via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io Only Clarice would ask such a forthright question. “Leave her alone,” Jake drains his beer. Only he would dare contradict his sister. via Pocket

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io Murmurs ripple through the assembled cadets. Not because they’re shocked—everyone knew what they were signing up for—but because it all happened without fanfare, a jump across light-years of space unaccompanied by any grand orchestral swell or roari… Escape Pod 679 An Ever-Expanding Flash of Light - Escape Pod via Instapaper http://bit.ly/30aVVx6

Maguire, Phil, et al. “Is Consciousness Computable? Quantifying Integrated Information Using Algorithmic Information Theory.” arXiv preprint arXiv:1405.0126 (2014) (available at https://ift.tt/2L5WoYO). Teper, Igor. via Pocket Escape Pod 629 An Advanced Reader's Picture Book of Comparative Cognition - Escape Pod via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2OHaou8 via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io Aulis shuts out the frenetic buzz of the arena where she’s competing for an Oikotekt placement in the space navy. Only an Oikotekt, a person of powerful imagination, can hold onto a picture of the universe as it is supposed to be against the reality…

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io Sometimes at night when my mind is calm, I think I hear the octopuses. Around the world, the great network of molluscan philosophers. I had many reasons for moving to the Pacific Northwest –  weather, closeness to potential clients and my big brothe…

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io Escape Pod 677 Valedictorian (Flashback Friday) - Escape Pod via Instapaper http://bit.ly/2UYueJ2 There are three things Zinhle decides, when she is old enough to understand. The first is that she will never, ever, give less than her best to anything she tries to do. The second is that she will not live in fear. via Pocket

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io Escape Pod 676 Ulissa - Escape Pod via Instapaper http://bit.ly/2UnhIha The old woman they called Ulissa pointed south. “There’s the ship.” Edoardo raised the binoculars. “Mio dio, it’s huge,” he said. via Pocket

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io It was the middle of the night and everybody was knocked out. Marcus, my big brother who died the week before last, had his door cracked. I heard him snoring under the hum of the refrigerator. The carpet creaked under my feet as I stepped into the d…

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io The little cleanerbot whirrs as it crisscrosses the arena, sucking up the robot dust with the vacuum chute on its right and picking up strewn robot parts with the multi-hinged arm on its front. via Pocket Escape Pod 673 Optimizing the Verified Good (Artemis Rising) - Escape Pod via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2CIrft3

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io And Yet A. T. Greenblatt Only idiots go back to the haunted houses of their childhood. And yet. Here you are. Standing on the sagging, weed-strangled front porch that hasn’t changed in twenty years. Every dip in the floorboards, every peeling strip … Escape Pod 674 And Yet - Escape Pod via Instapaper http://bit.ly/2Vxspir

The fire crackles, and Sirella watches as Kai lies with his eyes closed, pretending to sleep. She knows he’s pretending because his breathing is too soft. She’s heard his almost snores since the second night, when they’d both finally relaxed enough … Escape Pod 633 Lucky Shot (Part 2) - Escape Pod via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2K0oklh via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io During the day, James A. Miller works on Milking Robots in the Madison Wisconsin area. At night, he spends time with his family and does his best to come up with fun and creative fiction. He is a first reader for Allegory e-zine and member of the Co… EP540 The Right Answer - Escape Pod via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2catQQy

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io Erin Cashier is fond of the unreliable narrator. The things that interest me most are Disneyland (not kidding), esoteric philosophy books, alchemy as it relates to Jungian theories, William Blake, and Super Paper Mario. via Pocket EP537 Honeycomb Girls - Escape Pod via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2bi9Exq

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io “Congratulations, Mrs. Costa,” chirped the young Life Center nurse. “You’re ready to go home! Here’s your shield.” Maria raised the infant in her arms high enough for the nurse to slip the slim, silver band around her waist. via Pocket

She slides the ornately embossed door aside and enters the first-class stall. It’s empty but for a man, he barely stirs as he reads aloud from a menu. The train wheels clatter and shake and the man smiles as he cranes his head up to take in a vast u… via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io White Star | 365tomorrows via Instapaper http://bit.ly/2QqP9is

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io In 1721 Mary Margaret Thornton is sitting in the shallows of the river when the dairy farmer’s son finds her. He rises often this early, on the breath of dawn, specifically of a purpose to find her before anyone else does. via Pocket Roads | 365tomorrows via Instapaper http://bit.ly/2WAWIVW

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io Author : Daniel S. Helman Malia read the paper and then again. It was hard to believe. “Really?” you thought. “They’re offering money for that?” It was midweek, and you’d managed to accompany your brother to the store, where he picked up yesterday’s… Malia Read the Paper and Then Again | 365tomorrows via Instapaper http://bit.ly/2WC5LWL

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via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io

Why is this cell always so damn cold? Of course, the guards don’t call it a cell. Officially, it’s a ‘holding chamber’- a secure room where I can wait for something – anything – to happen. via Pocket Recompense | 365tomorrows via Instapaper https://ift.tt/31XeUfI

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io No all-powerful deity would ever admit to this wretched rock being of its hand. What God would lay claim to its deformities and corruptions. To its cancers, to the ripe budding evil that blooms within our cells and the tumours we’ve named: Persecuti…

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via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io The breeze from the windows is lethargic, like everything else in the oppressive heat and humidity. via Pocket Little Evolutions | 365tomorrows via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2TcmaAs

via FREE Fiction / Raindrop.io https://raindrop.io I can see the lights of the screens up in the control room as I cross the silent studio. Nothing will be happening down here for another year. Up there, nobody goes home until their replacement is onsite and up to speed. Kelly once commented that so… Ratings | 365tomorrows via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2KDRbt2