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Commemoration of the Faithful Departed by Steve Pease [fantasy]

Commemoration of the Faithful Departed by Steve Pease [fantasy]

Commemoration of the Faithful Departed by Steve Pease Ask any established businessman to list his chief bugbears. Chances, are he’ll include accounting, invoicing, and logistics. The devil, of course, is in the details. How do you calculate and bring in what is due? How do you manage the flow of goods between the point of origin and the point of consumption? Over several board meetings, we…

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Good Eatin’ by Gregg Chamberlain [sci-fi]

Good Eatin’ by Gregg Chamberlain [sci-fi]

Good Eatin’ by Gregg Chamberlain Hey there, folks! Mad Melford here with another steal of deal. I guarantee there’s lots of good eatin’ waiting here for you. Now Thanksgiving is just around the corner. And we all know what that means, right? You got it. Turducken! I dunno ’bout you, but to me, nothin’ says Thanksgiving in America more than a chicken stuffed inside a duck shoved up nice and tight…

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Fog by Stephen Sottong [fantasy]

Fog by Stephen Sottong [fantasy]

Fog by Stephen Sottong The 6:00 a.m. traffic report blared from the clock radio. Yet another wreck at the intersection of the Harbor and San Diego Freeways. Jeff sat up in bed, and he squinted at the milky glare coming through the sliding glass doors. Rising, he opened the door to the balcony. The morning air already carried the exhaust of a million commuters. Sun reflected off a thick blanket of…

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Manifest Error by Gary Cuba [sci-fi]

Manifest Error by Gary Cuba [sci-fi]

Manifest Error by Gary Cuba Diogenes rediscovered the wayward bio-stasis chamber while struggling with the ship’s balky cargo transfer lorry. The chamber, tucked inside a machinery plenum behind the lorry’s docking nest, evoked a distant memory that now flooded through his synthetically evolved chimpanzee brain. He had been feeling groggy from his automated onboard resuscitation that morning, but…

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When It Was Ripe by Evan Dicken [sci-fi/horror]

When It Was Ripe by Evan Dicken [sci-fi/horror]

When It Was Ripe by Evan Dicken Trina was listening to the radio when the stars disappeared. She was out of her cabin in a flash, the dew-covered grass cool on her bare feet as she sprinted past the woodpile. Other Brethren stood outside their cabins, smiling as the Moon guttered overhead in a sky gone flat as a sheet of tempered glass. She found Russell in the sanctuary, ministering to one of…

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The Last Botnet by Vaughan Stanger [sci-fi]

The Last Botnet by Vaughan Stanger [sci-fi]

The Last Botnet by Vaughan Stanger Perhaps it was inevitable that our robotic proxies would start sending us spam. Even so, for the Interplanetary Internet to succumb to a virus just as civilization received a coup-de-grâce of the biological variety constitutes an irony of astronomical proportions. Clare Tomblin’s penultimate email explained how we got into this mess. From: Clare Tomblin…

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For Old Times’ Sake by Geoff Gander [fantasy]

For Old Times’ Sake by Geoff Gander [fantasy]

For Old Times’ Sake by Geoff Gander Sarah studied the balding, broad-shouldered man dipping a biscotti into his coffee and smiled. “Facebook didn’t lie. You don’t look bad after 30 years,” she said. Frank looked up and straightened. “You look pretty good yourself,” he said. “My kids set up a profile for me,” he added sheepishly. Sarah chuckled and sat down with her coffee. “Thanks for accepting…

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Nativity by Frances Silversmith [fantasy]

Nativity by Frances Silversmith [fantasy]

Nativity by Frances Silversmith “Meow.” Kris ignored the cat and continued to stare at her cup of Wassail. A tear dropped into the drink. Her divorce had gone through yesterday. After two years of separation, it shouldn’t hurt so much anymore, should it? “MEOW!” This time, Kris did look up. “What…?” :Come on, let’s go out to the stable.: She flinched, startled, and looked around for the source of…

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Midnight Midnight by Aliya Whiteley [sci-fi]

Midnight Midnight by Aliya Whiteley [sci-fi]

Midnight Midnight by Aliya Whiteley I kiss his photo, like a line in a song, and put it back under the cash register. The door is pushed open, and the small brass bell above it tinkles; “How quaint!” says the woman, “I didn’t expect that,” and “They’ve got Chakka, get a basket,” to the man who trails after her. He glances at me and I point to the stack of wire baskets next to the counter. He…

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Price of Allegiance by Alex Shvartsman [sci-fi]

Price of Allegiance by Alex Shvartsman [sci-fi]

Price of Allegiance by Alex Shvartsman “Mr. Tobin, there is a Cicada here to see you.” Alastair Tobin, Earth’s ambassador to the Galactic Union, was more than a little surprised. In his eight years of service, he could count on one hand the number of times anyone had visited his office on Union Central station. On the rare occasion when someone had business to conduct with the humans, they sent…

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Concerning your Recent Creation of Sentient Horse-things on the Next Planet Over by Stewart C. Baker [sci-fi]

Concerning your Recent Creation of Sentient Horse-things on the Next Planet Over by Stewart C. Baker [sci-fi]

Concerning your Recent Creation of Sentient Horse-things on the Next Planet Over by Stewart C. Baker Dear Dr. Higglebottem, The board has received troubling reports from a group of hyper-dolphins about your recent activities on Tau Ceti f. These reports claim: that you have created sentient horse-things that said horse-things have created a society wherein success is measured by the amount of hay…

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Target Audience by H.L. Fullerton [sci-fi horror]

Target Audience by H.L. Fullerton [sci-fi horror]

Target Audience by H.L. Fullerton Yesterday, Madave Black had celebrated her forty-ninth birthday. Today, as she exited the subway, instead of being bombarded by Between Us Girls ads, she heard her first hype for AARP. She froze in the patch of directed sound, the hype recycling itself and whispering its insult in her head. On the third repetition, she stepped out of the hype’s path and into the…

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You Cannot Have a Meaningful Campaign if Strict Time Records Are Not Kept by Desmond Warzel [sci-fi]

You Cannot Have a Meaningful Campaign if Strict Time Records Are Not Kept by Desmond Warzel [sci-fi]

You Cannot Have a Meaningful Campaign if Strict Time Records Are Not Kept by Desmond Warzel The Commonwealth of Worlds had seen better days. Its final conquest by the Galactic Hegemony was imminent, with only a handful of planets remaining free. Commonwealth vessels were being launched and destroyed so quickly that the commissioning body was running out of names and was often forced to improvise.…

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Chain Letter Inc. by Jean Graham [horror]

Chain Letter Inc. by Jean Graham [horror]

Chain Letter Inc. by Jean Graham Know anyone who’s died lately? Odds are the deceased received our letter. Odds are they also broke the chain. You know the letter. Yes, that one. With all the charm of a draft notice, it cheerfully informs you that “This letter brings good luck. It’s been around the world (fill in any number you like) times. Copy and send it to ten others within one month, and in…

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Study. Learn. Know. by Amy Sisson [sci-fi]

Study. Learn. Know. by Amy Sisson [sci-fi]

Study. Learn. Know. by Amy Sisson When Kaylen slept, she dreamed of hermit crabs. It was hardly surprising, considering how long she’d been studying them. Kaylen’s decades at the Grove of Academe blended together almost seamlessly, but one memory stood out sharply: the moment when Aleanor, Kaylen’s Advisor program, had finally approved her Study proposal. Like most beginning Scholars, Kaylen had…

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Rookies Take Point by David M. Hoenig [horror]

Rookies Take Point by David M. Hoenig [horror]

Rookies Take Point by David M. Hoenig The advertisement read: Calling All Ghostbusters—Non-Believers Need Not Apply. That phrase ran through my mind over and over again in the wake of the strangest job interview I’d ever had. I’d certainly never encountered one, wasn’t even sure I believed in the concept of them, but when I’d seen the ad promising—praise God—a paying job, I’d been only…

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The Republic of David by Anton Rose [sci-fi]

The Republic of David by Anton Rose [sci-fi]

The Republic of David by Anton Rose It was David’s time. A new beginning, on a new world. Sitting on the edge of the bed, he ran his fingers up his forearm, feeling the tiny hairs, erect. The technician entered the room, holding a clipboard. “Good to see you, David,” he said. “You look nervous.” David nodded. “First time?” “Yes. I’ve been putting it off for a while.” “There really is nothing to…