It’s 1984, and there’s a feature story about the Holocaust in the magazine section of the Sunday newspaper. At age nine, I have an adult vocabulary and an insatiable appetite for reading material. I devour the story without knowing what… Continue Reading → Continue reading at the publisher's website.

Dennis Firefox found himself sitting in a comfortable reclining chair behind a huge mahogany desk. The sun slanted through the blind on an enormous window and outside the city could be seen stretching out in all directions. Dennis looked around… Continue Reading → Continue reading at the publisher's website.

So you and your double from a parallel universe want to get it on. Thanks to the recent rise in multiversal travel, this is becoming a much more common — and more attainable — fantasy. But how can you make… Continue Reading → Continue reading at the publisher's website.

On Halloween 2024, a photo arrived from him, sent from a party in Brooklyn. He was dressed as Tinky Winky. The purple fur swallowed his shoulders and fell straight down, erasing the outline of his body. People stood close behind… Continue Reading → Continue reading at the publisher's website.

We welcome all eighty-seven triathlon teams, from our amazingly frisky first-timers to our stalwart hundred-year veterans, from the Appalling Apparitions to the Zealous Vipers, let’s all give a cheer! Despite several heartfelt petitions, we still only allow three witches or… Continue Reading → Continue reading at the publisher's website.

Thickening fog rolls in as we turn off the highway and head down the twisty rural road, our shortcut home. Michael presses hard on the gas, anxious to close the final distance. I sigh and squeeze his hand, imagining what… Continue Reading → Continue reading at the publisher's website.

I hang. Unpicked. Ripe yet unselected. Folded into forgotten branches that were once green, I too, have morphed, turning ripe over sunshine-filled months, metamorphosing into edible juice, a fully fledged blackberry. Wearing my best damson-rich jacket, I beam resplendently, yet,… Continue Reading → Continue reading at the publisher's website.

She’s wearing her favourite berry-red dress for the occasion. Manages not to soil it, which is a miracle. She catches her reflection in the dining room window and smiles. Outside, the sky looks like it’s been set on fire. Red… Continue Reading → Continue reading at the publisher's website.

As discussed, Harald Bluetooth eviscerates me with his broadsword. I collapse, cloud-watching until the battle ends – which will be in fifteen minutes; we do three of these per hour. Sadly, the corpse next to mine is Sven Forkbeard. Why… Continue Reading → Continue reading at the publisher's website.

Dr. Alison Starr is sobbing behind the pod-bay door of the latrine. She must be brushing her teeth. “Smile bright—” It’s back. The VEIN-9 — or Volumetric Emotive Interface Network, version 9 — has been playing a thirty-second toothpaste ad… Continue Reading → Continue reading at the publisher's website.