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…
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - Speak Easy, Suicide Selkies by E. Catherine Tobler
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
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - The Scrimshander by Damien Krsteski
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
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - The Sweetness of Honey and Rot by A. Merc Rustad
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
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
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
Two women who have been friends since they were children—one a recovering alcoholic brought up by parents who believe they’re alien abductees, the other an orphan with an eating disorder—contend with a secret that might doom their friendship. So her… Recoveries | Tor.com via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2MHzBVq
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
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - The Examination Cloth by Jonathan Edelstein
The silent proctors walked beside Ukeme into the examination village, checked him for iron and palm leaves and concealed cloth-patterns, and brought him to a hut. He stood at the threshold for a moment, looking down at the floor just inside. via Poc… Beneath Ceaseless Skies - The Examination Cloth by Jonathan Edelstein via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2Iya2XH
In a dark future America where consumerism and gun culture are unchecked, a young family teams up to celebrate the first shopping day of the Christmas season in the most patriotic way possible. via Pocket
I placed the dishes in a haphazard pile in the sink and watched as the auto-sorter pulled them into the dishwasher one by one, stacking them into supersonic racks. My mind reeled from the phone call from school. “Meiling was acting up again. via Poc…
The mission: to survey the galaxy and beyond. An endless stream of probes and starships heading out into the universe, surveying, cataloguing, assaying. Forever. And on board those ships, the intrepid explorers who give it all meaning. We are a way … Grace’s Family | Tor.com via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2rIVDhG
When an AI that monitors casino gambling in Reno taunts a magician by revealing all his tricks, the magician is determined to exact his revenge. Best trick I ever saw? A lanky streak-of-piss Dutchman did it right in front of my eyes. A ring, a watch… The Guile | Tor.com via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2IBC3hI
Can dreams come true? They can if you win the lottery, which promises to provide what your heart desires. For a humble shopkeeper in Yiwu, it’s a living, selling lottery tickets. Until a winning ticket opens up mysteries he’d never imagined. via Poc… Yiwu | Tor.com via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2IBq5oa
Beneath Ceaseless Skies - The Ghostpotion Games by Christian K. Martinez
Erinia was at the table to win, more than anything else. The need for it filled her bones, burned through her lungs, steadied her will. She wanted it more than earning the Empresses’ favor, more than testing her mettle, more than the pleasure of def… Beneath Ceaseless Skies - The Ghostpotion Games by Christian K. Martinez via Instapaper https://ift.tt/2OReUXp
The sun beat down like a hammer. Stoneseeker scoured the base of the cliff, looking for rock samples to take back to the elders. It was his first solo exploration, and his brief was simple: find more flint. The chief had relieved him of hunting duti…