Author : Suzanne Phillips The scent is the worst part. Sweat, stale cigarette smoke, ethanol, ear wax, cheap hair gel. When your face, and therefore your olfaction sensor, is pressed against a client’s neck, it’s impossible to avoid it – you weren’t given an option to switch it off. But there isn’t supposed to be [...]
Author : Helen E. Kourous Vijay had arrived early at New Windows on the World, expecting the worst. He knew she would be late, so he took the opportunity to adjust the mood of his BlueShark textile-display sleeve stripes to his personally-designed schema Variations on Green Funk. That would annoy her. Ads for senso-cocktails followed [...]
Author : Mur Lafferty, featured writer Cthulhu Bob and Hominy Jack were warming their hands over a barrel one chilly night on Londo 13, right outside of Hazy City, where hoboes were dumped after branding. Hominy Jack looked up. “Gonna snow.” Cthulhu Bob squinted into the blackness. His stomach rumbled, distracting him from the weather. [...]
Author : Sam Clough aka “Hrekka” The two guards stared into the swirling fog. In the distance, both could see a black smudge. A person, on foot, crossing in from the outer edge of the membrane. “Him crazy insane.” Kit remarked, leaning with both elbows on the safety rail to get a better look. His [...]
Author : Mike Frizzell They say your life flashes before your eyes in hyperspace. In only a millisecond, you can relive every excruciating moment of your life. Every rejection, failure, and utter humiliation is right there for your review, complete with the sounds and smells you don’t even remember. Needless to say, I was not [...]
Author : TJMoore Virgil crept through the vent blinking as the hot, humid wind caused tears to stream from his squinted eyes. The condensation caused him to slip and slide on the smooth, sweaty metal as he lifted himself up into a side shaft. The constriction made the air howl and Virgil had to push [...]
Author : Steve Smith, Staff Writer “I’m not sure what you want with me.” The words came nervously in gasps as the little man pulled himself up off the ground and rubbed the circulation back into his wrists. “I don’t deal in data, I’m more of a ‘creative leveller’. In real space.” “You implode structures. [...]
Author : Duncan Shields I was standing in the five star hotel’s transporter half a second ago. Destination: Corroway 6. Pleasure moon. I am now standing in a cold, dark concrete basement. One dying fluorescent light stutters the room with camera flashes. From what I can see, the room was a storage room of some [...]
Author : K. J. Russell “The warhead has been planted approximately twenty meters beneath solid granite.†Physicist Arthrike Brogan stood before some three dozen people, those scientists and politicians of higher power or renown. “At that depth, what we see should be pretty much equivalent to if the warhead had actually been launched remotely.†“And [...]
Author : Mur Lafferty, featured writer “I don’t like heels,” Tina said. Barry looked at her, his head cocked to one side. “I thought all girls liked heels.” Tina grimaced. “You’ll think I’m weird.” Barry grinned. Tina liked the same movies as he did, the same music, and didn’t think he was slurring when he [...]
Author : Patrica Stewart Tony Scandone, the Director of The Ministry of Global Economy, motioned to the servbot to refill his coffee cup. After satisfying himself that the coffee was properly sweetened, he raked the last few morsels of his desert onto his fork, then squeegeed it clean between his lips. “I’m telling you Carmen, [...]
Author : TJMoore It had been eons since Kra had left home for this mission. He’d known when he left that it was a one way trip, but now he was growing weary of this “Long Term†assignment. “Long Terminal†was more like it he joked to himself for maybe the millionth time. The invasion [...]
Author : Steven Holland Contemplating my life’s choice, I plunge my hand beneath the slowly flowing stream water. There was only one choice in my life that makes any real difference. The cool water rushes past my hand, caressing it with the softest of touches. The bubbling of the tranquil stream joins in chorus with [...]
Author : Michael Herbaugh a.k.a. “Freeman” It’s eerie, ya know? Standing over myself, while I am performing surgery on my own body. “Standing†is really a misnomer, it’s more like I am suspended from the ceiling of the company’s surgical arena. I, that is my consciousness, am being held in a temporary construct, while I [...]
Author : Salli Shepherd Feeding-time is an unnatural silence. The last otter walks in dry circles, won’t chirrup for fish. A bobcat, only yesterday elevated to the lone archetype of all American felines, has pined to little more than loose hide draped on a bone frame and sulks below the hang of a rock to [...]
Author : Steve Smith, Staff Writer The alarm wakes me at five am, just another day in a sea of days. I know I’ve been out for eight hours, but I don’t feel like I ever really sleep anymore. The world floods my consciousness whenever I’m not actively shutting it out. It fills my head [...]
Author : Scott Hatfield Nobody needs to die anymore. Science has made amazing strides in the last couple of decades. Everyone gets to about 27 or 28 realyears and then simply stops aging. They sell packages if you want to be older or younger, taller or shorter, prettier or uglier, or a different sex. Or [...]
Author : Mur Lafferty, featured writer Dragon Eyes squirmed on the table, but it was no use. Reginald Brady, the supervillain who refused to take an official villain name, had covered her eyes, rendering her powers useless. “I’m surprised to see you, Dragon Eyes,” he said, tightening her restraints, “Considering how your mother feels about [...]
Author : Benjamin Fischer Alana examines the next child. The young girl dodges her eyes. Alana frowns and gently grabs her by the chin, forcing the little Asian girl to meet her gaze. “Have you been feeding this one enough?†she asks. Viktor grinds his teeth. “Some have no appetite,†he answers. “And they are [...]
Author : Christopher Albanese There it is, a wide-open wink. It slowly slid the light from my eyes, then the warmth from my face. And still there it sits. They say there’s no sound of it, here or in space, but I feel in my bones the hum of such a gargantuan braking of motion. [...]
Thanks to the tireless efforts of Staff Writer Steve and Möebius, of www.team-dystopia.com, we now have a masthead and footer that far surpass the text-and-NASA-culled-stock-photo images we’ve been using for the last two years. If you haven’t already, refresh your browser to check out the wonder. Möebius posted this excellent render of our (NASA’s?) satellite [...]
Author : Benjamin Fischer “King Midas believes that his days as absolute ruler of Crete are ending.†McCarran coughed, a single bead of coffee escaping his left nostril. His big, pawlike hand wiped it out of the air. “Say again?†the burly pirate finally managed. “Forces outside the King’s control have conspired,†continued the baldheaded [...]
Author : Duncan Shields What a cliché. There I was, handcuffed to a chair and telling them that I knew my rights. Yelling at them about what an outrage this was. Straight out of a movie. I couldn’t help it. You have to remember I thought I was above the law at this stage, a [...]
Author : Steve Smith, Staff Writer Tutime paid for the bus ride from Centerville to North End with traceable credit, being sure to show his face to the cameras at either end. Three blocks on foot brought him to the Art School campus, and two more hours riding through culverts on a stolen bicycle brought [...]
Author : Patricia Stewart James Stevens sheepishly peeked around the doorjamb. “E-e-excuse me m-m-mister, can you help m-me?†Robert Boyer looked up from his desk, and smiled. “Of course, sir. Come in, and take a seat. What can I do for you?†“I’d-d-d like to order a w-w-wife.†“Well, you’ve come to the right place. [...]
Author : Mur Lafferty, featured writer Dr. Emmett Black stumbled home, tears still streaming down his face. Katie was there, as always, with dinner. Wonderful, beautiful, sweet Katie. She rushed to his side. “Darling, what’s wrong?” She helped him to the couch where he choked back sobs and glared at her. “We did it. We [...]
Author : Grant Montoya Everything was prepared. My satchel carried all the tools. They could not be too advanced; I would not have access to gas or electricity, and batteries would only backfire my intentions. I checked my watch, which said it had plenty of life left for the week I anticipated needing. I looked [...]
Author : e b major Alissandra lay sideways on her balcony bed in a camisole and skirt, wings folded to the side. Twin tracks of pointless tears traced through the freckles dotting her face. Her eyes were closed now; she, engulfed in a final, hopeless dream. All she could have done was done. The city, [...]
Author : J. S. Kachelries The Flag Ship of United Earth docked with the Flag Ship of the Volk Empire (The home planet of the Empire orbits Barnard’s Star, the sun’s second closest neighbor). Three decades ago, these two “civilizations†fought each other in a titanic interstellar war. It was a fierce struggle that resulted [...]
Author : Lucas Atkinson The smell is glorious. The simple cornmeal, oil and fish form an elusive synthesis in the air. I reach for a paper plate, inhaling and closing my eyes. Pulling at the biggest piece by the corner, I burn my fingers a little, but I tear it off, releasing steam into the [...]
Author : Mur Lafferty, featured writer In the years following the cyborg wars, humankind toiled to return the world to the order before the chaos. “Rose, are you done with your lessons?†her mother asked from the den. Rose blew her bangs off her forehead, said, “Not yet!†and continued with her history lesson. The [...]
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