Category: Fiction
-
Communiqué from Juringen Helkarkennen, W-MR-ff2-2cf93d Senior Supervisor, Core Border Region Western Spiral Material Management Division transcribed by David Artman General Introduction Welcome to the Human Stellar League! Your star system has been approved for Standard Trade Status in the Human Stellar League (HSL) with all the rights and privileges that Status entails. Though your planet’s…
-
In that moment of seizure, Hunter’s sturdy, powerful heart contracted and froze, drowned in chaos’ thick malaise. Undaunted and chastised, Hunter Scales’s consciousness sunk penitently into that unwholesome mire, the past poised in suspension through the dissolution of his senses. ‘Curiously like the tales of life passing before one’s eyes….’ He—if enough remained of this…
-
A Fictionalized Treatise On Modern Marriage This is an essay comparing the treatment of marriage in fiction by Virginia Wolfe, Bernard Shaw, and D.H.Lawrence from within a fictional framing story in which the principle characters of Mrs.Dalloway, Man and Superman, and Women In Love meet at a dinner party hosted by the author’s alter ego.…
-
There are few men in the galaxy for whom life is an exhilarating surprise, a merciful relief. One of these few was Technician Thrace Soleman (ID# Astro.A159FC6B) as his ship, the Willie Mays, reentered normal space. Though living all his life in space—tesseracting hither and yon, withstanding gravities from nil to seven times Sol.Earth norm—he…
-
I come to thee, these twenty years past, seeking that which thou denied me upon my first—and only, I might add—visit to this shrine. Now wait! Hold thy tongue, though passionately it may wish to counter my words. Thou must listen long and well to my tale before casting down thy righteous decree. Thou must…
-
Preparations were fully underway now. The Kodash clan had accepted the Challenge; and, finally, the conflict over the plains to the setting sun would be resolved. Too much blood had been spent, many hunters lost on both sides. There seemed no way to achieve peace other than the Challenge. The members of both clans detested…
-
The sun had not even risen, and yet already the work bosses were gently awakening the harvesters with their batons. Pere was roused from his deep slumber by the shouts of the bosses and the grunts of his fellow pickers; but he remained motionless, gathering his energy. An almost casual blow from one of the…
-
Affidavit – Criminal Court of Oslo, Norway The following testimony of Richard Straffborn, accused of murder in the first degree, in the case of Norway vs Straffborn, case number CC-113/092189 is hereby given freely, under oath, on this the Nineteenth of September, 1989. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, though I realize that my future—nay,…
-
Once upon a time, not so very long ago, there was a rabbit by the name of Paul Cottontail. If you think you’ve heard the name “Cottontail” before, you probably have. The illustrious Peter Cottontail was the great rabbit who, against the warnings and instructions of his mother, infiltrated Farmer John’s garden to swipe some…
-
I sat atop the bunker, silently surveying my surroundings. Nothing moved across the battleground save a few pigeons: carrion feeding on the fallen. Not a sound was carried upon the autumn breeze, but that was not surprising; the enemy was advancing from downwind. Finding the silence quite unnerving and realizing that I was fairly visible,…