The free SF story site 365 tomorrows has a humorous piece of flash fiction titled “As Long As It Takes” (2010) by Aaron Henderson. It’s about a grease monkey on Mars who is looking forward to two great football games and spending some quality time with his wife. Just as soon as he checks out a Martian rover named Spirit....JPG)
Pulp science fiction author Joel Jenkins has posted the seventh entry in his Dire Planet Compendium: The Hilt has Turned, about a Martian game that involves a spinning sword. The compendium, illustrated by Noel Tauzon, is derived from Jenkins’ Dire Planet series, a collection of three sword & planet books inspired by Robert E. Howard and Edgar Rice Burroughs that chronicles swashbuckling hero Garvey Dire and his adventures on the Red Planet.
The free SF story site 365 tomorrows has a tantalizing piece of flash fiction entitled “Turning a Frontier into a Home” (2009) by British writer Ben Ellis. It’s about selling beautiful ladies to lonely men on the first ever commercial spaceflight to Mars. Here's the opening line: “Liam slouched over his drink, a ‘Lost Beagle’, jabbing the sliced raspberries with his straw.”
The free fiction story site Every Day Fiction has a humorous piece of flash fiction titled “Warning Belles” (2010) by science fiction, mystery and horror writer J.C. Towler. It’s about a group of cows that warns a dairy farmer about an impending Martian invasion. Here is the opening line: “Bill Hobinson stomped his feet against the cold, then grabbed a couple of milk pails and headed into the barn.”
The free science fiction story site 365 tomorrows has a cynical but human piece of flash fiction titled “Crash Protocol” (2008) by writer Daniel Fuhr. It’s about a seasoned bureaucrat who investigates a crashed spaceship on a peopled Mars. Here is the opening line: “Red rocks crumbled under my heavy boots.”
The free science fiction story site 365 tomorrows has a refreshing piece of flash fiction titled “Prison Break” (2010), by veteran writer and NASA physicist Patricia Stewart. It’s about a prison break on Mars. Here is the opening line: “The alarm of the Olympia Undae Penitentiary snapped warden Jacobs from a deep sleep.”.JPG)
Pulp science fiction author Joel Jenkins has posted the sixth entry in his Dire Planet Compendium: The Wings of Mars. The compendium, illustrated by Noel Tauzon, is derived from Jenkins’ Dire Planet series, a collection of three sword & planet books inspired by Robert E. Howard and Edgar Rice Burroughs that chronicles swashbuckling hero Garvey Dire and his adventures on the Red Planet.
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Thanks to Doc Mars of the amazing French-language website Mars & la Science Fiction, you can download and read “Martian Mouse,” a piece of flash fiction that was written by author Theodore Sturgeon’s ten-year-old son, Robin, and published in the September 1962 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. Here’s the first line: “This is an animal I’d like very much for a pet.”
The free science fiction story site 365 tomorrows has an enlightening piece of flash fiction titled "Sunrise" (2009), by Steffen Koenig. Originally published on the blog Barsoomian Dreams, it’s about a dying astronaut who sees the sunrise break over the outer rim of the Valles Marineris. Here is the opening line: “The ice from last night was melting on the rocky plateau that lay before him.”.JPG)
Pulp science fiction author Joel Jenkins has posted the fifth entry in his Dire Planet Compendium: Arshen. The compendium, illustrated by Noel Tauzon, is derived from Jenkins’ Dire Planet series, a collection of three sword & planet books inspired by Robert E. Howard and Edgar Rice Burroughs that chronicles swashbuckling hero Garvey Dire and his adventures on the Red Planet.
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Pulp science fiction author Joel Jenkins has posted the fourth entry in his Dire Planet Compendium: The Rotteliver. The compendium, illustrated by Noel Tauzon, is derived from Jenkins’ Dire Planet series, a collection of three sword & planet books inspired by Robert E. Howard and Edgar Rice Burroughs that chronicles swashbuckling hero Garvey Dire and his adventures on the Red Planet.
While civil rights leaders are justifiably outraged that Gov. Robert F. McDonnell’s proclamation declaring April 2010 to be Confederate History Month in the state of Virginia fails to mention slavery, Martian science fiction fans are irked that the proclamation mentions famed General Robert E. Lee but does not mention legendary Captain Jack Carter of Virginia, a courageous Confederate cavalry officer who served the South in the War Between the States and who is better known as John Carter of Mars.
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Pulp science fiction author Joel Jenkins has posted the third entry in his Dire Planet Compendium: Geltar & The Geltar Whip. The compendium, illustrated by Noel Tauzon, is derived from Jenkins’ Dire Planet series, a collection of three sword & planet books inspired by Robert E. Howard and Edgar Rice Burroughs that chronicles swashbuckling hero Garvey Dire and his adventures on the Red Planet.
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Pulp science fiction author Joel Jenkins has posted the second entry in his Dire Planet Compendium: A Skelk in the Cake. The compendium, illustrated by Noel Tauzon, is derived from Jenkins’ Dire Planet series, a collection of three sword & planet books inspired by Robert E. Howard and Edgar Rice Burroughs that chronicles swashbuckling hero Garvey Dire and his adventures on the Red Planet.
The free science fiction story site 365 Tomorrows has a new piece of flash fiction titled “Can’t You Find Anything Up There?” (2010), by New Zealand-based SF/F/H writer Sean Monaghan. It’s about a team of scientists on the Red Planet who discover something more profound than Martian microbial life. Here is the opening line: “Sid smiled as Alex handed him the separation results.”.JPG)
Pulp science fiction author Joel Jenkins recently announced that he is building, in weekly pieces, an online compendium of his Dire Planet series, a collection of three sword & planet books inspired by Robert E. Howard and Edgar Rice Burroughs that chronicles swashbuckling hero Garvey Dire and his adventures on Mars, also known as the Dire Planet. Each piece of the compendium “will be an entry (illustrated by no less than the talented Noel Tuazon) on the denizens, people, and etymology of Mars.” The first entry in the Dire Planet Compendium: Farona's Girth.
AntipodeanSF, an Australian website, has a new piece of flash fiction titled “Joyride,” by James C. Clar. It’s about a NASA rover that disappears after landing on Mars. Here is the opening line: “The excitement and anticipation at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena were palpable.”
The blog Elephant Words, where short fiction is based upon images, has a new piece of flash fiction titled “The Poets of Mars” (2010), by British writer Ian Sharman. Based upon the photo “Mission Bar,” here are the opening lines: “The Mission Bar was one of the most notorious drinking establishments on Mars.”
Beam Me Up, a science fiction podcast website maintained by fan Paul Cole, recently produced Episode #193, which includes a reading by Argentinean author Gustavo Bondoni of his 2008 piece of flash fiction, “The Elcano Syndrome.” A story about a 21st-century gentleman explorer and his desire to scale Olympus Mons, the tallest mountain in the solar system, “The Elcano Syndrome” won the 2008 Marooned Award for Best Flash Fiction. Bondoni’s reading starts shortly after the 7:30 minute mark of the podcast.
The Welles fan who maintains the blog Empty Funeral wrote a new piece of flash fiction titled “Red Dunes.” It’s about a man who tries to erase the memories of the first person to be buried on Mars. Here's the first line: "I am not supposed to remember any of this."
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