Results tagged “short stories”

Today is another glorious day. There is a new Kurt Vonnegut story in the world. Even better for Suvudu readers, it is a never-before-published science fiction story. Or rather, Kurt’s own rare blend of literature and off-kilter science fiction.

What makes the story so interesting to read, like the rest of the tales from soon-to-released collection Look at the Birdie, is that it comes from the early days of Kurt’s writing career. So you’ll recognize the cynical humor and the punchy dialogue. What you may not expect is to read a story by Kurt that doesn’t seem perfect. In many ways, that is what makes this new batch of stories so interesting. It is Kurt finding his voice, still tweaking his style, and while starting to get comfortable in terms of who he wanted to be as a writer, still showing some very human (and understandable flaws). But in the same way you enjoy a band’s first album, when their sound was grittier, tougher, not as polished, “The Petrified Ants” and the other stories from the collection immediately draw you in like all of Kurt’s work.

Back to the point at hand, “The Petrified Ants” is still classic Vonnegut-style science fiction, using a fantastical tale to address a social reality. The story centers around two Soviet researchers who make a startling discovery, one that would re-write history. Ultimately, they learn a dark lesson — that history is crafted, not made.

As with “Hello, Red,” there is one catch to reading “The Petrified Ants” — you’ll have to read it as an e-book (for now).

You will be able to read the stories from Look at the Birdie in printed form. You’ll just have to wait until October 20th when the new collection comes out in hardcover. But for those of you anxious to discover a few of these stories from the early part of Kurt’s career, and can’t wait to read a new science fiction story from him, you can check out “The Petrified Ants” (along with “Hello, Red”) as a single-story e-book now.

Enjoy.

Today is a day we are really excited about. There is more Kurt Vonnegut in the world.

Specifically, a brand new story that has never been published before: “Hello, Red.”

Even better, there will be another unreleased Kurt Vonnegut story coming on September 29th titled “The Petrified Ants.”

There is one catch: you’ll have to read them as e-books.

Before you start yelling, bear with me.

You can read these stories in printed form. You’ll just have to wait until October 20th when a brand new collection of never-before-released Vonnegut stories, Look at the Birdie, comes out in hardcover. But in an age where so much reading is done on computers and portable devices, usually for shorter periods of time or in bite-sized chunks, we thought it would be interesting to try something new.

We interrupt our normal Suvudu feed to bring you a piece of shameless self-promotion that’s all about me, me, me. Well, not entirely about me. But mostly.

In addition to my Suvuduesque duties, I run a monthly film series in New York City called the Shocklines Film Series which gives New Yorkers a shot to see excellent horror films on the big screen that never got wide theatrical distribution.

This Saturday night, we’re showing 7 short horror films. They’re not on cable. They’re not on DVD. They’re not on YouTube. So if you want to see them, this is your shot. And four of them are based on outstanding horror short stories by critically acclaimed authors, including Joe Hill (of Heart Shaped Box fame), Ed Gorman, and Peter Crowther.

So come check it out. You can get further film details and ticket info at http://www.shocklinesfilms.com. Hope to see you and many other Suvuduers there!

The films:

• Pop Art, written and directed by Amanda Boyle, based on the short story by New York Times bestseller Joe Hill. Winner of the the audience award for narrative short at the Austin Film Festival.
  
• Treevenge, directed by Jason Eisener and produced by Rob Cotterill. Winner of the audience award at the New York City Horror Film Fest, and the audience award at the Fantasia Film Festival.
  
• Eater, written and directed by Matt Duffer and Ross Duffer, based on the short story by Peter Crowther.
  
• Abraham’s Boys written and directed by Dorothy Street, based on the short story by New York Times bestseller Joe Hill.
  
• Side Effect, written and directed by Liz Adams. Winner of Best Screenplay award at the Chicago Horror Film Festival and Best Short.
  
• The Ugly File, written by Rick Hautala, directed by Mark Steensland, based on the short story by Ed Gorman. U.S. Premiere!
  
• Storm, written by Ron McGillvray, directed by Jeff Radbourne.

Here’s an early Halloween treat for you: Neil Gaiman has posted his reading of The Graveyard Book free online. And I am not talking about a few samples, I mean the whole fraking book!

I can’t think of a more technologically in-tune big name author than Neil Gaiman. Have you checked out his blog? He is posting frequently while still churning out an incredible amount of work. Let’s face it, being a Gaiman fan is like being hungry on Thanksgiving, you can’t stop yourself from reaching for more and, lucky you, there’s plenty to go around.

More after the jump…

I’m a massive fan of futuristic dystopian fiction. In fact, my biggest regret on my deathbed will undoubtedly be not knowing which method the Earth chose to screw itself over (please God, let it somehow involve mutant rodents). And one of my favorite science fiction authors is John Wyndham, whose “Day of the Triffids” and “Midwich Cuckoos” rank among his masterpieces.

So imagine my glee in discovering a novella of his that I had missed — one called “Consider Her Ways” that was published as part of “Sometime, Never,” a collection of three pitch-black science-fantasy novellas in the 1950s (William Golding and Meryvn Peake provide the other gems). It’s a genuinely disturbing and unpredictable tale of a woman who wakes up to find herself in a future dystopia — one in which her own body has been altered in frightening ways. To say any more would ruin the reader’s sense of discovery.

And therein lies the beauty of this post — much to my surprise, the novella is available in its entirety for free online at at scifi.com as part of their defunct Sci Fiction area. It’s a bit hard to read on the dark background, but it’s still there to read for free. Or just dig up a used copy of “Sometime, Never” or John Wyndham’s later collection “Consider Her Ways and Others.” Either way, if you’ve somehow missed it, as I did, the time is right to rectify that situation.

I’m back with the latest batch of free online horror fiction. Full short stories, and even an unpublished novel. And it costs you nada:

Joe Schreiber, author of the terrifying novels Chasing the Dead and Eat the Dark is serializing an entire unpublished novel at his blog called Stillwater which he describes as “Ordinary People” meets “Jaws.” Start at the beginning here and the click the “newer post” link at the bottom to catch up.

Then head on over to Kealan Patrick Burke’s site. One of the most acclaimed writers (and anthology editors) of dark fiction in the small press, Burke is on the verge of breaking out big-time. Trust me. His Free Fiction area will give you a sampling of a couple of his short stories. Be able to say “I was reading him when….”

And last but not least, Douglas Clegg has posted his acclaimed short story “Becoming Men” over at his website. It’s a killer coming-of-age pitch-black tale. Don’t miss it.

I am a firm believer that it’s the little things in life that make it so much fun. Things like discovering the a good author before anyone else or getting a great deal on something for which you know you should have paid more.

And that’s why I love Podiobooks.

If you aren’t familiar with Podiobooks they are the new frontier in independent publishing. Any author with a microphone and a manuscript is able record and syndicate their work to the masses. If you like a story, you can make a donation to the author. Podiobooks.com states that at least seventy-five percent of your donation goes directly to the author. It’s a winning situation all the way around.

Of course, some are better than others, but thus far I’ve been able to find quite a lot of quality work over on the site.

Interested in discovering the next great audiobook? Want to test drive it first before slapping down your payment? If so, then here’s a list of a few of the titles you might want to try (You can download any of these titles, in their entirety, from either Podiobooks.com or through iTunes):

Somehow, I had never noticed that one of my favorite writers, Lewis Shiner, has put up a ton of his short fiction for free on his website. And what’s even better, he’s put up a short story of his that scared the hell out of me 25 years ago — and to this day, still terrifies me. It remains, to me, a perfect example of a short story that does so much by doing less.

Take 15 minutes out of your life and read The Circle. And let me know what you think.

I have always liked short stories.

I don’t know what that says about me as a reader. Do I perhaps enjoy their ability to get right into the meat of the story? Is it that I can finish a whole story in one sitting without having to put it down, thus breaking the spell that a good tale casts over me, the reader? Do I have some deep-seeded fear of commitment?

In honesty, it’s a little bit of all those reasons (minus that last one) and one other: the short form allows the writer a greater ability to experiment. Unlike long form, they aren’t tied to their creation for hundreds of pages or multiple storylines…or at least, they needn’t be. So it should come as no surprise that when I came across the Flight series, I was hooked.

Some of horror fiction’s most brilliant talents use their websites to give you free short stories, often incredible tales that may be out of print or hard to find. Some of the authors whose sites you should keep an eye on:

Douglas Clegg (The Priest of Blood, Neverland) offers a new short story each month. Currently up is a particularly nasty tale, “Fries With That” that anyone who’s ever hated high school can relate to.

Robert McCammon (Boy’s Life, Speaks the Nightbird) gives you a slew of amazing short fiction on his site, many hard to find. Of the ones to choose from, my favorites are “Something Passed By,” “Nightcrawlers” and the hard-to-find “The Deep End.”

The legendary Joe R. Lansdale (The Drive-In, Two-Bear Mambo) also gives you a new tale each month from his impressive backlist. Right now it’s the chilling “In the Cold Dark Time” but watch for a new tale this Thursday.

Norman Partridge (Slippin’ Into Darkness, Dark Harvest) offers both free fiction and nonfiction on his site. Right now it’s “The Mojave Two-Step” and also ten tips about writing from his must have Mr. Fox collection.

Check back for more links to great free horror short stories on the web. Or post links to some of your favorites in the comments box. Spread the love!