The Unresolved Narrative
There is a specific tension in reading a story that stops abruptly. These unfinished tales are curated to maximize that tension, presenting conflicts that are fully formed but structurally unresolved. They are moments frozen in time, asking the reader to extrapolate the consequences of the actions described within the text.
This work stems from an experimental program combining human creativity, interdisciplinary arts, and applied artificial intelligence research. The objective is to analyze how digital tools can augment the writing process, facilitating new approaches to scriptwriting and storytelling while advancing digital literacy.
This post includes a diverse array of genres, ranging from the physical stakes of Sports Fiction and Superhero tales to the investigative logic of Crime Procedurals and the survivalism of Post-Apocalyptic settings. The stories featured here were written by Tony Eetak and Jamie F. Bell.
We invite you to step into these incomplete worlds. Read the excerpts and decide for yourself how the final whistle blows or the mystery unravels.
Today’s Unfinished Tales and Short Stories
Our project stands at the forefront of digital literacy, utilizing creative technology to reshape the world of publishing. This anthology features a dynamic range of short stories, moving from the intensity of a crime procedural and sports fiction to the imaginative realms of superhero sagas and post-apocalyptic dystopian scenarios. By integrating AI-assisted narrative generation, we offer satirical and ironic insights alongside poignant slice of life moments. Discover how we are pioneering the future of digital content, bringing diverse themes including romance and suspense to readers everywhere.
A Scrimmage of Frayed Ends
Author: Tony Eetak | Category: Romance | Genre: Sports Fiction
The smell of stale sweat and ancient linoleum clung to the air, a scent Ed knew better than his own skin. It was late spring, the kind of Winnipeg afternoon where the sun tried to push through a persistent grey, failing, leaving a muted, heavy light. Dust motes, tiny universes of detritus, danced in the weak shafts of light slicing through the high, grimy windows of the North End Community Centre gym. His knuckles ached, a familiar phantom limb sensation, years after the last real game, years after the incident that had carved a deep fissure through his life. He bounced the old, scuffed basketball, the rhythm a hollow thud against the silence, a counterpoint to the relentless drum of what-ifs in his mind. He was thirty-four, and the dream felt as distant as another lifetime.
Scar Tissue on the Tundra
Author: Jamie F. Bell | Category: Crime Procedural | Genre: Crime Procedural
The air bit, sharp and clean, carrying the scent of damp earth and dying leaves. A thin crust of frost glittered on the sparse tundra grasses, giving way with a soft crackle under the weight of my boots. The sky, a bruised purple-grey, pressed low, threatening a cold rain or an early snow. It was a day for hunkering down, not for picking through the exposed guts of a landscape. But some things wouldn’t wait for warmer weather, or for permission.
The Unfolding Permafrost Veil
Author: Jamie F. Bell | Category: Superhero | Genre: Superhero
The low, guttural hum began like a rumour across the frozen tundra, vibrating through the soles of Skyler’s insulated boots long before it reached her ears. A weak, bruised sun, barely clearing the horizon, cast long, distorted shadows across the endless expanse of snow-dusted spruce and rock, turning the world into a study in desaturated greys and purples. The air itself felt brittle, sharp with the promise of frostbite, each breath a painful contract with the sub-zero reality of the deep North. Something was fundamentally out of sync with the age-old rhythm of the winter, a mechanical discord in a symphony of silence.
A Drowning Man’s Cartography
Author: Jamie F. Bell | Category: Dystopian | Genre: Post-Apocalyptic
The ‘Sea-Witch’, a salvage skiff made of rusted barrels and driftwood, bobs on the grey, endless expanse of the Deluge. Tyler leans over the edge, his reflection a wavering ghost in the water, as he hauls up a line from the sunken city below.
A Confluence of Chromium and Complaint
Author: Jamie F. Bell | Category: Satirical / Ironic | Genre: Slice of Life
The air in Pipestone Creek’s only twenty-four-hour establishment always held a certain blend: stale coffee, diesel fumes, and the faint, enduring scent of despair. This morning, however, an acrid, burning aroma had joined the usual symphony, emanating directly from the perpetually misbehaving industrial coffee machine that stood sentinel on the counter, its chrome casing streaked with years of forgotten splatters. Outside, the early autumn wind, sharp and unforgiving, rattled the single-pane windows, promising nothing but more grey days and long hauls.
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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