Journeys Into the Incomplete
Within this collection lie a series of unfinished tales, each a snapshot from a world still taking shape. These pieces function as isolated narrative moments, offering a window into stories without clear boundaries. Readers are invited to engage actively, contemplating the origins of these scenarios and envisioning the conclusions that might follow.
This project represents an investigation into the intersection of human creativity and artificial intelligence. It serves as an exploration of how digital tools can act as a partner in the writing process, contributing to new methods of storytelling and enhancing digital literacy. The focus is on the symbiotic relationship between writer and technology.
This collection traverses genres including the expansive realms of Sci-Fi, the competitive spirit of Sports Fiction, the depth of Literary Fiction, the imaginative landscapes of Fantasy, and the rugged setting of the Western. Authors Jamie F. Bell, Jamie Bell, and Tony Eetak contribute their distinct perspectives to these varied pieces.
Consider these unfinished tales an open invitation. Your engagement transforms each fragment into a complete experience, allowing you to participate directly in the creation of meaning and narrative flow.
Today’s Unfinished Tales and Short Stories
Dive into a rich collection of Sci-Fi, Sports Fiction, Literary Fiction, Fantasy, and Western genres, featuring compelling Coming-of-Age narratives, gritty Noir, and thought-provoking Dystopian themes within contemporary fiction. Our commitment to digital literacy empowers creators and readers alike, bringing innovative short stories to life. We’re at the forefront of publishing, leveraging creative technology to explore AI-assisted narrative and shape the evolving landscape of digital storytelling.
An Aberration on a Wednesday
Author: Jamie F. Bell | Category: Coming-of-Age | Genre: Sci-Fi
The cold doesn’t just bite; it holds on. It seeps through the seams of Norman’s worn parka, a persistent ache in his bones that feels older than his sixteen years. Downtown Winnipeg is a monochrome photograph of itself, all grey slush and greyer buildings, but the Christmas lights strung across Portage Avenue try to argue otherwise, their colours bleeding weakly onto the salt-stained pavement.
The Frost on the Hacks
Author: Jamie Bell | Category: Noir | Genre: Sports Fiction
The brutal, unforgiving January wind tore through Winnipeg, a relentless, teeth-gnashing beast that seemed to claw at the very foundations of the city. Inside the unnamed convenience store on Pembina Highway, the low, melancholic thrum of the ancient refrigerated display units provided a sparse counterpoint to the city’s ceaseless, frigid lament. Devon, his joints protesting with the cold even indoors, nursed a paper cup of lukewarm instant coffee, watching the thin plume of steam ascend and dissipate into the oppressive, yellowed artificial light. His reflection, a smudged and indistinct specter in the condensation-marred window, seemed to shiver under the fluorescent glare, a weary sentinel against the encroaching night.
A Bloom Under Concrete
Author: Tony Eetak | Category: Contemporary Fiction | Genre: Literary Fiction
The first truly warm afternoon of spring in Winnipeg carried a peculiar scent: not just the damp earth and new growth, but an underlying current of something long buried, freshly exposed. Pavement gleamed with residual moisture, reflecting the pale, hopeful sky. Across the back lane, the skeletal branches of a poplars trembled, their nascent buds clinging like tiny emerald secrets against the grey bark. The air, though gentle, still held a bite, a reminder of the long dormancy that had just passed, yet the insistent urge of life pushed through.
A Fraying Patchwork of Green
Author: Jamie F. Bell | Category: Dystopian | Genre: Fantasy
The autumn air in MetroCentre Park was a manufactured crispness, piped in via carbon scrubbers that hummed faintly beneath the paving stones. Leaves, genetically engineered for optimal colour retention, clung to their branches in perfect gradients of ochre and russet. Drones, no larger than wasps, conducted silent particulate matter scans, their tiny lenses reflecting a sky that was, by official decree, ‘optimally azure’. Andrew, his shoulders hunched in a worn, recycled-fibre coat, tracked his official route along the designated ‘Mindful Meander’ path, the digital chime of his wrist-monitor a constant, low thrum against the manufactured serenity.
A Bastion of Pressed Tin
Author: Jamie F. Bell | Category: Coming-of-Age | Genre: Western
The air, sharp enough to cut glass, carried the muffled sound of traffic from three streets over. Here, in the narrow canyon between two brick warehouses, the only noise was the squeak of boots on packed snow and the shallow, steaming breaths of children trying to be invisible. A single string of malfunctioning Christmas lights, stapled to a fire escape, flickered a frantic, festive Morse code onto the ice-crusted brickwork.
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.
