Surviving Worlds, Dark Humor, and Gritty Realities
This collection features a series of unfinished tales, each a singular piece of a larger, unseen puzzle. These stories are presented as open-ended moments, inviting readers to engage with their beginnings and speculate on their potential futures. They act as narrative prompts, allowing personal interpretation to shape their ultimate meaning.
This project investigates how technology can act as a catalyst in the creative process, merging human imagination with advanced algorithms. Its core purpose is to explore innovative methods of storytelling and contribute to the understanding and application of digital literacy in contemporary literature.
This selection features an eclectic mix of genres, including stark Post-Apocalyptic visions, unsettling Absurdist Horror, shadowy Noir, a unique Western Style BL, and profound Literary Fiction. Jamie F. Bell is the sole author of these compelling unfinished tales, showcasing remarkable range.
Allow these compelling narratives to spark your creativity. Approach them as blueprints, inviting you to contribute your own imaginings and complete their latent potential.
Today’s Unfinished Tales and Short Stories
Uncover unique short stories across Post-Apocalyptic, Absurdist Horror, Noir, Western Style BL, and Literary Fiction, complemented by Dystopian, Psychological Drama, Psychological Thriller, and Stream of Consciousness categories. We champion digital literacy by exploring AI-assisted narrative, utilizing creative technology to advance publishing and contribute to the future of digital publishing.
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.
The Stationery Cupboard Contains Multitudes
Author: Jamie F. Bell | Category: Psychological Drama | Genre: Absurdist Horror
I knew it was going to be a bad day when I walked out of my corner office and found myself walking right back into it from the other direction. I paused, one hand on the familiar brass handle of my own door, and stared at the back of my own head. My other self was looking out the window, seemingly unaware. The corridor, which thirty seconds ago had led to the marketing department, was now a perfect, seamless loop. The motivational poster of a fish jumping into another fishbowl mocked me from both ends of my vision.
The Long Drift North
Author: Jamie F. Bell | Category: Western Style BL | Genre: Noir
The long, tired highway stretched itself thin across the autumn plains, a frayed thread leading back to a town Casey had tried to forget. The air, already sharp with the scent of damp earth and coming frost, seemed to carry the weight of old choices, pressing in on the quiet hum of his worn-out truck. Every mile brought the past closer, a past tangled with the one person he both longed for and dreaded to see.
The Geometry of Anxious Waiting
Author: Jamie F. Bell | Category: Psychological Thriller | Genre: Western Style BL
The checkered blanket is perfectly square with the path. On its surface, a carefully curated ecosystem of a date: a container of slightly-crushed egg mayonnaise sandwiches, two bottles of lukewarm lemonade, and a bag of crisps, already going soft in the humid air. Everything is ready. Everything except the other person.
All the Candles in Kapuskasing
Author: Jamie F. Bell | Category: Stream of Consciousness | Genre: Literary Fiction
The world outside the single pane of glass had dissolved into a churning whiteness. The wind howled with a low, mournful sound, rattling the window frame in its ill-fitting groove. Inside, the only light came from three small tealights arranged on a chipped bedside table, their flames dancing in the drafts and casting long, trembling shadows across the room’s peeling, wood-panelled walls.
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 an experimental, creative research project by The Arts Incubator Winnipeg and the Art Borups Corners Storytelling clubs. Each chapter is a unique interdisciplinary arts and narrative storytelling experiment, born from a collaboration between artists and applied AI researchers, designed to explore the boundaries of creative writing, automation, and storytelling. 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.
