There’s Something in the Water

I hesitated at the door. It was a door I usually hesitated at, but this time was different. My skin … More

Food for Thought

“Lights out!” said Dad, “The AI is about to start feeding.” It was always the same: just when I was … More

Clean up on aisle five I was shopping, feeling the residual chill in the freezer aisle at the local Tesco … More

Light is death ‘Don’t go toward the light.’ That was why lighthouses were built. The light was death on rocks; … More

The scene of the incident was nothing I hadn’t seen dozens of times before, but I never lost that spike … More

A pool of water from the lashing rain grew outside the long, shallow factory window, a mirror on the concrete. … More

Graveyards of idiots I reached a moment of pure honesty on the morning of the eve of my fifty-fifth birthday. … More

I had damaged myself. The blood was caked about my hand and wrist and had made the cuff of my … More

Clara had a neck scarf she treasured. It was dyed a blend of swirling blue and white, like the colours … More

“How do you defeat something?” “Defeat what?” “Anything?” Mannings had ushered him away to a basement, just a few minutes … More

Watching your world degrade is an experience unlike any other. It’s like watching your bed begin to burn while you … More

“It’s happening…” she said, her ear pressed against the phone as if to protect her. She turned and her blue … More

I saw myself standing on the other side of the reinforced glass door to my house as I turned into … More

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. Please sit back, relax and prepare for take-off. Be advised there are … More

I had never been to False World before. The interstellar cruise on Horizon Finder had made it part of the … More

When the vice president turned on the ambassador, it was shocking but not surprising. You can sense a tsunami in … More

The memory was a fixed one. Some memories are like sediment, debris in the tidal flow of the mind, others … More

For a robot, it was enormous, a huge silver barrel of a body the size of a bus, swaying side … More

“Everything in this life starts and ends with money.” That seems especially poignant now. He said it softly, like an … More

I loved my holidays. They were the only times I cared about, to be brutally honest. They were also the … More