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…

***

Here’s a whole shed-load from FeedBooks:

• “In the Orbit of Saturn” by Roman Frederick Starzl
• “Spawn of the Comet” by H Thompson Rich
• “Raiders Invisible” by Desmond Winter Hall
• “The Heads of Apex” by George Henry Weiss
• “The World Beyond” by Raymond King Cummings
• “The Einstein See-saw” by Miles John Breuer
• “Poisoned Air” by Sterner St Paul Meek

***

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

***

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

***

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

***

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

***

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.

***

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

***

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

***

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

***

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. 😉

***

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…

***

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.

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!

***

Just the one from ManyBooks:

• “Spawn of the Comet” by H Thompson Rich

***

And one from FeedBooks:

• “All Cats Are Grey” by Andre Norton

***

New at Lone Star Stories:

Fiction:

• “Parable Lost” by Jo Walton
• “Pranks” by Nina Kiriki Hoffman
• “The Parable of the Shower” by Leah Bobet

Poetry:

• “Madonna of the Cave“ by Sonya Taaffe
• “Marcy Rode a Meteor” by Samantha Henderson
• “Arsinoë’s Letter to Her Sister” by Jacqueline West

***

The last pre-hiatus issue of Byzarium is up:

• “The Fire” by Michael Fosburg
• “Death and the Miser” by Emerald B.

***

New from Clarkesworld:

• “Walking With a Ghost” by Nick Mamatas
• “The Giving Heart” by Corie Ralston

***

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.

***

Jason Stoddard‘s Eternal Franchise continues with chapter 8.3

***

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

***

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

***

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

***

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

***

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

***

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

• “A Rose at Callanish” by Gaie Sebold
• “28 Daytrips Later” by Sumit Dam

***

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!

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!

***

A bunch from ManyBooks:

• “One Out Of Ten” by J Anthony Ferlaine
• Eternity’s End by Jeffrey A Carver
• “Collector’s Item” by Robert F Young
• Jason, Son of Jason by J U Giesy
• “When I Grow Up” by Richard E Lowe
• “This is Klon Calling” by Walter J Sheldon

***

And a bunch more from FeedBooks:

• “Of Time and Texas” by William F Nolan
• “Two Plus Two Makes Crazy” by Walter J Sheldon
• “Benefactor” by George H Smith
• “Compatible” by Richard R Smith

***

Subterranean Online presents:

• “Conquistador de la Noche” by Carrie Vaughn
• “Crimes and Glory” by Paul McAuley

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.

***

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

***

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

***

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

***

The latest Shadow Unit DVD Extra is “Misadventure”

***

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.

***

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

***

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:
  • “One of Us” by Alma Alexander
  • “White Fire” by Sylvia Kelso

***

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

• “Nocebo” by Sarah Ellender
• “In Your Headlights” by Sumit Dam
• “Between the Breakers” by Neil Beynon

***

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!

It’s Friday again… and unless I’m mistaken, this is one of those weekends where folk on both sides of the pond have a Monday off. Which is reason to be cheerful – so why not celebrate by reading some free science fiction stories online, eh? C’mon, your boss is probably coasting his way to close-of-business anyway, who’s gonna notice? Step this way…

***

Here’s a bunch from ManyBooks:

• The Electronic Mind Reader by John Blaine
• The Mouthpiece of Zitu by J U Giesy
• Palos of the Dog Star Pack by J U Giesy
• “Of Time and Texas” by William F Nolan
• “Two Plus Two Makes Crazy” by Walter J Sheldon
• “Benefactor” by George H Smith
• “… And Gulliver Returns” by Bob O’Connor

***

And a couple from FeedBooks:

• “The Sargasso of Space” by Edmond Moore Hamilton
• “The Copper-Clad World” by Harl Vincent

***

Jason Stoddard‘s Creative Commons release of Eternal Franchise continues; we’re up to chapter 8.1

***

Yet another Shadow Unit Season 2 DVD Extra: “The Truth”

***

News from Arkham Tales:

Issue #3 of Arkham Tales is now available for free download! This issue features a cover by George Cotronis, and contains fiction by Nicholas Ozment, J.C. Koch, Rob Brooks, Nandi Ekles, Eric W. Jepson, Maura McHugh, J.J. Beazley and Edward Morris.

Their server seems a little flaky at the moment (possibly just overloaded on release day) so give the refresh button a few jabs if you get a connection error.

***

I’m not sure if it’s entirely meant to be read as fiction, but Ken MacLeod‘s “Invasion Dream” is a pretty weird read nonetheless.

***

HUB Magazine #87 features “Nightlife” by Dean Grondo

***

Here’s Memory part 37 by Jayme Lynn Blaschke

***

The SF Signal gang have made my life a little easier with a couple of free fiction link posts. Meanwhile, here’s another few snippets that passed through there over the week:

• The latest issue of Three Crow Press includes fiction by Catherine Knutsson, Glenn Lewis Gillette, T A  Moore, C M  SheVLin, Nu Yang, Brian Dolton, Shannon Page and Jay Lake, Gary McMahon, David Priebe, and Rick Silva
• Conjunctions presents “Predecessor” by Jeff VanderMeer; looks like they have more free fiction over there, too, but a distinct lack of RSS feed.

***

And to close us up, Sumit Dam sneaks in with “Lives of Quiet Desperation“.

***

And that’s all, folks, as the cartoon pig used to say. Don’t forget to drop us a line if there’s something you think we should collect here next week, but more importantly, have the best weekend you can, OK? Peace…

Once again, the weekend has sneaked up on me almost without being noticed… if it weren’t for G-Cal and Remember The Milk I’d probably forget to eat most days. But Friday tends to stick in the mind, because that’s the day I wrap up another big list of the past week’s free science fiction stories on the intertubes. Onward!

***

Here’s few from FeedBooks:

• “The God in the Box” by Sewell Peaslee Wright
• “The Crystal Crypt” by Philip K Dick
• “The Defenders” by Philip K Dick

***

Missed this one last week (only human, sorry!); a message from Jeffrey A Carver via Tor.com:

Eternity’s End is my Nebula-nominated novel about a star rigger named Legroeder who sets out in search of the lost ship Impris, Flying Dutchman of the stars. And along the way, encounters interstellar pirates and some deep-cyber romance. This book is free range, free running, cage free, up on the web for you to download for free!

Go fetch!

***

Issue #86 of HUB Magazine includes two stories:

• “Wink” by Lucy Kemnitzer
• “Tastes of the Dark” by Malin Larsson

***

Even though Jason Stoddard has now sold the hardback rights to Eternal Franchise, he’s still giving the whole thing away; we’re up to chapter 7.1

***

Another DVD extra from Shadow Unit Season 2: “Scene”

***

Strange Horizons presents part one and part two of “The Rising Waters” by Benjamin Crowell

***

From the prolific Lee Gimenez:

I just wanted to let you know that my short story “Unhistory” was just published in the May 2009 issue of Orion’s Child Magazine.

Bravo, Lee!

***

From Nancy Jane Moore:

On Book View Cafe this week, you can read:

“Cat T’ai Chi“, a graphic whimsey by Ursula K Le Guin; “Running the Road“, a longish flash fiction from Nancy Jane Moore; Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff‘s “Heroes“, which is novelette-length; “Waterwoman Nude“, a brand new story from Kate Daniel; a memoir from BVC’s newest member Alma Alexander, “Houses in Africa“; and a bonus scene — not in the print book — from Pati Nagle‘s new book, The Betrayal.

And that’s just a tiny amount of the free material available on the Book View Cafe site, which has everything from serialized novels to plays.

You heard the lady – go take a look.

***

And here’s a few extras via SF Signal and their diligent inter-ma-web filtration-elves:

• Afterburn SF presents “Ten Little Phobias” by Bev Vincent
• Issue 131 of AntipodeanSF has appeared, including stories by Kieran Salsone, Tom Williams, David Scholes, Mark Farrugia, Shaun A Saunders, Jamie Richter, Scott Wilson, Jan Napier, Simon Petrie, and Mika F Cella
• Marie Brennan is offering (in multiple formats) the free novella “Deeds of Men“…a story that takes place between Midnight Never Come and her upcoming novel In Ashes Lie.
• Baen’s Webscription presents “The Menace from Earth” by Robert Heinlein

***

And it looks like that’s the lot. Unfortunately, Keyboard Cat is contractually unable to play me off unless I bribe his management with cargo containers full of fresh tuna, so I’ll simply end with the usual request to keep us posted about anything you think merits inclusion in next week’s round-up, and the suggestion that you have yourself a damn good weekend. *waves*