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Posts Tagged ‘free fiction’

What We Can Become

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , on January 23, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Released today, Grist’s Imagine 2200 contest brings new, more hopeful, visions of the future.

Imagine 2200: The 2024 climate fiction contest collection | Grist

Grist’s Imagine 2200: Climate Fiction for Future Ancestors short story contest celebrates stories that offer vivid, hope-filled, diverse visions of climate progress. From 1,000 submissions, our reviewers and judges selected the three winners and nine finalists you will discover in this collection. These stories are not afraid to explore the challenges ahead, but offer hope that we can work together to build a more sustainable and just world. Through rich characters, lovingly sketched settings, and gripping plots, they welcome you into futures that celebrate who we are and what we can become — and, we hope, inspire you to work toward them.

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Photo by Jonas Verstuyft on Unsplash

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Just Waiting

Posted in Other, tagged , , , , , on January 12, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Bright sun, blue skies, and the sense of a storm looming just below the horizon. I’m working, watching and waiting, and maybe this latest unpredictable system will blow past us without much fuss. Or maybe, like many of you, we’ll find ourselves in the middle of an Arctic blast buried beneath many centimeters of snow. 

While we wait to see how this latest example of Nature’s power manifests, here’s another dose of free fiction.

Download the Tor.com November/December 2023 Short Fiction Bundle

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Photo by Mira Kemppainen on Unsplash

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Free to Read, This Week Only!

Posted in Entertainment, Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , on January 11, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Good news, fellow seekers of good fiction, my fellow Writer of the Future David Hankins has made his award-winning story “Death and the Taxman” available free for this week only! If you haven’t already read it in Writers of the Future Volume 39, I highly recommend it.

Read Death and the Taxman

The story is funny, well-written, and the springboard for his upcoming novel (I supported the highly-successful Kickstarter; the book will be widely released on Tax Day because David’s sense of timing is as on point as his humor!). 

Enjoy!

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Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

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Want to Read

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , , on January 9, 2024| Leave a Comment »

An ode to the stories I want to read but haven’t quite managed, yet.

The Coffin Maker – Uncanny Magazine

Every so often, audio crackles through the room, too loud, and the crowd stills and quiets as one. Stephani knows that they are all like her, waiting, waiting, waiting to find out how this mission will fail, hoping it will be a small thing with no ripples, praying they won’t have to hear it, knowing they will listen if a surveyor’s last words are broadcast across the ship. 

Have I read this? I have not, but Uncanny stories are always high quality and often hopeful (if sometimes disturbing; fair warning in case this story turns out to be one of those!). Perhaps you will have more time today than I do.

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Photo by Photobank Kiev on Unsplash

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On Connections

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , , , on July 31, 2023| Leave a Comment »

One special part of the Writers of the Future experience was meeting other writers. I’m sure other cohorts were good but our group was (obviously;) the best.

I’ve already introduced you to Elaine Midcoh, but here’s another piece by fellow volume 39 writer, Grand Prize winner and all-around nice guy David K. Henrickson.

Living Space by David K. Henrickson – Factor Four Magazine

Picking up stakes wasn’t easy for the dead. The older you got, the more connections you made. I had friends in the city I’d known for decades, some even before my death. It made relocating elsewhere difficult.

He also wrote an essay about his path to publication, appropriately titled Old But Not Too Old to Succeed!

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Photo by Irena Carpaccio on Unsplash

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Dangerous Professions

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , , , on July 28, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Posting Elaine Midcoh‘s story recently brought another audio story to mind. Do you enjoy free fiction, aliens with bad attitudes, and unexpected moments of redemption? Then you might enjoy this story as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Originally published as “Heaven’s Lot” in Not One of Us, it was also produced in audio by the fabulous folks at Cast of Wonders.

Taxidermy and Other Dangerous Professions | Cast of Wonders

Author: J.R. Johnson Narrator: M.K. Hobson (transcript included for those who prefer text; story starts at 1:51)

By late afternoon the day was hot, hot and hot, my feet burning up through flimsy red canvas shoes. My skin too, even with its built-in mocha café au lait sunscreen, out all day with no protection but a nondescript outfit topped with my stifling jean jacket. I kept that between me and prying eyes, always.

Enjoy!

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Photo by Arturo Esparza on Unsplash

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Man on the Moon

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , on July 24, 2023| 3 Comments »

Today, an award-winning piece from friend and fellow Writers of the Future winner Elaine Midcoh. “Man on the Moon” won the 2022 Jim Baen Memorial Short Story Award, and was also showcased at Escape Pod.

I really enjoyed this story and look forward to more from this world. Read or listen below!


Escape Pod 895: Man on the Moon

Sasha’s eyebrows shot up. Her driver made the final turn back to the resort dome. Within minutes they would enter the airlock and then she would – what? “I’m not a criminal defense lawyer. I haven’t read a criminal case since law school. What am I supposed to do?”

Zander grimaced. “Whatever you can. The next transport to the moon is in ten days. It’s booked up, but we’re trying to clear a seat for a top defense lawyer. Until then, you’re on your own.”

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Photo by History in HD on Unsplash

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Gifts from the Mountain

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , on July 21, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Tor.com has another collection out, and in honor of its 15th anniversary it will be free from now until the end of July. (That’s July 2023, to all you time travelers out there.) 

It’s Our Birthday! Download the Free Tor.com 15th Anniversary Short Fiction Bundle

This year on July 20th, Tor.com turns 15! Since that long-ago year of 2008, we’ve published more than 600 original stories from authors around the world. To celebrate, we’ve pulled together some highlights from those last 15 years into a special, free, limited-time bundle!

Free fiction by good writers in a convenient package. What’s not to like?

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Photo by Edgar Soto on Unsplash

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Spring Fiction Sampler

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , on June 14, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Tor.com has released its free fiction bundle, in case you want to explore such things!

Download the Tor.com Spring 2023 Short Fiction Bundle | Tor.com

Our Spring 2023 Short Fiction bundle features stories by:

A.C. Wise
E. Lily Yu
Eugenia Triantafyllou
Yoon Ha Lee
Kemi Ashing-Giwa
Jeffrey Ford

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Photo by Francesco Ungaro on Unsplash

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A Bold Mission

Posted in Science!, Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on April 4, 2023| Leave a Comment »

NASA recently released the Artemis II roster for the next crewed lunar mission. As one article put it, “this is not your grandfather’s moon mission” and that’s a good thing. The crew is 25% female, 25% African American, and even (gasp!) 25% Canadian! (Think you too have what it takes? Here’s a link to get started: Astronaut Selection Program | NASA. Good luck!)

Why go to space? There are a lot of potential answers. Given the complex, diverse and fascinating future of exploration, here’s a collection of stories and essays that address this very question.

Visions, Ventures, Escape Velocities: A Collection of Space Futures from ASU’s Center for Science and the Imagination

Stories by: Madeline Ashby, Steven Barnes, Eileen Gunn, Ramez Naam, Carter Scholz, Karl Schroeder, Vandana Singh

Essays by: Jim Bell, Lawrence Dritsas, Linda T. Elkins-Tanton, Emma Frow, Roland Lehoucq, Andrew D. Maynard, Clark A. Miller, Deji Bryce Olukotun, Steve Ruff, William K. Storey, Sara Imari Walker, G. Pascal Zachary

Interview with: Kim Stanley Robinson

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Photo by Armand Khoury on Unsplash

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