Topic
Hither & Yon
Everything in between: slipstream, magic realism, alternate history, horror, humor, and a handful of running series.
The Hole in the Storm
For the longest time, I didn't understand my older brother's love of storm fishing. Mom used to say it came from when Dee left his stuffed triceratops outside. I can picture Dee's baby eyes widening upon realizing his beloved Spikey had been left outside in the rain, toddling…
Birthday Party at the Prehistory Zoo
Dr. Miriam Loxley felt weird attending the birthday party of an eight-year-old child she'd never met before. She didn't have a lot of experience with children, and so their chaotic running, shouting, squabbling, cheering, tumbling and general antics whirled around her like a…
Tiny Cartoon Dinosaurs
Dr. Miriam Loxley was waiting for her wife in a computer lab that looked like it could have been part of any college campus or tech startup. Rows of computers sat on desks decorated by empty pop cans and various fidget toys. If she hadn't known she was in the middle of a…
Hidden Treasure
Darla found her daughter's confidence stuffed into a shoebox on the top shelf of the hall closet, behind old tennis rackets and ice skates. "Shit." She set the box down like it might explode if she so much as thought about it too hard. Then she went upstairs, just to get some…
Herding the Brachiosauruses
"Look, you're overreacting," Angie Cartwright said to her wife, Dr. Miriam Loxley, as she drove the two of them across the beautiful stretch of golden savannah on the west side of Hali'corra Island. Warm air flowed through the open top of her company jeep, and she could hear the…
First Dates and Other Action Items
On day 543 of the Great Crunch, I do something foolish: I arrange to meet Tara by the coffee machine, the most dangerous place in the entire office. It's too high-traffic, too exposed, too close to the glass door behind which the Boss lurks. Laugh too loud, look idle for a…
Comfort Animal
The wide timber frame arch rose high above Dr. Miriam Loxley's head, presaging the size of the animals kept in the enclosure. All the movies, books, and games came rushing back to her--she'd grown up with the Jurassic Park franchise. She knew all of the paleontologists and…
The Learned Astronomer
His comet speeds past the supernova generated by the exploding core of Star B-15810's. It was lucky he got here just in time. His quadrant of space is relatively new, way beyond the 4% of the universe visible from Earth, and he furiously jots down his observations of the…
The Counter Poison Pigment
For all the many hues of death Cinna faced every day, today's task began with white. Cinna spread the powder out as evenly as she could. "Careful, that's dangerous stuff," her master said. "White lead." As if she didn't know. As if she hadn't scraped it herself from the equally…
An Intergalactic Love Story of Cosmic Proportions
Andromeda was a big, beautiful galaxy who knew what she wanted. She longed to collide into another galaxy and become one. Not just any galaxy. She wanted the Milky Way. She'd always dreamed of smashing her solar systems into his, her suns colliding into his suns, her planets…
Hell is...
Third on the left along the somber corridor. Overhead, lights cast a flat, cold, glow. One buzzed, as if holding a dying wasp. As I went to open the door, the notion struck that I couldn't recall which floor I was on, nor why I was certain this was the right room. I paused,…
The Forgotten Treaties of Wildfire and Feathers
Mountain fires are bound by ancient promises, sealed in ash and snowpack tears. But each fire is born before the ashes, before the snowmelt bears its memories down the mountain slopes, and so each fire must be reminded. At just the right time. I watched the newborn fire from my…
Headhunting
The tinfoil sun scorched the desert road as a figure rode on horseback, carrying a disembodied head by its long hair. "You could let me go, you know," said the head, which belonged to an old man. "If I do that, you'll dine on dust," came the headhunter's reply. "And I won't be…
Songs of Bathsheba Evergreen
...wrap my heart in birch bark my skin scarred in black-and-white calligraphy... In spring, while wet snow still clings to my boughs and frost nips at my roots, a man in rags comes by to ask if he might cut me. The knife in his hand is small and in need of a whetstone. "Just a…
Bedtime Before Lightning
The assistant croons as she rocks the jars; livers and ears and brains and hearts. "Little one, or ones. However many you are. Would you like to hear a story?" Once, there was a girl who got hurt. Her body shattered and shredded so badly she should have died. But she was saved…
The Snow Globe
Once a time ago, a child is given a snow globe by an aunt or an uncle, he can't remember which. Inside the globe, a little man sits on a bench looking at a little woman. On her feet are silver slippers, and her arms are outstretched as if to embrace the sky. When he shakes it,…
Rummage Sale Finds
As soon as Corinne got out of the car and into the church basement where the rummage sale was being held, she spotted the gift she'd given her sister for Christmas. The basement was spacious, though the ceiling was low. Fluorescent lights made everyone and everything look a…
Read the Manual
I work for MYGODDAMLIFE (TM). My job would be easier if people would just read the manual. FAQ Q - Help! I've made a mess of things. What should I do? A - Read the manual. Q - Can I get a refund? A - No. No refunds. This is clearly stated in the manual. Q - Is there a restart…
The Ice Cream I Eat Is Called Depression
When I went to the ice cream shop, I was faced with two flavors: happiness or depression. Most people probably chose happiness, but it was an expensive flavor, and anything full of so much sweetness is certain to make the teeth ache. When I saw people sitting in the ice cream…
Four Score and Seven Years of the End of America: A Bibliography
* Harry Truman: We Dropped the Bomb, by Nathaniel P. Perkins, 1953. * I Like Ike: We Lead in War and Peace, by L. Christian Berrios, 1961. * The Patterson-Gimlin Film: Is Bigfoot Real?, by Roger Roberts, 1967. * Jack Takes Us to the Moon: The Apex of America, by Johnson…
The Whole Of Me
***********Editor's Note: Triggering (themes of abuse)************ Mark is dead for three months when he starts contacting me. The texts come when I'm in the middle of something, half asleep, driving, a meeting at work. I feel the vibration in my pocket, know it's him. The texts…
To Meet the Death Carriage
The old storybook from the attic had said the only way a living person could intercept the death carriage was to stand where three roads met beneath a full moon after a day that held a rainbow. Janey had waited months for the perfect moment to come, and used that time to write…
Susurrus and Sapling
Petrichor stirred and pulled up their roots as the first rays of sunshine caressed their leaves. They sorted through their mycelial dreams. Most of the news gathered from the tangled network of roots and hyphae was minor. A fire burned, but it was well over the sunward horizon…
On the Disappearance of Dragons
There are numerous conflicting theories concerning the disappearance of dragons. These range from the drab (dragons never existed in the first place), to the staggeringly improbable (they constructed a time machine), to the romantic (the many variant explanations that dragons…
Imaginary Friends
****Editor's Note: Trigger warning. Loss of a child.**** "Mom! Mom! Can Icya stay for dinner?" Gina turned around slowly. Ryan stood in the doorway, tousled and muddy, his four-year-old face aglow. There was no one on the porch with him. "Um, what was your friend's name again,…
Space Unicorns and Magic Ovens
I'm sitting with ma as she prepares dinner. It's one of her rules, of which there are more every year. "I don't mind cooking for you, Jem, while you're young," she says. "But I'm not your servant and I'm not working while you watch TV or read comics. So it's either homework, or…
Shadow Helper
In the cool, morning darkness, I rotate the living room window crank. It folds outward, letting in a gentle lilac breeze from the back yard. In the sunny glory of spring, two spotted fawns dance along the cedar privacy fence. They shuffle left then right, scared eyes wide and…
2021
"Lord, save me from sequels." "I'm sorry, what?" "Nothing. Thank you for coming in. We wanted to discuss your story, 2021." "Happy to." "Thing is... this story doesn't really come together for us." "What does that even mean?" "Okay, look. It feels like you rushed this into being…
Shattered Petals of Celadon
Everyone has a heart box. Some boxes have mitred corners with beautifully contrasting splines. Some are dovetailed. Some have simple butt joints nailed from the outside. It doesn’t really matter. What grows inside them does. A curved seashell of curiosity. A hard scrap of…
Cures for Hiccups
1.Breathe: In. Out. 2. Breathe backwards: Out. In. 3. Retrieve a loved one from the underworld. But this time: Don't look back. 4. Retrieve a loved one from the underworld. But this time, really--really, really--don't look back. 5. Don't look back! 6. Rip out your throat,…
The Vanity of Zombie Publishing
First the Professor came back. "Well," he said, rotting tongue mangling the word, "it seems I now must believe in personal immortality, to compliment the one I might gain through my books." He was a celebrity, of course, now even more than before. What are 500 published works…
Folkway
This kind of thing happens a lot in Folkway. I wouldn't let it worry you; you'll get used to it, as strange as that might sound. Around four years ago, we had nine vanish right inside of Mac's Pharmacy. In broad daylight. Just poof, gone, and the only thing left was the clothes…
Where Have All the Mousies Gone
Does it matter what your last thoughts are when you die? If you could choose them--they would be hope, wouldn't they? A bright future. Waiting. Ready. And you're going to miss it, but wouldn't you rather die looking out on a shining expanse of golden sunlight, reflecting off…
Last Text
Mikala Godfrey receives the final texts that people send before they're murdered. She has a shrine for this in her house; a smartphone on a stand, from where she copies the texts into a series of identical leather notebooks. She calls this 'keeping witness.' She kneels before…
Seven Steps to Immortality
One: Seek I, Thaddeus Galway the IV, am immortal. I didn’t start out that way. I was mortal, human, like everyone else until my twenty-first year. Then I had a mortal moment and realized I was going to die; that I was going to cease to exist someday. From that moment on, I did…
Date and Time
Lady Jane Grey sits across from me, studying the menu. This is the last time I let Aunt Margie talk me into a blind date. We've already exhausted the standard small talk. Where do you live? Me: Chaska. Her: the Tower of London. What do you do for a living? Me: freelance graphic…
The Candy Shop
"This can't be right." But the perky lady-voice of Google Maps insists I've arrived. Sure enough, squeezed between a nail salon and a cat clinic, the sign for "Hart's Candies" hangs askew from the frontage of the seedy strip mall. I hesitate outside the glass door, which is…
Unwound
The peculiar idea occurred to Bradley while he was in the shower. He noticed for the first time ever that when he showered, he always turned clockwise to rinse off. What, he thought, if all this turning like a clock was what made a person older and grayer, marking the passage of…
Out with the Old
Outside, the cold night was broken with fireworks and bursts of laughter from the streets below. "Have to see the New Year," the old woman gasped. "Have to." "Quiet, Annie," Jess said, smoothing the bedsheets over her new patient. The old woman's skin was like marble. She…
A Guided Meditation for Pandemic Anxiety (As Approved by Our Lord Xanthalu)
*******Editor's Note: Triggering: For all of us.******* Welcome to the Pandemic. It's a stressful time, isn't it? But by participating in this guided meditation, you're already taking the first step for self-care. Congratulations. (Another form of self-care is worshipping Our…
Saint Natalis of the Wolves
When the wolves roll into town, I'm sitting in Saturday catechism listening to Father Bradley explain how sex is like Scotch tape--when thoughtlessly pressed onto too many flannel shirts, it won't stick anymore when it counts. But I've heard this talk before. The sudden roll and…
Once Upon an Alternate Universe
********Editor's Note: Adult language********* A dosckside bar in Liverpool, 1970-something. A steel worker named Osbourne has come from Birmingham looking for work and steps in for a pint. He sits next to a soused dock hand by name of Lennon. No words are shared but they do…
Like Blood for Ink
When he was three, Jacob got his first skinned knee. I was in the backyard, trimming the raspberry bushes, while Derek moved wood chips in the front and Jacob rode his scooter up and down the sidewalk. Then a high-pitched squall cut through the podcast in my earbuds and I went…
Your Attention Please
The green light at the top of his wallscreen sprang to life. Stunned speechless for a moment, Berg Harris shook off the feeling with a shudder. He forced himself up from his couch. Stepped forward. Audience to performer. The great wheel had turned--to his turn now. The great…
Small Worlds of Black and White
The women I've loved are all decades dead. Myrna Loy in The Thin Man movies, of course, wise cracking and elegant, and Katherine Hepburn in Stage Door with her unforgettable voice, and the sad and cynical Bette Davis in All About Eve. Everyone moving through their stories with…
Grow Up
I had chosen a peach tree like most of the women had, but not for the same reasons. I didn't think of it as the only feminine thing I could leave behind, a monument to my sex organs. Instead I just liked the fruit. It was ripe and sweet, and even though it would only feed…
Find Soulmates Near You
We all learned the rules growing up. Tape over your webcam so they can't see you. Don't click any links, no matter what tantalizing things they offer. Don't open packages delivered from the dark web (and if you did, never eat the food inside). Most importantly, never give your…
So You Want to Reach the Witch at the Edge of the Void
1. No, you don't. 2. Trust us on this. 3. Personal experience. 4. You're really going to insist on this? 5. Well, first, prepare to spend a lot of credits. And we do mean a lot of credits. "Enough money to buy a medium rank planet," was what we heard, and that turned out to be…
City-Above, City-Below
On a clear day, when the wind stays home to rest and the waters of the lake go un-stirred, it's possible to cross from the City-Above to the City-Below. Go down to the lake's edge just after morning's first light, when the sun has begun to wake but not yet fully roused from its…
Berries
The blackberries grow over the graves in the sailors' graveyard. The thick bushes wrap around stone anchors and granite coiled ropes, the leaves obscuring the dedications in English, Latin, and Norwegian. Children gather the berries and take them home to be baked into crumble…
To Go Forth in Mail-Shirt and Shield
The dragon is not a metaphor. He is meat and muscle, scales and teeth. He is claws that tear through castle stone and fire that leaves naught but smoke and ash where once a village stood. He is destruction given wing. Your horse is saddled, your armor polished, your lance…
Two Certainties in Life
Death met my pretty sister on slick November roads. He was about to reap her gorgeous soul when he noticed her even more gorgeous body. So instead of taking her to heaven (or not) he took her out for drinks. "And we frolicked around Los Angeles for the next fourteen hours," she…
Twelve Days of Snow on Crossroads Station
When the snow began falling inside Crossroads Space Station, all of the aliens stopped what they were doing and held very still. The snowflakes caught on long fuzzy manes and feathered wings; they pinged lightly against hard insectile carapaces and shimmering reptilian scales.…
Love Letters
A husband did the worst thing possible to his wife: he took his love, and folded it in half. He did this for safety: it had been handled roughly in the past. Some singeing, a torn corner. The wife was one of those people who could read things back to front and upside down; she…
Too Cuddly
"Where did your plush exterior go?" "I stripped it off." Anxlo7's shiny metal interior gleamed, skeletal and mechanical, without the cinnamon brown teddy bear fur that usually covered her. "But now you look... scary," Maradia said to the robot she'd designed for Crossroads…
House Hunting
The house crouches among the tall oaks, nearly motionless amid the wild blackberry bushes. I shift my spear from my right hand to my left, palms sweaty. My eight-month-old fetal daughter aims her tiny foot against the side of my womb. I stifle my grunt of pain. We need this…
Prototype Dino 1
Maradia's fingers flew over her keyboard as she uploaded the reservoir of files that collectively were Wisper, an AI program she'd been writing over the last several months, to Prototype Body 1. She ran a quick check to make sure the files had uploaded properly, and then she…
Look Away
Some people you don't know are running away from an explosion. You don't know them. Whatever people, any people. It's not important. No, all ages, all genders, it's just people, okay? And there's an explosion and they're running. How do you feel? Would you like to look away now?…
Build-a-Grudge
Mari lugs two heavy suitcases into the office and heaves them into the corner. "Where's yours?" she asks. I point to a half-filled garbage bag. "That's all you got?" "I've never done this before." She tsks at my inexperience. Then she takes her cubicle's photos and cuts out her…
The First of Many Lies You'll Tell Her
When they first lay her in your arms, you will relearn what it means to fear. The softness of her skin, the fluttering delicacy of her breaths, the clarity of her guileless gaze. She will grasp your finger in her infant hand, and with that tiny, tenacious grip, she will break…
Trash Fairies
I don't follow politics, but I will follow music anywhere. Music leads me all over the country, but I never stay in one place long before it calls me somewhere else. My name is Cyrus Locke. I carry a fiddle. I've been on the road following tunes for more than fifty years. When I…
In the Library of Longing
Eris sterilized her instruments with dabs of a rosemary-blood decoction. It smelled wholesome with only a hint of iron. She prepared a jar too, the glass bright green. Her client sighed in annoyance as she flipped to the final page of the contract. "Is this really necessary?"…
The Girl Without a Spacesuit
Outside the viewport of my spaceship, a young girl clung. Instead of a spacesuit, she wore a daisy-print shirt and blue shorts. She breathed, but how? We were in space. She should either be gasping for air or frozen solid. Instead she smiled, waved, and gestured towards the…
More than Instinct
Except for the utter darkness within its mouth and its pupils, it looked like an ordinary baby: even the cutest baby in the world, like her mother-in-law crowed. Amanda crouched before the bouncy seat on the kitchen floor and studied its nibbling lips. Its tongue dipped in and…
Decoherence is a Lady
The first time you see her you're at a party. You know what she is the moment you see her; your eyes might as well be rulers, microscopes, polarimeters. She is a free spirit, innocent, driven, naive, the most beautiful thing at this party, a billion times more arresting that…
It's a Bird!
Author Bio: M.A. Dosser is a PhD student at the University of Pittsburgh. When he isn't researching music communication, television, or popular culture, he's writing about heroic blueberries, ravens and knights, and long voyages in outer space. Or he's in bed by 9 PM reading…
The Bridge Fugue: Variations on Emptiness
It is false that a bridge has exactly two points of contact with the world, one precisely here, and one at a specific there. At least, it is false of this bridge. The rusted girders hold an aging bridge firmly to my island. So that makes one point of contact. Clear, certain,…
Two Offerings in the Halls of Undying
The primary solar sail of Yeshte's ship refuses to shift position, some ten trillion miles out from his destination. Yeshte hauls on the lever to shift the sail manually, the muscles of his back straining to meet in the middle, sinews and tendons standing stark in his hands. The…
It Came With Violets
I feel as insubstantial as these pressed violet petals that haunt like a pantoum. I tuck them back into the book of poetry I'd found while browsing a flea market--alone, of course. Sunlight streams through the tall window, twinned in the cheval mirror standing by the mantel.…
Outside Order
"Hey there, hope you don't mind if I take this seat. Thanks." A woman you've never met pulls out the chair opposite you and sits down like she's going to talk to an old friend. "Fancy restaurant, huh? Good for you. Oh, don't worry 'bout the dress, I know it's a little torn up…
Chronicle of the Mender
Each day, the mender enters his workshop at noon. He sits at the workbench by the window, in the spot where the bench's wooden surface is well illuminated, yet where the harsh morning glare will not interfere with the precise nature of his craft now that the sun has reached its…
Crash Test Dummy
I took your picture when your guard was down. And then another immediately after. I kept them long after I should have. The two: one beautiful, at your unguarded best; the other awkward, embarrassed by the lens. I suspect you knew I was stealing something, that I should have…
Familiar Ground
"Rina, when are you going to put down roots?" her relatives asked as they passed salt and gossip around her parents' dinner table. Framed photos of Rina's cousins and their families beamed down from the walls around them. Rina had sent her parents plenty of pics: Rina riding on…
Out, Damned Virus
Gentlewoman: "She has sanitizer by her continually. 'Tis her command." Doctor: "Look, how she rubs her hands." Gentlewoman: "It is an accustomed action with her to seem thus washing her hands. I have known her to continue in this for thirty seconds." Lady Macbeth: "Yet here's a…
Literary Cocktails
I knew there was something different about Literary Cocktails the moment I walked in--it was mostly silent and much too sober, save for a few people who sat hunched over their drinks, speaking quietly to themselves. When I approached the counter, a few customers stole nervous…
Toon Apocalypse
"You just take everything too seriously." Even now, two years later, those words still stung. Her therapist always said that if something hurt her that much, there must be some truth to it. How could it bother her so much otherwise? That angered her more than anything else--the…
The Dream Factory
"We have to stop him," Marguerite-2312A grumbles, looking up at the uniformed men chatting with Dr. Hyram on the upper deck of the Dream Factory. Dr. Hyram is moving his hands animatedly and smiling broadly. Down here on the factory floor, we can't hear their conversation. It's…
Unlucky Pennies
The stink of copper assaulted Esme as soon as she entered the house. It used to bother her, back when she first started in the business, but now she didn't even bat an eye. Instead she smiled at the couple that answered the door and allowed them to show her inside. She took out…
The Fruits of Sisterhood
One would be chosen to drink the wine, and by the time she was eleven, Agri knew it wouldn't be her. The knowledge hollowed an anger bubble inside her, but she didn't want to swallow it down like she always did. She wanted to do something else. She'd wanted to do it for so very…
The Ones Who Don't Walk Away
A lot is made of those who walk away from the city. And I get it. I do. It's a shock to learn the city's secret. That a child must suffer for our prosperity. Of course it breaks a lot of people. Of course they walk away. Of course they abandon their civic duty. Sure there are…
Upgrade
By the time you finish reading this sentence you will be infected with the image of a single red balloon that has just been released and floats up into a clear blue sky. Do not be alarmed. This infection is not harmful to you or your community. The red balloon supermeme is a…
Before Us
Once there were no dragons. From Boston to San Francisco, the horizon was empty. Once, fires only happened when you started them. Once, houses were built only to weather time, never considering that a cloud was not a cloud. Once, they called us earthquakes. In the far off past,…
A Jar Full of Secrets
There are secrets in the air tonight. On nights like these, the humidity weighs them down and keeps them from floating up to the stars. They snag like luminous cotton balls on Mr. Roberts' too-tall grass and bob along the edges of Chesapeake Pond, pulsing their eerie glow until…
Hiring the New Staff
"We could try growing our own fingers and thumbs," suggested a shaggy marmalade tom, who styled himself as Aslan the Brave. Gloriana, the tabby queen, sneered at him, "That would mean we would have to do all the work of rebuilding." "Unacceptable," growled a grey wisp of a…
Little Dreams
The dream nets stirred in the early morning breeze, their strands stretching out high over the rooftops. Miya tried to focus on them as she clambered over the rickety platforms. The dream merchants had already stripped away the large dreams, decanting fantasies of riches and…
The Fastener
He devours me with his eyes as he describes me with a myriad of letters. His words are illegible to me because he writes in a language of his own invention. But I can see how he scribbles in his notebook. He says he copies my likeness. Every day, I take off my clothes to…
A Background Poorly Written
"What was that?" the woman asked. "What was what?" someone replied. I think that was me. "That sound. Didn't you hear it?" she asked. "No," I said, before a scratching that sounded like it was on the outside of the wall caught my attention. Wait--I don't see any wall. The wall…
Things the spirit living inside the west wind brought to Abby's house after the terrible storm
1. An entire little library, ripped from its roots, tumbled and rolled straight to her front door. Abby didn't recognize it, and it still had books inside, so she just stuck it in her front yard. Grudgingly. 2. A pile of puppies, all scrabbling paws and wiggly warm bellies and…
A Hook, An Eye
The hook slipped neatly through the meat of my daughter's cheek, parting skin and sinew like a fin through still water. She grinned around it, teeth pink, tongue pushing against the gleaming metal. The barb jutted from her upper jaw like an extra canine. "How does it look?" she…
This is How the Rain Falls
This is how the rain falls. A splatter, like a single tear. Then a soft mist, like ocean spray. Then fat, ferocious missiles that burst and self-destruct on the slick sidewalk. Other people don't seem to mind the rain. They shrug on jackets and carry umbrellas, and when the rain…
After We Buried The Hatchet
Months after Mom died, Matt and I finally buried the hatchet. I said we should dump it in the Bay, take Dad's old Boston Whaler out of San Francisco Marina and just toss it over the side. Matt argued that it wouldn't be burying that way, now would it? Our last full-blown…
Fish Heart
The surface of the decorative pond in the neighbor's yard shone like a mirror, smooth and bright, reflecting the overcast sky in shades of pale gray and silver. Cora wanted to know what was hidden underneath the mirror, so she jumped down from the fence and stalked over to the…
Catacomb's Orchestra
Catacomb laid her paw across the tiny heaving belly of the almost drowned mouse. The poor thing was frightened out of its mind; she could feel its fright through her paw, prickly and tingly. Mouse emotions were so funny. "I saved you from the koi pond, Little One," Catacomb…
How to Submit
IMPORTANT We do not accept submissions of so called "cloned" soulsnips. Soulsnips cannot be cloned. The service you have bought has simply split the quality of the lived experience in two. You might not be able to tell the difference. We can. So don't waste your and our time.…
The Fog Comes On Little Cat Feet
Edgar Allen was a grumpy cat. He had the sleek black fur you'd expect from a cat named Edgar Allen, but his whiskers shone like slivers of moonlight. He wasn't grumpy about his black fur or his shining whiskers. When he thought about them, he was rightly proud to be such a fine…
The Rarest of Prey
"Run," says the unicorn. "Please." Saiya caresses the soft muzzle, the spider-silk mane, breathes the dizzying scents of honeysuckle and musk. "You are a miracle." "I am a trap," it whispers. Obedient to its nature, it lays its head in the maiden's lap. Saiya falls half-asleep…
Cherry Ripe
By the time of his inauguration in 1789, thanks to the curse of cherry tree kraneiai, George Washington had only one tooth left in his mouth. When he had chopped at the tree as a child, the resident fairy laid a spell on him that everything of the cherry would act against him.…
The Fire In Her Claws
Apricot dozed in her cat-carrier, enjoying the warmth of the sunlight pouring through the car window and down through the grated metal top of her carrier. She had an old, rough towel to sleep on, and she was extremely comfortable. The occasional bump in the road roused her out…
We Sold Our Sol
We'd like you to hear us out on this. We know that change is unsettling, often frightening. It's one of those great human truths, the kind people put on their mantle in carved wooden letters. No major shift in human society has ever been easy. There is always anxiety, sometimes…
Home Remodeling
A spaceship crashed down at the end of my street this morning. Its inertial dampeners and camouflage shield must still be in working order, because it looked like nothing more than a parabola of blue light followed by a puffy white clump of cumulonimbus cloud streaking down from…
A Seven Years' Death Touch
When sleep came He was sure (and he was not sure) That all of this had happened in a dream within a dream within a dream And in the first dream: He lay under a cherry tree, in a forest of cherry trees. He lay under an apple tree, in a forest of apple trees. He lay under a peach…
Goblins
Goblins. At the time, it must have seemed such an elegant solution. On the one hand, much of the underdeveloped world was in a constant and losing battle with starvation. On the other, the developed world was producing plastic waste at a truly staggering rate. The landfills were…
Dreams Do Come True
As a child I was excruciatingly shy; selective mutism they called it. While taking walks with my mother, were somebody to approach, I would dart behind Mom's leg as if being preyed on by the Loch Ness Monster. I could barely function at school and was afraid of everything.…
The Best Horses Are Found in the Sea, and Other Horse Tales to Emerge Since the Rise
The residents of Morro greeted me with understandable hesitance. My clothes and accent marked me as a traveler from distant Tehachapi, and saying that I came from the university in search of horse stories made me even more suspect. City denizens rarely ventured this deep into…
A New Great Wall
I woke one Saturday morning to discover my neighbor Rosalyn building a wall in the yard between our houses. She laid each brick in a pattern of alternating rows with no mortar to fill the gaps, taking care to align each new brick precisely with the last. I watched her work from…
Where They Went
No one knew where they went. They could have gone into the river, perhaps, to cascade among banks that never charged interest. Maybe they went to another world, to float free and feel the morning dew from methane clouds. Perhaps they became dark matter, flipping and flopping…
Carnival Days and Days
After a day of rides and caramel corn, we were sad to leave the carnival. The jugglers, the tightropes, the half-winking games that everyone knew were cons. We wanted to con the con artists back, to win what everyone said was impossible, knowing that we never would succeed. And…
I Am Not Charlotte
Birth order determines so much of life, and I was first from the egg. Certainly, mother loved us all equally. After all, she'd never met any of us. She tucked us in, wrapped in silk swaddling, and glued us to the back corner of the underside of an oak roll-top desk. We waited…
We Are Here to, in some Sense, Destroy You
We are tiny slugs the size of the tip of your pinkie, and we come in peace: all we want is to rent DVD copies of the final seasons of your fantastic historical documentary, Firefly, since the broadcast was interrupted when it reached us (and also the episodes were, we believe,…
The Castle of Wine and Clouds
It begins with the Tyrant--when the war ends, when the kingdom is conquered, and the new king coronated. The people in the Capitol learn to live with tiny injustices: the erosions of personal freedom, the way that their loved ones vanish in the night, the constant feeling of…
Process
By the time I reach the front of the queue, even the more vibrant hues of gray are being leeched out of the surroundings. I hold the container tightly to myself for an instant, my instincts rebelling against giving it up, but I know there's really no choice. The middle-aged…
The Misadventures of Tom Jones, Time Traveler--Being a dialogue between two hemispheres of the author's brain that is neither uncommon nor blessed with a happy outcome
Wow. Best. Dream. Ever. Are you getting it down? It practically writes itself! Beloved literary hero in an adventure leaping between epochs instead of bedrooms . . . Don't forget the bit where Tom vanishes from Molly's arms and lands naked on the Western front. That's hot. . . .…
Slush Pile
A Bradbury Furnace converts the loss of information exiting permanently out of existence into heat. Snelpin did not think of this as he carefully chose the only existent copy of Helica Wire's latest novel. He'd finished tossing in all photos and records of a widowed octogenarian…
The Two Elizabeths
"So, what are you reading these days?" he asked, as we sat down for lunch under the portrait of Henry XVIII. It was an easy question, but I paused a little to think. It was always best to think when you were meeting with Guillermo Smith-Rodriguez--head of the department and my…
Just Coffee, Every Morning
I come home from work to find you still in your pajamas, sitting up in bed and staring at the side table. "You were so excited to finish that cityscape you were painting, what are you doing in bed? Are you feeling okay?" "First coffee, then breakfast," you mumble, "but there…
Remarks of Councelor Pierre Aubin, Session of the Noble Councel, May 28th, Year of Our Lord 2017
Welcome everyone. Mr. Speaker, Mr. Secretary, Knight-Senators, honored warfighters, fellow citizens. Before I begin with my opening remarks, I would like to lead everybody in the pledge of allegiance. "I pledge allegiance, to the flag, of the United States of Vespuccia. And to…
Roster
My name is Corey Jones... My name is Ravyn Merlo... My name is Vanessa Mitchell... My name is Phillip Dorn... My name is Arthur Riley... My name is Trina Scotts... ... I'm just an average teenager... ... I'm not your average teenager... ...I've got a big secret... ...I wasn't…
Apologies
Hello Readers. A reader (and contributor) let us know that today's story was evidently plagiarized from another story published by another site on the internet. Please visit the Arcanist to read Ephemera by Avra Margariti. We are reaching out to both the Arcanist and to Avra…
Illegal Entry
The child was alone, sent by parents desperate to save their son before tragedy struck. Wrapped in cloth, placed not in a basket in a river, but in an escape vessel large enough for only one. A refugee from an impending crisis that inevitably would lead to the destruction of the…
The Economist's Sisyphean Task
Marisol Prieto watched the boulder yet again slip and fall from its perch. She sighed. "This has no utility." King Sisyphus eyed her with disdain and defensive ego. "I almost got it that time. I'll get it this time." He began the long walk down the mountain, and Marisol followed…
Before Blindness
The man and his wife began speaking to one another in sign language. Neither had ever spoken this way before. And yet, suddenly, in the middle of an argument, they'd lost their ability to hear and started signing as if it were the most natural thing in the world. I can't believe…
Banana Pudding Girl
Her skin was lusciously smooth and mocha-colored, which reminded me of a very sweet coffee drink (and a very sweet barista I'd had once), and that's why I invited her to a coffee shop. But I didn't come right out and proposition her--there's a process, a sequence, a dance.…
Purposeful
1. Compromised "That was purposeful." "Yes, no curling. Not posturing, he's in there. Mr. Lund? Ed? Can you wiggle your toes for me, Ed?" The daughter stepped forward, hesitant, hand on the rail of the bed. "How will we know if he--when he--" The patient's color was better. He…
The Girl
She lives in the compartment below us with the potter. She is not his wife, she's much too young for him. Many nights I hear her screams. I try to block them out. I keep to myself, as is the way of all good Citizens. Last night it went on too long. I find her naked on the floor.…
Virgilius The Saucerer
Virgilius the Potter made pleasing plates and beautiful bowls. He made comely cups, and the prettiest pitchers; but, the artistic altitude achieved by his saucers was unmatched. Artists wept for joy at the sight of a Virgilius saucer. Competing potters wrecked their wheels, and…
I Bid Genocide
***Editor's Note: Mature story, dealing with mature, disturbing themes*** Ebba Molina chews her lip in the Forever or Gone contestants' booth, watching the opening bids of the opposing team. "Mx. Ozturk from Izmir, what do you bid?" The game show host asks, glittering his…
The Raleigh Temple of Artemis
The Raleigh Temple of Artemis closes at midnight. It's 11:52. The altar sweeper, a plump, snake-haired girl in a UNC Chapel Hill sweatshirt, glances at me as she Windexes the statue of Lady Artemis in the center of the pavilion. "I'm sorry to keep you waiting," I say, suddenly…
Past Mistake
Georg waited patiently in the Tiergarten, the park within central Berlin, hidden in a copse of maple and plane trees close to the zoo. It was the first of February 1933 and he felt a pang of excitement and fear comingled. Soon their plan would reach fruition but for now the most…
Past Mistake
Georg waited patiently in the Tiergarten, the park within central Berlin, hidden in a copse of maple and plane trees close to the zoo. It was the first of February 1933 and he felt a pang of excitement and fear comingled. Soon their plan would reach fruition but for now the most…
Memoirs of an Intergalactic Thespian, Chapter XI: No Holds Bard
"But if we're not allowed to speak the name of the play, how on Earth are we to advertise it?" one of my Players enquired. "It is between actors the name must not be mentioned!" I explained. "That's a tad difficult since the principal character is called Macbeth. And there's an…
All She Could Afford
Today was her seventh birthday, and today she would receive her first emotion. She held as tightly onto that fact as she held onto the aluminum box. In fact, she gripped it so fiercely her hands shook. Her mother had told her not to lose it; it was a hand-me-down, which she…
Monstrous
***Editor's Note: Adult Story, Mature Themes*** Anya wasn't afraid of monsters. The one who lurked under her bed was harmless, small like her and easily frightened--nothing more than a trembling ball of fur and fangs and eyes. Anya saw it only in snatches. It skirted the shadows…
Chameleon
I'm glad you can't see me, I lie to the girl in the window seat, with the rainbow hair. It's OK. I'm not much to look at. I'm not beautiful like you. She's my age, but I'm not made of rainbows and a Propagandhi t-shirt. At the moment, I'm a girl made of a rough polyblend weave…
Alien at Home Again
Daniel carried a kettle of boiling water out to the edge of the driveway where I stood reading the newspaper. "Two steps to the left, Dad, if you don't mind," he said, as I looked down at the melon-sized mound teeming with fire ants inches from my feet. I walked away while…
Miguel Prays While His Mother Cries
The blessed truck would arrive at midnight to carry them out of Phoenix. Each day Miquel prayed to the Virgin for her forgiveness: for hiding in the basement of this house he did not own, for dragging his own mother out of her home while Guatemala burned, for promising that life…
Shiny Red Chassis
Reeree3 was an assistant robot; a prototype with a complex combination of scarab-like jointed legs and little wheels on a tread. Right now, she looked like a cross between a sad ladybug and a frightened wheelchair. Her shiny red carapace was blotched with rough orange patches of…
The Fisherman's Robot
Sebas7 opened her mechanical eyes to see limpid human eyes staring at her. She recognized them as human eyes by using a pattern-matching algorithm on her massive internal database of labeled images. "Hello, friend. Don't worry, you're perfectly safe." The words had meaning in…
Salvador Dali Smile
"My brain isn't working right." Roia378--gleaming and silver, everything a robot should be, strong, aesthetically pleasing, a sculpted work of art that could build a stone castle with her bare metal hands--clutched her head, as if it ached, but she was not designed for pain or…
That Corpse You Planted Last Year in Your Garden
Plants comb the dirt in rows, sparser than Damek had hoped. The greenhouse windows sweat, dripping clear trails against the fogged glass. There's a fog outside too, the light dispersed so evenly it looks opaque. Behind the clouds an occasional brighter light flashes. The low…
The Emperor's New Bird
The ruby-throated avian twirled, emerald wings beating in a blur, frothing the air with graceful gusts of wind that swept through the emperor's branches and leaves, delighting his eye-petals with the sight of the frenzied dance. "A marvel of genetic engineering!" the emperor…
Clever Hansel 2000
Engleine paced nervously, her hooved hind feet echoing on the metal floor. Usually, the sound soothed her--it made her feel light and cosmic, reminding her that she lived on Crossroads Station and no longer a backwards dirtball of a world. There were stars beneath the metal…
The Words in Frosting
Gary was a humanoid android, programmed to experience the complete range of human emotions. Right now, he was sad. His broad shoulders slouched, and his head hung, framing his handsome face with his beautiful raven hair. He had been designed to be beautiful. Chirri wasn't sure…
Ashes to Ashes
The tracks on her cheeks could be rain. Shanylla would not cry, not this time. She watched with an icy heart as the flames licked the tiny body. The shroud caught easily, and yellow fire enveloped the empty, fever-ravaged shell of her daughter. The sonorous humming of the…
The Converse
"What do you think happens to people in a dream when the dreamer wakes up?" she asked. He thought about the question, and looked at her. She was pale and slender, with long black hair, dark eyes, and an accent he could not quite place. They were sitting in a favorite cafe of…
Crimson Skies
Dragons flew along the skyline. Their crimson scales reflected off the towering buildings of the city washing the streets below in red. The sun festival was my favorite event of the year. Thousands filled the streets to watch the dragons fly, others lined up to eat at the myriad…
The Hole-seller
Spring had come to the village. The snow slowly melted, the streams began to plash and chuckle, and once more the old hole-seller tripped along the road, carrying her basket lighter than dreams. Before she reached the first house, a child saw her and called out. Somebody else…
The Flight of Francie
Here's the ending I'd like to tell you: In every heroine's journey, a moment comes when, despite all fears and doubts, she must make a leap of faith. High atop the Memorial Arch, Francine stepped from the shadow of a winged statue to the observation deck's ledge. Through my…
Fear of Falling
When they pronounced his wife dead he started to fall. The death was expected--at least that's what his daughter told him. Nonetheless he fell, and fell and fell. At the funeral, he wore a suit four sizes too big because he lost weight when he worried, and he worried a lot…
Ghosts
The second ghost I met called himself Pedro Sinclair. He lived under a flyover between Junction 1 of the North Circular, and the office supplies wholesaler at Staples Corner. He had built himself a home of scaffolding and tarpaulin which cast geometric shadows in the setting…
Touch
Noon sun. Busted streetlamps and rusted shutters. Graffiti in layers of peeling paint. Brick walls and stalls of the Newtown Bazaar. The press of the crowd. Mad Hour, we call it, and rightly so: who would enter the marketplace with so many people about, each one a potential…
The Book
Geraldine browsed the card catalog and came across a book titled, The Book that Explains Everything that Ever Was or Ever Will Be or Ever Could Have Been. She made a note of the reference number, but when she got to the specified aisle, she couldn't find it. She went to the…
Tonguing Mortar
I fall immediately in love with the house. I quit my job at the StuffMart and spend all my time caressing her bricks, and tonguing her mortar. The neighbors don't complain; this neighborhood's full of such lascivious dwellings that I see every owner caressing mantels, and…
A Wedding Gown of Autumn Leaves
The day before my wedding, my dress is a pile of birch leaves. I sort through them and pluck out all the worms and bugs. The leaves are vibrant yellow and orange, fresh from the tree and still pliable enough to sew. Birch is a symbol of beginnings, a good choice for weddings. I…
Night Vision
He was an old man who'd outlived his parents, two brothers, and a wife. He had children and grandchildren, for God's sake. It made no sense he be afraid of the dark. But endings are difficult to accept. Like most people, he liked to pretend they didn't exist. But everything has…
Eel Soup
So, the time has come. He can't stand watching her suffer any longer. He prepares their last meal from scratch. He has procured the vegetables from the neighbor's garden. The onions are still good, as well, the carrots and potatoes. A can of stewed tomatoes, peppercorns and…
All 9,203 Episodes of How I Met Your Broodmother, Ranked
Beloved of trillions, How I Met Your Broodmother is the comedy masterpiece billed as humanity's Three's Company [archive link] meets Sk-Tk-Daa's Thirty-thousand Laugh Moments. It matches Tk-Tk-Kaana and Tk-Tk-Akaadi--two ambitious young Catlixian breeders trying to adjust to…
Cursed Timeline
"Butterfly affect, my ass!" Announced Mark, one hand clutched to his wobbly beer jug, the other to the table for balance. "Effect," I corrected. "Who cares. What I'm saying is that there's almost no difference between changing things now, in the real world, or through your…
Cursed Timeline
"Butterfly affect, my ass!" Announced Mark, one hand clutched to his wobbly beer jug, the other to the table for balance. "Effect," I corrected. "Who cares. What I'm saying is that there's almost no difference between changing things now, in the real world, or through your…
The Marionette's Daughter
***Editor's Note: Adult Story*** She'd been born with strings. With little wooden arms. With her happy cherub face smiling a painted smile. "What did you expect?" asked the doctors as the new parents looked on in horror. In particular, her father. Her parents took her home…
How Tolkein Saved the World
Come closer, dear lads and lasses, as Kai Lung II unfurls his mat and regales you with tales filled with monumental happenstances, awe-inspiring wonders... and dubious morals. Once upon a time, the dolphins had had enough of the humans polluting their seas. They decided to…
My Life as a Rattler
***Editor's Note: Adult Story*** It all began in an innocent way. Judith was walking outside the perimeter of her property and dumping weeds and kitchen scraps and branches in the forest, which sloped up and away from her garden, rolling through trees and branches and grasses up…
The Partisan
"You weren't there, you don't understand!" My wife screams at me from the bed. Her forehead is a war torn map of trenches when her brow furrows. "You don't know what it was like to run, to hide. The German checkpoints. Vous ne savez pas! Ils etaient des monstres! You don't…
The Partisan
"You weren't there, you don't understand!" My wife screams at me from the bed. Her forehead is a war torn map of trenches when her brow furrows. "You don't know what it was like to run, to hide. The German checkpoints. Vous ne savez pas! Ils etaient des monstres! You don't…
Infinite Tiny Lives, Infinitely Small
Grandma kept her civilizations on a shelf in the living room. She always let me dust them. When I was just a girl, I would pick up each and peer inside. Some of the baubles were dim, the civilizations inside long since dissolving to dust. Even then they were interesting, with…
An Historic Rejection
I suppose writers are like gamblers or fishermen, we loudly celebrate our triumphs and conveniently bury the failures. I'd made a point of mentioning a rare bit of success to an elderly neighbor of mine, who also fancied himself a writer. A popular science fiction website had…
An Historic Rejection
I suppose writers are like gamblers or fishermen, we loudly celebrate our triumphs and conveniently bury the failures. I'd made a point of mentioning a rare bit of success to an elderly neighbor of mine, who also fancied himself a writer. A popular science fiction website had…
When A Boy Gets His Bees
Thirteen By thirteen, most of the boys have their bees. By sixteen, even the late bloomers have matured, hives jutting out from under their skin, sculpting their jawlines. Bees deepen boy's voices, giving their words a hollow, buzzing tone. Like boys, bees themselves come in…
In September
On a humid night in mid-July, Emily can't sleep. Her hand keeps sliding into the cool open space on the far side of the mattress. She slips out of bed and pads down the hall into the kitchen. The breakfast barstool screeches when she pulls it out, but there's no one in the house…
Yona's Android
"Tell me again about the dragons." Yona's android stands at the edge of the dome, pressing her hand against the glass wall and looking out into the wastelands of the asteroid. "I have told you about the dragons, Ha-yoon. Come away from there," Minji says. Irrationally, she wants…
Counting Days
*****Editor's Note: This story may be triggering around issues of self-harm. Reader beware***** Locked in my bathroom, I pull at the stitching, the color of old blood, grooving over my wrist bone, wincing as the thread moves, taffeta-soft. I pull until I don't wince anymore,…
Norita
Imagine.... The building has ten spiral staircases, and nine of them go nowhere. But how to tell which is the one that leads to a tower where you can stand and look out at the vista of dark woods and castles and cathedrals and rolling hills covered with rows of vineyards and…
The Spider's Garden
The spider grows invasive plants in her garden. Morning glory crawls up the walls, its leaves green and glossy, its tendrils curling into brick and crumbling it slowly to dust. Mint and lily of the valley choke each other in shady corners. Forsythia hedges stand under the weight…
Godfall
With the launch of Earth's first inter-nebula craft, we thought we were finally solving the mystery of dark matter. Instead, out among the clouds of the Helix Nebula, we found the gods. Frozen in rigor mortis, grimaces of pain on each of their faces. Some we recognized…
Swan Lake
Swan Lake Swan Lake was not always a Rose Knight. Once she was a princess who had ruled over a vast demesne. As a princess, she had no need of swords for her battles. She just smiled, speaking her way through walls and gates and brambled pits to talk the very monsters from their…
Alien at Home
Daniel, our nine-year old son, walked his cockroach out to the edge of the driveway where I stood reading the newspaper. "Full frontal assault in the kitchen, Dad," he said. "I've got even money on Mom. She's battle-tested." I turned the page to scan headlines about aliens…
The Day Our Ships Came In
My best friend Sandra and I used to joke around about how our day was going to come. We stayed in town after high school. I got a job at the diner. Sandra worked at a resort farther up the mountain. "Someday, Lesley," Sandra liked to say, "our ships are going to come in and…
Diabolo Hawk and the Dragon
Diabolo Hawk and the Dragon "What's with the monkey?" the graying knight asked, his words slurred from several pints of McMenam Inn's finest ale. Diabolo Hawk slid into a spot on the bench next to the other patrons, while Sun King chattered and hopped on his shoulder. "This…
The Look in Her Eyes
I'm back at her place, in her bedroom, waiting for her. Preparation is everything, and really, I don't have much choice. I'm used to dates not working out. There was that time with Arianna. We went to Rossini's. When the waiter only brought one coffee at the end of the meal, I…
A Line in the Sand
He could hardly breathe. He tried to sit up, but the rubble was too heavy. He worked one hand free and then another and began to push the stones aside, stones that had once been part of the mighty Glamis Castle. What had happened to its princess? At the thought, he fought harder…
Fruité
Imagine this rose, streaked with a yellow so pale to be almost white, a red bleaching into salmon, a swirl of colors in one small bloom; imagine the scent, sweet and fresh, and then perhaps you will understand why the Particolor Knight from the Summer Lands chose such an…
The Earth Looks Different from Here
I hummed classic David Bowie lyrics and looked out the cupola. It always struck me how different Earth looked from the space station--magnificent, of course but somehow fragile and strange, too. I drifted alone down the corridor in zero g. The sun set every ninety minutes, but…
One Magic Minute
No one knows how it happened. Science, religion, and light entertainment all failed to explain it. Soon, no one cared how it had happened. The world could get used to changes in reality with obscene haste, quickly, turning the astounding into tomorrow's mundane. Society dressed…
Submission to The Board of Censors, Department of Official History, Washington DC.
Submitted material: Movie Review The Post (2018) The Post is a fascinating look at a little-known period of US history. Of course, the treasonous actions of the now defunct New York Times during the critical period of the Patriotic War of Vietnamese Freedom have been well…
Submission to The Board of Censors, Department of Official History, Washington DC.
Submitted material: Movie Review The Post (2018) The Post is a fascinating look at a little-known period of US history. Of course, the treasonous actions of the now defunct New York Times during the critical period of the Patriotic War of Vietnamese Freedom have been well…
Classified Selections
Little Space With Lots To Offer www.classifiedtwits.com RECYCLED U-Build-It Monster Kit. Some pieces missing. Doomsday Machine for sale. Used once. General Disaster Raygun. Needs power pack. Master disaster plan. Needs some revisions. Cerebral Cyber Interface adaptor. Software…
All the Rest is Silence
Words write themselves upon her skin when she speaks. The letters emerge like a developing photograph, and become a permanent record of each frustrated mutter, each whispered confidence. As a child, she scrubbed herself raw, trying to erase a secret she revealed to her best…
Bitter is the Sea, and Bright
When the Isperfell come to our village of Merse by the Sea, it is not with their delicate bone-lattice knives readied and their faces painted for war. No, they approach the old way. Slowly and from just down the shore, emerald sea water cascading from their bright scales and…
In the Minotaur's Labyrinth
Aristedes killed the beast. He had survived longer than his other sacrificial comrades--the minotaur's meals-- survived long enough to grow used to the labyrinth's darkness. His nose and ears were now his world. So, when he heard the monster's soft grunts and inhaled its awful…
In the Minotaur's Labyrinth
Aristedes killed the beast. He had survived longer than his other sacrificial comrades--the minotaur's meals-- survived long enough to grow used to the labyrinth's darkness. His nose and ears were now his world. So, when he heard the monster's soft grunts and inhaled its awful…
Cuckoo Bird
The living room was rearranged when Mike came downstairs the next morning. He was groggy because he hadn't slept well, and he first tripped over the sofa and then bruised his knee on the television stand. It was sheer good luck that he didn't smash the TV. Mike rubbed his eyes…
Screw Your Courage to the Sticky Place
Ana did not expect to open the door and find the four horsemen of the apocalypse standing in the hallway outside her apartment. She opened it expecting to find her mother. So, honestly, it was a relief. "We're looking for Connor Archibald McKreeley," War said, barreling into the…
The Ballad of the Toothpick, Yes it exists!
Ellis Horsback, in his book "The Decline of Logic in Fantasy," devotes a whole chapter to the omission from this imaginative literary genre of the subject of toothpicks, their use and their origin. How is it possible, he asks, in a narration so rich with feasts and meat…
The Resurgence of Clowns
We knew it was happening again when David started juggling. One minute he was packing the lunches for school the next day, the next his hands were full of oranges and they were whizzing around in the air. His nose was bright red. Mum screamed and shoved me out of the kitchen.…
Keeping House
In a well-run household, such matters as laundry and dusting and the scouring of pots need not concern the mistress of the establishment. Discarded silk robes will discreetly wriggle their way to the washing tub. Each morning after breakfast, the soap will jump in, and the…
Jetpack and Cyborg Wings
Lee-a-lei and her clone-daughter Am-lei perched in the Crossroads Station recreational airlock with their long spindly legs folded. The two lepidopterans exchanged a glance with glittering, multi-faceted eyes. Lee-a-lei was nervous and kept flapping her mechanical wings, but her…
Wing Day
Lee-a-lei had never been to a Wing Day party, much less thrown one herself. The butterfly-like alien crossed her uppermost pair of fuzzy exoskeletal arms and watched her clone-daughter scurry around their quarters, excited, sugar-crazed, and impatient for the guests to arrive.…
The Oldest One
Anno watched her mother tuck in each of her siblings to their differently shaped beds. Lut folded his feathered wings into his nest-bed; T'reska stretched out her scaly-green back on her heated bed of rocks; and Iko cradled her primatoid body, swinging lightly, in her hammock.…
Veins of Black, Dust of Gold
Am-lei had been growing stiffer by the day. Her long, green, tubular body was usually lithe and flexible. She could twist her way through the grav-bubble obstacle courses on the Crossroads Space Station playground better than any Heffen children in her class. Their canine bodies…
Things You Can't Forget
***Proctor's Note: This Story is Mature, for Adult Audiences*** You watch him die. Over, and over, and over. Every time, you think it may be the last, but you lose count after three hundred and twenty-two. There doesn't seem to be an end in sight. The experiment was only…
Hypercrystal Wish
Jeko coiled her long nose around one of the glittering hypercrystals. They weren't really hypercrystals. Just shiny bits of polished, angular glass. Spiky, colorful shapes. But Jeko liked to pretend. She liked to pretend that they were hypercrystals and could grant wishes. She…