Chris Airiau is a SF writer and game designer living in France, forever obsessed with the speculative. Find him on twitter @ChrisAiriau or online at chrisair.itch.io.
Rick Danforth is an author from Yorkshire, England, where he works as a Systems Architect to fund his writing habit. He has several short stories published in venues including Etherea and Hexagon.
There are millions of moments of you, in places the world over There are hands held and meals made and hearts healed and tears shed In every care there is you In sweaty palms stuffed with wildflowers and glasses fogged with steam In wine glasses and makeup bags and tears wiped after a dream In every home there is you In unfurled ferns and raindrops on windows, in moving to keep away from the tide In every feeling of being alone, to discover someone on your side In every heart there is you In always answered calls and never spoken hurts In the fear of letting go and the exhilaration in so many firsts In every love there is you
Mary Rhodes (she/her) Is a student at UGA. She lives with her two cats, her dog, and her undying hope for a world more full of love. You can find her on instagram at @marypr4 and twitter @marypr2414.
Molina, your mastery in mastering this music is vivid and otherworldly. Like Parásito, worm in my brain, I am longing for a similar devotion
to phrasing. Molina, please break me through this vanilla shell of lyricism. I am trapped. Teach me the wealth of your well of wordsmithery. Take me under your au/spacious wings and teach me how poems should truly be written.
Mike Owsley (He/They) is an author and activist. His work has previously been published or is forthcoming in the Castle of Horror Anthology and QRM Zine. You can find his twitter @BigMikeOwsley.
Aligned with happiness on the happy/sad dichotomy, delight slides by unnoticed, undermining clarity, removing light. To de-light in something, is perhaps to turn the lights off in a room or click off your phone screen at night, to feel darkness diffuse into space.
“I am happy about…” is clunky. About? Books are about things sometimes. Boats come about, I think. Or about can mean approximately. Or on the subject of. I am done being happy about things, I prefer to delight in them.
When I delight in something, I inhabit it. The closeness of that preposition, in, warms me. I delight in dawn or dusk, or in smooth stones, jagged cliffs or great big cities. I get to become part of them without (par)taking. It feels so not possessive to delight in things.
My greatest delight is in light language, which dissolves on the ear like powdered sugar on the tongue.
Julien Luebbers is a writer and student in southern California. He resides on the web @Joolee_in on Twitter.
Fariha Khayyam is a writer who self-published her poetry chapbook, SHARDS & contributed to an anthology, WE ARE NOT SHADOWS by Folkways Press. She can be found on farihakhayyam.com & Twitter @fushiee_
She had been calling into the silence for years, but nothing prepared her for when the void called back.
Stephen A. Roddewig is an award-winning storyteller from Virginia (USA). His stories are featured in Abyss & Apex and Wintermute Lit. When not writing, he enjoys collecting records and running races.
As you see it, the studio apartment could be broken down into 5 areas, plus, there’s a light switch.
[[Kitchen.|Dear]]
[[Living room area.|linear]]
[[Dining room area.|motion]]
[[Bedroom area.|sicko,]]
[[Bathroom.|caper taster]]
[[Turn off the light.|and]]
[[Leave the keys and go to the store!|certificate holder.]]
Living Room
The first thing you notice in this area is the new rug that George recently purchased. You remember going to the store with George, helping to make the purchase. It was either this blue rug, or a different red rug. You liked the blue more, because the color was calming.
After you two went to the store, you two got some coffee. Actually, the two drinks you two got were espresso based.
There is a game console in this area as well as a TV. You two sometimes play video games together. No matter how hard you inspected the console, you could never decide what variety of game console your friend had. It was possibly a PlayStation, but even looking at it now, close up and without distraction, you can’t decide heads or tails. It’s as if there was a blur over this particular object.
For a brief moment, you sob.
[[Turn on the TV.|Lifetime cyberquest.]]
[[Look under the carpet.|Forever visionary.]]
[[Look at their game collection.|Singsong seeker.]]
[[Look somewhere else in the apartment.|Hallucinating vapors.]]
Game Collection
Most of the game titles are ones you recognize. You notice that the binding for a game you also own is different from what you have. You pick it out of the collection and notice that the design is totally unique! You know your friend makes art, so, did they also make this cover design?
[[Back to the living room.|Unconscious machines.]]
[[Look around the apartment further.|Realtor of dreams.]]
Under The Carpet
(set: $passcode to (prompt: “Lots of dust! Also, you see a security pad on the floor.
Hint: 4 numbers”, “”))
(if: $passcode is “0451”)
[ You are correct! You can’t believe your luck. Inside you find secrets you weren’t ready to see. You wonder on the shared value of this discovery. Here you are with knowledge of your friend’s secret, and your friend is now aware that you know, too.
[[You look around the living room some more.|The words.]]
[[You look to another area of the apartment|The time.]]
(set: $key2 to true) ]
(else:)
[ It didn’t work, try again once you have the passcode. You text your friend to ask about the passcode, your friend says they forgot the passcode but they remember carving the number into something in the apartment.
[[You look around the living room some more.|Pretension proclamation.]]
[[You look to another area of the apartment|Operation artist.]] ]
Turn On The TV
Your friend has cable, so the TV automatically turns to their favorite TV channel. It is a show about elephants. Your friend is so smart!
[[Back to the living room.|Ocean water, as in]]
[[Look around the apartment further.|water bottle collector.]]
Hi! I’m a game writer, poet, and Twitter poster. @GuguTheGadget
Unstamatic 