Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer I bounce twice before landing in the sucking pit, the mire like leaden glue about my legs. In the dim flashes of light from the battle above, I see this place is littered with bodies in outlandish armour impaled on barbed spikes. Looking ...

Author: Bryan Pastor Jack jerked awake, his yelp a cross between night terrors and that recurring dream where you are anticipating that best part coming but, well you know the dream. “What?” his wife asked ripped from her own slumber. “Was it that dream again? Was she in?” ...

Author: Philip G Hostetler Unit 117 found himself in the interrogation room of the Transplanetary Review Board. It was a place that few wanted to be, but that Unit 117 had been many times before. The reviewer walked into the room and sat at the table, he looked down at his ...

Author: Andrew Dunn The bus was silver and pink to match the fancy shoes the pompadoured star strumming a guitar on board wore. His song was on the radio, a rollicking rockabilly number kids were dancing to in school gymnasiums and plunking coins into juke boxes to hear. He ...

Author: Phil Temples I open my wallet and examine one of my last remaining uncanceled credit cards. My First National Bank, Metro Savings and Shawnee Bank cards were canceled last month for non-payment but I’m pretty sure that my trusty Premium Silver card has a small ...

Author: Hunter Liguore The day the president came to Corinth, my Pa bet Mr. Henley our last good laying hen that he wouldn’t show. “Oh, he’ll come alright,” said Henley, shaking Pa’s hand to seal the bet. “We’re a disgrace to the whole country, seeing it’s 1934—the Age of ...

Author: Mark Renney They told us we would be hailed as PIONEERS, TRAILBLAZERS, the ones who began it, CREATORS OF A BETTER WORLD, A SAFER PLACE FOR OUR CHILDREN AND OUR CHILDREN’S CHILDREN. We were upright and law abiding citizens. Why wouldn’t we - what did we have to ...

Author: Hari Navarro, Staff Writer The wood spits and its sputum climbs the back of the heath. Fragments of flame igniting as massing armies upon spent char. “Is this the end, Frances?”, I ask as the orange caress weeps upon her skin and she tightens the muscles at the ...

Author: Steven French I like to think these woods are the remnants of a great forest, where ancient kings hunted and outlaws sought refuge. But at best you could lose yourself, or someone else, among the trees for maybe five minutes. Still, that was all I needed one morning ...

Author: Majoki Thang Danang balanced the hypodermic on the tip of her index finger. Reckless. Irresponsible. Crazy. That’s what her cousin Luc had called her. He’d yelled that her visions of their family ancestors weren’t real, that she was ...

Author: Tara Mukund “Imagine a giant slice of cake. Multilayered galore. Now replace all the baked matter with Earthen substance – rock, soil, water, and most importantly, humans. There’s your Anthropocene. Now, what if the Anthropocene were anthropomorphic?” The TV ...

Author: Donna J. W. Munro “The most intelligent creature wasn’t some begging dog or the hump crazy dolphins,” Randal said to Sophie as they walked the perimeter of the bowl valley waste they guarded. “It’s crows.” In the distance, a crow laughed at the sky and landed on a ...

Author: Rick Tobin “Outrageous! Don’t you dare degrade my mother, you monster! She will never love you.” Pearl pushed her finger at Jake Rosetter’s dark, greasy, pockmarked forehead only half-visible behind his helmet’s face shield in the ready room near exit hatches for ...

Author: Claire Fitzpatrick The street was long and empty, silent, save for the gentle sounds of dead branches underfoot, out of sync with the steady rhythm of Ginny's steps. Here, the pavement was littered with fallen leaves, and she stepped around it, careful not to crush ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer Two figures meet outside the Ship o’ the Line tavern on Marquis III. “No, no. You sit there. I’m more comfortable when I can see the ways in and out of any place I’m stopped in.” The reply is a flicker of tentacles and a telepathic ...

Author: Chana Kohl Chelsea Roberts walked up the hill to work, a hot cappuccino and bag of bakery-fresh rugelach in her hand. In a few, short minutes she’d savor the warmth of tender pastries in her mouth while browsing her morning feed. Her life was all about the simple ...

Author: Majoki “Another blow in.” I think the foreman would’ve spit, if he hadn’t been in an enviro suit. It’s kinda self-defeating to spit in a sealed system. Still, I think he was tempted just to be sure he registered his utter contempt for me. “Where you from, blow ...

Author: Deborah Shrimplin Ben and Evelyn watched as the rescue spaceship sent from Earth punched through Planet Exos' orange atmosphere without them. The spaceship was scheduled to return in two weeks. In three weeks, the damaged life support systems in the experimental ...