The True Darkness is a 2010 short story by Pamela Sargent, about an odd power failure that frightens a couple in their home.
continue reading "The True Darkness"
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.
16
Nov
The True Darkness is a 2010 short story by Pamela Sargent, about an odd power failure that frightens a couple in their home.
continue reading "The True Darkness"
14
Nov
"The Land Ironclads" is a 1903 science fiction short story by H. G. Wells. It is an eerily prophetic story about a war correspondent and a soldier in a fictitious battle between “townsmen” and “countrymen”. What’s the catch? While one side has the brawn, the other may have the brains to turn the tide of the war forever.
continue reading "The Land Ironclads by H. G. Wells"
7
Nov
“Raiders of the Universes” is a 1932 science fiction novelette by Donald A. Wandrei. It is about an astronomer who discovers a vicious, universe-conquering race of aliens headed for Earth!
continue reading "Raiders of the Universes by Donald A. Wandrei"
4
Nov
Find out what happens when people start being polite and start getting real — in space.
continue reading "Reality TV Intergalactic Wife Swap by Rob Hopcott"
2
Nov
The Nearest Thing by Genevieve Valentine is a 2011 short story about a man trying to create Artificial Intelligence.
continue reading "The Nearest Thing"
31
Oct
"Join" is a 2011 science fiction short story by Liz Coleman. It is about a man who has a romantic relationship with some aliens that are invading our solar system!
continue reading "Join by Liz Coleman"
26
Oct
The Mad Scientist’s Daughter is a 2010 short story by Theodora Goss about the daughters of several famous madmen we are all familiar with.
continue reading "The Mad Scientist’s Daughter"
24
Oct
"The Beautiful People" is a 1952 science fiction short story by Charles Beaumont. It is about a normal young woman who refuses to have surgery to make her beautiful, and all the problems that causes!
continue reading "The Beautiful People by Charles Beaumont"
19
Oct
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, a novella published in 1886 by Robert Louis Stevenson, is a well known story about a man with a dual personality.
continue reading "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde"
17
Oct
This is a guest post by Timothy Darling.
Doctor Hugo Pinero invents a device for measuring the length of life and predicting the date and time of death. This leads to the protests of insurance companies and the potential collapse of the industry, not to mention many personal concerns, and the dilemma of a humanity confronted with knowledge that they perhaps should not have.
continue reading "Life-line by Robert A. Heinlein"
12
Oct
Men Are Trouble, a novelette written by James Patrick Kelly, is about a private investigator trying to discover why a woman committed suicide just after she got married. To another woman. In a world without men.
continue reading "Men Are Trouble"
10
Oct
"Time Considered as a Series of Thermite Burns in No Particular Order" is a 2011 science fiction short story by Damien Broderick. It is about a husband and wife team who travel through time to help prevent disastrous events from occurring.
continue reading "Time Considered as a Series of Thermite Burns in No Particular Order by Damien Broderick"
5
Oct
Gossamer, a 1995 short story by Stephen Baxter, begins when two women crash land on Pluto when the wormhole they were traveling through suddenly collapses.
continue reading "Gossamer"
3
Oct
"The Elephants of Poznan" is a 2000 science fiction novelette by Orson Scott Card. It is about a man who lives in a post-apocalyptic Polish city and the strange visitors he receives.
continue reading "The Elephants of Poznan by Orson Scott Card"
26
Sep
"The Faithful Soldier, Prompted" is a 2010 science fiction short story by Saladin Ahmed. It is about a former soldier who make a dangerous trip to post-apocalyptic Cairo to get medicine for his wife.
continue reading "The Faithful Soldier, Prompted by Saladin Ahmed"
22
Sep
This is a guest post by Timothy Darling.
"Lulungomeena" by Gordon R. Dickson
Page Count: 24
The story
The setting is Frontier Station 563 just beyond Sirius. But the title is named after another place: Lulungomeena on the planet Tarsus, the native home of Clay Harbank.
continue reading "Lulungomeena by Gordon R. Dickson"
21
Sep
Fair Game is a short story by Philip K. Dick, about a man that feels he is being watched by another species.
continue reading "Fair Game"
20
Sep
Hey… that’s me! I know… I’m doing a bit of self-congratulatory plugging of my own story here – but hey, you can do that when you own the blog!
continue reading "Jane and the Queen by Rusty Keele"
14
Sep
This is a guest post by Tyler Gates.
Benjamin William Bova’s “The Next Logical Step” from 1962 is a short and sweet tale about the dangers of U.S. military hardware.
continue reading "The Next Logical Step by Ben Bova"
13
Sep
Author C.E.L. Welsh has notified me of his new science fiction short story – so I thought I would pass along the information to you.
continue reading "A.I. Trigger by C.E.L. Welsh"