Free SF Reader : Free Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror

Venom - Christian Cantrell

2012-02-01T19:51:00.000+10:30

Human Legacy Project and Democracy Device protection.

3.5 out of 5

http://www.livingdigitally.net/books/venom/venom.html

The Silver Wind - Nina Allan

2012-02-01T18:44:00.001+10:30

Yet another alternate nasty London.

3 out of 5

http://ttapress.com/downloads/the-silver-wind.pdf

The Copenhagen Interpretation - Paul Cornell

2012-02-01T18:43:00.003+10:30

Fake alien Balance tampering ship story. Fake woman too. Most likely.

3.5 out of 5

http://www.asimovs.com/2012_02/images/TheCopenhagenInterpretation_Cornell.pdf

Of Dawn - Al Robertson

2012-02-01T18:41:00.002+10:30

Music find.

2.5 out of 5

http://ttapress.com/downloads/of-dawn.pdf

Killer 1-7 - David Drake and Karl Edward Wagner

2012-02-01T10:58:00.001+10:30

""You've got some sort of wild man!" Lycon blurted with first glance.

"Nonsense!" Vonones snorted. "Look at the tiny scales, those talons! There may be a race somewhere with blue skin, but this thing's no more human than a mandrill is. The Numidians called it a lizard-ape in their tongue—a sauropithecus."

After that first startled impression, Lycon had to agree. The thing seemed far less human than any large ape, which it somewhat resembled. Probably those hairless limbs had made him think it was a man—that and the aura of malign intelligence its stare conveyed. But the collector had never seen anything like it, not in twenty years of professional hunting along the fringes of the known world.

Lizard-ape, or sauropithecus to render the word into Latin, seemed as good a name as any for the beast. Lycon could not even decide whether it was mammal or reptile, nor even guess its sex. It was scaled and exuded an acrid reptilian scent, but its movements and poise were feline. Ape-like, it walked erect in a forward crouch, and its long forelimbs seemed adapted for gripping and climbing. It would be about man-height if it straightened fully, and Lycon estimated its lean weight close to that of a big leopard. Its face was cat-like, low-browed and triangular of jaw. A wedge-shaped, earless skull thrust forward upon a snaky neck, and it had no more nostrils than a lizard did. Its eyes looked straight forward with human intensity, but were slit-pupiled and showed a swift nictitating membrane.

"This came from the Aures Mountains?" Lycon questioned wonderingly.

"It did. There was a big lot of gazelles and elephants that one of my agents jobbed from the Numidians. This thing came with them, and all I know about it is what Dama wrote me when he sent the shipment: that a band of Numidians saw a hilltop explode and found this animal when they went to see what had happened."

"A hilltop exploded!"

The dealer shrugged. "That's all he wrote."

Lycon studied the cage in silence.

"Why did you weld the cage shut instead of putting a chain and lock on it?"

"That's the way it came," Vonones explained. "I'll have to knock the door loose and put a proper lock on it before sending it off tomorrow, or those idiots at Rome will wreck a good cage trying to smash it open, and never a denarius for the damage. I guess the Numidians just didn't have a lock—I'm a little surprised they even had an iron cage."

Lycon frowned, uncomfortable at the way the beast stared back at him. "It's its eyes," he reflected. "I wish all my crew looked that bright.""

4 out of 5

http://www.baenebooks.com/chapters/0743435869/0743435869.htm?blurb

Anansi Island - Christian Cantrell

2012-02-01T01:31:00.000+10:30

Spiders, millions of them - and hybrid experiments to escape. Maybe.

3.5 out of 5

http://www.livingdigitally.net/books/anansi/anansi_island.html

Ghostkiller - Steven Saville

2012-01-30T12:33:00.001+10:30

Beating up a beater.

3.5 out of 5

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/32537

Integrity - Steven Saville

2012-01-30T12:28:00.001+10:30

"“If one green bottle should accidently fall… it might just crack its skull and lie bleeding to death in Marylebone Lane.”"

or following Konstantin ends violently.

3.5 out of 5

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/37062

The Stoker Memorandum - Lavie Tidhar

2012-01-30T12:15:00.001+10:30

"Have you heard of the Jekyll-Frankenstein serum?"

3.5 out of 5

http://dailysciencefiction.com/hither-and-yon/alternative-history/lavie-tidhar/the-stoker-memorandum

East Village Noir - Russell Atwood

2012-01-30T11:44:00.000+10:30

Lost girl and lost purse keys murder setup.

3.5 out of 5

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/7555

This Is Now - Michael Marshall Smith

2012-01-29T22:12:00.001+10:30

This Is Now - Michael Marshall Smith
Think we'll stay away from the suckers.

3 out of 5

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/vampires/ne...

http://pseudopod.org/2012/01/27/pseudopod-266-this-is-now/

The Questing Mind - Kristine Kathryn Rusch

2012-01-29T20:44:00.001+10:30

artificial intelligence pathways.

3.5 out of 5

http://kriswrites.com/2012/01/23/free-fiction-monday-the-questing-mind/

Pairs - Zachary Jernigan

2012-01-29T19:47:00.001+10:30

Carry human souls, Hawk and Knifer the boss.

4 out of 5

http://escapepod.org/2012/01/26/ep329-pairs/

Bears Discover Fire - Terry Bisson

2012-01-29T19:43:00.000+10:30

Bears Discover Fire - Terry Bisson
http://podcast.starshipsofa.com/podcast/Bears_Discover_Fire_by_Terry_Bisson.mp3

Hibernatin's a big ol' waste of time.

4 out of 5

http://media.blubrry.com/drabblecast/p/www.drabblecast.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Drabblecast-230-Bears-Discover-Fire.mp3

Fast One - Paul Cain

2012-01-22T19:22:00.000+10:30

A gangster is happily doing what they do when another wants to hire him to work for him and run some stuff.

He doesn't like this idea, but taking over would be ok.

Things escalate, everybody dies, mostly.

3 out of 5

http://www.munseys.com/diskfour/fastonedex.htm

The Thrill of the Hunt - Kristine Kathryn Rusch

2012-01-22T19:12:00.002+10:30

Bullets work on magical people, too.

3.5 out of 5

http://kriswrites.com/2012/01/16/free-fiction-monday-the-thrill-of-the-hunt/

Archetype - Aaron Sims

2012-01-22T15:10:00.000+10:30

A robot gets independent.

3.5 out of 5

Ranks of Bronze - David Drake

2012-01-21T18:59:00.001+10:30

Ranks of Bronze finds a Roman Legion shanghaied and put to work for a group of interstellar traders. These rapacious types have agreements to solve conflicts by conflict - but only at the technology level of the locals. So if you have primitive barbarians with swords and shields - you send in your slave legion to fight them. Not too many better at the sword and shield game anywhere in space, it seems.

It also follows the maturation of a callow 18 year old rich tribune into an effective and rashly lead from the front type of officer. And you only know what the Legion knows, which is interesting.

And eventually, the Legion tire of dying for strange commanders and decided that spacejacking is the way to go.

4 out of 5

http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/03-SlammersCD/SlammersCD/Ranks%20of%20Bronze/Ranks_of_Bronze.htm

Rasputin's Bastards - David Nickle

2012-01-21T18:33:00.001+10:30

"Fyodor Kolyokov hadn't needed the isolation tank for a long time: not since the early days when all needs Physick were safely defined by the razor-wire fences of City 512. But need and desire often mingle to the same effect, and so as soon as he found a way, Kolyokov moved the tank from Russia to America. Hang the risk, he told himself. The tank was as much a part of his life as his eyes and his lungs and his heart. "

4 out of 5

http://davidnickle.blogspot.com/2012/01/rasputins-bastards-is-available-for-pre.html

Blue Remembered Earth 1 - Alastair Reynolds

2012-01-19T15:08:00.001+10:30

"So it was the blowpipe, then, as if there had been any doubt. Nothing else had the power to shake the ground like that. A hundred or more kilometres to the west, at this very moment, a payload was racing through the bowels of the Earth, slamming along a rifle-straight vacuum tunnel that would eventually bring it right under the party. Simple physics dictated that there would be recoil from the magnetic pushers, recoil that could only be absorbed by the awesome counterweight of the Earth itself. Launching masses eastwards delayed the sun’s fall to the west. It made the day last infinitesimally longer. On the day of her scattering, the sun had slowed for its daughter."

3 out of 5

http://www.gollancz.co.uk/2012/01/blue-remembered-earth-chapter-one/

Fleurs Du Mal - J. Kathleen Cheney

2012-01-19T15:04:00.000+10:30

Fruity body supply.

3.5 out of 5

http://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/story.php?s=90

A Hand For Each - J. Kathleen Cheney

2012-01-19T14:58:00.001+10:30

Heart squeeze for bodies.

3.5 out of 5

http://jkathleencheney.wordpress.com/free-fiction/a-hand-for-each/

Memories of the Dead Man - Douglas Smith

2012-01-18T23:56:00.001+10:30

Last of a team, looking to kill some Priests and helping out mother and son in Entity land.

4 out of 5

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/50326

The Seams Between the Stars - Kameron Hurley

2012-01-18T23:20:00.001+10:30

Umayma boy drop.

3.5 out of 5

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/85599

Afterbirth - Kameron Hurley

2012-01-18T23:09:00.000+10:30

Dead space program war.

3.5 out of 5

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/85603

Return of the Night of the Living Dead Monkey from Sunset Boulevard - Anonymous-9 Anonymous-9

2012-01-18T21:46:00.001+10:30

Goats, no zombie.

4 out of 5

http://theflashfictionoffensive.blogspot.com/2011/10/anonymous-9-promo.html

Mama Knew - Anonymous-9

2012-01-18T21:28:00.001+10:30

Working on an accident. Crazy.

3.5 out of 5

http://www.powderburnflash.com/?q=node/253

Eating the Deficit - Anonymous-9 Anonymous-9

2012-01-18T21:23:00.001+10:30

California cannabilism epidemic.

3.5 out of 5

http://powderburnflash.com/?q=node/447

Faith 1 - John Love

2012-01-18T13:30:00.001+10:30

"Only a Sakhran would be polite enough to describe it as a Command Post. It was a collection of three sheds (two plus an outside toilet) to which Madsen and two others had travelled by tracked groundcar. It was the only collection of buildings anywhere near the area where they had calculated, from the lifeboat’s last known trajectory, that the crashlanding might have occurred. Their orders were to set up at the command post and quarter the desert with the remotely-piloted drone to spot any survivors. It hadn’t worked. The drone was a low-budget, short-range model, and its optical circuits were trashed. Ironically (would Sarabt have seen this as the eleventh irony?) it had been assembled by Sakhrans, as part of a failing Commonwealth re-employment project.

In fact, the whole thing was rather half-assed. Yes, they’d told him, it would be easier just to quarter the desert with a flier, but all piloted fliers (Bast 3 didn’t have that many) were commandeered. In case, they told him, She came back."

3.5 out of 5

http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2012/01/exclusive-excerpt-faith-by-john-love/

Catala - Livia Llewellyn

2012-01-18T00:44:00.001+10:30

Putting mum back.

3.5 out of 5

http://www.jennymag.org/spring-11-issue/catala

Blue Remembered Earth Prologue - Alastair Reynolds

2012-01-17T20:29:00.001+10:30

"Memphis paused for breath. It must have been hard, carrying Sunday and also having to keep his own balance. ‘The artilect sensed the presence of Sunday’s machines, the ones inside her head. It worked out how to talk to them, how to make Sunday think there was someone calling.’

The idea of a machine tricking his sister – tricking her well enough that she had nearly convinced Geoffrey as well – was enough to chill him even as he sweated uphill.

‘What would have happened if she hadn’t fallen?’

‘The tank might have tried to persuade her to help it. Or it might have been trying to exploit some deeper vulnerability. Whatever it did, it caused your sister to go into seizure.’

3.5 out of 5

http://www.gollancz.co.uk/2012/01/blue-remembered-earth-prologue/

Eloi Eloi Lama Sabachthani - William Hope Hodgson

2012-01-17T20:25:00.001+10:30

The Baumoff Explosive - William Hope Hodgson
http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks06/0605781.txt

Light interruption = Boom.

3.5 out of 5

http://freesf.strandedinoz.com/wordpress/2007/06/the-baumoff-explosive-william-hope-hodgson/

The Eyes of God - Peter Watts

2012-01-17T15:34:00.001+10:30

The Eyes Of God - Peter Watts
The Shadow Knows what lurks in your heart you big ol' Chester.

3.5 out of 5

http://sad.duckandcover.cx/watts/

Teaching the Pig to Sing - David D. Levine

2012-01-17T14:57:00.001+10:30

Making strategic sense.

3.5 out of 5

http://www.bentopress.com/sf/pig.html

Pupa - David D. Levine

2012-01-17T14:56:00.001+10:30

Adult sleep assertion.

3 out of 5

http://www.bentopress.com/sf/pupa.html

Citizen Astronaut - David D. Levine

2012-01-17T14:51:00.001+10:30

Space accident blog.

2.5 out of 5

http://www.bentopress.com/sf/citizen.html

Subterranean Online 20 - William Schafer

2012-01-17T13:38:00.000+10:30

Just 3.13 here and pretty dull, except for the Resnick. Plus a sword article.

Subterranean Online 20 : Subterranean Online 20 - William Schafer
Subterranean Online 20 : White Lines on a Green Field - Catherynne M. Valente
Subterranean Online 20 : SHAKA II - Mike Resnick
Subterranean Online 20 : Antiquities and Tangibles - Tim Pratt
Subterranean Online 20 : Balfour and Meriwether in The Vampire of Kabul - Daniel Abraham

Coyote game.

3 out of 5

Tchaka fleet empire fall.

3.5 out of 5

Maybe partners in this stuff.

3 out of 5

Problems with dead granddad, etc.

3 out of 5

2.5 out of 5

http://subterraneanpress.com/index.php/magazine/fall-2011/

Shaka II - Mike Resnick

2012-01-17T13:34:00.000+10:30

Tchaka fleet empire fall.

3.5 out of 5

http://subterraneanpress.com/index.php/magazine/fall-2011/fiction-shaka-ii-by-mike-resnick/

Blue Remembered Earth Prologue - Alastair Reynolds

2012-01-17T13:23:00.001+10:30

"It is necessary to speak of beginnings. Understand one thing, though, above all else. Whatever brought us to this moment, this declaration, could never have had a single cause. If we have learned anything, it’s that life is never that simple, never that schematic.

You might say it was the moment when our grandmother set her mind to her last great deed. Or that it started when Ocular found something worthy of Arethusa’s attention, a smudge of puzzling detail on a planet circling another star, and Arethusa in turn felt honour bound to share that discovery with our grandmother."

3.5 out of 5

http://www.gollancz.co.uk/2012/01/blue-remembered-earth/

Balfour And Meriwether In The Vampire Of Kabul - Daniel Abraham

2012-01-16T20:24:00.000+10:30

Problems with dead granddad, etc.

3 out of 5

http://subterraneanpress.com/index.php/magazine/fall-2011/fiction-balfour-and-meriwether-in-the-vampire-of-kabul-by-daniel-abraham/

Antiquities And Tangibles - Tim Pratt

2012-01-16T20:19:00.000+10:30

Maybe partners in this stuff.

3 out of 5

http://subterraneanpress.com/index.php/magazine/fall-2011/fiction-antiquities-and-tangibles-by-tim-pratt/

White Lines On A Green Field - Catherynne M. Valente

2012-01-16T20:13:00.001+10:30

Coyote game.

3 out of 5

http://subterraneanpress.com/index.php/magazine/fall-2011/fiction-white-lines-on-a-green-field-by-catherynne-m-valente/

Flurb 11 - Eileen Gunn

2012-01-16T16:54:00.000+10:30

The usual 3.13ish bunch of oddballness, with some nifty photos.

Flurb 11 : Big Store Baoding - Kek-W
Flurb 11 : My Big Night Out With Thing - Leslie What
Flurb 11 : Hotels - Alberto Chimal
Flurb 11 : Medusa - Chris N. Brown
Flurb 11 : The Ghosts of Carnivores - Minister Faust
Flurb 11 : Fairy Werewolf vs. Vampire Zombie - Charlie Jane Anders
Flurb 11 : Bring Me the Head of André Breton! - Robert Guffey
Flurb 11 : The Last Hours of the Last Days - Bernardo Fernández
Flurb 11 : Stuff - Pepe Rojo
Flurb 11 : Cold Reading - Michael Swanwick
Flurb 11 : Dispatches From Interzone - Rudy Rucker
Flurb 11 : The Last Apollo Mission - Doug Lain

With many rules.

3 out of 5

Dog acid.

3.5 out of 5

Multiple sided.

3 out of 5

Bio-entity aid pregnant.

3.5 out of 5

U-Men discovery expanding Tranquility.

3.5 out of 5

With music.

3.5 out of 5

Odd hyperspace problem.

2.5 out of 5

Painful big smash.

3 out of 5

Machine problems.

3 out of 5

Killer performance.

2.5 out of 5

Shapeshifter and telepath.

3.5 out of 5

Kubrick set-to.

3 out of 5

3 out of 5

http://www.flurb.net/11/index11.html

The Last Apollo Mission - Douglas Lain

2012-01-16T16:37:00.001+10:30

Kubrick set-to.

2.5 out of 5

http://www.flurb.net/11/11lain.htm

Dispatches From Interzone - Rudy Rucker

2012-01-16T16:30:00.000+10:30

Shapeshifter and telepath.

3.5 out of 5

http://www.flurb.net/11/11rucker.htm

Cold Reading - Michael Swanwick

2012-01-16T16:17:00.000+10:30

Killer performance.

2.5 out of 5

http://www.flurb.net/11/11swanwick.htm

The Last Hours Of The Last Days - Bernando Fernandez

2012-01-16T16:11:00.001+10:30

Painful big smash.

3 out of 5

http://www.flurb.net/11/11bef_eng.htm

Stuff - Pepe Rojo

2012-01-16T16:08:00.000+10:30

Machine problems.

3 out of 5

http://www.flurb.net/11/11rojo_eng.htm

Bring Me The Head Of André Breton! - Robert Guffey

2012-01-16T16:04:00.000+10:30

Odd hyperspace problem.

2.5 out of 5

http://www.flurb.net/11/11guffey.htm

Fairy Werewolf vs Vampire Zombie - Charlie Jane Anders

2012-01-16T15:56:00.000+10:30

With music.

3.5 out of 5

http://www.flurb.net/11/11anders.htm

The Ghosts of Carnivores - Minister Faust

2012-01-16T15:53:00.001+10:30

U-Men discovery expanding Tranquility.

3.5 out of 5

http://www.flurb.net/11/11faust.htm

Medusa - Chris N. Brown

2012-01-16T15:48:00.000+10:30

Bio-entity aid pregnant.

3.5 out of 5

http://www.flurb.net/11/11brown.htm

Hotels - Alberto Chimal

2012-01-16T15:36:00.001+10:30

Multiple sided.

3 out of 5

http://www.flurb.net/11/11chimal_eng.htm

Clarkesworld 64 - Neil Clarke

2012-01-16T14:26:00.000+10:30

A decent issue at 3.33

Clarkesworld 64 : Scattered Along The River Of Heaven - Aliette De Bodard
Clarkesworld 64 : What Everyone Remembers - Rahul Kanakia
Clarkesworld 64 : All The Painted Stars - Gwendolyn Clare

Felicity, or elsewhere.

3.5 out of 5

Boat life.

3 out of 5

Not too Bright fight role.

3.5 out of 5

3.5 out of 5

http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/issue_64

All the Painted Stars - Gwendolyn Clare

2012-01-16T14:22:00.000+10:30

Not too Bright fight role.

3.5 out of 5

http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/clare_01_12/

What Everyone Remembers - Raul Kanakia

2012-01-16T14:10:00.000+10:30

Boat life.

3 out of 5

http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/kanakia_01_12/

Scattered Along The River Of Heaven - Aliette de Bodard

2012-01-16T13:59:00.001+10:30

Felicity, or elsewhere.

3.5 out of 5

http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/de_bodard_01_12/

Models - Kristine Kathryn Rusch

2012-01-16T13:53:00.000+10:30

Going for a different image.

3 out of 5

http://kriswrites.com/2012/01/09/free-fiction-monday-models/

Clarkesworld 63 - Neil Clarke

2012-01-16T13:35:00.000+10:30

No good at 3.00. The Peek story is ok and the discussion with De Bodard is interesting.

Clarkesworld 63 : Clarkesworld 63 - Neil Clarke
Clarkesworld 63 : Sirius - Ben Peek
Clarkesworld 63 : In Which Faster-Than-Light Travel Solves All Of Our Problems - Chris Stabback
Clarkesworld 63 : Silently And Very Fast 3 - Catherynne M. Valente

A big alien virus quarantine.

3.5 out of 5

I'm an alien.

3 out of 5

Bad apple.

2 out of 5

2.5 out of 5

http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/prior/issue_63/

Silently And Very Fast 3 - Catherynne M. Valente

2012-01-16T13:30:00.001+10:30

Bad apple.

2 out of 5

http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/valente_12_11/

In Which Faster-than-light Travel Solves All Of Our Problems - Chris Stabback

2012-01-16T13:26:00.001+10:30

I'm an alien.

3 out of 5

http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/stabback_12_11/

Sirius - Ben Peek

2012-01-16T13:22:00.001+10:30

A big alien virus quarantine.

3.5 out of 5

http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/peek_12_11/

City of Ruins 1 - Kristine Kathryn Rusch

2012-01-16T12:42:00.000+10:30

"The Ivoire dipped, then rose, then flipped and doubled back. Inside the bridge, the crew could feel no difference despite the rapid movements. The only way anyone could tell if something had changed was the flow of data coming through all the monitors.

The six-person bridge crew had fallen into their various roles, speaking rarely. They all knew what to do. They had to evade the ships, which were coming at them fast and furious from Ukhanda.

The ships were small and feather-shaped. They looked harmless, but already two of them had seared the Ivoire’s exterior with some kind of blast weapon.

The Ivoire’s captain, Jonathon “Coop” Cooper, had been in tight situations before. He knew how to maintain focus—his own and the crew’s. He had just ordered the wall screens on the bridge darkened. Normally he could see through the screens to whatever was happening on the ship’s exterior.

But seeing things just outside the wall as if he were looking out a window didn’t help him now. He had the navigational images front and center. Along the sides, a smaller image of the ship herself, and the enemy vessels pursuing her.

By rights, those ships shouldn’t be anywhere near the Ivoire. The Ivoire had left Ukhanda’s orbit nearly a day ago to rendezvous with the Fleet and figure out what had gone wrong.

No ship the Fleet had ever encountered had the speed to cover that distance in such a short time.

And this wasn’t just one ship. It was a damn armada.

“Whose ships are these?” he snapped at the bridge crew."

3.5 out of 5

http://kriswrites.com/2012/01/14/mid-month-novel-excerpt-city-of-ruins/

Femaville 29 - Paul Di Filippo

2012-01-16T12:26:00.000+10:30

Femaville 29 - Paul Di Filippo
Tsunami refugeee imagineering exodus.

4 out of 5

http://traffic.libsyn.com/starshipsofa/StarShipSofa_No_218_Paul_Di_Filippo.mp3

In the Mouth of the Whale 9 - Paul J. McAuley

2012-01-13T20:05:00.001+10:30

"We are at a tipping point in history. The Ghosts were driven back from Cthuga at the beginning of the war, and now they are reaching out towards Cthuga again. It is clear that they came to Fomalhaut because they wish to communicate with the Mind. We do not know if it wishes to communicate with them, but we do know that it wishes to communicate with us. I have been working long and hard to make full contact. That so many of you stand here today proves that the day when I achieve my aims is close at hand. All of you have been touched. All of you have been selected. Every one of you possesses some quality that attracted the Mind, and now a small part of it resides in your consciousness. Every one of you has the potential to change the war, and so change the course of history. Remember that always.'"

4 out of 5

http://www.omegacom.demon.co.uk/whale9.htm

Ashes of Candesce Prologue - Karl Schroeder

2012-01-12T20:33:00.001+10:30

"He refused to be baited. “So the Virga Home Guard agrees with Abyss’s official story, that the monster was a capital bug all along? — Even though there are dozens of Guard cruisers patrolling the sunless countries even now?”

3.5 out of 5

http://www.tor.com/stories/2012/01/ashes-of-candesce-excerpt

In the Mouth of the Whale 8 - Paul J. McAuley

2012-01-11T14:39:00.001+10:30

"Nowhere else in the Archipelago is privilege and status so nakedly displayed as in Thule, the thistledown city, the city of tiers. It was built by swarms of machines long before the first generation of Quicks was created from their seedship's genetic templates. The machines dropped a superstring of entangled gravitons into the centre of an icy planetesimal to deepen its vestigial gravity (one of the many technologies we have lost or failed to master), blew a roof shell from its surface and spun a forest of fullerene and diamond spines to support it, cooked off an atmosphere and a hydrological cycle, extended platforms from the spines at different levels and landscaped their surfaces. Platforms near the bases of the spines, just above the elaborate interlacing of the buttress roots that clutch the silica rock core, and in the permanent shadow of platforms higher up, support Quick kennels and tank farms, and congeries of machines and makers that recycle waste water and waste material, regulate partial pressure of the various components of the atmosphere and perform other essential maintenance tasks, and spin all kinds of goods, from styluses to skycars. The platform which bears the Permanent Floating Market and the Library of the Homesun is down there too. Above this twilight zone are platforms where freemartin True live and work in dense urban arcologies, and above those are the platforms owned by great clans, where trueborn scions live in sculpted parklands and estates."

4 out of 5

http://www.omegacom.demon.co.uk/whale8.htm

Interview: The Weird and - Lucius Shepard

2012-01-09T23:04:00.001+10:30

"Weirdfictionreview.com: What weird writers did you grow up reading? How did they influence or not influence your writing?

Lucius Shepard: I read Tolkien when I was a kid, also a few random books like A. Merritt’s The Moon Pool, but they didn’t make much of an impression. I didn’t really like Tolkien. My father forced me to read James Branch Cabell, which almost ruined me for fantasy. Somebody, I forget who, wrote of his Dragon King trilogy that his dragon hunters had the personalities (I’m paraphrasing here) of desperate insurance salesmen. Most of my independent reading tended toward non-fiction travel books, mostly old ones, which are definitely weird by any definition, and adventure fiction, but I managed to sneak in a good bit of Jack Vance — with his ornate backdrops and lowlife picaresque heroes, he fired up my imagination. Then there was Lafcadio Hearn, the author of Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things. He was an ex-pat who lived in Japan and even published a good portion of his fiction under a Japanese pseudonym. The exoticism of his stories fascinated me and the awkward baroque-ness of his descriptions frustrated me — even at an early age I could almost see how to make them more precise. My genre reading in childhood and my teens was limited, so these men remained my strongest influences."

4 out of 5

http://weirdfictionreview.com/2012/01/interview-the-weird-and-lucius-shepard/

Strange Creatures - Kristine Kathryn Rusch

2012-01-07T01:48:00.001+10:30

Sea clash tiedown, with knife.

3.5 out of 5

http://kriswrites.com/2012/01/02/free-fiction-monday-strange-creatures/

BEYOND 33000 - The 2011 Fiction Season Coaches by score

2012-01-06T15:58:00.000+10:30

In the Coaching Game, you only need 3 works edited to qualify. For coaching, anthologies and magazines count. There are 331 overall editors and teamups, with 94 qualifiers.

Gordon Van Gelder has stalled because FSF now only available on Kindle, literally and DRMed - can't use it on Kindle 4 PC. Desktop being where I read all the mags it is useless - and back issues may also disappear? Have a couple of issues of the no-story free one to look at, but those won't be added here. John Joseph Adams has a

Living Dead 2 anthology I haven't finished, a new Wizards and power armour books coming out. His climb from his current 10th spot will slow now that two magazines are one, as well. Andy Cox made a late season recovery with a few more Interzones appearing to enable him to hold down the current 7th spot.

101	4.36	Dozois, Gardner
68	3.55	Williams, Sheila
65	3.65	Van_Gelder, Gordon
45	3.61	Schmidt, Stanley
32	2.72	Marin, Eric
30	2.82	Harris, Lee and Alasdair Stuart and Trudi Topham
28	3.7	Cox, Andy
27	3.24	Sizemore, Jason
27	3.07	Wallace, Sean
26	3.79	Adams, John Joseph
23	3.78	Jones, Stephen
23	2.87	Wallace, Sean and Nick Mamatas
23	2.85	Harris, Lee and Alasdair Stuart
23	2.52	Andrews, Scott H.
21	4.02	Hartwell, David G. and Kathryn Cramer
20	4.03	Flint, Eric
20	3.88	Carr, Terry
17	3.68	Schafer, William
17	3.35	Greenberg, Martin H. and Isaac Asimov and Charles G. Waugh
15	4.03	O'Neill, John
15	3.83	Strahan, Jonathan
14	4.32	Hartwell, David G.
13	3.58	Silverberg, Robert
13	2.65	Sisolak, Marsha
12	4.17	Martin, George R. R.
12	3.33	Greenberg, Martin H.
10	4.05	Sanders, William and Lawrence Watt-Evans
10	4	Asimov, Isaac
10	3.4	Datlow, Ellen
10	3	Clarke, Neil
10	2.95	Rucker, Rudy
9	4.39	Greenberg, Martin H. and Robert Silverberg
9	3.44	Wollheim, Donald A.
9	3.17	Aldiss, Brian
8	3.69	Haining, Peter
8	3.69	Dedman, Stephen
8	3.69	Ashley, Mike
7	3.71	Horton, Rich
7	3.21	Scithers, George H.
7	3.14	Collins, Paul
6	3.75	Jones, Howard A.
6	3.67	Knight, Damon
6	3.58	Endacott, Sarah
6	3.5	Harrison, Harry and Brian Aldiss
6	3.33	Crowther, Peter
6	3.17	McNamara, Peter
6	1.67	Bixby, Jerome
5	4.3	Anders, Lou
5	3.8	Wessely, Tehani
5	3.7	Baen, James
5	3.6	Offutt, Andrew J.
5	3.6	Greenberg, Martin H. and Isaac Asimov
5	3.5	Lee, Stan
5	3.4	Dozois, Gardner and Sheila Williams
5	3.2	Stine, Jean Marie
5	3.2	Preiss, Byron
5	3.2	Higgins, Stephen and Dirk Strasser
5	3.1	Carter, Lin
5	3	Ellison, Harlan
4	4.13	Datlow, Ellen and Kelly Link and Gavin Grant
4	4	Silverberg, Robert and Karen Haber
4	3.75	Mann, George
4	3.25	Baxter, John
4	3	Kaye, Marvin
4	3	Groppi, Susan Marie
4	2.13	Anonymous, Anonymous
4	2	O'Sullivan, Jack
3	4.5	Bova, Ben
3	4.33	Wagner, Karl Edward
3	4.33	Greenberg, Martin H. and Harry Turtledove
3	4.17	Strahan, Jonathan and Karen Haber
3	4	Gunn, James
3	4	Greenberg, Martin H. and Jon Lellenberger and Daniel Stashower
3	3.83	Wessely, Tehani and Lucky Zinkiewicz
3	3.83	Moskowitz, Sam
3	3.67	Resnick, Mike
3	3.67	Congreve, Bill and Michelle Marquardt
3	3.5	Wollheim, Donald A. and Terry Carr
3	3.5	Greenberg, Ed
3	3.5	Broderick, Damien
3	3.5	Asprin, Robert Lynn
3	3.33	Salmonson, Jessica Amanda
3	3.33	Parry, Michel
3	3.33	Jones, Stephen and Ramsey Campbell
3	3.33	Jones, Stephen and David Sutton
3	3.33	Dozois, Gardner and Jack Dann
3	3.17	Matthews, Robbie
3	3.17	Datlow, Ellen and Terri Windling
3	3	Merril, Judith
3	2.5	Pohl, Frederik
3	2.5	Payne, Paul L.
3	2.17	Savory, Brett Alexander
3	2	Wieck, Stewart
3	1.83	Elwood, Roger



		BY AVERAGE
3	4.5	Bova, Ben
9	4.39	Greenberg, Martin H. and Robert Silverberg
101	4.36	Dozois, Gardner
3	4.33	Wagner, Karl Edward
3	4.33	Greenberg, Martin H. and Harry Turtledove
14	4.32	Hartwell, David G.
5	4.3	Anders, Lou
12	4.17	Martin, George R. R.
3	4.17	Strahan, Jonathan and Karen Haber
4	4.13	Datlow, Ellen and Kelly Link and Gavin Grant
10	4.05	Sanders, William and Lawrence Watt-Evans
20	4.03	Flint, Eric
15	4.03	O'Neill, John
21	4.02	Hartwell, David G. and Kathryn Cramer
10	4	Asimov, Isaac
4	4	Silverberg, Robert and Karen Haber
3	4	Gunn, James
3	4	Greenberg, Martin H. and Jon Lellenberger and Daniel Stashower
20	3.88	Carr, Terry
15	3.83	Strahan, Jonathan
3	3.83	Wessely, Tehani and Lucky Zinkiewicz
3	3.83	Moskowitz, Sam
5	3.8	Wessely, Tehani
26	3.79	Adams, John Joseph
23	3.78	Jones, Stephen
6	3.75	Jones, Howard A.
4	3.75	Mann, George
7	3.71	Horton, Rich
28	3.7	Cox, Andy
5	3.7	Baen, James
8	3.69	Haining, Peter
8	3.69	Dedman, Stephen
8	3.69	Ashley, Mike
17	3.68	Schafer, William
6	3.67	Knight, Damon
3	3.67	Resnick, Mike
3	3.67	Congreve, Bill and Michelle Marquardt
65	3.65	Van_Gelder, Gordon
45	3.61	Schmidt, Stanley
5	3.6	Offutt, Andrew J.
5	3.6	Greenberg, Martin H. and Isaac Asimov
13	3.58	Silverberg, Robert
6	3.58	Endacott, Sarah
68	3.55	Williams, Sheila
6	3.5	Harrison, Harry and Brian Aldiss
5	3.5	Lee, Stan
3	3.5	Wollheim, Donald A. and Terry Carr
3	3.5	Greenberg, Ed
3	3.5	Broderick, Damien
3	3.5	Asprin, Robert Lynn
9	3.44	Wollheim, Donald A.
10	3.4	Datlow, Ellen
5	3.4	Dozois, Gardner and Sheila Williams
17	3.35	Greenberg, Martin H. and Isaac Asimov and Charles G. Waugh
12	3.33	Greenberg, Martin H.
6	3.33	Crowther, Peter
3	3.33	Salmonson, Jessica Amanda
3	3.33	Parry, Michel
3	3.33	Jones, Stephen and Ramsey Campbell
3	3.33	Jones, Stephen and David Sutton
3	3.33	Dozois, Gardner and Jack Dann
4	3.25	Baxter, John
27	3.24	Sizemore, Jason
7	3.21	Scithers, George H.
5	3.2	Stine, Jean Marie
5	3.2	Preiss, Byron
5	3.2	Higgins, Stephen and Dirk Strasser
9	3.17	Aldiss, Brian
6	3.17	McNamara, Peter
3	3.17	Matthews, Robbie
3	3.17	Datlow, Ellen and Terri Windling
7	3.14	Collins, Paul
5	3.1	Carter, Lin
27	3.07	Wallace, Sean
10	3	Clarke, Neil
5	3	Ellison, Harlan
4	3	Kaye, Marvin
4	3	Groppi, Susan Marie
3	3	Merril, Judith
10	2.95	Rucker, Rudy
23	2.87	Wallace, Sean and Nick Mamatas
23	2.85	Harris, Lee and Alasdair Stuart
30	2.82	Harris, Lee and Alasdair Stuart and Trudi Topham
32	2.72	Marin, Eric
13	2.65	Sisolak, Marsha
23	2.52	Andrews, Scott H.
3	2.5	Pohl, Frederik
3	2.5	Payne, Paul L.
3	2.17	Savory, Brett Alexander
4	2.13	Anonymous, Anonymous
4	2	O'Sullivan, Jack
3	2	Wieck, Stewart
3	1.83	Elwood, Roger
6	1.67	Bixby, Jerome