Author: Majoki It was fiction to be sure. High fantasy even. A hinter world, Malazan. And, yet, there it was: children are dying. Simple. Direct. A plea, a dire call to action, a binding recrimination. What manner of world fictional or otherwise would deny these three ...

Author: B.K. O'Brien Her breath fogged before her, a small ghost in the air. She walked slowly, each step precious, eyes roving as she continued to take in the unfathomable. Every now and then she’d stop to watch as flakes danced in their slow amble to the ground, already ...

Author: Jayne Wadsworth Even now, I still have memories. The sweet soft wind whipping through my hair and the music of the rustling leaves up above. We had a good life. A simple one. When the zones ambushed our farm they took my father to undergo something called ...

Author: Mark Renney There’s a new drug on the market but it’s exclusive. You can’t buy it from the Runners, you have to seek out the Supplier. Both he and his place are an integral part of the trip or so I have heard. It isn’t something you can take away in a phial or ...

Author: Majoki Of all the Nerv there is just one who thinks humanity shouldn’t be obliterated. Of all the Nerv there is but one who does not hold the presumption that Homo sapiens are an inferior species. Of all the Nerv there is only one who has stuck up for the human ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer The moonlight turns the billowing drapes violet where they intrude on the silver trails it throws across a marble floor. The distant sound of a saxophonist is barely discernible, like some fey melody carried on a breeze to tempt the unwary ...

Author: Anonymous I prowl in the dark shadows. I inch into one’s thoughts and destroy all that is good, leaving man with nothing but me. It is inevitable for man to descend, and it is happening now. I keep mankind in the dark; I am what man fears most: fear itself. __ * ...

Author: Philip G Hostetler These are strange places we live in; I won't say 'times' because we transcended time a long time ago, before and after time. But the places, the feelings, the sights and the smells are oh so intoxicating. A good desire from which to draw our ...

Author: David Penn On this world in the Pica region each house has a bell. It calls constantly to the families in every other house and the bells there call back. It is the business of all Tzogg-Charans to keep these bells ringing, and so sacred do they hold that duty that ...

Author: Hunter Liguore The doctor’s face grew worried. The mother glanced up between pushes, doubting her decision for a natural birth. The process was longer. More risks. One cut, one stitch, one minute. The jingle for Insta-Baby-Byrthing ran through her head, as she ...

Author: Josh Price A loud crash woke Eve. She shook Adam and he rolled over, blinking, sleepy. “Did you hear?” He shook his head. “There was a crash.” “Where?” “Outside.” Scowling, he nodded his head like he understood, but wouldn’t remember anything later. He could ...

Author: Iain Macleod Orbital mechanics was never my thing but this'll be the last time I ever have to do the math so it's all good. Unnamed asteroid floating in the belt around dwarf planet Estera is traveling at X velocity and ill be traveling at top speed once I pass the ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer Wolkar shakes me awake. No noises disturbed me, so it’s through concern either distant or godly. “Wolkar, it’s barely light.” “Osky sent me. The sunrise swords have stopped.” Distant and godly. I drag my furs on and grab my ...

Author: Kathy LaFollett “Screeeet!” His name. In another’s voice. From a hallway he wasn’t looking down. Screet was looking down at his lunch. Sitting down at a table in the SpacePort Employee Sustenance and Snacks, or SPESS. Acronyms in space save time. Space is time, ...

Author: Trevor Lancon A distant star ejects billions of heavy ions every second, bestowing them all with its message: “I’m here.” One of the heavy ions skirts past a nearby planet. The beings on that planet would describe the ion as iron if they spoke your language. They ...

Author: David Barber Honoured ones, welcome to my collection of curiosities. These rare and intriguing items have been my hobby, no, my passion, for a lifetime. This chamber is dedicated to a world called Earth. These are pre-conquest curios: An embossed plastic ...

Author: Barbara Brennan Welcome to the terminal transit hub. No-one stays here; you go through and you leave. Papers please. . . . Thank you, that’s all in order. Once you pass through the turnstile, turn to your right, gate 95A. . . . Welcome to the transit ...

Author: Lance J. Mushung I dropped into the blue command chair of Kara. Her viewer showed countless glowing dots, with the two brightest being the suns of the binary system behind us. Natalia, the AI of Kara and my only crewmate, projected her holo next to me. She'd been ...