Fictional Worlds

With a clunk, the shaking of the hawk-eagle came to a stop. After confirming through the monitor that the spaceship’s four legs were properly grounded in the beansprout garden, Brook got out of the pilot’s seat, put on the helmet of her spacesuit, a…

The Eagle Knight came like a star in midday. I looked up, and I saw the profile of his helmet’s beak so sharp against the light, the golden feathers of his wings so bright in the glare of the sun. As though he were Huitzilopochtli himself. And then …

Szanna, do you remember this game from the twentieth century? Skip along the informational alleys of realspace, leap the archives inter-generationally. A descending white cascade of snow. #FFFFFF. Pixelated scrub. You’re a miniscule skier. via Pocket

In the giant arachnid’s shadow, her silken face mask—Uranian-blue, luminescent, and vaguely human in countenance—was always a welcome focal point. via Pocket

She had known that she would end up like this, but she gave in. Lights. Music. She closed her eyes. In a sea of beautiful visages, she reached out to the one and only beloved face. “Thoreau—I know it’s a meaningless name to you all. Yet this Thoreau…

I know what Dave wants even before he says it, before I’ve even taken off my stupid work cap or thrown my keys on top of the pile of crap beside the door. via Pocket

“The king certainly likes fire,” said Cohl. We could see the smoke rise from beyond, from another forest. I pulled off my gloves and rubbed my back. Once we relaxed like this, I could feel all my muscles ache. Cohl took a bite of the lump in his han…

Thrsk is, or claims to be, the only town in England without a vowel to, or in, its name. People who live there say the Vikings carried it off a thousand years ago. via Pocket

The dog was in the alley again, sniffing around the empty trash bins for scraps she wasn’t going to find. Martha would be late for work if she fed her again, but she couldn’t bear to let the animal suffer. via Pocket Your Future is Pending by Matthew Kressel Clarkesworld Magazine - Science Fiction & Fantasy via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2PCg24D

I go down to the gate, swipe my security pass, and step through the ten-meter tall, still-opening doors into the last of the wild lands. via Pocket The Painter of Trees by Suzanne Palmer Clarkesworld Magazine - Science Fiction & Fantasy via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2RN52lu