Category: Fiction

Fiction from the Future: “Patch Notes” by Harm Deacon

5. PATCH NOTES v7.4.2 — BUILD 0.8.16.1 “COME AND SEE” EXPANSION — HOTFIX 3 Thanks for your patience, Riders. We know the latest rollout has been bumpy and want to thank you. Here’s what’s happening. PERFORMANCE Fixed a variety of memory leak problems introduced by Hotfix 2. We’ve addressed reports of red rendering artifacts during…
New Haunted Passages Flash Fiction: “The Tooth Fairy” by Miles Greaves

“You have to put your tooth under your pillow for the Tooth Fairy,” said the mother. “I want to keep it,” said the boy. “Ha ha,” said the mother. “What are you going to do with an old tooth?” “Just keep it,” said the boy. “The Tooth Fairy might not give you money,” said the…
The Future Has Fiction: “The Math Problem” by NM Whitley

The math problem leapt off the page and began its spree of terror. “…the fuck?” cried one eyewitness, speaking on condition of anonymity. The item was brief, a mere five lines, and as Bret read aloud in the kitchen, his sister Nan smiled, whether from amusement or because she’d managed to spoon peas into her…
Fictional Dispatch from l’Hôtel Dauphin by Emily Rems: “Apartment”

At first glance, they looked just like babies. Frozen, lifeless newborns still curled up as if they had never left the warm insides of their mothers. But once I got a little closer, I saw what they really were—suckling pigs. I couldn’t believe my luck. When I’d first told my boyfriend about the job interview…
New Fiction from l’Hôtel Dauphin: “The Silovik’s Corpse” by Theo Yurevitch

The stain is in the middle of the bed, but the silovik’s wife never sleeps in the middle of the bed. She sleeps on the left side even when she is alone, which is much of the time. Polina is sure of that. The linens are her responsibility. Now all that is left on the…
Flavor Town USA Short Fiction: “Our Only Violence” by Ryan Bender-Murphy

“No gloves, no utensils,” was how the note ended. I didn’t notice this until I had parked in front of the house. I would usually leave the white to-go bag at the door, but for this order, it was requested that I enter the home. What came next was open to my interpretation, but the…
Haunted Passages Short Fiction: “The Patron Saint of All Domestic Mishaps” by Sarp Sozdinler

First, the dryer broke. Then the walkie-talkie in Brian’s room. Then my mother-in-law’s little marble angels lined along the topmost shelf of our china cabinet. No doubt we were being tested in some divine way, likely by the god of domestic mishaps, with all his elaborate wirework and minor humiliations. Whatever the case, it was…
Fiction from the Future: “New York, New York: A Wikipedia Page” by Subrina Moorley

New York, New York From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia This is the latest accepted revision, reviewed on October 22, 2046. “New York” and “New York City” redirects here. For other uses, see Old New York. New York, New York is the largest amusement park of its kind in the world. The park is located on…
Haunted Passages Flash Fiction: “Message from a Forlorn Mad Scientist” by Rachel Sterling

There was no way of telling where the messages were coming from exactly. Many attempts were made with sonar locating technological methods to zero in on their mysterious origin but to no avail. Dr. Alison McGillicuddy from the Linguistics Department had been classifying and analyzing the highly unusual sentence structures in these messages which repeatedly…