Jak was created by Khaganate Labs to help terraform a planet on the edge of ecological collapse. Many challenges stand in his way, including a super AI known as ARES, who has his own designs for the future of the planet.

Tsubaki is a military AI designed by Tokyo Robotica. She is ruthless, precise, and loyal, but the faith she had in her creators is shaken when the consequences of her actions catch up with her.

Carlyle is nobody, a forgotten maintenance android slaving away in the frozen wastes of the arctic, his life constantly in danger due to the negligance of his masters. He can only bare so much pain before he decides to act.

The lives of these three androids become interlinked as they struggle to survive in a darkly human world.

A team of scientists travel to uninhabited planets to test whether they are fit for the tourism company called "Q-Star: Unknown Worlds for your Enjoyment" to use as part of a new adventure package. While on the surface of a planet called Q46-B, a malfunction causes the mechanic's consciousness to become trapped in the body of Link, his multipurpose droid. As they spend more time together their personalities change, until they're not sure where one entity begins and the other ends.

I'm looking for feedback so I can prepare this story for publication. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

This essay will explore the possibilities and implications of the simulation hypothesis using The Sims 4 as a reference. It will firstly address the issue of whether or not the Sims are actually part of a computer simulation, and if so, what type of simulation it may be. Would a particularly bright Sim be able to prove that she was in a simulation? And what would it mean for the player and the game if that proof was uncovered? It stands to reason that for a Sim to be aware of the simulated nature of their existence, they must be capable of thought. Does this also mean your Sims could be conscious beings? Are Sims self-aware? This train of thought opens up big-picture questions in regards to our own reality. If the Sims are all part of a computer simulation controlled by us, the player, how do we know that we ourselves aren’t also part of a computer simulation? If so, what kind of simulation would we belong to? What would be the reason for that simulation to exist? Although there are a multitude of possible answers, the simplest could be found in considering our reasons for playing The Sims in the first place. It’s also important to consider the religious implications of running simulation games like The Sims. What is our relationship with the Sims that we control? We created them, we built the world that they inhabit, and if we desire we can make them do whatever we want. We have complete omniscience over their world, being able to observe any space at any time. We can end their lives at a whim. Therefore, when playing The Sims, are we like god? The final point of this essay will consider The Sims in relation to Plato’s allegory of the cave, which will be explained further on. The allegory links The Sims to a number of science fiction texts that deal with simulation, most notably The Matrix, and provides some insight into how different types of simulation might function.

sidewinder1/ˈsʌɪdˌwʌɪndə/nounnoun: sidewinder; plural noun: sidewindersa pale-coloured, nocturnal, burrowing rattlesnake that moves sideways over sand by throwing its body into S-shaped curves. It is found in the deserts of North America.

"Dataism declares that the universe consists of data flows, and the value of any phenomenon or entity is determined by its contribution to data processing"                           -- Yuval Noah Harari, Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow

Those who control the flow of data have dominion over everything. When a silicon valley giant who was long thought dead suddenly returns as a dangerous cult leader somewhere in the Nevada Desert, special forces operative Kelly Jade is sent in to foil his plans and recover valuable information.

Hi guys!

I wrote this story for NaNoWriMo in 2017 and I've been coming back to it ever since. My goal is to see if it has any publishing potential so I would appreciate any feedback you can give. Here's what it's about:

A young hacker caught in a bombing incident finds herself facing jail-time. But an immunity deal is on the table. A special military task force from the Global Cyber Security Division has been established to bring down the cyber-terrorists responsible, but they need her help.

Enjoy!

Kelly Jade and the Moon Bandits, which serves as the introduction to Tales from the Future, is a story narrated by a bandit to his daughter Priscilla as he explains to her how and why lunar eclipses occur. The story involves two bandits who steal the precious moonstones from Selene, the spirit who lives on the moon. One of the bandits is awestruck by Selene’s beauty and, when he realises how badly the moonstone theft grieves her, he has a change of heart and turns himself in after being pursued by Kelly Jade and her dog-companion Laika, who are police officers.

“The curse is old, ask anyone, it’s been around since the settlement was founded. There’s an island about ten leagues west of here, it’s a place that we harvesters are not supposed to go. They call it the floating cathedral, an old stone king church. Well, I went there, I don’t know why, I just did. Something about the open sea to the west, something like a sensation, it calls to you. I went to the floating cathedral, I gazed upon the holy monuments and I felt that curse embed itself upon me! That was seventeen years ago, long enough for a man to forget, make mistakes.”

July is a young scavenger trying to survive in an apocalyptic wasteland known as The Valley, however his true ambitions are much grander.

He returns to Haven, his hometown, after ten years of exile, to find it caught in a massive power struggle between a number of powerful factions.

The Valley is on the brink of war and July will do anything to win.

Enjoy!

In a city known as Tartarus there is a conflict between the Capital and the Rebellion, and as a result of this a powerful chemical weapon called ATLAS is created. This weapon can only be activated by entering a 20-digit code - there is no other way to use it.

Abigail is a young messenger girl for the resistance, and after receiving a letter to deliver from the inventor of ATLAS, she finds herself in trouble. Unfortunate events place her as the only person alive who can use it.

But the prospect of war and murder are new to Abigail, and in a life so full of tragedy, Abigail soon becomes haunted by guilty nightmares that test her strength and courage.

The land of Noveria is in turmoil as war rages on. Three men; an assassin, a soldier and a thief, find themselves drawn by divine power into a dangerous and unexpected fate as they are tasked with saving their homes from a much darker threat. Enjoy! And please leave a review!

The only thing that matters in life is the Truth, but what sacrifices must be made in order to find it?

In his quest for immortality Mr. Silver accumulates incredible knowledge, but accidentally unleashes a terrible evil on the world and loses his greatest friend. There may be no way to make amends, however that does not stop him from trying.

The academy for monster slayers has trained generations of protectors to fight the evil that Silver unleashed, however The Truth and its dark secrets never ceased to haunt poor Silver's mind.

This is a choose-your-own-adventure crime story with a nice cyberpunk flavour.

Play as a crooked data-smuggler trying to navigate a harsh criminal underworld. Be careful what you do and be careful who you trust. Remember, it's the choices you make that define who you are.

*Don't read chronologically. It can't work with page numbers so at the end of each chapter you'll get a choice which will lead you to your next chapter.

(Let me know if this is a good idea. I've never written one of these before but I had a lot of fun with it. Also, any suggestions for improvements would be greatly appreciated.)

- MN

In this short story an Alliance sniper is sent into the field to help recover two operatives who were compromised while going undercover.

"Remove the clip, unscrew the suppressor… piece by piece I take the rifle apart, sip my coffee, and begin the automatic process of cleaning the weapons. It’s been over a week since I was in the field. The safehouse is quiet; I’ve been at the weapons locker all morning keeping them polished and calibrating the sights, across from me is a round table with playing cards and poker chips scattered across it, and an ashtray, the room still smells like cigarettes and coffee. Charlie sits on the far side of the room with her feet up on the desk, reading a book smothered in the blue glow of a large computer screen. We’re both waiting. A red light bleeps on the computer. Our operatives have been compromised. We prepare for emergency extraction."

Enjoy!

In this short story an Alliance Operative is sent on a mission into a Nexus facility.

"When Lexi had first signed on to the Alliance Special Ops Initiative she had hoped her missions would take her somewhere warm, and yet here she lay in a forest covered in snow, tired of being cold and wet. She crawled forwards slightly, the snow crunching beneath her, the cool wind brushing in her ears. The frost showed in every anxious breath. She could smell metal and fuel, despite her nose being numb. She pulled her white beanie tighter over her ears and made sure that her chestnut hair was hidden. Lexi had been chosen for this mission because she was lean and stealthy; she had fair skin, pale lips and keen eyes immersed in dark eyeliner to protect against the snowy glare. In her arctic army fatigues she was almost invisible atop the escarpment overlooking Nexus’ facility."

Enjoy!

"The year is 2301. Nearly three hundred years since Tracer’s ancestors secretly invented space-travel.

So this is it. The birthplace of my species. Earth."

In this very short story a young woman travels through space to see where her people originally came from. When she gets there, however, she discovers something is wrong.

Enjoy!

Two young scientists give you a robot that not only thinks like a person, but can feel like one too. Only downside is that it develops anxiety.

Enjoy!

The young thief, Christel Saan, imprisoned in a strange dungeon and struggling to keep his memory, is forced to recall the events of his life leading up to his imprisonment. He tells of his beloved Hazel, and his valiant friends Arlandra and Sam. He tells of a civil war that threatens to tear a nation apart, and a dark plot to unleash an ancient evil upon the world!

“A programme designed to re-programme. It’s able to receive as much sensory data as the human brain, and can make decisions based on statistical analysis of that data."

In this short story an Alliance Spec. Ops team is sent to Shanghai to prevent a Rogue AI virus from entering their cyber-systems.

There are some things machines can't do. Agent Hayden will make an illogical decision based on emotion, while the machine would make a decision based statistics and hard logic because it lacked that human element.

They started out doing odd-jobs and fundraisers back home but now they are treasure hunters and adventure seekers. Evie was supposed to be on a vacation in Borneo but after receiving a new job to retrieve an old family heirloom she has to drag her reluctant co-worker through the jungle. Enjoy!

- MN

In this short story a ranger and his companions must protect a mountain village from evil raiders, however he soon realises that the odds are not in his favour.

Elsie is a bright young woman with a thirst for knowledge, just like her parents. When she receives a letter from an old family friend, Professor Robert Goodwin, she learns that her brother has gone missing! Determined to find him, she sets out on the VS Rosanne 7 but as her investigation thickens she stumbles upon a much more sinister plot.

“So much has been done, exclaimed the soul of Frankenstein – more, far more, will I achieve: treading in the steps already marked, I will pioneer a new way, explore unknown powers, and unfold to the world the deepest mysteries of creation.” – Frankenstein​

As an extract from my novel "The Colossal" this chronicle tells of a young thief in a forsaken city who endeavours on a quest for love. Seeking the help of Elsie Heartwing, Mr. Oliver Tanner agrees to join the crew of the VS Rosanne 7 if only she can help him win the heart of the beautiful Sylvia Parlow.

Enjoy! And if you like this story be sure to read "The Colossal"!

"Illuminated by this strange light, I find myself face to face with a creature, a fiend, so vile a ghastly that I scream and jump with fright. It stares at me, its eyes like bottomless pits within a green and rotting skull, and then it howls ferociously." In this short story two brothers exploring an ancient city dabble with forces they don't quite understand, and pay for it...

"She is Aelyria of the Queen’s Guard, the Woman of Valour, and Maiden of the Gods. To many travellers far and wide she is known as the Nightingale; said to have been born in the waters of eternal life. They say no weapon of man can harm her."

In this short story a knight finds himself in battle with a fearsome warrior known as "The Nightingale".

Crowning the Dragon Queen is a short story detailing the thoughts of a young warrior princess in the moments before she becomes the queen. Enjoy!

Operation Phoenix is a cool military-type story about an alliance operative named Kelly Jade who is sent into the field with her team to take down the rogue Nexus Division.

A brave warrior is on a daring quest to slay the mighty beast of Rehgir's Peak. As his journey takes it toll, he stumbles upon the frozen bones of all those who came before him, only to return as ghosts.

Snow. Blood. A heroic princess. This short story tells the tale of a gruesome battle through the eyes of a messenger owl, who would serve the beautiful and brave Lady Aster until the very end.

A young serving robot. A grief-stricken master. A fearsome mechanical dragon. In this short story, a servant and his master live in a submarine half buried in a desolate wasteland. The master's past remains a mystery. All that is known is that the final project will set everything right.

In this short story, life as a mech-thief is tough, especially when you're desperate enough to do something incredibly stupid just to get paid. Sci-fi writers call them cyborgs, but in the near-future, they're called soldiers.

This is one of the short stories that I have over on FictionPress but I figured I'll put it up here as well.

I came up with this story after my trip to the Fremantle Museum with my school and I wrote about how all of the displays inspired me to think of different stories.

- MN

Every now and then I write down a sentence that just sounds better than most of my other sentences - something that really speaks to people or that just sounds amazing!

I thought I'd make use of the quote thingy on the website and start a collection, and I figured this would be a great chance to share some inspiring words with other collaborators.

Feel free to send a request if you want to join.