Solar flares accelerate the reversal of the Earth’s magnetic poles, causing worldwide power outages that make most electronics technology impossible. Weakening magnetic fields allow fatal levels of solar radiation to pass through to the Earth’s surface, making large swathes of the planet uninhabitable. Entire countries empty out as millions migrate towards the Equator, where the magnetic field temporarily preserves a zone of habitability in which the last functioning human settlements cluster. Eventually, everyone is forced to confront the possibility of seeking refuge underground as the magne ..read more

The Captain sighed. “By the time this lands, we’ll be out there, too.” “Not a bad end.” They watched the corpse shimmer in reflected starlight. In a century, it would be too far to be recognizable. But their descendants would have a trail of stars pointing all the way back to Earth ..read more

0. Don’t worry. The fact that you are reading this implies that your universe exists. We recognize unease regarding the blink. This is normal. Anxiety is to be expected. The following list of considerations has been created to address this understandable concern. 1. Don’t worry. What you are about to experience, though becoming common, is not actually physically possible. It is a well established scientific principle that the amount of energy required to accelerate even a single colonizing vessel beyond light speed is more than the energy contained in the entire universe. 2. Nonetheless, it wi ..read more

In the weeks leading up to the visit from his other woman, my man buys the following things—an expensive telescope, a fold-out camping chair, a book of star maps—then sets up his makeshift observatory by the toolshed out back. His other woman has an orbital period of 5.6 years. He told me an easy way to remember is it’s slightly longer than Kowal’s Comet. I said I’d only heard of the famous one, Halley’s. He frowned: “Oh, well, that one’s much longer, about 75.” Caty’s man, Henry, his other woman has an orbital period of 0.63 years. That’s every seven and a half months. He doesn’t even bring h ..read more

Far from Earth, in a peculiar region of dead space, hang dark stars that somehow seem yet to blaze. Ship pulled into orbit by groping gravity; sensors showing nothing – something strange – normality – nothing again. Crews’ minds’ eyes reveal more – mad shapes, contorted, longing for release – through the depthless void. As they wait, watch, the dark star seems to snap open like a silent and lightless nova, revealing life at its heart. From within, a writhing black singularity takes form inside minds seeking to impose image, order upon something unimaginable, entirely alien. It reaches out, des ..read more

Every summer solstice, we trailed Father as he sought Lord Shiva’s home. The quest for the mythical place was his, yet he required us to be servants of a kind, carrying his gear and his hopes. We never bested the raging winds of a crevasse which looked like a frown from afar. In our teens we complained that we no longer wanted to climb Kanchenjunga. We much preferred to sing, dance, and drink beers. We moved away, found love and heartbreak, and joked about Crazy Father. After returning home one summer, Father answered the door in furs, the only visible area his nose and round cheeks. He handed ..read more

“Stars are an invitation to imagine – we weave them into our understanding of the world that we live in as well as the possibilities that exist beyond it.” It was that thought that inspired Tiffany Morris, a Mi’kmaw writer of speculative poetry from K’jipuktuk (Halifax) to pen ‘To The World Beyond The Sky,’  her 200-word entry in Stargazers. As earth struggles through its last breaths, what remains of humanity plan their escape to an exoplanet in the sky. Among them is Sisip, who in her final moments on the land her ancestors called home, chooses to scrawl down their storie ..read more

I shoulder through the protesters, a motley collection of Christians whose signs quote Genesis, and the liberationists, each keeping their distance from one another. When they see I’m not one of them, that I’m making for the doors of the stadium, I draw some glares, but they part. At six feet I’m the tallest woman there, and bulky enough that my mass alone is intimidating. I show my press pass, and a trio of security men in identical gunmetal suits go through their routine, each in turn comparing my face to the photo on my Florida driver’s license. Two of them escort me in: one ahead, another ..read more

Emryr pinches the boarding pass between her claws. Her ruby nostrils flare, and a wisp of smoke—fortunately not large enough to set off any alarms—emerges from one of them. “Economy? You promised this would be an adventure.” “It will be,” I say, shifting my luggage on my hip as I pull up the code for our tickets on my cell phone and scan it at the kiosk. What could be more adventurous than flying to Hawaii to observe an active volcano? Though I’m beginning to think that when I finally gave in to Emryr’s griping and let her choose this year’s vacation spot, I should’ve limited her options to lo ..read more

After three hours in the back country they found their first spoor, a tuft of fur clinging to the bark of a pear tree whose leaves had already gone to gold and orange. “Do you think it’s a buck?” Daniel asked. “Maybe,” his dad said. “A big one?” “You should scan it.” “Okay.” The boy handed the rifle to his dad and got close to the tree. “Remember your tweezers, so there’s no cross contamination.” Daniel glared at his dad and showed him the little plastic tweezers. “Good.” The boy plucked fragments of fur from the bark and dropped them into the clear plastic container topping his phone. His fin ..read more