Unfinished Journeys: Where Youth and Shadow Converge
This collection presents short stories in an uncommon form: incomplete narrative fragments, moments captured mid-scene, or pages torn from a larger book. Each piece offers a glimpse into a world, inviting readers to engage their own imagination to consider what came before and what might follow.
This project is an experimental program at the intersection of human creativity, interdisciplinary arts, and applied artificial intelligence research. It explores how digital tools can act as a partner in the writing process, shaping new forms of storytelling, scriptwriting, and enhancing digital literacy skills and workflows.
Today’s selection spans genres from introspective Coming-of-Age narratives to the atmospheric dread of Suburban Gothic, alongside elements of Literary Fiction, Survival Thriller, and Contemporary Fiction. Tony Eetak, Jamie F. Bell, and Leaf Richards contribute their distinct voices to this particular collection.
We invite you to explore these tales not just as a reader, but as a co-creator, completing the narratives within your own mind and shaping their ultimate meaning.
Today’s Unfinished Tales and Short Stories
The Glass Apple
Author: Tony Eetak | Category: Slice of Life | Genre: Coming-of-Age
Andrew discovers a disturbance in his quiet home—a misplaced Christmas ornament that triggers a surreal deviation from the season.
The Hum of the Substation at Dusk
Author: Jamie F. Bell | Category: Dark Comedy | Genre: Suburban Gothic
The new subdivision was a ghost town of good intentions. Skeletons of half-built houses stood against the bruised purple sky, their windows empty sockets. The only finished things were the roads, perfect black ribbons of tarmac that went nowhere, and the electrical substation, a huge, caged beast crouched at the edge of it all, humming its single, monotonous note into the thick, humid air of the last night of August.
Rain and Shadow
Author: Jamie F. Bell | Category: Romance | Genre: Literary Fiction
The squall roared in from the sea like a vengeful god, lashing the coastline with saltwater and fury. Pete, shivering and soaked to the bone, had practically crawled into the relative shelter of the dilapidated seaside pavilion, its painted wood peeling, its roof groaning under the onslaught. The air tasted of salt and impending despair. She hugged her knees, trying to make herself invisible. Moments later, Margot, her face a mask of quiet sorrow, arrived, driven indoors by the same sudden, violent deluge. The pavilion, once a quaint relic, became a fragile sanctuary for two souls adrift.
Tangled Canopy, Jagged Metal
Author: Jamie F. Bell | Category: Gothic | Genre: Survival Thriller
The silence that followed the wrenching metal and splintering wood felt heavier than any sound. Cold seeped into Mya’s bones, not just from the brisk autumn air but from the hollowness where solid ground used to be. The plane, or what remained of it, was a grotesque sculpture of bent aluminium and snapped timber, half-submerged in the boggy ground, its tail a ragged fin against the bruised afternoon sky.
A Gust of Sulphur and Sky
Author: Leaf Richards | Category: Boys Love (BL) | Genre: Contemporary Fiction
The valley floor, usually a patchwork of parched earth and stubborn sage, had turned into a treacherous mire. Recent spring rains had carved new gullies, swollen the seasonal creeks, and left the track leading to the north pasture a ribbon of thick, clinging clay. The air tasted of damp soil and the distant, metallic tang of a spring storm still brewing over the ragged peaks. The quad bike, an ancient, rust-pocked beast, was mired halfway to its axles, its engine long since choked into silence, its metallic shell reflecting the bruised violet of the overhead clouds.
Storytelling and the Arts, Skills Development and Digital Transformation
AI-Assisted Storytelling and Scriptwriting: Our research at the arts and technology incubator critically examines AI’s contributions to creative development, specifically within genres like Literary Fiction, Survival Thriller, Suburban Gothic, Coming-of-Age, and Contemporary Fiction. We are studying how AI can assist in developing the nuanced character introspection and thematic depth characteristic of literary fiction, construct high-stakes tension and realistic scenarios for survival thrillers, evoke the eerie atmosphere and psychological dread of suburban gothic, guide the emotional arcs of coming-of-age stories, and reflect contemporary societal complexities. This investigation focuses on AI’s capability to address genre-specific challenges, including intricate world-building, compelling dialogue, and narrative pacing, ultimately enhancing storytelling and scriptwriting.
Talent Development and Training: Simultaneously, our project investigates the evolving skill sets paramount for creative professionals in the burgeoning age of AI. The process of producing narratives across these distinct genres provides invaluable insights into the importance of digital literacy and the strategic management of AI tools within modern digital publishing and film production workflows. By observing how creators interface with AI to realize these varied stories, we are formulating recommendations for talent development and training programs that will enable professionals to harness AI effectively, ensuring they remain at the forefront of creative innovation.
We’re excited to learn about these new technologies and how they can be applied to expand the boundaries of human storytelling. We encourage you to keep reading, keep imagining, and keep exploring the incredible potential that opens up when creativity meets technology.
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 interdisciplinary arts and narrative storytelling experiment. It is part of a creative arts and research program by The Arts Incubator Winnipeg and the Art Borups Corners collectives. This project focuses on two key areas: AI-Assisted Storytelling and Scriptwriting, exploring AI for generating ideas, plot structures, and alternative story arcs; and Talent Development and Training, studying the skills and training needs for creative professionals managing AI and immersive technologies to inform future training curricula. Funding and support were generously provided by the Ontario Arts Council Multi and Inter-Arts Projects program and the Government of Ontario. We thank them for supporting the arts, digital transformation, and applied Artificial Intelligence (AI) research for northern innovation in Ontario.
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