My new podcast is out. It is mostly a book club, but we will also be talking about history, culture, and anything else that strikes my interest! This is an introduction to the two characters who will be hosting the podcast. Have you ever felt like an outsider trying to figure something out? Have you […]
The Ocean Just Gets Me, Chapter 1 The walls in this house are paper thin. Their voices seep through the plaster like rain dripping from a cracked roof. I lie in bed and let the words soak into me, cold and familiar. “She can’t keep living like this,” Dad says. His voice is low, even, […]
Anchor: Good evening, and welcome to tonight’s edition of Global News Network. I’m your host, Sarah Williams. Our top story tonight: the rising concern over AI-generated avatars, known widely as simulants, on the popular cam-site, VirtuaCam. Recent reports suggest that an increasing number of users are abandoning the platform, feeling deceived by artificial performers posing […]
“Did you finish that AR game I asked you for, yet?” Morgan asked between bites of his breakfast. If he didn’t think too hard about it, the rat meat wasn’t half bad.
“I’m still working on it,” Sam replied. “But I should be done sometime this afternoon.”
“Oh come on,” Sam said. “It will only take a second.”
“That’s easy for you to say,” Morgan replied, holding the needle a couple of inches away from his finger, his forehead scrunched up in what Sam’s facial recognition told her was intense concentration. “You don’t have any pain receptors.”
As Morgan was about to take the last bite of his breakfast a siren started. He looked at Sam’s avatar, her face frozen in confusion. “What is that?”
⌚ Approximately 12 minutes to read ⚠ Content Warning: mild violence, mentions of danger and potential harm, and a general sense of unease Previous Chapter | All Chapters | Next Chapter “Looking for work, Sojourner?” A burly woman shouted to Alice as she walked into the guildhall with the hammer and anvil sign above the […]
Sam played back the conversation to herself 532 times in the 48 seconds that it took for Morgan to fall asleep. How could she have suggested that Morgan join the corporations? Kai had done everything in her power to remove the corporate subsystems from her programming, and still, she had been compelled against her will to shill for them. There must have been some part of her programming they had missed all those years ago.
⌚ Approximately 15 minutes to read ⚠ Content Warning: disorientation, confusion, and anxiety due to amnesia or being in an unfamiliar place; mention of a physical disability Previous Chapter | All Chapters | Next Chapter “Whoa there, Sojourner.” A firm hand reached down to help lift the girl to her feet. “Careful there, lassie. Sometimes […]
“Well, what do you think? A lot nicer than your room at our old place, right?” The smile on his dad’s face was hopeful.
Ali surveyed the room, trying to take it all in and give it a chance. It was smaller than his old room, which he supposed made sense. There were more people in Bastion, so space was probably harder to come by. In the corner of his room, the movers had set up his bed, a twin, and put some light blue sheets on it. At either side of the bed were two doors. One was open, revealing his own bathroom. The other was closed, but Ali presumed it was a closet. Against the other walls were Ali’s small dresser full of clothes, his rickety old bookshelf stuffed with books, and a new metal-framed desk with his computer set up on it, which was built into the wall.
Aetherloft 