map Macro-Fiction Archives

Losing Luster

Issue No. 284 ~ January, 2021

A quantum bit of information—called a qubit—can have two values at the same time. With the qubit, you can store more information because you have information in all of its possible states, whereas, in the classical memory system, only one can be stored. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/08/130814-physics-quantum-computing-teleportation-star-trek-qubit-science/   …

The Maze

Issue No. 284 ~ January, 2021

I almost got out today. It was by accident, though— I only turned this way to get a view of performance charts. It had slipped my mind where the exit was. That’s when the lights went off, and all the lab assistants came running, peering …

We the People

Issue No. 284 ~ January, 2021

Delirium We the people of Covid-19 are balloons floating amidst a wave of sorrow. We weep on benches and stare at the moon. We hollow out dreams. We walk on water and see things we wouldn’t want your children seeing. Children with animal heads. Nurses …

Long Range Forecast

Issue No. 283 ~ December, 2020

Loneliness approaches slowly. Often you don’t notice it until it’s already smothering you from every direction, cornering you in the dirty fly-infested kitchen at three in the morning while you are drunk and vulnerable, feet aching from walking all the way home in borrowed shoes. …

Syon and Me

Issue No. 283 ~ December, 2020

A New York Times editorial by seems-like-a-smart-guy, Syon Bhanot of Swarthmore College, urges me to tamp down my desire to return to normal socialization. No one has to convince me to stay at home. My nails look terrible. Syon—I feel we are close enough after …

Childhood’s End

Issue No. 281 ~ October, 2020

  We compete for who can launch farthest from the highest arc of the swing, then tussle together and dust off. “I win,” I screech for all the universe to hear. “I’m going to be Colored.” I spin around until I’m so dizzy the sky …

Senescence

Issue No. 281 ~ October, 2020

In October, when the temperature was eighty-five degrees, Sarah put on a blue wool turtleneck, turned the air conditioning in her car to sixty, and drove to the grocery store in search of fall. She turned right when she spotted the red-leaved trees—not exactly towering …

The Wine Container

Issue No. 281 ~ October, 2020

This is the story of Messer Dezza, a middle-aged Milanese businessman who, after years of suffering the famous oppressive heat and the annoying mosquitoes of the Po flatland and being tormented by the traffic noise and the hustle and bustle of the city, decided to …

What is Deserved

Issue No. 280 ~ September, 2020

Julie’s face hardens to match her thoughts. Sid might be her only son, but he has no right to tell her what to do. The wooden cremation container, now emptied of her late husband’s ashes, makes a great footstool. Haven’t other lodge residents said how …

The Beginning of an End

Issue No. 280 ~ September, 2020

After returning the pamphlet to where it had lain, Johan shouldered on his jacket, slumped down onto the porch, and pulled on his leather shoes – tying the final knot, muddied water wrung out onto the tongue. ‘What does it mean by ‘verdant’?’ He thought. …