As May walked back through the time zones of her company town for the last time, she stared at the hands of her watch. She could feel her mind adjusting to its tiny motions, its auto-syncing movements slowing down as she passed through each border. …

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The two thieves stood before the giant vault, fresh out of ideas. “Well?” Braygin prodded, “what do you think?” Tesca shrugged. “I think the Regent’s not going to be pleased.” via Pocket

The doorbell rang, a rarity these days. Harold didn’t hurry to the door. Someone in sales most likely. His heart sped a little anyway. “We don’t want any —” There she was, standing in the morning mist. Not exactly as he remembered but that lopsided …

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I’ve been super-still in a tree for hours as I practise observation. I’m going to be a scientist, so learning to observe is very important. My corder hangs from my neck but I keep a hand near it all the time in case I spy something new. I already sa…

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Grave robbery. If you think it’s a relic of gothic novels, think again. Now that the first generation of body-modified tech-bros and computer-implanted one-percenters sleep under tombstones, there’s a ton of gear in the ground. via Pocket

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As a physics graduate student at a great technical university, my life was full. One of the things it was most full of was trying to find a parking space. I was not important enough to get a university sticker and not rich enough to afford a pay lot…

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They say that when you go to the sky-reflected ocean and strip yourself as bare as the day you were born, the water will take you in. It will hurt—don’t fool yourself. The transition between one life and the next is never without pain or grief. via … Beneath Ceaseless Skies - Speak Easy, Suicide Selkies by E. Catherine Tobler via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2w8zqe0

The slender jawbone lies in the palm of his hand like a crown. Raising it, an offering to the night, stretched starlight gleams on milk teeth. via Pocket Beneath Ceaseless Skies - The Scrimshander by Damien Krsteski via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2MDgPkw

A futuristic murder mystery about detective partners—a human and an enhanced chimpanzee—who are investigating why a woman murdered an apparently random stranger on the subway. “Doesn’t look like a killer, does she,” Huxley remarks. Cu shrugs a hairy… Meat And Salt And Sparks | Tor.com via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2szUw3Z

Here is the whisper in the night, the creak upstairs, that half-remembered ghost story that won’t let you sleep, the sound that raises gooseflesh, the wish you’d checked the lock on the door before it got really, really dark. via Pocket

A mother. A son. A virtual world they both share where each could live forever and achieve their fullest potential. Until one of them decides that isn’t enough for life. via Pocket The Need for Air | Tor.com via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2tHgcv2

It’s the last day of autumn, and Jiteh’s twin brother is dead. He sits on the edge of his cot, thorns popping like seedlings from between his knuckles and poking through his sweaty scalp in a blood-slicked crown. “I’m scared,” he whispers. via Pocket Beneath Ceaseless Skies - The Sweetness of Honey and Rot by A. Merc Rustad via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2w2Hnm7

Enjoy this reprint from Joan Aiken’s short story collection The Monkey’s Wedding: and Other Stories  from Small Beer Press. Francis Nastrowski was a young Polish officer. He had once been rich, but was so no longer. Some of the habits of his bygone … Reading in Bed | Tor.com via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2L3esmh