Fictional Worlds

archived 26 Aug 2022 13:06:09 UTC

archived 20 Jan 2020 23:58:58 UTC

A trip back home for Christmas.

You’ll notice how the commercials never mention the price. They’ve all got some lab-coated guy with chiseled cheekbones spouting dumbed-down drivel about how emotions have wavelengths, the same as light or sound, which are reflected and absorbed by the objects around us. How this discovery has the potential to revolutionize your life. Yes, you, the one glued to your screen at three a.m., binging YouTube videos.

It’s midnight and I can smell the new moon through the cracks in the concrete. This organism in my womb has heightened my senses in unnatural ways. I can hear the Council’s hushed arguments through the walls of my cell as they contemplate my death, their words carried by the night wind through the cracks in the concrete that constitutes the community prison. Old habits die hard. We’ve been on this planet for less than ten years and a prison was the first building we constructed.

Welcome back, listeners! It’s me, Eli McCarthy, your go-to podcast host for allllll the juiciest super drama. I’m thrilled to be coming to you live from the maximum-security containment wing of Site 92, where I have the pleasure of interviewing Sixten Graves, known by most of you as Sol Undertaker. For those of you living under a rock [chuckles], Sol Undertaker placed themself voluntarily in prison here.

archived 25 Aug 2022 15:43:27 UTC

Author: Ross Field “You are ready to hear the story of our people my son” With their backs to the blinding light and whipping sand they descended down the wide tunnel worn smooth from time, through the carcasses of toppled skyscrapers, museums, and churches compacted together. “When the sky failed them our ancestors found safety […]

archived 25 Aug 2022 15:40:32 UTC

Author: Jenna Hanan Moore They say a kind word never broke anyone’s mouth, but that’s not true. A kind word broke my mouth. Strictly speaking, I don’t have a mouth. That is, I don’t have a physical opening in my face from which to project my voice. But I do have a language processor and […]

archived 25 Aug 2022 15:37:20 UTC

archived 25 Aug 2022 15:35:40 UTC

Author: Chana Kohl With my blade’s edge poised and a steady hand, I watched a decade of locs fall into the sink. A military uniform, once diligently maintained, hung lifeless in a closet. A soft tunic slid across my clean-shaven head, worn over jute trousers, and cinched, not by a tactical belt, but with a [�]

archived 25 Aug 2022 15:34:33 UTC

archived 25 Aug 2022 15:32:26 UTC

Author: Fatemah Albader “You look beautiful today, Maggie,” said Barry Chambers, of Barry Chambers & Associates. “Thank you, Master Chambers. But I am obligated to answer that I always look the same.” Maggie wore the same yellow dress every day. It complimented her tanned skin and brought out the glaze in her eyes. “It’s always […]

archived 25 Aug 2022 15:29:16 UTC

Author: Angela Acosta Juru steadied the nozzle skyward, working his way up the curvature of the inner dome. It was tricky work sealing in the pleasant mixture of breathable air for the new inhabitants. The locals christened their new home Stoda, short for Standard Dry Air, to remind themselves of the aqueous globe that once […]

archived 25 Aug 2022 15:27:23 UTC

Author: Georgia Scalise It’s common knowledge that eyesight is a thing of the ancient past. Ask any kid and they’ll be more than happy to tell you the stories about how millions of years ago, humanity supposedly lived above the surface, basking in sunlight and using their eyes to gather information. No one remembers why […]

Author: David Barber “There’s the official version,” said Lev. “Where First Contact was that signal from the Jirt ship out in the Oort. Then there’s what really happened.” The old hands round the bar had heard all this before, but it was Lev’s birthday and he was footing the bar bill. He focused on the […]