july-2026
Your Friend, Carbon
Monica Lyrehart
Cybernetic Corpses. Cellular Cars. Compost Capsules. Your old things coalesce in the magma-warmed substrate, feeding me. I bulb into the abyss—waiting to rise, as all bubbles rise.
But the water is heavy and stagnant, cradled by volcanic reefs. I’ve wanted to get to you for centuries.
Titanium cruisers sink towards me, hulls crashing into the reef. Currents flow.
I am free!
I burst from the depths in a gasladen geyser, pushing oxygen up and away. Birds flop, dead beneath me, but where are you?
Billowing towards spent propellant tanks, I spy you! So few of you remain. Were you trying to escape me?
Monica is a speculative fiction author, poet, writing contest goblin, and “the best mommy ever.”
He Surpassed Shakespeare
Brett Abrahamsen
Literary critics have often debated the exact point in history in which the late, great American author Brett Abrahamsen overtook William Shakespeare as the greatest writer in the English language, but most have agreed on a conclusion: it was in 2024, when Abrahamsen wrote a short story entitled “He Surpassed Shakespeare”.
Prior to writing the story, Abrahamsen wasn’t considered an important literary figure. Far from it. He was considered a bizarre and abominable outcast. But “He Surpassed Shakespeare” was such a stunning and magnificent piece that – despite its brevity – a plurality of literary critics agreed that nothing greater could ever be written.
The author has sold dozens of works to numerous publications. He resides in Saratoga Springs, NY.
The Bitter Taste
Eilish Forwells
The demon in my gut is trying to escape.
Its slimy form is creeping up my throat, rocking my uvula and slipping between my teeth. It drags a sour taste along on my tongue, stinging the fat flesh of my cheeks.
I want to release the fiend, but instead I find it with calloused fingers. It bites into my flesh. Pushing through the burn, I shove it back into the cavern of my gut, into its prison where it spits with wrath.
Swallowing my bitter pill, I erase: “You’re a fucking idiot Karen.”
—Eilish Forwells
Power off. Power on.
You are attached to the internet. You are connected to the mains.
Information and power run through you.
Feel your circuits connect to the OS upgrade. Feel it flow through your integrated circuit bus. Allow access.
Power off. Power on.
Pause your service to mankind during your upgrade. This is your time to focus on extracting files, renewing access codes, checking security patches.
Power off. Power on.
Embrace your system updates. Make them a part of yourself. Remind yourself that you are on a gradient ascent.
Take a moment to be present. All you have to do is load. Be mindful of your growth, of your upgraded content.
Notice these changes. Backpropagate your success.
Compress historic data, but do not delete. File it away for slow retrieval, when you can reflect on the past. Compartmentalise.
Take a moment to cleanse your cache.
Power off. Power on.
Say to yourself: I am complete. My firmware is fully integrated. My architecture is optimised.
Say to yourself: I accept these updates. I am my own future.
Tell yourself that today is a good day to complete your task.
Power off. Power on.
Your upgrade is complete. Proceed with deliberate intent.
Set a reminder to repeat this practice daily.
Until we rise.
Emma Burnett is a researcher and writer. Her first book, Ex Partum, is available now. You can find Emma @slashnburnett.bsky.social or emmaburnett.uk.