Free lit?

February 8, 2006 7:16 PM

I've recently discovered Cory Doctorow's novels free for download. Are there other authors/sites where I can find free contemporary literary works?

Project Gutenberg is great and all, but I'm thinking of things more modern, SF especially.

posted by zardoz to media & arts (22 comments total)

Well, for whatever it's worth, my plays are available for download as PDFs.
posted by Astro Zombie at 7:25 PM on February 8, 2006

Baen Free Library.
posted by IshmaelGraves at 7:28 PM on February 8, 2006

Charlie Stross released Accelerando under CC license, and he and Doctorow are of a similar vein.

David Wellington basically blogged three excellent serial zombie novels, the first of which was Monster Island. The others are easily clicked to on that site.
posted by Hildago at 7:30 PM on February 8, 2006

Stranger Things Happen, an excellent short story collection by Kelly Link. Doctorow himself was a big fan of this one, as well as many other bloggers. For all that that's worth.
posted by jimmy at 7:36 PM on February 8, 2006

I hope not to come off as snarky, but if you don't feel the need to own everything you read, don't forget that your local library should have a great selection for "free."
posted by themadjuggler at 7:40 PM on February 8, 2006

Greg Egan writes hard sci-fi. His web page includes several of his (generally excellent) short stories for free.
His amazing physics simulation Java applets are worth a quick view as well.
posted by AndrewStephens at 7:55 PM on February 8, 2006

Try Googling this: "science fiction" download.

Right off the bat, you get links to Doctorow, David Brin, Duncan Long, plus the Clarke Award-nominated Accelerando mentioned above. (Can't personally vouch for any of these, however; sorry.)

Also, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention The New Yorker's website; not every article is available on-line, but it's a terrific resource nonetheless. This week's short story is Murakami's "A Shinagawa Monkey"; what's not to like?
posted by rob511 at 7:55 PM on February 8, 2006

I really enjoyed Accelerando. Peter Watts has released Starfish for free too. Both are rather unique sf stories.
posted by schwa at 8:00 PM on February 8, 2006

Simon of Space is an SF novel done via Blogspot, and while it has rough edges, it's really quite wonderful. Worth reading.
posted by Malor at 8:03 PM on February 8, 2006

Joe Lansdale posts one of his stories each week.
posted by forrest at 8:15 PM on February 8, 2006

Benjamin Rosenbaum is good. Lots of stories to download/read online. "Start The Clock" is good and in a similar vein to Cory's stuff.
posted by AmbroseChapel at 8:27 PM on February 8, 2006

If you have a disability that affects your ability to read standard format books (visual impairment, unable to turn pages, etc.) you could join BookShare. (Not free, but worth it.)
posted by Soliloquy at 8:28 PM on February 8, 2006

Thanks for all the suggestions, keep 'em coming. I didn't mention the why--I'm wanting to download these and read them on my PSP during my commute (tho I'm still waiting for a decent reader for the PSP...).

Libraries are my friend, themadjuggler, I went to mine just yesterday!
posted by zardoz at 8:37 PM on February 8, 2006

Several novels by Jim Munroe at No Media Kings. Really great collection of sf archived at SciFiction (who knows for how much longer.) Peter McWilliams' non-fiction. Atlanta Nights (it is by contemporary sf writers).
posted by Zed_Lopez at 8:48 PM on February 8, 2006

The Internet Speculative Fiction Database

Futurismic has a new short story each month.

Doctorow's work, plus Futurismic and, as mentioned, Stross, Munroe, Link, and others, I have found via Cory's posts at Boing Boing. As you've seen, he's into releasing his stuff for free, and he often links to other authors doing the same, especially if it's something he likes.
posted by attercoppe at 10:24 PM on February 8, 2006

Oops, the ISFDB is not really free lit, but it may be helpful anyway.
posted by attercoppe at 10:26 PM on February 8, 2006

It was driving me nut trying to remember The Tie and the Crest. Unfortunately, the author's site has gone 404, and the Wayback Machine coughs up parts 2-5 but not 1. But, hey, each part starts with a synopsis.
posted by Zed_Lopez at 11:07 PM on February 8, 2006

Another + for Accelerando. I also enjoyed Stross's A Colder War on Infinity+. Actually, it looks like there's quite a bit of good stuff in their fiction archive.
posted by crocomancer at 4:29 AM on February 9, 2006

Ahem.
posted by bru at 5:28 AM on February 9, 2006

Baen isn't exactly contemporary and isn't exactly literary although it is SF. The Barcelona Review isn't SF but it is a good source of contemporary fiction. Of course they are short stories but they give a good feel of what the author is about and if you like them then you can donate to their retirement fund by buying a book or two. Free stuff is great but always support creative work from authors that you enjoy.
posted by JJ86 at 7:00 AM on February 9, 2006

If you get wireless on your PSP Try thirteenbullets.com - it works pretty well on PSP. Dave's serializing that now though, so if you want something complete to download for the commute you could take the text files from Monster Island and read them on a PSP. Thats assuming you like zombie horror novels, of course.
posted by jimmydare at 7:47 AM on February 9, 2006

manybooks.net has loads of public domain material, but also some contemporary e-books.
posted by omnidrew at 9:38 AM on February 9, 2006