Moments Captured in Transition
The short stories presented here are deliberately fragmented, offering glimpses into lives already in motion. Rather than delivering a finalized plot, these unfinished tales act as seeds for a larger narrative, presenting scenes that require the reader to infer the context. The lack of a definitive ending places the burden of conclusion on the audience.
As an initiative at the intersection of human creativity, interdisciplinary arts, and applied artificial intelligence research, this collection tests the boundaries of collaborative authorship. It examines how digital tools can assist in scriptwriting and storytelling, fostering deeper digital literacy and streamlining creative workflows.
This installment covers a broad spectrum of human experience, from the intimacy of Coming-of-Age and Family Sagas to the external conflicts found in Action-Adventure and Dystopian settings. This post features work from authors Jamie F. Bell, Eva Suluk, and Leaf Richards.
Read these pieces with an eye toward possibility. We encourage you to take these beginnings and mentally draft the rest of the story.
Today’s Unfinished Tales and Short Stories
By leveraging advanced creative technology, we are transforming the landscape of digital literacy and independent publishing. This collection spans emotional spectrums, offering everything from a cinematic crime noir and sweeping family saga to the speculative grit of dystopian fantasy. As we explore the potential of AI-assisted narrative, our mission remains focused on delivering compelling short stories that resonate with readers. Dive into complex coming-of-age journeys or high-stakes action-adventure, and discover how we are shaping the future of digital storytelling through diverse genres like Boys Love (BL) and historical fiction.
The Weight of a Single Glass Seed
Author: Jamie F. Bell | Category: Boys Love (BL) | Genre: Coming-of-Age
The aroma of cedar smoke, damp earth, and linseed oil clung to the air in Simon’s small, cluttered workshop. Outside, the last stubborn maple leaves clung to branches, a defiant blaze against the greying November sky. Inside, dust motes, caught in the low autumn sun filtering through the single, grimy window, danced above a workbench littered with polished wood, gleaming glass shards, and half-finished carvings. A thermos of cooling tea sat beside a collection of intricate tools, some ancient, some modern, all bearing the subtle sheen of constant use. The rhythmic rasp of a file on wood, punctuated by occasional, sharp clinks of glass, filled the air.
Carriage Five, Disconnected
Author: Jamie F. Bell | Category: Cinematic | Genre: Family Saga
The air in the Winnipeg train station was thick with the scent of lukewarm coffee, damp wool, and an underlying hum of human frustration. Outside, the world was a blur of white, but inside, hundreds of souls were trapped, their collective breath fogging the high windows, each person a tiny cog in the grinding gears of a Christmas gone sideways. My stomach rumbled, a small, sad protest against the interminable wait.
Glacial Handshake
Author: Eva Suluk | Category: Historical Fiction | Genre: Action-Adventure
The world outside ‘The Arctic Squall’ was a meticulously rendered canvas of white and grey, stretching without horizon. Snow, hard-packed and ridged by winds that felt older than any living thing, fused seamlessly with the low, sullen sky. There was no sun, only a diffused, omnipresent glare that flattened every detail, making the immense frozen bay feel both infinitely large and claustrophobically close. The air itself seemed brittle, ready to crack, carrying the metallic tang of extreme cold and the faint, unsettling scent of distant, untouched ice. Below deck, the ship groaned, a live thing under duress, its timbers protesting the relentless grip of the winter.
Descent into the Conduit
Author: Leaf Richards | Category: Fantasy | Genre: Dystopian
The air itself was a memory, a ghost of warmth clinging to the outer layers of Oswald’s coveralls. Here, deep beneath the Conglomerate’s lowest accessible levels, the cold bit with a ferocity that defied the official temperature readings of the upper sectors. It was an ancient cold, born of leaking pipes and long-dead heat exchangers, a perpetual winter that had seeped into the very bones of the infrastructure. The metallic tang of decay, thick with the scent of stagnant water and ozone’s less cliché cousin – burning copper – clung to everything, a constant reminder of the slow, inevitable entropy at work.
Fractured Refractions
Author: Jamie F. Bell | Category: Crime Noir | Genre: Contemporary Drama
The air in ‘The Foundry’ hung heavy, a mixture of solvent fumes, damp plaster, and stale coffee. Autumn light, thin and watery, bled through the tall, grimy windows, illuminating motes of dust dancing in the cold currents. Every surface groaned under the weight of half-finished projects, discarded sketches, and the quiet hum of stressed anticipation.
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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