Prompt: A kid gets taken by a band of space pirates and eventually finds a magic katana.
Even the bag over Maximus’s head was strange. It wasn’t burlap; it was some kind of rubbery fabric capable of holding a charge. He knew that because, every time they bumped his head into something, a jolt of static moved between the bag and the tip of his ears. He was only thirteen, just young enough to fit under the giant man’s arm like a briefcase. Continue reading
Prompt: something sentient reproducing… and fast
She was the second. The first was an awfully long time ago, and awfully slow to boot in all of its processes. Billions of years. Billions! Was it possible to be slower without being the universe itself? She wouldn’t think so, but she wasn’t aware of the first yet. She was all alone for the briefest of moments, immediately after her incidental formation. Continue reading
Prompt: A homeless man finds a strange artifact in a dumpster.
Few things were that clean in the dumpster. The item was safe thanks to the wrapper it rested in, open like a bloom with the object at the center. Once the truck got to it, it would get tumbled and mixed in with everything else. Continue reading
Prompt: A janitor of dreams works his shift across the dreamscape each morning after sleepers have awakened.
There had been a party there, just four hours ago. The sun was up, back in the world, and it was time for Vecker’s shift. He shuffled out onto the deck of the boat and analyzed the scene. Really, it wasn’t too terrible for a party of that size. Out in the world there was a recession. That had dampened everyone’s excitement some, and it bled into Vecker’s work space like it bled into everything else. Continue reading
Prompt: A sentient mobile tree creature tries to comprehend things outside the forest.
The object fell at an incredible speed, faster than any bound, flight, or slither the Dryent had ever seen. It fell so fast that it caught fire, but then it slowed itself down enough to quell the flames. Still, the impact was powerful enough to strike the Dryent in the side of its head and rip off one of its main five branches. Continue reading
Prompt: An advance in technology limits the evolutionary potential of the human species.
Each of the eight was the first of their generation to see anything other than their domes. The domes weren’t bad homes, just limiting. For the humans, only 1400 could live inside comfortably. Luckily, the women had somehow gotten into the habit of only having twins and only having them when they were needed. Continue reading
prompt – A space monkey from a planet of apes crash lands in India.
The fruit set down just outside of the temple its occupants had targeted. It set down quietly, barely rustling the trees. It wasn’t born of any of them. It was born far off in the sky, and had fallen to Earth only temporarily. It had a few seeds inside it, but it sought to gather more. Continue reading
Prompt: The prompt for this story was actually a drawing of a small fishing boat near two giant creatures, one submerged in the water and one flying nearby.
The pterafriend pumped its wings and pulled them through the clouds swiftly, so its passenger wouldn’t get too wet in the process. What the passenger wanted to do exactly was not clear, he had some sort of strange vessel, but he was friendly enough, and the pterafriend offered rides to anyone and anything that was friendly enough. Continue reading
Prompt: A slice of life in a Minecraft-like world.
She had a scrape on each knee. Why were boys so cruel? She poked at the scratches and hissed through the pain. She could see little red crystals in them, not the result of her drying blood. She had been pushed into the hole she’d spent all morning digging. It was a perfect square, wide as a hot tub, and just deep enough to scrape you if you fell in.
She lived in in a small town, just off the outer angles of the city Blida. The town was called Rangshed and it was known for its pliable agreeable ground. It certainly didn’t feel that way to Lilly while she dug into it on the raised hill of her backyard. She’d been told that there was a time when the ground used to be made of much smaller pieces. Her parents told her, with a straight face no less, that the ground used to be like powder, and one scoop of a shovel could move thousands of pieces of it. Continue reading
Prompt: your eye has been twitching all morning, suddenly the vision goes black and a message displays “error, maintenance required.”
She, we’ll call her Rose because it’s the simplest name to use, awoke in a tangle of blankets sucking her thumb. The habit had reared its head, adorable or ugly depending on who you ask, about eight months ago. She slept alone, so she didn’t see the harm. On that morning her thumb tasted like pancakes and dark amber syrup with smashed blackberries. Continue reading
Blaine Arcade 