Author: Shelly Jones “The witch tricked me,” I explain to the wardens of the bog as my feet sink further into the muck. The bog witch has wandered back to her hut. She needn’t watch me drown in her trap. There is no escape; my fate is set. But still I plead to the ...

Author: Sarah Klein It comes to pass that at a certain population level, investing in the health of the working class makes “sense”. And this had come to pass. The natural disasters and diseases from climate change had truly whittled us down. But nobody wants to come down ...

Author: Majoki I’m the biggest real estate mogul you’ve never heard of, and I like to keep it that way. I own over three thousand parcels in the greatest cities on earth: Beijing, Jakarta, Tokyo, New York, Rio, Paris, Mumbai, Cape Town, London, Istanbul, Karachi, Lima, ...

Author: James Moran “So tell me,” Damien says, “how are things goin?” We’re having our monthly coffee at Naima’s Café. I want to cruise through my part quickly so Damien can vent. Last month was a tough one. He and Charmaine moved in together and he pushed her too hard while they were ...

Author: Aubrey Williams I’m such a lousy pilot— I really shouldn’t be given the responsibility of flying a ship ever again. And don’t for one minute think I’m kidding, because I’ve had a few scrapes before, and I know the big one’s coming. I’m not exactly sure what the ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer They say this city never sleeps. I disagree. It rests while the hordes that infest its pelt are absent. At 4AM, it's just me and the flock. "Father Bones, what came first: the thought or the action?" I look down to see a silver-blue ...

Author: Bill Cox I surf on a sea of Hawking radiation, my being as light as gossamer and as dense as neutronium. In an attempt to resolve a choice, I turn the idea of ‘me’ around in my mind, examining it from a multitude of angles and perspectives. It glitters like a ...

Author: Jeremy Nathan Marks I am convinced that I am a “fish,” i.e., an artificial human being. I came to this conclusion because the terrific pain I feel is not physical. I do not remember having had a body ache. My pain comes from a “systems malfunction,” also ...

Author: David Barber 1. Pauli Neutrino Telescope, Antarctica, 22nd July, 15.05 GMT Elusive particles flash through the array buried deep in the Ross Ice Shelf. Outside, at 50 below, the wind howls like a ghost in the machine. The latest plan is to run the PNT ...

Author: Rick Tobin “Thanks, and repeat whatever the lady is having.” Telman directed by lifting his shot of premiere whiskey towards a striking redhead in a tight chartreuse dress with a revealing leg slit sitting on the last stool at the end of the ritzy hotel ...

Author: Evan MacKay The holographic simulacrum was a perfect image of her mother. Same long flowing black hair that framed her heart shaped face. It was almost like seeing her in person. Maddi fought back the urge to reach out and grasp for her mother’s hand, knowing she ...

Author: Majoki If you believe in monsters, you believe in Bechevinka. As child refugees growing up in New Beijing on the southern tip of the subarctic Kamchatka Peninsula, we’d heard all the stories. Tales of fire and ice, volcanoes and glaciers, radiation and ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer "Nine hundred ordinary people have experienced portal transit to Nambinull with the help of a Candamar grant. Nine hundred lives transformed thanks to the generosity of our donors, many of whom come from impoverished zones ...

Author: Matthew Wollin In the beginning, everything was everything, and nothing was nothing. This lasted for an infinite period, which was no time at all, because time did not yet exist. Then the everything split into something, and something else. The something was called ...

Author: Condallas Snokoanovich I lie awake in the darkness, staring at an exceptionally clear star-filled sky. Two moons in crescent phase are peering from the horizon like the eyes of a black cat watching from the distance. The quietness around me would have been ...

Author: Melissa Kobrin Dear Kayley, I have no idea when you’ll read this. I guess it depends on what planets your parents decide to trade with before coming back to Provident. But I need to vent to someone, and you’re the only one I can talk to about this. Just please ...

Author: Mark Renney Tanner had always managed to navigate his way through life unnoticed. He became acutely aware of this when he first began his work as an Eraser. Ordinary looking and extremely reserved, even as a young man Tanner realised that this did not fully account ...

Author: David C. Nutt Nystrom 6 is a heavily altered planet- by what or whom was why we were there. On its surface is a 100-meter-wide glass smooth band of an unknown substance. It circumnavigates the globe at the equator and pole to pole. We had dozens of scientific survey ...