The closer you get to the city, the less you see it. From far away, approaching from ten miles down the dusty road, the white-brick windmills gather breezes with their turning metal blades at the edge of the walled arena. The highest nobles’ houses … Beneath Ceaseless Skies - Angry Kings by Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2Ps9web

“...wanted me to marry Logo the tanner. He’s got a beautiful home, she said, and you soon get used to the smell. Mother, I said, I don’t want to get used to the smell. I don’t ever want to be the sort of person who doesn’t notice the stink of sheep’… Beneath Ceaseless Skies - The Thought That Counts by K.J. Parker via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2NSLszI

In late summer of the fourteenth year of the reign of Fei-hu the Road-Builder, on a day when the portents suggested peace and prosperity throughout the city and all its territories, the warrior Aun-ki woke up and found that her skin caught fire at t… Beneath Ceaseless Skies - Fireskin by Joanne Rixon via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2OSMNqE

After I spoke to the tablecloth, its edges unraveled and slid through the arm of Aakash the Undying, neatly stitching up the flaps of his recently purloined skin. The serving boy had startled at the oath, but I made a tamping motion with my hands. T… Beneath Ceaseless Skies - Weft by Rahul Kanakia via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2MnVKvk

Once again it was that horrid time of year when the cashmere silk spiders crept from the bowels of the city of the angels and spun their pale web across its spires and domes, and Lukas the vendor of miracle tea felt a deep shudder begin in his testi…

Mei Huang considers the merit of an objection and quickly finds it inadequate. The threadbare comfort of a riposte will not put rice in her bowl, or ingots in her purse. Worse, it might even soil her reputation, diminish her standing. So many hours,…

A fantasy about a woman bequeathed an odd gift by a former lover who broke up with her, then died—his handwriting. Why did he do this and what does it mean? Years before, their breakup had been ugly, drawn out, and at times brutal. via Pocket Played Your Eyes | Tor.com via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2JfSIUy

A composer in an unstable city-state accidentally discovers the perfect singer for his work—a clockwork man—and sows the seeds of revolution. via Pocket

Baltimore isn’t safe. Not even for the predatory meat that stalks its nights. Searching for victims who won’t be missed, meat doesn’t feel regret or pain—only thirst. But the meat remembers something more… doesn’t it? is there more to eternal life t…

So I guess the story begins, fittingly, with someone handing me a Coma rig and saying, play me. Two a.m. and I’m at this party in somebody’s trailer out in the trashy part of town. via Pocket Coma Kings - Lightspeed Magazine via Instapaper https://ift.tt/1nMLaIV

2 tablespoons wheat flourYes, Admiral, I know we have developed superior, genetically enriched starches on the New Worlds, but when I found this crumbling recipe card in the archives and r via Pocket

It’s the same old story. Take a chance and pick up a hitchhiker. But only after midnight and only when you need some company. Of course, the hitchhiker will disappear. That’s the way the story goes, right? But this time you are the hitchhiker. And t… You Know How the Story Goes | Tor.com via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2CA08O2

The rossum accomplished many useful things that morning — it recalibrated the colony’s solar generators, it installed new satellite signal boosters, and it created fresh topographical via Pocket

Pursuant to the Presidential Leadership Utilizing Representative Individual Brains in Unified Simulation (PLURIBUS) Act, you are hereby given notice of your selection to serve as this district’s contribution to the collective leadership of the natio…

Jessa, age 9. Yorknet is my favourite sentience because it is dependable, protective and wise. Yorknet is dependable because there are several back-ups, so that if one system goes down, the sentience is mirrored in several other places, my mam says.…

Autonomy is a beautiful thing. 06:00: The time of rising. Not the best time to learn of an asteroid hurtling past Uranus at more than 40 million metres per second. via Pocket

On the M block of Fiction Street, a gust of wind pushed a hardback dangerously close to the curb. Bibliobot Eight-Ef rolled after it and extended its grasper, but another gust caused the robot to wobble and the book to dance away. via Pocket

A street but half made up via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2AR6VSJ

Bryant bit his lip as three-Michelin-starred chef Jean Christophe assessed the evening’s final plate. The pinkish meat, coarsely butchered, sat in a pool of steaming liquid. Chef bent over and wafted the aroma, catching himself before he recoiled. “…

Chocolate chicken cheesecake via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2PkMMwR

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