Tag Archives: science fiction

TONY WILLIAMS: Starstruck

Amusing, Submissions, , , ,

From beyond genesis, a silver capsule cuts through hyperspace, cheating time, closing in.

Technicians, entrepreneurs, and a huddle of wealthy stellar tourists are all spaced out with excitement.

Eighteen nervous extra-terrestrials zip up their endurance suits as the beautiful blue orb looms closer.

Survivor: Planet Earth is about to commence.

Tony Williams writes short stories, poems and song lyrics. He lives in Canberra, Australia with his artist wife, Arlene. Tony writes across the genres but has not yet settled down to any particular species. He would (of course) love to write a novel, but the step up from a few thousand words to a hundred thousand only looks feasible after a shiraz or three. Tony’s short stories have appeared in several small press print and online publications.

COREY NILES: Be Okay

Adventure, Submissions, Top Stories, , , ,

“Mommy, why you crying?” He interlocks his warm little fingers with mine and squeezes tightly.

I look out the window. It is overtaking the horizon, blocking out the setting sun.

“Because I love you so much.”

“Are we gonna be alright?”

I squeeze back.

“Everything is going to be okay.”

Corey Niles had a 500-word flash fiction published in the fall issue of Eye Contact.

BOB MCNEIL: A Presaged Day Ago

Adventure, Artistic, Submissions, Top Stories, , ,

Despondent about the Earth’s ecological state, an old, grey scientist named Arthur Quisling entered his six-by-eight, pyramid-shaped Dimensional Flier. In search of better universes, his yellow ship, which was capable of elongating and navigating through celestial holes, left our flawed planet behind.

Acclimated to Armageddon, the Earth awaited its fate.

Bob McNeil is a writer, spoken word artist and illustrator of some modest renown. Influenced by the Beats, he attempts to address the needs of our human mosaic.

NATHAN HYSTAD: The Moon

Adventure, Submissions, , , ,

The moon’s surface was bleaker than I’d imagined.

From here the Earth looked lonely. Most of the land was gone, overtaken by melted icecaps and nuclear war.

We all lost in the end, but here we were, waiting for salvation in the moon’s welcoming arms.

The tides might yet turn.

Nathan Hystad is a writer from Sherwood Park, Alberta. He has been published by Saturday Night Reader and Kraxon Books. He also has a story in Tickety Boo Press’s anthology Malevolence: Tales from Beyond the Veil and in North 2 South Press’s Whispers from the Past: Fright and Fear anthology. He enjoys writing micro-fiction and has been published at Micro Fiction Monday Magazine, Fifty Word Stories, and Horror in a Hundred by Hellnotes. When he isn’t writing short stories, he is working on a full length novel. You can see his writing blog at nathanhystad.ticketyboopress.co.uk.

PAVARTI K TYLER: Creation

Artistic, Submissions, Top Stories, , , , ,

Soft blue light illuminated the tank as Milton watched the cells divide.

2… 4… 8… 16…

He felt like Frankenstein, high in his tower, witnessing the inception of his creation. Through the portal next to his workstation the sun crested the Earth’s horizon far below.

It was a quiet birth.

Award-winning author of multi-cultural and transgressive literature, Pavarti K. Tyler can be found with Doc Martens strapped on over fishnets, but a girlish giggle as easily and likely as a throaty guffaw.

JUSTIN MOODY: Destiny

Adventure, Artistic, Submissions, , , , ,

The alien invaders were dead.

This was our world after all. Men were once again free to work out their own destiny, for better or worse, without interference.

Man might fail, but if he does he will fail on his own terms.

If he succeeds… The universe will surely weep.

Justin Moody lives in Texas with his wife and three sons, and is a reader and writer of short fiction. Follow him on Twitter.

STEVEN LEE: Time Machine

Adventure, Submissions, , , ,

The time machine shimmered and was gone. She looked at the space it left and thought of the man she had just spoken to, gone to his fate in a destroyed world.

As he now kicked inside her she knew what might become of him.

She had better get started.

Steven Lee wrote this story.

DAVID R. SCHULZE: Paradise

Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

Elizabeth reclined comfortably beside the still waters of her estate’s emerald lake. Her children laughed playfully on the grassy embankment as she smiled broadly.

“Time’s up!”

Elizabeth took off the visuset and drew in a breath of dank, carcinogenic air.  Five minutes for a month’s wages, but so worth it.

David R. Schulze is an EMT/Commercial Actor, because that’s a logical combination.

B LEE DRAPER: Loss of a Trophy

Amusing, Submissions, , , ,

“A UFO!” screeched Becky Turner. “Outside the chem lab!”

We peered through the dusty glass. The silver dish took up the entire quadrangle, having landed on the basketball team judging from the lanky legs protruding crookedly.

Acne McGee grimaced. “I had money on those guys winning the trophy this year.”

B Lee Draper is a teacher and aspiring author. She dreams of one day owning a chocolate-coated vineyard.

The Mail Must Get Through

Amusing, , , , ,

In fair weather or foul, the mail must get through.

No one knows why anymore. It has been possible for a decade to send any message electronically and to replicate or actuate any object that might previously have required physical transportation.

I suppose the mail carriers have a good union.

This story was based on the prompt “in fair weather” on TypeTrigger.