Fiction

CHANGING THE TUNE by Jason Stoddard

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Jason Stoddard’s “Changing The Tune” is a wistful story about youth and regrets, and how techno-utopia fails to live up to its hype.

[ IMPORTANT NOTICE: This story is NOT covered by the Creative Commons License that covers the majority of content on Futurismic; copyright remains with the author, and any redistribution is a breach thereof. Thanks. ]

Changing The Tune

by Jason Stoddard

“Dan, no!” Carolin said.

“You aren’t!” Keith said.

I waved them silent and looked down into the Northridge mall bandchise pit. Several hundred almighties had packed themselves in to see the premiere of Anna Baby No. 137. She was grinding through her rendition of “Always Pure.” Grey heads, bald heads, and newly brown and blonde and black heads were bobbing in time to the simple rhythm.

My handscreen showed all green. No sprites latched to my stream. No visigods watching. No Eyes or Ears tuned to our location.

I thumbed the icon and the music changed. Continue reading CHANGING THE TUNE by Jason Stoddard →

Fiction

HIS WHORE THE VECTOR by David McGillveray

“His Whore The Vector” by David McGillveray is a dark tale about dictators, revenge and what violence wreaks.

[ IMPORTANT NOTICE: This story is NOT covered by the Creative Commons License that covers the majority of content on Futurismic; copyright remains with the author, and any redistribution is a breach thereof. Thanks. ]

His Whore The Vector

by David McGillveray

The palace was a monstrosity in poured concrete with clumps of antennae bristling from every roof. Nadine was driven to an anonymous side entrance guarded by militiamen and taken inside. The door groaned shut behind her.

Behind the walls, the gardens had been left to wither in the heat. Desiccated roses lay in mass graves and a fine covering of dust clung to every surface. Nadine was led into the cool gloom of the main complex. The slap of her escort’s boots echoed along the maze of corridors: always a different route, always the same destination.

Gerber was waiting: white, white skin untouched by the sun, shaven head and flat, colourless eyes that kept the world out. The European mercenary had been rewarded for his enthusiastic bloodletting a decade ago in the purges with a position heading security for the most notorious butcher of them all. Continue reading HIS WHORE THE VECTOR by David McGillveray →

Fiction

THE RIVERS OF EDEN by Jay Lake and Ruth Nestvold

“The Rivers of Eden” is a new story from Futurismic alumni Jay Lake and Ruth Nestvold. It’s a dark little piece set in a future Waco, Texas.

[ IMPORTANT NOTICE: This story is NOT covered by the Creative Commons License that covers the majority of content on Futurismic; copyright remains with the author, and any redistribution is a breach thereof. Thanks. ]

The Rivers Of Eden

by Jay Lake and Ruth Nestvold

Gleaming monitors displayed DNA recombinance in false-color animation. Adenine, thymine, cytosine and guanine. There was a hypnotic, mechanistic elegance to the rippling strands.

“The four-fold dance flows like the rivers of Eden,” said Dr. Sarahbeth Mitchell, her head bowed as was proper.

“Pison, Gihon, Hiddekel, and Euphrates.” Elder Joe McNally’s voice resonated with a deep East Texas accent. “Each rising from the wellspring of existence. Each flowing into the ocean of life.” His fleshy lips slipped into a smile not echoed in the droopy folds around his pale eyes. “Not unlike faith itself.”

“Not unlike faith itself,” she repeated.

To hell with faith and to hell with McNally. At least she had her work — including the work she concealed from her sponsors. She had often wondered about the wisdom of her decision to join the Davidites in order to avoid the Caliphate, but soon, very soon, her work would make them both history. Continue reading THE RIVERS OF EDEN by Jay Lake and Ruth Nestvold →

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