Past, Future, and Fracture
Time is a fluid concept in this selection of short stories. These unfinished tales serve as disjointed memories from both the distant past and speculative futures. They are incomplete by design, offering the reader a disorienting but compelling experience of dropping into a narrative mid-stream. The focus is on the setting and the immediate struggle of the characters.
As an experimental program, this project investigates the synergy between human authors and artificial intelligence. We are examining how digital tools can help writers navigate the complex requirements of period pieces and futuristic speculation. It is a study in applied research, aimed at developing new methodologies for scriptwriting and creative composition.
This post spans a wide chronological arc, featuring Dystopian futures, detailed Historical Fiction, and high-tech Cyberpunk. The stories explore how humanity adapts to extreme circumstances, whether in a digitized tomorrow or a rugged yesterday. We are excited to introduce the collaborative work of authors Tony Eetak, Jamie F. Bell, and Eva Suluk in this collection.
We invite you to travel through these fractured timelines. Piece together the clues provided in these fragments and construct your own history of the worlds they depict.
Today’s Unfinished Tales and Short Stories
Spanning eras from Historical Fiction to futuristic Cyberpunk and Dystopian settings, this collection highlights the breadth of our storytelling capabilities. We are transforming the landscape of publishing by applying creative technology to diverse themes including Supernatural Mystery and Magical Realism. Our commitment to digital literacy drives us to use AI-assisted narrative methods to craft compelling short stories, seamlessly blending the grounding elements of Slice of Life with the psychological depth of Drama and Horror.
The Grey Processing
Author: Tony Eetak | Category: Horror | Genre: Dystopian
The chill was the first thing. Not the gentle, familiar cold of an autumn morning, but a deep, bone-aching frost that clawed at your insides. It seeped from the thin mattress, from the walls, from the very air that tasted metallic and stale. Ethan’s room, a box barely larger than his bed, was a sanctuary and a prison, a place where the terrors of the night bled seamlessly into the muted anxieties of the day.
The Slide Carousel
Author: Jamie F. Bell | Category: Slice of Life | Genre: Slice of Life
A dusty, cluttered antique shop in Winnipeg on a hot summer afternoon, where two strangers bond over a vintage slide projector.
A Chill in the Old Hall
Author: Tony Eetak | Category: Supernatural Mystery | Genre: Historical Fiction
The wind, sharp with the scent of wet pine and distant woodsmoke, tore at the posters Evan had meticulously stapled to the community board. Red and gold maple leaves, brittle as old parchment, scuttled across the frosted ground. It was late October, and the grey light of afternoon had already begun its surrender to an early dusk, painting the sparse clapboard buildings of Oakhaven in shades of muted indigo. Inside the drafty, cavernous interior of the Oakhaven Community Hall, a handful of faces, etched with the seasons of the north, turned towards Evan, their expressions a blend of polite skepticism and weary resignation.
The Omni-Box Sings
Category: Magical Realism | Genre: Cyberpunk
The air in Agnes’s fifth-floor apartment hung thick with the smell of stale synth-coffee and the faint tang of overused circuits. Dust motes, tiny specks of the city’s endless particulate matter, danced in the anemic light filtering through the grimy window-panes. She sat hunched over her Omni-Box, a relic of a bygone era, its battered casing humming a discordant tune that grated on her nerves, a sound as persistent and unwelcome as the young man currently knocking at her door.
Falling Debris
Author: Eva Suluk | Category: Romance | Genre: Psychological Drama
The city’s breath, once a low, distant hum, had been ripped away, replaced by a terrible, grinding silence, punctuated by the groans of tortured steel. Dust, thick and caustic, hung heavy in the air, transforming the vibrant spring afternoon into a sepia-toned nightmare. Sunlight, once a warm caress, now struggled to pierce the particulate haze, casting a sickly, alien glow upon a world irrevocably altered. A pervasive sense of dread, cold and sharp, had settled deep within my chest, a physical weight pressing against my ribs.
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.
About the Author
