Magic in the Modern World
There is a distinct energy to a story that stops short of its conclusion. These unfinished tales are presented as narrative fragments, focusing on the intersection of the ordinary and the extraordinary. They exist as moments suspended in time, requiring the reader to provide the context and the consequences that the text omits.
As part of an experimental program, this collection resides at the intersection of human creativity, interdisciplinary arts, and applied artificial intelligence research. It explores the role of digital tools as a partner in the writing process. The initiative seeks to shape new forms of storytelling and scriptwriting, enhancing the digital literacy skills and workflows necessary for modern narrative construction.
This post features a blend of Contemporary Fiction and Urban Fantasy, juxtaposing real-world settings with magical elements. It also ventures into Dystopian Sci-Fi and Family Sagas, examining how relationships endure under pressure. The stories are written by Jamie F. Bell and Tony Eetak, who weave together the fantastical and the familiar.
Read these excerpts and allow the magic to spill over into your own thoughts. We invite you to complete the spell, imagining the rules of these worlds and the destinies of the families and factions involved.
Today’s Unfinished Tales and Short Stories
From the expanse of a Space Opera to the intimacy of a Family Saga, this discussion covers Dystopian Sci-Fi, Urban Fantasy, and Cyberpunk themes. We are committed to transforming publishing by leveraging creative technology to explore Mythological Retellings and Contemporary Fiction. Our mission is to enhance digital literacy through AI-assisted narrative, offering a platform where Young Adult and Post-Apocalyptic Survival short stories can flourish in a new technological era.
A Glimmer in the Frost
Author: Jamie F. Bell | Category: Cyberpunk | Genre: Contemporary Fiction
The air hung heavy and still, smelling of wet concrete and distant woodsmoke. Snow, fine as icing sugar, dusted the window ledges, blurring the sharp edges of the cityscape. Inside, a single, unlit string of fairy lights lay tangled on the floor, a forgotten promise in a room that felt too vast, too quiet for the season. Marcus traced a finger along the condensation on the pane, the chill seeping into his bone, a feeling he’d become intimately familiar with since the autumn winds began to bite.
The River’s Grumbling Spleen
Author: Tony Eetak | Category: Mythological Retelling | Genre: Fantasy
The asphalt shimmered under the kind of August sun that baked the very oxygen out of the air, leaving it thin and tasting faintly of exhaust and dry earth. Even the pigeons, usually brash, huddled in the meagre shade of a leaning power pole, their beady eyes half-closed. Selkirk Avenue, usually a cacophony of truck brakes and shouted greetings, felt muted, stifled by the oppressive heat. My shirt, a faded cotton number from a long-forgotten fishing trip, already stuck to my back, a clammy testament to the relentless summer.
The Weight of Summer Light
Author: Tony Eetak | Category: Young Adult (YA) | Genre: Family Saga
The oppressive summer heat hung thick and heavy, a blanket woven from humidity and the persistent hum of distant insects. Inside the community centre, the air was still, stagnant, despite the single, rattling floor fan in the corner. Paint peeled in languid curls from the window sills, and the scent of old wood and something vaguely metallic—the static charge of a dying fridge, perhaps—clung to everything. It was a place where time felt less like a river and more like a sluggish pond, mirroring the slow, quiet struggle of the community it served.
An Accounting of Sub-Basement Realities
Author: Jamie F. Bell | Category: Space Opera | Genre: Urban Fantasy
The sub-basement of the new condo tower in Calgary smelled of damp concrete, ozone, and a faint, cloying sweetness like burnt sugar. Fluorescent lights, the cheap kind that hummed with a headache-inducing frequency, cast everything in a sterile, flickering glare. Robb knelt, tracing the outer salt circle, his fingers steady. The client, a terrified man named Bart in a thousand-dollar suit that was now sweat-stained, huddled by the elevators, clutching a briefcase like a shield.
A Breath Held in a Rotting Season
Author: Jamie F. Bell | Category: Post-Apocalyptic Survival | Genre: Dystopian Sci-Fi
The forest floor, a soft bed of sodden leaves and snapped twigs, offered little comfort. Each muffled step from Tom’s heavy boots seemed to pull him deeper into the muted greens and browns of a world still reeling. Above, skeletal birches, their papery bark peeling like ancient, sun-blasted bandages, clawed at a sky the colour of weak tea. The air, crisp with the sharp bite of early autumn, carried the faint, metallic tang that had become the scent of everything since the watershed began to hum.
About the Project
By design, these stories have no beginning and no end. Many stories are fictional, but many others are not. They are snapshots from worlds that never fully exist, inviting you to imagine what comes before and what happens next. We had fun exploring this project, and hope you will too.
The Unfinished Tales and Short Stories collection is part of an experimental, creative arts and research program by The Arts Incubator Winnipeg and the Art Borups Corners collectives. Each chapter is an interdisciplinary arts and narrative storytelling experiment focused on two key areas: AI-Assisted Scriptwriting, where researchers explore using AI to generate story ideas, plot structures, and alternative story arcs to enhance creative development; and Talent Development and Training, where the project studies the necessary skills for creative professionals to manage AI and immersive technologies in production, helping to inform future training curricula. The project was made possible with funding and support from the Ontario Arts Council Multi and Inter-Arts Projects program and the Government of Ontario. We thank them for supporting the arts, digital transformation research and innovation in Ontario.
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