"Things break down over time," thought Jezikara of Mars, her canal skiff grounded, most of her clientele gone, and some golden bozo of Earth not even threatening her with tariffs.

Jericho Eridani Radiomind thrashed about and resisted the medical assistants. "So what about Trump and the Ellisons? How about the centenary of Grandpa's

saffron, goose-down, and a hint of an electrical socket for which he luckily had no adapter. Wordlessly, Agent Flint petted a handsome young monk, then tuned into the Noumenon,

He had hoped to catch The Beholder at the node 437 smoothie bar, but he unloaded on Muroise anyway. "I really just want a beautiful and decent young guy who will never change, but

with a working and not-too-leaky ship seemed a better plan than trusting an old corroded Earth-to-Mars transmat station. "Captain?" I asked at a pool bar up the street. She looked

My friend was so proud of his new star cruiser, but eventually I had to ask, "Why is there even a bridge? Doesn't the ship know best? Ever heard of Cyril M. Kornbluth?" He looked

"How quaint," Blasted reflected, "that I often enjoyed being abducted and imprisoned in some remote tower, strapped to a stone slab. This world might drive me mad." A crow of the

for the only guy she had ever desired, who paused to remind her that he preferred to pick out his own outfits before he dashed into the workshop to check on the Bear-Building.

I'd had a dream or perhaps a premonition about dark clouds sagging toward the ground like nebulous udders, but without hate and blue fire (or torque). Were these those or

had me thinking that carnal desires might be fading vestiges of the past, but I did appreciate their comments on my physique and meat cuts, although some did try to pair me up with

Polly's mother's sibling rolled all of their eyes in different directions. "Oh, Polly," they said, "with Saturn and Neptune nearly conjunct, what good could a boiled eye of newt do

McVeigh Raleigh is a name no-one (least of all me or Kyleigh's dead mother) should have saddled her with, but she wore it like a badge of honor and no-one dared mess with her,

About 90 years later, one of the Skylarks headed back to Earth after a pleasant consultation with the peeps of 3I/ATLAS, and the crew asked if their visiplates could be upgraded to

Gareth the Third was keen to have a taste of the lasagna that had been presented, but he struggled to remember whether it was "The True, The Good, and The Beautiful" or some other

"Thank you for finally asking how I feel, Mother." Mildred dashed her teacup against the plywood paneling, from which the cup rebounded without a crack. "Your grandmother and I

Most Fastest 1: It was the fast of times, it was the faster of times. Drifty LaWhore went fast thru the streets of Bangladesh City, Bangladesh, and there were some bad guys after

She only had 5 months to get on the Nice List. Rain poured. She held her umbrella over an old man and walked him to his car. "Now THAT'S not naughty," said Santa omnisciently.

It rose up, fur writhing with the vermin moving through it with singular purpose, and ambled forward with the jerky unfamiliarity of a marionette. Words oozed out of it, clipped

and the absurdity makes her laugh almost until she cries. She can just imagine the comments from her friends, 'What kinda bougie-ass bullshit is that?' She giggles drunkenly to

To clarify, it's not that I misplaced it, but that I simply don't remember. I know that dinner was the most important moment of my life and yet... Nothing of it, for me, survives.