I love platforms for media that might not necessarily find homes with traditional publishers and something like this could be great for those still producing fanzines/ezines. There is a fair amount of content already there with a number of things available for free. Whilst there is some overlap with a site like Lulu, I can see a place for somewhere dedicated to digital content rather than print on demand.

Unfortunately I’ve been sick as a parrot the last week so I’ve not had a chance to really nose around though I did spot a taster for the superb Murky Depths magazine plus a fiction collection I might nab.

Have a look around, you might find something you like.

Exact Editions allow you to subscribe to digital editions of magazines for pretty reasonable prices and they also provide many free issues so you can try out a magazine before subscribing.

The New Humanist magazine for some reason provides a free archive of 14 issues of the magazine which can be read for free with no need to register or download any software. It really is a great magazine with some well written articles and at £10 a year I may well subscribe.

Anyway head over to Exact Editions and read some for yourself.

At a time of rising religious extremism and irrational nonsense New Humanist magazine provides the antidote: witty, incisive and original comment and argument from a sceptical rationalist perspective. Covering politics, current affairs, new thinking, original research and culture and the arts as well as religion, philosophy and science New Humanist is the liveliest most independent-minded and (since our recent redesign) best looking bi-monthly around. Drawing on a freethinking tradition stretching back 120 years but dedicated to the best contemporary writing New Humanist is a lively and compelling guide to contemporary thought and culture, and an essential voice of reason. Contributors include Richard Dawkins, Beryl Bainbridge, Philip Pullman, Michael Frayn, Jonathan Rée, Claire Tomalin, Stephen Fry, Nick Cohen, Martin Rowson, Brenda Maddox, Stuart Hall, Francis Wheen, Laurie Taylor and Christopher Hitchens.

Some fascinating articles, great design and production. If you don’t know much about transhumanism, get stuck in and read something.

There can be a tendency in short fiction magazines to publish stories which whilst demonstrating the craft, lose the entertainment to the ‘challenge’. Of course those stories have their place but with limited time for reading, sometimes I just want something that keeps me turning the pages and Darwin’s Evolution so far has managed that.

Good stuff then, I’ll keep reading and I will no doubt donate when I am feeling a little healthier in the pocket.

Darwin’s Evolutions is a web-based periodical that presents speculative fiction (science fiction and fantasy) genre stories in a monthly “magazine” format along with available print on demand and abridged podcast versions.

Within the boundaries of our ‘zine and our archives, expect to find engrossing stories, expressive art, and the best serial-comics we can convince to join our efforts.

This webzine is funded by the kindly donations of our readers along with select business sponsorships. We will avoid tacking on onerous web-style advertisements so long as our readership and affiliated sponsors can support us.

In every issue expect stories that give you characters to care about in challenging situations whose struggles to overcome their adversity will keep you clicking or turning the next page to find out what happens next.

The people over at SteamPunk Magaine produce a very professional publication celebrating and discussing all things steampunk. They print and sell the magazine and I’d recommend purchasing it as it really is well produced but if you just want to check it out or you are intrigued as to what this steampunk thing is all about then they provide free PDF copies for all to download.

BEFORE THE age of homogenization and micro-machinery, before the tyrannous efficiency of internal combustion and the domestication of electricity, lived beautiful, monstrous machines that lived and breathed and exploded unexpectedly at inconvenient moments. It was a time where art and craft were united, where unique wonders were invented and forgotten, and punks roamed the streets, living in squats and fighting against despotic governance through wit, will and wile.
Even if we had to make it all up.

SteamPunk Magazine is a publication that is dedicated to promoting steampunk as a culture, as more than a sub-category of fiction. It is a journal of fashion, music, misapplied technology and chaos. And fiction.
It just may be the most spectacular magazine to ever fight against the spectacle, and it is free. Or as cheap as we can possibly get it to you. Using the latest in Creative Commons technology, we undermine the fascism of copyright while protecting ourselves from direct co-option.

We sell the magazine for as close to cost as we can manage, and we offer it for free PDF download for printing at home.

Thankfully you can now get some of those bits of paper in handy digital form if you head over to efanzines.com.

In all seriousness there are and have been some great science fiction fanzines so it’s great news that some of them at least have been collected here for anyone to read.

I’m a huge fan of short fiction, particularly genre and what is now termed speculative fiction so it’s great to see more of these publications cropping up online.

This one is very nicely produced and published as an illustrated PDF. It would probably be nice to see the issues published in plain text or html simply for reading from different devices but since I now have a decent mobile PDF reader in the form of a Nokia N800 I’m more than happy with it.

Noctem Aeternus is a FREE quarterly PDF magazine where the reader will find science fiction, fantasy, western, or even mystery stories…but all tales will have an element of horror.

The first issue (January 2008) will include a short story and interview from master storyteller Ramsey Campbell. Cherie Priest, Charles Coleman Finlay, Tim Waggoner, and Michael Laimo will have stories as well.

Interviews with filmmaker/musician Rob Zombie and featured artist Kuang Hong will also be found. Paula Guran, Michael Knost, and Jude-Marie Green will offer quarterly columns about the horror genre, reviews, etc.

This might seem a shame, yet another magazine out of print before it even got going but since it has moved to an online publication, with the help of some sponsorship and funding they are able to offer the magazine completely free and provide it on a weekly basis. OK so there is only one short story and a couple of reviews or maybe a feature each issue but this fits nicely with the weekly schedule. It’s a nice bite sized read which drops into your inbox each week and can be read when you have a spare moment. If you go to the website they also now provide the magazine in a few different formats so you can probably find one to sync with your phone or pda for reading on the train.

CGW Museum is a great site for info on the mag but more importantly you can download fully searchable PDF copies of the first 100 issues of the magazine. This is a great resource for information on old computer games or just something absolutely fascinating/time wasting if you like magazines, gaming and remember when Playstation didn’t exist.

I don’t have enough time to read the magazines I’m currently subscribed to *shakes fist*

Currently 12 short stories and 4 novels are available out of the complete canon and I believe there are plans to release more.

There are also 3 Dickens novels available in a simlar format in their Discovering Dickens project.

This is a great way of reading some classic literature in the form it was originally printed and if you’ve not tried Sherlock Holmes yet then there really is no excuse

Those of you who read short fiction and particularly short science/speculative fiction will know that print based publications have been on the decline for many years. I see these online magazines as the best way for this form of writing to survive in the future and give new writers a chance to reach an audience.

Most of these online magazines are free but almost all of them will have some way of donating so if you like what you read then chuck them a few quid. Some of the greatest SciFi writers started their careers on short fiction magazines and it would be a shame if they were to dissappear completely.

It’s amazing! It’s stupendous! It’s ASTONISHING!

ASTONISHING ADVENTURES MAGAZINE, the greatest place for new tales in the old pulp fashion, has finally arrived!

Marvel at the tale of the man who married a Yeti! Thrill to the exploits of the mysterious Red Panda! Gasp in amazement as dinosaurs attack Manhattan! Be astounded as Tokyo is reduced to rubble (yet again)!

All this and more, including interviews with award-winning writer Joe Lansdale, legendary comics artist Michael Wm. Kaluta, and painter extraordinaire Doug Klauba!

Did we mention the monkeys? Yes, there are monkeys! More monkeys than you can shake a banana at!

Brace yourself for tales that are ASTONISHING! Prepare yourself for ADVENTURES! All conveniently located in one pulp MAGAZINE!

That’s ASTONISHING ADVENTURES MAGAZINE!

And best of all, the first issue is free!