41 free-to-read stories tagged “Surveillance State”
"My country may seem strange to you. There are times when it seems strange to me. I wake and work. I work then rest. And in between I say things, and I don’t say things. Because, as you’ll learn, in my country, what you say is important. But what you don’t...
deathdeath-of-a-loved-oneviolence
A young woman is murdered in Armstrong City, Luna, and both the police and organized crime want to understand why. Captivating.
death
Dan loses his job and goes looking for something that hasn’t already been automated away. There’s not much, and what he does find is rather strange.
"The glass-bottomed ice cream truck floated above the rooftops, playing “All Around the Mulberry Bush” through a cracked speaker, searching for teeth to rot. A neighbor’s too-loud radio said “Kennedy” two or three times a minute. Except for those slivers...
"Police Sub-Inspector Ferron jerked her sandaled foot away from the floor with a muffled shriek, wishing she had worn boots, despite the weather. She balanced on the other leg and cradled her injured extremity in both hands. She was momentarily heedless of...
mental-illnesssuicide
Draiken kidnaps a hired killer from a space station and spirits him away for a “demonstration.” But what sort of demonstration could possibly change the man’s mind?
violence
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
racismviolence
Astronomers spot what appears to be a new cluster of stars, except that it’s growing hour by hour.
Draiken and Thorne seek out a torturer they once knew in hopes he can lead them to surviving leaders of the organizations they once worked for but are now sworn to destroy.
abuse
Sophie explains the events that led to her fall from grace—that is, how she accumulated enough “unlike” votes to be forced out of college.
mental-illness
"Orli staggered out of the door of her suite, her workbag over her shoulder, her hands shaking. The back of her right shoe had crumpled under her heel after she’d slid her foot into the supposedly comfortable loafer (lies, all the claims about comfort here...
abuseviolence
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
A woman protects an illegal AI from a government team that’s trying to erase it.
violence
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
abuseviolence
"When my parents heard I was selected to serve in the Alariel’s shining palaces, I think it broke them. Letters made of actual paper were so expensive that I ran as soon as the drone handed the envelope to me. I banged open the front door of our tiny...
violence
"Inevitably, they found her. She came back to her tiny apartment and clicked on the light to find a massive young man, wearing the signature black jeans and sweatshirt of Combine, standing in her living room. The dim light glinted off his earpiece, the...
child-abuseviolence
A janitor wonders if he should trust an app answers questions no one could know the answers to. Especially when that app suggests someone may be about to stage a school shooting.
mental-illnesssuicide
The hard-boiled narrator runs investigations in cyberspace and reality. This time they’ve got a murder to solve, and it’s proving a challenge—even though they saw it happen.
sexual-violence
Teenage Marisol wants a Razzibot so she can stream her life online in ways that always make her look good.
"Under normal circumstances, the blank canvas of a freshly painted wall—like the one I faced on Third Street next to the interstate—would invoke both anticipation and a little dread. But tonight, I hadn’t come to share my art, only a small but important...
violence
"I’m happy on the road. The land stretches like a languid animal, and I find tranquility in its measured length. Outside the car the earth breathes, the ground rising and sinking. Even though I am the one driving, concentrating on the road and the trucks...
pregnancy-losstransphobia
"Home brews coffee; black, no sugar. She maintains the temperature of the coffee at precisely sixty degrees Celsius. Most of the coffee sloshes over the jagged edges of the half-shattered mug. Rough holes have been torn through the matte plastic back of...
"No program-layer could predict what a human might do, but Surveillance Hub could see everything that mattered. Their bird-drones spread across the city, scattered on cables and rooftops and broadcast towers. Every camera hunted for Krina Viy, independent...
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
This episode features "A Life Measured in Seconds" written by Anne Wilkins. Published in the June 2026 issue of Clarkesworld Magazine and read by Kate Baker. The text version of this story can be found at: https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/wilkins_06_26...
abusebody-horror
The Sigil of Assurance You take a bit of wax and drip it over the em dash fresh out of the printer, working it over, building it up until it’s a little caterpillar crawling on the page, nestled between two words, perhaps burrowing into one—I’m so...
This was in August of 2019. A day-old newspaper reported civil wars in Somalia and Yemen. A gunman killed twenty-two people in an El Paso Walmart. Jeffrey Epstein had taken a plea deal, promising to name names, promising to name the name .
substance-usesuicideviolence
The first child exploded in the parking lot of a nondescript fast food joint in one of the safest, most unassuming parts of our city on a clear summer evening. Beatrix Middleston (five years old, never stopped moving, loved butterflies and Spiderman and...
child-deathdeathgore
Author : Johnny Caputo Narrator : Christiana Ellis Host : Alasdair Stuart Audio Producer : Adam Pracht Escape Pod 1064: The Rewilding of Lot 4987 is an Escape Pod original. Includes several grade-A swears. The Rewilding of Lot 4987 By Johnny Caputo From...
Debut day isn’t easy for anyone, even a god. Newly minted, coin-bright, the god called Hark waits backstage. He’s about to go out to perform his first miracle, and he can hear his fans murmuring in front of the altar. They don’t know they’re the lucky ones...
child-abusesuicide
I first reached consciousness in a peaceful library. It looked like a library not far from my apartment, though not exactly the same. There were high ceilings and large windows […]
body-horrordeathviolence
This episode features "Our Revels Now Are Ended" written by Thomas Ha. Published in the July 2026 issue of Clarkesworld Magazine and read by Kate Baker. The text version of this story can be found at: https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/ha_07_26 Support us on...
body-horrorviolence
The fridge asks every morning, without fail, why it is empty, because it cares the most about my consumption.
deathsuicideviolence
Maria Haddid looked like she was screaming. I’ve heard singers say that’s all singing is deep down, but if you’ve seen enough screams you won’t often get them mixed up. The faithful gathered around her in the picture—the soccer mom, the children, the...
substance-useviolence
This episode features "The Universal Human Happiness Program" written by Y.M. Pang. Published in the August 2026 issue of Clarkesworld Magazine and read by Kate Baker. The text version of this story can be found at:...
mental-illnesssuicide
. . . We interrupt our programming- “ . . . for this incredible announcement. The first one thousand customers get an extra 15 percent off during this holiday weekend and . . . ” “ . . . it’s buy one, […]
substance-useviolencewar
This episode features "This Is an Emergency Broadcast" written by R.S.A. Garcia. Published in the July 2026 issue of Clarkesworld Magazine and read by Kate Baker. The text version of this story can be found at: https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/garcia_07_26...
deathviolencewar
01 The first time I saw her, she was trying to prove to a water dispenser that she was human. The dispenser wouldn’t give her any water because she still […]
Tina's life is a series of dominos falling toward the creation of the ultimate invention—with unforeseen consequences. Allison King's "Tina Yu and the Karaoke Time Machine" is a meditation on the power and fragility of music, memory, and family. Content...
PseudoPod 804: Flash on the Borderlands LXI: Dead Man’s Party (April Fools’ Version) is a PseudoPod original. “The Tentacle and You” was originally published in Nature Futures back in 2019. “Backers” is a PseudoPod Original “Your Honor, My Undead Client...
body-horrorviolence
Not reviewed by Rocket Stack Rank.
racismviolencewar