Category: Science Fiction

All Stories, Science Fiction

Fragments by Jennie Boyes

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We sometimes remember that other universe. It comes to us in dreams, intangible and unattainable, an echo that rebounds on the parts of us that grieve our old form. We were once a deity of the heavens, too ancient and vast to consider the lives of mortals. The cosmos was our domain. We walked between planets and hurled asteroids at moons. The feuds and petty wars with our god-kin could supernova a sun. How mighty we were, and how foolish in our arrogance.

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All Stories, Fantasy, Science Fiction

The Code Master by Tom Sheehan

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Some people in or about his circle of friends of Willard Coxby III, weren’t sure of his nickname, with choices at the start, whether it was “Tulips” or “Two-Lips,” both being cautions of the ear, the receptions, as if one served over the other.

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All Stories, Science Fiction

Departure by Callum Rowland

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One night, five days before departure:

“I’m not staying for you,” Andrew says.

He lies next to me in bed, his eyes aflame, half-hidden by a lock of hair fallen across his brow. A bead of sweat carves a shimmering trail down his chest.

I prop myself up on one elbow.

“Then why? Soon there will be nothing to stay for.”

“The people, Sarah. Are they not worth staying for?”

I roll my eyes.

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All Stories, Fantasy, Science Fiction

A Hunger in the Depth by Patrick O’Connor

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After the universe had expanded for eons and after the birth and death of uncountable galaxies, the last star burned dim. A creature stirred in this black void of space at the end of time, curling tightly around the star–taking the last vestiges of energy as its own.

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Science Fiction, Short Fiction

Nine Minutes into the Future by Jared Cappel

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The door opens automatically, not how supermarket doors part but rather like a hologram dissipating. Inside, the lights are blinding. Ads swarm the walls, as if overrun with nagware.

A hostess joins us mid-stride, music creeping out from her headset. She doesn’t bother to catch our eye. “Headphones or no headphones?”

I don’t quite grasp the question. Rashida jumps in. “Headphones.”

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All Stories, Science Fiction, Short Fiction

Two Languages and an Imaginary Number by Jie Wang

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“When you say you love me, do you really mean it?” Iris asked.

“Of course I do. I love you.” I said.

“No, I mean, is this just a sentence to you? Like when I say ‘I love you’ in German, I don’t really feel that much.”

“I feel it’s cheesy to say ‘I love you’ in Chinese.”

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All Stories, Science Fiction

Appropriate By Steve DuBois

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The poster bore an image of a tiny kitten dangling from a clothesline, hind legs kicking desperately against the abyss.  HANG IN THERE, the caption read.  Horatio Salazar, Westside High School Appropriations Officer, had hung the poster in an attempt to reassure the students who were summoned to his office.  Occasionally, it even worked.  Xinyu loved that poster, Salazar thought, back when she was Consuela.  Back before her third strike.  A sweet girl.  But she should have known that piñatas originated in China, and that they only became “Spanish” through cultural appropriation.

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All Stories, Science Fiction, Short Fiction

La Vie en Rose by Barbara Diggs        

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“Where shall we go tonight?” Euan caresses my cheek with the back of his hand then brushes a stray braid away from my face. He is propped on his elbow next to me in the classic post-coital pose. I suppose he thinks he looks suave, but he doesn’t. He just reminds me of a kid trying to pull off a look that’s too big for him.

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