Author: K. A. Williams "You've got to try this new restaurant called Next," my first mate Tim had said to me this morning. "I went there last night after we docked, while you were at that corporate captains' dinner. I'll meet you there for lunch." I read the menu in the ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer I used to watch the fireflies, seeing how they flitted and settled. They seemed to go everywhere, but never intruded on the air above the still waters of the mere. Just like the fireflies above that mere never strayed anywhere else. As ...

Author : Brenatevi Stuart was sitting on his couch, munching on orange-colored cheese-like puffs, and watching some horrible show on TV. No, wait; sitting didn't exactly describe what he was doing. Slouching was maybe halfway there, but even then it doesn't properly convey ...

Author : Christopher Edelen Elly was on her way home from work, anxious to arrive. The light rail had never seemed slower, but the week was finally over. She was excited to get home and play with her toys. It will be like looking through her mind! she thought, ...

Author : Canis Mortuus His dusted eyes ached while opening. Heavy clouds hung over the unfamiliar, monotonous grey wasteland which was surrounding him. He had no idea how he got there and couldn't even recall his own name... The dusty grey desert stretched flat as far as ...

Author: Rani Jayakumar Gizo and I were digging in the backyard when we hit it. She had hopped in the hole and whipped her tail around, and could sense the vibrations below. We dug it out - a metallic box, with a clasp that was locked tight. I hit it with the shovel and ...

Author: Susmita Ramani “It’s you,” I say, though we both know it’s not. Still… “It’s me,” she says; her voice, so on-the-nose, knifes my heart. She’s sitting in our living room, on our red sofa. I take a step toward her. “Do you...mind?” “That’s why I’m here.” She opens ...

Author: Ryan Hyatt Since Jenica broke up with Bobby, she noticed a change in mood. Getting rid of that creep, no matter how good the sex, should have been a cause for celebration. Instead, every day felt like being buried deeper from her feelings. “A split is difficult, ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer I wake with a dagger in my hand. The other end of the dagger is in someone’s neck. Raising my gaze, I see the life fade from his eyes. The moment stretches as details sketch themselves in around the face of someone I don’t know. A ship’s ...

Author: John Albertson The dinner bell rings, and we line up in pairs. My pair today is Veronica. I don’t like her. I take a plate from the VendingLady - brown MEET, maybe synthbeef, with powdery mash and what they call gravy but my mum would have called dishwater. ...

Author: Stuart K Watson As I wake, I think: Today would be a great day to start the next world war. I look outside. The lawn is still there, with the neighbor’s scooter lying on its side in the middle of it. Unwarranted incursion. The trees are still standing. Birds still ...

Author: Alzo David-West Cold rain was falling. A man in a worn jacket entered a private clinic. He put his broken umbrella in a stand by the door. The young receptionist at the front desk asked if he had an appointment. She handed him a form and asked him to wait. He sat on ...

Author: John Chadwick He lays his hand upon the lever, the cold metal sinking into his palm as his fingers slowly wrap around the handle, feeling as though the rigor mortis was already settling in. Thoughts swirl and smash inside his skull reminding him of the mechanized ...

Author: Kei Lynnette "Is it just me or do power and tea go just wonderfully together?" The Empress's companion laughed and replied, "It's just you Empress, and if you don't mind me asking, how did you come into so much power?" The Empress only smiled. "Don't tell me it's ...

Author: Germain M. C. I’m meeting Tili’s assistant tonight. Tili’s too busy to meet me herself, but I don’t mind—her celebrity, her beauty would eclipse me anyway. Headlights approach my vehicle in the dim, empty parking lot. They crawl up beside me as the driver’s ...

Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer Slowly revolving like Christmas decorations, sparkling under the spotlights of the Seacole. The barbarism of those we face brought an old quote back to me: ‘An honest soldier will regard the battlefield as dawn breaks across it on the ...

Author: Andrew Davis Bo buried their head in their hands and screamed. Fuck Jay, fuck his beautiful hair and his pretty face, fuck him, fuck him... they still really wanted to fuck him. Angry breakup sex was supposed to be a thing, that's what they'd been told, but when ...

Author: Alfred C. Airone They never really believed me. After fifteen years, I can say that. And now, of course, it’s too late to prepare for what comes. I had hoped that somehow, unexpectedly, I had changed time for the better. Maybe I did, but the enemy later ...