Tag Archives: Fiction

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Jason Stoddard’s latest Futurismic story to appear in Rich Horton’s Unplugged anthology!

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OK, you’re going to have to excuse me being a bit effusive here, but I’ve just heard that – for the first time – a story originally published on Futurismic is going to appear in a Best of the Year anthology!

Rich Horton has decided to publish the first anthology devoted purely to stories published on the web from multiple publishers. Unplugged: The Best of Online Fiction will be released by Wyrm Publishing (the people behind the excellent Clarkesworld Magazine), and it will feature Jason Stoddard‘s “Willpower“, published just two weeks ago right here on Futurismic!

Here’s the complete table of contents:

  • Beth Bernobich, “Air and Angels” (Subterranean, Spring)
  • Mercurio D Rivera, “Snatch Me Another” (Abyss and Apex, First Quarter)
  • Nancy Kress, “First Rites” (Baen’s Universe, October)
  • Tina Connolly, “The Bitrunners” (Helix, Summer)
  • Rebecce Epstein, “When We Were Stardust” (Fantasy, February)
  • Jason Stoddard, “Willpower” (Futurismic, December)
  • Peter S Beagle, “The Tale of Junko and Sayiri” (IGMS, July)
  • David Dumitru, “Little Moon, Too, Goes Round” (Aeon Thirteen)
  • Hal Duncan, “The Behold of the Eye” (Lone Star, August)
  • Will McIntosh, “Linkworlds” (Strange Horizons, March 17-24)
  • Merrie Haskell, “The Girl-Prince” (Coyote Wild, August)
  • Brendan DuBois, “Not Enough Stars in the Night” (Cosmos)
  • Catherynne M Valente, “A Buyer’s Guide to Maps of Antarctica” (Clarkesworld, May)
  • Cory Doctorow, “The Things that Make Me Weak and Strange Get Engineered Away” (Tor.com)

Congratulations to all the authors, and to the sites that published them! You can’t imagine how proud I am to see Futurismic considered alongside big hitters of online genre fiction like Strange Horizons and Tor.com – I run this site for the love of short form science fiction, but to see Chris’s editorial skills and Jason’s writing vindicated by Horton’s selection is a greater gift than I ever hoped to receive this year.

Indeed, Unplugged is a great moment for webzines in general – we’re not third-class venues any more. So thank you, Rich – and thank you all – for reading and believing in what we do. Here’s hoping for more selections in years to come!

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Friday Free Fiction for 12th December

Outside my flat it’s cold, damp and very dark. Indoors, however, I can bathe in the comforting glow of a flatscreen monitor replete with links to free science fiction stories available online… and what better way to get into the seasonal spirit than by sharing, eh?

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A couple of classics from Manybooks:

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Here’s a handful from Feedbooks:

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Via OldMiser and others, another freebie from Gwyneth Jones:

Castles Made Of Sand […] should have had a fortunate début, given that the first episode had just won a major award when it came out, but it was all a bit of a rush, and I’ve always wanted to go back and give the script a scale and polish, nothing too painful. So here it is, a few pages shorter, bloopers excised and every sentence a bit tighter, tho’ possibly only the writer can tell.

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A couple of republications from Jay Lake – “The Golden Whip” and “Real North”

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COSMOS Magazine presents “Delivery” by Trent Jamieson

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A message from Ben Rawluk:

I have a couple more short-short SF/weird fictions up at my blog: “Sarah in the Wheat“, “Street Performances” and “It’s All Biohazards Down Here“.

As well, I’ve posted a couple more of my Filthy Postcard Stories series, #3, #4 and #5.

Cheers, Ben!

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Strange Horizons presents “The Same Old Story” by Naomi Bloch

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The new issue of Ideomancer (which should really get itself an RSS feed) features fiction and poetry by George S Walker, A C Wise, Rachel Swirsky, Marsheila Rockwell, David Kopaska-Merkel and J C Runolfson.

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Another update from Subterranean Online; I don’t usually link to podcast stories here (simply because so many other places already do) but I thought I’d break ranks for this one:

…we’re capping off the fall issue with a real corker — one of Alastair Reynolds’ fine space opera novellas, read by Sam Mowry. Head over and check out Thousandth Night, which was the jumping off point for Al’s most recent novel, House of Suns.

Great writer, Al Reynolds; go listen.

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And here’s the stuff that SF Signal‘s immense trawler net caught that I’d have otherwise missed:

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And to finish, a few bits of Friday Flash Fiction:

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And there you have it. Don’t forget to let us know if there’s something you think I might miss! In the meantime, have a great weekend.

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Electric Velocipede and Night Shade Books get it on

Electric Velocipede cover art for double-issue 15 and 16Great news for genre fiction fans of all stripes: Night Shade Books are teaming up with the excellent short fiction and poetry magazine Electric Velocipede. You can read the whole press release announcement if you like, but I’ll pick out the following part for those of Futurismic‘s readers resident in the US:

In celebration of this momentous alliance, Night Shade Books and Electric Velocipede are proud to announce a subscription drive: sign up for a one year subscription or renewal, and we’ll send you your choice of any two in-print Night Shade paperbacks or trade hardcovers! Just list your selections in the comments field when placing your order. Sorry, this offer applies only to United States subscribers only.

That’s a pretty good deal right there; Night Shade have put out some great novels and collections (I particularly recommend Walter Jon Williams‘ Implied Spaces), and Electric Velocipede has never disappointed me in the two years I’ve been a subscriber.

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Friday Free Fiction for 5th December

It’s the first Friday Free Fiction of the month, which means that lots of webzines have new issues full to bursting of good stuff for you to read. So let’s get to it, eh?

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Here’s a mixed bag of old and new from the nice folk at Feedbooks:

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New stories at Clarkesworld:

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New stories at Apex Online:

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Polu Texni presents “Running Free” by Mark Sherwood

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Strange Horizons presents “The Same Old Story” by Naomi Bloch

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One new piece and one classic at SpaceWesterns:

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New pieces at Lone Star Stories:

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An update from Subterranean Online:

… we’ve just posted a couple of treats for readers — “Spring Training,” by Mike Resnick, being the latest adventure starring everyone’s favorite scalawag, the Reverend Doctor Lucifer Jones, and “The Seed of Lost Souls“, part of the long sold out chapbook that includes the story that was to become Poppy Z. Brite’s acclaimed first novel.

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Fantasy & Science Fiction has posted Charles Coleman Finlay‘s “We Come Not to Praise Washington“. (This news via SF Signal; no-one has actually thought to blog this at F&SF as of yet, apparently. *shrug*)

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Tor.com presents “The Film-makers of Mars” by Geoff Ryman

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Via BoingBoing and SF Signal (and Futurismic reader OldMiser in the comments of my review of Fast Forward 2): the collaborative story “True Names” by Benjamin Rosenbaum and Cory Doctorow can now be found online for your reading delectation. It’s a long story with lots of crazy stuff in it, so strap yourself in for a wild ride.

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A message from Jake Freivald:

This issue of Flash Fiction Online has only one new piece of speculative fiction, this one a little fantasy called “Shelter”, though there are some other fresh pieces of different genres.

I also published a Classic Flash from 1960, though — one of my favorite early flash pieces. It’s called “Earthmen Bearing Gifts” by Fredric Brown.

Cheers, Jake!

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Here’s the stuff that we’d have missed if not for the fiction-sifting internet baleen of the SF Signal hivemind:

  • The Eldritch Dark [website] has a large collection of [Lovecraft contemporary] Clark Ashton Smith stories and poems for online reading as well as audio versions of some stories
  • Reflections Edge has its December issue out with fiction by Angela Ambroz, Stephanie Green, Huw Langridge, and K V Taylor

Plus the Signallers have a humongous list of the latest additions to the Free Speculative Fiction list site, which should keep you busy well past New Year’s.

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And last but not least, a fistful of Friday Flash Fiction:

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And there we have it – that should keep you busy for a while. In the meantime, send us your tips, plugs, blatant self-aggrandisement and digital brickbats – Futurismic‘s your site too, y’know. Have a great weekend!

Fiction

NEW FICTION: WILLPOWER by Jason Stoddard

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I’m willing to bet a pretty big percentage of people reading this have harboured the fantasy of being an astronaut, even though you knew it was a virtually unattainable dream. But sometimes dreams can come true by the least expected route possible… even when those dreams are not necessarily your own.

Jason Stoddard is no stranger to the pages of Futurismic or numerous other science fiction publications, both online and off – and with good reason. In “Willpower” he walks the talk of his own ‘Positive SF’ manifesto, balancing old-school optimism and sensawunda with a plausible (and far from utopian) future setting. Enjoy!

Willpower

by Jason Stoddard

Michael Delgado needed something to do. Today. His last willfare job had ended last Friday, which meant tomorrow morning was contract breach. The foodcard would stop working, and the ever-efficient borgots of the Balboa Arms would be down to usher him out of his 300-square-foot studio apartment. Not that he’d miss it, with Van Nuys cranking to 105 today and him with only a swamp cooler.

He scanned quickly through the willfare crapwork and sinkers:

Job2309170342546

Dog walking, Cerritos area, 0.5D willfare credit (4 dogs, large, aggressive). ACCEPT >>

No way. Not for a half-day credit.

Job2309170342554

Street cleaning, crew of 16, Chinatown and surrounds, multiday contract. ACCEPT >>

(Currently 11 accepted)

Surrounds, as in southeast LA, no way.

Job2309170351565

Research assistant, UCLA medical campus, great status! Includes transpo and housing. Minimum 45-day contract (90 willfare creds), extensible to 90-days. Standard disclaimers. ACCEPT >>

And take a chance that the cancer they infect you with they might not be able to cure? Oh, no.

Michael Delgado frowned, the chant of the taxpayers echoing in his head. WE pay your salary, so you do what WE want. We want you to cut our grass, you get out here pronto! And Congress agreed. Needed for a smooth transition to a post-scarcity economy, they said. Allows them the dignity of productive work, they said. Gets them off the streets, they said. They who drove comfortably to jobs not-yet-outsourced in SUVs with large leases not-quite-paid.

And then:

Job2309170355443

Take my place on the Ares. 180 day contract. I’ll vouch for the full 720 willfare days, even if I have to pay ’em. I’m done. ACCEPT >>

Michael felt something like an electric shock as he eyeblinked on ACCEPT. Strange shivers worked up and down his spine. He heard something like a whisper, deep within his mind. He felt suddenly strong, powerful, alive.

Oh, no. Continue reading NEW FICTION: WILLPOWER by Jason Stoddard →