Weekly Unfinished Tales and Short Stories from our Dataset
This daily collection presents a fascinating cross-section of narratives drawn from our ongoing creative arts and research program, “Unfinished Tales and Short Stories.” Conceived as an interdisciplinary experiment, the project was undertaken not only for the sheer joy of storytelling but also to explore the vast possibilities and frontiers of narrative creation. It serves as a dynamic canvas where imagination, craft, and curiosity converge, allowing us to playfully push boundaries and learn what new forms and depths of storytelling we can achieve.
These diverse stories are instrumental in addressing the project’s dual objectives. Firstly, they provide rich datasets for our AI-Assisted Storytelling and Scriptwriting research, offering varied examples for generating ideas, structuring plots, and exploring alternative story arcs. Secondly, they illuminate critical aspects of Talent Development and Training, highlighting the evolving skills required for creative professionals navigating AI, immersive technologies, digital literacy, and fostering interdisciplinary approaches in contemporary narrative production.
Today’s Unfinished Tales and Short Stories
The Deepwood Yield
Author: Eva Suluk | Category: Cosmic Horror | Genre: Legal Thriller
A crisp autumn afternoon in the Deepwood Land Lab. The air hung still, carrying the scent of damp earth and dying leaves. A thin, grey light filtered through the skeletal canopy of birch and pine, casting long, wavering shadows across the narrow, winding path. Thomas Caldwell, his breath misting faintly, adjusted the collar of his tweed jacket, his gaze fixed on a particular, unnerving anomaly. The land, usually so generous, seemed to hold a secret in its quiet dormancy.
The Moss-Covered Notebook
Author: Tony Eetak | Category: Adventure | Genre: Romance
The air, still holding the damp chill of winter’s retreat, carried the sharp, sweet scent of thawing earth and new growth. Underfoot, the forest floor was a patchwork of sodden leaves and resilient, pushing green, a testament to the quiet power of spring. The trails of the land lab, usually bustling with activity in warmer months, now lay mostly silent, offering only the crunch of boot on gravel and the distant calls of early birds.
The Glutton’s Graveyard
Author: Tony Eetak | Category: Stream of Consciousness | Genre: Satire
The forest pressed in, a sprawling, indifferent cathedral of amber and rust-coloured leaves. The air, crisp and tasting faintly of pine resin and wet soil, offered a fleeting chill that promised winter. Jesse swung the axe, a rhythmic, satisfying thud against the stubborn trunk, a physical conversation with something that had stood silent for decades. Sweat beaded on his brow, mingling with stray pine needles, a small rebellion against the cool air. It was a good ache, a honest one, unlike the dull, systemic thrum of his own unease with… well, everything else.
The Last Berry Field
Author: Tony Eetak | Category: Coming-of-Age | Genre: Literary Fiction
The air was thick with the scent of damp earth and something indefinable—the last gasp of summer’s green, giving way to the sharp, metallic tang of encroaching autumn. The sun, a low, bruised orange orb, bled light across the rows of raspberry canes, their leaves now a dull, tired green, some already flecked with the rust of impending dormancy. Dust, disturbed by our boots, hung briefly, stubbornly, in the heavy air. The quiet was immense, broken only by the hum of late-season insects and the crunch of shale underfoot, each step an echo in the vast, indifferent landscape. Another season, another cycle, winding down. Another year of trying.
The Trail’s Unseen Bloom
Author: Tony Eetak | Category: Paranormal Romance | Genre: Dark Comedy
The path, softened by pine needles and damp earth, swallowed the last echoes of their boots. The land lab, usually bustling with the hopeful chatter of students and volunteers coaxing life from the soil, had fallen into an unnerving quiet. The summer’s efforts – the neat rows of strawberries, the burgeoning raspberry canes, the robust cucumber vines – were now just memory, leaving behind a faint, sweet decay in the humid air. A peculiar, almost metallic tang, unlike any natural scent, clung to the undergrowth, a quiet hum just at the edge of hearing, almost an expectation.
Design Notes and Applied Research
Today’s collection, spanning genres from Legal Thriller to Dark Comedy and subjects from Cosmic Horror to Paranormal Romance, exemplifies the profound skills development fostered by the Arts Incubator. Navigating such diverse narrative structures, tonal shifts, and thematic complexities demands significant versatility in plot construction, character development, and stylistic adaptation. This breadth of creative output underscores a robust engagement with varied storytelling methodologies and narrative competencies.
The curation and presentation of these varied narratives highlight the ongoing digital transformation within the arts, showcasing how digital platforms enable broad experimentation and accessible dissemination of diverse voices. This project served as an engaging exploration into the possibilities of contemporary storytelling, demonstrating the adaptability required for evolving artistic landscapes. It was a particularly rewarding experiment, yielding valuable insights into creative process and digital engagement.
About the Project
The Unfinished Tales and Short Stories collection was an interdisciplinary arts and narrative storytelling experiment in 2025. It was part of a creative arts and participatory research project by The Arts Incubator Winnipeg and the Art Borups Corners collectives. It focuses on two key areas: AI-Assisted Storytelling and Scriptwriting, exploring AI tools for generating ideas, plot structures, and story arcs; and Talent Development and Training, studying digital skills, literacy and training needs for creative professionals by experimenting with AI and immersive technologies to inform future projects. 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.
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