Winter was coming to the Black Valleys, and the first snow was grey sludge beneath the mercenaries’ boots as they struggled up the mountain. With no interest in a seventeen-year-old girl too tired to keep up, they staggered past Althea using their spent matchlocks as walking sticks. She tried to catch her breath. The forests … Continue reading Story: The Woman Who Must, by Roderick Gladwish
Vampire in the bar eating peanuts, had gone upstairs to check caskets. As the flattened chords of B-flat blues wandered through her oak pollen-filled nostrils, she awoke with lace around her body. The priest was a Martian with a love for whiskey. He took confession at the corner table. Despite vampire's tastes in blood, he … Continue reading Story: Carbonated, by Tom Grayhorse
Our story begins with a series of extraordinary events. The first involved a small mouse that burrowed through an inch of steel at the base of a street lamp. After biting its way through, the mouse leapt up a series of wires and, reaching the top, rewarded itself by nibbling away on a juicy red … Continue reading Pink Goo, by Steven Lombardi
Aliens' attack Kills less of population Then we do ourselves * * * Black hole Pulls spaceship To the dark side * * * Buried under Mars For millions of secret years Lies Earth's history * * * New robots for sale With Feelings or No-Feelings -- I could not decide * * * … Continue reading Five Haiku, by Denny E. Marshall
“Good afternoon, Mr. Whitaker, Charlie,” said the waitress, nodding her head at the old man and young man sitting across from each other in the red booth. “What will you boys be ordering today?” The waitress was perhaps a bit too bright and perky for her age, Carl thought, as he squinted down at the … Continue reading The Final Request, by Sheri Rosen
Mick McLoren was quite an ordinary sort of guy. He was married, had two children, and had held the same clerical job for more than 17 years. He owned a house on the outskirts of London and spent all of his Sundays reading the Sunday newspapers. Like everybody else in his neighborhood, he left the … Continue reading Encounter at Midnight, by Irene Maschke
(Editor's note: The following story is a sequel to "Mutant XX Embryo".) There is no visible light in the horizontal passage that stretches away toward the harbor underground. Two pirates left several minutes ago in search of a way out. Silence is growing to a ringing in the ears of the rocket-van crash survivors, who … Continue reading Embryo Transfer, by Edward R. Heard
"See what I mean, Master Gorean?" My diminutive guide pointed to me and shook his head, briefly revealing pointed ears as his long black hair swung to the side. "Danek does not even know who you are -- his own father!" I looked over at my supposed father again. No. Right age, but my dad wasn't … Continue reading Crossover, by F. Alexander Brejcha
Tomorrow, the System Defender, Captain White, fell on his ass in humiliating circumstances. Here is how it will happened. Exactly somewhere between Mercury and Pluto, which is to say perfectly and imprecisely in the center of the edge of the system, his trirem, Remember the Argo, finally will overtake the Cymbal of Eve, flagship of … Continue reading A Standard Space Tale, by NoMan
A man wearing a black wool cap and an overcoat slips through the narrow opening at the gate of a chain-link fence. He ducks into the shadow of a building. The dumpster beside him -- labeled Geneticorp Laboratories, BIOHAZARD -- exudes a rancid chemical odor that stings his nose. He looks up at the sky … Continue reading Mutant XX Embryo, by Edward R. Heard
