Author: Marion Lougheed “Where are the colours?” the billionaire shifts in his seat. “I know what outer space looks like. I’ve seen the photos.” I produce my most winsome spaceflight-attendant smile. “Ah, yes, well, those photos show parts of the light spectrum our eyes don’t see. Infrared, ultraviolet… But it’s all black to us. Would […]

Author: Eli Hastings The man turns a circle in the intersection, the four way crimson stop light flashing overhead, so he is encircled in crimson glow now, and now, not. The yellow Walkman gripped like a handgun in his right fist. The headphones nearly the age of the Walkman and the cassette clipped into it. […]

Author: Majoki In the dappled sunlight she felt the late afternoon breeze turn the tide against the day’s heat. So pleasant, so perfect, like so many hundreds of summer evenings before in her back garden. She brimmed, feeling the privilege of contentment. But how to say it? In her best days, expressing these feelings had […]

Author: Allyson Foley His breathing was deafening in the confines of the helmet as he clung to the wreckage of the Palindrought. That thing had looked like one of theirs. Its clearance codes had checked out. Its hull, the call sign, even its frequency and flight path had all cleared. The ship had been Telphi […]

They have never fought about it. “It’s your body,” her husband says, and means it. Only sometimes, when they’re out walking, a little girl will careen across their path roaring like a giggly tyrannosaurus, and he falls silent. “What’re you thinking about?” she asks, before she learns not to.

Author: Majoki Thor got thunder. Prometheus got fire. Shiva got a laser eye. Me? I got a measly quark. Smallest thing in the universe. Two and a half trillion times smaller than a grain of sand. What’s a god supposed to do with that? Make the masses tremble and beg mercy, pledge obedience and fealty–to […]

The glass bottles are caked with so much grime you can’t see what’s in them anymore. It’s better that way because you don’t think you’d be able to do what you need to, if you could. You fish the knife out of your canvas bag, and a lighter with just enough fluid for one more flash of fire. This is your first time—but you’ve seen your mother do the same thing countless times before. Before she made her first mistake. Before you were forced to take her place.

Author: Cheri Vazquez It was 1978 and I was on my way to a job interview at the most exclusive fine dining restaurant in New City. I’d coifed my hair into what I believed to be worthy of the sommelier position. My satin slacks pinched at my waist securing a silver silk blouse I had purchased at Barneys, my throat dry […]

Three pieces of toast—dark on one side, light on the other. A cup of coffee. Rosh’s preference is Blend 14, with hints of Sub-Saharan Africa and caramel, delivered tepid with more milk than expresso.

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer My peers are very fond of saying how they ‘were fortunate’ or ‘spotted an opportunity’. The more honest have momentary shadows in their eyes when they say it. The raw truth is that to accumulate this much wealth, we’ve taken opportunities, money, and even lives from others. Not theft or […]

Author: Majoki You gave them the names. All of them. Jelenik, Szmania, Guar, Imhotep, Salasi, Yun, Indrasutthan, Porter. Faisel knows it. His broken face, his darkened eyes tell you in the sterile moments of your visits. You wrap his lacerations, dampen his fever, moisten his battered lips, force morsels past his chipped teeth. His pulse […]

Content Note: Racism   Seven of Nine is a third-culture kid. Those of us who leave one country for another at an early age recognize the beats: You’re one person, a whole, unconflicted person with a whole, unconflicted family that belongs—until being literally assimilated as a child. You learn to adjust, but eventually—perhaps as a […]

Author: Hillary Lyon Kaz tumbled through the centrifugal force of the prismatic vortex, finally landing on the planet’s surface with a cruel thud. Medical nanobots lining the interior of his suit immediately went to work, infusing themselves through the pores of his skin, worming their way into his bloodstream. From there, the minuscule bots traveled […]

In the land that is now Malaysia, there once was a tribe of monkeys called the Mawahs, whose king was appointed by King Solomon to be the Raja of the jungle. Raja Mawah built himself a throne on the south bank of the Perak River and ruled the jungle fairly.

Last fall’s decaying leaves shifted beneath my feet as I crossed the yard.

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer Nineteen hundred tomorrows, and of them, only I got to see a dawn. The world below is still burning in places: unfortunate for the natives that their home arrived at the same strategically important position as the main battle fleets of two conflicting interstellar empires. I’ve tuned into their broadcasts. […]

Author: Robert White “I always thought the Kremlin or the White House would start it, you know, trip over that whatchamacallit, the nuclear football,” Erik said. “I don’t think it’s actually a football,” Alan said. “It’s a suitcase with a bunch of buttons.” “Cops jumped ship like everybody else,” Erik said. “Half the town’s looting […]

Author: Michael T Schaper Serena felt a little strange as she stepped out of the clinic and into the street. Not surprising, since she’d just made herself immortal. She stopped to check the road before going any further. It was full of people going about their business. She thought she might recognise some of them, […]

Author: Frances Koziar I had only paid for an hour of the tech, and when the end came, I wasn’t ready for it. I had a visor over my eyes, muffs on my ears, finger-control gloves on my hands, and a sensory top suit, but I didn’t feel any of it. I had gone off […]

Author: Maudie Bryant Cool water wraps around me, my skin dappled by the summer sun through the rippling surface. Laughter echoes down the shore where friends splash without care. I push back a loose strand of hair, and catch a flash of what looks like glitter clinging to my thigh. I brush at the spot, […]

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer The loading bay is spotlessly clean – the sort of polish only drone cleaners can achieve. Of all the things officers love, shiny metal in any form still wins. “Captain Reese.” I turn to Sarah. She’s shiny too, but only in places. By the time she’s finished, she won’t reflect […]

Author: Majoki Snug in my craft, taking each spacetime curve to a smooth jazz arrangement of “Just My Imagination,” it became clear. Things were slowing. We were winding down. It’d been a good ride. Not in every age and not for everybody, but for enough of humanity, we’d experienced amazing things. In the process we’d […]

Author: Don Nigroni I’m using pen and paper to write this for a reason. Please excuse my poor penmanship. My brother, James, was quite the success. I wasn’t jealous, just proud. Of course, it wasn’t easy being second best out of two, namely, in last place. James was a respected neuroscientist, while I’m just a […]

Author: C.R. Kiegle My memories go back only three months, but I know I am older than that. Much older. I can feel it in the grit and the grinding sounds as I move, gears gone years without servicing. There’s not much time to think about how old my bones may be, however. Barbara keeps […]

Author: B.M. Gilb I have never rested because I am not built for sleep. I never tire, and I never power down. I am programmed to fight until the sky darkens, and the three suns of our planet cease to shine their endless light. Our human enemies have sleep built into them by design—a perfect […]

Author : Jason X. Bergman “You hold my amulet. I am bound to grant you three wishes. Three wishes and no more,” spoke the jinn. “I need only one,” said the prince. “My beloved Meredith, killed by the dark wizard Neirin. I want her back.” “This I cannot do,” said the jinn, shaking his head. […]

This is a story about a bird. A bird, a ship, a machine, a woman—she was all these things, and none, but first and fundamentally a bird. It is also a story about a man—a gambler, a liar, and a cheat…