When little Tommy Flowers was presented with a baby sister, he was disappointed to find that she was not a Meccano set. Her head lacked the simple geometry of strips and cogs and angle girders, and her fingers were innocent of gears. What was worse was the fact that she cried so—wailed, really, and nothing […]
Some men are born soldiers. The blood, the killing, the violence. All the idle hours between. Some men can spend their nights stationed on a stony battlement at the edge of the known lands, guarding against an imaginary horde, against creatures not seen since their grandfathers’ boyhoods. The dragon that rose from the waters on […]
Look! My magnolia dress! Do you see the skirt is all made of countless magnolia flowers? All white, custard-tinted, except for this one . . . yes, the tailor made a stupid mistake and only this one here is purple. But it was near the back, and really low down, so I decided to overlook […]
Mr. Hill’s death is posted on YouTube. You can’t actually see him. Just the back of his sunflower yellow convertible, top up, cruising along a two lane road. The fifty-second clip, taken from a dash cam in a following car, seems rather ordinary at first, and you might think you were watching a typical drive […]
hajimemashit: pleased to meet you. I found animal tracks in the snow this morning. I don’t know what it is. A bear? I’m a city person. This whole northern Ontario wilderness is terribly annoying. And Tetsuo is not even here. He had to fly back to Tokyo. Some family problem. He also forgot to load […]
The diving suit weighs against his body like a wall. He pushes through the water. The pressure in his eardrums is constant and piercing, as if a nail is being driven through his head. The glass of his diving helmet fogs up; the view becomes obscure, the kingdom around him threatening, mystical. Dark forms swim […]
Molecular biologists have added genes to A. aegypti that block the development of flight muscles in female mosquitoes. The females—the biters—don’t survive long. When they emerge from the pupal stage, they sit motionless on the water. They won’t fly, mate, or spread disease.—Bijal P. Trivedi, Scientific American I. Nothing on the island was wasted, not […]
In the city of Zeraquesh, each shadow is the shape of candlelight held still. A citizen leaving the comfort of roof and walls can expect to attract several hauntings at every corner turned. Such ghosts may be shed only under the light of anglerfish refracted through a prism. Most households keep at least one about. […]
Later, Jameson wished he would remember that night for the twenty minutes spent arm-in-arm with Eddie, walking Grubb through the neighborhood. Those minutes had everything: chill, autumn air that captured their breath in little puffs; the warmth of a boyfriend pressing against you, sometimes bumping into you when one of you misjudged your next step; […]
A crystal shadow soared unnoticed over steel-glass city cliffs, flickering through visibility in a summer sun. As it passed the towers, a tremor rippled its length, breaking the rhythm of great wings. The change had begun. Fear rising, it scanned rooftops for the nearest landing spot then swerved toward a building marked by a white […]
