Author
Marissa Lingen
Find her other stories for Daily Science Fiction by using the search function on the website.
Michigan Seems Like a Dream to Me Now
In Michigan the gravitational pull is nearly ten meters per second squared, and they have water no one filtered--just water, lying around outside with animals in it no one has checked over for genetic defects, which many of them have. In Michigan, your neighbors ate spaghetti…
An Age-Based Guide to Children's Chores
After the exhausting panic of the newborn years--and the still more exhausting panic of toddlerhood--parents face a unique difficulty of childhood: how to assign appropriate chores to their offspring. This handy guide should give you a rough outline, based on age, of what is…
The Last Navigator
I remember nothing before they awoke me. No one would expect to. I greet them pleasantly, as I was programmed to do. "I am Deepmind Aud, ready for service. What is our destination?" They answer me melodiously, in no language known to my programming. I am still trying to find…
After the Monster
This is a story where all the crazies live. The strange, edge of town crazies, they all live. The friend who is dark and down all the time and not sure if she wants to go on, she thinks about it hard and she does dangerous things and she flirts with lines farther than pain, but…
Addison and Julia Tell the Truth to Pemaquid Beach
Addison was wearing a tiger-striped turquoise rashguard and surf shorts. She wrote in the sand with a stick: "Addison + Julia = Truth Tellers. Reasonable Rates." Julia was wearing a hot pink bandeau top and black bikini bottoms. Her mom had picked them out. "When you're my age,…
The Curse
Twelve was old enough, or should have been old enough, not to need a minder at every turn. But twelve was also the perfect age for shiny things, for putting your hand on what is there for no better reason than because you can, and they turned their backs on my cousin for (his…
Objects in the Nobel Museum, 2075
Welcome to the Nobel Museum! We're so glad that you've made us part of your day. Since the beginning, we've been asking Nobel Prize winners to donate an object that says something about their Nobel journey: their research, receiving the prize itself, or themselves as people. Our…
I Won At NaSuHeMo!
October 30. I am soooo excited for this year's NaSuHeMo. I know we're not supposed to do any of the work in advance, but that doesn't mean you can't prepare your strategies, and I definitely am. I've read all the forums from previous years to see who had the most success. I even…
The Psittaculturist's Lesson
The aviary smelled of a thousand different blossoms, the humid glory of the empire, and under them all the rich earth and the ammonia scents of the imperial parrots' droppings. The empress never took her meals there--the ammonia smell pinched her imperial nostrils, interfered…
Emma Goldman: A Biography for Space Aliens
The Notable Earthlings series is brought to you by Gronklorf and Fizzoom. Gronklorf and Fizzoom's Notable Earthlings! Buy the whole set for your spawn! Emma Goldman was born in one imperial Old Earth unit and moved to another before the imperial Old Earth units began their…
The Troll (A Tale Told Collectively)
One year at Midsummer there was-- Oh, I beg your pardon. There is word from my great-aunt Margit that this was not just once, but every year at Midsummer. My apologies. Every year at Midsummer there was a troll. Great-Grandma wishes it known that only stupid people like her…