Rich Larson | Sparks Fly
“There’s a dark side to sloths,” she said, using her straw to plumb the ice at the bottom of her glass, flicking red-blonde hair out of blue-blue eyes. “Sometimes they go to grab a branch, but acciden...
8 Mar 201626min
Caroline M. Yoachim | Welcome to the Medical Clinic at the Interplanetary Relay Station | Hours Since the Last Patient Death: 0
You take a shortcut through the hydroponics bay on your way to work, and notice that the tomato plants are covered in tiny crawling insects that look like miniature beetles. One of the insects skitter...
1 Mar 201619min
Karin Tidbeck | Starfish
On the third day of the sightseeing trip, among walrus-laden icebergs, they run into slurry. At the fore, Skipper sticks a boat hook into the water. “There are plenty of critters here,” he says. “It’s...
23 Feb 201623min
Sarah Pinsker | Sooner or Later Everything Falls Into the Sea
The rock star washed ashore at high tide. Earlier in the day, Bay had seen something bobbing far out in the water. Remnant of a rowboat, perhaps, or something better. She waited until the tide ebbed, ...
16 Feb 20161h 7min
Jeremiah Tolbert | Not by Wardrobe, Tornado, or Looking Glass
The scent of fresh lilacs and the boom of a cannon shot muffled by distance prefaced the arrival of the rabbit hole. Louisa jerked upright in her seat, and her book fell from her lap to slap against t...
9 Feb 201640min
Rachael K. Jones | Charlotte Incorporated
At night she pores over the corpus catalogues online: Incorporated Incorporated, Modern Anatomy, and Shoulders, Knees, & Toes. She weighs the merits of femur length and belly fat, redundant kidneys, a...
2 Feb 201633min
Keith Brooke | Beyond the Heliopause
As soon as the recorded message pinged in her peripheral vision, she accepted and listened to the call on her cochlear implant. “Suzanne, I need to see you. It’s urgent. I . . . well, I’ll tell you wh...
26 Jan 201647min
Kat Howard | Maiden, Hunter, Beast
She had never intended to be a nineteen-year-old virgin. She wasn’t opposed to the idea of sex, didn’t think the simple act of having sex with someone had to be a big deal, and sure, she went to Mass ...
19 Jan 201622min
