SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

So I've decided that short stories are the way of the future what with degrading attention spans and the internet eating all forms of creative energy, and I was wondering where everyone goes to find their great and awesome short story sci fi on the internet? I like tor.com and clarkesworld. I really like clarkesworld actually, but obviously there have to more more than two places to get awesome (and free) short sci fi, any suggestions?

Pickle wrote: "So I've decided that short stories are the way of the future what with degrading attention spans and the internet eating all forms of creative energy, and I was wondering where everyone goes to fin..."

Just had a quick look at tor.com - looks good to me.

Pickle wrote: "So I've decided that short stories are the way of the future what with degrading attention spans and the internet eating all forms of creative energy, and I was wondering where everyone goes to fin..."

I know that does not really answer your question though.

I like short story podcasts. Check out Starship Sofa and Escape Pod. The latter has sister podcasts that feature fantasy (Podcastle) and horror (Psuedopod).

There are a number of annual anthologies of SF short stories, my favorites being Gardner Dozois' Year's Best Science-Fiction and Elizabeth Cramer and David Hartwell's Year's Best SF (yes i know confusingly similar titles).

These two books are something i savour every summer; i have just finished them and posted by review of both on my blog earlier this week: http://sketchythoughts.blogspot.com/2009/09/future-histories.html

Infinity Plus had, IMO, the best collection of free short SF&F. Sadly, the site is no longer being updated, but all the material is still online.

If you don't mind paying, I can only second the above poster's recommendation, especially the annual Gardner Dozois collections.

I'll second the suggestion for Escape Pod, Podcastle, and Psuedopod. Here are few other places where you can find SFF short stories.

General speculative fiction magazines:
Bards and Sages Quarterly - A good place to find mainstream/literary speculative fiction
Tales of the Unanticipated - A fun little magazine out of my home state of Minnesota
Strange, Weird, and Wonderful Magazine - I haven't read this, but friends rave about it

If you like dark fantasy and horror:
Necrotic Tissue
Talebones Magazine

Some small presses that publish speculative short story anthologies:
Shroud Publishing - This is a primarily dark fantasy & horror press with a reputation for high quality works
Sam’s Dot Publishing - admittedly, I am biased because this it the small press that publishes my novels, but they honestly do have some really original short fiction, including options for kids and young adults.
The Genremall - This is a cooperative purchasing site for small presses, and there is a lot of great stuff here that you won't find on Amazon.com.

SF Signal usually has some links for free fiction

I pick up a few of the "Best of Year" anthologies every year.

I pick up books of awarded fiction. For example, I am currently reading through "The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Vol. 1".

I usually pick up a Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (I always get their yearly double-sized anniversary issue in October) or anthologies (from the library). Best of the Year anthologies are nice for getting an overview of the previous year.

I'm a big fan of story anthologies, my favorites being The Hugo Winners, Volumes I & II, The Science Fiction Hall of Fame 1, Dangerous Visions, and Again, Dangerous Visions.

There are individual author collections worth checking out, as well, my favorites for shorts are Harlan Ellison, Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov, and Robert Heinlein

I don't know about places on the net, but one of my favorite short story collections is California Sorcery. I highly recommend it. :)

The Hugo Award is Science fictions "oscar". So the volumes of The Hugo Winners volumes I, II, III etc give a good start of award winning fiction.

Second, pick up any of the "Best of the Year" series and find out which authors you might prefer.

Looking for Classic short stories? Judith Merill did some excellent anthologies--well worth searcing for.

Then there are anthologies based on themes==Time travel, robots, war and so on.

Also, short story collections by single authors. Fpr Heinlein I recommend The Green Hills of Earth and The Menace From Earth. For Isaac Asimov, I recommend Nine Tomorrows andEarth Is Room Enough.

For Harlan Ellison,Strange Wine and Deathbird Stories.

I usually read anthologies and hope there's something good. Sometimes I see them when browsing in a bookstore (new or used), or the library. And authors whose blogs I follow will usually mention when something of theirs has been anthologized. (Or sold to a magazine, but that's rarer.)

Used bookstores and the library book sale are sometimes a source of used copies of Asimov's and other magazines in the genre.

Most of the 2010 Nebula short story nominees can be read online. Links here: http://www.sfwa.org/2011/02/2010-nebu...

Kurt Vonnegut's Welcome to the Monkey House is an anthology I liked a lot, though it's not all science-fiction. Also, if you enjoy pulp fiction, there's a great collection available on kindle of 97 of Robgert E. Howard's stories for like $1.99. It's mainly short short stories, but several novels are thrown in, too.

I haven't ventured online yet to look for short stories, but I'm all about the library for finding free fiction. :) My favorite all around anthologies are the "Best of" scifi and fantasy by Jonathan Strahan. He picks great stories at least %85 - %90 of the time. Very fun!

I just found a great sci-fi anthology titled 'Strange Tomorrows' in an antique store, and you know it's dated when you find a cigarette ad in the middle of it. Some of sci-fi's greats are included in the book: Theodore Sturgeon, and Hal Clement.
Cheers!... Nishi

Lightspeed magazine is free and usually runs some pretty good stories. They have a business model where you can either pay at the beginning of the month and get the stories immediately, or wait and they put out stories for free later in the month. They also podcast some of the stories.

The editor is John Joseph Adams. He is the editor of some very good anthologies put out by Night Shade Books. to wit; The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, The Living Dead, Federations, Brave New Worlds...and so on.

http://www.baen.com/library/books.asp

The Baen Free Library has a few anthologies including selections from the Sherlock Holmes book mentioned above.

www.manybooks.net

i love the short stories of philip k. dick!

http://sfbook.com/free-e-books.htm

www.booksaremydrugs.blogspot.com

How short do people want? There's always 365tomorrows: which gives you a daily sci fi flash fiction (< 600 words) story.

Different kinds of sci fi. No story arcs (i.e. stand alone stories only).

Stories are about 50/50 by a handful of staff writers and submitted by others.

Thank you guys for your posts! As a Sci-fi short story writer, i love seeing other great works. Thanks guys for putting them all in one place!

I like this guy's short stories, William Vitka. Good and strange.

Hey can anyone tell me where to get free fantasy books here on the net?The complete ones, not just the excerpts..:)

I'm always impressed with http://www.Lightspeedmagazine.com, tor.com, and baen.com.