Stories by Austen Tucker

Read the strange little fire.

Speculative fiction, essays, and build notes by Austen Tucker. New writing when it’s ready. Free. One-click unsubscribe.

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Four good places to enter the work.

fiction
Carl
An aging Floor-Mart android is told it is time to turn himself in, but he has only ever known how to keep working.
About 38 min read
Read Carl
fiction
Cold Boot
Jamie discovers the Zoo, a private full-dive server where nobody asks her to prove she belongs before setting another place at the table.
About 31 min read
Read Cold Boot
essay
The Photograph of a River
Every AI productivity study is a photograph of a river. By the time you develop the film, the water has moved.
About 5 min read
Read The Photograph of a River
essay
I Thought I Had a Bad Memory. I Don't.
Sighted people use the world around them to help them remember thing. When you can't do that, your brain builds something different. Something that might actually be better in some cases.
About 8 min read
Read I Thought I Had a Bad Memory. I Don't.

Featured novel-in-stories

A novel-in-stories about escaping the hypercapitalist grind.

6 chapters · Read online · PDFs available by chapter or as one complete edition

Short stories, novellas, and complete reading paths for strange little fires.

Ideas, reflections, and dispatches from the weird and wonderful.