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Furniture Music

By submission | March 3, 2011
Author : Jason Frank "Would you drop it already?" not really a question, not the way he said it. "They are not alive. A little self repair, a little self preservation, and occasional self replacement do not make things alive. They make them some damn good products that cost ...
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Childcare

By submission | March 2, 2011
Author : Julian Miles "Dear Tara, If you're reading this, then I have just died again. I am sorry that I will miss Luke's sixth birthday and even more grieved over missing our eighth anniversary. That brings me to evens now, I promise to try and make the ninth. Never forget ...
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Hand Out

By submission | March 1, 2011
Author : James Orbesen My comfort worn wooden chair stands at attention in the city glow of a midnight rainstorm. Droplets patter, tapping on the glass of my three floor-to-ceiling windows as I sit six floors above the sidewalk and peer down at umbrellas weaving a complex ...
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Contenders

By submission | February 28, 2011
Author : A. S. Andrews Reboot. You’re only a runner up. There’s no box office fame in your future. Come on now. Remember how, in preschool, they gave everyone medals, so no one felt left out? And how, in grade school, they had graduations for all the grades, so everyone ...
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Ride the Lightwave Home

By submission | February 27, 2011
Author : Damien Krsteski "So, will you finally tell me why we're here?" The ice cubes rattled as Jane drank the remaining drops of her orange juice and vodka cocktail. "I hate it when you're so secretive." Nick smiled and slurped his vodka. Krylania was a wondrous place. ...
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The Inner Frontier

By submission | February 26, 2011
Author : Jason Verch Fred sat quietly as they finished attaching the myriad of sensors to him. Dr. Samuels, the man in charge of the experiment, fitted an oxygen mask over his face and said, “That’s everything.” “Don’t worry,” Dr. Samuels said, “we’ve got everything covered. ...
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Ruffles and Flourishes

By Roi R. Czechvala | February 25, 2011
Author : Roi R. Czechvala, Staff Writer “… as well as outstanding valour…” He stood unmoving before the division. His dress blues, marking him as a Master Gunnery Sergeant of the Northern Confederacy’s elite Marine Corps, stood out under the brilliant lights against the ...
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The One True Thomas

By submission | February 24, 2011
Author : Jason Frank He fumbles at the door and we, the Thomases, look over even though we know it's him (even the human's speculative fiction hasn't imagined the technologies that hide that entrance). Our door opens and the Outside Thomas shuffles in, looking much the worse ...
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The Bay It Buzz

By submission | February 23, 2011
Author : Harris Tobias I knew they were lying. "Don burry Bill, ebry thing bill be all bright," in that crazy accent of theirs with their "B's" and "W's" crossed. The house was a horrible mess. The furniture was dirty and old. What pictures there were were crooked and not ...
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Time Travel

By Duncan Shields | February 22, 2011
Author : Duncan Shields, Staff Writer God give me patience, she thought, as Peter ran into the living room with another ‘great invention’. Peter was wearing a flanged-open broccoli steamer on his head with a crude system of wires sticking out of it like dead flowers in a ...
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The Witness

By Roi R. Czechvala | February 21, 2011

Author : Roi R. Czechvala, Staff Writer

It didn’t bother me at first. Killing them I mean. They had come to our home world with plans of conquest. I can’t even dignify what happened by calling it a war. They claim we fired first, which was true, but nobody asked them ...

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Earthsick

By submission | February 20, 2011
Author : Matthew Callaway It looks like snow, except there's no snow here, no rain. The foamy droplets float down from the decontamination sprayers as a ship lands, speckling the faceplate of my respirator. When I was a kid seeing snow was like seeing a planet for the first ...
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Omniflower

By submission | February 19, 2011
Author : Ron Wingrove Discovery of the Omniflower should have been one of the greatest of the 23rd century. It happened on a distant planet, to a ragged crew from an equally-shabby exploration ship. Anybody who could cobble together an FTL drive went into exploration. Most ...
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Atrocities and Crimes

By submission | February 18, 2011
Author : Thomas Keene The Secretary set the tablet in front of the Director. "This is the file we have been asked to review. The news is calling him the 'felon artist.' He's quite the celebrity right now." The Director thumbed through the man's profile. "Convicted of ...
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After The Machine Stops

By submission | February 17, 2011
Author : Jason Frank I'm in my office, the big one on the top floor, minding my own business and he just walks in without knocking. Hey, we might have just had a revolution but there's still a right and a wrong way to do things. For example, storming into my office with a ...
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No One Ever Considers the Unforeseen Consequences

By Patricia Stewart | February 16, 2011
Author : Patricia Stewart, Staff Writer “Tell me again, Welin, why you have to lie to the Captain?” asked the temporal assistant. “It doesn’t seem right,” she added with disgust. “You’re not seeing the big picture, Molly. It’s not about a single ship; it’s about what ...
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Eleven Days Since…

By Roi R. Czechvala | February 15, 2011
Author : Roi R. Czechvala, Staff Writer She sat in a corner of Starbucks, talking on her phone. In the window behind her, the Earth was just setting. Her short blond hair was pulled back in a ponytail which she twisted nervously. “How long will you be gone,” she asked. There ...
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A Matter of Taste

By Duncan Shields | February 14, 2011
Author : Duncan Shields, Staff Writer The invaders had left automated sentries in charge of the human race. They’d really cleaned Earth up. All animals, vegetables, and water were being managed expertly for maximum freshness and yield. They left the precious metals in the ...
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