Science Fiction - Fantasy - Supernatural - Superhero
The train slid like a silver snake across the ice-hardened tundra, the solar array on its roof soaking up the light of a dying sun. It passed barren barns and hollow homes, clusters of abandoned factories and the clutching fingers of skeletal launch towers. The last two people on the rails sat in the cab,Read more about Silver Soul and Shining Wings by Andrew Knighton[…]
Kara stared through the rain-fogged window, hoping, praying even, for escape. And, as always, escape appeared in the form of an oak door with an old-fashioned brass knob that twitched in anticipation of her touch like an overeager puppy. “Turn me!” it seemed to say as, for the first time in her seventeen years ofRead more about The Final Escape by Christine Amsden[…]
The oni blocked Mizumo’s path, looming larger than the strongest samurai, wearing a tiger-skin loin cloth. Muscles rippled under sky-blue skin. Three horns protruded from its forehead. Three-fingered hands covered its face. Elbows rested on knees wider than the length of the monk’s wakizashi blade. Mizumo fingered the sword’s pommel beneath his robes. The oniRead more about The Weeping Oni by Gordon Linzner[…]
The red “59” flashed from the band on Kena’s wrist, the intensity of its color reflecting how urgent and precious each minute, each second, was. She had given everything for this time and yet, now that she stood here in the stillness and quiet, it felt undervalued. The cocktail of aromas—the earthy spice of theRead more about Someone Who Was Loved by Craig Church[…]
She could see the ones that had come before her, and after, that had perched in the chair in the waiting room of the auto dealer shop. They superimposed over her body like layers of frosting on a cake, a finger here, a curly bit of hair there. One tapped their hiking boot. One hummedRead more about Teetering On a Connection by Emmie Christie[…]
“Speak your third wish, mortal, and let me die.” The voice of the djinn was a mountain falling over. David had picked this spot deep in the forest, a hundred miles from anywhere, so they wouldn’t be overheard. The ancient, wood-bound book cradled under his arm had been right about that, too. “Ah, ah, ah—”Read more about The Book of Elevated Things by Stephen Kotowych[…]
The first scales grow on the backs of my hands, flesh-colored and brittle. They itch something awful as they push through my skin, and I pick at them like I would at fresh scabs, although you’re not supposed to. Mother hobbles toward me over the sharp rocks. “Stop it. Don’t you know how lucky youRead more about Scales by Vera Brook[…]
The dreams begin with Dixie’s first menstrual cycle: Thick trees with spidery limbs overhanging an almost-rotted boardwalk; moss-like fog giving everything a bluish-grey complexion; a muddy bed on both sides, sizable enough to serve as a reptilian’s den; a lullaby of chorusing crickets… And then: The planks dissolving into a body of water; air hotRead more about Primordially Yours by C. L. Sidell[…]
Thunderous clouds block our path. But these clouds can dissipate. Mine can’t. Mine seep into my brain, misting my memories, casting shadows where I need the light to shine brightest. My daughter sits opposite me, squinting as our air taxi bursts through the cloudy veil into the light. It’s always sunny somewhere, I’d whisper toRead more about Free To Be Forgotten by Leila Murton Poole[…]
He gripped the sword in both hands as he crept up the stairs, wishing for the thousandth time that the prophecy would let him use a gun. The council had been firm on this point, offended he would even ask, but swords didn’t go with windbreakers and jeans. Mentally he reviewed the speech again: IRead more about Parachute by Marlaina Cockcroft[…]