Jacob Baugher
by Jacob Baugher She comes back to the Carousel House in the blue evening, solitary on the Carolina seaside. Her black Samsonite makes looping tracks on the cold beach, dragging sand across the house’s threshold. She stays here sometimes when she needs refuge, pretends to be one with the
R. K. Duncan
by R. K. Duncan Content warnings: Eugenics, infanticide, forced abortion, forced sterilization, torture. All exhibits marked CONFIDENTIAL URGENT ATTN: Diplomatic Committee; Ad-Hoc Sub-Committee for Generation Ship Response, Convened 344 AF, Planetary Commune of Jardin Exhibit 1: Statement of Abraham Helmangel, Captain, Glory of Falling Stars. Inclusion challenged; not to be
ART of the Solar System
by Cody Schell
Kara Dennison
by Kara Dennison “There’s a difference,” said Dr. Burns, “between something being unkillable and something being unable to die.” I turned my eyes back toward the lozenge-shaped airplane window, keen to move us to something less existential. “Speaking of unkillable,” I segued, “they’ve come a long way in
Liam Hogan
by Liam Hogan The orchard was merely a hundred trees. A hundred and twenty, counting the malus sylvestris—crab apples—that fringed the sides. “Why so many?” I asked, shivering in the February cold. Old crones made hedgerow jelly from the stunted apples, despite the wince-inducing tartness, despite their size,
Gull Ditta
by Gull Ditta The villagers called her Mehnaz, a name borrowed from the river that refused to keep her. She knew herself as a sequence of sensations: the prickle of dry earth between her toes, the pressure of a monsoon cloud, the shimmer of starlight caught in a still pond.
Cody Schell
by Cody Schell
by Dan Peacock Scott, I know this isn’t a good time for you, with the mysterious ultradimensional entities occupying most of downtown. But it’s not a good time for anyone. It’s taken me a long time to pluck up the courage to write this letter, but here
by Cody Schell © 2025 Cody Schell
by Vince Stadon “Now I'm gonna do what any rational human being would do, and that is to get the fuck outta here.” – Joel Irony. It was everywhere in the ‘90s – the culture was steeped in it. Back then, it wasn’t cool to just like things: you
Narrative, unbound
by Andrew Kozma I did not want to be attending the living memorial service for my mother, but there I was, the spiritual officer’s voice droning on like a TV left on in another room. My mother was in a coma, kept on life support for only pennies on
by Jetse de Vries Research nano-swarm employed: spread evenly across the globe; Finding: uttermost majority of civilization’s remnants are on land (remnants at sea bottom are mainly transport vessels); Second nano-swarm employed: aimed at most promising remnant sites; Check: tools, appendages, and similar appliances; Filter out: those used for
by Larry Hodges SCENE 1 “Honey, should we kill the children today?” Frieda asks. “Sure,” I say. “Why not?” My lovely wife is so cute when she talks murder. “Please don’t kill us!” cries Little Sammy. He cowers on the sofa with Baby Tammy, who slobbers like a broken
by Jayde Holmes Now all the People of Earth were connected and prosperous, so they said to each other, “Come, let us send out probes and map the heavens.” They built the fastest ever propulsion systems and entwined-particle instantaneous communication devices, so they could uncover wonders within the lifetime of
by Cody Schell
by Alistair Robinson The content of this piece has been removed and cannot be recovered. The Government’s Advanced Countermeasures system requires all forms of content, whether electronic or physical, to conform with our counter-extremism strategy—including content originally produced in areas outside of the Government’s jurisdiction. Content refers
by Floyd Largent You'd think a superhero wouldn't have any trouble making a living, but since my Breakthrough, I've barely been getting by. My folks, who are proud of my new status, are happy to lend me money between bounties, which is how I
by Steven Mathes It may seem like an obvious detail, but nobody on our team caught it. We planned. We imagined uncertainties about pathogens, toxins, hostile predators, and historical facts of human violence. We knew it would require unspeakable amounts of energy. Therefore, I was armored in something halfway between
by Jennifer Lesh Fleck Circus-striped streamers dazzle my handlebars. My leatherette seat wears printed roses and flourishes, like a Western saddle. I’m pretty, parked alongside my brothers and sisters. My factory paint has glitter in the pink, swirling like cosmic dust. The village outside hunkers under June gloom, the
by Cody Schell
by Justin Dill For the fourteenth day, eggs fall from the sky. Always eggs, and mine, always scrambled. Never over easy. Never over. Never easy. Mother makes omelets for breakfast, for the fourteenth time. Fourteen quiche lunches. Fourteen egg salad suppers. Meringue for dessert. I skip that first. And then
by Mark Szasz “Mm-hm, mm-hm… No doubt about it. You’ve got a troll under your dental bridge,” Dr. Gruff agreed, narrowing his gaze. The beam from his dental headlight shone on two tiny shining eyes in my mouth, each reflecting in his spectacles and glowering at me. A gigantic