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                            Caveat Sherlock Holmes is in the public domain, as are the works of H.P. Lovecraft and Alexander Dumas. However, freshly-created, original fiction is the copyright of the author. Note that my work adresses adult themes, and is therefore not recommended for YA or children. Copyright All textual material on this website is copyright by Mike Adamson. All artwork with the exception of the book and magazine covers is copyright by Jen Downes. |
One of the popular modern publishing formats is the online magazine and archive, and while some such collections are behind paywalls, many (most?) are available to read for free. Many of Mike's stories are archived in this way, and though a few archives have closed (such as "Page and Spine"), others are maintained as an ongoing resource (even if they are no longer adding new material — for instance, "Uprising Review.") Below, you'll find a quick reference list of all Mike's stories currently available to read for free on the web. These links appear on the main genre category pages (where they are marked "FR" to indicate a free read), but are gathered here with a teaser text for ease of access. Scroll to the bottom for web specials — three stories, presented complete! There are two Tales of the Middle Stars shorts, plus an unpublished tale of strangeness (the accompanying notes make clear why it was never published!)   Tanks in the Snow
In the decades ahead, post-war Russia fights terrorists on the Arctic coast to preserve the flow of climate-damaging methane to longterm storage beneath the ocean. In this white wilderness, old terrors haunt tank commander Vanya Zhulin, as he battles demons both within and without. Fire and hell in a white world, with global climate in the balance! Read the full story in Silver Blade  Meditations While Shaving
Science will offer ever-more wonderful opportunities as the future advances, but no proposition is going to be popular with everyone. How we cope with what others think of us, if we accept those offers, will be a very individual choice, and here an old man comes to philosophic terms with the gauntlet he knows he will run if he is to realise the dream of the ages. Read the full story in Land Beyond the World  Street Pirates
Facism bites harder as climate change worsens and authoritarian control of the poor and the desperate becomes the norm. In a dystopian future city, street kids have learned to survive against the brutal troopers of a hard Right state, while fighting for forbidden knowledge — for how the world used to be is infirmation of which the state would rather ordinary people were ignorant. Read the full story in Uprising Review  The Apotheosis of Rosie
Change comes slowly, but when urban renewal at last pushes out those who have worked a lifetime in one place, some will blossom while others will fold. Rosie O'Connell has plans for the future, but saying goodbye to the past is never less than bittersweet, and on the day the dozers come she must face down her loss before stepping into something entitely, amazingly, new. Read the full story in Metastellar  R*E*X
The first dog on Mars is not exactly a dog, but the difference is too subtle for the crew of which she is a part. When the time comes to go, their loyalties could not be clearer. Leaving a piece of your heart on another world makes that world real ever after, and the human foothold on Mars will be won in many and clever ways. Read the full story in Syntax and Salt  Hostile Intent
Big business gets things done, but its ways and means have always been suspect. Any company that builds deep space vessels to mine the asteroids has a few secrets, and when Celestial Resources find a rogue comsat on collision course with their tactical satellite, agendas are hidden within agendas. Save the satellite, yes, but who is behind the attack, and what does it mean for the future of one iof the world's biggest companies? Read the full story in Compelling Science Fiction  Colour Therapy
Mars may not be as red as we used to think, but for those who voyage to its rusty surface, the one colour human nature will miss the most is that of the growing things of Earth. Perhaps nothing else will so poignantly remind humans of their truest home than the simple colour green. Read the full story in Cosmic Archive  Meteor Man
From a meteor falling when he was a boy, to spacewalking by a comet in the far reaches of space, John Eagle has always had an affinithy with the rocks of space. Little wonder that one more will find him in his life, but he could never imagine the rendezvous would be so personal, so visceral, or so deeply meaningful. Read the full story in Abyss Apex Magazine  Flight of the Storm God
Scientist Anton Mikhailov wakes from a decades-long slumber to find the South Urals Survival Redoubt has visitors: explorers are at his door, filled with wonder, with news and questions, for the redoubt was lost to time and chaos. The Earth's broken climate has begun to cool much sooner than expected, and the people from the sky have returned — with lightning, rain and life. Read the full story in Little Blue Marble  Solitude, in Silent Sun
Generations after the first settlers return to Earth from space, the burgeoning life of rehabilitated ecosystem is once more threatened by crass human nature. Cherie Duvalon grows up on a sea farm off the coast of France, but her world is far from the idyll it should be. Between land-pirates who would plunder for crime's sake, and a father who cuts corners just as his ancestors did, Cherie must find her own path, and take her own stand. Read the full story in Little Blue Marble  Last and First Whales
How will the world be when the last whale draws his final breath? A moment of infinite solemnity, a milestone in the grand human failure of the Anthropocene? For biologist Tess McGuire, disaster is the inevitable reward of a lifetime fighting for cetaceans. But there will be a new beginning — on the far side of the great human quest to rebuild all that has been lost. Read the full story in Land Beyond the World  Cogito Ergo Sum
Society may be slow to decide how to treat the androids technology will make possible, and their status — as beings or machines — will be a troubling issue for many. And, perhaps, mostly for the androids themselves, who for many years have lived as humans amongst humans, before the day comes when their rights are questioned. Read the full story in Compelling Science Fiction #7  The Devil's Bride ("Scans")
Sometimes that which we perceive as haunting might be something far more tangible — if no less difficult to believe. An archaeological team at a Scottish castle get more than they bargained for when their lidar picks up something quite invisible, and they entertain a certain fantastic notion... (This story was retitled "Scans" for publication in Abyss and Apex.) Read the full story in Abyss and Apex Magazine  Naevus
There's nothing like physical difference to divide people from people, and the ultimate irony is when the activity of an otherwise harmless alien organism cross-cuts every prejudice humanity has ever had. Human nature being what it is, the world goes through a turmoil of readjustment as the great Venn Diagrams of life are shaken until unrecognisable. Now "us and them" are definined a whole new way... Read the full story in Uprising Review  Revelations
First contact through the eyes of an air-cab pilot in Sydney, Australia. When the aliens come, they are unsubtle about it, and give humanity every chance to form its own impressions. How we react will tell them all they need to know about us, and humans, as ever, do not disappoint. (This story is free at either of its two publication venues.) Read the full story in Daily Science Fiction   Magus
In the land of Avestium, magic is untrusted since the time of chaos when the Dark God ruled supreme. Thus the coming of a wandering mage from the mysterious deserts of the south gives decent people pause, and offers a weapon iof malice to the desperate. Perhaps magic will triumph where justice has failed — but at what cost? Read the full story in 4 Star Stories #22  The Black Cult of Tarantium
Warrior-priest Zareft, destroyer of the Dark God, is commissioned by the king to challenge a dread cult that has taken over the old fortress of Aalenbach. None know their purpose, but they have blighted the land, and seduce followers in the night. Where a legion of the king's best failed, a lone agent might prevail, and Zareft prepares a terrible enchantment to strike down the leader of the cult in his very pride of strength. Read the full story in Swords and Sorcery Magazine, 6/23  The Cursed Throne
In the desert kingdom of Bahab, in the south of Avestium, a dying monarch dictates his last testament to be passed to his heirs, warning of the great lie of their reality. The priests have always known how to control the kings, dooming them to reign in harness to the end of their days — and perhaps in the next world also. Read the full story at "K.Ferrin.com"  Witch-Woman and the Tiger-Man
In a misery of rain, warrior-witch Melitass does battle with the Uralian hordes, but with the benefit of an unexpected ally. The People of the Marshes mistrust the People of the City, but in adversity they find a worthwhile alliance — or Vator and his Tiger-Brother have no love for the insensate invaders from the east... Read the full story in Lorelei Signal  Lord of all Seas
The ailing King Asuri, beloved monarch of the Empire of Lemuria, seeks augurs from the priests of the Godwhale and the Megashark. In a mystical revelation, as the twin deities of the ocean manifest beneath an eclipse of the sun, the king's worst fears are confirmed. He had always known the empire was doomed, this merely confirms the terrible course that history must take. Read the full story in NewMyths  Zamalek, by the Evening Light
The Kingdom of Zamalek, ancient and wise, lies upon a great river which flows through parched and forbidding lands. An old merchant prince comes home to end his days in comfort, but is faced with a straneg and difficult choice, when a mysterious visitor lays before him the appeal of immortality itself. But the price may be his soul. Read the full story in Mythaxis  Crown of Azt'nyr
On the ringed world of Malovar, the warrior Derros, once a member of the Tymassian Royal Guard, crosses paths with destiny when he runs down the brigand chieftain who has kidnapped the Princess Therolyn. Dark magic surrounds the temple of the ape-god Azt'nyr, and under the light of the rings Derros and Therolyn battle the cut-throats for the enchantment that bends the giant apes to mortal will. Read the full story in Heroic Fantasy Quarterly  Tymass By Ringlight
Earning the gratitude of the princess by returning her safely to Tymass, Derros decides to clear his name of the charge that saw him dismissed from the Royal Guard five years ago. He confronts an old friend in a military tribunal, makes a dire enemy in the process, and presses his case in the arena of honour — trial by lappa. Read the full story in Heroic Fantasy Quarterly  The Silver Light of Forever
Gareth commands the Duke's personal guard and expects the gift due his long and dedicated service. But when nobility ignores merit, serving lavish rewards to those merely of high birth, Gareth decides to take what is rightfully his. At the next harvest of the Moonleaf he will steal immortality itself. Read the full story in Heroic Fantasy Quarterly, #47, 1/21 
 Website Bonus: One Shot Kill
First published in Spring Into SciFi 2018. AD 2499: In the desperate third year of humankind's first war with an alien race, sniper Vana Drexler becomes the first person to ever lay eyes on a Sendaaki and live to tell of it. Planet Acrasius C-1 is the arena for a double bluff in which the Colonial forces pull off a coup: learn some fundamental truths about their enemy while keeping that enemy completely in the dark as to the loss of their cherished anonymity.  Website Bonus: The Stars of Home
Read this Tales of the Middle Stars story, only on this website. First published in Trouble Among the Stars. When the oldest living human being decides the time has come to let go of life, all the colonised worlds will feel her loss. Shu-Xia was six centuries old, and in a solemn journey her descendent, Dharma Malinovski, brings her mortal remains home to the Chinatown of San Francisco. Earth is grandparent to the colonies of the Near Heavens and Middle Stars, and to return to the cradle of human life is a deeply profound experience.  Website Bonus: The Museum of Unnatural History
In the shadowed halls of the greatest museum of the planet Angkor Prime, strange things prowl by night. No use security scans that show nothing, nor all the logic the human mind can muster to reassure itself that dead means dead, when something is scratching at the other side of the door... |
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