Hippoi Athanatoi

A few quick hits, of free or very, very cheap stuff that I recommend taking a look at:

• Amazon Shorts is a new initiative by Amazon, providing original short stories and essays by a number of fine authors for the low price of $0.49 each. Notable among them are Robin Hobb’s "The Inheritance" a short story set in Bingtown, an essay by Gardner Dozois explaining how he puts together his award-winning Year’s Best SF anthologies, and an essay by Robert Silverberg discussing how he went about creating his Roma Eterna series of alternate history stories. There’s much more besides that, and I’m looking forward to seeing what other authors and material they introduce.
• Kelly Link—who recently won a Hugo for her story "The Faery Handbag"—has made her first story collection, Stranger Things Happen,  available for download. Her stories are sometimes quirky, often amusing, and always interesting. Give it a try.
• Finally, Neil Gaiman has put up a long excerpt from the audio book of his forthcoming novel, Anansi Boy, read by comedian and actor Lenny Henry. Henry’s reading—and the story he’s reading—are both very funny, and worth giving a try. I think this one’s on my to-buy list. More information, and the link to the mp3, can be found at Neil’s journal.