By Nathaniel Minton
Quicksand
When the mini-robots dismantled a hundred million buildings — restaurants, schools, libraries, office parks, railroad stations, bottle manufacturing plants — people were already near exhaustion from the global economic collapse, the oceanic fallout profusion and the loss of a generation who never returned from the moon. Now children, grown men and women, doctors, [...]

By Vu Tran
Mrs. Doan, on the morning of the engagement visit, sat alone in the formal room drinking tea.  She could hear her three daughters singing in the kitchen as they prepared lunch for the afternoon’s guests, their song an old ballad about a fisherman who fell in love with a dolphin and drowned pursuing [...]

By Victoria Patterson
The Case of Miss Violeta Louise Stokes
by
Walter E. Myers, Ph.D.
September 1953
Introduction
In order to reconcile the events surrounding Miss Violeta Louise Stokes’s disappearance, I have undertaken a preliminary fact-finding case history.  My intention is to uncover the root causes of my seeming obsession with patient.  This is intended as a private, unofficial document [...]

By Katherine Taylor
“What do you want to hear first?” I ran into my little brother Oliver in the plush, bordello-red lobby of the Encore, lugging my roller bag behind me.
“There was no traffic,” I said.  “Your sweater looks very festive.”
“How much can you take before a drink?” he said.
I was in a good mood.  I’d [...]

By Kate Christensen
Jessica received voice lessons as a birthday gift from her son. According to his ad, the instructor studied at Julliard. Turns out that wasn’t the only credential he lacked.

By Curtis Sittenfeld
Frances was able to paper over her unhappiness by helping watch the children at New Day House. Then the new volunteer showed up.