This sub-genre gets its own category on my website, because I inevitably find myself writing about the apocalypse. Whether pre-, post-, or present apocalypse, the end of the world seems to worm its way into the most innocent of my short stories.
It’s fascinating to wonder how each of us, as humans, would react in the face of global annihilation. Would we run? Cower? Fight? Live to the fullest while we can? Would we end our own lives, or would it be done for us by some overbearing cosmic entity, as easily as flicking off a light switch?
Read on for these shorts stories about the apocalypse, in some form or other. Don’t worry, we’re safe for now… probably.
Someday (adverb): a future date, paradoxical in its specificity and lack thereof, e.g., the world will end ‘someday’. An optimistic nihilist’s criticisms of humanity’s foibles as we fast approach the time when ‘someday’ becomes now. You’ve visited this nothingness before—the thoughtless space between the great dream and rebirth. But this time is different. This time,…