short story

An Abandoned Amusement Park Contains Multitudes in This Sci-Fi Short Story

Read Richard Thomas' sci-fi tale "The Darkness Between the Stars," courtesy of Lightspeed Magazine.

io9 Lightspeed Magazine Aug 8

Technology Softens a Poignant Farewell in This Sci-Fi Short Story

Take a reading break with "The Last Lucid Day" by Dominique Dickey, courtesy of Lightspeed Magazine.

io9 Lightspeed Jul 18

Read A Short Story Prequel To Fight Club, Featuring Tyler Durden

Fight Club author Chuck Palahniuk’s new book of short stories comes out later this month, and among them is a story featuring the enigmatic Tyler Durden. That story, “Expedition,” is already online, so we can read what happens when a self-important writer looking to exploit the denizens of a vice district encounters Tyler. Mashable snagged…

io9 Lauren Davis May 14

It’s The 174th Birthday Of The Detective Story, So Read The Very First!

Or re-read, more likely. Take a coffee break and enjoy Edgar Allan Poe’s The Murders in the Rue Morgue, published in 1841 in Graham’s Lady’s and Gentlemen’s Magazine (and written before the word “detective” was in use). Read it via the Poe Museum’s website, among other short-story selections, here. Image via Biography.com

Tech News Cheryl Eddy Apr 20

Read A Brand-New Short Story By Stephen King

As the big-screen adaptation ofIt rumbles into existence with Cary Fukunaga at the helm, Stephen King’s been keeping busy. A new story by the author appears in the March 9th issue of The New Yorker. It’s a Western, and it’s all about justice (or injustice?), and you can read it here. Photo by Flickr user…

io9 Cheryl Eddy Mar 2

Plan 9‘s Ed Wood Wrote This Horror Tale From The Mummy’s Perspective

Low-brow director Ed Wood is best known for his films like Glen or Glenda, Bride of the Monster, and, most notoriously, Plan 9 from Outer Space. But he also wrote prose fiction, including a tale of Egyptian archaeological horror written from the mummy’s point of view. Boing Boing has the full text of The Day…

io9 Lauren Davis Sep 17

Score to a Drone Battle

The track is “-” — just a hyphen — by the Teapot. The initial crunch has the foreboding intensity of a robot army slowly making its way through thick snow. It’s a rough, scratchy white noise that comes in deep, mechanical clusters. If I could draw, I would draw a story that “-” suggests. There…

Tech News Marc Weidenbaum Jun 11

Now THIS Is How You Tell A Disney Villain’s Side Of The Story

Maleficent had its misses as a recontextualizing of one of Disney’s greatest villains, but fortunately, we also have this short story from Digger creator Ursula Vernon, explaining why the sea witch Ursula really took the Little Mermaid’s voice—to prevent human colonization under the sea. In “The Sea Witch Sets the Record Straight,” Vernon presents Ursula…

io9 Lauren Davis May 30

Little-Known Stephen King Book Gets A Movie Deal

It’s good to be the King. Back in March, horror author Stephen King released a little ebook titled Bad Little Kid, specifically for his German and French fans. So it was, naturally, released in German and French. But clearly someone translated it, because Bad Little Kid is getting a movie deal. THR is reporting that…

Movies Meredith Woerner May 5

A short story about 2023 London, where temps bid on hourly jobs

Nicki is an unskilled worker in 2023 London, and spends her days hopping from hourly job to hourly job after underbidding the competition. Spend a day with Nicki as she tries to work the future employment system. Arup,Social Life, Re.Work, Commonplace, Tim Maughan, and Nesta collaborated on the Future Londoners project, which envisioned ten London…

io9 Lauren Davis Sep 21

Graffiti is a profound artistic act in a future ruled by ads

Author Tim Maughan has remade his cyberpunk short story “Paintwork” as an experimental film. In a future where we’re constantly bombarded by high-tech advertising, one street artist decides to take back control of one public space by turning a classic billboard into art. Inspired by Chris Marker’s classic film La Jetée, Maughan and the New…

io9 Lauren Davis Apr 21

Read a new Doctor Who story starring Harry Houdini and a race of Space Cuckoos

If you can’t wait until Christmas for your next Doctor Who fix, the BBC is running a new illustrated Doctor Who short story, Houdini and The Space Cuckoos, in which the Eleventh Doctor enlists the famed escape artist’s help in defeating a race of giant, body-possessing birds. Joseph Lidster, who has written many Doctor Who…

io9 Lauren Davis Dec 23

Stephen King’s witchy short story “Gramma” heads to the big screen

We’ve got another low budget horror movie for everyone to get excited about. News has it that Stephen King’s short story “Gramma” (which you may remember from the Skeleton Crew collection, or its brief appearance on The New Twilight Zone in 1986) is getting its own movie. Variety is reporting that Universal has tapped The…

io9 Meredith Woerner Oct 26

Concept Art Writing Prompt: The Skeleton of the Cyborg Astronaut

After last week’s Comic-Con-induced hiatus, we’re back this week with a new Concept Art Writing Prompt! Something unpleasant may have befallen this technologically integrated astronaut, leaving behind only an intriguing skeleton. What happened? Come up with a story and post it in the comments. This week’s artistic inspiration is titled “Hypersleep” and it was created…

io9 Lauren Davis Jul 21

Before the aliens arrive, we’ll have to clean up the bachelor pad Earth

It would be kind of embarrassing if aliens from a more advanced civilization showed up tomorrow and found the mess of disease, war, and poverty we still haven’t gotten around to cleaning up. Zach Weiner’s illustrated short story “The Bachelor” describes humanity’s frantic effort to make the planet presentable before our alien houseguests arrive. Many…

Books & Comics Lauren Davis May 19

Read Alien, retold from the cat’s perspective

Only one character in Alien has the wits and wherewithal to survive to the end of the movie at Ripley’s side: Jones the cat. While everyone else on Nostromo was screaming like chickens with their chests ripped open, Jones exhibited the cool becoming a cat. Now Jones finally gets to tell his side of the…

io9 Lauren Davis Jan 28

Cloverfield director is adapting the original paranoid “aliens among us” short story

Let Me In and Cloverfield director Matt Reeves is adapting Ray Nelson’s short story 8 O’Clock in the Morning for film, read it now! The story, about a man who wakes up one day realizing that aliens are secretly controlling everything, was the original inspiration behind They Live. And this presumably means Cloverfield 2 is…

Movies Meredith Woerner Apr 11

How you can help Neil Gaiman’s “The Price” get made into CG movie

An unknown filmmaker is attempting to bring his eerie vision of Neil Gaiman’s short story “The Price” to life, with Gaiman’s blessing. But this project needs your help — here’s how. Animator and filmmaker Chris Salmon has started a Kickstarter page in attempt to raise enough money ($150,000) to bring his CG-animated vision of “The…

Movies Meredith Woerner Nov 8

Charles Yu shops with zombies at Wal-Mart

The author of How to Live Safely in a Science Fiction Universe shares a surprising zombie story for Halloween. A pair of big box store employees find a zombie in their midst, but the encounter doesn’t go as expected. George Romero had his mall in Dawn of the Dead, and Yu has decided to place…

io9 Lauren Davis Oct 31

New Zombie Romance Will Rip The Guts Out Of Your Crappy Romantic Comedies

Isaac Marion‘s zombie love story is set to be made into a film by The Wackness director Jonathan Levine. Check out the short melodramtic love story that sparked Marion’s novel, along with the original book trailer. The Playlist is reporting that Levine has paired up with Summit to bring this dark comedy to life. We…

Movies Meredith Woerner Jan 20

short story

An Abandoned Amusement Park Contains Multitudes in This Sci-Fi Short Story

Technology Softens a Poignant Farewell in This Sci-Fi Short Story

Read A Short Story Prequel To Fight Club, Featuring Tyler Durden

It’s The 174th Birthday Of The Detective Story, So Read The Very First!

Read A Brand-New Short Story By Stephen King

Plan 9‘s Ed Wood Wrote This Horror Tale From The Mummy’s Perspective

Score to a Drone Battle

Now THIS Is How You Tell A Disney Villain’s Side Of The Story

Little-Known Stephen King Book Gets A Movie Deal

A short story about 2023 London, where temps bid on hourly jobs

Graffiti is a profound artistic act in a future ruled by ads

Read a new Doctor Who story starring Harry Houdini and a race of Space Cuckoos

Stephen King’s witchy short story “Gramma” heads to the big screen

Concept Art Writing Prompt: The Skeleton of the Cyborg Astronaut

Before the aliens arrive, we’ll have to clean up the bachelor pad Earth

Read Alien, retold from the cat’s perspective

Cloverfield director is adapting the original paranoid “aliens among us” short story

How you can help Neil Gaiman’s “The Price” get made into CG movie

Charles Yu shops with zombies at Wal-Mart

New Zombie Romance Will Rip The Guts Out Of Your Crappy Romantic Comedies

Pro-Iran Hackers Target Critical U.S. Energy and Water Infrastructure

‘She-Hulk’ Was Apparently One of Marvel’s Most Successful Shows

The World’s First Eye-Tracking Smart Glasses Are Intriguing and Unpolished

Noah Hawley Is Remaking ‘Terrified,’ Which Shouldn’t Happen

Unprecedented Observation Reveals 2 Supermassive Black Holes Locked in a Tight Death Spiral

This Apple MacBook Pro Is Now Under $500 After 78% Off, Grade-A Refurb Deal (16GB RAM, 1TB SSD, Touch Bar)

Anthropic Launches ‘Project Glasswing’ to Stealthily Spot Cybersecurity Issues for Rivals

Tiny Robots Reveal Hidden Ocean Chemistry in Low-Oxygen Waters

Aqara Thermostat Hub W200 Review: Almost Better than My Ecobee

HP Omen Max 45L Review: 4K60 Gaming Has Never Been So Easy

Ecovacs Winbot W3 Omni Review: Window Cleaning Robots Have a Long Way to Go

AirPods Max 2 vs. Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen): Which ANC Headphones Win?

The Best Gadgets of March 2026

AirPods Max 2 Review: Still Ridiculously Expensive and Ridiculously Nice

DJI Osmo 360 Review: The Best 360 Camera for the DJI-Pilled

Aqara Smart Lock U400 Review: Hands-free Unlocking at Its Best

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