Author: Neil Burlington Detective Gallant holds me down while his partner hits me even harder than he hit his wife last night. I bleed from my nose, my lips, and pretty much everywhere a face can bleed when under merciless attack by cops. I’m squeaky clean and eighteen, but do they care? “Where is it!” […]

Author: Jeremy Nathan Marks ‘Sir, I hope you’re happy with the service you’ve received thus far.’ ‘Please alter your voice to that of a woman.’ ‘Sir, I hope you’re pleased with the services you’ve so far received.’ ‘I am, Moneypenny. May I call you Moneypenny?’ ‘You may call me whatever you like, sir.’ ‘Thank you.’ […]

Author: Don Nigroni Yesterday on Christmas Day, I was at my filthy rich, albeit eccentric, uncle’s house. And that’s when and where everything went awry. After dinner, he took me aside to his library to enjoy a cigar and a tawny port. “We know our current materialistic paradigm is pure garbage, yet we still cling […]

Author: David Henson “I’d rather not plug in now, Pop.” “Robby, you and Sally do as your father asks. It’s good to relive family memories.” Steven Matlink sees his wife, son and daughter enter the reminiscences room and put on their helmets. “Thanks, Dorothy. They always mind you better than me.” “And whose fault is […]

Author: Paul Schmidt Joshua burst awake, a dislocated memory of laughter and candlelight tapering into the ether. That same synthetic voice buzzed in his ear. His contact companion, installed at his ocular barrier, always had a habit of waking him abruptly. “Rise and shine, Joshua! It’s a fantastic day.” Joshua gritted his teeth, groggily slipping […]

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 […]

At age nineteen, Robot Girl had dropped out of the most prestigious university in the country, had no objectives in life, and was now stuck pet sitting for the lovely lesbian couple at her old church.

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 […]

Author: Jenny Abbott The Bob Hope in the next act is slipping, and I can hear him breaking down a little more every night through the wall. These places off the turnpike aren’t exactly five-star gigs, but you take what you can get—a career in combat leaves you long on synaptic adjustments but short on […]

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 […]