Original Archives - Page 82 of 92

“There are one thousand eight hundred bolts total,” the old man said. “You’ll work every night until sunrise. Always go in order. Never skip a bolt.”

In Mar. 2013 (Issue 34)

Science Fiction

Biographical Fragments of the Life of Julian Prince

by Jake Kerr

Julian Samuel Prince (March 18, 1989 – August 20, 2057) was an American novelist, essayist, journalist, and political activist. His best works are widely considered to be the post-Impact novels The Grey Sunset (2027) and Rhythms of Decline (2029), both of which won the Pulitzer Prize. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2031.

In Mar. 2013 (Issue 34)

Fantasy

The Herons of Mer de l’Ouest

by M. Bennardo

A loon called this morning, loud and clear in the cold hours before dawn, but it was not that which woke me from my sleep. As I opened my eyes, the bay and the beach were wrapped in heavy blackness, invisible clouds shutting out any hint of starlight above. For a moment, I lay in my lean-to, breathing heavily under the shaggy bison skin blanket.

Science Fiction

Harry and Marlowe Escape the Mechanical Siege of Paris

by Carrie Vaughn

Harry looked out the window and thought: At least I saw Paris one more time before it was destroyed in the bombardment.

Fantasy

Abyssus Abyssum Invocat

by Genevieve Valentine

Once, a mermaid fell in love with a prince who fell from his ship in a storm; when he had ceased to struggle, the mermaid took his face in her hands, passed her fingertips over the lids of his closed eyes, pressed her mouth against his mouth. Then she delivered him to the surface, where he was safely found.

Science Fiction

The Infill Trait

by C.C. Finlay

Every time I fall asleep I wake up in a different body. Every time I wake up I know one thing and one thing only. Everything that follows starts from that one thing, the only thing that matters, and what matters is who we are and who we want to be, because no one else can ever be the we for me. I snap awake and know one thing. I am a hero I am a terrorist.

Fantasy

Purity Test

by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

My feet are scraped and bleeding, my slippers shredded and almost useless. The dress hangs in tatters around me. No longer white, it still bears the pearls along the bodice, and I hope I can keep them close and sell them in whatever town I find myself in. Provided I find a town. Provided I ever leave these woods. I have traveled for two days, surviving on puddle water and berries, hoping that the sounds I hear behind me aren’t my father, Roland, and the dogs.

In Jan. 2013 (Issue 32)

Science Fiction

Lifeline

by Jonathan Olfert

The day I meet my Lifeline is hot and dry, even for New Dakar. Dust chokes the air and filters the red sun to a washed-out orange that slathers its paint onto the road and the walls. I forsake the balcony in favor of a wall at my back. What little I have, I have it because I make that my rule. I see everything coming, and I leave myself nowhere to run. I don’t anticipate running, but I’ve known people whose Lifelines turned out to be sociopaths. Or just everyday enemies.

In Jan. 2013 (Issue 32)

Fantasy

With Tales in Their Teeth, From the Mountain They Came

by A.C. Wise