Who can you rely on to battle past technical issues and shyster hosting companies to bring you your weekly dose of free fiction on the interwebs?

Futurismic, that’s who!

***

The retro selection from Manybooks.net:

• “Wizard” by Laurence Mark Janifer
• “The Winds of Time” by James H. Schmitz
• “Cat and Mouse” by Ralph Williams
• “Vigorish” by Randall Garrett
• “Shock Absorber” by E.G. von Wald
• “Mercenary” by D.M. Reynolds
• “Criminal Negligence” by Jesse Francis McComas
• “The Silk and the Song” by Charles Louis Fontenay
• “The Valley of the Flame” by Henry Kuttner

***

Via Darren at UKSFBookNews:

“The fifth issue of the online magical realist fiction magazine, Serendipity, features work by Steven Savile, Lynn Bartels, Tony Murfin, Lady Charlotte Guest, Craig Laurance Gidney and Neil Ayres.”

Lovely – I’ve added Serendipity to the sidebar!

***

Jay Lake‘s at it again, with a story short enough to qualify for the Flash Fictioneers … if you’d ever like to join in, Jay, please just let us know!

“…the original short story “Arrange the Bones“. At 1,000 words, this originally appeared in Say…Was that a Kiss? back in 2002, then reprinted by Prime Books in my 2004 collection, Dogs in the Moonlight. If you like the story, please consider supporting Fortress of Words and their Say… zine, as well as Prime Books.”

***

An email from Sam J Miller:

“Hoped you might be able to include my semi-spec-fic short story, “Paper Bomb,” freshly-published in the new online issue of Pindeldyboz, in your next fabulous Friday Free Fiction communique.

Thanks a million for your excellent work in finding such great sci-fi to send around every week. It’s a high point of my Fridays.”

It’s a highlight of mine too, Sam – though as I’ve mentioned before, I merely collate the work of others and quote emails I’m sent. I am but the conduit! 😉

***

From John Klima at Electric Velocipede:

“Of interest to me and my readers is that William Shunn‘s novelette “Not of this Fold” from his chapbook An Alternate History of the 21st Century is on the preliminary [Nebula novellette] ballot. […] To that end, I’ve posted (with Bill’s permission) a PDF of the story online.”

Congratulations to William – and to John as editor, too. I know we’re all about the free online fiction here, but there are some super print mags out there too, and Electric Velocipede is a charming little publication that’s well worth the subscription fee.

***

Speaking of excellent print magazines* making award-nominated stories available for free, I should point out that Interzone has published the 2007 BSFA-Nominated story “The Sledge-Maker’s Daughter” by Alastair Reynolds, which is a great story that comes personally recommended by me, for what that’s worth.

[*Disclosure – I’m Interzone‘s Reviews Editor, but I thought it was an excellent magazine long before I started contributing to it. You can now subscribe electronically and avoid that tiresome Transatlantic postage business, too!]

***

Subterranean Press are pumping out more material for free on their webzine:

“The Pile” by Michael Bishop.

“Dragon Chili: From the Grand Church Cookbook” by Joe R. Lansdale.

***

A few words from Jeremy Tolbert:

“I slept very badly last night, and had a migraine to end all migraines. I’m slowly recovering this morning. I recently woke up and, along with this lingering headache, I found I have an overwhelming desire to give something away.

I’ve posted a story, “Babe, I’m Gonna Leave You“, online under a Creative Commons license. It’s about death, Led Zeppelin, and how families cope.”

Jeremy also post-mortem’d the give-away and examined his motives for doing it – interesting reading for other aspiring writers.

***

Hey, guess what? Futurismic’s own Fiction Editor Christopher East got one of his stories published at Hub Magazine, but he’s too modest to post about it himself. So it falls to me to blow his trumpet for him (ahem) – so go read “The Scarlet Number“.

***

Friday Flash Fictioneers – form up and call ’em out! We’re a few short this week (albeit with a promise of imminent material from Neil Beynon), but we have a new recruit to fill out the ranks.

So, a warm welcome to Greg O’Byrne, who gives us “Dying In A Cold Dark Place“. Welcome aboard, Greg!

Elsewhere, Shaun C Green is interested in “This Urban Aesthetic“.

Meanwhile, in yet another example of synchronous and spontaneous picking of similar themes, we have two stories about starship pilots: Justin Pickard supplies the ultra-brief “Celerity“, while Gareth D Jones recounts “An Obscure Incident Somewhere in Deep Space”

Last but (hopefully) not least, yours truly heads back to his remixed hometown of New Southsea for a ferry-trip with “Charon“.

***

Stop Press! Last-minute late-arrival bonus:

Solaris Books have made Deadstock by Jeffrey Thomas available to download for free. Yes, the whole book.

***

OK folks, that’s your lot for this week! Don’t forget to drop us a line with any tips, plugs and self-promotion. In the meantime, thanks for reading – take care, and have a good weekend.

Hi folks – your Free Fiction was somewhat delayed this week thanks to some hosting-related downtime. But better late than never, eh?

***

They’re keeping it old-school at Manybooks.net, as is traditional:

• “Greener Than You Think” by Ward Moore 
• “Victory” by Lester del Rey
• “The Untouchable” by Stephan A. Kallis
• “Gun for Hire” by D.M. Reynolds
• “A Transmutation of Muddles” by Horace Brown Fyfe
• “The First One” by Herbert D. Kastle
• “A Spaceship Named McGuire” by Randall Garrett
• “Card…Trick” by Gordon Randall Garrett
• “Attrition” by Jim Wannamaker
• “The Coffin Cure” by Alan Nourse
• “Letter of the Law” by Alan Nourse
• “The Native Soil” by Alan Nourse
• “PRoblem” by Alan E. Nourse
• “The Highest Treason” by Randall Garrett.

 

***

David Barr Kirtley has the give-away bug; you can read “Save me Plz” and “Blood of Virgins” on his website, both of which appeared originally in Realms of Fantasy.

***

From the folks at Orbit:

It’s only a …er… matter of weeks before [the new Iain M. Banks novel] Matter arrives in bookstores. The first Culture novel since Look to Windward, Matter is one of the most anticipated science fiction novels coming out this year. We’re thrilled to be publishing it, and thrilled to offer a first look at the stunning prologue.

At the risk of sounding boastful, I’ll tell you that I was lucky enough to be sent an ARC of Matter, and I can assure you it’s a book you’ll want to read if you have even the slightest fondness for space opera with a twist. Go check out that prologue if you don’t believe me – Iain M. Banks isn’t my authorial hero for nothing, you know..

***

Free fiction in audio format!

How’s about John Wyndham‘s classic cosy catastrophe Day of the Triffids?

And over at Podiobooks you can download a free audiobook version of Grey by Jon Armstrong, a book originally published by Night Shade Books in February 2007.

***

From my good web-buddy Doctor James “Big Dumb Object” Bloomer:

The new issue of Spacesuits and Sixguns Magazine is online and it includes my story “A Letter Of Complaint“. If you’ve ever done your grocery shopping online (as is increasingly common in the UK) – and have been left baffled at the produce that actually turns up – then this one is for you.

Get your shopping delivered? You lazy bum, James – I walk to the shops and hence lower my carbon footprint! 🙂 Well done on the story, man.

***

You’d have to have been very busy (or very cynical) not to have noticed it’s Nebula season.

In addition to all their other hard work (without some of which these posts would be almost impossible) the SF Signal gang are keeping a list of Nebula nominated fiction complete with links to freely readable online versions where available.

So if you like your free fiction fresh, up-to-date and award nominated, that’s probably your best first port of call right now.

***

It looks like the Friday Flash Fictioneers are up to nearly full complement this week. Let’s see what we have:

Neil Beynon has “The Cloud“, Dan Pawley is “Adrift“, Gareth L Powell is at “The Highest Point“, and Martin McGrath is “Leaving The World” – a definite thematic drift upwards, wouldn’t you say?

Down here on the ground, though, Gareth D Jones has a “Prequel“, Shaun C Green has a “Human Interest Story“, and yours truly takes on “Sturgeon’s Law” (hopefully without falling foul of it).

***

Flash fiction bonus: more flash to read, and a market to submit to! Go take a look at the aptly named FlashFictionOnline.com.

***

And a non-fiction bonus, via BoingBoing:

Julian Dibbell has released the text of his ground-breaking “My Tiny Life” as a free download through Lulu.com.

Part memoir and part ethnography, My Tiny Life is about the social life of the online, text-based virtual world LambdaMOO and my own brief encounter with it in the early ’90s. Andrew Leonard, in Salon, called it “the best book yet on the meaning of online life.”

***

OK folks, that’s your lot for this week.

Don’t forget, we’re always wanting your tips, recommendations and shameless self-plugs. Even if your work turns up in one of the sites in the sidebar, we’ll still give it a mention here if you just let us know about it! Just drop me a line via the Staff page.

Have a great weekend!

A comparatively slow week for free fiction, but there’s still plenty enough if you need it …

***

Free fiction at ManyBooks.net:

• “The Destroyers” by Randall Garrett
• “All Day September” by Roger Kuykendall
• “The Cosmic Expense Account” by C.M. Kornbluth
• “The Asa Rule” by Jay Williams

***

At Fantasy Magazine: “Zombie Lenin” by Ekaterina Sedia

***

A kind-of sneak-peek from Jay Lake:

“[This is] the original short story “Green”, basis of the novel I am currently writing. At 6,700 words, this originally appeared at Aeon 5 back in 2005 …”

***

Good news from Cole Kitchen: the excellent print magazine Apex Science Fiction and Horror Digest is getting into the free content game – take a look at Apex Online, with stories from James Walton Langolf and Matt Wallace, and lots of other non-fiction too.

Cole also points us at Transmitter – an online science fiction anthology magazine, according to the strap-line. Whatever it calls itself, there’s free fiction by the likes of Jake Clyde and Jennifer Moore, so go take a look.

Cheers, Cole!

***

From Futurismic’s own Edward Willett:

“The release of my new SF novel Marseguro (DAW Books) is coming up February 5, so I’m beginning to do what I can to promote it online…which includes posting the first two chapters online.”

Good luck, Ed!

***

Looks like a full complement on the Friday Flash Fiction parade ground this week:

Gareth L Powell has been thinking (and writing) about “Natalie“.

Gareth D Jones is channeling Ray Bradbury with “Built By Moonlight“.

Dan Pawley‘s journey back to his native country must have unnerved him; he’s worried that “The Natives Are Restless Tonight“.

Martin McGrath returns to the fray with a lingering fear of birds: “Sixty-seven Parrots“.

Justin Pickard is equally unnerved (though for rather different reasons) by “Fatima’s Funeral“.

Neil Beynon wants you to look deep into the “Eyes“.

Shaun C Green has been watching too much TV, I think – “The Future’s Bright – The Future’s Trivial“.

And finally yours truly decided to step out of the science fiction mode for a change, and go “Down on the Upside“.

***

That’s your lot, ladies and gents. Don’t forget to get in touch with any tips or suggestions – you can find my email address on the Staff page.

Have a great weekend!

[tags]free, fiction, stories, online[/tags]

Happy new year, Futurismic readers! Here’s your first dose of free fiction for 2008:

***

A big lump-lot at ManyBooks.net:

• “As Long As You Wish” by John O’Keefe
• “We Didn’t Do Anything Wrong, Hardly” by Roger Kuykendall
• “Make Mine Homogenized” by Rick Raphael
• “Pushbutton War” by Joseph P. Martino
• “The Ambulance Made Two Trips” by Murray Leinster
• “The Aliens” by Murray Leinster
• “The Sky Trap” by Frank Belknap Long
• “Disturbing Sun” by Robert Shirley Richardson (aka Philip Latham)
• “The Guardians” by Irving Cox
• “Egocentric Orbit” by John Cory
• “Dead Giveaway” , “Despoilers of the Golden Empire“, “Damned If You Don’t” and “The Measure of a Man” by Randall Garrett

[Just to reiterate the point, the above list (and indeed some of the below) would be impossible for us to compile on a weekly basis if not for cribbing vigorously from the hard-grafting folk at SF Signal, who have our deepest gratitude.]

***

Via Nick Mamatas:

Happy New Year, and check out the latest from Clarkesworld Magazine!

“Debris Ensuing From A Supervortex” by Brian Ames.

And our feature article: Countdown to Singularity: A Conversation with Vernor Vinge by Shaun Farrell.

***

Chris Roberson delivers Friday freebies yet again: “The Sky is Large and the Earth is Small“.

***

Charles Sheehan-Miles wrote in to let us know that he has released the entirety of his alternate-near-future novel, Republic, free in all formats under a Creative Commons license.

***

S.L. Viehl is using Scribd to host all her free-to-read fiction.

***

Elizabeth Bear has posted of her short story “Tideline” (from the March 2007 Asimov’s) at her website.

***

Podcast fiction! Audible offers “Could Be Worse” by James Patrick Kelly.

***

It’s a bit thin on the ground for Friday Flash Fictioneers again, but there’s always a few of us defying such niceties as seasonal laziness … 😉

Neil Beynon delivers one of my favourites from his offerings so far: “The Edge Of The World“.

And in another one of those synchronous happenstances that seem to crop up so often in the world of FFF, both Gareth L Powell and I have stories involving salvaging, though in very different settings.

So take a visit to Gareth’s “Crash Site“, and then consider popping over to my blog and getting “Tagged“.

***

And finally, a simultaneously funny and educational non-fiction bonus: The Annals of Improbable Research (also known as AIR) is the publication from the people who brought us the IgNobel Prizes, and it’s now available for free in lo-rez downloadable formats as well as old-school dead-tree media.

If you like genuine science and a good hard laugh, there’s no place you’ll ever find the two more closely meshed – consider that my personal recommendation! 🙂

***

That’s your lot for this week, folks. Don’t forget to let us know if you see or hear of any free fiction you think we should be telling people about. Adios!

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!