Living Through Science Fiction

Kelly-119

A scenester. A savant. A polymath. A fashion victim. Coughing and coughing with an upper respiratory system infection that will go away if we just wish it so.

Darkness and ColdPlanet ScummNovember 8, 2021Kelly Roger Lemieux

Aggrievement

One sunny Sunday as I walked by my front steps, I looked down and saw a snake uncomfortably close to my foot.

Darkness and ColdPlanet ScummNovember 8, 2021Kathy Miller

A Hard Goodbye

His last words were a truth and a lie: “I’ll be home in a few days.”

Darkness and ColdPlanet ScummNovember 8, 2021Ashlee Stephan

"A Good Night at the Hollywood Bowl" and "Take in the Metallic Sun"

The Hollywood Bowl is dead. The vast parking lots are silent, the attendants sent home to join the millions awaiting unemployment checks.

Little ThingsPlanet ScummNovember 15, 2020Jennifer Schneiderman

"Three Poems"

The collected pieces come to us via a creative writing teacher, who has compiled handwritten poems written by inmates of a California jail.

Little ThingsPlanet ScummNovember 15, 2020Various Authors

"Ouroboros"

I have become, in these last 6 months, a twisty little ouroboros. I eat my tail because it’s all I know and I savour my pain and confusion. I am always full and always empty and a little twitchy from all the coffee.

Little ThingsPlanet ScummNovember 15, 2020Leah Capgras

A Walk During Covid-19: A Comic

A comic by Joshua Boulet

Little ThingsPlanet ScummNovember 15, 2020Joshua Boulet

"Showtime"

I hadn’t been on the subway in months, not since the orders came to stay home, certainly not since I was sick. Sick is a relative term, of course.

Little ThingsPlanet ScummNovember 15, 2020Barry E. Negrin

"The Duality of Connection"

I speak to friends and family daily. I only live with pets. I’ve seen inside many homes through the Internet. I spend twenty-three hours a day in my own.

Little ThingsPlanet ScummNovember 15, 2020Luke Foster

"Midnight Monk"

I’m okay again, if I don’t read the news, if I play enough video games, if I’m smoking weed, when I’m working on something.

IsolationPlanet ScummSeptember 19, 2020Anonymous

"Coronavirus Has Nothing on Retirement"

But coronavirus has nothing on retirement, for nobody knows where I am or what I have been doing

IsolationPlanet ScummSeptember 19, 2020John C. Krieg

"The Other Pandemic"

Preparedness only comes in retrospect, after hundreds of thousands have already died. But at least there is that: preparedness. Preparedness for the next one.

IsolationPlanet ScummSeptember 19, 2020Tristan Marajh

"Now in My Little Office"

It’s just me, the clock and the heater now. I have spent my life searching for a quieter place.

IsolationPlanet ScummSeptember 19, 2020Cheryl L. Caesar

"What Would Sidewalk Boy Do?"

Jagged orange lines brought the cracked cement to life. Gnashing teeth and bulbous eyes were held captive on a disfigured face. It was more real to Sidewalk Boy than disease, death, collapse, or anything else.

IsolationPlanet ScummSeptember 19, 2020Tyler Phan

“On Reality’s Adaptation of My Short Story”

Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome already makes me live on a knife-edge with everything I do—COVID-19 doesn’t make things any easier.

OutbreakPlanet ScummMay 21, 2020Harris Coverley

“Running in Circles”

There are only so many places one can run when inside of a house and its four walls.

OutbreakPlanet ScummMay 21, 2020Kyle Tinga

"This Virus is Not a Tiger"

I reach the existential conclusion that time has in fact collapsed in on itself and no longer exists.

OutbreakPlanet ScummMay 21, 2020Rachel Megan Barker

“How to Write During the Apocalypse—and Other Sentences I Never Thought I’d Say”

Writing, though rarely easy, has always been a constant—where I can disappear into my stories instead of reality. But even if I live through this pandemic—does anything I’ve been working on still matter?

OutbreakPlanet ScummMay 21, 2020Anna Catalano

"The Graduation Speech (That Never Happened)"

This likely wasn't what you expected for the end of your high school career. If you had told me back in January that fourth quarter simply wouldn’t happen, I wouldn’t have believed you.

OutbreakPlanet ScummMay 21, 2020Anonymous