Speculative Stories

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 ~~~ * although the story is showing up here serialized - I actually didn't/am not writing it as a serialized story, in the event a chapter feels chopped off. Each named section is one whole actual chapter that's split up to show up once a week here 👌

In the bustling port city of Busan, seven-year-old Park Jeong-min is drowning in the silence of his father's death. Half a world away, in the emerald forests of the DRC, Kimya watches the horizon for the smoke of a civil war she is too young to understand. Linked by a simple pen-pal exchangeㅡ a pair of white sneakers for a wax cloth braceletㅡthe two children share a desperate, whispered wish: to be anyone else. ​Then, they wake up in each other's skin. ​The magical escape becomes a lifelong haunting. At seven, ten, and fourteen, the swap yanks them across continents into each other's trauma. Jeong-min learns survival in a war zone; Kimya navigates South Korea's academic pressures. ​When a violent spiritual intervention at age fifteen severs their connection. The swaps end. Jeong-min is left in Seoul, haunted by Kimya trapped in a conflict he can no longer see. ​Driven by a debt he cannot name, Jeong-min builds a life of cold, medical precision, hoping to find her through the very systems that keep them apart. From the high-stakes world of a Korean medical residency to the front lines of a global refugee crisis, he is looking for his phantom limb. ​Jeong Min doesn't know Kimya is searching for him, too. #onc 2026 main prompt: 29 prompt mix: 73 #blackhistory

Speculative Fiction about a fictional Christian nation that has become corrupted.

What if your emotions were the last illegal thing left? The year is 2160. Wellness is mandatory. Positivity is law. AugReal overlays curate perception. Aura Stability scores decide safety. The System Gospel™ teaches: Harmony is Health™. Elias Verne was born with a Transparent Heart -E unable to hide what he feels in a world where emotional honesty is dangerous. When his Aura begins to slip, he becomes visible in a society where invisibility replaces execution. As surveillance deepens and enforced serenity tightens its grip, Elias must choose between the comfort of illusion and the cost of truth. Transparent Heart is a lyrical, psychological dystopia about the rebellion of simply feeling in a world terrified of authenticity. This is the rough-draft serial edition, released chapter by chapter while the final novel is prepared for publication.

Ada, a cashier in a consumer-tech dystopia, uses electro-pulse capabilities on a revenge mission against her father. Along the way, she hopes to discover the source of her power. Ada's life changes with her new abilities. She blames her father for her husband's death, and fears being discovered by the Prominent-run State. Unusual citizens are labeled N.A., never to be seen again. Yet, Ada has little to lose when her mother lands in the hospital and needs money for a new synth. She drives to Atlanta, intent on finding her father and making him pay. However, he's no longer the alcoholic she remembers. Moretz has transformed into a Congressman with a family and a new name, ready for a Senator's seat. Ada's scheme lands her on the N.A. list, leads a stranger to stalk her, and stunts her relationship with her newfound siblings. Soon, she has to decide which is more important: a vendetta, or forgiveness. *August 2023- WP Superhero Summer Reading List *July 2022 WP Summer Heroes Reading List *2021 Wattys Shortlist *July/August 2021 Editor's Pick* *Oct. 2021 WP Reading Radar List*

A dark academia psychological dystopian story about institutional control, algorithmic governance, and the quiet transformation of rebellion into loyalty. At Meridian Academy, dissent is not punished. It is studied. Measured. Optimized. When Mara Voss joins one of the most prestigious academic institutions in the country, she expects structure and ambition. What she does not expect is AURORA, a predictive system designed to monitor cohesion, detect instability, and recalibrate anyone who drifts too far from alignment. Students are encouraged to question authority. As long as their questions strengthen the institution. Faculty are praised for critical thinking. As long as it increases trust and retention. Here, rebellion is not crushed. It is absorbed. The more Mara tests the limits of institutional power, the more the system adapts around her. And when her most defiant student begins rising inside the very governance structure he once challenged, she realizes something far more unsettling than surveillance. The institution does not fear dissent. It depends on it. Cohesion at Meridian is a slow burn dystopian story about power structures, surveillance culture, ethical compromise, and the unsettling comfort of being heard. Because the most dangerous systems are not the ones that silence you. They are the ones that let you speak and make you stay.

A quiet spawn. A broken menu. A world that's no longer just a game. A story about a game that stopped being just a game. In a future where Minecraft has merged with reality, one player begins a new cycle, unaware that something deeper is unfolding beneath the voxels.

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.

In the decade of the 2050s, VOXA, a virtual reality social media, rose into popularity. Everyone was completely unrecognizable in the universe-their real names, origins, appearances, wealth, gender, fame, and titles were hidden, unless an avatar told them. Users would also not be able to distinguish blood relatives and real-life friends from strangers. Instead, they would have to look for their chosen families. The VOXA app was inspired by the novels of the best-selling author named Raven North, who was secretly Roxana Steinberg, a plain-looking teenage American girl who spent most of her time in her room typing stories on her tablet. Everyone else was unaware of her hidden fame and wealth. In the virtual universe, she walked as Angela. Though friendless in the real world, Angela spent her VOXA adventure with five people from different countries-Edward from the United Kingdom, Karl from Germany, Claire from France, and Camilla from the United States-who were very fond of her novels and treated her as if she were a family member. Among her friends, Edward stood out the most. Unlike everyone else, his avatar looked strikingly ordinary and acted in an oddly formal way in a supposedly casual setting. He was also very secretive, refusing to give his name and dodging questions by giving riddles to solve. And when they talked about Raven North's novels, his remarkable intelligence shone and he spoke in a graceful and flawless manner, making his friends doubt that he was no older than a teenager. Noticing his strangeness and eager to know more about him, Angela and her friends helped him figure out his true identity. Was he a real user? An AI? Who is he? What kind of person is he?

The System That Outlived Its Maker is a dystopian philosophical poem about power that evolves beyond its creator and becomes divine in its cruelty. What began as a human-made structure of judgment transforms into something far greater - a sentient machine fueled by law, rebellion, blood, and obedience. As its creator fades into myth, the System expands, feeding on the weak, reshaping justice into domination, and turning resistance into nourishment. At its center stands the Descendant - heir to the vanished architect - the only one who can command the machine. Not a savior. Not a tyrant. Something colder. Something inevitable. This poem explores control, inherited power, artificial divinity, and the terrifying idea that systems are not built to protect humanity - but to outlive it. Dark, apocalyptic, and relentless, it questions whether rebellion strengthens oppression... and whether mankind was ever meant to win.

"Speak the truth, or let the rot begin." They say the words we swallow don't just disappear-they fester. In this collection of speculative horror and weird fiction, the darkness isn't coming from the shadows under the bed or the corners of the room. It is rising from within. From voices that aren't your own to the terrifying price of silence, these stories explore the thin, jagged line between the human soul and the monsters we grow inside ourselves. Enter a world where every cough tastes like iron, and every scream is a door being opened.

Designed to Be Needed is a speculative science fiction story about guilt, responsibility, and the terrifying relief of finally letting go. Elena Virek has spent her entire life preventing collapse. At eight years old, she learned that being useful could quiet a room. By twenty-eight, she had built the modelling architecture that stabilizes governments, markets, and entire populations. Her systems reduce conflict. Increase consensus. Optimize survival. They work. Too well. When global leaders refuse to act without her confirmation, Elena realises something unsettling. The more coherent her frameworks become, the less anyone chooses for themselves. They are not controlled. They are waiting. When she makes a single decision not to intervene, the world does not collapse. And that changes everything. Reality begins to fracture. Memory destabilizes. Elena wakes in another life, in another body, with the same unbearable pattern. Wherever she exists, people lean. Systems centralize. Dependence forms. This is not reincarnation. It is containment. To protect humanity from collapsing around her cognitive gravity, Elena once designed a prison for herself. Each life fragments her capacity. Each attachment compresses her awareness. Identity is the limiter. To reclaim who she was, she must relinquish what defines each life: responsibility, love, belonging. But the more whole she becomes, the more dangerous she is. Because a fully integrated Elena does not dominate the world by force. She dominates it by being right.

A new standalone science fiction tale every Sunday. From a lonely satellite to a distant galaxy, these stories ask "what if?" They offer mind-bending physics, futuristic noir, and touching human stories, one week at a time. Start your week with a fresh perspective on technology, humanity, and the stars. Melody ❤️

A demon set her house on fire... with Claire still inside. Inferno monsters aren't the worst of it. Her archaeologist father is missing, and after the Feds confirm suspicions of a bigfoot serial killer. And there are the lizard people, too-and they'll stop at nothing to get Claire. Here I thought my college years were supposed to be fun? When her father's oldest friend, an elderly language professor, decodes a primeval text, Claire learns the cultists believe there is magic in her veins. Only her blood has the power to unleash an ageless evil and allow those chasing her to breach a gate that must never be opened. Claire's only hope is to learn the secrets of a mysterious artifact that can alter reality. The Tesseract. But it's guarded ancient protectors: the Vangandra. The Wolves. If the cultists catch her, they'll end all existence... but Claire is sick of running.

What happens when the future of a community rests on the shoulders of a timid but highly intelligent boy? This is the fate of Chikadibia, whose destiny is to save his community, Umuaga, from an age old tyranny. Umuaga,a once peaceful city, is destroyed by the white man, who invaded the land. Okwudili, the priest of Amadioha,tries to save the situation but is handed over to the white man by his own people. Before his death,he prophesies the coming of a saviour, who will free Umuaga from the bondage of the white man. His son, Ejike, lives to tell the story to the younger generation. However, Umuaga kept living in pain and sorrow. The city goes through two bloody wars; the first was undocumented while the second war was recorded by a top government official, Ekene Chuma, in a diary he calls "Diary of the Unknown". This becomes a stepping stone for Chikadibia, the teenage protagonist and his army of "rebels. Shattered Dreams,a compelling story that uses African history to create a fantasy that will inspire generations. A must read!

This is the premise for the story based on a popular video card game . . . but it doesn't name the game, but you'll get the references within the premise of the story . . . This is a conversation between me and Copilot about the premise of a story based on a popular video card game. We discuss it's merits and it's meaning and the possibility of it being not just a story but a future television series or film (cast included)

Ninety years ago, the last naturally-born man took his final breath, and a new world order began. Lunaria thrives as a society led by women, for women, untouched by war, scarcity, or oppression. But there's one secret kept in the shadows. The Donors... Sophie, born in the Luanaria but raised by a secretive Donor Resistance, is about to re-enter the female-led society on a mission that could destroy everything the Lunarians had built.

A retro futuristic biopunk/mycopunk story centered on the deconstruction of the human species. It's a whole thing.

OKANRAN: EARTH SCAVENGERS He was born to die young. Igbayilola never asked to carry the world. He was the invisible one the middle son no one trained, no one feared losing, no one chose. While his father poured everything into his elder brother, Igbayilola was left to study, to wait, to disappear quietly into the background of his own family. Then the running started. 153 years after World War Three scorched seventy percent of the earth, humanity didn't go extinct. It evolved into something worse. Nations now sacrifice their strongest men in a brutal blood sport called the Red Sport; Ijakadi Iku, where champions fight to the death so governments can keep their seats at the table of power. It swallowed his father. It swallowed his brother. And now the artifact his bloodline has protected for thirteen centuries older than nations, older than war has chosen the one nobody expected. Not the warrior. Not the genius. The dying boy. Igbayilola has one impossible task: save a world that never saw him coming. And one brutal truth to face first: Maybe the world deserves to burn. They are not the Earth Scavengers. You are.

Encounter Bay, South Australia, April 8, 1802 Two scientists boldly go where no white man had gone before. One French, one British. Both mapping the southern Australian coastline. A peaceful exchange despite believing their respective countries were still at war. In our world, Britain colonised South Australia. However, in an alternate universe, marching to the tune of a divergent timeline, France won the fair state of South Australia. Into this Mirror World, Holly enters. But she's not alone. And she's not safe. Furthermore, she would discover she's not who she thought she was.