Category: Fiction

A Story from The Future: “Affliction” by Angela Woodward

I have fled to a floating island of trash to tell you stories of the peaceful north woods. Here’s one—A man woke up early, disturbed by his uneasy conscience, and went down to the stream. It was still so dark, the path appeared as a blacker indentation in the ground, the leaves and sticks and mud…
Fiction from The Future: “Rabid Dogs” by Jason Arment

Time before the alarms, when violence was only overseas, seemed disconnected from the now—silent countdown. Clark glanced at his watch. Only two minutes left. He wished things could go back to the way they were, when his only worries had been never amounting to anything and loneliness. But something had changed. Now every sixty minutes…
A Story from The Future by C.A. Schaefer: “To Whom Will You Seem Beautiful”

I am eighteen when I decide. I stand by the bed of the creek, watching the light on the surface of the water, when a man steps down beside me. He takes my face in his hands and turns it, side to side, as I might inspect a puppy or an antique, and then says,…
“The Butchers”: A Fiction Excerpt from The Future by Alana I. Capria

On Sundays, we butchered. It made us so happy, S— and me. We did not mind the blood or sound. We butchered what crouched and quivered, what was soft against a knife. S— and I butchered until our hands were wet. We prepared the butchering for a meal, for stews, steaks, and roasts. I carried…
Leland Cheuk: “My SMS,” short fiction from The Future

I sent one of my SMSs (Social Media Selves) to my friend’s reading way out in Longway Meadow. I didn’t want to go personally (too far, not in the mood), and I figured enough of my friend’s friends (or their SMSs) would be in attendance that I wouldn’t be missed. The holographic selves are very…
Short Fiction from The Future: “No God Just Google” by Nicholas Rys

Part 1: Man vs Nature After the president was eaten alive by bears on national television the country fell into various states of dilapidation. In a rare moment of unity, both fans and critics agreed it was a riveting and appropriate end to what ultimately culminated in both a condescending and overextended stay. The survivalist-themed…
The Future: Two Fictions by Liza St. James

I Didn’t Get to My Rage Yet I saw the man with the kid having too much fun together to be related, or else to see each other often. The uncle or the estranged father was telling the kid about a band he knew that ate kids on stage. Do they really? For real? The…
The Future: “Anything Can Be a Weapon,” a collaborative short story by Dana Diehl & Melissa Goodrich (from The Classroom)

When the zombies overtook the Lakeshore School District, the Dads were the first to go. They were crossword Dads. Whiskery and near-sighted. They were dads with novelty bowties. Some say the zombies took the Dads first because they were the strongest, because the zombies were building an army and needed strong soldiers. But we know…
“Heroes,” lyric fiction by Miranda Mellis

1. I am winding around a river in scarves. I become a fish. I am an eel with a man’s head, swimming in an ancient tributary, over gemstones. I finally grow feet, legs, arms, hands and I climb to shore. I walk, naked, and as I walk I sing. As I sing, I grow clothing,…