When they died, a toucan landed on his shoulder. He shook it off.
It was the type of bird that appeared in ads for ale, assuring you that the dark stuff [...]
Science Fiction
The Grief Toucan
Remnants
Ewan stared at the water in the sink as it swirled down the plug in the opposite direction from his sink at home in London. He dried his face with [...]
Roots as Deep as Mountains
The news that fall afternoon was all about terrorists and dirty bombs. I had just turned nine, but even I knew that the world we used to live in was [...]
Men Like That Will Break Your Heart
Friday’s special is fried fish, Thursday is meatloaf, Wednesday is beef stew, and Tuesday chicken with dumplings. Monday doesn’t have a regular special. On Monday, Nico tries to dump his [...]
Lullaby of the Ages
The time has come to move. The beasts swim through the deep together. They are always together, glutting themselves on the spray of food swirling throughout the eddied waters. [...]
Waiting for Red
“Happy Birthday, Lenny,” I say, pushing the cake towards him.
He reaches out and feels the edges of the cake with his fingertips. His blind eyes stare straight ahead, milky white [...]
Harrotin Station
It wasn’t the first dead body Harper Davey had ever seen; not even the thousandth. He had seen too many to remember. But this was not a place where civil [...]
Blessed
You’re going home, Rol. The words echoed in his head.
“You never said it would be like this,” Roland whispered, opening his eyes. In the mirror they were green-gray and fading, [...]
Crossing the Blood-Brain Barrier
It was the first time I’d seen Buzz since they’d put the worms into Michaela’s ear. He looked even more like a junkyard, with rusty wires stitched into his face [...]
Sexes in the City
It was weeks before I dared expose my skin in the privacy of my new home. And, even then, only parts of it. My hands, my crotch. While looking at [...]
Viscosity Breakdown
Fuckin’ A! They made me a Dipstick Wrangler! Although the interview yesterday afternoon went badly, as my job interviews always do, I just got off the phone with someone from [...]
Wintertide Surprise
There wasn’t much to be done with it. It was supposed to arrive by five p.m. so Gary said, but here it be half past eight and every post office [...]
How to Be a Good Citizen
My Life in 1951
by Mrs. Doris Jones
They said to write about my daily life because that’s what people of the future would be interested in. But I don’t think you’re [...]
Assistant
Resume
Sidney Smith
Personal assistant
OBJECTIVE:
A position where I can help an ambitious tyrant seize control of the majority of or entirety of the planet before organizing a mission to conquer all nearby [...]
What Uncle Howard Did
Uncle Howard didn’t even bother to hide the door in the cellar. I mean, how many visitors could he have had way up there in the hills, surrounded by No [...]