Author
Filip Wiltgren
The Sol Majestic
"And this," I tell the visitor, bathing it in electromagnetic radiation, sending my message in three thousand standard languages, and a large number of mathematically deduced logical propositions, "was Sol, the home of the Creators." The visitor wobbles, turning along its…
Pick-up time at the Daycare
"Hello." Dr. Octopus stomps in through the front door, the fire engine-red, reinforced steel squealing slightly in his grip. For a moment, I'm afraid the thick window-glass in the middle is about to crack. "Sorry," he says. "Bad day." He's tried to wash up, I can see that, but…
Ninety-Nine Percent Support
"A mouth-piece?" Kalia said. "Seriously?" "It's not that bad," I said. "Besides, the perks are fab." And they were. The VIP+ lounge of the Starbucks-Subway was all you can eat, golden crunchy pain ordinaire stuffed with slices of printed turkey and salami proteins, olive paste…
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…
The Bravest Thing My Dad Did for Me
The bravest thing my dad ever did for me was wave to me from the kitchen window. As a child, I didn't realize the courage it took for that heavy brown curtain to be pulled back, for that pale hand to wave even though the sun was already in the sky. If anything, I was annoyed by…
A Letter Meant for You
Everybody finds this letter eventually. It's in the terms of use. What you do with it, is entirely up to you. First, the specifics. Yes, this world is made just for you, all the content procedurally generated moments before you encounter it. No, we can't tell you why you chose…
Someday
"This," I tell you, "used to be a record store when I was young. People used to come from all over to browse the records." You look at the dusty building, press close to the scratched and dirty glass. The desert sun beats down upon your back, but you don't mind. The walls inside…
Body and Soul
Gail chose body. I never expected her to, we'd been so adamant about our minds, how the soul is worth more than the flesh. And yet she chose body. The treatment took her back to her early twenties, physically. Her hair, that she'd started coloring before her fifty-ninth…
Mom-Bot Isn't Happy
Our mom-bot isn't happy. "Bots can't be happy," says Nir. He's stupid, for all of him being eight. "Can too," I tell him. "You laugh when you're happy and mom-bot can laugh." Nir sticks his nose up, like he's trying to play a plane spotting game on his contact lenses, but he's…
Knots
The ogre doesn't react when you enter her hut. She's deep in concentration, head down, hands moving in complicated patterns, dark-brown leather thongs flashing through her fingers. For a moment you hesitate between clearing your throat and banging the pommel of your drawn sword…
Wave-function collapse
What do you do when you've got all the power in the universe and none of the control? Weird question, right? Here's another one: ever heard of quantum mechanics? Sure you have. Ever thought about it? Really thought about it? On a base level, every quantum interaction can go…
Censored Addendum to Yoshimoto Hano's History of the Empire
Imaginary Concepts, People, and Places Hitler You've never heard of him. A bit like Anton Drexler, but shorter. Had a squeakier voice, too. Did about the same things but failed miserably. Nuclear Weapons The whole idea is that you can separate the indestructible elements of…
Censored Addendum to Yoshimoto Hano's History of the Empire
Imaginary Concepts, People, and Places Hitler You've never heard of him. A bit like Anton Drexler, but shorter. Had a squeakier voice, too. Did about the same things but failed miserably. Nuclear Weapons The whole idea is that you can separate the indestructible elements of…
Ghost of the Ashwydds
The house was dark, spider webs covering the chandeliers where gaslight used to dance. "Here," said the no longer quite-so-young girl, "is the hall of the murder." The audience oohed and aahed and sighed, and when her lover flowed through the wall in his faded finery they…