Tag / sci-fi

by Warren Benedetto

“A Free Man” published by Metastellar

My cyberpunk story A Free Man has been published by MetaStellar. In a world where you can purchase a synthetic replica of a person from a vending machine, the best person to frame for a crime you committed may be yourself.

The days of identity theft being just a stolen credit card or Social Security number were long gone—criminals could steal a person’s actual identity with something as simple as a 3D holoscan of their likeness. Except for a small microdot array at the base of its neck, a synthetic was indistinguishable from an actual human.

by Warren Benedetto

Three drabbles published in the Dark Stars anthology

Three of my sci-fi horror drabbles have been published in the Dark Stars anthology from Shacklebound Books.

  • A young woman asks her AI assistant to help her pick out a wedding dress in The Fitting Room.
  • A pair of astronauts wonder what to do when there’s An Angel in the Airlock.
  • When a traveler to Jupiter awakes from cryosleep too early, he realizes he should have read The Fine Print.
by Warren Benedetto

Listen to “A Free Man” on the Simultaneous Times podcast

The audio production of my cyberpunk story A Free Man is now available on the Simultaneous Times podcast by Space Cowboy Books. This episode was done in collaboration with Shacklebound Books, which published A Free Man in their anthology, The Mods: Cyberpunk Stories. The story starts around the 8:00 mark.

by Warren Benedetto

Listen to “Set For Life” for free at DMM’s Audiolab

The audio production of my cyberpunk story Set For Life is now available for free from the Dark Matter Magazine Audiolab. As with everything Dark Matter Magazine does, the quality of the production is exceptional.

The story is about a man’s first day on the job picking up bodies for Syntech and the disturbing secret about where they come from. It’s also the prequel to my novella Override (which appeared in Dark Matter Magazine Issues 007/008/009).

by Warren Benedetto

“Set For Life” published in Zero Dark Thirty anthology

My cyberpunk story Set For Life has been published in the Zero Dark Thirty anthology, which collects the 30 darkest stories from the first two years of Dark Matter Magazine (2021-2022). The story is about a man’s first day on the job picking up bodies for Syntech and the disturbing secret about where they come from. It’s also the prequel to my novella Override (which appeared in Dark Matter Magazine Issues 007/008/009).

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” now free to read in Martian Magazine

My sci-fi drabble What It Feels Like to Die is now free to read in 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

“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.”