Secrets in the City
There is a particular allure to the unfinished. These tales are not summaries or outlines, but fully realized scenes cut short. They function like overheard conversations or glimpses of a stranger’s life, evoking a sense of mystery precisely because the full picture is withheld. The reader must rely on imagination to deduce the past and predict the future.
This project stands at the crossroads of human creativity and applied artificial intelligence research. It serves as an exploration of digital tools as collaborative agents in the writing process, aiming to refine new methods of storytelling and scriptwriting while advancing digital literacy.
Today’s selection wanders through the fog of Urban Mystery and the expansive world-building of Fantasy and Dystopian fiction. The authors contributing to this set are Eva Suluk and Jamie F. Bell, who also provide grounded moments of Literary Fiction and Coming-of-Age drama.
Take these stories as prompts for your own creative thinking. The text provides the setup; your mind provides the resolution.
Today’s Unfinished Tales and Short Stories
Bridging the gap between gritty realism and high fantasy, this collection features urban mysteries and dystopian coming-of-age sagas enriched by gothic horror and Boys Love (BL) themes. We are dedicated to transforming the publishing industry by championing digital literacy and the accessibility of diverse short stories. Through the application of creative technology and AI-assisted narrative development, we seek to uncover new possibilities in literary fiction, ensuring that action-adventure and atmospheric storytelling evolve alongside modern technological advancements.
The Brittle Spine of an Old Paperback
Author: Eva Suluk | Category: Gritty Realism | Genre: Urban Mystery
The bookshop smelt of decaying paper, leather polish, and Earl Grey tea. It was a scent Nana had cultivated over twenty years, a barricade of comforting aromas against the city’s exhaust-fume reality. Sunlight, thick with floating dust, slanted through the tall front window, illuminating precarious towers of books that leaned against every available surface. In the quiet, the only sounds were the gentle creak of floorboards and the soft rustle of a page being turned.
The Stung Hinge of August
Author: Jamie F. Bell | Category: Boys Love (BL) | Genre: Coming-of-Age
The afternoon sun beat down on the planks of the pier, making the air thick with the smell of creosote, bait, and the distant promise of frying food. Below, the water of the bay was a murky, restless green, slapping against the pilings with a rhythm that matched the anxious thump in Leo’s chest. He wasn’t catching anything, but that was hardly the point.
Mud-Season Blues and Unfettered Roots
Author: Jamie F. Bell | Category: Boys Love (BL) | Genre: Literary Fiction
The spring thaw had turned the back roads into a viscous, tyre-sucking mess, a testament to nature’s indifferent power. Mud, thick and clinging like a bad memory, churned underfoot, painting everything a dull, earthy brown. The air, crisp and damp, carried the faint, metallic tang of exposed soil and the promise of new, relentless growth. It was a season of half-promises and lingering cold, a grey-sky canvas for the mundane struggles of a young man caught between expectation and the unsettling pull of the unknown.
Ancestral Walls
Author: Jamie F. Bell | Category: Gothic Horror | Genre: Fantasy
Carson, the last of his family line, is in his decaying study, overwhelmed by the ancient, malevolent magic of his ancestral home. Sarah, a determined scholar, enters and confronts him, unraveling the house’s dark secrets through a tense dialogue.
The Hidden Café
Author: Jamie F. Bell | Category: Action-Adventure | Genre: Dystopian
The biting wind whips across a desolate, snow-covered urban perimeter, where the monotony of a controlled existence is broken by an unexpected flicker of warmth and the tantalizing scent of something forbidden.
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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