Dystopian Short

The balloons fell. The trains derailed. The shelves went bare. We got sick. We died. Survival in the midst of an unknown threat, one that appears on the brink of ending life as we know it.

First published in sci-fi magazines of the 1950s, these early stories from Philip K. Dick showcase the budding author’s uncanny ability to forge strange new paths into alternate realities. Already in command of the themes and techniques he would later employ in his novels, Dick here envisions alien infiltrations, far-off worlds at war, nightmarish totalitarian societies, and uncanny depths lying just beneath seemingly commonplace realities. Fantastical, sinister, paranoid, and darkly amusing, these are seminal works in Dick’s justly celebrated career.

Addison Inquisitor awoke on the island with only the clothes on his back and a pack with a few days of supplies. Suffering from amnesia he desperately wants to find who he is and where he belongs. With the aid of a curious service robot, he begins to explore the island and also try to learn the truth about himself. What he finds is nothing he would ever expect.....

There are no zombies here! But lurking within the pages of this creepy anthology is every other type of ghoulish creature a horror enthusiast could want. Do you love monsters? We have plenty. Are demons your thing? You have your choice of the amusing type or the kind that will make you go insane. Men in Black? Check. Cannibals? Yep. Serial killers? We got ‘em. There’s even a witch thrown in for good measure. The settings in this collection range from a decaying urban city to a sinister lighthouse island...from an isolated forest to a decrepit gas station in the Arizona desert…from a ...

A stolen Desert Eagle, a weapon designed to protect warriors defending their nations, the official sidearm of the Israeli military, continues its fall from grace in LA misadventures.

What if the greatest threat to the future isn’t war or disaster… but control disguised as order? In a world rebuilt after economic collapse, towering city-states enforce rigid systems, surveillance, and silence. Malik Varen is just another citizen in the Walled City—until he uncovers a hidden protocol from the old world. A blueprint not for domination, but for freedom. As he races to share the truth, Malik becomes the target of the Watchers—silent enforcers who erase dissent without warning. With time running out and betrayal lurking in every shadow, Malik must risk everything to ...

The sky is breaking. The bonds are fading. And one boy’s spark could ignite the world—or burn it to ashes. In the floating world of Emberfall, young Elijah Ardent has always been content to stay in the shadows, fixing the ancient machinery that keeps his home aloft. But when his sister is kidnapped by a mysterious cult known as the Shroud, Elijah is thrust into a world of Skybeasts, Aether magic, and deadly political intrigue. Forced to compete in the Skyforge Trials against the elite of society, Elijah must master his newfound powers and bond with Ignis, a unique fire-beast with ...

A prison doctor escapes with a handsome inmate. Thom works as a doctor at a prison. He finds the jailbirds attractive, even though he knows he can never date one. Celtus, an inmate, gets slashed with a shank and must visit Dr. Thom’s office, and the attraction is immediate. It’s suffocating. Too bad there’s nothing the men while the cameras and other guards are watching. Not until a cyberattack hits the computers and leads to a prison break at the very moment that Celtus is in Dr. Thom’s office. Jailbreak is a fluffy and spicy standalone m/m short romance story with low angst, ...

She signed a contract to carry his heir—he plans to claim far more than her womb. Melissa Lawson came to Solara Sands for one thing: to fix her broken body and reclaim her future. What she got was Ruhn Kez—her assigned “Genetic Guardian”—a massive, war-scarred Drexilian warlord with ice in his stare and fire in his touch. The contract said, “No emotional entanglement.” But nothing about synchronized surf therapy sessions, rogue vortex trials, or bioluminescent bonding lagoons feels clinical. Ruhn is cold, commanding, and terrifyingly focused on legacy, but when he shields her ...

🔥"HUNGER GAMES Meets DIVERGENT—with a Gothic Twist!"🔥 🌟 From New York Times, USA TODAY and Amazon Top-100 Bestseller Tamara Rose Blodgett, comes a poignant glimpse into the emotional core of her #1 Dark Fantasy bestselling series. 💬 “Unexpected and beautiful... the perfect in-between moment of the series.” — Verified Reviewer What’s Inside: Set between Unrequited Death (Book 6) and For the Love of Death (Book 7), this 6,300-word novelette explores the quiet, sensual bond between two beloved side characters: John Terran and Tiff Weller. As the world unravels around them...

The Sound Of It All Crashing Down is a collection of stories encompassing surrealist horror, apocalyptic sci-fi, and lovecraftian lore, merging these elements to create a sinister mythology all its own. -A man makes a terrible bargain with the denizens of a post-apocalyptic city where experiments are conducted to bring the dead back to life and learn the secrets of the grave. -A woman who uses experimental technology to explore her client’s dreams becomes trapped inside the decaying brain of a dying person. -A grave robber in the far future opens an alien tomb and awakens a monstrosity. A...

"How do you form a more perfect union?" Unlock the continuing mind-bending possibilities of ethical and moral dilemmas with "After Dinner Conversation - Season Six," the next (and final) installment (look for the After Dinner Conversation - Best of" series) of the must-read collection of the best short stories from the critically acclaimed After Dinner Conversation magazine series. Spanning all genres, from science-fiction to historical fiction and everything in between, each story is guaranteed to captivate you and leave you questioning your own beliefs. Perfect for philosophy students and...

In the 12 unforgettable tales of Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century, the strange is made familiar and the familiar strange, such that a girl growing wings on her legs feels like an ordinary rite of passage, while a bug-infested house becomes an impossible Kafkaesque nightmare. Each story builds a new world all its own: A group of children steal a haunted doll; a runaway bride encounters a sea monster; a vendor sells toy boxes that seemingly control the passage of time; an insomniac is seduced by the Sandman.

Welcome to future-shock. Hold on tight and buckle yourselves in, because the future is on a relentless onslaught, for better or worse. This is a collection of the short speculative fiction of Gabriel Walker Land. Most stories are flash fiction, meaning less than 1000 words. Each contains a story of mystery, action, romance, and suspense.

A short story from the New York Times best-selling author that brought you Feed, Mira Grant. Every week five friends get together to play a game - a game they call the Apocalypse Game. It's a fun time with chips and beer and plotting the end of the world. Except this time, one of them is missing and the stakes are higher than ever before.

"Is it selfish to abandon your abilities to follow your dream?" Unlock the continuing mind-bending possibilities of ethical and moral dilemmas with "After Dinner Conversation - Season Three," the next installment of the must-read collection of the best short stories from the critically acclaimed After Dinner Conversation magazine series. Spanning all genres, from science-fiction to historical fiction and everything in between, each story is guaranteed to captivate you and leave you questioning your own beliefs. Perfect for philosophy students and fiction lovers alike, each story comes with ...

¿Qué pasaría si el aire puro acabara por ser más valioso que el oro? ¿O si robots sufrieran crisis existenciales? ¿O si las plantas pudieran hablar? "Futuro Salvaje" nos acerca al futuro de un planeta cuyos recursos hemos explotado sin piedad. Presentamos una audioserie con tintes de comedia pero también de terror, una utopía distópica que nos descubre cinco posibles futuros, a cada cual más dispar. Y, sin embargo, todos plantean las mismas dudas que tenemos ahora: ¿qué será de nosotros? ¿Cómo podremos sobrevivir?

The machines started popping up around the world. The offer was tempting: with a simple blood test, anyone could know how they would die. But the machines didn't give dates or specific circumstances - just a single word or phrase. DROWNED, CANCER, OLD AGE, CHOKED ON A HANDFUL OF POPCORN. And though the predictions were always accurate, they were also often frustratingly vague.

Children of the New World introduces listeners to a near-future world of social media implants, memory manufacturers, dangerously immersive virtual reality games, and alarmingly intuitive robots. Many of these characters live in a utopian future of instant connection and technological gratification that belies an unbridgeable human distance, while others inhabit a post-collapse landscape made primitive by disaster, which they must work to rebuild as we once did millennia ago.

Brace yourself for the ULTIMATE MIND-BENDING NIGHTMARE! "The Night Shift" isn't just a story – it's a reality-shattering experience that'll electrify your soul! Step into Sally's shoes as her ordinary night at a gas station explodes into a heart-stopping battle against unspeakable horrors. Feel your pulse thunder as the veil between worlds tears, unleashing mind-warping entities into our reality!