Unsurprisingly, there’s not exactly a flood of free fiction this week … but the river still flows. This should tide you over until the new year!

***

Newly arrived free fiction at ManyBooks.net:

• “But, I Don’t Think” (1959) and “…After a Few Words…” (1962) by Randall Garrett
• “Instinct” (1959) by George O. Smith
• “Unborn Tomorrow” (1969) and “Revolution” (1960) by Mack Reynolds
• “The Short Life” (1955) by Francis Donovan
• “Beyond Pandora” (1962) by Robert J. Martin

***

The guys and girls at Baen Books know the value of free reading material; three new titles have been added to the Baen Free Library.

• Genellan: Planetfall by Scott Gier
• Crown of Slaves by David Weber and Eric Flint
• Emerald Sea by John Ringo

***

Matthew Jarpe is giving away a short story originally published in Asimov’s: “Chicken Soup for Mars and Venus”

***

Via Gary Gibson:

“… I have finally – finally – put together an online excerpt of [recently published novel] Stealing Light, being the first couple of chapters thereof. Somehow it seemed the right thing to do. There’s already an excerpt up at Pan Macmillan’s website, but it’s very small. I figure something slightly more substantial might be a better idea. So here it is.”

***

Most of the Friday Flash Fictioneer battalion are (quite understandably) missing in action this week. But a few of us are still manning the trenches:

Gareth D Jones suggests that you “Get Knitted“.

Neil Beynon continues his experimental phase with “Clockwork Songs“.

And yours truly has been writing “Against the Clock“.

***

That’s it for this week – and indeed for this year! But we’ll be back with more free fiction every Friday in the coming year, so don’t forget to send us tips and links to anything you think might be of interest. In the meantime, have a great New Year!

Friday night is free fiction night! Here’s your weekly dose of the good stuff from all across the intarwebs …

***

New (well, new/old) free fiction at ManyBooks.net:

• “Blessed Are the Meek” by G.C. Edmondson
• “The Bramble Bush” by Gordon Randall Garrett
• “Almuric” by Robert E. Howard
• “Scrimshaw” by Murray Leinster
• “Cry from a Far Planet” by Tom Godwin

And a pair of much loved classics (thanks, SF Signal):

The Star Maker by Olaf Stapledon, and

The Ultimate Weapon by John W. Campbell, Jr.

***

I spotted another gem at The Daily Cabal; Sarah Genge‘s “Listen to the Hum” is my sort of flash.

***

John Klima of the wondrous Electric Velocipede print zine recently edited an anthology called Logorrhea, and now he’s sharing lots of extras, including behind-the-scenes creation stories and podcasts:

“Part of the fun of putting together Logorrhea was seeing what the authors did with the words. While I have no favorites (that’s like picking your favorite child!) Jeff VanderMeer’s “Appoggiatura” was something else altogether. Not only did Jeff have his own word to write about (appoggiatura) he incorporated all the other words that the other contributors had written about.

At one time, Jeff had mentioned the idea of recording each section as a podcast. And I also thought it would be great to incorporate the rest of the contributors and come full circle. The contributors are going to post the section of Jeff’s story that features the word they wrote about. In addition, they’ll talk a little bit about why they chose their word.”

Click on through – there’s lots of good stuff to read and listen to right there.

***

More from Jay Lake:

The current installment in this series is a 4,600 word story entitled “The Dying Dream of Water”. This originally appeared in Flytrap #3 back in 2004, ed. Tim Pratt and Heather Shaw [ Tropism Press ]. It was also the subject of last week’s podcast, if you’d like to hear me read this in my own voice.

This story is part of my ongoing unpublished (and unfinished) Old West fantasy, Original Destiny, Manifest Sin. As I said before, watch for it in a bookstore near you around 2017.

***

Nick Mamatas on the return of Whirligig Zine:

It’s a paying market now and takes reprints. Or at least, it took my reprint of “April 29th“, which originally appeared in the slick Razor back in September 2003.

Check out [other] good schtuff from Jeff Somers, Kevin Dole 2, and other loveable scamps.

***

Chris Roberson‘s back in the fiction-giveaway saddle. This time out he’s offering “Long Night, Holy Night“.

***

Friday Flash Fictioneers – form up!

Shaun C Green has insects on the brain: “‘Farewell!’ Sings The Swarm“.

Neil Beynon is thinking about “Paths“.

Gareth D Jones has been lurking in the “X Factory“.

And yours truly has been thinking about grief – “Daddy in the Stone“.

***

And if you were wanting to read ebooks on the go, but are resistant to the idea of carting a computer with you everywhere (and can’t afford a Kindle), you might want to download some software called eBook To Images – which, as the name suggests, will convert many ebook formats so you can read them on your iPod.

[Thanks to the indispensable Lifehacker for that little tip.]

***

That’s your lot for this week, people. Don’t forget to tip us off to good free fiction, wherever you find it!

Having been doing FFF for a few months now, it seems the free fiction online quota works in bi-weekly cycles … after last week’s bumper crop, there’s a comparatively sparse selection this week.

But only comparatively – there’s got to be at least a week’s worth of reading among this little lot: 

***

A hefty selection of old-school material from Manybooks.net:

• “That Sweet Little Old Lady” by Randall Garrett (1959)
• “Viewpoint” by Randall Garrett (1960)
• “Anchorite” by Randall Garrett (1962)
• “Breakaway” by Stanley Gimble (1955)
• “A Matter of Importance” by Murray Leinster (1959)
• “The Leader” by Murray Leinster (1960)
• “The Mississippi Saucer” by Frank Belknap Long (1951)
• “A Filbert Is a Nut” by Rick Raphael (1959)
• “I Was a Teen-Age Secret Weapon” by Richard Sabia (1959)
• “The Big Fix” by George O. Smith (1959)
• “The Circle of Zero” by Stanley G. Weinbaum
• “Summit” by D.M. Reynolds
• “Old Man” by Daniel Keys Moran
• “A Martian Odyssey” by Stanley G. Weinbaum.

***

Via Nick Mamatas, fiction editor for Clarkesworld:

… this month’s Clarkesworld theme is death and wrestling!

• Fiction: “The Buried Years” by Loreen Heneghan.
• Non-fiction: Steel Chair through the Looking Glass: The Fractured Fantasy World of Professional Wrestling by Jason R. Ridler.

***

Subterranean Online keeps up its remorseless pace of output:

Now we’re on to the Winter 2008 issue, where the first few features are posted, including a brand new short story (actually, an excerpt from his novel, Black & White, by Lewis Shiner) and a column by SubPress favorite Joe R. Lansdale. In the coming weeks and months, look for new fiction by Michael Bishop, Rachel Swirsky, a novella by Thomas M. Disch, an audio of what just might be Charles Stross’ funniest story, and much more.

***

And last but by no means least, the Friday Flash Fictioneers ride forth:

Neil Beynon is afraid of attics. Why? “Because“.

Gareth L Powell reminds us that, in space, no one can hear your stomach rumble: “The Long Walk Aft“.

(Both Neil and Gareth have stories in the current issue of Aphelion webzine, too, so go take a look – congratulations, guys.)

Martin McGrath is fully on board with the creepy themes this week … what’s that noise? “Scritch-Scritch“.

Shaun C Green takes a dark look at corporate control in “Terminator“.

And yours truly takes a look at a reaction to corporate control in “Father and Son“.

***

That’s your lot for this week, ladies and gents. Don’t forget you can alert me to stories by you or anyone else and have them included here, as long as they’re free and legally available to read on the web. Just drop me a line.

Have a great weekend!

After last week’s short shrift, we return with another bumper crop of free fiction. Eyes down for a full house …

***

From Futurismic blogger Ed Willett (who’s off treading the boards in a production of Beauty And The Beast at the moment), a special recommendation:

Brett Alexander Savory’s collection No Further Messages and his novel The Distance Travelled are available to download in full from his bibliography page at ChiZine.

They are indeed – cheers Ed! ChiZine is in the sidebar, but we’re more than happy to announce special recommendations from Futurismic readers even if they’re located somewhere we’ve mentioned before. Drop us a line, and share your under-rated favourites with the world!

***

And in the same spirit, a recommendation from Jeremy Tolbert:

Fantasy continues to please me with this week’s story, “Possession”. There are some nicely odd worldbuilding touches and even some steampunk elements. You have to kind of appreciate a story that takes place entirely inside a gigantic hole.

Leave the Freudian analysis alone, folks.

***

I got mail! From Nancy Jane Moore, to be precise:

The folks at Farrago’s Wainscot have finally given Behind the Wainscot – where they publish short-shorts and other oddities between the regular quarterly issues of Farrago’s Wainscot [also in the sidebar, folks!] – its own website. These stories were online before, but a little hard to find. Now those craving an interstitial fix can gorge on them all at once.

Cheers, Nancy!

***

Via lots of people:

Weird Tales has a new website, and there’s free fiction to be had there, too – as well as non-fiction and lots of other webby rich-media type malarkey. Get to it!

***

Chris Roberson fans, prepare to rejoice!

First spotted at Iain Emsley‘s Yatterings blog (but plenty of other places since then):

Those excellent folk over at Solaris have started publishing chapters from Chris Roberson’s forthcoming novel, Three Unbroken, on their website for free. The actual paperbook will appear in 2009.

And from Roberson himself, another Friday freebie: “The Likeness Of A Wolf“.

***

Jay Lake is posting up free stories, too:

The current installment in this series is a short-short entitled “A Conspiracy of Dentists.” At 800 words of length, this originally appeared in Lady Churchill’s Rosebd Wristlet, #14 June, 2004 [ Tangent Online Review ]. It has not been reprinted before now.
This is based on something that actually happened to me as a teenager, when we were clearing out my grandparents’ house after the death of my Granddaddy Lake. A bit more detail is available here. If you like this story, please consider supporting Small Beer Press and LCRW. In any case, enjoy.

A conspiracy of dentists? Has to be a horror story, surely …

***

Hello, Paul McAuley:

I’ve just put up my short story “Interstitial“ on [my] web site. It’s an end-of-the-world story that takes off from the theory that life had survived at least one bottleneck caused by a runaway effect that created a snowball Earth and ends in the kind of conflict between the military and scientists that powered most 1950’s sci-fi movies, with a tip of the hat to 2001: A Space Odyssey. Imagine it in scratchy black-and-white, with John Agar playing the hero.

***

Those folk at Subterranean just keep rolling it out:

We’re closing out the Fall Issue of Subterranean Online in the next week or so. Among the features just posted are a short, dark tale by Caitlin R. Kiernan, “In the Dreamtime of Lady Resurrection,” and the final travails of the madcap characters in Daniel Abraham’s screwball serial, “The Support Technician Tango”

In the Winter issue, look for a novella by Thomas M. Disch, plus short stories by Michael Bishop, Tia V. Travis, Mike Resnick (surprise, a Lucifer Jones tale!) as well as hot new writer Rachel Swirsky.

***

Welcome to the realm of Flash (ah-aaaaah!) …

First of all, a piece I found via Warren Ellis: Simon Bisson‘s “Getting in is easy. Getting out is the hard bit.“

A feral Matrioshka Brain is a dangerous place. The wild evolution of self-replicating machines makes it a playground for Darwin – and deadly for anyone that tries to venture in. But if you’re scavenging the ruins of dead civilisations, there’s really no other place to go.

***

And a new recruit of sorts. Brendan Adkins writes:

I’ve only just discovered Futurismic, and I’m happy to be learning for
the first time about the Friday Flash Fictioneers.  I’ve been writing
stories of exactly 101 words every weekday since 2003 and posting them at xorph.com/anacrusis/, so I’m embarrassingly enthusiastic about this kind of stuff (and everything else you post in your roundups).  Thanks for providing such an interesting service!

We do our best, Brendan – but it pales against your flash output! After receiving Brendan’s email, I started doing a mental calculation of how many words of flash he must have produced in that time period, but I had to stop because my brain couldn’t handle the number of decimal places.

***

And so, to the regular irregulars, those fine and forthright Friday Flash Fictioneers …

• Sean C Green is playing catch-up this week – the excellent “Vote Now!” appeared over last weekend.
• Martin McGrath is back in the saddle after server problems and illness, but he’s taking no prisoners – only “Rum and Slaves“.
• Gareth L Powell is back to full strength again, too – here’s his “Dead Twin“.
• Gareth D Jones is gonna get all palendromic on your ass: “Time Did Emit“.
• Dan Pawley sees something spooky among the bookshelves … it’s “The Library Visitor“.
• And here’s a little something from yours truly – a tale of shock, horror, and jealous kitchen appliances: “The New Arrival“.

***

Oh, good grief! Is that not enough for you?

OK, so try some non-fiction, via Jason Ellis: the classic Cyborg Manifesto by Donna Haraway.

What, you still want more? Well, if this doesn’t keep you busy, nothing ever will. Via SF Signal:

The Universal Digital Library has completed the digitization of 1.5 million books and on Tuesday made them free and publicly available.

One and a half million? I think you’ll survive until next Friday on that little lot.

In the meantime, we’re always happy to receive tip-offs and recommendations of free fiction online, new or old, as long as it’s all legal. So drop me a line if you’ve got something to share.

Have a good weekend!