The Mundane and the Neon
Some stories are defined by their endings, but these are defined by their potential. Presented here are unfinished tales that capture specific moments in time—a quiet conversation, a digital breach, or a detective’s realization—without the comfort of a final chapter. They function as open questions, leaving the narrative arc suspended in mid-air.
At its core, this project serves as a laboratory for examining the intersection of human creativity and applied artificial intelligence. We are testing how digital tools can augment the writing process, offering new pathways for storytelling and scriptwriting while building essential digital literacy skills.
This week, the collection moves from the grounded intimacy of Slice of Life to the high-tech grit of Cyberpunk and the rigid structures of a Crime Procedural. Featuring work by Jamie F. Bell and Tony Eetak, these pieces explore the human condition through lenses ranging from Psychological Drama to Contemporary Drama.
Read these fragments with an eye for possibility. Where the text stops, your own creativity begins to map out the rest of the journey.
Today’s Unfinished Tales and Short Stories
From the gritty streets of cyberpunk and crime procedural narratives to the intimate moments found in slice of life and poetic drama, this anthology pushes the boundaries of genre. We are committed to advancing digital literacy through the distribution of innovative short stories that merge legal thrillers with paranormal romance elements. As we navigate the evolving world of publishing, our mission focuses on leveraging creative technology and AI-assisted narrative tools to deliver compelling contemporary fiction that resonates with the complexities of the modern human experience.
Finite Dust
Author: Jamie F. Bell | Category: Paranormal Romance | Genre: Slice of Life
It’s a lie that dust is silent. It has a voice, a dry, papery whisper that speaks of shed skin and crumbled memories, and tonight, in the suffocating stillness of the archive, it is the only sound I can reliably name. The dehumidifier offers its monotonous, asthmatic hum from the corner, a mechanical prayer against the damp that forever threatens to turn this collection of a town’s life into a pulpy, unreadable mass of mould. But the dust is the true historian here, settling with democratic indifference on the pension records of lumber barons and the chipped teacups of farmers’ wives.
The Glitch in the Carol
Author: Jamie F. Bell | Category: Legal Thriller | Genre: Cyberpunk
The perpetual twilight of Neo-London’s Block 7 settled like a shroud. A sickly orange glow from the mega-towers bled into the pre-dawn greys, reflecting off the slick, rain-streaked ferrocrete below. The air, thick with the tang of ozone and synthetic exhaust, bit at exposed skin, promising a Christmas Eve more grim than festive.
The First Thaw
Author: Tony Eetak | Category: Poetic / Lyrical | Genre: Crime Procedural
The wind carried the brittle scent of freezing pine and something else, something metallic and sweet. Snow, fresh and undisturbed, stretched out like a shroud, broken only by the sharp, stark silhouette of the evergreens. It was a canvas, thought Graham, where someone had painted a very specific, very cold picture.
The White Silence
Author: Jamie F. Bell | Category: Psychological Drama | Genre: Psychological Drama
A remote cabin, buried deep in a snow-choked forest, becomes the stage for a solitary arrival. The air is thick with a preternatural quiet, hinting at forgotten events and the unsettling persistence of memory as winter’s chill begins to seep into the very walls.
Chasing the Grain
Author: Jamie F. Bell | Category: Crime Noir | Genre: Contemporary Drama
The Old Mill Arts Collective studio hummed with the usual late-autumn chill and the barely contained chaos of creative endeavour. Dust motes danced in the sparse sunlight slanting through tall, grimy windows, illuminating a scattering of half-finished projects. The air carried a faint, mingled scent of turpentine, metallic dust, and damp wool, a testament to the diverse work happening within its old brick walls. This morning, a palpable tension, thicker than the dust, hung over everything.
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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