By Alice D. Wiese

Everything hurts.

A skull shattering drum echoes through my head along with my pounding heart. My limbs feel heavy and achy, as if somehow restrained by the

By James C. Clar

The wind coming off the sea smelled of rust and iodine. It swept through empty streets and over salt-bleached signs that bore the names of shops closed for a decade.

By Kevin J. Phyland

The dead girl sat down across from me and signalled for a coffee from a passing waitress.

The waitress at least was alive. At least as alive as one could

By Jillian Schedneck

Andrew. Andrew, her ex from Boston. He was stopped at the light across the street. What was he doing in this European city where Elise was on holiday?

He

By Moshe Alarmo

In the heart of a repurposed casino complex just off the Las Vegas Strip, the Trump Museum 2030 rises like a gilded mirage — part mausoleum, part theme park, and wholly

By Luke Christopher Hennessy

Astraea floated fifty kilometers above the surface of Venus, held aloft by the simplest trick in physics: air is lighter than carbon dioxide.

The

By Ros Armstrong

Extending his arm, he saw the raw flesh glisten. He twisted his arm over and back. Quite cheery looking, he thought, as the red shimmered, pearly sinews stretched,

By Harper Dent

I watched the snow fall. 

Tiny crystal flakes drifted down, floating and twirling in gentle pirouettes. The snowflakes landed silently, joining the shroud of

By David Horn

We were supposed to measure time.

That was the joke.

The Department sent us west with two utes, a stack of chronometers, and a directive to “verify and

By Wes Parish

I think I was feeling depressed that morning, which accounted for me being fifteen minutes late to my desk, and my supervisor snarling at me for being late. Even worse,

By Joseph Sullivan

“I’m putting the needle in now.”

With my limbs restrained and my head held down, I was helpless to stop them from putting the needle in my vein. My right arm

By DJ Tantillo

Silt, gravel, even rock — through all of it they burrow, ingesting inorganic materials that feed the bacteria squatting within, producing energy from dark chemistry.

By Craig Borri

The saucer slid down out of the night sky in full stealth mode. The two greys aboard had activated their electron negation field, which made them invisible to the human’s

By Bret Chandler

The CIA knew everything about Samuel Todd. A man with average intelligence who lived an unimpressive life. He worked in a comic book store, played Dungeons and Dragons,

By Kiana M. Cauwels

Legs racing, arms pumping, chest burning, he ran for his life — a red-caped supervillain was hot on his tail. But Kevin didn’t need to be in the lead for much

By Millie Armstrong

Life, death — neither particularly interested Angela, but the one that she really could not stand was the space in between. Regretfully, that was the space she was

By Ed Errington

Hey Carlos It’s me, Phil. How are you?

You free?

I know you collect dreams so I’m ringing to tell you about one I had last night. Yes, that’s right, it’s

By Julie Wornan

Dear Stranger,

Can I say that you swept me off my feet?

You came to me in the night, but I was not yet asleep. Wordlessly, you invited me to climb onto

By Evan C. Lewis

At Planet Harmony, we are committed to the maintenance of a Careful, Harmonious and Polite (CPH) society for all citizens. As a new arrival, we believe it is important

By Julia Rajagopalan

Amanda organises Paul’s birthday concert with the same microscopic precision she gives to everything she does, the kind of attention that saves failing kidneys and