Weekly Unfinished Tales and Short Stories from our Dataset
These stories are presented as part of our research into digital transformation in the arts.
Today’s Unfinished Tales and Short Stories
Snowfall and Scavenged Light
Author: Jamie F. Bell | Category: Post-Apocalyptic | Genre: Cyberpunk
The wind howled a perpetual, mournful dirge through the skeletal frames of what were once towering data-spires. Snow, a ceaseless, fine grit, was driven horizontally, stinging any exposed skin and coating every surface in a shimmering, alien sheen of ice and crystalline dust. Beneath the perpetually overcast sky, which bled from an exhausted grey to a bruised purple, the city sprawled, a necropolis of broken dreams and flickering, defiant neon. This was Winter, a season of profound desolation, yet within its crushing embrace, a fragile, almost absurd hope stubbornly persisted.
The Unsealed Brief
Author: Leaf Richards | Category: Espionage / Spy Fiction | Genre: Legal Thriller
The old building creaked, a symphony of settling timbers and groaning pipes against the relentless winter wind. Outside, the city was a watercolour blur of grey and white, streetlights haloed by falling snow. Inside, the only light came from the pools cast by a brass desk lamp, illuminating the dust motes dancing in the frigid air and the mountainous stacks of legal briefs that dominated the mahogany surface. The faint smell of aged paper and something faintly metallic, like static electricity, hung heavy in the air. Each tick of the grandfather clock in the reception hall felt like a hammer blow against the silence, a stark reminder of the hour.
A Crack in the Ice
Author: Eva Suluk | Category: Stream of Consciousness | Genre: Thriller
The cabin breathed around me, a symphony of creaks and settling timbers against the biting cold. Outside, the world was a study in white and grey, pines standing like sentinels draped in fresh snow, their branches heavy and still. The air itself felt brittle, sharp, smelling of wet dust and the acrid tang of cold metal from the ancient woodstove. Each breath caught, a tiny cloud of memory, before dissolving into the silent, unforgiving expanse.
A Flicker in the Crystalline Wastes
Author: Leaf Richards | Category: Science Fiction | Genre: Horror
The wind howled, a banshee’s shriek through the skeletal remains of what was once a downtown core. Ice, thick and glowing with an internal, unsettling blue, coated everything – concrete towers, skeletal lampposts, the twisted husks of vehicles. It was a cold that bit, a cold that seeped into bones and refused to leave, a perpetual winter since the Scourge had truly taken hold. Every breath was a puff of white, every sound a brittle echo in the crystalline wastes.
A Frosting of Doubt
Author: Leaf Richards | Category: Cozy Mystery | Genre: Literary Fiction
The wind outside David’s living room window was a steady, insistent groan, a low thrumming against the eaves that spoke of bitter cold and the deep, unyielding hush of a Canadian winter. Inside, the ancient cast-iron radiator hissed, its warmth a fragile bulwark against the invading chill. Dust motes, stirred by the radiator’s convection, danced in the scant light filtering through the heavy, velvet curtains, remnants of a forgotten afternoon sun. The air smelled of old wood, faint tea, and the indefinable scent of decades lived in one place. David sat, fingers steepled, watching the patterns the frost etched onto the outer pane, each delicate filament a miniature, silent scream against the glass.
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.
About the Author
