I’m back in Boston for week three of “Don’t-see-my-family-April”, and today work got me incredibly down.
However, as it is (or, as midnight just clicked over, was) International Pixel-Stained Peasant Day, I have lots of free fun stuff to read and cheer me tonight.
If you don’t know what I’m talking about you need to first see this, then read a couple of responses (like this, this, or this), and then see how it lead to this.
For those of you not clicking through the links, what it amounts to is a whole bunch of tech-hip authors posting (or linking to) their writing on the web for free.
You can hear three outspoken author types chat about this in an MP3 capture of a panel discussion here.
There’s a list of some of them, but not all of them, here. Or you can peruse the thing that arose here (what’s the term for a mutli-user flashmob blog?) for lots more links.
Here are some that I would recommend, in no particular order:
- Weiroot, a character piece, by Jeffrey Ford, probably my favourite living short story writer, and one my favourite novelists too!
- The kids (a.k.a. Gavin and/or Kelly) over at the LCRW/Small Beer collective have posted a veritable cornucopia of wonderful free stuff, notably including Kelly’s The Faery Handbag, and Richard Butner’s Other Agents.
- The Element of Fire, by Martha Wells. A whole novel, and one I liked. I’ve spoken of Wells here before.
- Missile Gap, by Charles Stross. A whole novella, and one I’m getting to read online before my paper copy gets here, since they just shipped this week.
- Novelist, nigh-governor, and road-trip planner extraordinaire Will Shetterly has a page linking to several of his stories, as well as a complete 159-page comic free online.
- Jay Lake brings us Glass: A Love Story
- Novelist, singer, songwriter, and caffeine-addict Emma Bull promises a week of free stuff, starting with lyrics to her contribution to a Chris Ewen project.
- Acclaimed and outspoken Aussie YA novelist, and academic, Justine Larbalestier gives us a three chapter tease of an upcoming work. Her husband also posts some mysterious stuff from his dark past.
- Another Aussie, Stephen Dedman, brings us a very short short.
- My pal Gwenda Bond, once known in her wilder days as “Apocalypse Barbie”, has a YA story about spirit animals.
- Sarah Monette brings us The Watcher In The Corners.
I’m sure there’s lots more good stuff I haven’t seen yet, but it was quite a welcome flood today, that’s for sure.
