A COLLECTION OF UNFORGETTABLE FICTION
Can losing your memories make you stronger? Can it be a form of recreation? What happens when the difference between memory and reality becomes blurred?
From hard science fiction to space opera with a taste of the surreal along the way, this anthology explores the intersection of memory, technology, identity, and reality.
- Forget Me Not — Can a bad memory be the secret to success? [~2,600 words]
- The Screen Savior — What happens when a screen saver comes to life… [~1,400 words]
- The Most Complicated Avatar — A woman can’t find her 10-year-old daughter in real life… But, maybe, she can find her online. [~1,300 words]
- A Second Enchanted Evening — Bomani convinces his wife to join him in using memory drugs to make their anniversary more romantic; instead, the drugs force them to face the true state of their relationship. [~6,800 words]
- “Viewers Like You” — In the future, androids will pay you to watch TV. [~1,800 words]
- We Can Remember It For You Retail — What happens when memory, technology, love, and digital rights intersect. [~3,600 words]
- The Opposite of Suicide — Dennis discovers the fragile, fractile nature of his life. [~1,500 words]
- Small Smooth Pebble — The ultimate choice is always at her fingertips. [~100 words]
- On the Eve of the Apocalypse — A letter written as the world ends. [~700 words]
- My Magic, My Spell — An ice mage reflects on the spell that was stolen from her. [~1,800 words]
- Anger is a Porcupine, Sadness is a Fish — A woman returns to her village to find herself beset by another’s spells. [~900 words]
- Returning the Lyre — What if the snake had bitten Orpheus instead of Eurydice? [~2,500 words]
- The Fish Kite — Joan is visited by a forgetful figure from her past. [~2,000 words]
- Memory Sprites — A camping trip full of memories. [~700 words]
- Crystal and Rainbow — Musings on the power of an accurate metaphor. [~500 words]
- Necessary as a Rose — Alone on a spaceship with nothing for company but a rose. [~X00 words]
- Flowers Want to Be Free — When concrete covers the world, a single dandelion becomes a marvel. [~1,300 words]
- Techno Babel — A parking garage arm gains sentience. [~2,300 words]
- The City In Your Toaster Oven — An artist makes a difficult and dangerous climb in hopes of creating an artwork so magnificent it will speak to the god of her world. [~800 words]
- The Hand-Havers — At the tender age of one-hand, Delundia falls for a wise old six-handed bachelor. [~4,700 words]
- Foreknowledge — Before she’s even born, Amanda’s death is predicted. [~4,200 words]
- Heaven is the Best Moment of Your Life, Infinitely Remixed and Played on Loop — A woman learns something surprising about her memories while having a personalized heaven designed for her. [~3,000 words]
- Two Roads Diverge — A woman consults visions in a hypercrystal to decide whether she wants to have a child or not. [~900 words]
- Where Have All the Mousies Gone — A mouse brings her grandmother back after ten years, for one last moment. [~1,000 words]
- Meet Archive — A story-teller gets lost in his own stories. [~2,400 words]
Paperback available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other booksellers.
Ebook available from Amazon (Kindle), Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, Smashwords, and more!
By Mary E. Lowd. Published by Deep Sky Anchor Press (February 29, 2024).