Author: Ann Tandy The house was old, but not particularly interesting–it was the previous century’s version of a model house, with the same layout as its neighbors, the same banisters and door trim. But it was theirs, and they settled into a comfortable if chaotic life. ...

Author: David Penn From a human perspective, the dominant inhabitants of Isvara 9 are some of the most physically repulsive creatures known. With their metallic carapaces, they resemble enormous blue bottle flies, though instead of the compound optical organs of Earth ...

Author: Majoki It really wasn’t his thing: pain and panic way too up-close-and-personal. The chaotic video and jarring audio, the total mayhem of battle were so not his thing, but it was up to him to wrap this melee in a nice, neat bow. A twenty-two minute package of war ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer A grey horizon arcs cleanly against a backdrop of pristine stars. “Well I’ll be damned. It worked!” I look back at Arty. He’s already halfway into his suit. “Going somewhere?” He grins. “After so little time cooped up, I need to get ...

Author: Tinamarie Cox Rosemary sat under the harsh light of a small vanity in a Vegas chapel touching up her makeup in an attempt to disguise all the decades she’d walked the Earth. A soft knock at the door was a welcomed distraction from her reflection. “Ted!” She stepped ...

Author: Rick Tobin “Careful with lighting, Captain. Don’t kill them.” Jerry Carter readjusted reflectors a few inches from a grouping of small barrel cacti in the spaceship’s arboretum. “Why keep these damnable things? Don’t get enough of them taking over Earth?” Captain ...

Author: David C. Nutt They call me a saint at the long term care facility. I go and sit exclusively with patients who are in irreversible comas. Sometimes I hold their hands. Sometimes I sit, as if in prayer with my forehead lightly touching their arm. Once I proved to the ...

Author: Philip G Hostetler I set my guitar down in it's stand, I went to take a piss, the Zuntory whiskey was running right through me. D'rard had warned me not to drink too much, but he was fucking my ex-wife so fuck him and the high horse he rode in on. I walked back out ...

Author: Majoki The mason aligned the large sandstone block and lowered it onto the mortar he’d just ladled with water against the growing heat of late morning. The heavy block nestled into the mortar resting on the soft metal plugs that would keep the stone level with its ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer I’m all for elegant combinations of form and function, but I’ll never agree that bioreactors sat every hundred metres is an improvement over having trees and streetlights. These ‘greenboxes’ even have benches on their pavement sides, ...

Author: Mikki Aronoff Our vinyl patches proclaim our purpose. ANIMAL, VEGETABLE, MINERAL WE WATCH THEM ALL DECIDE WHO PASSES We are birthed to serve, groomed to wait and watch, to scrutinize and assess. We follow guidelines. Detractors regard us as arbitrary, but if ...

Author: Antonio DIsi Yesterday, I turned forty, without even realizing it. My life has become an endless sequence of days and nights, of bicycle deliveries, all dictated by an unrelenting app. Every morning, I wake up not knowing what the day holds. The only clue is my ...

Author: David Barber The man in the window seat on the late train from London is Charles Biggins. This is before he became a hero. He’d been to see As You Like It and was enjoying having the carriage quietly to himself when a man settled into the seat opposite. "Mr ...

Author: Alastair Millar They came because we were killing ourselves; our conflicts had become pervasive, global, and more intensive, but paled in comparison to our war with the planet itself. Their ships moved smoothly into the Lagrange points, and calming broadcasts on ...

Author: Hillary Lyon The lights on the console rapidly blinked in sequence. What that sequence was, Jackie couldn’t tell. It was all random nonsense to him. His finger hovered over the reboot button. If he hit restart, he’d have to work up a report, and explain his actions ...

Author: Majoki When the founders of Providence made planetfall, they had but one credo to establish their new civilization on the uninhabited world: Blind ignorance is unfortunate. Willful ignorance is shameful. Manufactured ignorance is unforgivable. Two hundred ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer The woman with the crossbow spits into the fire. “I don’t understand why they didn’t just reboot the computers as soon as it started.” Her sidekick nods, pushing their cap back before joining in. “Reckon a lot of them eye-tee types were ...

Author: Caley Schneider 'Ha. Not if you were the last man on Earth.' That's what she'd said to smirking Cole Hamilton when he, not so subtly, suggested an intimate rendezvous in their bustling Interlaken hostel. He thought them both being American was enough to push her ...