Free (and Legal) Science Fiction/Fantasy Reading

I got into a discussion today about an online resource sharing books for people to read during the pandemic. Only problem is, they don’t actually have permission to share some of those books…

Rather than rehash the fight over online file-sharing here, I thought I’d put together a list of legit SF/F reading and listening material for folks to explore and enjoy. I put out a call to authors on Twitter, asking for links. The response was both gratifying and a little overwhelming.

The British Science Fiction Association is doing something similar here.

Online Magazines

Podcasts

Free Fiction from Authors

  • Bellet, Annie – Short stories
  • Berthiaume, Heidi – Microfiction stories
  • Bisson, Simon – Hummingbird Futures, short story collection
  • Blake, Polenth – Patchwork, short fiction collection. “Includes superheroes, space bees and moon mushrooms.“
  • Bonesteel, Elizabeth – Survival Tactics, short story collection
  • Buhlert, Cora – Twitter links to Evacuation Order (space opera) and several other stories
  • Cohen, LJ – Derelict. “When Ro tinkers with a broken ship, she doesn’t count on waking its traumatized AI.“
  • Connolly, Harry – A Key, an Egg, an Unfortunate Remark, “my pacifist urban fantasy w/ a sixty-five year old protagonist who’s a mix of Gandalf and Auntie Mame.”
  • Cox, Stephen – Short fiction, various genres
  • Crawford, Richard S. – “Burying Uncle Albert,” short story about “a family dealing with dark deeds, a hidden past, and zombies.”
  • Danley, Kate – “snarky, badass urban fantasy“
  • de Bodard, Aliette – The Dragon That Flew Out of the Sun, “anthology of my Xuya space opera stories, inspired by Vietnamese culture“
  • Dixon, Buzz – Free flash fiction every Tuesday
  • Downes, Sarah – Long Live the Tidal King, a parallel timeline novella around a manuscript on the life of King Cnut and the two men who authored it. (Free through 4/3.)
  • Duane, Diane and Morwood, Peter – Freebies at Ebooks Direct
  • Ermakova, Marina – Terrestrial Magic, “urban fantasy set in a post-apocalyptic Italy, where a scientist researches legendary animals and dodges assassination attempts“
  • Eudaly, Rhonda – Posts flash fiction on Fridays
  • Frasier, A. W. – Watcher, “about a genderfluid god and a Watcher going on ridiculous adventures and falling in love“
  • Hamill, E. M. – Dalí, a space opera/spy adventure, free until 3/31
  • Handley, Rachel – Twitter link to short story “Possible Worlds”
  • Hawkins, Jaq – The Goblin Trilogy (click author link on Smashwords for more)
  • Haynes, Simon – Peace Force: light SF adventure (Harriet Walsh Book 1), free on Amazon for the next 2-3 days.
  • Heartfield, Kate – Twitter thread with links to free fiction
  • Higginbotham-Hogue, Nicole – Don’t Tell Me Twice
  • Hines, Jim C. – My free stuff is linked from the right sidebar of my website.
  • Hutchinson, Dave – Now Wash Your Hands, a “collection of some old bits and pieces.“
  • Irvine, Alex – Short fiction
  • Johanneson, Patrick – Short fiction
  • Klein, Karen C. – Torin’s Legacy, “a magical adventure book. Impish apprentices, magical malfunctions and grumpy wizards included.“
  • Kwak, Jessie – Negative Return, “a sf heist along the lines of Firefly with some Godfather mixed in for good fun.“
  • Lawless, J. R. H. – Short stories at Curious Fictions
  • Lee, Fonda – Stories and excerpts at Curious Fictions
  • Logan, Michael – Wannabes, “a satire about music, demons, reality TV and God forming a rock band with departed idols”
  • Lord, Karen – Twitter thread with links to free fiction and nonfiction
  • Lyman, Paige – Two short SF stories
  • Marmell, Ari – Strange New Words (short fiction collection)
  • McColley, John A. – Short stories
  • McDonald, Sam – Twitter thread with links to free poetry, nonfiction
  • McGuire, Seanan – October Daye short stories. (Site also has Incryptid short stories.)
  • McKenna, Juliet E. – “The Wizard’s Coming”
  • McSweeny, Madison – “The Beast and the Hummingbird” (short story). “A young girl becomes judge, jury, and possibly executioner in an otherworldly trial, after stumbling upon a monster chained up in the woods.“
  • Meikle, William – Free stories and samplers
  • Moore, Tanya – Free stories
  • Novakova, Julie – Dreams from Beyond, anthology of Czech translated SF
  • Novy, Rick – Short stories
  • O’Connacht, Lynn E. – Sea Foam and Silence: The Complete Collection – “hopeful, low stakes SFF short stories and a soft queer verse novel retelling of The Little Mermaid”
  • Phoenix Fiction Writers – Free books from their member authors
  • Powell, Gareth L. – “Downdraught” (Novella)
  • Quackenbush, Thomm – Stories and sample chapters, “most of which are new weird, contemporary fantasy, horror, or science fiction.”
  • Rempt, Irina – “Two fantasy books set in the same world“
  • Samphire, Patrick – Twitter thread with links to free short stories
  • Slinde, Andrew – short and flash SFF
  • Swendson, Shanna – Spindled, serialized YA fairy tale riff
  • Tearmann, O. E. – The Hands We’re Given, “hopeful spec-fic audio-book here: a fight for freedom in the future America. Sex, drones, rock and roll!“
  • Thomas, Llinos Cathryn – F/F romance novellas
  • Thompson, Tade – Household Gods and Other Narrative Offences (a collection of seven stories)
  • Trent, Tiffany – “The Bargain” – Fey King who undergoes a career change
  • Underwood, Michael R. – Genrenauts: The Data Disruption, “a novelette about dimensional travelers trying to help a group of cyberpunk mercenaries rescue their missing hacker.”
  • Voss, C. A. – Genesis. “It’s like Independence Day meets Jurassic Park with a touch of Armageddon.“
  • Watts, Peter – novels and short fiction
  • Wendig, Chuck – the Mookie Pearl duology. “Urban fantasy about a dude who works the literal intersection between the criminal underworld and the actual-literal-monstery-underworld.”
  • Willis, Matthew – “Ascent,” a “multigenerational saga of a family’s relationship with a mountain“
  • Wolfe, Alexandra – Free fiction and excerpts
  • Ybabez, Gillian – Short stories

Other

I’ll update as I’m able, but this ought to keep y’all busy for at least a few weeks of social isolation!

Next Storytime: April 3 at 8 p.m.

For those who enjoyed last week’s Storytime with Jim, I’m happy to say it’s happening again next Friday, April 3, at 8 p.m. Eastern Time. I’ll be reading “Over the Hill,” another light fantasy story, originally published almost sixteen years ago! in Turn the Other Chick.

Just like before, the live reading will be over on my Facebook Author Page, and I’ll get the video uploaded to my YouTube channel a day or two later.

And yes, I’ll wear a hat. Not sure it will be the Smudge hat again, but I’ll have something fun.

If this works out as well as the last one, I’ve got a surprise lined up that could keep Storytime going through the summer 🙂

Storytime Video

After a few technical difficulties getting started, I think last night’s storytime went well. We had between 30 and 40 people watching online, and I filmed before a live studio audience of my son and the dogs. Toward the end, you can hear the dogs whining to go out, but I prefer to pretend they were caught up in the story and whining out of eagerness to learn how Golaka would escape.

If you missed it, the video is posted on YouTube and Facebook.

Thanks to everyone who participated. It was good to connect with other people, and to distract myself from all the 2020 crap going on these days.

I definitely plan to do this again. It may not be a weekly thing — this took a bit more time to prepare, do, and upload than I’d expected — but I’ll announce the next one as soon as I figure out the details. (I also have a longer-term idea for something I could do…but that’s still in the Secret Projects file for now 😉 )

And yes, I intend to keep wearing the hat!

Storytime with Jim! Tomorrow at 8 p.m.

On Sunday, I asked folks on Facebook and Twitter what they thought about doing an online storytime where I’d pick something of mine to read to whoever felt like tuning in. The response was enthusiastic (thank you!), and of the three possible stories I suggested, the winner was “A Game of Goblins,” a story about Golaka the chef getting caught up in Game of Thrones-style chaos.

Storytime starts tomorow, March 20, at 8 p.m. Eastern Time on my Facebook Author Page.

I scheduled it to begin at 7:45, but that’s to make sure I have time to get any technical problems or glitches straightened out. I’ve never done this before, so anything could happen! But it probably won’t. Though there may be interruptions for attention-hungry cats or dogs who urgently need to check the back yard for squirrel incursions.

Afterward, I plan on posting the video to YouTube for anyone who wasn’t able to tune in and hear it live.

Is the story kid-friendly?

A friend asked this, and the answer is … sort of? It’s light/satirical fantasy, similar to my goblin books. There are some off-screen deaths that are rather unpleasant, but that scene isn’t very long. So depending on your kid, it’s probably fine?

Can I read it for myself?

Sure! The story was first published in Unidentified Funny Objects 6, edited by Alex Shvartsman. The book also includes stories from Esther Friesner, Laura Resnick, Jody Lynn Nye, Gini Koch, Alan Dean Foster, and many more.

Do you have a Patreon?

This came up during the discussion on Facebook. It’s not the first time I’ve been asked about doing a Patreon. I finally decided what the heck, and set one up. I’m not asking for or expecting anything, but for anyone who thought the world needed a Jim C. Hines Patreon, you can rest easy tonight.

Will you do more of these?

Maybe? Probably? I think it will mostly depend on how this first one goes.

Website Issues

The site seems to have borked itself. I’m working on getting things straightened back out. Most of the content should still be here, but it may not be pretty. Sorry about that.

ETA: Got the banner back, menu and social media icons mostly where they’re supposed to be. Need to fix some header styles and figure out why my books portfolio still isn’t showing on the main page…
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