Tag / sci-fi

by Warren Benedetto

Three drabbles published in Drabbledark II

Three of my horror drabbles have been published in the Drabbledark II anthology by Shacklebound Books.

  • Everything Your Know About Witches is about a witch being burned at the stake, who insists that everything her killer knows about witches is wrong.
  • The Angel is about a father and daughter eating their last meal before the zombies comes.
  • The Last Fantasy is a sci-fi horror about a brain upload technician who browses through his beautiful patient’s mind drive in search of her deepest, darkest fantasies.
by Warren Benedetto

“Blame” published by The Dread Machine

My techno-horror story Blame has been published by The Dread Machine. It’s a “found footage” story consisting of emails, Slack conversations, Reddit threads, phone transcripts, and more unusual artifacts like git commits, JIRA tickets, door entry logs … even a Walmart receipt.

Also, like many found footage tales, the story is ultimately pieced together based on incomplete information. Multiple reads of the story should reveal new hidden details that change the your interpretation of the ending.

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).

by Warren Benedetto

“Unarmed” published by Metastellar

My dystopian political story Unarmed has been published by Metastellar. It’s a story about a citizen fighting back against a cult-like authoritarian leader who is driving the country toward another Civil War. I wrote it in mid-2020, before the last election, and before the Jan 6th insurrection. It’s scary and sad how prescient it has ended up being. Hopefully life will stop imitating art before we’re this far gone. It’s available to read for free here.