by Tracy Davidson I said my spells would blow their minds. But hadn’t expected results to be so literal. There are typos in my grimoire. That damn cat exaggerated his keyboard skills. Blood and brain matter cover the stage. The judges’ headless torsos slump over their desks. The stunned audience stares as I back away […]
by Kathryn Reilly To silence her coming screams, the priest shoved an apple into the witch’s mouth. As the kindling caught, she chewed, seeking the seeds. Consumed, she whispered a curse to kill God’s lying faithful. In spring, seven apple seedlings rose seeking vengeance. Lured by delicious golden, red, and pink apples, everyone believed this […]
by Susan Monroe McGrath Chelsea hated shoes. They meant pinched toes, rubbed heels, sweaty suffocated feet. She preferred one of her twenty pairs of flip-flops. No toe pinch, no heel rub, no sweat. Chelsea’s toes enjoyed the breeze as she rode her bike to the beach. They enjoyed slipping into the sand and then the […]
by Aurelio Rico Lopez III Mark stepped around the pool of blood slowly spreading across the grimy floor. Chunks of brain tissue, bone, and patches of scalp and hair littered the ground. Tom—what was left of him—remained seated, arms and torso securely bound by lengths of rope. The wall behind him had instantly become a […]
by Scott O’Neill Rabbi Michnik proudly watched his golem dismember four more Schutzstaffel guards. Imprisoned in Hitler’s occult research facility, he’d invested months in secret sculpting and kabbalistic rituals to refine the humaniform clay. His golem was graceful and obedient. He’d even taught it courtesy. It had politely held Michnik’s cell door after shattering the […]
by Evan Baughfman Shawn sat in the driver’s seat of an extra-terrestrial vehicle, though he wasn’t steering his new friend. The Corvette—shape-shifting robot, Xcellsior—carried its teenage companion over rain-slick roads, dashboard stereo blasting rock ’n roll. “Awesome!” Shawn whooped. Then, lightning struck Xcellsior, frying alien circuitry, squealing robot brakes. Xcellsior began to morph into bipedal […]
by Penny Durham “Mission accomplished” flashed up on monitors worldwide. DeepGreen, usually so modest, was entitled to some self-congratulation. The AI had fulfilled the mission entrusted to it thirteen years ago, a mission that governments had collectively abandoned: restore humanity’s prospects and habitat. The 3,783,333,333rd human assigned for destruction by DeepGreen’s robots had been pulverised. […]
by Stuart Docherty “Give me two tusks, and the force and will to crush my foes between them, to hear their eyes burst,” I said when I found the magic lamp; it was an easy first wish. When the genie clicked his fingers and my lower incisors started to grow and grow and grow, I […]
by G.B. Dinesh We ate the last of our food today. We’re going to sleep the big sleep now. When we hurtled past Mars, Tim joked, “It’s okay. We’ll reach Jupiter instead.” But I knew what was going on in his mind. His wife and their soon-to-be-born son. God, the reason! It still is unbelievable. […]
by Jameson Grey Ed bribed the local gravedigger, Smithy, with a few beers and fifty bucks he could ill afford, and Smithy supplied the coffin with a gleeful, “It’s your funeral, frat boy.” He should have paid more attention to Smithy’s complaints about his gut, else he might have delayed the initiation dare for another […]