All Aden wanted for his birthday was to ride on a bus. All he had ever wanted was to ride on a bus. But his parents told him that walking everywhere was better. Aden didn’t think walking anywhere was better, and he thought it had more to do with money. But money is something you… Read more »
One wintry night, when the wind howled and the snow blew sideways, a bear woke up mid-hibernation with a raging thirst. He stumbled from his den and sniffed the air. It was deep, dark winter and all the nearby water sources were iced over. He scratched his ass and grumbled, then headed into the wind… Read more »
Lyle Dunbar woke up, his cheek pressed against the cold floor. He didn’t attempt to move again. Instead, he tried to figure out how long he’d been sleeping. Maybe he’d sleep some more. There didn’t seem to be anything else to do. He’d been dreaming. Ingrid again. He missed her. She’d probably laugh, seeing him… Read more »
The place wasn’t easy to find. If you didn’t know precisely where it was, you’d never find it. Down this street, then that alley. Enter through an industrial-looking building. No sign, no street-facing windows. The Autocratic Lizard: the most sought-after cocktail lounge in the city. If anyone called asking for an address, they’d give you… Read more »
Lemuel Lemming was a lemming, much like other lemmings. He ate what other lemmings ate. He slept about as long as other lemmings slept. So, pretty much your average lemming. Lemuel did sometimes wonder about things. Like why they all ate certain foods. But he noticed that other lemmings did not ask questions like that,… Read more »
If one could find humour in these things, we would have joked that it took twenty-five years to amass our collection, and it would take another twenty-five to disperse it. We were both professors, he of anthropology and me of archeology. Overlapping interests propelled our life, our love, and our careers. Before we were profs,… Read more »
The perfect man had been on the run from the Cancel Committee for years. This time, he made himself a home in the Maine woods, near the Copper Brook, about 100 miles southwest of Mount Katahdin. I mean, he literally made himself a home. Using the tools he’d brought with him, he felled trees and… Read more »
Always curious, Zander surreptitiously examined the camera before fastening it over his left ear. Before Xidoun came to power, personal cameras were techno toys that people lined up to acquire. Consequent to the takeover, these cameras, now called SecuriCams, were declared mandatory during waking hours to track each citizen’s activities and interactions. Data from HealthWatches—also… Read more »
Inspector Wiley looked at the dossier before exiting his vehicle. He rubbed his face, weary from the drive. Four hundred and seventeen kilometres to Gentle Harbour, pretty much the end of the road. The village of perhaps 200 people clung to the rocky shore, houses lurching steeply up from the harbour. Wiley unclipped a photo… Read more »
Roland walked the same route to the supermarket every Friday. The same streets, the same storefronts he’d walked past for decades. What was different now is that he walked alone. Sabrina had loved this walk. She’d peer in all the shop windows and sometimes pause to have a lingering look. Roland often had to tug… Read more »