Stories

Author : Desmond Hussey, Staff Writer “Hello, Mum.” She stands in the doorway, arms crossed, deciding whether she has the guts to enter. The intervening silence is broken by the repetitive hiss-thu…

Author : Jae Miles, Staff Writer The bricks are antique but the ferropoxy used as mortar is a giveaway, after you scrape the film of cement coloured paint mixed with sand off. “This is the pl…

Author : Rachelle Shepherd We stopped at the Drug Market for clone-cloves, street illegal copies of Indonesian spice and porn-shop perfume. They were thick rolls of black steel with bands of gold i…

Author : Dakota Brown “We are born out of darkness,” she told herself begrudgingly. “Certainly it holds no true power.” Around her, the frightened masses had gathered (after, of course, a stretch o…

Author : Rodger Parr If you have ever awoken in the morning to find yourself with the body of a human and the head of an insect then you must surely empathise if not at least sympathise with me. Fo…

Author : Willis Weatherford The piercing rays of a fiery star filtered through thickly opaque clouds to light Gerder’s face with a rosy hue: his first dawn on NovaTerra. As he peered through the na…

Author : Jenna Bilbrey A breeze rustled through the corn field, drying the sweat from the day’s planting. The sky twinkled brighter than the Fourth of July. A shooting star rocketed past. I wished …

Author : Sean Kavanagh The 3rd Planet-Formation Cadre sounded like an impressive title, but Dhan – like the others in his team – knew all it meant was that they were civil servants. Civil servants …

Author : Britny Musson I was singing in my sleep again. “And then there was none, and then there was all.” My throat is dry but the words still manage to croak out. Something is different, today. M…

Author : Clint Wilson, Staff Writer He scanned the desolate horizon through ancient hollow eyes from beneath the brim of a very weathered top hat. All around him was the smoldering ruin that had on…

Author : Denis Bell Morbid fear, for God’s sake. Driving home from the shrink, Hugh turned on the car radio in an attempt to blot out the thoughts churning in his head. The radio was tuned to WPB. …

Author : Stivi Cooke They didn’t think about that… In all the plans, all the awesome designs, the mind blowing concepts, all the calculations, the deals, the engineering and finally the launch… the…

Author : Jae Miles, Staff Writer One world. Seven hundred and ninety-two people. Less than a hundred berths on the ship out. It’s a recipe for bloody mayhem and that’s how they want it. Only the mo…

Author : Stefan Aeschbacher The ancient city had been buried for over five thousand years. The digbots were digging at this spot for two hours, fifteen minutes and thirty-five seconds. They were ma…

Author : Andrew D. Murrell I awoke. I could still feel the remnants of foreign thoughts gently receding from my consciousness. Then I felt today’s check deposit into my account, twenty one th…

Author : Adam Mac Wanna see a modern-day miracle, kid? Whatever. Well, just sit tight. Sure. It’s not like I’m going anywhere. Here, take the binoculars. See that old guy on the bridge?…

Author : Patricia Stewart, Staff Writer If the Skipper found out what I was about to do, he’d probably dock me a week’s pay, but it’d be worth it. I figured with the gravity generator off-line for …

Author : Morrow Brady The beauty of my living room design was the simplicity of it’s vacuous two storey cube. High with expectation, I entered the freshly printed room for the first time. Wha…

Author : Philip Smith Most of the bots you see in diners are the ones that serve the food. We have one but it was a bad decision on my part. Real waitresses give you a smile and make you feel welco…

Author : George R. Shirer The girl is naked. Long limbed. Gorgeous. He can smell her from where he sits, in the back of the club, where the shadows are thickest. She struts across the stage, hips s…

Author : Duncan Shields, Staff Writer He was wearing the recording helmet when he died. John DeMangus, out like a light, rest in peace. It was an embolism that took him out. He was by himself in th…

Author : Lela Maarie De La Garza There’d once been a golden age, Pearson thought. What would this one be called? He reflected on the meaning of different colours. Green? There wasn’t a speck of it …

Author : J.D. Rice The last camel died at dawn. Doctor Peterson and the other survivors worked quickly to salvage what meat they could from the corpse, then pressed on into the desert. Unending wav…

Author : Joseph Lyons “Good morning Mr…Ogden. I’m nurse Shaw, I’ll be your mod operator today. What can I do for you?” “I’m here for my girlfriend.” “Ok, perhaps I can interest you in the sensitivi…

Author : James Machell Having sampled manna, which fell from Heaven and was enjoyed by Moses in the desert, picked dates from a batch given to the Prophet Mohammed, Derek Lockerby, restaurant criti…

Author : Jae Miles, Staff Writer 4740952167146306075469716387943171296873484638738184656751279298575016363416314627530498019135646823804328970695760150789349728658035712790913767420805651462- “What…

Red Kelly Owns the Moon By Shaenon Garrity Nobody remembered how Red Kelly got his hands on the moon. He picked up a lot of things back then. You had to, working at the Westinghouse on a brazier’s pay. Red played cards, ran numbers around town, and, every other year, warmed hands for the Democratic […]

Author : M. A. Goldin “Anything?” “Bacteria, some multi-celled organisms, but nothing complex. Nothing sentient.” Captain Dalmar nodded, and the technician’s projected…

Author : Vanessa Kittle Max stood looking out of his window into the night. He lived on the 50th floor of the Palmer building in New York. The rule was the higher the better, and while he was nowhe…

Author : Mark Adel I felt the urge to write speculative fiction. But I couldn’t. So I swallowed a nil pill. Still I couldn’t. So I swallowed another nil pill. Then I couldn’t remember my name. But …