The Great Geek Manual

Audio Fiction and Podcasts

• Listen to Accounting for Dragons at Eric James Stone at PodCastle.
• Listen to “Clockatrice” by Tanith Lee at Fantasy Magazine.
• Listen to “Feathertop” by Nathaniel Hawthorne at The Classic Tales Podcast.
• Listen to “Sleepy Joe” by Marc Laidlaw at Escape Pod.
• Listen to “Rapunzel” by Tanith Lee at PodCastle.

Flash and Micro Fiction

• Read the flash fiction Eating It Too by Kristine Kathryn Rusch.
• Read the flash fiction From the Book of Monsters: Yaramaz Turkish Carpets.
• Read the flash fiction Time Net by Duncan Shields at 365 Tomorrows.
• Read the micro-fiction Grown from Man to Dragon by Megan Arkenberg.
• Read the micro-fiction Predators and Parasites by Lori Titus at Flashes in the Dark.

More Links

• Free Speculative Fiction Online has posted a new batch of links.

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This may very well be the best book trailer that I’ve ever seen, and it blows my mind that it’s fan made. I wasn’t planning on it, but I may actually read this book now.

Source: theNonchalantNod

I just discovered a great site, DailyLit.com. It provides an RSS feed of audiobooks in five minute segments, so that you can easily work the sort of lengthy novels you can never find the time to read into your daily schedule. Their selection includes classic public domain texts like Darwin’s On the Origin of Species, but they also have a good number of fantasy, horror, and science fiction titles.

Audio Fiction and Podcasts

• Listen to “Fourth Person Singular” by Dale L. Sproule at Pseudopod.
• Listen to “Lobos” by Shaun A. Saunders at Beam Me Up.
• Listen to “Ode To Katan Amano” by by Caitlin R. Kiernan.

Flash and Micro Fiction

• Read the flash fiction Canticles by K.C. Ball at Every Day Fiction.
• Read the flash fiction “Death Ex Machina” by Rod Drake at Powder Burns Flash.
• Read the microfiction comedy “Handy Tips for Detecting Interdimensional Travelers” by Luc Reid over at Daily Cabal.

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Book: Isis
ISBN-13: 978-1593155407

Author: Douglas Clegg
Series: Prequel to the Harrowing House Series
Publisher: Vanguard Press
Genre: Horror / Dark Fantasy
Release: September 29, 2009
Length: 128 pages (Hardcover)

Rating: B

Verdict

Isis is a beautifully illustrated novella perfect for a bit of late night Autumn reading.

Children of the eighties are likely to find that Douglas Clegg’s simple tale coupled with Glenn Chadbourne’s eerie illustrations evoke nostalgic memories of Alvin Schwartz and other childhood campfire favorites, while the book serves as a nice introduction to Clegg’s Harrow House series for fans of the gothic, who are sure to be drawn in by this case of The Secret Garden gone wrong.

Pros: Beautifully illustrated. Fairytale-like storytelling. Highly atmospheric.

Cons: It’s almost too short to justify selling individually. It’s ending is too open-ended.

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Audio Fiction and Podcasts

• Listen to “Got Milk?” by John Alfred Taylor at Pseudopod.
• Listen to “I’ll Give In” by Meghan McCarron at PodCastle.
• Listen to “The Kindness of Strangers” by Nancy Kress at Escape Pod.
• Listen to “Melancholy Elephants” by Spider Robinson at StarShipSofa.
• Listen to “Salt” by Nicholas Royle at Transmissions From Beyond.

Flash and Micro Fiction

• Read the flash fiction story Billions of Stars by KJ Kabza at Flash Fiction.
• Read the flash fiction story Gustav’s Mars by Emily Lavin Leverett at Flash Fiction.
• Read the microfiction story The Coin-Operated Boy by William Tracy.

More Links

• Free Speculative Fiction Online has posted a new batch of fiction links.

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Book: The Lost Symbol
ISBN-13: 978-0385504225

Author: Dan Brown
Series: Robert Langdon Series
Publisher: Doubleday Books
Genre: Suspense Thriller
Release: September 15, 2009
Length: 528 pages (Hardcover)

Rating: C+

Verdict

Hardcore fans of Brown’s previous works, Angels & Demons and The Da Vinci Code, are certain to enjoy The Lost Symbol. It’s choked full of all the qualities that made the first two books international bestsellers, but for many readers, this book is going to be one volume too much for Brown’s formula to bear.

Pros: This book is a fast-paced page-tuner. It features the same type of great info-tainment quality as the previous two books.

Cons: The book’s plot is formulaic, predictable, and ultimately anti-climactic. The “secret” at the center of the book is a severe disappointment, and at the end of the book, Brown launches into a full-on sermon, ruining what very little emotional impact the story held.

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Book: Walking Dead
ISBN-13: 978-0373803019

Author: C. E. Murphy
Series: The Walker Papers
Publisher: Luna
Genre: Urban Fantasy /
Paranormal Romance
Release: September 1, 2009
Length: 384 pages (Hardcover)

Rating: C+

Verdict

Author C. E. Murphy’s lively narration and fresh style save this book from a sub-par plotline, but most readers are still going to come away from this novel wondering what she was thinking. Murphy consistently skimps over the romantic aspects of her story, despite Harlequin’s involvement in the book’s publication, which is almost certain to leave readers looking for a paranormal romance fix disappointed. And yet, halfway through the story, Murphy’s protagonist walks away from a graveyard of zombies on Halloween night, leaving those jonesing for the apocalyptic show downs that have become one of the signatures of the urban fantasy genre cold as well. Nonetheless, Walking Dead remains worth the read for its excellent Buffy-esque lead, Joanne Walker, who, with her love of muscle cars and her penchant for solving her own problem, is a refreshing change from the damsels in distress that have become such a fixture in urban fantasy.

Pros: Fast-paced. Funny, upbeat writing style. Romance angle is very minimal.

Cons: Endings in this series are all a bit too pat. The magic system is overly convenient for the protagonists. Zombies get downplayed in favor of more emotional issues.

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Audio Fiction and Podcasts

• Listen to “Two Dreams On Trains” by Elizabeth Bear and more at StarShipSofa.

Comics and Graphic Novels

• The vintage comic “Buck Rogers: Mysterious Saturnian” is online at Comicrazys.

Flash and Micro Fiction

• Read the “The Robot Whisperer” by Brian C Baer over at 365Tomorrows.

Novels and Preview Chapters

• Cory Doctorow’s formerly serialized novel Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town is now online in its entirety. If you haven’t read it, you should..
• Read The First Chapter of “The Gathering Storm” by Robert Jordan free online now.

Serial Fiction

• Chapter Nineteen of “Slave Trade” by Susan Wright at Book View Cafe.
• Part Six of “The Price of Vengeance” by Abner Senires at Kat and Mouse.

Short Stories

• Download the space opera novelette “The Storm” by A E van Vogt at BaenCD.
• Read “The Alchemist’s Feather” by Erin Cashier at Beneath Ceaseless Skies.
• Read humorous short story “Attention, People of Earth” by Paul Simms soon to be published in latest edition of The New Yorker.
• Read “Images of Anna” by Nancy Kress at Fantasy Magazine.
• Read “The Promise” by Sonny Whitelaw at Afterburn SF.
• Read “The Puzzle Box” by Chris Tissell at Beneath Ceaseless Skies.
• Read “The Yeast of Eire” by Alaya Dawn Johnson at Strange Horizons.

Vintage Fiction

• Download the short story “One Martian Afternoon” by Tom Leahy at Manybooks.
• Download the short story “Weak on Square Roots” by Russell Burton at Manybooks.