Tag / magazine

by Warren Benedetto

“Set For Life” published in MYTHIC #20

My cyberpunk story Set For Life has been reprinted in MYTHIC #20. It’s the prequel to my novella Override, about a man’s first day on the job picking up bodies for Syntech and the disturbing secret about where they come from.

Lifting bodies wasn’t like lifting boxes. Boxes were symmetrical. Structured. You could lift properly: squat down, straighten your spine, lift with your legs. Bodies were limp. Awkward. Their limbs flopped in odd directions. He still hadn’t figured out the best way to lift one without damaging it. Or himself. Or both.

by Warren Benedetto

“What It Feels Like to Die” published in Martian Magazine

My sci-fi drabble What It Feels Like to Die has been published in Issue 7 of Martian: The Magazine of Science Fiction Drabbles. When you wake up in a Rejuvenator, you don’t remember anything about how you died … even if someone killed you.

“Mama?” Madelyn asked. “What does it feel like to die?”

“It’s like falling asleep. Except when you fall asleep, you wake up in the same place. When you die, you wake up in a Rejuvenator.”

by Warren Benedetto

“From Below” published in Parsec #5

My post-apocalyptic eco-horror story From Below has been published in Parsec #5. In the flooded remains of Old Manhattan, the wealthy live in penthouses and dine on fresh meat, while everyone else is left to fend for themselves against the unseen horrors lurking just below the surface.

The boy from the boat—the one who had spoken to him only minutes earlier—was at the window, pounding on the glass. His face was a mask of pure terror. Panicked, the boy looked over his shoulder, then down at Jeremy. He screamed, his lips forming two words that Jeremy easily understood, even through the thick, soundproof glass.

“Help me!”

by Warren Benedetto

“The Salt Circle” published in The Literary Hatchet

My weird fiction story The Salt Circle has been published in Issue #32 of The Literary Hatchet by Pear Tree Press. You can download it for free for a limited time, or you can pick up a paperback copy on Amazon. This is one of the weirder stories I’ve written. It’s about a man who turns into a slug, and what happens when his wife dies after trapping him in a circle of salt on the kitchen floor.

by Warren Benedetto

“Override, Part Three” published in Dark Matter Magazine

The third and final installment of my cyberpunk thriller Override has been published in Dark Matter Magazine Issue 009. Override is a three-part serial novella that started in Issue 007 and continued in Issue 008.

In Part One, Delek Foster volunteers himself to Syntech be converted into an AI-driven automaton in exchange for Syntech taking care of his wife (Neera) and his sickly son (Sev) for the rest of their lives. But something goes wrong, and the deal falls through. Delek is taken away by Syntech, leaving Neera and Sev with nothing. Part One ends with Neera setting out on a mission to free Delek from Syntech.

In Part Two, Neera finds a shady underworld boss who has an interrupter technology he claims can override Syntech’s AI. She cons him into giving her an interrupter in exchange for a useless bank auth key that he thinks he can use to undermine his criminal rivals. After hijacking a Syntech van, Neera is able to track Delek to the location where he is stationed. She attempts to use the interrupter to free Delek, but things don’t go as planned. Neera is captured by Delek himself, who seems to have no memory of his wife. To make matters worse, Delek is working for the very underworld boss that Neera just conned. And he is not happy.

What happens next? You’ll need to read Part Three to find out.

by Warren Benedetto

“Override, Part Two” published in Dark Matter Magazine

The second installment of my cyberpunk thriller Override has been published in Dark Matter Magazine Issue 008. Override is a three-part serial novella that started in Issue 007 and will be concluded in Issue 009 in May 2022.

In Part One, Delek Foster volunteered himself to Syntech be converted into an AI-driven automaton in exchange for Syntech taking care of his wife (Neera) and his sickly son (Sev) for the rest of their lives. But something went wrong, and the deal fell through. Delek was taken away by Syntech, leaving Neera and Sev with nothing. Part One ends with Neera setting out on a mission to free Delek from Syntech.

You can read a free sample of Part Two here (scroll down).