by Yudhanjaya Wijeratne A story from the Salvage Crew universe BOOT CYCLE 3,0402CLEAR BUFFER I left home when I was three. Or rather, I should say they made me leave. I would have stayed there forever, surrounded by the comforting glow of florescent lights.But instead they threw us all out.My first memories of childhood are all of darkness. There was a dusting of stars. Anything that could seduce me –… Read More »ODYSSEUS
by Yudhanjaya Wijeratne First published in Chronicle Worlds: Crime and Punishment (Future Chronicles 21) “But I am a blasted tree; the bolt has entered my soul; and I felt then that I should survive to exhibit, what I shall soon cease to be – a miserable spectacle of wrecked humanity, pitiable to others, and intolerable to myself.” Mary Shelley, Frankenstein One Beatnik woke to the sound of darkness.It was that… Read More »Beatnik
by Yudhanjaya Wijeratne First published 2018, in Future Visions (Goodreads link) I wish my mother would die. A son is not supposed to say such things, but there comes a time. Look at her, now. All alone in this dark room. It stinks of dying––you know that rotting, sickly-sweet smell that old people give off, that nasal vomit that every part of your secret mind tells you to run, run… Read More »The Writing Contest
by Yudhanjaya Wijeratne First published 2019, in Horizons Beyond (Goodreads link) It was when the riot began that Jordan noticed that his arms were missing. The other students, of course, never noticed: they screamed, they charged, and when the dust settled, their bodies lay scattered across the ground, knocked down like so many bowling pins. He tried to count them. One. Two. Thirty. A hundred. He could have sworn… Read More »Ozymandias
by Yudhanjaya Wijeratne First published 2018, in 2054 (Goodreads link) Picture the ocean on a stormy night. Wave fronts breaking under the storm. Water tossing, turning, frothing, a heaving mass of black that was once blue. A deepness so vast and so profound it would crush your bones long before you even hit the bottom. Go down. Past the point where men drown and the thunder and lightning fade… Read More »Deep Ocean Blues