Kelly Link's short story collection Magic for Beginners as a free CC download -- magnificent, weird, award-winning speculative fiction for free

Gavin sez,

Kelly Link just released her second book, Magic for Beginners, online for a year under the Creative Commons license. 2 of the 9 stories aren't included due to contractual agreements but this is huge news because two giant companies, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (who published it in paperback) and HarperPerennial (who published the UK edition) have agreed to take a chance and be a part of the CC movement.
Kelly's first collection, Stranger Things Happen, has been downloaded 60,000+ times since it was put online (and it still sells a couple of thousand copies a year) and the derivative works include audio versions, short movies, plays, and even a cello version of one of the stories...!

Kelly Link's stories are some of the smartest, weirdest, freshest material being written in any literary field. The title story is just about the perfect explication of why fandom is so totally satisfying. Two of these stories won a Nebula award in the year of publication -- that's half the short story awards to one writer's stories from one book.

This release coincides with the release of Kelly's new story collection, Pretty Monsters, which is every bit as good.

Magic for Beginners downloads, Buy Magic for Beginners on Amazon

Discussion

Take a look at this

#1 posted by bat21 , October 2, 2008 8:24 PM

"Kelly Link's stories are some of the smartest, weirdest, freshest material being written in any literary field."

Too bad the cover is completely the opposite.

#2 posted by stas59 , October 2, 2008 9:10 PM

I read the title story in the wonderful Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction a few years ago. I think it is one of the best stories the magazine has ever published and easily one of the best short stories in any genre that I have read in my life and we're talking over 40 years of reading.

Just had to share that!

#3 posted by Carl Rigney , October 2, 2008 9:41 PM

The opening paragraph to "Magic for Beginners" is possibly the truest thing ever written. But sadly that story isn't included in the free download. There's still plenty of other good stuff in it. Pretty Monsters is atop my to-read pile second only to Gaiman's The Graveyard Book.

#4 posted by Doug Nelson

, October 2, 2008 9:43 PM

I just bought a copy from amazon, it arrived yesterday. I wish you'd mentioned she has a history of giving this stuff away in your previous article about this book (the one that prompted me to purchase).

#5 posted by seth matthew , October 3, 2008 5:28 AM

I found this book when it was first released in paperback- likely due to Cory's recommendation- and I've recommended it to others, myself. The stories are terrific and I'm glad to have [most of] them in a format that doesn't curl when it's humid outside.

#6 posted by Lydia9 , October 3, 2008 6:17 AM

I buy everything I can from Kelly Link & Small Beer Press. Her books are beautifully designed, and the fact that she puts them online makes it easier to turn other folks on to her work (and sneak in a little reading if it's slow at work). I move a lot, so I actually prefer to keep my book collection as pared down as a librarian/bibliophile can, but I treasure my hardcover copies of all of her books.

#7 posted by isaacb2 , October 3, 2008 7:03 AM

Read this collection a back in 2006, after finding her referenced in another book from Small Beer ("Mothers and Other Monsters" by Maureen McHugh, who is a great sf and fantasy writer as well)... I loved the Link collection. Favorite line: "Art is for people who aren't worried about zombies."