Author: Alzo David-West There's a giant beetle who lives in my apartment compound. He does pull-ups on the taller of two high bars, in the patch by the motorcycle shelter, and chin-ups and hanging Vs and other exercises I don't know the names of. When he's done, he ...

Author: Majoki Kelly was rambling in a lush meadow south of Killarney when he tumbled and fell headlong into the demon’s lair. As demons go this one was unerringly civil and greeted Kelly as a long lost uncle might. “Faith! ‘Tis Kelly is it not? You’re a welcome sight. ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer There's a broken statue back against the wall, head and arms missing. Some humourist planted the arms in a nearby flowerpot, mossy hands up like odd blooms. There's no sign of the head. Headless... It's strangely apt for this sodden ...

Author: Emma Burnett Lila held her daughter tightly. The blows from the girl’s little fists fell onto Lila’s shoulders, her cries reverberated through Lila’s head. “Ted. Ted!” Yanni screamed. Lila’s heart broke for the little girl. They’d been lucky, Lila knew. They had ...

Author: Maria S. Picone Efforts to save the spaceship Visioning failed. “We might as well see what’s out there,” the First Mate said. Xir rainbow head tilted towards the viewing port. “Find help, maybe.” The Captain crossed his arms. “I will stay with the ship.” The ...

Author: Peter Cherches I was waiting for the Manhattan-bound Q train at the Seventh Avenue station, the one in Brooklyn. While I was waiting, I looked across the tracks at the Coney Island-bound platform. I saw my next-door neighbor. I couldn’t really make out the ...

Author: Ian Li With their sailboat torn apart by the storm, Eric and Matt each clung to half the boat, buffeted by waves until they miraculously crashed onto the rocky shores of an island. Coughing up seawater, Eric stumbled toward Matt and found him unconscious, with deep ...

Author: Majoki The age of life was short. The age of sentience much shorter. The age of understanding lasted only a moment. Though a quantum moment, fractally infinite. From the primordial blue roar of the mother star that first lit the cosmic web to the lingering wheeze ...

Author: Morrow Brady I was beside myself, beside myself. I looked across at where I was and could see through me to where I was again. All three of me there. Two lesser versions of the original. And me, the least version, knowing far less than the lesser version. Content ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer It’s a bright morning across Ixaroz, the heart of the Consortium. Beings go about their purposes with a spring in their ambulations, buoyed up by decades of peace, and the traditions that accompany it, like traversing the long span of the ...

Author: Samuel Price Frozen heads sat in metal containers with glass fronts like aquariums. LEDs on the fronts displayed names, ages, and social status. Shelved floor to ceiling in alphabetical order, the heads ran the length of the ship. The top shelves were heads of the ...

Author: Andrea Damic Cydra loves the crisp morning air, sitting on the porch drinking her black poison. She rests her gaze on the frosty pastures immersed in the morning sun. The anticipation of that feeling of apricity when the warmth of the winter’s sun crawls through the ...

Author: Gaylynne Quince The group of scientists huddled together as they worriedly watched the probe fly towards the rift that had cracked open the skies above. In mere moments, it would cross the event horizon and transmit data back of what lay on the other side of the ...

Author: David Sydney "We're running out of bronze." "What?" Mel Schwartz squinted at his partner in disbelief. "Look at these greaves, Mel." "My God. What must his shins be like?" What was true of the greaves applied to the javelin, spear, scimitar, and bronze mail as ...

Author: Alastair Millar Most people don’t meet the love of their life with their pants around their ankles, but that's what happens when you find a rip in your EVA skinsuit and don't have any patches handy. Fortunately there are emergency suits near all the airlocks; ...

Author: Majoki “The world is a Rube Goldberg machine, a bowling ball on a teeter totter, and all it will ever do is scratch someone’s ridiculous itch,” Amira d’Kay coolly observed to Riisa who nodded thoughtlessly, content to let her aunt ramble in the smothering warmth of ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer Will burn across the worlds. From shoreline to mountain top, from wrecked vehicle to ransacked fortress, they will light a night like none will ever see again, and will start a conflagration that will blaze so far onwards we will never ...

Author: JH Mentzer The boy was getting lonelier every day. He could almost not stand how many hours he would spend sitting in the woods, watching the babbling of the creeks, as the sun would rise and set, set and rise. Moss grew on his southern-facing side. He traveled home ...