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 ...

Author: Bill Cox It’s amazing what you can learn in a bar. All kinds of secrets come out with the liberal application of alcohol. Let me tell you about one such occasion. It was a Friday night and I was knocking back the beers on my lonesome. The regulars were in, along ...

Author: Matthew Scott The article that started it all appeared in Progress in General and Special Relativity. Andrey Ivanov’s Development of the artificial cosmic string as a method of time travel was as welcome to Theodore as a sudden geomagnetic reversal was to a ...

Author: Becky Neher Something enormous strode through the double doors of the dilapidated, rust-begrimed warehouse. Not quite whale, not quite elephant, not quite ogre, but nevertheless a creature hefty, fleshy, and odorous. Sporting purple and magenta beads glittering ...

Author: Majoki A little problem, she’d reported. Fatima was a master of understatement. In some ways, Jorge felt she’d deserved to be eaten by his monstrous spawn. Though, it probably wasn’t the time to be reflecting on Fatima’s missteps. Explosions still rocked the ...

Author: David Barber The final part of the plan involved capturing a Jirt Princess. Morgan led one assault team, a band of Earthers who took terrible losses before the Jirt security swarm was destroyed. A last Jirt warrior blocked the way down into the palace. ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer I thought the skinny functionary nodded my way. The two of them are approaching, all eager smiles, curious glances, and whispered asides. "Are these seats taken? The server said they weren't, but you know, they sometimes get things wrong. ...

Author: Rainbow Heartshine “Internet porn is succubi terraforming. Is what you’re telling me with this.” “We embrace all kinks and fetishes that can be worked out with love,” Dylan typed as if in response to himself, though he couldn’t really say it was either 'typing', ...

Author: David Broz There is plenty of time to think out in space, in the middle of nowhere, just me and the dark and the pinpricks of the stars. And I think about how I miss you. I want to ask you, do you ever think of me? My mind is wandering. What if I was given ...

Author: Kristen Henderson Her right hand was so chewed up by the churning machine at the mill that she was left with little choice. Little choice but to have a dowdy female surgeon attach a claw-like contraption to what straggly shattered pieces were left behind. If only ...

Author: Maria Brekke Myrna zipped toward the city. A ten-ton mosquito pursued her, wings drumming annihilation. Colony security was rudimentary, but her kidnapping had raised insectile alarms. She leaned hard across her hoverboard, praying her cargo was secure as she ...

Author: Majoki Summer’s long legs, the daylight stretching late in almost eternal dusk. They sat on the back stoop, the three friends fixed on the glow of the horizon, city and sky, a widening maw ready to devour them. They were not a poetic group. Hyperbole and metaphor ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer “John?” “Yes?” “Got another one. Big cable channel. Going out past Bindenhouse into the wilds.” “Okay, pop my contacts open and scroll to ‘D’.” “Got it.” “You’re looking for ‘Department Q’.” “Found it.” “Open it. Click on ‘action ...

Author: Patrick Hueller Published 3:34 PM, Wednesday, July 31, 2030 Associated Press NEW AI A THREAT TO HUMANITY? Today was supposed to be a big day for technology fans. Instead, software engineer Miranda Cartwright issued a dire warning ...

Author: Rachel Sievers They stood under the overhang as the rain poured down around them. The dark sky filled with angry black low-hanging clouds had an ominous feel to it. “Do you think it will quit soon?” The girl asked, her damp white hair falling over her eyes. “Do I ...

Author: Sean MacKendrick Ava touched the seam where Ethan’s robotic foot joined his shin. She stared up at her grandfather in awe. “Can you feel anything with it?” Ethan forced a smile on his face. “Some basic sensory input. It helps me walk better when I can feel the ...

Author: Dave Ludford Had he been walking at a faster pace or with any real sense of purpose Ryan Jennings would have missed it completely. Scuffing the forest floor aimlessly however with first one foot then the other, his meanderings revealed something that he at first ...

Author: Majoki “Thirty-four thousand one hundred twenty-six…thirty-four thousand one hundred twenty-seven…thirty-four thousand one hundred twenty-eight…thirty-four thousand one hundred twenty-nine…” Clarisse counted. And counted. Her mother watched from across the ...