When Death walked into the End Times Tavern, Pestilence was waiting for him. The specter of disease raised one pale, bloated hand and waved her colleague over to a table with four chairs near the bar. “You the first?” Death said and plopped into a leather chair, his bones rattling. Pestilence nodded and took a…
Zephaniah smoothed the sapling’s shading, caressing the tip of his middle finger along the edge. Warmth bloomed in his cheeks as absenthe rose from the meager dust pile next to him and swirled around the sketch. He glanced up at the actual sapling in his apartment’s small greenhouse to get the perspective perfect and then…
The sea called out to me that evening as I walked along her silver shore. She spoke no words, yet I fathomed meaning in the soft hiss of waves and the cries of gulls. Come to me. Let us be as one again. As though I had barely been alive until that moment, I felt…
Legend has it a dose of epiphany sent Archimedes streaking naked from his bath into the streets of Syracuse shouting Eureka! Newton’s falling apple, Buddha beneath the bodhi tree, Darwin thinking up natural selection during a carriage ride; epiphany’s shaped human knowledge in blinding flashes. Of all such revelations, Soba Dee had the most profound…
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,…
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 oni…
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 the…
“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—”…
Bradley is on the register for my shift. He’s the best-looking guy at Coffin Coffee. Dark skin, deep voice, and a lean, athletic build. If I didn’t have work to do, I’d consider a hook-up. I’ve seen the glances he throws my way. Alas, duty calls. The first customer through the door is a garden-variety…
We met at the End of the World Fair and decided to die together. Amidst the dodgems and the whirling teacups, with candyfloss in our hair, I fell in love when there was no time left. He was tall and fair, with eyes like the deep green sea and a laugh like the crash of…
