Free Fiction for the Bibliophile
July 6, 2012 in Reading, Resources by Catherine Russell
(Because)“If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.” ― Stephen King
Recently I attended a lecture where I was informed that Edgar Allan Poe was the first American writer to try to live off his writing. His poverty is legendary. In the spirit of keeping writers of the world – rich or poor – supplied with plenty of prose and poetry, I hereby give you my favorite sites for free fiction.
Your Local Library
-many people forget this most valuable of resources. Not only are there plenty of written works available for checkout, many also give access through their websites to electronic libraries filled with ebooks and mp3 audiobooks. Many libraries even loan e-readers, such as Nooks and Kindles, to patrons.
Manybooks.net – free books from the public domain or new titles available through Creative Commons license
Librivox.org – every recording is created and donated by volunteers (there is information on the site if you wish to be one of them). The quality of the recordings therefore varies, though they have a fantastic selection of classics.
Project Gutenberg – (from the site) the first producer of free eBooks.
Podiobooks.com – a site for downloadable free audio fiction content donated by authors promoting their work. (One of my personal favorites is a YA fantasy called The Pocket and the Pendant)
Podcastalley.com – a great site for finding new podcasts on almost any subject!
So, I hope that in the spirit of free information and entertainment, you share these resources with others as well as take advantage of them yourself. You may even wish to contribute something in return.
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Author Catherine Russell shares her life with her high school sweetheart, their son, and two ferocious puppies in the Wilds of Ohio while writing short stories, editing her novel, and learning more about the craft every day. Her work has been published in Flash Me magazine, Metro Fiction, Beyond Centauri, and the ‘Best of Friday Flash – Volume One’ anthology. More of her writing can be found on her writing blog at ganymeder.com.
Contributing Correspondent of Friday Flash Dot Org
Author Catherine Russell shares her life with her high school sweetheart, their son, and two ferocious puppies in the Wilds of Ohio while writing short stories, editing her novel, and learning more about the craft every day.
Her work has been published in Flash Me magazine, Metro Fiction, Beyond Centauri, the 'Best of Friday Flash – Volume One' anthology, and the 'Best of Friday Flash – Volume Two' anthology. More of her writing can be found on her writing blog at ganymeder.com.
Thanks, Catherine. Those are some great resources. I’ve also recently come across a list of 50 Cool Search Engines for Serious Readers [http://www.onlinecolleges.net/2012/06/19/50-cool-search-engines-for-serious-readers-updated/] and a site called Open Culture [http://www.openculture.com/] which isn’t so much a source of material as it is a source of links to free material.
Thanks so much for this info Catherine! I’m one who haunts our library more than the “known” ghost who lives there. If I’m not careful I could literally spend hours just browsing titles. I’ve used Project Gutenberg before but it’s been a while and I’ve not heard of the others so, being an avid – and I do mean Avid – reader, I greatly appreciate these links.
Another site that I love is the Internet Archives http://archive.org/browse.php?field=subject&mediatype=audio&collection=oldtimeradio – you can listen to tons of old, and not so old, radio shows. My favorites are the short story shows that NBC and CBS did for quite some time. Another place I could easliy get “lost” in.
Gutenberg has been a favorite haunt of mine for a long time. Great list!
I knew about a few of these but certainly not all. Thanks for the new links. You too, Tim. Those look like nice resources too.
~jon
[...] week is a little lower than usual, but don’t you worry. That gives you more time to check out Free Fiction for the Bibliophile by FFDO Correspondent, Catherine Russell. Not only did Catherine present some terrific resources, [...]