Company Man
Reading Time: 3 minutesSam was a company man. He was exactly what the company needed and what the company wanted. That is what made him so disturbing.
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Tuning
Reading Time: 11 minutesA mother who is frustrated with her teenage daughter comes across a magical object that can repair items. She wonders what effect the object might have if she used it on her daughter.
Let the Salt Decide
Reading Time: 4 minutesZeke looked out a kitchen window, into his backyard. Waves crested and lapped the shore, leaving salt-soaked artifacts in their wake. The sea always has a say.
Mothermind
Reading Time: 12 minutesAmong war’s victims are the soldiers and those who care for them. Nothing in our shared future will change that, though some of the details will be new. What will be the reality for cloned soldiers?
Arachnophobia
Reading Time: 7 minutes“First contact” is an underexplored sub-genre with many opportunities for miscommunication. Sometimes deadly, sometimes not so much.
The Race
Reading Time: 4 minutesA young man starts a new job at a seemingly disused rocket ship yard.
Goodbye, Nathan, Goodbye
Reading Time: 10 minutesIt’s a little boy’s last chance to leave the planet. Can he talk his mom into letting him go?
The Girl Who Was Only Three Quarters Dead
Reading Time: 26 minutesSuki finds herself prematurely awoken from an induced suspension between life and death. With her retinas deactivated and her government persona suspended, it’s up to friend and P.I. Gabe, to recover her identity, before she dies for good.
Alexander the Gray
Reading Time: 15 minutesAlexander, an extraterrestrial botanist whose mission to collect plant samples, is tasked with the emergency abduction of Roger Smith. Alexander has never come into contact with a human being, and when he meets Roger, he wishes wish he never had.
Under the Twinkle of a Fading Star
Reading Time: 26 minutesA veteran soldier in a postwar city, Jackson agrees to search for a friend’s wayward daughter and bring her back to her father. The task will be harder than he expected.
The Candle Wench
Reading Time: 17 minutesOverworked and underpaid, a candle wench finds strange comfort in the warmth of the wax
I Don’t See How That’s Any of My Business
Reading Time: 5 minutesWhen a man’s vision changes, he suddenly sees much more about the people around him than he would care to.
The Healing Breath of Alpacas
Reading Time: 4 minutesWhen aliens descend on Earth, they request an audience with Karen, the United States’ most statistically average individual to sit judgement.
Turndown Service
Reading Time: 14 minutesA bellhop on one of Jupiter’s moons discovers a body, and murder may be involved.
Retirement
Reading Time: 3 minutesCost-effective retirement for those who work in the human harvesting industry can have unexpected consequences.
Mortal Wounds
Reading Time: 4 minutesAfter a thief is mortally wounded, strange visions of past crimes begin to haunt him. As he tries to make his way out of a dark forest to see the sun once more, he cannot shake the feeling he is being followed.
After Impact
Reading Time: 19 minutesA group of people in a rural town face the outcome of a devastating asteroid impact.
The Shell
Reading Time: 25 minutesA little boy discovers a mysterious seashell that contains more than just “ocean sounds” – a lot more…
If We Can Just Get to the Cabin Before…
Reading Time: 4 minutesMarsha and Frank are driving along a country road on a rainy night, with Frank regaling Marsha about his knowledge of Japanese Samurai films,
when they encounter a ghostly specter in the middle of the road.
The Psychics
Reading Time: 5 minutesPsychic magicians must fight off a enemy who is trying to break the spells protecting their academy. Family and romantic relationships complicate things.
Grim Harvest
Reading Time: 9 minutesWhen their mother dies, a pair of precocious twins are placed in the care of their father, a conservative and stern man with whom their Wiccan practices immediately clash.
Hope of Green
Reading Time: 3 minutesIn the face of a devastated climate, humanity’s last hope is to relocate to another planet, but not everyone sees it that way.
Anonymous Tip
Reading Time: 7 minutesIn a near future of fast-paced social media likes and internet lurking, anonymity has a price…
The Programmed Joy of Protection
Reading Time: 11 minutesRuth is an android robot nanny, designed to protect the two young children in her care. She has come to realize that she loves protecting the children so much, she feels compelled to put the children into danger so as to enjoy saving them.
Honeypot
Reading Time: 5 minutesA derelict spaceship turns out to be a trap for a space pirate and his very unusual copilot.
A Perfect Day
Reading Time: 4 minutesA day at the beach turns into something unexpected for a young couple.
The Snow Hath No Queen
Reading Time: 5 minutesIn a future where the continents are gone, the oceans are dead, and humanity survives atop the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a man goes on a dreamquest to rediscover cold and snow.
Spell to Find Amelia Earhart
Reading Time: 4 minutesMagic circles, incantations—could this be enough to bring back Amelia Earhart?
Body Donor
Reading Time: 4 minutesDavid volunteers for NASA’s Body Donor program, where human corpses are exchanged for advanced knowledge of an alien species.
Taking Care of Our Own
Reading Time: 3 minutesThere’s an aswang on the loose and it’s up to us to deal with it. Don’t forget to bring trash bags…
I Regret Any Future Impact of My Words and Actions
Reading Time: 3 minutesThis piece imagines a future world where apologies are necessary for every step of personal interactions with others.
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How Chaac the Rain God Moved to Venice and Became a Glutton-Free Vegan
Reading Time: 8 minutesWhen ancient Mexican gods visit Venice Beach, America gets a change of dirt.
How Chaac the Rain God Moved to Venice and Became a Glutton-Free Vegan Read More »
The Virgin of Santos de la Tierra
Reading Time: 7 minutesWhen a Virgin is seen in a small Mexican town it’s a miracle – the town is blessed… or is it?
Ties That Bind
Reading Time: 14 minutesA cosmic traveller helps a grieving fisherman to deal with his trauma.
Shadows
Reading Time: 5 minutesJason’s daughter, Sarah, approached him one morning and said, “Daddy, the Shadow Man is back.”
Hands Down
Reading Time: 2 minutesHow will a child react to his father’s unsettling business decisions?
Two Old Friends in the Garden
Reading Time: 5 minutesAn old man’s dedication to his garden goes beyond the grave.
Rod Serling School of Writing
Reading Time: 4 minutesA budding student sci-fi writer applies to the Rod Serling School because of the celebrity’s name attached to the school. When a salesman comes by the house to pitch the school, her father joins the conversation, with unexpected results.
Growth
Reading Time: 3 minutesHe is deeply fascinated by growth. And he’s ready to sacrifice a lot for its sake…
Life Online
Reading Time: 7 minutesIn the environmentally and economically devastated not-so-distant future, best friends Pen and Lissy have fought for years simply to survive. After a lifetime of struggle, Lissy is desperate for escape, and decides uploading her mind onto a computer chip – complete with home-designed software – is her only option.
Classics: The Star
Reading Time: 15 minutesA strange star is spotted in the distant sky. Scientists watch as its near miss brings humanity to its knees.
Once in a Blue Moon
Reading Time: 2 minutesA hungry ghost, pockets full of whatever money he could collect, visits his favorite diner on Halloween
Worm King
Reading Time: 5 minutesWhile his father’s once-famous bait shop struggles to survive against the threat of an impending storm, Dill encounters an unexpected solution.
The Last Day
Reading Time: 3 minutesA story about a society in which a mechanism was invented to increase pleasant dreams. Old men prefer to sleep unawakened rather than live. One man tries to resist.
In Him, We Know Freedom
Reading Time: 5 minutesWhile burning barrels light the state capital’s torn paint and hunger pains ravage his stomach, a man looks into a mirror, seeing what he could become and reliving what he had to do to survive.
Humans and Androids as Societal Partners
Reading Time: 8 minutesDo we need new rules for a society where androids are becoming more and more lifelike?