Showing posts with label role playing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label role playing. Show all posts

Thursday, September 19, 2013

World War Free Fiction (Minus the World War Part)

In addition to quite a few interesting sounding e-books, there's a new online issue of the long-running science fiction magazine Aphelion, a new episode of the outstanding fantasy podcast PodCastle, and five issues of a cool gaming 'zine. Be sure to check out Ragan Wolfrom's column at SF Signal (as well as the blogroll , free fiction sites linked on the right) for more e-books and free fiction  [Art from Aphelion]







 
Fiction
Now Posted: Aphelion #177 - September 2013. Science Fiction.
• "Intelligent Drain-o" by Rick Grehan
     "A call from Uncle Mike could only mean one thing: it was time to update his insurance coverage."
• "Blue Plate Special" by Kate Thornton
      "Everything came with a price, but this bill was staggering."
• "God/head" by McCamy Taylor
     "There was only one place a couple of con artists of this caliber belonged: Congress."
• "Maggie's Farm" by Charles Ebert
      "Try looking through a peephole without a grapefruit. Just try it."
• "The Devil Is In This House" by Peter Cushnie
     "What could terrify a nun?"
• "Shirasawa's Rage" by Jay Hill
      "The path toward the light may lead through the dark first."
• "The Lighthouse" by David Ames
      "It was there--always present, bearing over him, calling relentlessly to... the teeth in the dark?"
• "Asteroid" by E.S. Strout
    "A classic-style story about about a rock in space that was supposed to hold no surprises."
• "When Angels Dare to Weep" by Barney E. Abrams
      "Ulira is a Weeper. Her one function is to cry tears that have the power to heal her Serpentine masters. When she runs out of tears, she will turn to stone. It has always been that way for her kind. However, things are about to change in Paradise."
Poetry 
At Aphelion:
Audio Fiction
• At PodCastle: "Nor the Moonlight" by Andrew Penn Romine, read by Cheyenne Wright. Fantasy.
     "The robber had burst into my café waving his knife, surprising me as I locked up for the night. But he’d made the error of assuming I was just another veteran of the Great War, wrapped in a fisherman’s net of scars. He didn’t know I’d already died once before, that I had been raised from the charnel fields of Compiègne gifted with the heart of a bull and the sinewy limbs of dead men."

Gaming
• At Wicked North Games: D6 Magazine 1-5.
    Fanzine of the OpenD6 gaming mechanic. Definitely worth a look as they're downloadable PDFs, with no hoops to jump through.

E-Books
• At Amazon: Rippler (The Ripple Trilogy-1) by Cidney Swanson. Paranormal. [via Pixel-of-Ink]
At Free eBooks Daily:
At Amazon: [via Freebook Sifter]
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Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Searching the World for Free Fiction

Yes, it's even more great free fiction!  There a ton of free e-books at Amazon and Smashwords, and there's the start of a new serial at Pathfinder.   There's an interesting newish Romanian horror magazine that has some stories in English [found via Ty Schwamberger's website.]  And there's two good gaming ezines at RPG now (which unfortunately requires a free registration and downloads lead to e-mail ads)














Fiction
• At Pathfinder: "The Fencing Master - Chapter One: The First Duel" by Dave Gross. Fantasy. RPG.
     "Within the crowd stood a circle of eight swordsmen, all but one pressing kerchiefs to fresh wounds. The uninjured man appeared three decades older than the others, a swatch of gray at either brow. The fencing master was of a height with me, placing him a few inches above the younger men. Unlike his curious pupils, he did not turn at my arrival. His gaze was locked upon the duelists inside the ring."

At Revista de Suspans: [Horror, Thriller, Dark Fantasy]
• "The Archangel " by Paul Tudor.
     "The assumption of double suicide was ruled out after the policemen didn’t find any knife into the railcar or the luggage. And to think that – after stabbing his/her partner and then thrusted the dagger into his/her heart – the perpetrator (he?she?) had the power to throw the white weapon into the bushes (with what purpose?) would be – we have to admit – a far-fetched supposition."

• "One Brew Too Many" by Ty Schwamberger.
     "Luckily, the car was old and didn’t have any airbags. If the car would have been equipped with them, Linda was sure with the pounding jolt she had now taken both times now, it would have been hard enough that they would have activated and probably blown up so big and fast, it would have crushed her tiny face."

• "To Virgin Mary, With Love" by Răzvan Țuculescu. 
      "The hill, like a fur cap plaited from the tendons of a giant, murmured in protest through the whispered thrill of the wind towards the one who plagued him with the burden of the hollow trees, ever so bent from the passage of time to its own soil."

• "Chester" by Benjamin Kane Ethridge.
     "These days he slept under the elders sleep place, his big brown eyes gluing over. Fogginess meant that the world was pulling away; all important things had past already, the great days of strutting down the street gone."
• At Tor.com: "Business As Usual" by David Barnett.
     "Spring, 1890, and England needs a hero. Gideon Smith is yet to step up to the role as public protector of the Empire, but in the background and the shadows, Mr Walsingham pulls strings to keep the often outlandish threats to Britain and her interests at bay. It is a role that lies heavy on his shoulders, and here we find him composing his end-of-year report to Queen Victoria."

E-Books
• At Amazon: "Born" by Tara Brown. Dystopian. [via Pixel-of-Ink]
At Smashwords:
At Amazon: [via Freebook Sifter]

Role Playing
At DriveThruRPG:
Now Posted: Star Frontiersman #21
     Very well made Star Frontiers fanzine featuring encounters, adventures, background, and even fiction.  For Star Frontiers, but much is adaptable to other science fiction RPGs.









Now Posted: Pathways #30.
   Fantasy RPG 'zine focusing on Pathfinder.

  • "Many Angled Creature Template" by Steven D. Russell 
  • "Erivar Harmelk" by Creighton Broadhurst
  • "Additional Racial Traits: Jotunnar" by Steven D. Russell
  • "Longbridge at a Glance" by Creighton Broadhurst
  • "Technology in Tabletop Games" by Liz Winters.
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Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Free Fiction in the Evening, All Is Well

It's . . . Monty Python’s Flying Circus another roundup of free e-books, comics, and a cool gaming 'zine.











E-Books
• At Amazon: VRIN by J. Michael Hileman. Science Fiction. [via Pixel-of-Ink]

At Free eBooks Daily:
At Amazon: [via Freebook Sifter]
At Smashwords:

Comics
Gaming
• Now Posted at DriveThruRPG: Star Frontiersman #20.
   The latest issue of this professional looking, Star Frontiers fanzine.
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Sunday, August 4, 2013

Quiet Weekend Freebies

Closing out the weekend with a few good speculative fiction freebies.  Back Monday with much more (I hope)




Fiction
• At The WiFiles: "Maternal" By David Massengill. Weird. Horror.
     "Talia usually saw the pregnant woman walking along the beach where the government workers had piled all the bodies. But today the young woman was coming out of Islanders Market with a bag of groceries in one hand. She had sky-blue eyes and wavy black hair that nearly reached her waist."

Flash Fiction

E-Books
At Free eBooks Daily:

Audio Fiction
• At LibriVox: "The City in the Sea" and "Tamerlane" by Edgar Allan Poe in Short Poetry Collection 122. Dark Fantasy.
     "LO! Death has reared himself a throne / In a strange city lying alone / Far down within the dim West, / Where the good and the bad and the worst and the best"

•At Radio Drama Revival: Alice in Wonderland by Lewiss Carroll. Children's Fantasy.
     "This week we follow the adventures of Alice in Wonderland, a full cast Voices in the Wind production which features a new original song, “My Garden Back at Home”. Georgia Lee Schultz stars as Alice; Barbara Rosenblat is featured as the Queen. Sibby Wieland from Sound Stages Radio and Noir Dame Productions guest hosts."

RPG eZine
• At DriveThruRPG: Pathways #29 - Pathfinder Compatible.
     "a free 'zine packed with plenty of Open Gaming Content for you to take to the table."


Other Genres
• Audio at Selected Shorts: "Love and Cake"
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Thursday, July 18, 2013

But I Would Walk Five Hundred Miles For Free Fiction.

A few more good reading items for you, with several e-books (including two swiped from SF Signal, one each from John DeNardo and Regan Wolfrom, Bwa-ha-ha). And a cool free gaming 'zine for Star Frontiers (easily adaptable to any RPG if you go old-school and use the "best guess" method).








E-Books
• At Amazon:  The White Tree (The Cycle of Arawn) by Edward W. Robertson [via SF Signal]
• At Amazon: Sandman #1 by Neil Gaiman, illustrated by Sam Kieth. Fantasy [via SF Signal]
At Free eBooks Daily:

Gaming E-Zine
• Now Posted: Frontier-Explorer- Issue #5.
A free PDF gaming magazine with articles for Star Frontiers
The issue content (articles) are:

  • A Vrusk Life In Song
  • Ice Cave Wolves of Alcazzar
  • Creating Plot Hook Laden Backgrounds
  • Backgrounds – Rooting Player Characters in the Setting
  • Crafting Personal RPG Quests
  • Financing A Frontier Freighter
  • The Yazirian Warrior Bard
  • The Assault Scout
  • The Albatross
  • Going for the Head
  • Oni-Senada Corporation
  • A Blast from the Past
  • Riddle Me This, Puzzle Me That
  • Dealing with Power Creep
  • To Live And Die In StarLight
  • Grymz Guide Comic #5
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Saturday, July 13, 2013

Two Good, Free Role Playing Game E-zines

Two cool free role-playing 'zines for download in PDF format.  For "old school" gamers, there's the latest issue of Footprints (compatible with early Dungeons and Dragons editions and retro-clones). For Pathfinder (and D&D 3-3.5 editions) players there's the latest issue of Pathways. [Note: DriveThruRPG does require a free signup, with possible gaming related spam.]




At Dragonsfoot: Footprints #19  0-1st edition D&D (AD&D)
      "After the demon was driven off and the danger passed, Holcomb realized what had transpired; he cast a spell to locate the Librum arcanis, and discovered it was being taken to the Shrieking Hollow. Holcomb is unable to go after it himself, as the demon may return at any time, so he is turning to adventurers to help him retrieve the book."
  • Field Notes from Davendowns (article) 
  • Kung Fu Monk (class) 
  • Magic Items for Assassins and Other Dirty Fighters (article) 
  • King Rat (monster) 
  • Create Food and Drink (recipes) 
  • Troubadour (class) 
  • Into the Shrieking Hollow (adventure) 
  • Ecology of the Cave Blinder (article) 
  • Thorks (adventure)

At DriveThruRPG: Pathways #28 (Pathfinder).
"Lostling Creature Template" by Steven D. Russell.
     "Beware the lostling spider, as he may pounce upon you unaware!"
"Thornhill at a Glance!" by Creighton Broadhurst
     "Visit the village of Thornhill and see the sites! Also includes Yorn the Mercenary."
"Introduction to Questhaven" by Steven D. Russell
      "Overdales, over hills, and almost outside your front door is Questhaven."
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Sunday, June 2, 2013

Four Free 'Zines

Four outstanding free magazines (two fiction, two gaming) available for download and/or online reading.

 [art from all four 'zines)




Fiction
Now Posted: Clarkesworld Issue 81, June 2013. Speculative Fiction
• "The Urashima Effect" by E. Lily Yu
     "Leo Aoki awoke with a shudder in the cold green bubble of the ship, nauseated and convinced that he was suffocating. He shoved his way out of the sleep spindle, found his balance, ran his hands through his sweaty hair, checked his bones: all unbroken. Well, then. There was a snaking black tube cuffed to the wall, its other end pointing into the black vacuum of space."
"• This is Why We Jump" by Jacob Clifton. 
     "I can curl myself around him like an ammonite, and call him little names, and he will smile. Arms and legs getting bigger every day. A little starfish, crowding me out. It is my name for him, but only when he will be gentled can I say. It happens less and less."
• "Free-Fall" by Graham Templeton
     "Our elevator has stalled some thirty kilometers above the surface of the Earth, and my first thought is not heroic: I need to start fasting, lean up these haunches in preparation for the Donner decision trees that most likely lie ahead. There’s food for a month below the floorboards, but thirty kilometers? Looking at my three fellow passengers, hot-shot scientists all, it is distressingly easy to imagine our mini-society devolving into tribalism"
• "Mongoose" by Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear
       "Izrael Irizarry stepped through a bright-scarred airlock onto Kadath Station, lurching a little as he adjusted to station gravity. On his shoulder, Mongoose extended her neck, her barbels flaring, flicked her tongue out to taste the air, and colored a question. Another few steps, and he smelled what Mongoose smelled, the sharp stink of toves, ammoniac and bitter."
• "Dead Men Walking" by Paul J. McAuley
     "I guess this is the end. I’m in no condition to attempt the climb down, and in any case I’m running out of air. The nearest emergency shelter is only five klicks away, but it might as well be on the far side of this little moon. I’m not expecting any kind of last-minute rescue, either."
Now Posted: Mirror Dance - Summer 2013. Fantasy.
• "Behold" by James Lecky
     ""I regret to tell you, your majesty," the Doctor said to the Queen. "That the child has been born ugly."
• "On Festival Road" by Jonathan Olfert.
     "The Festival of Forbidden Arts came every seven years to Allsoulsanchor, that most diverse and liberated of cities. Aalem couldn't quite remember the last time caravans of aloof, argumentative magicians passed his family's roadhouse."
• "Old Rootling" by Trevor Shikaze. Fantasy. Flash Fiction.
• "Hagia Sophia" by Chandler Groover.
    "If you have never seen Hagia Sophia, you should find a picture of it, or else visit it in person if you ever have the chance to. It is (or was) a church turned into a mosque turned into a museum, and it is (indeed, it is) one of this world’s greatest architectural marvels"
•  "Caught in the Weave A Story of the Crow Witch" by Mike Phillips.
     "Two women hurried in through the door. Each had a lantern in one hand, a crucifix in the other. Though it was night and well past time for decent folk to have gone to their beds, they were both fully clothed, arrayed in stout, woolen dresses that swept the floor as they hurried inside the room."
• And fantasy poems by Sandi Leibowitz, Alicia Cole, Glenn Halak, and Deborah Walker 
Gaming
Now Posted: Fighting Fantazine #11
• The conclusion of an interview with Fighting Fantasy writer Paul Mason
• A new 219 reference adventure "Ascent of Darkness" by Stuart Lloyd and illustrated by Michael Wolmarans
• The "Rogues' Guide" tourist book team paying a visit to Port Blacksand
• "The Fact of Fiction" looking at the sci-fi tale Star Strider
• An introduction to the Titannnica wiki
• A round up of the rollercoaster ride that was Bloodbones going to print
• Chapter 6 of "Aelous Raven and the Wrath of the Sea-Witch"
• The regulars such as Fighting Fantasy Collector, Chronicle of Heroes, Fighting Dantasy, Omens & Auguries, Everything I Need to Know, and The Arcane Archive.
Now Posted: Footprints #18
  • The Cult of the Devourer (article)
  • A Riddle (article)
  • "The Mired Cathedral" (adventure)
  • Magic Items (article)
  • The Holy Sword (article)
  • Tribal Spellcasters revisited (article)
  • Creatures of the Tulgey Wood (article)
  • The Sorcerer (class)
  • An Unhealthy Obsession with Equipment (article)
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Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Wednesday Freebies

A little bit of everything today!






Fiction
• At Nightmare Magazine: "The Sign in the Moonlight" by David Tallerman. Horror.
     "You will have heard, no doubt, of the Bergenssen expedition—if only from the manner of its loss. For a short while, that tragedy was deemed significant and remarkable enough to adorn the covers of every major newspaper in the civilized world."

• At Tor.com: "The Hanging Game" by Helen Marshall. 
     "Sometimes a game, even a sacred game, can have far-reaching consequences. In bear country young Skye learns just how far she is willing to go to play the game properly in order carry on the traditions that came before her and will most likely continue long after she is gone."

Flash Fiction
E-Books
At Free eBooks Daily:
At Smashwords
Audio Fiction
• At LibriVox: "Jetta of the Lowlands" by Ray Cummings. Science Fiction.
     "And the depths between? Unreal landscape! Mysterious realm which now we call the bottom of the sea! Worn and rounded crags; bloated mud-plains; noisome reaches of ooze which once were the cold and dark and silent ocean floor, caked and drying in the sun. And off to the south the little fairy mountain tops of the West Indies rearing their verdured crowns aloft."

• At The Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences: "All That Glitters" by Dan Rabarts. Steampunk.
       "Agents Lachlan King and Barry Ferguson are called to an isolated mining town to investigate the disappearance of a young Chinese girl. They found the town all but abandoned, and as they descend into the realm of Ruaumoko, the Maori god of earthquakes they find an explosive situation that will test both agents and their equipment sorely."

• At Nightmare Magazine: "The Sign in the Moonlight" by David Tallerman. Horror.
     Described Above

• At StarShipSofa: "Jackie’s Boy" Part 1 by Steven Popkes. Science Fiction.
      "Michael fell in love with her the moment he saw her.The Long Bottom Boys had taken over the gate of the Saint Louis Zoo from Nature Phil’s gang. London Bob had killed in single combat, and eaten, Nature Phil. That, pretty much, constituted possession. The Keepers didn’t mind as long as it stayed off the grounds. So the Boys waited outside to harvest anyone who came out or went in."

Comics
Gaming
• At Dragonsfoot: "F3: Adventure in Skull Pass"
     "While trading had been robust, the caravans have recently come under attack in Skull Pass by humanoids and their ogre leader Roark. The word has been put out for adventurers and for a bounty on the humanoids! This adventure is suitable for a party of 2-4 level adventurers and is a continuation of the Filbar series."

• At DriveThruRPG: Pathways #24.
      "a FREE collection of Pathfinder templates, encounters, variant monster rules, alternative racial traits, and favored class bonuses? If you say no designer Steven D. Russell and artist Ian Greenlee will send a Lustful Rakshasa after you (though you might like that)!Rite Publishing brings you Pathways, a free 'zine packed with plenty of Open Game Content for you to take to the table."
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Friday, December 7, 2012

Friday Freebies Part Two - Five Ezines and More

Wow five more free e-zines, including the two flash fiction ones!  There's the always great Apex Magazine with three short stories (be sure to check out the whole magazine though, there's also non-fiction there). Plasma Frequency has its third issue up, and two new for here ezines The Dream People and Kazka Press have flash fiction up.  And mixed news, another good looking new for here ezine Dark Recesses Press has its thirteenth issue available for free PDF download, but its the final issue. There's also more great free fiction, flash fiction, ebooks, gaming items, and more.

I'll spare you most of my extra advertising whine.  It's just a bit disconcerting to find extra advertisements on QD that I didn't put there and, even worse, are of the fake link type which are more annoying than pop-ups. argh!

[art for Apex Magazine below]




Fiction
At Weirdyear: "Remembering" by Susan Dale. Weird Fiction.
       "David walked with his shadows stretched across the earth: hollow within, soul yearning, heart heavy. Yesterdays, his only companions. With padded steps, he moved onwards: silent, quick."

Now Posted: Apex Magazine Issue 43 – December 2012  (Fantasy, SF, Horror Magazine)
 "Blood from Stone” by Alethea Kontis.
       "He had no idea that I loved him. He barely acknowledged that I existed, a maid twice over, little more than a shadow in empty hallways. Trapped in unhappy marriage and prisoner in his own castle, he did not conceive that anyone loving him was even possible. The baron was a man of war, not of love."
“Labyrinth” by Mari Ness.
      "It is a true enough guess—but the doors open only after they have been marked with the fingernails and teeth of those desperate enough for water to try to claw through bronze and gold before their deaths. Some attempt to outwit us by waiting at the beginning of the maze or some other place for a time, hoping we will let down our guard, or that we, too, will grow weary with hunger and thirst."
“Relic” by Jeffrey Ford.
      "Out at the end of the world on a long spit of land like a finger poking into oblivion, nestled in a valley among the dunes, sat The Church of Saint Ifritia, constructed from twisted driftwood and the battered hulls of ships. There was one tall, arched window composed of the round bottoms of blue bottles."
Now Posted: Dark Recesses Press #13 (final issue). Horror.
  • "Post-American Princess" by Abby Goldsmith,
  • "Three Second Memory" by Anna Schwind.
  • "Borderland Fancy" by Mekenzie Larsen 
  • "Where The Wiffle Ball Went" by Geoffrey W. Cole.
  • "Club" by Drew Wilcox.
  • "Three Grams" by Jamie Lackey.
  • "Rosie’s Knife" by J. Adrian Cook.
  • "The Dead Factory" by Chris Stageman.
  • "13" by Craig Wallwork.
  • "Wood & Flesh" by Sunil Sadanand. 
Now Posted Plasma Frequency #3 (Speculative Fiction Magazine in E-Book formats)
     "Fiction by K.S. Dearsley, Sarina Dorie. Bev Elliott, Joanna Michal Hoyt, Nathaniel Katz, Tim McDaniel, Kate O'Conner, Travis Omernick, Shane D. Rhinewald, and Mark Wolf"
Flash Fiction
At Flashes in the Dark: "Secrets" by Jim Harrington. Horror.
At New Scientist: "Too good to be true" by Jouni Sarkijarvi. Science Fiction.
At New Scientist:"Go D" by Michael Rolfe. Science Fiction.
At 365 Tomorrows: "Cerebral Mechanics" by Desmond Hussey. Science Fiction.
At The Dream People: ("stylized fiction that escapes the boundaries of reality")
At Kazka Press: Holiday Speculative Fiction.
E-Books
At Smashwords:
At Free eBooks Daily:
Gaming
Other Genres
  • Flash Fiction at Spinetingler: "Harvest of Smiles" by Jason Ridler. Suspense.
  • Flash Fiction at Every Day Fiction: "Re: Camp" by D. B. Dubuisson. Suspense.
  • E-Book at Free eBooks Daily: Mr. Pettigrew by L.J. Martin. Western.
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Monday, December 3, 2012

New Myths, Resident Aliens, and More Free Fiction


Anyone would be forgiven for thinking that QuasarDragon was taking a day off after the flood of free fiction released this weekend by a hoard of amazing, generous sites. However, that is not the case. As Baron Harkonnen might say, the free fiction must flow.  And flow it will, with more good stories from a variety of sources, including two more e-zines that just "posted."


Fiction
At Electric Velocipede: "The Woods of Wistman’s Grove" by Tyson Young.
     "The sceptics will tell you that the woods of Wistman’s Grove are a myth, their howls no more a chorus of mummified voices than the wind through bare trees. Yet when travelling the roads beyond Clearbell, even the naysayers take the sinuous trail over the hills. Lest they disprove their own doubt."

At Strange Horizons: "America Thief (Part 1 of 2)" by Alter S. Reiss. Speculative Fiction.
      "Bugsy wasn't going to kill me that night, because while they thought I was crazy for thinking I could do magic, sometimes people needed me to do magic for them."

At L5R: "War of Hearts" by Nancy Sauer. Fantasy.
     "Doji Shunya drifted through the garden, stopping now and again to exchange a polite greeting and a few comments with someone he knew before moving on again.  The evening’s party was only beginning to build tempo, and he didn’t want to commit himself to a lengthy conversation before mapping out who the most useful people present were."

At The WiFiles: "Kodiak" by Walter Campbell. Speculative Fiction.
     "If it weren’t for the Kodiak brown bear, Max would have complained about his boss long ago. The bear had been hired as head receptionist for HR just two months earlier, landing him an extra large desk and an extra large chair behind normal-sized glass doors on the third floor, just off the elevator."

Now Posted New Myths #21: Speculative Fiction.
"The Desert of Trees" by Matthew Bennardo.
      "Twice in that time, she built a fire from the endless supplies of dry sticks that carpeted the ground under the snow. She began with handfuls of brown needles that flared under the sparking chert and steel, and continued to feed the little tongues of flame until spruce and pine twigs curled and crackled before her."
"The Last Listener" by Eric Cline. 
      "Hawkins was a civilian security specialist under my supervision. His head was a smooth brown oval, thanks to a barber (I'd known him before he shaved it smooth); he had a single, discrete gold hoop through his left earlobe. Yeah, I'd thought of the Tidy Bowl man."
"Foolish Wishes, Fairy Kisses" by Brent Knowles. 
      "A tin can fell over below the stairs, a flash of fur rushing into the small pile of wood stacked inside the carport. Josh smiled, seeing that Grandma still set out her offerings. The Alders loved nature; feeders of birds and squirrels and they kept the busiest gnome garden on the island. They even scattered cake crumbs and filled thimbles with apple cider."
"God's Plan for the Lunar Colony" by Nicholas Whitley.
      "Before he even put on the jetsuit, Deacon Ridenhour had had a strange presentiment about his first Inquisition. Not a prophetic moment, Heaven forbid, but something like it nevertheless. The transit from the Space Station Travail to Lunar Colony A had gone smoothly though, despite his misgivings. It was just like in training--until the final approach."
Now Posted: Residential Aliens - Dec. 2012
"They Come Back" by Amberle L. Husbands.
     "The date in the paper’s corner—December 20th, 2012, Thursday—seemed smaller than normal, if anything, as if they’d tried to slip it in under the radar."
"Zantook the Santa" by Francis W. Alexander.
     "Although something bugged him about the event, Christmas 2011 on earth had been the best ever for Zantook, the Santa. This being his third Noel, multilocating had been a breeze, and delivering presents to the human boys and girls was the greatest joy he could imagine."
"The Apprentice" by Erin M. Kinch. Fantasy.
      "Unseen to most, her gifts raced around the room, scanning the crowd, searching for any who posed a challenge. To her, the ungifted stood in shadow, while other gifteds glowed with an internal light. Most people in this wretched kingdom had no gifts at all."
"Hath No Fury" by Stoney M. Setzer.  Superhero.
       "Her husband of two years looked up at her apologetically. He was already in the process of changing into his Mole-Man costume. “I know, babe, but I just got the call from Police Headquarters"
"A Different Blessing" by Milton Davis. Zombie.
      “We’re probably not, but it’s as close as we can get,” Edward answered, distracted by his concern for Ginger.  She was failing. He doubted if she would last her next donation. They were so brave, every one of them, giving to save others despite their condition.
 Flash Fiction
Running for the Ship by Bruce Boston
1492 by Gary Every
Manic is the Dark Night by Michael Lee Johnson
Gil Dreamt About Zombies and Women by Michaelsun Knapp
Audio Fiction

At Author's Site: "The MVP Episode #8" by Scott Sigler. Science Fiction. Football.
      "Quentin and the Krakens deal with the aftermath of the Game, and start to plan for the season ahead and the future of the franchise."
At Toasted Cake: "Moonlight on the Carpet"  by David D. Levine. Speculative Fiction.
      "It was summer, a hot humid North Carolina summer, and there was nothing else to do."

Other Genres
Audio at Crime City Central: "The Naked Thread" by Monica Ferris. Crime.
Audio at PRI: Selected Shorts "Objects of Desire"
     “Counting the Ways” by Susan Perabo and “The Pony Problem” by Sloane Crosley.
Flash Fiction at Every Day Fiction: "Make That a Double" by Gloria Garfunkel.
Flash Fiction at Spinetingler: "It’s All Peanuts" by Emma Deanston. Suspense.

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Thursday, November 8, 2012

Comics, Gaming, and Science News and Viewpoints #1

A new "experimental" expansion of QuasarDragon, where comic book, gaming, and science news and viewpoints will be linked to for your consideration. Of course some may wonder why Fantasy, SF, and Horror tidbits won't generally* be covered. The simple answer is that's SF Signal territory and QD needs its own identity.
*If this section continues, exceptions may be made for links to SF Signal, the upcoming Hobbit moves, etc.

[Art from "Short People" in Gaming News and Views]




Comics News

Science Headlines

 History/Paleontology

Gaming News and View
Retro-Reviews

Gaming Freebies

Homebrew
Monsters and Traps
"The Forlorn Grey" - "The Gorger" - ""Splicesaur — Dimetrog" (Gamma World)
"Slig" (Gamma World) - "Toxodile" (Gamma World) - "Trapsmith: Bat Trap"

Spells and Items
"Exultation of Aggression" - "Keeping an Eye on You" - "Lover’s Eye"




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Tuesday, October 16, 2012

More Is Better Than Less

 A bonus links post today, with some more good free stuff.





Fiction and E-Books
At Author's Site: “Dark Rides” by Rachel Caine. Horror. [Via SF Signal]
     "There’s something deeply creepy about an unlit Ferris wheel in the dark. It looks like the skeletal remains of something large that once rolled across the earth scooping up screaming victims in its buckety jaws"
At Author's Site: "Pandora’s Box: A Spade/Paladin Conundrum" by: Kristine Kathryn Rusch. (until 23 Oct. 2012). Mystery.
      “I think we should call the bomb squad,” said Phil, the youngest, thinnest member of con security, so thin I had no idea how anyone could ever feel threatened by him. He was new.
 At Mad Scientist Journal: "Coda" by Eryk Pruitt. Science Fiction.  [Via SF Signal]
     "The specimen is Sam Tuley, chosen not just for his overzealous sex drive, penchant for alcohol and violence, and inability to make the most of a second chance, but rather because, try as he might, he will forever be damned to a hospital bed with tubes going in and out of him."

At Free eBooks Daily:

Via Pixel of Ink:
At Smashwords:

Reviewed Free SF At BestScienceFictionStory: "The Dandelion Girl" by Robert F. Young. 1961.

Flash Fiction
At Every Day Fiction: "The Flame" by Garrett Ray Harriman.
At 365  Tomorrows: "Gamberol’s Clock" by Alex Grover. Science Fiction.
At Spinetingler: "First Edition" by Warren Bull. Crime.


Comics
At Atomic Kommie Comics: "Homecoming" Science Fiction.
At Comic Book Catacombs: Jungle Jo in "Valley of the Demon Monsters" Adventure.
At Seduction of the Innocent: "Black Magic in a Slinky Gown" Horror.


Gaming
At Ancient Vaults: Item "Goat’s Cape,"  Spell "Gargantuanize," and Item "Verminstaff."
At Daddy Grognard:  "An Adventure for Every Monster - Succubus" 
At The Land of Nod: "Six Vile Vampires"
At Savage AfterWorld: "Savage Menagerie: Ankylophant" Gamma World.
 

 At QuasarDragon headquarters this morning.


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Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Big Wednesday and an Endless Loop

Quite a bit more free fiction today, including items from all currently covered categories. Among the many highlights are stories from Nightmare Magazine and Eclipse Online, new Drabblecast and StarShipSofa episodes, and much more.  If this isn't enough reading/listening/watching for you, be sure to check out SF Signal's latest free fiction post.  [I realize that linking to a post that links back here might create and endless loop that destroys the universe, but since that would mean no more political ads, I'm willing to take the chance.]  Back tomorrow with free fiction and perhaps something else.





Fiction
At The Colored Lens:  "Sisters" by Jude-Marie Green. Speculative Fiction.
     "When Sarah was not-quite-two and I was not-quite-twelve, she ran headlong off the side of a pier that jutted over the frothy waves and shattered rocks of a beach on the West Coast. Or she would have, if I had not grabbed her shirt collar in the moment between her launch into space and her inability to fly."
At Eclipse Online: “The Contrary Gardener” by Christopher Row. [Via SF Signal]
      "Kay Lynne wandered up and down the aisles of the seed library dug out beneath the county extension office. Some of the rows were marked with glowing orange off-limits fungus, warning the unwary away from spores and thistles that required special equipment to handle, which Kay Lynne didn’t have, and special permission to access, which she would never have, if her father had anything to say about it, and he did."
At Nightmare Magazine: "Frontier Death Song" by Laird Barron. Horror.
      "Night descended on Interstate-90 as I crossed over into the Badlands. Real raw weather for October. Snow dusted the asphalt and picnic tables of the deserted rest area. The scene was virginal as death."
At Paizo: "Proper Villains Chapter Two: The Gang" by Erik Scott de Bie. Fantasy.
     "They met at midnight in the Bloody Fang, a dive down in the Puddles district that catered to sailors, criminals, and the lowest of the low. The authorities of Absalom rarely made it there, and certainly not at this hour of night."
At Project Gutenberg: "The Martian" by Allen Glasser and A. Rowley Hilliard. Science Fiction.
     "The water was evaporated by the ever-shining sun until there was none left for the thirsty plants. Every year more workers died in misery." From Wonder Stories Quarterly Winter 1932.
At Project Gutenberg:  "Spacewrecked on Venus" by Neil R. Jones. Science Fiction.
     "A beam of electricity leaped from the ship. Instantly shafts of light spread from the nearest projectile to the ones on either side of it." From Wonder Stories Quarterly Winter 1932.
At Shadow Unit: “Chapter 17: Underworld” by Elizabeth Bear. Science Fiction  [Via SF Signal]
     "He hadn't yet graduated: his first known stranger murder would not be committed until January 15th, 1975. But on June 1st, 1972, he matriculated."
At The WiFiles: "Commande-In-Chief" by Greg Boxer. Speculative Fiction.
     "The West Wing bustled with frantic activity as President Kenneth Powers strode briskly through the halls, flanked on all sides by aides and advisors."


Audio
At Drabblecast: "The Last of the O-Forms" by  James Van Pelt. Sci-Fi  Strange.
     "Who knew what it might have been made from? He doubted there were any original-form cows, the o-cows, left to slaughter"
At Drama Pod: "Martian Odyssey" by Stanley G Weinbaum.
At Journey Into: Episode #48 - "Pennywhistle" by Greg van Eekhout and "The Scottish Scene" by Rish Outfield.
     "A mom seeks to save her child from a piper, and a teenages seeks to save herfriends from the curse of Macbeth."
At LibriVox:  Frankenstein (dramatic reading) by Mary Shelley. Horror. Gothic.
    "Mary Shelley's 1818 novel presents the Faustian story of a man who aspires to create life out of death, with disastrous results."
At LibriVox:  The Emerald City of Oz (version 2) by L. Frank Baum. Children's Fantasy.
At StarShipSofa: "A Time For Ravern" by Stephen Kotowych.


E-Books
At Free eBooks Daily: Shadow of Stone by Ruth Nestvold. Historical Fantasy. Temporarily free.
    "For over ten years, there has been peace in Britain after Arthur and his warriors soundly defeated the Saxons at the battle of Caer Baddon. But sometimes peace is deceptive"

At Smashwords:

Flash Fiction
At Daily Science Fiction:  "Not the Destination" by Richard E. Gropp.
At Every Day Fiction: "Father Frances and His Mechanical Bees" by Jennifer Campbell-Hicks. SF.
At Flashes in the Dark: "The Talking Dead" By Matt Demers. Horror.
At 365 Tomorrows: "Kids" by Duncan Shields. Science Fiction.
At 365 Tomorrows: "The Neodymium Accord" by Desmond Hussey. Science Fiction.
At 365 Tomorrows: "Cold War" by Bob Newbell. Science Fiction.
At Yesteryear Fiction: "The Oath" by James R Waggoner. Fantasy.


Reviewed Free Fiction
At BestScienceFictionStories.com:  "Fleurs du Mal" by J. Kathleen Cheney. Fantasy 2010.
At Variety SF: Space Platform by Murray Leinster.

Video
At Divers and Sundry:  The Student of Prague a 1913 silent film about a young man who sells his soul to the devil.
At Divers and Sundry:  Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1912)  and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1913)

At The Internet Archive: To the Stars the Hard Way. Subtitled Russian Science Fiction Film.

Comics
At Atomic Kommie Comics: Speed Carter: Spaceman in "Thing in Outer Space" SF. 1954.
At Atomic Kommie Comics: "Octopus Kings of the Lost Planet" by W Malcolm White. SF. 1951.
At The Comic Book Catacombs: Tygra in "The Beasts of Dr. Krafte" Adventure. 1947.
At The Digital Comics Museum:  Jumbo Comics #16 featuring Sheena. Adventure. 1940.
At The Digital Comics Museum: Dark Mysteries #20. Horror. 1954.
At Four-Color Shadows:  "The Living Dead" Horror. 1953.
At The Horrors of It All: "Ultimate Destiny / Unknown Presence" Horror. 1952.
At The Horrors of It All: "The Haunted Ghost / Specter's Revenge" Horror. 1951/1952.
At True Love Comics: "Romantic Souls" Ghost Story. Horror. 1953.
At True Love Comics: "Mother's Boy" Horror. 1974.

Gaming
Fighting Fantazine #9
     Including a 275 reference adventure "Return to the Icefinger Mountains"  and an Advanced Fighting Fantasy adventure: Andrew Wright's "The Hunt for the Black Whale"
At And the Sky Full of Dust: "Dynamic Lairs: Demon Boar"
At Daddy Grognard: "An Adventure for Every Monster - Manes"
At Kobold Quarterly: "Twenty Things Found in the Pockets of Your Enemies"
At The Land of Nod: "Six Wicked Witches!"
At Smithsonian Magazine: A real-world dungeon. [via Greyhawk Grognard]
Many recent monsters, magic items, and spells at Ancient Vaults and Eldritch Secrets, Blog on the Borderlands, and A Field Guide To Doomsday.


Other Genres
Audio at SFFAudio: "Moonlight" (aka "In The Moonlight") by Guy de Maupassant.
Fiction at Project Gutenberg: The Eye of Istar by William Le Queux. Historic Adventure.
Fiction at Project Gutenberg: Zoraida by William Le Queux. Historic Adventure.
Non-Fiction at Project Gutenberg: The Fairy Mythology by Thomas Keightley. Mythology.
Non-Fiction at Project Gutenberg: Mythical Monsters by Charles Gould. Mythology.
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