Free Short Stories

Here are some free short science-fiction stories that I enjoyed reading:

• Thoughts and Prayers by Ken Liu is an insightful story about trolling and the NRA types.
• Maneki Neko by Bruce Sterling is an interesting story about a networked gift economy, I’d like to join such a network!
• The Exterminator’s Want Ad by Bruce Sterling is another good story about the gift economy, not as positive as Maneki Neki though.
• Barge Over Black Water – strange
• The Death Trap of Dr Nefario – amusing
• Failed Utopia 42 from OvercomingBias.com
• Understand by Ted Chiang – interesting concept about brain improvement.
• True Names by Benjamin Rosenbaum and Cory Doctorow, about two galactic-scale hive organisms.
• Down on the Farm by Charles Stross – one of his “Laundry” sci-fi-fantasy stories set in a Lovecroftian universe
• Manna by Marshall Brain is an interesting short story about the increasing use of robotics in manufacturing and how it can change the economic environment. Someone who is based on ESR is used as a historical figure in the story.
• The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas by Ursula K LeGuin us an interesting story about a city where everyone is happy.
• Kiss Me Twice by Mary Robinette Kowal is an interesting police procedural AI story.
• For Want of a Nail by Mary Robinette Kowal has some interesting ideas about AI operation.
• A Tall Tail by Charles Stross is an interesting story about the CIA and Red Mercury. Seems very plausible.
• Tumbledowns by David Brin is an interesting story about colonising Venus.
• The Giving Plague by David Brin is a new take on viruses.
• Reality Check by David Brin is an interesting take on simulation and the Fermi Paradox
• qntm.org has a collection of short sci-fi stories about quantum computing, AI, and simulation.

Cory Doctorow has released enough great sci-fi stories that he deserves his own section:

• Anda’s Game by Cory Doctorow
• Futuristic Tales of the Here and Now by Cory Doctorow – in comic book form, download the CBZ file as the CBR file seems corrupt.
• I Robot by Cory Doctorow
• The Rapture of the Nerds trilogy by Cory Doctorow and Charles Stross. It contains Jury Service, Appeals Court, and Parole Board. Includes some unusual Christian sexual references.
• The Things that Make Me Weak and Strange Get Engineered Away by Cory Doctorow – I didn’t like the ending but it has some good concepts
• The Jammie Dodgers and the Adventure of the Leicester Square Screening by Cory Doctorow, an amusing story of art in a dystopia
• Unauthorized Bread is an insightful series of stories about copyright and control of IoT devices. He didn’t cover the obvious dystopian possibility of IoT cameras inside people’s homes to try and stop people doing that.
• Car Wars is a series of 7 linked short stories about autonomous cars written for Deakin university. The formatting is messed up because Deakin wasn’t able to run a reliable web site and I had to use the Wayback machine.

Robert Reed has released enough great free sci-fi stories that he deserves his own section:

• Hexagons – interesting ideas about simulating social development, if someone was developing such a program I would contribute some code
• Man for the Job – bit of a surprise ending
• Hidden Paradise
• The Dragons of Summer Gulch
• Like, Need, Deserve – interesting ideas about soul creation
• Melodies Played upon Cold, Dark Worlds
• The Children’s Crusade – that might be a viable concept, maybe children could pay for scientific research
• Birdy Girl