Shadows, Secrets, and the Unseen City
This collection features unfinished tales, each a snapshot from a larger world, a scene paused in media res. These are not complete short stories, but evocative fragments that invite you to fill the gaps, to envision the intricate plots and character developments that lie beyond the presented text.
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.
Authored by Jamie F. Bell and Tony Eetak, this selection primarily features Crime Thriller and Urban Fantasy, alongside elements of Dystopian, Espionage / Spy Fiction, and Mystery. These stories delve into dark urban landscapes where secrets and hidden magic coexist.
We invite you to engage deeply with these stories. Consider them as open-ended works, where your own imagination serves as the final author, bringing resolution and depth to their compelling narratives.
Today’s Unfinished Tales and Short Stories
The Macaw Repeats the Sum
Author: Jamie F. Bell | Category: Domestic Thriller | Genre: Crime Thriller
Arthur liked his work. He enjoyed the quiet ritual of it, the methodical transformation of chaos into order. He was a cleaner. A specialist. Tonight’s job was a ‘level three spillage’ in a 24-hour convenience store just off the M4. He entered through the back, the manager having been paid handsomely to close for ’emergency plumbing issues.’ The ‘plumbing issue’ was currently being arranged in neat, black bags in the walk-in freezer. Arthur’s job was to erase the process.
The Grey Processing
Author: Tony Eetak | Category: Horror | Genre: Dystopian
The chill was the first thing. Not the gentle, familiar cold of an autumn morning, but a deep, bone-aching frost that clawed at your insides. It seeped from the thin mattress, from the walls, from the very air that tasted metallic and stale. Ethan’s room, a box barely larger than his bed, was a sanctuary and a prison, a place where the terrors of the night bled seamlessly into the muted anxieties of the day.
Three Questions for the Colourful Mind
Author: Jamie F. Bell | Category: First-Person Narrative | Genre: Espionage / Spy Fiction
The air, crisp with the lingering scent of damp leaves and distant woodsmoke, pressed against the windowpanes of Jesse O’Connell’s studio, a space perpetually suspended between order and vibrant chaos. Betty Sinclair stepped into the room, her sensible leather boots scuffing on the painted concrete floor, a faint tremor of autumn chill still clinging to her coat. Her journalistic facade was firmly in place, a meticulous mask over the coiled tension of her true purpose. Sunlight, fractured through the grimy glass, caught the floating dust motes and illuminated the layered history of the room, each paint smear and discarded brush a testament to restless, inventive hands. It was the perfect stage for a conversation, and for the delicate dance of subterfuge.
Acetate and Regret
Author: Jamie F. Bell | Category: Dark Comedy | Genre: Mystery
The attic smelled of time. Not the musty, decaying smell of forgotten things, but the sharp, clean scent of old paper, cedar planks, and the faint, almost metallic tang of hot dust on the single bare bulb. A fan in the corner stirred the thick, soupy air, doing little more than rearrange the heat. Projected on the slanted ceiling, a grainy, silent image of their town’s main street flickered, a ghost from fifty years ago.
Where the Leylines Intersect with the By-Laws
Author: Jamie F. Bell | Category: Expository | Genre: Urban Fantasy
The room beneath City Hall was technically a records archive, but its true purpose was far older. The air smelled of ancient paper, stone dust, and the faint, crackling scent of ozone that clung to places of power. Fluorescent lights flickered, fighting a losing battle against shadows that seemed to drink the light. Here, where the city’s ley lines converged, the Unseen Arts Council met to manage the delicate balance between the mundane and the magical.
Storytelling and the Arts, Skills Development and Digital Transformation
AI-Assisted Storytelling and Scriptwriting: Our “Storytelling and the Arts” project investigates AI’s potential in creative development across genres such as Urban Fantasy, Espionage / Spy Fiction, Mystery, Dystopian, and Crime Thriller. We study AI’s ability to build intricate urban fantasy worlds, develop complex spy plots, generate suspenseful mystery scenarios, and craft gritty crime narratives, enhancing both storytelling and scriptwriting.
Talent Development and Training: Our research into “Storytelling and the Arts” emphasizes the critical need for new skills among creative professionals. The development of narratives spanning from urban fantasy to intense crime thrillers exemplifies the evolving demands within digital publishing and film production workflows, highlighting the increasing importance of digital literacy and the strategic management of AI-powered creative tools.
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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