Tag Archives: Fiction

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Friday Free Fiction for 3rd April

It’s the first Friday of the month, which means the usual bumper crop of free science fiction stories for you to read… though I would just like to draw your attention to Futurismic‘s own contribution to April’s harvest, namely “A Programmatic Approach to Perfect Happiness“, penned by no less a luminary than Tim Pratt.

So, go read Tim’s story, then tuck in to whatever takes your fancy from the following fictional finger-buffet…

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A brace from ManyBooks:

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Four from FeedBooks:

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Yet more preliminary extra material from Season 2 of Shadow Unit: “Consumption”

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SpaceWesterns is keeping it old-school with a reprinted classic: “A Curious Pleasure Excursion” by Mark Twain

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New month, new issue of Clarkesworld:

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Is it just me, or has Farrago’s Wainscot had a redesign? Either which way, they’re got a new issue online with six stories for you to read:

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Back after a nasty hacker attack, Pantechnicon‘s latest issue went up last week. There’s a whole bunch of fiction to read there for nothing, so get to it. If you’re feeling particularly choosy, you can narrow it down to just the science fiction stuff.

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Unstoppable anthology-makin’-machine John Joseph Adams has launched the website for Federations, his new book of interstellar sf stories, which includes links to four free-to-read teaser tales:

There are downloadable mobile document formats available on the Federations site itself, if that’s your preference.

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Via pretty much everyone who contributed to it (and then some), the Hugo-nominated METAtropolis audiobook is available for free for a limited period at Audible.com.

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Jayme Lynn Blaschke presents the thirty-sixth fragment of his Memory.

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Jason Stoddard presents chapter 4.2 of Eternal Franchise

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The tireless SF Signal crew once again have a couple of posts collecting the free fiction from the past week, and they caught the following extras as well:

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Last but not least, here’s a little bit of Friday Flash Fiction for you:

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That should keep you occupied for a while, I think. Don’t forget to shoot us a message if there’s something you think warrants inclusion in next week’s round-up; in the meantime, have a good weekend.

Fiction

NEW FICTION: A PROGRAMMATIC APPROACH TO PERFECT HAPPINESS by Tim Pratt

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I can’t tell you how proud I am to be introducing a story by Tim Pratt at Futurismic. Seriously; this isn’t a man short of professional venues for his wide-ranging fictional output, but he tells us he’s been keen to sell us a story for some time now, and “A Programmatic Approach to Perfect Happiness” rang Chris’s editorial bell in just the right way. It’s something a little different to our usual house style: a little Gonzo, a little retro, but all Tim Pratt. I hope you enjoy it!

A Programmatic Approach to Perfect Happiness

by Tim Pratt

My step-daughter Wynter, who is regrettably prejudiced against robots and those who love us, comes floating through the door in a metaphorical cloud of glitter instead of her customary figurative cloud of gloom. She enters the kitchen, rises up on the toes of her black spike-heeled boots, wraps her leather-braceleted arms around my neck, and places a kiss on my cheek, leaving behind a smear of black lipstick on my artificial skin and a whiff of white make-up in my artificial nose. “Hi Kirby,” she says, voice all bubbles and light, when normally she would never deign to utter my personal designation. “Is Moms around? Haven’t talked to her in a million.”

I know right away that Wynter has been infected.

I carefully lay my spatula aside. “Your mother is… indisposed.”

She rolls her eyes. “Whatever makes you two happy.” She flounces off toward her bedroom, the black-painted shadowy forbidden portion of our home that my wife April calls “the tumor.”

I go to our bedroom door, push it open gently, and say, “Darling, your post-coital brunch is ready, and I believe Wynter has been infected by the H7P4 strain.”

A groan emerges from the pile of blankets, straps, and oddly-angled cushions that constitutes our bed. “Oh, god. Which one is that again?”

“The one that makes you happy,” I say, and close the door on April’s sardonic laughter. Continue reading NEW FICTION: A PROGRAMMATIC APPROACH TO PERFECT HAPPINESS by Tim Pratt →

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Friday Free Fiction for 27th March

I knew it was too good to last; a solid week of sunny weather, and now it seems we’re back to grey skies and low temperatures. But hey, the sun always shines on the internet (provided you’re searching the right tags on Flickr), and there’s always free science fiction stories at Futurismic on a Friday afternoon…

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Via Jonathan Strahan, we discover that Night Shade Books have made Ted Chiang’s Hugo-nominated short story “Exhalation” available for free in a variety of formats: PDF, HTML, RTF and Mobipocket

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Mary Robinette Kowal is a Hugo nominee, too; go check out her “Evil Robot Monkey”

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Lou Anders of Pyr reveals that the short story “A Book of Silences” by James Enge is now gracing their free samples page; looks to be more in the fantasy line than we’re usually interested in here at Futurismic, but hey, nothing says you can’t read other stuff too, right?

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We’re up to chapter 4.1 with Jason Stoddard‘s Eternal Franchise

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A message from Lee Gimenez:

My science fiction story “The Wellness Center” was just published in the March edition of Aphelion Magazine.

Congratulations, Lee, and thanks for the tip-off!

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As we’ve thrown some fantasy into the mix, why not a soupcon of horror, too? Tim Lebbon announces an excerpt from his new novel Bar None:

It’s a novel of  ‘chilling suspense, apocalyptic beauty, and fine ales’.   So as a pre-weekend treat, the first ever extract is now available at Dread Central for your perusal and delectation. It reads with a soft fruity aromas, a smooth mouthfeel, and finishes with a dark and complex aftertaste.

Knowing Lebbon, he was probably half-cut when he wrote it, too…

[ Disclosure – Tim Lebbon is one of my clients, and is not really a heavy drinker. Or so he claims. ]

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The DVD Extras are coming thick and fast for Season 2 of Shadow Unit; this one’s called “Ice”

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Strange Horizons presents “The Spider in You” by Sean E Markey

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HUB Magazine presents “Hush a Bye” by Beverley Allen

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Mary Robinette Kowal pops up again, this time at BoingBoing in her capacity as editor of Shimmer Magazine:

“For Shimmer magazine’s 10th issue, we’ve got twelve fantastic new stories and an interview with none other than Cory Doctorow. In honor of Cory’s work with Creative Commons, we are giving away the pdf of issue ten as a free download.”

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Jayme Lynn Blaschke‘s Memory rolls onwards with its thirty-fifth chapter.

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The SF Signal crew have been gathering free fiction links like gangbusters this week, so it appears. There are two massive roundup posts as well as the following tidbits:

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And finally, a fistful of Friday Flash Fiction:

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That should keep your eyeballs busy for a few hours… don’t forget to keep us informed if theres anything you think deserves a plug here at friday Free Fiction, and have a great weekend!

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Friday Free Fiction for 20th March

Five days of clear blue skies and fresh breezes have led me to suspect I’ve been displaced into a parallel dimension or simulated universe by some capricious deity or artificial intelligence… but hey, even a False Spring is better than no Spring at all, as far as I’m concerned.

And whatever reality I happen to be perceiving right now, it doesn’t seem to have any shortage of free fiction floating around in it…

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A lone classic novel at ManyBooks: Deathworld by Harry Harrison

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COSMOS Magazine presents “The Broken Hourglass” by Andy Heizler

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HUB Magazine presents “SBIR Proposal“ by Richard K Lyon

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Strange Horizons presents “Nira and I” by Shweta Narayan

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Tor.com presents “We Haven’t Got There Yet” by Harry Turtledove

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Jason Stoddard delivers chapter 3.1 of Eternal Franchise

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Jayme Lynn Blaschke is up to the 34th installment of Memory

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Chris Howard is giving away his novel Seaborn in digital form

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Jeffrey A Carver is giving away copies of his novel Sunborn in multiple DRM-free formats

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Subterranean Online presents “The Dry Spell” by James P Blaylock

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Weird Tales presents “All In” by Peter Atwood

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And as always our thanks to the tireless crew of the USS SF Signal, who boldly go further in search of free fiction online than almost anyone else:

  • Chris Dolley is making his book Resonance available as a free download [and an intriguing brain-bender of a story it is, too]
  • The latest issue of Concatenation has been posted and includes the story “The Invisible Hand” by Allan M Rees
  • Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist presents “The Best Monkey” by Daniel Abraham
  • The new issue of Ray Gun Revival features fiction by Adrian Simmons, Paula R Stiles, O Charles Swallows, Jr., Steven Gerard, Chip Meador, M Keaton, Keanan Brand, L S King, and Paul Christian Glenn
  • Book View Cafe presents chapter 1 of The Betrayal by Pati Nagle

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Once again my schedule means I’ll miss the bulk of this week’s Friday Flash, but as ever it’ll be collected up in next week’s post. Meanwhile, Sumit Dam came in early enough to make the cut with “The Black Dog“.

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And that’s it for another week, it seems. Don’t forget to let us know of anything you think merits inclusion in Friday Free Fiction; in the meantime, have a good weekend!

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The economics of fiction

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No, nothing to do with bailouts or closed banks; this video is seven minutes of discussion between two economists, Tyler Cowen and Robin Hanson, on the economic value of fiction:

If you’re not too familiar with the language of economic academia (it’s a little opaque, to say the least), Bill Benzon’s summary of their points might be helpful:

It’s about signaling (a term of art in economics). Your preferences in fiction, and the way you articulate those preferences, signal your attitudes, values, and ideas to others. Fiction is a way of “getting people in touch with each other.”

The point is also raised that fiction can in some cases have intrinsic cognitive value as well, but the central idea – that your taste in fiction is an external signal about the sort of person you are – is an interesting one, especially for fans of genre fiction like ourselves. The obvious (and over-simple) response would be a kind of “fans are Slans” argument… but that would be to fail at being properly objective about the whole thing, to ignore the need for a proper examination of what makes genre fiction different to ‘straight’ fiction (which I suspect is, in many respects, a much smaller difference than it may seem from this side of the fence).

But what is it about science fiction that has made it such a socially cohesive artform by comparison to, say, romance novels? Is this simply a function of its minority status in the larger field of literature, or is it something to do with the riffs it tends to repeat, and the way those riffs resonate with readers? Or is it a separate (but related) part of the mindset that science fiction just happens to appeal to?