I enjoy a lot what Elizabeth Bear writes, and here is a story available online, a nice twist on a classic theme: The Girl Who Sang Rose Madder. I dont quite click for the rock music setting, whether here or in other books, but it is a nice idea.

One I liked better is shared online: Stella Nova, around Tycho Brahe and Keppler. Of course as a trained physicist with a huge soft spot for science, this is a great topic (incidentally a book has been written this year by a famous french writer which fictionalizes those same characters, I wonder if he read this one)

More about Elizabeth Bear:

The official site, her fiction journal (contains stories and ideas) and her personal journal
She’s also on librarything and frequents several fiction forums,
And of course Shadow Unit, the online episodic fiction which I mentioned before and which deserves support, I think.

I have several books by her on my TBR list, and she has a new book out in a few weeks (in the US, the UK says December) - the first few chapters are available for free online. It looks absolutely fascinating to me, exploring the end of the world from Norse mythology. Will have to get that. Amazon UK | Amazon US

This is a rather quirky story which really made me ponder and wonder, even though the context seems a bit artificial. It reminded me a little of several books which have a psychologically different protagonist, and the challenges of communication and understanding in such a setting, where the perpectives are so alien to each other. In this story it is a matter of life and death…

It’s a rather long read: http://www.scifi.com/scifiction/originals/originals_archive/murphy/murphy1.html

It just occured to me that 2 weeks ago when I mentioned several stories available online from Elizabeth bear, that I forgot to mention the intriguing, Hugo Winning story Tideline. It is a strange story and I certainly didnt know where she was going with it.
Strangely enough it has a similar setting to “Inappropriate Behaviour“, another online story I mentioned recently, in that it is an encounter on a beach between a human and a machine. Of course the particular characters, plots and resulting stories are very different, but both make you puzzle and think and possibly feel as well. Maybe there’s something to this beach setting, I wonder if I can find other story variations. Anyone know one?

Anyway, “Tideline” is on Elizabeth Bear’s site: http://www.elizabethbear.com/tideline.html

Read it at http://weirdtales.net/wordpress/2008/09/17/tom-edison-and-his-telegraphic-harpoon/
A bit of a steampunk alternate history, a bit loose but a fun read :D
There are quite a few more tales available on that site, worth a sniff through.