Friday Free Fiction for 26th June – the end of an era

Paul Raven @ 26-06-2009

It’s Friday afternoon here in the UK, which can only mean one thing – it’s free fiction round-up time here at Futurismic!

But it should be noted that nothing is permanent in this universe – indeed, this is going to be the last ever Friday Free Fiction at Futurismic. Not because there’s any less good science fictional stuff to read on the internet – quite the opposite, in fact, as regular readers are doubtless well aware – but because it’s becoming increasingly hard for me to keep up with it all and paste it all together.

And when I can see someone else doing a far more complete job elsewhere (namely the doubtless pseudonymical Quasar Dragon over at SF Signal), I think it’s only fair to send them the kudos and the traffic they deserve. Getting back three or four hours of my working week is an added bonus, of course… ;)

So, in short: if you’ve been a loyal follower of Friday Free Fiction here at Futurismic, you should immediately subscribe to SF Signal’s RSS feed, assuming you’re not subscribed already. Their daily free fiction posts cover fantasy and horror as well as science fiction, so you can pick and choose from the best of the genre writing available on the intertubes. You’ll also get all the other SF Signal posts, which are great stuff for genre heads of every stripe, and it’ll cost you nothing at all. Makes sense, doesn’t it? So make with the clicky.

(I also recommend our regular tipsters to send future notifications to SF Signal for inclusion in their round-ups; I’m sure they’ll be just as grateful for your input as I’ve always been!)

But let’s just tie up this week’s batch before we sign off for the last time, eh?

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A big bunch from ManyBooks:

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And a load more from FeedBooks:

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Issue #90 of HUB Magazine features an extract from nerw Angry Robot-published novel Moxyland by Lauren Beukes

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Strange Horizons presents “Another End of the Empire” by Futurismic fictioneer Tim Pratt.

Tim’s also starting a free-to-read donation-supported serial novella:

Bone Shop is a serialized, donation-funded urban fantasy novella, available for anyone to read for free. New chapters will go up every Monday. The Bone Shop website is here, though there’s not a lot there at the moment. I’ll post the first chapter on June 29.

Times are tough in the Pratt household, so if you can part with a few dollars a week to help out a very talented writer in exchange for him giving away some of his work, please do so.

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Tor.com presents “The House That George Built” by Harry Turtledove

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The ongoing serialisation of Jason Stoddard’s Eternal Franchise continues with chapter 9.2

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Some dreamscape weirdness from Captain VanderMeer: “Three Dreams and a Fabrication”

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Angry Robot Books has a sample extract from Chris Roberson’s Book Of Secrets (as well as from some UrbFant zombie/detective mash-up which didn’t much appeal to me, but which might flick your switches).

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Sumit Dam chips in with “The Heroism of Colonel Pussy“

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And as mentioned above, here are those incomparably complete free fiction round-ups from SF Signal over the last week: Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and today. That’s the way the professionals do it. :)

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And that’s that, ladies and gentlemen; thank you all for reading along and sending in your tip-offs. I’ve discovered a lot of new writers and webzines through doing these round-ups, and I’m sure there’ll be more to come yet – so keeping watching your feeds! Meanwhile, it’s fiction and futurism business as usual at Futurismic from here on in.

Have a great weekend. :)


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Friday Free Fiction for 19th June

Paul Raven @ 19-06-2009

Heads up, Friday people – time for your weekly wheelbarrow of free science fiction stories from the far-flung bends and spirals of the intertubes!

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A big batch from ManyBooks this time out:

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But just the one from FeedBooks:

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HUB Magazine presents “Storm CHASER” by Craig Pirrell

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There’s only the one DVD extra from Shadow Unit, but that should be “Sufficient“. Arf!

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Chris Roberson is back in the free-fic saddle with “Annus Mirabilis”

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Still coming steady from Fort Stoddard, Eternal Franchise is up to chapter 9.1

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A R Yngve sez:

My homepage has been updated with chapter 6 of my unsold novel The Time Idiot (the ongoing serial). This is a short, funny novel about a dumb man who has gained power far beyond his ability to handle it responsibly — in this case, the power to alter history. (You can call it a metaphor, if you’re into metaphors.)

Cheers, A R!

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Via BoingBoing (and pretty much the rest of the genre sub-web) comes the word that Catherynne M Valente is posting one chapter a week from her superbly-titled YA fantasy novel, The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making

Also mentioned at BoingBoing is a similar effort by a chap called Jonathan, who says “I’ve set myself the target of putting a free short story online every week, and to keep doing just that for a year. [...] more than that, I am making these stories available under a Creative Commons Share-alike Licence, hoping that others will take the stories to places that even I can’t imagine.” Well, good on him; go take a look, why don’tcha?

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Once again, SF Signal have a hugely comprehensive post of free fiction for each day of the past week, so go follow those. They also pointed out that Hachette – the people behind SF publisher Orbit Books – have made The Digital Plague by Jeff Somers available to read online, albeit from a rather fiddly Flash interface that crashes my browser (64-bit Kubuntu doesn’t handle these things well, sadly).

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And last but not least, a few short pieces from the ever-reliable Sumit Dam: “The Queen Is Dead” and “Manna“.

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That should keep you out of trouble while the boss finishes off his extended Friday lunch meeting, right? Right – and don’t forget you can drop us a note with any suggestions for next week’s collection. In the mean time, have a great weekend!


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Friday Free Fiction for 12th June

Paul Raven @ 12-06-2009

It’s Friday once again, which can only mean one thing – a big bunch of free science fiction stories to read on the intertubes!

Thanks to the wonders of Fusion-Modulated Temporal Blogging Technology (better known as “pre-scheduled posting”), I’ll actually be half-way up the country from my home by the time you read this, having compiled it beforehand… so if there’s anything I’ve missed, please accept my apologies, and my assurances that it’ll be rounded up for next week’s collection. That said, there’s plenty here to keep your eyeballs busy as it is…

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Here’s a whole shed-load from FeedBooks:

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Strange Horizons presents what is surely a candidate for Longest Titled Short Story Ever: “A Journal of Certain Events of Scientific Interest from the First Survey Voyage of the Southern Waters by HMS Ocelot, As Observed by Professor Thaddeus Boswell, DPhil, MSc; or, A Lullaby” by Helen Keeble, part the first and part the second

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Subterranean Online presents a new excursion into Jack Vance’s Dying Earth: “Sylgarmo’s Proclamation” by Lucius Shepard

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Here’s the latest instalment of Jason Stoddard’s Eternal Franchise; we’re up to chapter 8.4

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Shadow Unit Season 2 continues with Episode 2.04: “Getaway“

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News from the courageous Jay Lake:

My short story “People of Leaf and Branch” is live at Fantasy magazine.

There’s also a sample from Jay’s new novel Green at Tor.com.

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Speaking of Tor.com, their latest full-sized piece of original fiction is “The City Quiet as Death” by Steven Utley and Michael Bishop

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Here’s fragment 38 of Jayme Lynn Blaschke’s Memory

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The ever-prolific Lee Gimenez writes to inform us that his story “September 12th” is up at Aphelion.

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Last but certainly not least, over at SF Signal they’re continuing their nefarious and underhand quest to make me look like the lazy mountebank I surely am by collating daily (daily!) free fiction round-ups. So go and wreak revenge on my behalf by clicking through and hopefully overloading their servers or something. That’ll show ‘em. ;)

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Oh, you want more? OK, so here’s a non-fiction bonus for you: in case you’ve not seen it already, the new edition of H+ Magazine is available to buy, read online in a fancy Flash interface or download as a free PDF. Can’t say they don’t give you options, them transhumanist types…

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And that’s your lot. Don’t forget to send smoke signals if you want to head us off at the pass with something you think we might otherwise miss in next week’s selection! But otherwise, have yourselves as good a weekend as you can.


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Friday Free Fiction for 5th June

Paul Raven @ 05-06-2009

It’s June already; does that mean we can act like it’s summer? The weather in my neck of the woods is warm enough to suggest that yes, we can – but if it’s rainy where you are, why let that stop you?

So, here’s a bunch of free science fiction stories from the intertubes to aid whatever form of relaxations suggests itself to you… but don’t forget to take a look at this month’s Futurismic fiction first – “Awakening in Six Parts” by Karen M Roberts is a surreal near-future headtrip that deserves your attention!

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Just the one from ManyBooks:

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And one from FeedBooks:

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New at Lone Star Stories:

Fiction:

Poetry:

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The last pre-hiatus issue of Byzarium is up:

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New from Clarkesworld:

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From Subterranean Online:

This week’s fiction over at the Gardner Dozois-edited issue of Subterranean Online is a novelette by none other than hisownself, Joe R. Lansdale. Check out “Hide and Horns” for some rudeness, cussing, illicit grave digging, and other assorted wholesome fun.

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Jason Stoddard’s Eternal Franchise continues with chapter 8.3

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This week’s Shadow Unit DVD Extra: “Tactics”

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COSMOS Magazine presents: “The Noise Machine” by V G Kemerer

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Free fiction from Jeff VanderMeer: “The Goat Variations Redux”

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The brilliantly-monikered Angry Robot Books are offering a free PDF sample of their new title, Moxyland by Lauren Beukes

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SF Signal are continuing their quest to make this weekly round-up redundant by posting daily round-ups through the week; maybe soon I’ll be able to regain five hours a week by quitting the Friday free fiction collections here? Also mentioned was the following:

Plots with Guns is running an all-sf issue of “crime stories set in the year 2509″ called Plots with Rayguns, featuring fiction by Kyle Minor, Fred Zackel, Jimmy Callaway, Cameron Ashley, Pinckney Benedict, Garnett Elliott, Richie Narvaez, and Kieran Shea

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And finally a couple of Friday Flash Fiction pieces for you:

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There you go – that should keep you busy for a while. Our trained operators are waiting for your tip-offs and plugs all week round, so get in touch – but in the meantime, have a great weekend!


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Friday Free Fiction for 29th may

Paul Raven @ 29-05-2009

It’s nearly June, my band played a show last night, and I’ve had a long and busy day. So I hope you’ll forgive me skipping the banter and getting straight into this week’s batch of free science fiction stories from the intertubes – onwards!

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A bunch from ManyBooks:

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And a bunch more from FeedBooks:

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Subterranean Online presents:

And also from Subterranean:

Those of you interested in a peak at the world of Kage Baker’s The Women of Nell Gwynne’s will be very interested in her novelette, “Speed, Speed the Cable” (pdf file), which explores the Gentleman’s Speculative Society, the Company Precursor that plays an important role in her new novella, as well as her next novel, Not Less Than Gods.

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Strange Horizons presents “If Wishes Were Horses” by Tiffani Angus-Bodie

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The New Yorker presents “The Slows” by Gail Hareven [via World SF News]

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Revolution SF presents “The Four Jerks of the Apocalypse” by Camille Alexa

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The latest Shadow Unit DVD Extra is “Misadventure”

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Via Futurismic’s own Tom Marcinko (who has apparently sold them a couple of stories, the saucy devil) comes the news that Circlet Press is publishing some free-to-read erotic sf/f stories on their website at the moment.

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If you’re following along with Jason Stoddard’s Eternal Franchise, we’re up to chapter 8.2

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Once again the SF Signal gang make a lazy man’s life a little easier with not one, not two but three free fiction round-up posts. There’s a smattering of extras as well

  • The Online Pulps Site presents “The Last Monster” by Gardner Fox
  • Atomjack presents “Purple” by Alissa Grosso
  • The latest issue of Allegory includes fiction by JC Tabler, Michael Andreoni, Jennifer Linnaea, Adam Armstrong, Martin Turton, RJ Astruc, Philip Roberts, AJ Brown, and Ty Drago
  • Web Fiction Guide offers free online novels, story collections, and reviews.
  • Book View Cafe presents:

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And last but not least, here’s a handful of Friday Flash Fiction:

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And that’s your lot! You know the drill about getting in touch with plugs and tip-offs for free fiction, right? Awesome – so have a good weekend!


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