Author: Bruce McAllister and Patrick Smith What does a county animal control officer do when people throw away the pets they’ve ordered, had designed for absurd amounts of money, but no longer want? The Purple Poodles, the Forever Kittens, the Songbirds Just for You. What ...

Author: Moriah Geer-Hardwick “Henry?” Bringdown raises an eyebrow. “Really?” “You don’t think he looks like a Henry?” Allgood turns the skitter over in his hand and snaps the activation tab forward with his thumb. Its little legs snap outward and immediately begin hacking ...

Author: Hari Navarro, Staff Writer They seeped through the fissures and oozed through the sands as they rose up from the black and into the quivering blue. Ancient and hungry they feasted, stripping the meat from shells that clamped to the rocks and picking clean the bones ...

Author: Ken Carlson “I’m sorry, Mister Bennett? “Yes, Ronald Bennett, my first day.” He pulled the tan card from his pocket that came in the mail the week before. The receptionist, a tall, pale woman looked down her glasses at him. She wore a pristine tan blazer like ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer Her shaking fingers reach for the yellow lozenge. “No, not that one. Try the green one.” Olivia does so and her eyes go wide, then close. She slumps. Smiling, toothy and benign, he steps over her twitching body, then shakes the bowl and ...

Author: Philip G. Hostetler “Many have failed but perhaps you will succeed.”, said Torjen, “The trans-galactic download is paramount to the ascension beyond space-time and admittance into the Multiverse Associates. You, you…” Torjen looked inquisitively at his tablet, a ...

Author: Michael Anthony Dioguardi I can’t see! I can’t fucking see! No! Don’t crumble, stop! Christ, my tether is threadbare. I have to dig my feet in. I can’t get my hand out of this biner. Oh shit! More wind! Armstrong! Armstrong! No! he’s gone. I don’t want to die! My ...

Author: Shon-Lueiss Harris What was a dank alleyway disappeared. Gone, cut straight to black. The pungent stench of urine the only sign Michael hadn’t died suddenly. That and the hands grasping him, both forcing him to follow. At some point, Michael dropped his coffee. ...

Author: Phil Manning My mother was a strange woman. Not strange as in, lock the children in the closet, more, strange how easily she seemed to be able to pick up new information, new things and make them work for her. She could learn almost anything but she could never ...

Author: Richard Leise A knock on the door. In the way of doctors, the door opens before Justin or Jenifer can answer. The wail of a woman moaning sweeps down the hallway and into their room. The sound swells to a scream, but her words are indistinguishable, each syllable ...

Author: Katlina Sommerberg Five seconds on the clock. Rachel hurled her coffee cup at the reactor’s control panel, but she missed by five inches. The porcelain shattered against the worn carpet, white shards skittering across the floor. Before the coffee spray hit the ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer A distorted voice grates out: “Your DEDbot is sweating money.” I step back to see who’s heckling. It’s some masked tech vendor, looking to score passing trade by running my mechanical down. “Surprised you can see anything through those ...

Author: Morrow Brady The desire ached deep inside. She was in his head again. The first thought of every day, just true perfection. The beautiful dream of her standing in the red dress, echoing through the halls of his mind. The further he birthed from sleep's wonderful ...

Author: Moriah Geer-Hardwick “Don’t try to talk to them.” The consultant clicks another cylinder into place. It makes a satisfied hiss as it seats properly into its compartment. “They don’t react well to the noise. Imagine one of them emptying an entire scent gland in your ...

Author: Mark Renney I won’t claim that this will be a complete and definitive history of the Mind Wipes because that would be impossible. But I am almost seventy years of age and I have been drained only once. In order to achieve this, to survive with my memories intact, my ...

Author: Dean J Tantillo I don’t remember much, aside from hiding between the garage and the fence, and seeing my grandmother chopping heads off garden snakes with a hoe. And that gigantic lilac bush, the one that shielded me and my secret passageway from view as I pondered ...

Author: Morrow Brady My fingers traced the fine etching of the gold Byzantine coin, lit by the moonlight flooding in through the large window. The etched scene depicted a perfectly carved stone pedestal against a rocky outcrop, overlooking a luscious wooded valley. I looked ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer “They said it should be something like chess. Engaging, yet with depths that would take time to comprehend. When the incorporation of elements from other games was proposed, the complexity escalated. Finally, a quantum swarm was used to ...