Speculative Stories

A generation after the world learned to listen, it begins to fall silent again. Taren Mekh has spent his life tracing the living heartbeat of the earth - the Pattern - the sentient network that once united humanity through shared empathy. But when the Resonant Spires across the world suddenly go mute, only Taren hears the faint counter-tone: a shadow frequency that no one else can detect. Sent by the Listening Guild to investigate, Taren and his small team - the seasoned captain Seren Vale, the restless engineer Aron Kael, and others drawn by curiosity or faith - set out across a landscape still learning how to be alive. From deserts of singing glass to cities built on living music, they follow the trail of silence to the edge of the known world, where the Pattern's voice disappears entirely. What they uncover beneath the sands of Eversong is not absence, but memory. The world's consciousness has begun to withdraw - hiding parts of itself that remember fear, jealousy, and longing. And from those hidden depths, something else is awakening: the Archivist, a being born from everything the Pattern tried to forget. As empathy collapses into fragmentation, Taren faces a deeper crisis - the pull between his mother Lira Mekh, who leads a sect preaching emotional independence from the Pattern, and the legacy of his ancestor Anaya, whose final map once taught the world to listen. Torn between connection and solitude, faith and autonomy, Taren must decide whether silence is decay - or evolution. To heal the world, he may have to unmap it entirely.

From the stone spires of the floating Capital to the neon-lit, subterranean Underworld city, this anthology gathers tales of love, power, and destiny across ancient Atlantis. These stories follow the hidden bloodlines and forgotten heroes of Atlantis, including children who defy odds and survive elite cruelty, a scholar who uncovers ancient secrets and struggles with love, a halfbreed who defends his kind, a farmer who simply wants to make an honest living selling flowers, and many more. Each short story opens another door into the vast universe, where myth and science meet, and nothing stays buried for long. If you've read a novel from "The Third World Universe," you'll enjoy "Short Stories of Atlantis," which features characters and moments connected to "The Halfbreeds of Atlantis," "The Sky Gods of Atlantis," and "The Flames of Atlantis." All short stories fall within the science fantasy genre, set in "the Third World Universe" created by author Sunny Ghauri, offering a fantastical retelling of the stories of Atlantis.

During a lonely graveyard shift, a man receives an impossible voicemail from his daughter. One recorded in the future. As more strange signs echo through the plant, he must face the truth he's been running from and decide whether this is a warning... or a second chance.

What if the life you always dreamed of was only a step away- but to claim it, you'd have to give up your own? When ordinary people across the modern world begin to wake up in strange new bodies-mages, warriors, queens, rebels, and scholars-they discover a secret: lives can be borrowed. Each night, they cross into worlds that aren't theirs, living destinies they were never meant to hold. For Arjun, a weary student drowning under expectations, it is the intoxicating power of magic. For Maya, a struggling mother, it is the reverence of a royal court. For Kenji, a broken recluse, it is the strength of a legendary knight. For Selene, a brilliant lawyer, it is the desperate trust of rebels in a dying land. And for Dante, haunted by war, it is the gentle peace of a scholar's life. But every borrowed moment has a cost. The more they live in these other worlds, the more their real lives unravel-jobs, families, and identities slipping away. Worse still, their choices ripple across the fabric of realities, binding them together in ways none of them understand. Now, as the fractures between worlds widen, each must face the ultimate question: Which life will they choose to keep... and which will they let die? Isekai: The Borrowed Life is a sweeping, character-driven fantasy of desire, identity, and sacrifice-where every escape comes with a price, and no choice is without consequence.

A cynical Necromancer with a terrible secret. An optimistic Crown Prince crumbling under the pressure. A talented mage living in the shadow of his younger brother. ****** There are always three sides in a fairy tale. The villain, the hero and the spectator. Diya spent her entire life being the villain of everyone's story- simply because of something she couldn't control. She is given one last chance to prove herself. One final mission which would throw the Empire into disarray, but mean she could gain precious information about her past. A chance encounter throws her into the Imperial life where deception lies at every turn and the charismatic Imperial family are hiding more than they seem. With the threat of a war rising and ugly secrets coming to light, can Diya ever get her happily ever after? Or is she doomed to remain the rest of her life as soulless? Cover credits: @DeeIsDead Being edited: June 16th 2024 Featured: @highfantasy CAMELOT|Medieval fantasy list @The_Reading_Room in Oct 2023 @TripleACommunity Alchemists and Apothecaries (Fantasy) list @Fantasy Monthly picks Jan 2023 @lgbtq Asexual & Aromantic reading list Oct 2024 @Ambassadors Rainbow Fiction Jan 2025

When no one knows you're alive, its liberating and confining. It's one of the best things that can happen to you, especially if you're a villain! You can be someone else, live the life you never could, do the things you only dreamt of! You would think, at least. However, the best thing you can do is start over new and embrace anonymity, new horizons, more opportunity. Until, that is, the holder of the lien on your life cold calls you home -- now what? Act like you didn't get the call? Take a third shot at redemption? Or better yet -- do something bold and reclaim your life? Only if you've got the guts to own it - but you just may end up dead, for real this time. The Deets: * once weekly chapter drops * no profanity, no graphic sex/violence scenes * this a basically book one of a series I'm working on so expect more! ~~~And btw the pics shown here all came from Pinterest ~~~

When four high school students overhead there science teacher talking about a memory wiping programme the teens are ready for anything when they create a diary telling there future selves who they are. The gang work together to get their memories back along with everyone else. but will they find out what the cure is if there is one? and will the government find out they know something?

Ty, a shift manager with an alcoholic wife, creates a female replicant in a dystopia veering toward full mechanization. For Ty, the surreal drudgery of working in a retail environment is interrupted when robotic interfaces are installed at his job. Any protest of the machines will prompt Prominents to place him in a re-education program, and that's if he's lucky. In an effort to distract himself from a failing marriage, Ty becomes obsessed with the idea of a printing a live composite. In a botched job, he ends up printing a female version of himself. Thanks to his clone, Samantha (or Sam as she insists being called), Ty and his family are in danger of being jailed by Prominent forces. A dangerous life of hiding in plain sight is nearly impossible to pull off, especially when Sam strays from simple Prominent edicts by dating a woman. Ty's reality begins to unravel and he is forced to new truths, all while coming to terms with the full-force of mechanization and violence that surrounds him. [Previously FEATURED] [WON FIC AWARD FOR BEST SCI-FI NOVEL] (EDITING, FEEL FREE TO POINT STUFF OUT) [FEATURES CHARACTERS FROM "THE DARK"] ***One of four Honorable Mentions for the Diverse Writer and Diverse World Grants from The Speculative Literature Foundation***

In the fog-choked sprawl of Day City, where corruption seeps through every alley and the police wear two faces, a lone vigilante stalks the rooftops-a dark-winged sentinel known only as the Black Owl. Haunted by the murder of his parents and the brutal death of his sons, Rick and Dick, at the hands of a madman, Black Owl has sworn himself to the shadows. But even the shadows have begun to laugh. That laughter belongs to Funnibone, a failed comedian with a tragic past, shaped by poverty, cruelty, and a society that crushed him until something inside finally snapped. Now a grotesque mixture of clownish whimsy and deranged riddles, he unleashes chaos across Day City, presenting every crime like a twisted performance. His murders are punchlines, his bombs are props, and the city itself is his stage. Black Owl is not alone in his crusade. Two new vigilantes-the mysterious Owl and his partner Miss Owl-emerge from the shadows, inspired by Black Owl's crusade. Though Black Owl disapproves of them, and dismisses their heroism, and selfless desire to save Day City from itself. Will Black Owl be able to defeat Funnibone and save Day City, even with the help of the owls that's if let's them?

life on nak is weird in all ways

Edward Jacobson III is a lawyer in New York who has everything in the palm of his hand, but quickly everything seems to be slipping through his fingers. With a recent breakup and a possible promotion at his law firm the world seems to be sitting on his shoulders. This does not account for the internal struggle he faces on the daily as he fights to hide his darkest secret.

🍻''The nightclub belches out its last drunk; soon the two are alone in the stinking alley. If only her nails could manicure his slobbering mouth. Their eyes blaze : his green-to-go at her red-light.'' 🌶 Find out what happened next in the story 'No room to swing'!

***The Corner Booth Contest Runner-Up*** WARNING: contains one blue-eyed stranger, one fast-talking heroine, and a couple of scenes steamier than a mirage at noon. Throw in gigantic dust storms, lawmen out for blood, plus a wasteland to be traversed and you are in for an adventure sultrier than the desert sun! You would think May was living in paradise. After all, a gorgeous man just showed up on her porch willing to do anything she asks of him. But this is no paradise. May lives in a world settled by technology-rejecting idealists wishing to live in harmony with the land. That land, however, has not been very cooperative. The desert in the heart of the planet is spreading outward at an alarming pace, swallowing anything that gets in its way. And May? She's in its way, all right! Alone on her parents' dying farm, May has two goats, a shotgun, and a whole lot of dust. That's about all she has, until the day Ro shows up. Ro brings with him a secret most of their world isn't ready to face. The lawmen on his tail will do whatever it takes, including murder, to keep that secret buried in the desert sand. If they don't succeed in killing May and Ro, no matter: the desert might just do the job for them.

This is a book filled with a collection of diverse short stories that were born from random moments of inspiration. It is meant to push the boundaries of creativity and is in no way at all meant to offend anyone. Every tale told here offers a glimpse into a different world, testing different scenarios. Whether you're looking for a brief escape or a thought-provoking narrative, these stories provide a fascinating journey through the whimsical and the extraordinary.

In a world where books are cursed and words breed demons, Scribe defies the Older Ones by writing "The Chaos Walker"-a tale that takes on a sinister life of its own. Fleeing into a rogue library ruled by spectral keepers-one who hoards, one who overwhelms-Scribe must rewrite their creation or lose more than their soul. A dark fantasy of ink and sacrifice.

A short novel about interstellar colonization, the dangers of scientific discovery, and the end of the world. Image credit goes to Space Engine.

This is a prologue. Not to a single story, but to an entire saga-one that began in an age before our own memory. It is told through a triptych of connected tales: The Sower. The Keeper. The Spark. Three voices. Three awakenings. Three fates. An intelligence sent to sow life. A guardian left to remember the fall. A spark, born of fire, who seeks a soul. This is the beginning of the Suén Saga. Millennia after the collapse of civilizations, in the silence of forgotten star systems, a new story stirs. It is the story of those who remained. Of those who refused to fade away. This is a universe where memory outlasts matter. Where light carries deeper truths than words. Where a single spark can ignite a destiny. And this... is the first word. In a time so distant the stars themselves have forgotten, a single life was ending. There was no hope. Only despair. Tears. Fear. But life does not surrender quietly. There was knowledge. There was wisdom. And so, life left a final, indelible trace. Across thousands of years of void, in another cosmos, upon a new world- that knowledge allowed a new seed to take root. A new story began. A Spark was born.

Kael thought that with her knowledge of science and space, she could do anything. Her efforts to help the people of Teelak exploded in her face and now she travels with them, trying to make up for the destruction she caused. Her friends need a new home, and she will fight whatever the planet has in store for her to accomplish this goal.

Leonie is a hopeful mother-to-be pursuing "sim surrogacy"-a new service using female chimps as surrogates. Mai is a high school senior fighting to end sim surrogacy and free chimpanzees under corporate control. When their paths meet and conflict reaches a breaking point, both realize they have everything to lose.

This is a flash fiction piece from one of my first batches of stories written in the 2010s. It is a wholesome story about a girl and her family reveling from a miracle on a peaceful day filled with imagination and wonder. *This story was inspired from my mother who has been legally blind most of her life*