In the quiet village of Eldham, ninety-year-old Sonje Rapp holds a secret more enduring than time: her cow, Anabelle, whose milk carries the power to heal, preserve… and perhaps, reverse fate itself.When Sonje's estranged grandson Herrick returns, desperate and debt-ridden, he sets his sights on her most precious companion.But Anabelle is no ordinary cow, and Sonje is no ordinary old woman. What begins as a quiet standoff between generations spirals into a ...

Nothing beats watching cat videos.Especially in a world where cats don't exist anymore.Flora loves nothing more than cats.And Firmament, an advanced algorithm, shows her exactly the kinds of videos she loves.So, with a practically infinite reservoir of cat videos, Flora is fairly content--even while living in a coffin-like metal booth. All human survivors live in one of these booths in a pit, after all.Everything stays splendid, until...

In a world where touch brings oblivion, a girl with hands that make things vanish must decide if her power is a curse—or salvation.Nine-year-old Laika has spent her entire life within the walls of a secretive hospital run by religious fanatics, where her deadly touch is contained by milk cartons tied around her hands.When a burned boy named Helio arrives and discovers that Laika's touch reveals his inner light instead of destroying him, their unusual powers...

When a simple airport delay becomes a fight for humanity's future, technician Aria Rush discovers that some connections run deeper than code.Aria thought she was just helping an elderly man and his malfunctioning aidbot navigate airport security. But Antonius Wang isn't just any old man—he is the reclusive genius who revolutionized the bot industry. And his "broken" bot isn't broken at all.Now Aria is running through a world where the line between human and...

"Band 1" is a chronological collection of previously published short stories by Ithaka O.- - -List of stories in this collectionMoonlight Through the ManholeTo Me Who Is UselessBecause They Don't Bleed RedSilver LiningReplaceablesMuseum of Earth Art

Ignorance is bliss, knowledge is suffering......until you remember your past.Seventeen-year-old Lisa manages the laundry at the hotel between worlds.Has always managed, in the eternity stretching backward.Will always manage, in the eternity stretching forward.In other words, forever. Because that's what the worker-residents of the hotel do for the recently-dead.But Lisa's "forever" ends when a mysterious guest a...

Arthur Schopenhauer. Frida Kahlo. Helen of Troy.Bazz is the proud designer of the unique, noble, and memorable faces given to these icons.Art. Craft. Life itself. That is what face design is, for Bazz.He does whatever it takes to design faces that make a human's life worth living: spending long shifts at his workstation at the Face Design Department, dealing with his uninspiring boss, and limiting his existential rumination to the briefest of moments so that he does...

Three stories, each based on three random words.1) marsh, month, birdNothing beats a peaceful walk through the marsh, K told herself. Whistling a cheerful tune, she followed the winding path around a pond of elegantly floating ducks....2) eye, exploration, morselWhen X learned that one of her eyes had gone blind, she didn't cry....3) obstacle, sculpture, assessmentNot anybody and e...

In the middle of the desert, a giant dome stands, made of fortified glass.Inside it: another, much smaller dome, black for privacy.Outside: thirsty humans. Hundreds, possibly thousands.Nora Haynes spends Eternal Summer inside. Luck blessed her that way. Timothy blessed her that way.But as the knocking of the madpeople continues, clamoring for water, her little bitter trick of ignoring them threatens to fall apart...

In the neon-drenched alleys of Seoul's Itaewon district, one wrong turn can lead to encounters beyond this world.When Ben, a foreigner working at a crowded pub, discovers a strange blue-skinned infant abandoned behind the garbage bins, his instinct to protect the helpless creature thrusts him into the middle of an interstellar conflict.Caught between mysterious men in identical suits and forces he cannot comprehend, Ben must navigate an alien feud as his un...

Everybody and their neighbor's dog thinks they can handle the truth.But the truth is, they can't.Three years ago, Madame Polonaise's Palm Reading Salon went by a different name: the Scientific Palm Studies Institute.Decorated more like a dentist's office than a fortunetelling shop, the Institute suffered from misbranding. Only when Madame Polonaise gave up much of her self-respect (and abandoned words like "objective," "logical," an...

Made of cold metal? smooth plastic? fragile glass? Throw it away.Even when it takes a human shape.Live long enough, you see all kinds of heartless things happen. Sometimes that's done in the name of convenience. At other times, loftier ideals such as elderly welfare take center stage.Does everyone believe in that sweet charade? Probably not.Is that solace enough? Absolutely not.So, one old lady vows to never become part of the stinkin...