Author: Andrew Dunn Anonymous hotels on dusty roads close to chaotic ports wasn’t Nick’s favorite part of being an independent fidget. It was worse when the ship he was contracted to meet was three days late, the desk clerk he was bribing told him adherents of the latest ...

Author: Rick Tobin All lounge tables were separated far from the hideous Braxel’s corner booth. A cleared semi-circle void reeked of rampant terror regarding the infamous diner now surrounded by nervous alien species, some tentacled, slurping preferred living or semi-living ...

Author: Ruby Zehnder “Mark, is the download finished?” Laura called from the kitchen. “Just about,” Mark replied. “Should I call the kids?” "Sure. Why not," he said and returned to the controls. The holographic images of his parents were flickering into existence. Laura ...

Author: Lewis Richards I carry a world on my back, bearing it forward across the emptiness ahead. I feel for life in the darkness, not to add to my little world, but to consume so I may endure. So I may tend. This is not my first world, I grow and must leave the worlds I ...

Author: Majoki “Were dinosaurs Christians?” Asterisk asked without bothering to raise his hand. Teacher scanned his face for biometric signs of incorrigibility. Negative. Proper attention would be paid. “Asterisk, please raise your hand and wait to be called upon ...

Author: J.D. Rice Dear Traveler, Welcome. Don't be alarmed at the state of our planet, the overgrowth is intentional. We decided to let nature take the reins while we slumbered. We are eager to meet you. . . too eager, you might say. You have likely already found ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer With a smile, I lay the Ace of Spades across the Queen of Cups. Garv howls. “Oh, come on. You’re going to death card my royal flush?” I point to the stack of food tabs and leisure coins. “There’s two weeks good eating and nineteen ...

Author: Majoki Ever the entrepreneur, he put out a shingle: Claude Computing. 967.3 days later Claude had his first customer. 8,714.6 days after that the customer returned. “A pleasure to see you again, sir,” Claude said. “Same,” the customer acknowledged. “It’s ...

Author: Sarah Klein The Dreamselector opens as George gets into bed. "Mountain Climb", he selects. "Anxiety/difficulty: Medium. Ending: Summit." George nestles into bed, ready to dream of a hard but rewarding climb up a snow mountain. Except that doesn't happen at ...

Author: J.P. Pressley Most people think that an active life makes for the best stories. They’re wrong, for the most part at least. Sure, others may have all these great stories to tell of you and your many deeds, but you, the one who actually experienced the totality of ...

Author: Majoki Call me anything but Ishmael. That, I could not take. I’d jump ship. And it’s not any easy thing to jump ship on a jumpship like the Otra Vez. We were riding intense gravity waves in the Juarez Cluster. Enduring savage currents and floes roiled by shedding ...

Author: Cheryl Snell It’s raining stardust, elemental, anonymous stardust straight from the humming sky, rootless stardust descending on a discontent man, a blank-slate child made of infinite stardust, plugging his ears against sound trapped in light leaking music. While it ...

Author: Robb T. White “That is the aspiration: to avoid AI becoming the other.”—Elon Musk, Twitter, April 23, 2017 Martin slowed on approach to the stone bridge in the center of Camden-on-Wofford. The village was a quaint snapshot of Victorian-era tranquility. ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer "I find charcoal best for landscapes, but cityscapes demand ink to capture their harsh edges. Living things I always work in coloured pencil, layering basic colours to achieve the myriad shades that life grows in. "For battlefields, it's ...

Author: David Barber This is the Ada Swann, limping into Vesta Dock on manual, which is illegal, but Perry won’t pay tug fees, so with automated systems off-line, she eases in the big ship by eye. Dockside’s not handshaking your autopilot, Ada Swann. "Maybe you’ve got ...

Author: Immy Basmar A lifetime ago, Velvet loved playing in the purple sands at the edge of town. Antiman, who spent all his days there, would chastise her for galivanting on the carcasses of gods and tell his stories of a long-forgotten race, whose metal bodies had ridden ...

Author: Sarah Klein Fred didn't return from space the same man. Loretta noticed it immediately, but brushed it off. "He just needs to relax," she told herself. She did everything she could to make him comfortable. But Fred was anxious. Fidgety. Not eating as much as ...

Author: Majoki You know that feeling you get when you’re halfway to work and you realize that you can’t remember the last fifteen minutes of your drive. You know you’ve been gripping the wheel staring out the windshield, but you aren’t really there. Some part of your ...