All The Painted Stars, a short story by Gwendolyn Clare, is about an alien that gets roped into helping some humans travel to the home planet of an extinct species.
continue reading "All The Painted Stars"
The Best Science Fiction Short Stories – and where to find them!
Free science fiction short stories are easy to find on the internet... It's the quality of the story that you have to worry about. I know that there are loads of free science fiction stories out there - which is where BestScienceFictionStories.com comes in. Most of the science fiction short stories I review are available online for free, because then I can easily put a link in the review and you can just click on it and read the story (if that is your desire.)
If the story has been published in a book or high profile science fiction magazine then it will be harder to find online for free - the sames goes for short stories by famous authors. The good news is that several stories that have won major science fiction awards, like the Hugo or Nebula, are often available for free, and several contemporary authors offer some of their stories for free too.
And, finally, don't forget that free does not always mean online - you can find free science fiction short stories in other places too, such as your local library or through a book exchange program, but they usually take a little bit of work.
So, if you like doing your own detective work to find the best free science fiction short stories then good luck! If not, then let me do all the searching and tell you how to find and read the best stories.
1
Mar
All The Painted Stars, a short story by Gwendolyn Clare, is about an alien that gets roped into helping some humans travel to the home planet of an extinct species.
continue reading "All The Painted Stars"
27
Feb
This is a guest post by Paul Franceschi.
“Just Like Old Times”, a 1993 short story written by Robert J. Sawyer, is about a disembodied serial killer who is sentenced to travel back in time by linking his mind to that of a Tyrannosaurus rex about to die.
continue reading "Just Like Old Times by Robert J. Sawyer"
20
Feb
"Bubbles" is a 1987 science fiction short story by David Brin. It is about a huge robotic trader that gets stranded between galaxies.
continue reading "Bubbles by David Brin"
13
Feb
"Metamorphosis" is a 1915 science fiction novella by Franz Kafka. It is about a man who awakens to find himself transformed into a horrible, insect-like vermin.
continue reading "Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka"
10
Feb
This is a guest post by Alvina Lopez.
Most people know of Philip K. Dick’s great science fiction novels, but despite having multiple short stories adapted into feature films, a lot of people aren’t as aware of his large proliferation of short stories. The fact of the matter is that Dick wrote around 121 shot stories, many of which appeared in science fiction magazines. While I haven’t had the joy of reading all of them, I recently came across one that was available online for free titled “Beyond the Door.”
continue reading "Beyond the Door by Philip K. Dick"
9
Feb
Description of Story:
This is an unusual and odd little tale that brings to mind the colorful poetics of Ray Bradbury and echoes of the imagery in early Arthur C Clarke works.
It’s set on a world that rotates so quickly the nights and days last only four hours each. The odd little place contains cities called Dreamlands, orange sands and silver waterways with twin moons constantly racing low overhead. And of course, there’s the Diamond Rain.
continue reading "Diamond Rain by Steve Buick"
8
Feb
Mail Order is a short story about a group of explorers that land on an alien planet with the intention of establishing first contact.
continue reading "Mail Order"
6
Feb
"The Tomb of the Pontifex Dvorn" is a 2011 science fiction novelette by Robert Silverberg. It is about an historian and an archaeologist on an alien world who make a tremendously important discovery.
continue reading "The Tomb of the Pontifex Dvorn by Robert Silverberg"
3
Feb

Description:
Ellie Simmons lost the love of her life, her husband Daniel. And now, two years later, baby Daniel is born — a clone of the man she lost.
continue reading "The Baby by Karen A. Wyle"
1
Feb
The Silence of the Asonu is a 1998 short story by Ursula K. Le Guin, about the Asonu people, who practically become silent by the time they are adults.
continue reading "The Silence of the Asonu"
30
Jan
"The Hammer of God" is a 1992 science fiction short story by Arthur C. Clarke. It is about an asteroid that is on a collision course with Earth and the crew that tries to stop it.
continue reading "The Hammer of God by Arthur C. Clarke"
27
Jan
This is a guest post by Rick Buchan.
The Nature Of Man. Since the days of Pinocchio, inanimate devices seem mesmerized by Man and obsessed with trying to discover the answer to what it is and what it means to be human.
This quirky yet wonderful novelette, written by Roger Zelazny in 1966, illustrates the frustratingly perplex struggle to correlate genius with folly, strength with frailty, and all the promise and pratfalls of what it means to be Man! (*)
continue reading "For a Breath I Tarry by Roger Zelazny"
23
Jan
"A Vector Alphabet of Interstellar Travel" is a 2011 science fiction short story by Yoon Ha Lee. It is about several different alien species and how they view space travel.
continue reading "A Vector Alphabet of Interstellar Travel by Yoon Ha Lee"
18
Jan
Cinnamon is a short story by Neil Gaiman about a young princess who meets a tiger that teaches her how to talk.
continue reading "Cinnamon"
16
Jan
"Health Hazard" is a 1973 science fiction short story by Howard L. Myers. It is about an inhabitant of another planet whose addiction to an Earth food eventually helps save her species.
continue reading "Health Hazard by Howard L. Myers"
11
Jan
The Truth Is A Cave In The Black Mountains, a novelette by Neil Gaiman, is the story of a man and his guide who travel together in search of a mysterious cave.
continue reading "The Truth Is A Cave In The Black Mountains"
9
Jan
"Making My Entrance Again With My Usual Flair" is a 2011 science fiction short story by Ken Scholes. It is about an out-of-work clown who transports a strange monkey across the country.
continue reading "Making My Entrance Again With My Usual Flair by Ken Scholes"
4
Jan
Softlight Sins, a short story written by Peter F. Hamilton, is about a controversial criminal sentence that takes place for the first time.
continue reading "Softlight Sins"
2
Jan
"The Gulf Between" is a 1953 science fiction novella by Tom Godwin. It is about 2 soldiers who after the war compete for control of the world’s most powerful computer.
continue reading "The Gulf Between by Tom Godwin"
26
Dec
"Earth Hour" is a 2011 science fiction short story by Ken MacLeod. It is about a rich, despised man who is being stalked by a futuristic assassin.
continue reading "Earth Hour by Ken MacLeod"