49 Comments on “Free Fiction & An Open Pimp Thread”

1. Thanks for the pimp opportunity!

   Check out http://www.WorldsWithoutEnd.com for complete lists of winners and nominees for the top 10 best novel awards in SF/F:

   Hugo, Nebula, BSFA, Locus SF and Fantasy, Campbell, BFS, WFA, PKD and Clarke

   All presented in a cover gallery display with synopsis and excerpts for over 1,200 of the best books in the genre. We’ve also got listings for SF and Fantasy Masterworks so you can keep track of which ones you’ve read and a whole lot more.

2. Explosive Runes is a blistering collection of genre flash-fiction, on sale now for just $2.

   http://tinyurl.com/yfey5st

   These highly charged bursts of fiction, by author Sean M. Nokes, deliver intensity and instant gratification in an elegant few pages. They introduce us to a cursed private detective, a desperate and bedraggled wizard, spell-slinging G-men and a retired cut-purse who gets coerced into one last big heist.

   And it’s a bargain This collection contains four evocative blasts of fantasy genre fiction for the recession beating price of just $2.
   http://tinyurl.com/yfey5st

3. I just finished the fantasy novel Melusine by Sarah Monette (okay, it’s a few years old, I’m behind on my reading) and I think I’m in love. It’s a dark, intelligent, fresh spin on old tropes. One of the protagonists is a street tough with a wicked sense of humour; the other is a wizard who spends much of the novel insane, in a sensitive, nuanced depiction of mental illness. Plus there’s magic with multiple schools of thought, which is really neat to read. Plus Monette isn’t afraid to make her characters really suffer. Plus her sentence-level writing (dual first-person) is amazing. Plus there’s an ancient citadel, a preindustrial city, travel to exotic lands, and so on — again, all with a fresh take. (Fair warning: it’s first in a series.)

4. ‘kay. I’ll be pimped. How many really inexpensive e-books do I have available on Kindle? A bunch. A bunch I say. 2 kids books available for 99 cents–Monster Seeker and The Battle For Atlantis. A standalone thriller, Edge, for $2.99. E-versions of my Derek Stillwater thrillers, The Devil’s Pitchfork and The Serpent’s Kiss for $2.99 each! And somewhere in there, my latest, The Fallen, that my publisher is hawking as an e-book for, I don’t know, $7.99 or something. Check it out.
   http://www.amazon.com/Mark-Terry/e/B001JSAPW0/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1

5. Just want to take the chance to promote a new website. It is for a Tibetan meditation center in Annapolis MD. It offers classes on Buddhism, meditation, and the Tibetan language The teacher is actually from Tibet, and he’s great! If you’re curious about Tibetan Buddhism, check it out:

   http://www.gampopacenter.com/

6. Thanks for the pimp opportunity. Congrats to John for being nomiated for the 2009 National Fantasy Fan Federation (N3F) award for best science fiction author. The award is called the “Nefee”. Voting is by all active N3F members. For more info see the National Fantasy Fan Federation website!
   Also, plan on coming to New Orleans next November for the first Contraflow science fiction convention sponsored the Area 504 science fiction club!!! It’s about time we had a science fiction in New Orleans!!

7. John Joseph Adams and I are also the hosts of a free podcast called The Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy, where we discuss fantasy & science fiction and science & technology. Featuring interviews with authors such as George R. R. Martin, Naomi Novik, Holly Black, Carrie Vaughn, Cherie Priest, and Paolo Bacigalupi.
   http://www.davidbarrkirtley.com/blog/?cat=18

8. Well, one day I got into wondering how easy it might be to think up bare raving conspiracy-nuttery as an artistic project (alternately, as a piss-take of that particular kind of idiocy.)

   Turns out, too easy.

   Mirrors of Eris, for your entertainment.

9. A friend of mine recently started a new webpage he calls Nightmare Fuel that some folks here might find amusing. It’s basically a collection of the sorts of things that , while not intentionally creepy, nevertheless really creep people out. The top-ranked one is the first McDonalds commercial to feature Ronald McDonald, which is pretty ghastly.

10. In addition to writing mixed-review children’s picture books and typo-ridden p.o.d. middle-grade novels, I also write television animation.

    My first episode of “Scooby Doo! Mystery Incorporated”, (“Battle of the Humongonauts”) begins airing this Monday, September 06, 7:00 PM (e/p) on Cartoon Network!

11. Fascinating and thought-provoking sculptor:
    http://www.niktongas.com/.

12. Hooray! Free fiction AND a pimp thread!

    As usual, I’d like to pimp my podcast, The Labyrinth Library, wherein I do short weekly book reviews. It’s kind of like going through my bookshelf and telling you what’s good to read, and occasionally what to avoid. Episodes are usually about 10-15 minutes long, and there’s 86 of them so far. This month is especially good, since I got a whole new recording setup and the sound quality has improved quite a bit. We’ll be doing SCIENCE! for the rest of the month, and that’s always fun.

    So come join the tens, maybe DOZENS of listeners and let’s talk books!

13. Roger E. @ 10 —

    And I would watch your ep, too, if not for those meddling kids!

    Seriously, it’s more than likely to be seen in our household.

    Perhaps you can answer something that’s bothered me for nearly 40 years. When is Fred going to have a sexual thought? I mean, Daphne’s right there next to him, and she’s clearly open to the idea of deepening their relationship. He seems oblivious.

    C’mon. What gives with this guy? If he’s not into women, he should just let her know ….

14. Thanks for pimping my story at Clarkesworld! One small typo: it’s Gaskell not Gaskill. (Curse those Gaskills, always stealing our thunder!)

    As to other pimpage, I should mention two brand new speculative markets. First, is Daily Science Fiction (dailysciencefiction.com) who will deliver a high-quality story to your inbox every single weekday for nothing. Lavie Tidhar is today’s author, and upcoming writers include Tim Pratt, Cat Rambo, and human cyclone Mary Robinette Kowal.

    Secondly, Spectra Magazine (spectramagazine.com) is a monthly e-zine available in manner formats including iPad, Kindle, and iPhone. They supply a mix of fiction and features, and could potentially be a bold innovator for the future of short fiction. They are also currently running a flash fiction contest with a Kindle as first prize. What are you waiting for?

15. Hmm… what to pimp, what to pimp?

    Ok, first there’s my blog, where I chronicle my struggle to become a published author, as well as review movies I’ve seen and books I’ve read. It can be found at:

    http://lefthandofdorkness.blogspot.com/

    Next, I’ve got to pimp the book I just finished. It’s called Objects of Worship by Claude Lalumiere. Awesome, awesome collection of stories from a Montreal based author. I recommend picking it up. If you need another selling point, it has gay zombies raising a human child in one of the stories. How can you resist buying after hearing that? I expect to write a review for it on my blog soon (see how I fit the double pimp in there, eh, eh), but it can be found on the publisher’s site here:

    http://www.chizine.com/chizinepub/books/objects-of-worship.php

16. Thanks for letting us pimp ourselves out ;)

    Writing has always been a passion of mine. Even as a kid I was jotting down some made up fantasy. Since then I’ve taken writing classes which helped refine my style. I like creating my own kind of military SF. After many months of effort I came up with something neat. You can check it out here.

17. I’ve started a podcast. It’s my thoughts on science fiction, local (midwestern) news, and eventually some flash fiction. I have two episodes so far! Ten whole minutes of content! The next episode won’t be up until after the Hugos… so I can talk about the Hugos. :D

    It’s called “The Voice of the Vortex,” and it’s available on iTunes and at http://voiceofthevortex.podbean.com/

18. Check out Randall Klopping’s art website! Lots of incredible science fiction landscape pieces! He’s a one of my extended cousins who has a boatload of talent!

    http://www.imagekind.com/GalleryProfile.aspx?gid=279fa8d0-a584-4c47-b0c0-53d15ac38f3d

19. Well, why not… I’ll pimp the fact that I have a shiny livejournal full of book reviews for your, yes YOUR, delectation, education, and enjoyment; indeed, each review… ah, I’m really bad at pimping things. I tend to review a book every few days or so, I review most fiction books I read (mostly sff, really), and I hope if you clicky through you’ll find them useful and at least a bit informative!

    http://greatalexanders.livejournal.com/

20. Nick @ 13 — Fred is best summed up as “clueless”. Although he’s a bit more dialed in for this edition of the series (he and Daphne actually go on a date in one of my future episodes), he’s still just a big dufus who’d rather solve mysteries than pay proper attention to a hottie that’s totally into him. I don’t understand it either. Then again, I don’t wear an ascot and groovy bell-bottoms.

21. Thanks for letting us do this! I’ve never failed to find good things in these threads =).

    I’m going to go out on a limb and recommend a friend’s blog to everyone. She calls it a “serial fiction” blog. She started out presenting the first chapters to several different stories and then every month she holds a poll to see what story deserves a new chapter.

    There are currently 4 stories (with different age ratings), a full NanoWrimo novel (I’m biased, but I thought it was pretty darn good), and some other shorter work.

    The stories are good reads and she would appreciate any input, suggestions, or simply votes on which stories to continue on with.

    The address is http://abruce.november-fifth.com/

22. Book— Mortal Coils by Eric Nylund.
    I have read this young man before, and quite liked how he blends both 1st person narration and setting of mood where applicable.
    Nice story, nice characters, and good solid pacing. Entertaining in the way that Naomi Novik’s
    characters are.

23. Oooo, pimping time! Yay! I am so totally going to pimp myself out here.

    Wait, that sounded wrong…

    Anyway, folks should check out my little paranormal romance novel, Strip. It’s available as either an ebook or part of a 3 story print anthology at http://www.newconceptspublishing.com/marnamartinbooks.html

    What do Egyptian mummification rituals, Aztec chocolate and undead lesbian three-ways have in common? Read Strip and find out!

24. Going to pimp myself first. I recently released an anthology (as editor) through Circlet Press called Like a Sacred Desire: Tales of Sex Magick. It features stories by Jana Denardo, D.L King, David Sklar, Raven Kaldera, and a few others. Details can be found here:

    http://www.circlet.com/?p=1293

    I also have three poems in the collection Vicious Verses and Reanimated Rhymes edited by A.P. Fuchs. It’s a collection of zombie poetry.

    http://www.coscomentertainment.com/viciousverses.html

    As for other stuff, hm…I recently watched Peacock starring Cillian Murphy and loved it. It had a wonderful cast and the music was gorgeous.

    I’ve been listening to Florence + The Machine practically non-stop.

    And I’m reading Darkness edited by Ellen Datlow.

    I think this open pimping thread is a great idea and I definitely see a few things I’m going to check out.

25. Oh pimpage, pimpage. I’ll pimp something of my own, because I’m psyched that my erotic response to the Harry Potter books, the Magic University series, is actually coming into print. Three volumes have been done in ebook form with Ravenous Romance, but print editions are imminent. The first book in the series, THE SIREN AND THE SWORD, is up for pre-order on Amazon and will be in bookstores next month, published by Red Silk Editions, the new paranormal romance imprint of Red Wheel Weiser Conari. (Amazon is offering it at a ridiculous pre-order discount as well, but if you prefer not to encourage the Amazonian hegemony they will be available at any decent bookstore, too.)

    I’m reading at Lady Jane’s Salon in New York City on Monday (sept 6th) at 7pm and I may read from The Siren & the Sword, or possibly from Mind Games, my current paranormal romance from Red Silk.

    When it comes to pimping other stuff, there’s lots of good stuff to be found among the online fiction serials you’ll find listed at Top Web Fiction (http://topwebfiction.com). Most of them are science fiction/fantasy. Among my favorites are SPOTS THE SPACE MARINE by MCA Hogarth and the serials of Meilin Miranda, who is also the maven of the Digital Novelists site.

26. Well, I’ve started playing around with Flash, and created some little videos about how to boss around those cowardly calories that dare lurk in your delicious food. There will eventually be 10 instalments so you should be able to find an excuse to eat for any occasion, but progress has been slow, so there’s only 2 up so far.

27. I’d like to pimp some ebooks I’ve read or re-discovered in recent months as they’ve become available.

    Fantasy-based:

    – Book View Café Authors
    Sherwood Smith at Smashwords (also DAW releases Coronets & Steel this week)
    Judith Tarr at Smashwords
    Steven Harper at Smashwords

    Diane Duane at Smashwords
    Jane S. Fancher is continuing her RingDancer series with an all new book which she has just released via ClosedCircle.net

    Romance and Mystery:

    Patricia Ryan/P.B. Ryan at Smashwords

28. I’m working on my fifth novel at the mo, and have put up the first 40,000 words as a .pdf download on my blog. I intend to keep releasing the novel in chunks as I get it done, because giving away stories for free gives me the warm and fuzzies.

    http://www.ruzkin.com/?page_id=973 has the download link. Enjoy!

29. Here’s some pimping then – a metalworking friend of mine in the Dordogne in France makes a variety of great beaten-copper fish sculptures you can hang on the wall. As well as being a good artwork by day, after dark they make good and rather moody lighting fixtures.

    See the website I did for him, complete with a picture gallery and a link to a 3-min YouTube of him bashing out a small demo piece, at http://www.metalimage.co.uk/. (The video comes with a little animated coda I added for fun). He also does other metalwork, such as sundials and armillary spheres. They’re a good focal point and conversation-piece addition to a sizeable garden, such as this one at the Chateau Marouatte.

    Plus they’re even marginally practical, each example calibrated, of course, to its position on earth. That’s something that might well appeal to our host, though I suspect in his case there’s an armillary-sphere maker nearer to home.

30. I’d like to pimp Ralan.com. Ralan has been pimping for all writers for the last 14 years. He’s having his annual fundraiser this month. If you’ve ever used his amazing web site now’s the time to support him.

31. There’s a bloke by the name of Scalzi currently visiting Australia. I managed to track him down at Worldcon. I’ve been blogging the con irregularly so if you’re having trouble remembering just who this Scalzi guy is wander over to my blog and check out some of what he has been getting up to.

    http://shaneonthego.blogspot.com

32. More zombie pimpage:

    The Rigor Amortis anthology of zombie erotica will be out later this month. I have a story it in. And with a theme like that, you know you want to read it.

    Don’t you?

33. Aw, it’s my first self-pimp. Thanks for the opportunity.
    My first short story sale ever recently went up at Beneath Ceaseless Skies. It’s short and pretty and has women taking off their skin to wash them.
    (And I can’t say enough good things about BCS themselves. They were very prompt in getting out the acceptance, contract, edits, payment and even publication itself.)

34. OMG. My friend has the best flash fiction website. She posts short bits everyday and longer short stories on Sundays. Check it out:

    antheastrezze.com

35. Meteor House is posting the first 200 words of stories from The Worlds of Philip José Farmer 1: Protean Dimensions online: http://meteorhousepress.com/

    This collection is a tour through SF Grand Master Philip José Farmer’s many creations, featuring essays by the likes of Randall Garrett and James Gunn, interviews with Farmer, stories set in Farmer’s worlds by Chris Roberson, David Bischoff, Rhys Hughes, and other SF/F talents, and previously unpublished fiction and more by Farmer himself.

    It is a numbered limited edition of only 500 copies and sells for only $20.

36. Discordian Quotes. That is all.

37. Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World is a massive timeline of crossover stories in which characters, situations, or universes are linked together in order to build the Crossover Universe. Compiled by crossover and Wold Newton expert Win Scott Eckert, Crossovers lists upwards of 2000 crossover stories, with innumerable additional timeline entries which outline the secret history of the land of fiction. With introductions by Kim Newman (Volume 1) and Jess Nevins (Volume 2), each volume is illustrated with over 200 book and magazine covers, and contains appendices covering myriad television crossovers, alternate universes, and Newman’s Anno Dracula series.

    Now available from Black Coat Press:
    http://www.blackcoatpress.com/crossovers.htm

38. Well, pimpage inspiration* has failed me, so it’s the old standby: pimping my own recent work. This includes a fantasy tale called “Same-Day Delivery”:

    http://www.onthepremises.com/issue_11/story_11_h1.html

    and a light horror tale called “A Hot Time in the Old Town”:

    http://www.short-story.me/horror-stories/224-a-hot-time-in-the-old-town.html

    *”Pimpage Inspiration” is also my favorite Snoop Dogg album.

39. Capclave, the literary SF convention put on by the Washington Science Fiction Association will be held October 22-24, 2010 at the Washington DC-Rockville Hilton & Executive meeting center, which is right across the parking lot from the Twinbrook stop on the metro red line.

    The guests of honor this year are Connie Willis and Ann and Jeff Vandermeer.

    In addition to the usual panels, dealers’ room, con suite and parties, we also offer a wide range of workshops including 2 writing workshops, a plotting workshop and a reviewing workshop.

    For more information, go to our website: http://www.capclave.org

40. http://religioustracts.blogspot.com/

    An online friend of mine who lives in Glasgow has been collecting the large and colorful variety of religious tracts and pamphlets that are left around town or handed to people. He’s started scanning and sharing them with some light commentary. Some of these are really interesting.

41. I am late, as usual, but I humbly submit a little documentary we made about the creative institution that is the Canal Street Tavern Musician’s Co-op in Dayton, practically Scalzi’s side yard.

    It’s called “We Do This Every Week”. Hope you enjoy!

42. Oops, didn’t mean to embed! Sorry, Kate, will understand if you need to take it down! Mea culpa…

43. The 5th novel in Kat Richardson’s Greywalker series just came out; I was introduced to the series 3 months ago, and after inhaling the first 4, the wait for the 5th has been excruciating. Among the best urban fantasy I’ve ever read (scares the crap out of me occasionally, and I don’t like to read scary, but it’s so good I make an exception) with a very cool PI as lead and an approach to the supernatural that is not run of the mill. (And no date-able vampires. I hate date-able vampires. Vampires should be terrifying, not boyfriend material, IMHO.)

44. Hi! Thanks for the opportunity for self-pimpage, looks like I’ll be busy for the next few days checking out all the links above!

    I run two sites, http://www.weaponizer.co.uk and http://www.blacklanternmusic.com.

    Weaponizer publishes open-source fiction and non-fiction under Creative Commons licenses, including ongoing serials, webcomics, and flash fiction. Other projects coming up are an all-comers science fiction ARG, a quarterly magazine and book showcasing the best stories from the past 4 years, and live events in our home country, Scotland. Come and join the 54 strong roster of Weaponeers, or show some love by tweeting your favourite stories!

    Black Lantern Music is a netlabel releasing free electronica, hip-hop, math-rock, experimental noise, dubstep, electro and anything else we feel like making.

    With 24 artists including bass innovators Blackmass Plastics and Morphamish, doom-rap terrorists Sileni, spliff-hop kings Godmanwho, and up-and-coming post-rock miscreants Comma, BLM is a vibrant cross-genre platform for emerging talent, receiving support from Vic Galloway, Mary-Ann Hobbes (Radio 1) and Paul Carlin (American Men / LuckyMe) . All of our releases can be freely remixed, re-distributed and sampled.

    RSS Feed for both sites is located here:

    http://weaponizer.blogspot.com

    You’ll also find us on Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Soundcloud, and on a whole host of different forums.

    Thanks for the opportunity to share our work with you.

    Namaste

    /texture

45. My cousin has a way cool store on Etsy and she makes amazing stuff (okay, who doesn’t have a cousin on Etsy but mine is the best!)!!! Plus she’s the model in all the pix and she’s a gorgeous young lady. So you should go buy all her stuff now. http://www.etsy.com/shop/hillabalou.

    Kthxbye!!!

46. As always, I pimp my onlinehigh schools website. Not sure what it is with the confluence of a lousy economy, concern with public schools, and the freedom to learn when you want to learn, but visits are up significantly this year.

    http://BestOnlineHighSchools.com

47. Oh! I nearly missed a pimp thread.

    Speaking of Zombies…we were right? I recently picked up “Night of the Living Trekkies” at the bookstore.

    I am only 5 Chapters in so far, but I am highly entertained by this SciFi geek crossover with Zombie horror. Each Chapter is named for an episode of the Original Series and it is non stop Trek references. It also has all the hallmarks of a good zombie movie so far, including that one guy you really hate that you can’t wait to see eaten by a zombie.

    The concept may sound cheesy on the surface, but I am finding it a very fun read.

    http://www.amazon.com/Night-Living-Trekkies-Kevin-Anderson/dp/1594744637

48. The Miss Match project is a weekly diptych project by some of the members of the Female Photographers of Etsy (fPOE) group.

    Each week, members are paired up and given a one-word theme, and then assemble a brandnew diptych (and occasional tritych) to fit their interpretation of that them.

    There has been some beautiful work so far. We are just entering week 24.

    Check it out!

    http://missmatchproject.blogspot.com

49. Zombies! On a related note, my friends’ movie Ninjas vs. Zombies was available as of August 24 at Amazon, Walmart, Target, Netflix, etc. It’s terribly campy, and totally worth watching with a group of friends and a few six-packs. Have some trailers. You may notice a trailer for Ninjas vs. Vampires in there, too. That one will be out later this year. It’s better ’cause I’m in it. ;)