Mooohahahahaaaa...

OT: Free Good Profic by BattleHamster on 2010-10-24 22:14:00 UTC Reply

I just thought that I'd leave some links to some of my favorite profic that's legally available for free online.

Mountains of Morning by Lois McMaster Bujold.

This is a short story. It won a Hugo Award, and is therefore available for free. It's part of Bujold's excellent Vorkosigan Saga. This particular story is mystery/science fiction and very good.

A Study in Emerald by Neil Gaiman

The link is to the Wikipedia page; you can download the PDF from there. This is--I am not making this up--Sherlock Holmes/Cthulu fanfiction. Another short story. It also won a Hugo Award.

The Big Meow by Diane Duane

Unfortunately incomplete, but you can read seven chapters for free. It's about time-traveling cat wizards. It's part of Duane's Feline Wizards series, but you don't need to have read the others to understand it.

Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson

I don't love this quite as much as the others, but it's the rough draft of the entire novel for free--and it is quite good--so I had to post it. It's a fantasy novel.

So, who else knows of (legally) free, good, profic?

Does horror profic count? by Sister-to-the-Queen on 2010-10-25 19:49:00 UTC Reply

Because if it does, I know of a veritable bonanza. And yes, it's legal.

Sure! (nm) by BattleHamster on 2010-10-25 20:23:00 UTC Reply

Mooohahahahaaaa... by Sister-to-the-Queen on 2010-10-25 22:09:00 UTC Reply

Before clicking anything, please keep in mind that these stories are not just scary for kids. Also, when I don't name the author of a story, it's because their name wasn't mentioned on the site. Read these stories in the night. Alone in your room. If you have a vivid imagination, you will lose sleep.

Okay, first link.

Classic Stories on Scary For Kids

The stories in this section are: 'Monkey's Paw' by W.W. Jacobs, 'Three Skeleton Key' by George G. Toudouze, 'The Red Room' by H.G. Wells, 'The Tell-Tale Heart' by Edgar Allan Poe, 'Tower Room' by E.F. Benson, 'Black Coat' by Joseph Sheridan LeFanu, 'Windigo' (seems to have gone missing), 'Who Goes There' by John W. Campbell (you can also listen to the audio version), 'Fungus' or 'Voice in the Night' by William Hope Hodgson, 'Pest Control Ants', 'Man Overboard', 'Worm Removal', 'Psychic Vampire', 'Red Hand' by Arthur Machen, and 'Water Tank' by William Hope Hodgson.

In case you were wondering, my personal favorite so far (I haven't read all the stories yet) is 'Worm Removal'. Probably because I can't stand the things. Seriously, I'm nearly phobic about them. Heh, go figure. The one in the story has a mouth that ends up being... what? Twenty feet across? Yeesh!

Second link.

Short Stories on Scary For Kids

The stories in this section are: 'The Lottery' by Shirley Jackson, 'Caterpillar' by E.F. Benson, 'Willows' by Algernon Blackwood, 'Damned' by Ambrose Bierce, 'Body Snatcher' by Robert Louis Stevenson, 'August' by W.F. Harvey, 'Empty House' by Algernon Blackwood, 'Five Fingers' by W.F. Harvey, 'Yellow Wallpaper' by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, 'For the Blood Is the Life' by F. Marion Crawford (called 'Blood Life' on the site), 'The Boarded Window' by Ambrose Bierce, 'Dark Shadow' by Tom Hood, 'The Dead One' by F. Marion Crawford, 'Yellow Sign' by Robert Chambers, and 'Country of the Blind' by H.G. Wells.

And finally, third link.

Sample Stories by Jan Bee Landman

This is a site I've been meaning to check out. It houses short stories by Jan Landman in the categories of mainstream fiction, historical fiction, love stories, horror and science fiction.

Whew!