As you may have heard, this year’s list of Hugo finalists contain five Tor.com Originals. Congratulations again to Charles Stross, Andy Duncan, Ellen Klages, Mary Robinette Kowal, Thomas Olde Heuvelt, and John Chu. We’ve managed to stop hopping with excitement for just long enough to make all five of these wonderful stories free to download from all major ebook retailers. Below the cut you’ll find links where you can get these stories for free.
Best Novella:
“Wakulla Springs”
Written by Andy Duncan and Ellen Klages
Illustration by Garry Kelley
Edited by Patrick Nielsen Hayden
Wakulla Springs, in the deep jungle of the Florida panhandle, is the deepest submerged freshwater cave system in the world. In its unfathomable depths, a variety of curious creatures have left a record of their coming, of their struggle to survive, and of their eventual end. And that’s just the local human beings over the last seventy-five years. Then there are the prehistoric creatures…and, just maybe, something else.
Ranging from the late 1930s to the present day, “Wakulla Springs” is a tour de force of the human, the strange, and the miraculous.
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iTunes
“Equoid”
Written by Charles Stross
Illustration by Dave Palumbo
Edited by Patrick Nielsen Hayden
The “Laundry” is Britain’s super-secret agency devoted to protecting the realm from the supernatural horrors that menace it. Now Bob Howard, Laundry agent, must travel to the quiet English countryside to deal with an outbreak of one of the worst horrors imaginable. For, as it turns out, unicorns are real. They’re also ravenous killers from beyond spacetime…
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iTunes
Best Novelette:
“The Lady Astronaut of Mars”
Written by Mary Robinette Kowal
Thirty years ago, Elma York led the expedition that paved the way to life on Mars. For years she’s been longing to go back up there, to once more explore the stars. But there are few opportunities for an aging astronaut, even the famous Lady Astronaut of Mars. When her chance finally comes, it may be too late. Elma must decide whether to stay with her sickening husband in what will surely be the final years of his life, or to have her final adventure and plunge deeper into the well of space.
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iTunes
Best Short Story:
“The Ink Readers of Doi Saket”
Written by Thomas Olde Heuvelt
Illustration by Victo Ngai
Edited by Ann VanderMeer
People send their dreams and wishes floating down the Mae Ping River with the hope that those dreams will be captured, read and come true. It is a surprise what some wish for and why. One can never know what’s inside someone’s heart—what they really truly want, and those dreams sometimes reveal our true selves.
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iTunes
“The Water That Falls on You from Nowhere”
Written by John Chu
Illustration by Christopher Silas Neal
Edited by Ann VanderMeer
In the near future water falls from the sky whenever someone lies (either a mist or a torrential flood depending on the intensity of the lie). This makes life difficult for Matt as he maneuvers the marriage question with his lover and how best to “come out” to his traditional Chinese parents.
