Dreams of Conceptua

Author : Ryan Somma As I lie in bed at night, I practice going from a waking state directly into REM sleep. It's a meditative practice. You simply stare into the afterimages dancing in the darkness behind your eyelids, and suddenly your brain makes something solid out of ...

Tome of Edicts

Author : Jeff McGaha “Who’s there?” Brother Peter questioned. “Answer me. I demand to be let go. Do you know who I am? You’re in some serious trouble. The whole planet is going to be looking for me.” The bag covering Brother Peter’s head was quickly removed, pulling a ...

The Slaver

Author : Benjamin Fischer “You have a very pretty family,” said the offworlder. Pulliam McDermott was a very powerful man, so it took him a moment to register that he’d actually been threatened. High over Lake Michigan in his Zepellin-borne corporate offices, the stranger ...

Never Enough

Author : Mark Mance I’m in my old car again. These things happen. You’re wondering what’s for lunch, and then--Bam! You're already under, and cruising about. I’m gunning it down Sunset Boulevard, and doing fishtails. I sure miss that car. Cars aren’t made like this ...

The Bolide Brothers

Author : Glenn Blakeslee Outside Dad's shop stood a steel one-hundred-twenty foot tall hyperboloid structure. My brother had his eye on it. They say Delvin is a genius but he's just my big brother. He's weird, and skinny with piercings and tats. When he's not making stuff ...

Misunderstandings

Author : Patricia Stewart, Staff Writer It began as a simple misunderstanding. The Liturgians were a social-insectoid race. When they negotiated with a graduate student from Cal-Arts, they assumed that she spoke for the entire huwoman hive. The concept of individuality was ...

Stormbringer

Author : Duncan Shields, Staff Writer Glass goes green when it gets to a certain thickness. The impurities gang up. It's a great insulator. It's why my entire suit of armour is made of it. I have grill slits and air-holes drilled into the faceplate. The armour weighs close ...

The Fragile Y

Author : Terri Monture The funeral cortege rolled smoothly down the boulevard, the faces of the witnessing crowd somber and drawn in the grey light. It had stopped raining but was damp and cold. Amanda shivered and pulled Sylvia and Clarice closer into her body. “Mama, what ...

The Hunt

Author : Waldo van der Waal The sound of an old-fashioned bugle in his aural signaled the start of the hunt. On cue, the chem depositors in his spine fired a burst of adrenaline. His face flushed from the drug and a mad grin spread across his features. He glanced across at ...

Perforce Performance

Author : Adam Zabell In the darkness of my private soul, I still can’t believe I get away with it. In the light of my studio, I focus on titles. Honestly, the title is usually the hard part. “SunderS” was brutal and well-received, but too abstract for my personal tastes. ...

The Blue Weed

Author : George Galuschak The end of the world: we expected mad cows, Y2K, global warming, asteroids, nukes, tidal waves, flu-stricken chickens and angels descending from Starship Christ. What we got was The Blue Weed. We don’t know the delivery method – meteor strike, ...

Version 5.10

Author : John Logan Drill Sergeant Harvey K. Buicks watched the line of soldiers as they stood taut and strong. Their backs concave, chests out, muscles rippling. He turned to a small man in a white lab coat who twitched nervously next to him. “Things were good until about a ...

The Peacock's Tail

Author : Ryan Somma "Watch this," Alea smirked at Trin and turned to the four-legged creature dumbly munching on some flamegrass nearby. "Oti," Alea chirped to the thing, and a few dozen eyes opened to look at her. "Oti, what is pi?" A half-dozen orifices sprinkled amidst ...

Dead Man Breathing

Author : S. Clough, Staff Writer "Tash, stop right there." Kal barked, raising his rifle, and aiming it squarely at his team-mate. Tash froze, and lifted her hands. She'd known this was coming, but it always caught her off-guard. The rest of the team had gone back to the ...

Monday

Author : Hilary B. Bisenieks The last time I saw the surface of the moon, it was pristine save for a few sets of footprints. I had been struck dumb at the majesty of the black—an eternity of stars from horizon to horizon—while the others filled my ears with the chatter of ...

Caught

Author : Duncan Shields, Staff Writer Caught. I’m stuck to this wall with thick maglets encasing my glowing hands. My eyes are weeping constantly and I can’t stop my long tongue from flopping down to my chest and tracing lazy circles in the sweat-matted hair there. It’s so ...

Engaged

Author : Steve Smith, Staff Writer Revy leaned heavy against the bathroom sink, his reflection in the streaked mirror staring back battered and bruised. Stitches poked through pink flesh behind his jaw and beneath his hairline, bloodshot eyes sunken and dark. How long since ...

Black Space

Author : Patricia Stewart, Staff Writer The Deep Space Explorer held its position one kilometer from the anomaly. “What do you make of it, Cortez,” asked the commander? “If it didn’t sound so stupid, Commander, I’d say it was a massless black hole. It’s spherical, about ...

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