The pigeon pecking imaginary seed on the outside ledge thought it strange that Alan should open the office window and join her – his long gangly, shaky, legs unfit for perching eleven floors up.
‘Don’t worry little bird, I won’t be here long,’ he said at last standing with his back to the glass, the palms of his sweaty hands acting as limpets attaching him securely to the building.
Continue reading “The Jump by SJ Butler”
Once upon a time in the future, when you’re long dead in your grave, two brothers with magical powers meet again in the middle of the Indian Ocean to settle their dispute once and for all with a final duel.
Sam and Mitch are ship captains, just like their father. They own big container ships and spend almost their entire time on the Indian, Atlantic, and Pacific Oceans. Each brother has twenty-two crew members and a magical power. Sam can control the weather, and Mitch can mute whoever or whatever he wants.
Continue reading “The Storm and the Silence by Sam Kandej”
The décor of the Hollywood Space Diner was a neon and chrome nightmare. Adding to the charmless ambience was an unavoidable aroma of hot garbage. It would not have been Dave’s choice of eating place, that was for sure. He could just about stomach the interior design; it was the vile food that was the real concern. He found himself battling the urge to run screaming from the establishment, clutching a super-sized sick bag.
Continue reading “Working Lunch with the Space Vultures by Joel Bryant”
Xius waved at the family driving away in their BMW M3—it had license plate frames from his cousin’s dealership—with their brand new Fénix rolled up and strapped to its roof. He locked his showroom’s front door, hit a switch, and the sign reading “New and Used Flying Carpets!” flickered out. Sighing as he tried to ignore the worn linoleum, and the faded map of the world, marked with places such as El Dorado, Xanadu, and St. Brigid’s Well, he gathered together his receipts—paperwork would take him about two hours, he figured. He smiled as he thought of his daughters nagging him to get a computer, but he didn’t see the point, now—he had been at this for almost forty years, and every day seemed as if it might be the last.
Continue reading “Xius and his Flying Carpet Emporium by Hermester Barrington”
At what point, the man wondered, does semi-light become semi-dark. It was, he recognized, his first intriguing thought of the day after sitting immobile at his desk for hours with legs tightening and stomach growling. And the idea had only come to him after looking out his window and noticing that the sun was beginning to set. So it was becoming semi-light. Or semi-dark.
Continue reading “Transition by Chris Klassen”
Lucy kept an eye on the man at the corner table. He’d glance at the front door each time it opened and then return his gaze to a book whose pages he rarely turned. He waited for someone.
Continue reading “The Monk’s Knife by Callie J. Smith”
You may have seen me. That is, if you ever look up into the airy spaces. Few do. Some look straight ahead into the distance, unseeing, sure of their path; some look down, watching out for things not to tread in; others glance sideways at pretty girls as they pass. Just occasionally a flawless morning or an irrepressible carefree mood will set the stroller’s eye a-wandering, and I may be taken in as one of several irritations on an otherwise symmetrical arrangement of planes and curves. Or the gaze may even rest on me for a moment, and the beholder wonder idly – such curiosity evaporates instantly – who I am supposed to be. Next time you pass St Paul’s on the south side, do look up. You will see five statues in various unlikely poses above a phoenix that perpetually does whatever a phoenix is supposed to do. I am the one on the right.
Continue reading “Stonechat by Stephen Silvester”
Kenneth Waldron was a painter – quite a successful one – with a number of famous people seeking him out for portraits. It was mostly thanks to Cynthia Grossman, who had begun as his financial advisor before becoming his personal manager and, finally, his partner.
Continue reading “A Shoddy Business by David Rudd”
Nate’s flight was late landing, it took forever to get off the plane, and then his bag didn’t come out.
“Son of a bitch.”
Continue reading “Baggage By Richard Jones”
Oslac toiled his way through the woods beyond his home, stopping to allow his daughter to catch up to him but not daring to look at her. His ears faithfully absorbed the beautiful sounds of his daughter humming to herself while picking her way among the roots of the trees, and his heart began to splinter. They had been walking for half a day now, their pace waylaid by Kiri’s wandering attention. He heard her attempt to whistle at a bird in a low branch nearby and thought about just turning home.
Still, the thing had to be done.
Continue reading “Kiri by Sarah Hozumi”
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