Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer The tip of the cigarette glows red as I slowly inhale. The taste of the black tobacco momentarily overwhelms my receptors. I wind their sensitivity down and cancel the ‘inhaled toxin’ warnings. The second drag goes down without alerts. I ...

Author: David Hartley Perhaps it would have been better, somehow, if this had been sample #142 or #96 or #305, something innocuous and meaningless but no, it was sample number one, the first, and he already wanted to taste it. He’d tried blaming a few other things: it had ...

Author: Daniel Hampton I rested my eyes upon the tessellated sphere. It was such a beautiful dream. It was such a spectacular failure. If the world is a golf ball, then I’m the one who drove it straight into the bottom of the lake. My club? A thing so simple, so deadly, so tempting. My ...

Author: Mike Bailey The box sat upon the table. It was inanimate, but strange waves of light moved across its surface and Roman felt a tingle in the back of his head like the beginning of a headache. The box had been carefully placed there on that smooth glass table and ...

Author: Thomas Desrochers Rebecca set her fork down. “Be honest with me. How is work going? I mean, really.” He sighed, shoulders rolling forward. “It’s bad. Real bad.” Damn, she hated to see that look in his eyes. She reached across the table and snaked her fingers ...

Author: Ian Hill The fat man sits in his high place. His presence is revealed by the twitch and wiggle of an oversized quill over the rim of his lectern. When not penning away, he’s spotted by the crunch of a nut in the jaws of his bearded cracking doll, by the discarded ...

Author: Hari Navarro, Staff Writer There is life out there in the radium sea. A solitary orb of blue and green. A place where oceans are poisoned and bombs they are cast and beauty is carved out of words. So alien, so different. Though so much is the same and children they ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer “If any can show just cause, why they may not lawfully be joined together, let them now speak, or else hereafter for ever hold their peace.” The traditional silence falls. Then a grating voice sounds in everyone’s minds. “I speak for the ...

Author: John McLaughlin "Christ, this place is a dump." Paul Braun glanced around the offices of Organic Transport, Columbus branch. Dust-streaked fliers pepper the walls: Fifty-Thousand Credit Reward for Water Smugglers... "Food Rioters To Be Shot On Sight," says ...

Author: Mark Joseph Kevlock The metaphysical archive didn't have as many visitors as it used to. Satch understood that. Still, he treated each one with all the kindness he could muster. The past was important to keep alive. Round about six-thirty on Saturday night, a ...

Author: Steve Smith, Staff Writer Rebecca stood in the middle of her little gallery and surveyed her work. She'd hoped her recent direction was going to be different, maybe spark some kind of reaction from this sleepy little town, but the series hadn't gotten anything more ...

Author: David Henson I regain consciousness in a small hut made from sweet-smelling grass and blue sticks. A male garbed in the same type of grass stands over me. When he notices my eyes are open, he looks away and begins clicking and whistling. I ask about my crewmates. He ...

Author: Ian Hill Affin slipped and slid over the lumpy white slopes. Her hair hung clotted with curdy chunks, and irritating crescents of tallow lingered under her fingernails; most of her skin was hidden under smeared wax; her clothes were heavy with clinging runoff. After ...

Author: Hari Navarro, Staff Writer The old Queen sits on the eve of her twentieth birthday and speaks to her yellow-eyed daughter and their legs they drip from the edge of the huge deck where once aircraft lurched and fell up and into a sky of the deepest floss-streaked ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer The cube of recycled plastic is labelled ‘Egg Mayonnaise’ and filled with a yellow paste. I don’t know what ‘Mayonnaise’ is, but egg’s one of the healthy stuffs listed on the Daily Reader’s ‘Top 20 Stuffs to Eat’. Always liked the Reader; ...

Author: Ken Carlson “It’s not that complicated,” said Captain Briggs, “my ship has been called to an outpost that we should reach in two hours’ time.” “Sounds simple enough,” replied his wife, Anita, beautiful in the simple, yet elegant way most people are not. Seated ...

Author: Ian Hill Marble mulch crunched underfoot as the priest struggled to remain upright. There was such a weight on his shoulders, on his head, on his heart. The velvet folds of his robe pressed painfully into his body like cutting belts, and the brass icons that dangled ...

Author: Elle B Sullivan "Morning" "Goodmorning to you too," I say smiling and turning around to push my back against your chest as you wrap your arms around me. "How did you sleep?" "I think well - all things considering." "Hmmm," you grumble, nuzzling your lips into ...