Book Recs: Top 5 Free short stories

 

I’m sure I’m not the only one who love freebies so I decided to share with you my favorite thing next to a naked Chris Evans and cinnamon rolls. That is: FREE BOOKS.

All these freebies were either found in Goodreads, recommended by a friend , just accidentally stumbled upon or has been thoroughly stalked. I hope you enjoy these stories and you can share them to others too.

Just click the titles and the author and it will direct you to the link or the site where you can read it for free.

1. A Death by Stephen King

Jim Trusdale had a shack on the west side of his father’s gone-to-seed ranch, and that was where he was when Sheriff Barclay and half a dozen deputized townsmen found him, sitting in the one chair by the cold stove, wearing a dirty barn coat and reading an old issue of the Black Hills Pioneer by lantern light. Looking at it, anyway.

 

 

–My first King read. It was quite nice and I didn’t expect that it would end that way. This also reminds me of a certain Tom Hanks movie. If you had read this, you know which movie I’m talking about. ♥

2.Ballroom Blitz by Veronica Schanoes

 

“Ballroom Blitz” by Veronica Schanoes is a contemporary fairy tale about a young man, who with his eleven brothers, have been cursed to remain in a rock club for their bad behavior. Their only shot at freedom might be the twelve sisters who one day enter the club.

 

 

— A unique retelling of the 12 Dancing Princesses. Trust me, you better read this.

3. Men Who Wish To Drown by Elizabeth Fama

From the Falmouth Historical Society Collection

Cited as the only extant firsthand record of a mermaid encounter in New England waters, this deathbed letter from a great-grandfather to his great-grandson is more likely an instructive fiction–a parable of regret. Supposedly corroborating the mermaid story, a ship’s log (in the collections of the Provincetown Historical Museum) of the schooner Hannah, which plucked Mr. Stanton from South Weepecket in 1788, indicates that the crew saw two figures on the island prior to his rescue, but failed to locate a second victim. However, regarding accuracy and reliability, this is the same crew, under Captain John Merriweather, that reported sightings of a ghost ship and not one, but two sea monsters. ~~James S. Rucker, Archivist, Family Collections, Falmouth Historical Society, 1924

Companion story to Monstrous Beauty.

–It’s better if you read the story Monstrous Beauty before reading this short story. Men Who Wish To Drown is a sad tale and I think my heart broke a little after reading it.

 

4. The Maiden Thief by Melissa Marr

 

“The Maiden Thief” by Melissa Marr is a dark fantasy novelette about a teenager whose town is plagued by the annual disappearances of girls and young women. Her father blames her when one of her sisters is one of the taken.

 

 

 

–Probably the best short story that I’ve read so far.

5.Among the Thorns by Veronica Schanoes

 

Among the Thorns, by Veronica Schanoes, is a dark fantasy taking place in seventeenth century Germany, about a young woman who is intent on avenging the brutal murder of her peddler father many years earlier, by a vagabond with a magic fiddle.

 

 

 

–I asked for vengeance, I got an utterly satisfying story of a badass girl who punishes the bastard who killed her father.

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Bonus short story if you’re a fan of Andy Weir (the dude who wrote The Martian)

Annie’s Day:

I didn’t want to wake up at 6am, especially on a Saturday. But the man I was cuddled up to was… a morning person.