Our weekly exploration of free and inexpensive short fiction available on the internet. Here are a few stories we’ve read that we wanted you to know about.
“A Recipe for Magic” by Kat Howard and Fran Wilde (2017, free at Barnes & Noble Sci-Fi & Fantasy blog, free to download for Nook)
“A Recipe for Magic,” co-written by Kat Howard and Fran Wilde, features a curious kind of shop: at the Night and Day Bakery, magic spells are baked directly into pastries and confections,
November 13th, 2017. Jana Nyman, Tadiana Jones and Marion Deeds | Fran Wilde, Kat Howard, Neil Gaiman, Philip K. Dick | Horror, Short Fiction | SFF Reviews | 3 comments |
The Nine (2017), by Tracy Townsend, is the first book in a fantasy series titled THE THIEVES OF FATE. This second-world fantasy, with its fascinating premise, imaginative settings, cool gadgets, and rich visuals, gives the reader an exciting heist story, beautifully rendered non-human people and an intellectually challenging, thought-provoking look at science, faith, and perception of God.
The Nine follows Rowena, a young woman who serves as a courier for a shady character;
November 13th, 2017. Marion Deeds´s rating: 4 | Tracy Townsend | SFF Reviews | 1 comment |
Ironclads by Adrian Tchaikovsky
In Ironclads (2017), the gap between the haves and have-nots has become drastically wider in this near-future novella, especially in the military, where it’s become popular for rich young men, called Scions, to engage in war, battling foes in high-tech, weaponized and near-impenetrable suits of armor paid for by their wealthy family corporations. It’s a little like having Iron Man, Iron Patriot, and several of their friends in your military, though without, apparently, the flying ability. In contrast, the regular army “grunts” are underpaid and denied most of the high-tech protections available to the Scions,
November 13th, 2017. Tadiana Jones´s rating: 4 | Adrian Tchaikovsky | Stand-Alone | SFF Reviews | 2 comments |
The "body count" bothered me a bit less because being dead seemed more like an inconvenience than anything else... unlike…
Detailed, thoughtful review, Bill. I'm going to read it for two reasons. First, Karen Russell wrote it, and second, it…
this sounds like a fun one
These weird westerns are always interesting and have been popping up more in recent times (it seemed like there was…
Looking forward to reading the review.