Posts Tagged ‘Fiction’
by Cat Hellisen
We must be close to New Londinium by now. The jungle is thinning and this little clearing is as good a place as any to stop and rest. My current employer sits hunched on a fallen log thick with fungi and bottle-green creeping vines. She holds her hands against her face, palms over her eyes. Her hair has turned black as feathers. |
From Issue 17 (Jan 2012) |
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by Genevieve Rose Taylor
When she's gone, I realize that I've put my hand on my belly, like she did. I wonder if her secret is the same as mine, or if hers was worse. I still can't sleep, and why bother trying? Sleep steals away the only hours I have left, so I make myself another cup of coffee, and return to the window. |
From Issue 17 (Dec 2011) |
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by K.A. Dean
The Third City drifted slowly across cresting water - a blue-green sheet of rippling shades, sunlight dancing - moving against the wind. A floating island of glass and gold and silver, frozen towers like ice, basking. Behind, left by the motion of the massive propellers beneath water's surface, a faint trail of froth. |
From Issue 17 (Dec 2011) |
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by Mel Odom
Even before Special Agent Thompson took the 8x10 photograph from inside his sleek briefcase, Emily Cooksey knew she had seen the man previously - eight days ago. “No.” She told the lie without inflection, without pause, just as she’d told the man her name was Mary Smith. She was good at lying and would be ashamed of it, if it weren’t so necessary in her life. |
From Issue 17 (Dec 2011) |
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by Cate Gardner
“The Devil pulled the string on his attic door and all the people tumbled down,” Pastor Baest said, recounting recent history. “Soil shot up in an almighty plume, affixing its weight to the sky and colouring the world sepia. Amen.” “Amen,” the children repeated. |
From Issue 16 (Dec 2011) |
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by Tom Jolly
The interesting difference between doctors and scientists is that scientists often ignore the potentially deadly repercussions of their activities, so immersed are they in their work that they fail to see all the dark applications of it. If people die, it's not their fault. As long as your motives are pure, no blame can be laid at your doorstep. |
From Issue 16 (Dec 2011) |
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by Sheila Crosby
Dan said, "All the bigger asteroids are tracked by the computer, but there's zillions of tiny ones too. One's heading our way." After five months here, getting into his spacesuit was simple. The trick was to get one foot firmly fastened into the suit before you took the other out of its metal-soled shoe. If you didn't, you found yourself floating weightlessly around the airlock, magnetic floor or no magnetic floor. |
From Issue 16 (Dec 2011) |
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by Domyelle Rhyse
Ilkyia watched the starship arc upward, a brilliant star in the pre-dawn sky. She was fascinated by the ships of the dead, despite being only six years old. Three-year-old Reyna tugged at her hand, curious about everything but the ship above them. Their parents huddled protectively around them, keeping them close. Even though sparks of brilliant fire lit the entire city, Ilkyia imagined she knew exactly which one held her older sister. |
From Issue 16 (Dec 2011) |
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by Sylvia Hiven
Indeed, the stench was bad; the odor of stale vomit and human waste lay like a veil in the room. And yes, the man that sat in the bed was a mere skeleton, his hollow cheeks pasty despite the amber light from his bedside lamp. But he had his hands clasped around a crucifix, and while his eyes were dark with fear, there was no sign of the devil in him. |
From Issue 15 (Nov 2011) |
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by Cedar Sanderson
Curiosity is what led my predecessors into the wild unknown - curiosity and a driving desire for notoriety. |
From Issue 15 (Nov 2011) |
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