Tales from Land and Sea
Unfinished tales offer a unique literary experience, placing the reader directly into the middle of an unfolding event. These stories are incomplete narrative fragments, snapshots of conflict and investigation that resist easy categorization. Without the guidance of a traditional plot structure, the atmosphere and character dynamics take center stage, inviting speculation about the larger story.
This work is part of an experimental program exploring the intersection of human creativity, interdisciplinary arts, and applied artificial intelligence research. It examines how digital tools can act as a partner in the writing process, augmenting human capability. The project aims to shape new forms of storytelling and scriptwriting while simultaneously enhancing digital literacy skills and workflows.
The narratives in this post focus on high-stakes environments, featuring genres such as Military Fiction and Maritime Drama. These are paired with elements of Mystery and Contemporary Fiction, grounding the action in realism. The collection features contributions from Jamie F. Bell, Eva Suluk, and Tony Eetak, who explore themes of duty, survival, and the unknown.
Dive into these excerpts and let the currents of the story carry you forward. We invite you to imagine the orders given before the scene began and the ultimate fate of the crew members and soldiers depicted in these fragments.
Today’s Unfinished Tales and Short Stories
This curated selection spans the high seas of Maritime Drama and the harsh realities of Military Fiction, while also touching upon Grimdark Fantasy and Cyberpunk Dystopia. As we navigate the future of publishing, our project utilizes creative technology to deconstruct these Contemporary Fiction and Mystery narratives. We are dedicated to promoting digital literacy through AI-assisted narrative, providing readers with engaging short stories that blend Gritty Realism with the relatable aspects of Young Adult and Slice of Life genres.
Rust and Forgotten Currents
Author: Jamie F. Bell | Category: Young Adult (YA) | Genre: Mystery
The air inside the Port Haven Mill tasted like forgotten rain and old metal, a metallic tang that clung to the back of the throat. Autumn’s chill was amplified by the concrete walls and broken windowpanes, allowing slivers of a grey afternoon sky to cut through the perpetual gloom. Dust motes, thick as fog, danced in these weak beams, swirling around machinery that looked like skeletal remains of some ancient, hungry beast. Every step echoed, a hollow protest against their intrusion.
Frost on Memory’s Pane
Author: Jamie F. Bell | Category: Grimdark Fantasy | Genre: Contemporary Drama
The city outside was a muted watercolour, grey and white bleeding into one another as the first serious snow of the year fell. Inside Leo’s cramped, overheated flat, the air hung heavy, thick with the smell of stale coffee and something metallic from the space heater. He stood by the window, hands shoved deep into his pockets, watching the flakes accumulate on the ledge, each one a tiny, perfect star destined to melt into the grimy slush below. It was almost Christmas, a fact his bones remembered more acutely than his mind cared to acknowledge.
The Glass Shard Dreams
Author: Jamie F. Bell | Category: Cyberpunk Dystopia | Genre: Military Fiction
The autumn air in District 7 hung heavy, tasting of ozone and wet decay, clinging to the skeletal remains of what was once a grand market. Rain, a ceaseless, fine mist, slicked the pitted plasteel and rusted rebar, painting the ground in oily sheens of grey and dull amber. Below a fractured dome that once boasted holographic advertisements for luxuries long defunct, three figures, barely more than children, moved with a practiced, almost unsettling silence, their breath misting faintly in the perpetual twilight of the fallen city. The omnipresent hum of the Grid, a distant, oppressive thrum, vibrated through the very ground, a constant reminder of the unseen, unyielding authority that watched over their precarious lives.
Horizon’s Soft Blur
Author: Eva Suluk | Category: Gritty Realism | Genre: Maritime Drama
On the storm-threatened North Sea, Captain Evans stands on the bridge for the last time, reflecting on forty years dedicated to the unforgiving ocean as he prepares to step ashore into an uncertain retirement.
Winter Workings of Melgund
Author: Tony Eetak | Category: Slice of Life | Genre: Contemporary Fiction
The community centre held that particular scent of old wood polish mixed with something vaguely institutional, like weak coffee and dried-out hand sanitizer. Outside, the world was a crisp, biting white, snow clinging to every branch and fence post, but inside, a single, high-pitched hum cut through the quiet, a sound barely audible, yet insistent. It came from the two small, smooth devices resting on the long, scarred table in the corner, objects of endless fascination and slight bewilderment.
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
