Author : Patricia Stewart, Staff Writer It was a significant indiscretion to say the least. To have become emotionally involved in your science project was bad enough, but to have affected its outcome was unforgivable. In fact, it was a breach of conduct worthy of expulsion. Now, Mi’tera was faced with another dilemma, what to [...]
Author : Thomas Desrochers A distress beacon blinked softly in the night, the quiet red light weakly calling out “help me, help me.” Around it pale white snow swirled through the air, gently eddying around the dark shape of the crashed cargo hauler, lazily working to cover it up. Nearby the downed craft the snow [...]
Author : Glenn Blakeslee After The Fall Carlos was at loose ends and alone, so he hot-wired Daniel’s old Chevy, siphoned gas from abandoned cars and drove north. He hadn’t seen Daniel for a while and was sure he was dead. He saw people from the freeway but didn’t stop. He drove the pass and [...]
Author : Duncan Shields, Staff Writer She set up a receiving station in her office. That receiving station was anchored at 3:45 PM, August 22nd, 2018. As soon as she turned it on, the messages from her future self came pouring in. Advice on theories, scores from sports games, inside knowledge on upcoming relationships and [...]
Author : T. King His eyes fluttered open. The hatch hissed as he pushed against it and steam began to swirl around the cold metal floor. Other than a huge kink in his neck and some joint stiffness, he was feeling fine. Evans had been sleeping for a long time. Now he got to see [...]
Author : Ken McGrath I should have left it alone. But you know what it’s like you just can’t help picking at these things. Remember when you were a kid and your mum’d tell you not to pick at a scab or stop scratching your chicken pox or whatever, well that’s exactly what it was [...]
Author : Joseph Hoye A choice: the camp or the city. Carl would be dead within an hour if he approached the city without an offering for the Fathers – mercy and I.O.U.s have long since dried up on this world. An offering is not merely a representation of life. It is life. No-offering is [...]
We’re always happy to see an author we’ve published here have success in print, and on the 18th of September, Tony Pacitti’s new book ‘My Best Friend is a Wookiee‘ went on sale. In this hilarious and heartfelt memoir, our hapless hero sees Star Wars for the first time at the age of seven–and is [...]
Author : Jacqueline Rochow “Well? What’s it like?” “Shut up, Dev, I’m trying to concentrate.” Nara squinted through the telescope, adjusting the focus slightly. “Well isn’t that something.” “Let me see!” Dev strode over, only to be halted by Nara’s glare. “I’ve just set this thing on two planets at a very good resolution over [...]
Author : Jeroen Amin She lay on the bed in the darkness of her room, clinging to her teddy bear. She spoke in excited whispers so that Mommy sleeping next door would not wake. She told of all the adventures that had comprised her day. “Daddy, I wish you could have seen it!” Somewhere in [...]
Author : Mark Wallace The literary agent wore a sharp suit and a slick smile when Charles walked in. “Hey Charles, my man. This is really an honour.” “Thank you,” said Charles, a man of late middle age, bearded, with a sad, sober expression of face. He was dressed neatly and, though of relatively short [...]
Wil Wheaton, John Scalzi and Subterranean Press are proud to announce the publication of Clash of the Geeks, a special and fantastical electronic chapbook featuring stories by Wheaton, Scalzi, New York Times bestseller Patrick Rothfuss, Norton Award winner and Hugo Best Novel nominee Catherynne M. Valente, Hugo and Nebula Award nominee Rachel Swirsky and others, [...]
Author : Patricia Stewart, Staff Writer “When are these damn birds going to let us go back to the Shuttle?” demanded Captain Linnaeus. “We have weapons, Captain, they don’t,” stated Lieutenant Baldwin, the ship’s exobiologist. “Therefore, I suppose that we can leave anytime we want to, provided you don’t mind killing intelligent, extraterrestrial life forms.” [...]
Author : C Sousa “Son, have you seen the stars?” “This one time when I went camping,” I replied. It had been lame, just a handful of lit pinpoints in the sky at this touristy little campground my parents had found. “That’s not really seeing the stars,” he told me. “I can get you the [...]
Author : Heather O’Connell The stifling heat from the fireplace made the tiny kitchen unbearable. Gracie’s pile of laundry never got any smaller. She looked out the window at the ocean in the distance. How did she know it was the ocean? Her thoughts were not her own. I could swim there. Carry on. Lift [...]
Author : Brenna Robinson Something happened back in those days that caused the compound to go into lock-down and never open again. When I started asking myself questions, and I decided that it could be only one of two things. Either the world had ended, or there was a malfunction in the computer. It was [...]
Author : Martin Sumner Sydney Park, Loss Adjuster for Prudential Insurance, straightens his tie. Slides a manicured finger into his starched shirt collar. Swallows. Checks for the third time that he has his leather briefcase with him, and pushes open the swinging glass door. The morgue attendant looks up from his desk in reception. Sydney [...]
Author : K. Pittman Barrett’s neighbors, Ceely and HH, had straight papers, so they were the only ones who could give Barrett a ride. “Where’re you headed,” they asked in unison, dressed as twins for this week’s theme party. “SuperMall East,” Barrett said, unsmiling. “Got a job there.” Ceely and HH shared a similar build [...]
Author : Ellen Couch I chose this job. I guess I just wanted to stay close to home. The big work was done before I was born. Grandad was in demolition- Nana said watching him work was dead exciting. But everything that was coming down came down a long time ago. There are pictures of [...]
Author : Duncan Shields, Staff Writer I was manufactured. There are no more fathers. There is only one Mother. The humans grew sterile and could not breed by any other means. They were successful in making artificial life but they failed to cure the sickness that took away their ability to make children naturally. They [...]
Author : Cosmo Every day I am losing more of my sight. Every night, the edge of the moon blurs a little more. I can no longer see the stars. In its way, this slow drift into obscurity comforts me. It reminds me of my mortality. The city streams by several thousand feet below as [...]
Author : Jacqueline Rochow Private Collins remained at attention as the guard ran the scanner over him. Satisfied that he carried no electronic devices, the guard left him alone with Sergeant Peters. “At ease, private. Take a seat, will you?” Nervously, Collins did as he was told. “Sir?” “You’re here because you ticked certain consent [...]
Author : Roi R. Czechvala, Staff Writer “Trust me,” he said. “Trust me.” How many times had I heard those words before, only to be followed by some horrendous disaster? From up here, I can just make out the red smear that used to be Dave. Who’s going to tell his wife? I’m sure as [...]
Author : Patricia Stewart, Staff Writer After unimaginable losses, The Earth Alliance was still unable to breach the Draconian military installation on Hydrae II. The fortress sat safely within a walled city that was protected by sixteen electrostatic cannons strategically placed around the perimeter. When fired, the cannons projected an attenuated subspace energy wave that [...]
Author : Geoff Revere “I’m resigning. That’s it. I’m done!” Doctor Holmes spouted, pacing back and forth before the commandant’s desk, his hands shaking. “The boy was eighteen Michael, eighteen!” “You’re referring to Private Loman?” the commandant asked. “You know damn well who I’m referring to!” Holmes spat, clearly forgetting to whom he was speaking. [...]
Author : Duncan Shields, Staff Writer Here’s one example of how the aliens failed to understand humans. We’d become part of the galactic alliance and were paired up with a species roughly analogous to our own. They were bipedal, around the same level of technological advancement, warlike but aware of the value of peace, and [...]
Author : Helstrom The blank page seems to stare at me – it always does. It’s an anachronism. I am of an older generation of writers. I like the feel of keys submitting to my fingertips, the facsimile of a sheet of paper presented on a luminescent screen. It is the only light in the [...]
Author : Clint Wilson After eight long years in his lush prison Martin finally woke up one day to something new. A woman for god sake, the bugheads had actually brought him a woman! She wasn’t exactly sexy by his old standards, short cropped hair and quite plain looking, but after this long without setting [...]
Author : Milo James Fowler The cattle car filled to capacity rattles slowly down its elevator shaft, squealing through a black punctuated only by intermittent amber bulbs casting a wash of rust across steel bars and the small faces between. Eyes blink, unaccustomed to the dark; tight fists rub away sleep. Full of questions, they [...]
Author : Brendan Garbee My ex-husband shows up on my doorstep on a blustery day in the middle of a sunshower, and he puts his hands in his pockets and sways in a way that tells me he’s a little bit drunk. He smiles at me sheepishly and says, “I heard you didn’t live here [...]
Author : Clint “Father Goose” Wilson How did I start all this falling? I can’t even remember anymore. It would seem that I’ve been dropping through blackness for a couple of months now. But that would be impossible. How could I have survived that long? I stopped screaming a long time ago. Except for the [...]
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