Clues and Cliffs
A story does not need an ending to be compelling. These unfinished tales are proof of that concept, offering readers a series of situations, crimes, and conflicts that are frozen in time. By stripping away the finale, we focus attention on the setup and the immediate tension, asking the reader to step in as a detective of the narrative.
This collection serves as a testing ground for the integration of artificial intelligence in the arts. It is a study of how digital tools can facilitate new forms of storytelling and scriptwriting, acting as a functional partner in the creative workflow. The project aims to bridge the gap between traditional writing skills and emerging technologies.
This selection offers a mix of high-stakes and low-stakes drama, ranging from Cozy Mystery and Romance to the rigid structures of Crime Procedurals and Military Fiction. We also include elements of Action-Adventure to keep the pace moving. This post features stories drafted by Eva Suluk, Jamie F. Bell, and Tony Eetak.
We invite you to analyze the evidence provided in these texts. Without a final page to turn to, the ultimate outcome of these mysteries resides solely in your imagination.
Today’s Unfinished Tales and Short Stories
Blending the charm of a Cozy Mystery with the intensity of Military Fiction and Crime Procedurals, this collection represents the cutting edge of digital publishing. These short stories navigate through Allegorical and Gothic landscapes, enriching the Action-Adventure and Romance genres with the innovative application of creative technology. As part of our broader initiative to promote digital literacy, we leverage AI-assisted narrative to craft compelling worlds where traditional Fantasy elements meet modern storytelling techniques, paving the way for the future of fiction.
The Hollow Carving
Category: Allegorical | Genre: Cozy Mystery
A crisp, late autumn afternoon in Willow Creek Hollow, a small, charming town. The Harvest Festival has just concluded, leaving a quiet, almost empty town square. The scene transitions to the edges of town, into a dense, atmospheric patch of woods bordering a shallow creek. The overall mood is subtly tense, with hints of an approaching mystery.
The Cold Stone
Author: Eva Suluk | Category: Fantasy | Genre: Crime Procedural
The first true bite of winter had arrived with a dusting of snow, settling like fine sugar over the city’s park. Streetlights, still hazy against the pre-dawn gloom, cast long, distorted shadows of skeletal trees across the crisp, untouched white. The air hung still, sharp with the scent of wet earth and impending frost, clinging to wool scarves and chilling fingertips even through gloved hands. A single, rickety wooden bench, half-hidden beneath a snow-laden hawthorn, offered a small, desolate stage for an unscheduled meeting. The quiet was profound, broken only by the distant, muffled sigh of a municipal plough on a main road, a sound that seemed to chew at the edges of the pervasive silence. Everything felt held, expectant, like a breath drawn and waiting to be released.
Winter’s Branches
Author: Eva Suluk | Category: Military Fiction | Genre: Military Fiction
The air in the common tent was thick with the scent of recycled oxygen and something vaguely metallic, a scent familiar and unavoidable. Outside, the vast, unbroken white of the northern reaches stretched towards a horizon obscured by a perpetual, iron-grey sky. Inside, however, a fragile, almost defiant warmth clung to the periphery of the inadequate heaters, coalescing around a small, skeletal fir tree that stood awkwardly in a corner, its branches thin and uneven, yet somehow still holding the promise of a distant, more tender reality.
The Porcelain Tithe
Author: Jamie F. Bell | Category: Gothic | Genre: Action-Adventure
It wasn’t a proper cold. Not the kind that bit your nose and made your lungs ache. This cold was smooth and quiet, like the inside of a glass marble. It didn’t seem to want to hurt you; it just wanted you to stop moving, to become a still and silent part of the endless, frozen landscape. Before him, the chasm breathed out a plume of pale blue air that smelled of ozone and forgotten sugar.
The Moss-Covered Notebook
Author: Tony Eetak | Category: Adventure | Genre: Romance
The air, still holding the damp chill of winter’s retreat, carried the sharp, sweet scent of thawing earth and new growth. Underfoot, the forest floor was a patchwork of sodden leaves and resilient, pushing green, a testament to the quiet power of spring. The trails of the land lab, usually bustling with activity in warmer months, now lay mostly silent, offering only the crunch of boot on gravel and the distant calls of early birds.
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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