Short Fiction

• "Kaboom!" by Linda Dydyk
  ""But it ain’t the big It," smirked the Sheriff. Up there in the Peace Tower, the Sheriff needed an orb to keep an eye on Mount Hong Kong. The orb was flying evasive maneuvers, on track behind Slave-trader Bob. The Sheriff named her orb Snoopy Dog-dog, after an ancient constellation that, along with the other stars, had disappeared from the sky years ago."

• "Perishables" by Amy Grech
  "With a heavy heart, he sliced pale, pink meat into thin, translucent strips with a brand new knife he got at the mall. A kerosene lantern, also from the mall, provided a soft, warm glow, creating a soothing ambiance."

• "Book Store" by C. C. Parker
  "Maybe I should stick a shotgun in my mouth and shatter my skull to kingdom come, he wants to tell her . . . but he knows it would only upset her. She could always take more Prozac, but that would just mean more oblivion . . . not that we are adverse to such things..."

• "Father and Son Reunion" by Raymond Towers
  "Yet here I was, sulking through the Anza-Borrego desert, following a cracked and dusty highway that would lead me into the savage clutches of the New World Order, and hoping to see my father, who until recently, I'd never wanted to see again as long as I lived."

• "Exalt Metropolis" by Susanne S. Bridenbaugh
  "But everything has its purpose, and to live in the skies is to no longer be a ground dweller. It means to be distanced from the contamination and grimefestered streets far below. Those who live above have their own roadways and parks and sidewalks high above the stinkpoor; all the better to forget those shoddy folk exist."

• "All Along the Watchtower" by Eric S. Brown and Gail Davis
  "They, these -- things -- that hunted humans and ripped them apart, had once been human themselves. The virus began as a form of chemical warfare that was never meant to be used."

• "Bobus Simianus" by Gregg Delcurla
  "Its body tensed—its head turned upward in what closely resembled a scowl, giving the creature a simian flavor..."

Series

• "Suburban Gladiators (Part One of Three)" by Byron Starr
  "A man in a fine black tuxedo stepped through the main gate and strode toward the center of the arena... After reaching the center of the area, he stopped and glanced around at the thousands of faces in the bleachers, but said nothing. The murmur died to a whisper."

• "Wasteland Blues" by Andrew Conry-Murray and Scott C. Carr
  [Part Seven: Moses Spring]
  "Leggy stared into the fire. Silas’s offer was tempting. His days of running with the Paladins had been some of the best of his life. Could he really recapture them?"

• "The Scavengers" -- An original AFM Comic Series by Fernando Ruiz
  "Yeah. I met Darv on Regula... His squad had just been wiped out when he hooked up with ours... He was the worst soldier I ever saw."