will McIntosh. Science Fiction.

"The silence was shocking, the sense of isolation unnerving, partly because she knew it meant the jet had penetrated the Defenders’ cloak and entered Australian airspace."

@Subterranean Press: "White Lines on a Green Field" by Catherynne M. Valente.

"Let me tell you about the year Coyote took the Devils to the State Championship. "

@Anotherealm: "The Gift of Pleasure" by Tim Myers. Speculative Fiction.
@Author's Site: "Destiny" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. (2001). Fantasy. [Up until next Monday]
@Philipine Genre Stories: "Stars" by Yvette Tan. Speculative Fiction.
@Smashwords: "The Accidental Immortal" by Trista DiGiuseppi. Fantasy.
@Free eBooks Daily [DRM]:

• "Horker's Law" by Mike Lee. Fantasy.
• "Code Name: Agent Madrid" by Lauren A. Johnson. Paranormal / Urban Fantasy.

@Pixel of Ink [Kindle]:

• "Origins" by Randolph Lalonde. Science Fiction.
• "Her Wiccan, Wiccan Ways" by Traci Hall. Fantasy. YA.

Now Posted: Quantum Muse August 2011 Edition featuring fiction

• "The Beautiful People" by Michael Peralta. Science Fiction.
• "Alien Artifacts" by Harris Tobias. Science Fiction.
• "Bijou and the Tree" by Julie Foster. Fantasy.
• "One Easy Step to Saving the World" by James Turnbull. Fantasy.

Serial Fiction
@Strange Horizons: "The Rugged Track (part 1 of 2)" by Liz Argall. Speculative Fiction.






@PodCastle: "Zauberschrift" by David D. Levine, read by Wilson Fowlie. Fantasy.

“Why have you come all this way to ask _my_ help? I am no wizard — I never even finished my apprenticeship. I am just a dyer.”

@Clarkesworld: "Conservation of Shadows" by Yoon Ha Lee, read by Kate Baker. [see above]


Serial Audio
@The Drama Pod: "The Fantastical Adventures of Percival Van Cleef Ep1" by Kate Mandalov Steampunk.

"Professor Percival Van Cleef is entering the Chelsea Royal Flower Show to uncover a Prussian plot to murder the Queen. Armed with combustibles and explosives he is ready to learn just how deadly is the art of flower arranging"

Non-Genre Audio Poetry*
"There Will Come Soft Rains" by Sara Teasdale, read by Ann Simmons. Right click to save the LibriVox MP3.

*Only because it inspired, and provided the title for, one of Ray Bradbury's more poignant SF stories.

@Daily Science Fiction: "Counting Coup" by Kat Otis.
@Daily Science Fiction: "Toad Sister" by Joanna Michal Hoyt.
@Daily Science Fiction: "Only Backwards" by Kenneth S Kao.
@Flashes in the Dark: "Instinct" by Susan Franceschina. Horror.
@Flashes in the Dark: "Five Urns" by E.J. Loera. Horror.
@Flashes in the Dark: "Around the World in 33 Days" by Trey Dowell. Horror.
@Quantum Muse: "Beside Myself" by Nathan Parshall.
@Sam's Dot: SciFaikufest Vol.9 No. 1
@Strange Horizons: [Poem] "Foxes" by Jamieson Ridenhour.
@365 tomorrows: "Cold Blooded Killers" by Patricia Stewart. Science Fiction.
@365 tomorrows: "Timing" by Duncan Shields . Science Fiction.
@365 tomorrows: "The Cutting Edge" by Waldo van der Waal . Science Fiction.
@Weirdyear: "Angel on Fire" by C. A. T. Torres V
@Yesteryear Fiction: "The Pyramid" by Dan Shelton. Fantasy.
@Linger Fiction:

• "Black Flames" by Bruce Boston. Fantasy.
• "The Widow’s Grove" by Jaelithe Ingold.
• "The Metamorphosis of Jane Doe" by Nathaniel Katz.
• "Love in Pieces" by Brenda Stokes Barron.
• "Smoke and Drum" by Shelley Ontis.

Thursday Morning Free Fiction and Comics

More cool freebies! A few e-books (DRM free), the latest online issue of Stone Telling (speculative poetry) from which this morning's illustration comes, many cool comics, the conclusion of Robert Vardeman's serial at Paizo, and the conclusion of the awesome audio-fiction story "The Lady Who Plucked Red Flowers Beneath The Queen’s Window" at StarShipSofa. Highly recommended! Based on the first two parts, it's easy to see why it won a Nebula award.










Now Posted: Stone Telling #4 "Labyrinth" Featuring speculative poetry by Meena Kandasamy, Alec Austin, Nisi Shawl, Valentina Cano, Liz Henry, C.W. Johnson, Karen Joy Fowler, Jeannelle Ferreira, Emily Jiang, Mari Ness, Amal El-Mohtar, Nandini Dhar, and Sonya Taaffe.

@Smashwords: "Rogue Hunter: Gaia #1: Into the Abyss" by Kevis Hendrickson. [via Pixel of Ink]
@Smashwords: "Rogue Hunter: Gaia #2: Intruder" by Kevis Hendrickson. [via Pixel of Ink]
@Smashwords: "Rogue Hunter: Gaia #3: Legacy" by Kevis Hendrickson. [via Pixel of Ink]
@Smashwords: Cloudburst by Ryne Douglas Pearson. Techno-Thriller. [via Pixel of Ink]

Serial Fiction
@Paizo.com: "Plow and Sword Chapter 4 of 4: Last Stands" by Robert E. Vardeman. Fantasy.

Serial Audio
@StarShipSofa: "The Lady Who Plucked Red Flowers Beneath The Queen’s Window (part 3 of 3)" by Rachel Swirsky, read by Amy H Sturgis. Fantasy.

"My story should have ended on the day I died. Instead, it began there."

Non-Fiction Podcasts
SteamPod 2.0 Episode 5: Tee Morris and Phillipa Ballentine interview. Steampunk.
@SF Signal: Episode 067: An Interview with Author and Editor Ellen Kushner







@Comic Book Catacombs: Cave Girl in "The Amazon Assassins!" (1953). Adventure.
@Diversions of the Groovy Kind: "The Magnet of Magento" from Space Adventures #5 (1968).
@Femmes Fantastique: Barbarella 2.2 Sci-Fi
@Four-Color Shadows: "The Last of the Glanamores" from Ghost Comics (1953). Horror.
@The Horrors of It All: "Dripping Terror / Out of the Deep!" (1953). Horror.
@Parishi's Vision: Mandrake the Magician in "Mystery of Singing Rocks," "The Battle of the Giantsand," "Mystery of Unknown Valley" Adventure / Fantasy.
@War: Past, Present, and Future: Great Battles of History "Shiraz" From Flash Gordon #18.

Tuesday Freebies Pt. 1

More cool freebies, from a variety of sources. More later.




Illustration from Day of the Dead below.









@Subterranean Press:"Demons, Your Body, and You" by Genevieve Valentine. YA / Urban Fantasy.

"Between sophomore and junior years was the summer my parents sent me to the urban day camp, and Katie got impregnated by the demon."

@Author's Site: "Going Native" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. Science Fiction.
@Daily Science Fiction: "Suspicious" by James Patrick Kelly.
@Electric Velocipede: "The Boy Who Could Bend and Fall" by Ken Scholes. Spec. Fiction.
@Free eBooks Daily: "Death Ray Butterfly" by Tom Lichtenberg. Spec. Fiction. [DRM]
@Free eBooks Daily: "The Day of the Dead" by Karen Chance. Urban Fantasy. [DRM]
@Free eBooks Daily: "The Smoke Dragon" by Shane Jiraiya Cummings. Fantasy. [DRM]
@Free eBooks Daily: "The Sacrifice" by Janice Daugharty. Horror. [DRM]
@L5R: "The Hinge of Destiny" by Nancy Sauer. Fantasy.
@Lightspeed: "Sweet Sixteen" by Kat Howard. Science Fiction.
@Mindflights: "I Am Your Son That Was" by Eric Ortlund. Fantasy.
@Smashwords: "Frank" by Tony Healey. Science Fiction. [via SF Signal*]
@Strange Horizons: "Bleaker Collegiate Presents an All-Female Production of Waiting for Godot" by Claire Humphrey. Speculative Fiction.

Now Posted Goblin Fruit (Summer 2011).

Featuring fantasy poetry (many with audio readings) by Catherynne M. Valente, Liz Bourke, Shawna Lenore Kastin, Tala Eirsdottir Brock Marie Moore, Kathryn Hinds, Amanda C. Davis, Nin Harris, Seanan McGuire, Elizabeth R. McClellan, Kayleigh Ayn Bohémier, Kathryn Hinds, Rosalind Casey, Nina Pelaez, Becca de la Rosa

Serial Fiction
@L5R: "Goddesses (Part 2)" By Shawn Carman. Fantasy.

Non-Fiction
@Pixel of Ink: Comic Books 101 by Scott Tipton and Chris Ryall (Kindle only).
@Pixel of Ink: Creating Comics from Start to Finish by Buddy Scalera (Kindle only).

Audio Fiction
@Lightspeed: "Sweet Sixteen" by Kat Howard, read by Taylor Meskimen. Science Fiction.
@PodCastle: "Stereogram of the Gray Fort, in the Days of Her Glory" by Paul M. Berger, read by Graeme Dunlop and Ann Leckie. Fantasy.

Serial Audio
@Pendant Productions: "Episode 2x04 of The Line" Fantasy.

Rusty Keele's "The Race" and other Cool, Free Flash Fiction.

A good selection of free flash fiction from several genres. And be sure to check out "The Race by BestScienceFictionStories.com's Rusty Keele.










@Daily Science Fiction: "Godless" by Stephen V. Ramey.
@Daily Science Fiction: "Y is for Yellow" by Tim Pratt, Jenn Reese, Heather Shaw, and Greg van Eekhout.
@Strange Horizons: [poem] "The Curator Speaks in the Department of Dead Languages" by Megan Arkenberg.
@Every Day Fiction: "Blood Oath" by John Eric Vona. Science Fiction.
@Every Day Fiction: "Two Kinds of Sleep" by Jason Fischer. Fantasy.
@Flashes in the Dark: "Motherhood" by Lori Titus. Horror.
@Flashes in the Dark: "The Unfortunates" by Chris Castle, Horror.
@Flashes in the Dark: "Hank Mobley: Spiritual Guide" by Chris Rhatigan. Horror.
@Flashes in the Dark: "There’s a Bad Moon Rising" by Thomas Pluck. Horror.
@335 tomorrows: "Something Famous" by Samantha L. Barrett.Science Fiction.
@Weirdyear: "The Race" by Rusty Keele.
@335 tomorrows: "Good(k)night" by Jason Frank.Science Fiction.
@335 tomorrows: "Survival" by Brian T. Carter. Science Fiction.
@335 tomorrows: "Dreadnought" by Jae Miles.Science Fiction.
@Yesteryear Fiction: "Indian Summer" by Gil C. Schmidt. Fantasy.
@Yesteryear Fiction: "Super Bears" by Chris Sharp. Fantasy.
@Yesteryear Fiction: "Training Mission" by Jeff Kyle, Jr. Fantasy.
@Yesteryear Fiction: "The Dreaming Cat" by Melinda Giordano. Fantasy.
@Yesteryear Fiction: "The Mermaid" by Melinda Giordano. Fantasy.
@Eschatology: "The Things You Get Used To" by Brian M. Sammons. Horror.
@The New Flesh: "Tattered Title in a Different Time" by Josh Myers. Horror.
@The New Flesh: "Loosefish and Fastfish" by Josh Myers. Horror.
@The New Flesh: "Up and Down Like Stupid Toys" by Josh Myers. Horror.
@The New Flesh: "Devils" by Josh Myers. Horror.
@Quantum Muse: "Fans" by Michael Peralta.
@Brain Harvest: "Train Ride Out of Oakland" by Jennifer Hurley. Speculative Fiction.
@ChiZine [Poems - Dark]

• Big G & Little J by Tom Piccirilli
• Evil Soap Opera by Mark McLaughlin
• In Reluctance I Go Wandering by Kurt Newton
• The Memory of Burning Bones by Steve Vernon
• Mist and Shadows by Helen Marshall
• Nightfall by Susan A. Manchester
• The only human things by Peter Bloch-Hansen
• Zombie Bees of Winnipeg by Carolyn Clink

Mike Resnik, Five Fiction eZines, Huge Comics Lists, All Free

Looking for something good to read? Wallet and/or purse empty? Then just keep reading because in the links below should be something for all readers.

Illustration from the Dark Horse Comics link below.













Now Posted: Enchanted Conversions Volume Two, Issue Two

"It's June according to the calendar, but in the land of Enchanted Conversation, it's cold and treacherous and filled with revenge. It's the "Snow White Poetry Issue," and it's very clear that our poets have read, and were inspired by, the ancient, dark versions of 'Snow White.'" Featuring fairy tale poetry by Katrina Robinson, Sarah Stasik, Ace G. Pilkington, Julia H. West, Rachel Ayers, Candace L. Barr, Deborah Walker, Lorraine Schein, Mary Meriam, and Frances McQuillan.

Now Posted: Allegory Volume 15/42 with Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror.

"Chet McKenzie and the Moment of Truth" by Meredith Galman
"The Urn" by John Barnes
"The Possibility of Flat Sea Ghosts" by P.F. White
"Skinny Jeans of the Zombie Apocalpyse" by Nicky Drayden
"The Manipulator" by Chris Stageman
"The Underbelly" by Danielle Abramsohn
"Pearl" by Stephanie Charette
"Preying for Help" by John C. Tremblay

@Aurora Wolf:
"Fairview 619" by Rebecca Schwarz.

"The house is quiet but not empty. Maybe an hour before sunrise, it’s one of my favorite times. While the system preference is to monitor all cameras simultaneously, I prefer to run them in sequence as if on patrol."

"God-Deaf" by Cheryl Barkauskas

"Yes, daughter, the Goddess replied. Her voice shimmered soundlessly. The question was rhetorical—Erai felt the divine presence like a warmth."

Now Posted: The Gloaming Magazine Volume 2, Issue 4: Wonderland June, 2011.

"Reverie" Milo James Fowler. Science Fiction.
"A Spriggan Moon" By Laura L. Hill. Fantasy.
"The Devil's Moccasins" By Madeline Bridgen. Horror.
"Pretty Simone" By Jamie Killen. Horror.
"Summer Jumpers" By A.J. Brown. Spec. Fiction.
"We Meet Again" By J.M. Ferguson. Horror.

Now Posted: Journal of Unlikely Entomology Issue 1.

"Here you will find Arachne, weaving for her lost love; a group of school children who are among the last witnesses to a dying world; an immortal cowboy, his most unusual horse, and the scorpion he tries to befriend; a world devoid of both mosquitoes and love; a museum, slowly being devoured from within; the rise of a new kind of humanity, triggered by an earworm of a song; and a terrifying childhood nightmare, made horribly real."

"Arachne" by J. M. McDermott
"Love in the Absence of Mosquitoes" by Mari Ness
"So Speaketh the Trauma Gods" by John Medaille
"Plague of Locusts" by Sylvia Spruck Wrigley
"Museum Beetles" by Simon Kewin
"They Wait" by Steve Barber
"The Cowboy, the Horse, and the Scorpion" by Nathaniel Lee

Serial Fiction
@More Red Ink: "The 43 Antarean Dynasties (Part 3 of 3)" by Mike Resnick.

When the Antareans learned that Man's Republic wish to annex their world, they gathered their army in Zanthu and then marched out onto the battlefield, 300,000 strong. They were the cream of the planet's young warriors, gold of eye, the reticulated plates of their skin glistening in the morning sun, prepared to defend their homeworld.

@Free SF Reader: Two mega-lists of free online comics, many of which fall into genres covered here (all in flash format, but you can't have everything). These lists are Dark Horse Comics, which includes Falling Skies shown above, but requires a free account, and the even larger list of other companies. (and of course you should check out the rest of the site while there).

Fantasy and Dark Fiction and Audio, and Classic SF - All Free

Some great free fantasy and dark fiction today as three of the premiere sites (Tor, ChiZine, and Beneath Ceaseless Skies) have new stuff. Classic SF, Flash Fiction and Poetry, and some cool audio (fantasy, dark, and wuxia). And now cool Comics.

Illustration for "Shannon’s Law" by Cory Doctorow, also added since the partial posting earlier.








@Tor.com: "The Iron Shirts" by Michael F. Flynn.
"To the battles of 13th-century Ireland come new warriors...from across the Western Sea."



Also at Tor.com: "Shannon’s Law" by Cory Doctorow.
"When the Way opened again, the day I turned seventeen, I didn’t hesitate. I packed everything I could carry—every scratched phone, every half-assembled laptop, every stick of memory, and every Game Boy I could fit in a duffel bag."


@Beneath Ceaseless Skies: Issue #68 featuring fantasy fiction:
"The Finest Spectacle Anywhere" by Genevieve Valentine.
"I could hardly keep from laughing at the rubes that panicked and then applauded three times as loud as they would have if it had all been perfect. Elena and the others had Boss's copper bones—what could happen to them that couldn't be mended?"

and "Buzzard's Final Bow" by Jason S. Ridler.
"They ran through the tumbles and bumps, grips and leaps, Buzzard tossing and turning with Razor as she barely noticed, thrashing about to make it look real."

@ChiZine.com: The Chiaroscuro: Volume 47, Week 5 featuring Dark fiction.
"Dogs Want to Eat You" by Ralph Robert Moore.
"Upstairs, in the bedroom, flat on his back, paralyzed, James heard, from below, his wife’s moans, her final scream."

"Fortune" by Shira Lipkin.
"A man, shuffling and reshuffling a deck of oversized cards . . . one leg extended, one folded, a mirror of Vegas Vic above him. He was talking to himself—no, singing, with the buzz and hiss of neon drowning him out almost completely."

"The Performer" by Philip Nutman.
"None of this came as a surprise: he had suggesting remaking Cammell & Roeg’s PERFORMANCE as a joke just to piss off the suits at Warners, who’d paid him $3 million for a two picture deal after his remake of Disney’s 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA had grossed $190 M domestically."

"Dirty Money" by S. E. Ward.
"Quick-change, one hand to the next, liquid far from its source. A bill, a suck; money, money, money. Pop the cap. Drink it down. Ooze, jet, scarlet, spray. Wait for the shudder of someone else’s sight to pass."

"The Spider House Rules" by Rain Graves.
"They had a club like important boys do, and there were secret words, secret things to keep in boxes like a candle and matches, secret handshakes, and secret things to do. It was important to be secret; no girls allowed."

and "Last of His Kind" by Sandra McDonald.
"Those of you who still explore graveyards and scour old records might as well hang up your wooden stakes, or use them to mark seedlings in vegetable gardens, or burn them in fires; the vampiri are gone, finito, they no longer swoop through the sky or glide before mirrors which do not show their reflections."

Classic SF
@The Internet Archive: "The Lost Machine" by John Beynon Harris (John Wyndham), from Amazing Stories (April 1932 ) [via Marooned - Science Fiction & Fantasy books on Mars].
"Psychologists -- and others -- are greatly concerned about the effects -- possible and assured -- of machines and the machine age, on human life and endeavor. But who has ever stopped to consider the possible reactions -- or thoughts -- of the advanced machine of the future?"

@Project Gutenberg: Four Philip K Dick science fiction stories have been updated with additional e-book options.

• The Crystal Crypt
  
• Mr. Spaceship
  
• Second Variety
  
• The Variable Man
  

Serial Fiction
@Paizo.com: "Two Pieces of Tarnished Silver" by Erik Mona, Chapter Three: Beyond the Demon Lens.
"For a long moment Korm Calladan felt only a pleasant warmth. Gone were the fears of starvation, the thrill of combat in the cramped underdeck of the Queen's Lament, the suspicion of the Lady Iranez and her imposing crew."







@Dark Fiction Magazine: Issue 7: "Sacred Fire" [via Free SF Reader].
"Dark Fiction Magazine is a monthly, short fiction podcast magazine, bringing [. . .] the very best that horror, fantasy, and science-fiction has to offer."

"Xenos Beach" by Graham Joyce, read by Danny Davies.
"The Winter King" by Liz Williams, read by Kim Lakin-Smith.
"Who Slays The Gyant, Wounds The Beast" by Mark Chadbourn, read by Marty Perrett.
"Paying For Rain" by Jaine Fenn, read by Emma Newman.

@Beneath Ceaseless Skies: "The Fairy Gaol" by Heather Fawcett, from Issue #66 (Apr. 7, 2011).
"I will fashion a dagger worthy of his jeweled throat."

@Kung Fu Action Theater: Kung Fu Action Tales, Episode Four - "The Inuyama Rebellion, Part 1- The Two Samurai"
"Knowing that the declaration of independence will surely bring the deaths of her sons, the clan lord’s wife, Lady Murasaki, has secretly dispatched two of the clan’s samurai -the elder Jiro and his apprentice Masato- to Kurokawa lands in an effort to rescue the boys"







@Every Day Fiction: "His Mother's Son" by JR Hume. SF.
@Flashes in the Dark: "La Muerte" by Cynthia (cina) Pelayo.
@365 tomorrows: "The Vendetta" by Patricia Stewart.
@Weirdyear: "Snowflakes" by Ian Chung.
@Eschatology: "The Icicle" by Rick McQuiston.
@Daily Science Fiction: "Vacuum Decay" by Ramon Rozas.
@ChiZine: [Dark Poetry]

• Mississippi Twilight by Chad Hensley
• Moon Ship Sailing by Robin Mayhall
• Bluebeard by Joanne Merriam
• Comet Flyby by John Park
• Lucan in Averno by Sonya Taaffe

Classic Comics

• @The Horrors of It All: "Demon from the Deep!" (1952). Horror
• @Crosseyed Cyclops!: The Green Planet #1 (1962). SciFi. and many issues of Ghostly Tales.
• @Ditko Comics: "Stranger In The House" (1957) and "Free" (1957). Horror.
• @Fantasy-Ink: "Has-Been" (1955) SciFi.
• @Secret Sanctum of Captain Video: The adaptaion of Dr. Who and the Daleks part 1 and part 2.

Online Comic
Escape From Terra "is a continuing story set in the late 21st Century. and concerns humanity's advance both through outer space and social evolution. People living in the frontier are liberated from traditional power structures and free to develop new customs and rules as may suit them -- although the United World government on Terra (Earth) is envious of colonial success and anxious to establish its grip on human lives and wealth as far as it can." Looks interesting.