There is a lot of good free online scifi out there. I have tried to collect some of the resources I have found useful here. It’s not unusual for publishers and authors to make the first Novel in a series available for free. Just to get you hooked. I think it works great for both them and us readers.
You might want to check out some of my favorite writers on the Author pages. I have tried to put links to free online books there.
- Baen Free Library (recommended) contains work from many good authors I like: David Weber, Larry Niven, John Ringo, Elizabeth Moon, Lois McMaster Bujold.
- Clarkesworld
- Electric Velofipede
- Expanded Horizons is a online magazine with many good short stories.
- Fantastic Metropolis discontinued content still available
- Fictionwise Free eBooks
- free-online-novels.com/sciencefiction.html
- Free Speculative Fiction Online (recommended) is a good comprehensive list of free online scifi. It contains content links for Hugo, Nebula and World Fantasy Award.
- independentbook.com – (seems to be down) has Richard Stott’s Empire series among others.
- Infinite Matrix – discontinued content still available
- infinity plus – British sf. discontinued content still available
- Justfreebooks is a search engine for free online books
- Lone Star Stories
- Memoware – free books and documents for PDAs
- Project Gutenberg Science Fiction Bookshelf – scifi in many different languages.
- SF & Fantasy Books Online
- Suvudu Free Library (New January 2010)- also contains non scifi
- Subterranean Press Magazine
- The Online Book Page – also contains non scifi books.
Some authors also have free samples on their homepages:
- Lois McMaster Bujold mostly excerpts and also the award winning The Mountains of Mourning.
- Aliette de Bodard – short stories with a unique perspective.
- Ursula Le Guin
- John Scalzi (recommended) – great sampler, contains Old Man’s War and Agent to the Stars.
- Charles Stross
I will add more links as I go. I appriciate pointers and suggestions of the ones I missed.