Star Shaker’s scales glittered and shone with rainbow colors under the spotlights. Her barbed tail swayed, and she flapped her tiny vestigial wings as she sang into the mic. With the backdrop of stars behind her, she looked like a… Continue Reading
Javier stared out of the grime-smeared fourth storey window of the Ness hotel. It had been a charming place, once. One of the best in New Orleans. He’d even stayed here once or twice before the aliens came. But now… Continue Reading
Lila Fellows — one-hundred and thirty pounds, nineteen years old, deloused, wormed, chipped, injected, and of good pedigree — wanted to stop biting their hands. But it was difficult. She knelt in the right place, where Owner indicated with a… Continue Reading
“A goat,” exclaimed the host and the audience whistled loudly. “That leaves us with only two doors. And now you know that chances on the left door are two-thirds. Would you like to change doors?” You know it’s not really… Continue Reading
The man leaned back, basking in the last few rays of the sun this day had to offer. The scent in the air reminded him of the burning of tar they used to fix the roads. Normally he wouldn’t leave… Continue Reading
Maren Rosenbaum perched in a small skiff on Tau Ceti Seven’s rainbow sea. It caught the leading edge of a swell and Maren’s aged body swayed, adjusting to the motion. Arthritis twinged in her back. “All right, Ma’am?” asked the… Continue Reading
“Now or never, Cal,” Howser says, hand on hips. The boy’s only got six months on Cal, but has grown lanky like a sapling and those extra few inches give him authority. Cal stops chewing his lip. It’s important to… Continue Reading
“We like to think of them as new-life undergarments, Mr. Byrd,” Cynthia the saleswoman proclaimed as she held up one of the latest Brainies (a Chess Master Brainie) by the sleeves, “for the simple reason that they can change your… Continue Reading
They were coming in, and it was well too late to stop them. Always was, wasn’t it? They swung their metal arms like pendulums, battering indiscriminately the doors, walls, windows. They were dull colossi: fifty-foot-high and steel plated; age-faded logos… Continue Reading
I’ve been here before. It’s my sixteenth birthday. Mom is carrying my cake over, her proud, smiling face aglow in the candlelight. Dad is drinking beer. He’s always drinking beer these days. My sister is pushing the remains of her… Continue Reading