The Dread Machine: Darkness Blooms by Alin Walker

In the spring of 2021, The Dread Machine issued a call for submissions, asking writers to delve into the darker aspects of three intertwined concepts: identity, security, and community. We wanted them to explore the ways darkness—fascism, war, societal collapse—can seep into our lives insidiously, silently stretching its tendrils like creeping vines, or erupt with the sudden violence of a bursting seedpod.

We are thrilled to finally present this unforgettable collection, showcasing some of the most talented voices in speculative fiction.

Identity is formed by not only things like race, culture, and class but also by the relationships we cultivate, the opinions and moral codes we adopt, and our choices. What secrets lie in the dark expanses between where we came from, who we think we are, and how we want others to perceive us?

Security—stability, order, dependency, structure—is an innate human need. In practice, security tends to be an illusion designed to make us feel more in control over our surroundings. What makes us feel safe, and what are we willing to sacrifice to feel that way? What happens when safety nets aren’t there to catch us when we fall? What dreadful secrets are we willing to keep to preserve the status quo?

Humans often seek security through community. We align ourselves with others who share our interests, culture and religion, geographic location, and workplaces. How well do you really know your neighbors, your friends, your coworkers, your family? How do we build these communities? What erodes a community, makes it crumble?

THE STAGES OF PRE-BEREAVEMENT
A. P. HOWELL
A family copes with a husband and father’s temporary revival after a tragic accident, navigating the complexities of grief and the limitations of cutting-edge medical technology.

BOOM TOWN
REBECCA E. TREASURE
In the walled city of Boom Town, citizens have implants at the base of their skulls that cause their heads to explode if they think sinful thoughts, and sixteen-year-old Mary doesn’t think she’s going to last much longer.

THAW
JOSH ROUNTREE
An estranged son returns home to check on his family, raid their pantry, and confront his past after a contagious freezing virus causes society’s collapse.

OLD GRIEF
ANDREW MILNE
Almost every human born suffers from hyperalgesia, requiring them to live in tightly controlled padded bunkers deep underground. Erica, a seven on the pain index, risks her marriage to bring joy to her daughters, a three and a six who will never see the sun.

THE STAINS OF NOW
A. KATHERINE BLACK
Two survivors must prove themselves worthy of joining a new “neighborhood,” a clan bunker where they can enjoy shelter and protection from the hyperpredatory monsters outside. The discovery of a perfectly preserved room from the past in their personal hab ignites an obsession that threatens everything.

HARD TIME
P.A. CORNELL
A prisoner sentenced to hard labor on a faraway penal planet chronicles his days by dreaming up messages he can never send to the son he’ll never see again.

NO MORE SAUDADES
RODRIGO ASSIS MESQUITA
The government doesn’t trust people to raise productive, loyal patriots, but Mario and Lisette are determined to keep their infant daughter.

SOLAR MIDNIGHT
TIMOTHY BURKHARDT
A sentient satellite grapples with the devastating loss of its human crew.

THREE, TWO, ONE
DENISE TANAKA
An abandoned battleship must contend with a motley crew of intruders. As an unfathomable predator bears down on them all, the ship must decide whether to trust these strangers who lack the proper clearance.

TO SOAR, NOT EVER KNOWING WHAT TOOK YOU
ANDREA KRIZ
Xu gets caught up in a rebellion against the oppressive regime that controls the living walls encircling the last city on Earth in this story about friendship, betrayal, and genesplicing.

WELCOME TO THE ORGAN EXTRACTION EMPORIUM
ALICIA HILTON
Only humans who volunteer to transform their bodies into alien form are treated as equals, so you’ll have to learn how to become extraterrestrial and lead a better life.

A NEW NIGHT PARADE
GORDON LINZNER
An ambitious professional hires a homeless blind man to pretend to be his ancestor and walk for him among masses of preserved, mechanized corpses, in a parade of the dead.

BIRDS
NATHANIEL LEE
On a planet where the birds are not quite birds and the trees are not quite trees, Rennie spends his days on the Tower, scrubbing the creatures’ blood off the concrete.

FLOTSAM
MARSHALL J. MOORE
An island-bound “Crew” welcomes their newest recruit—a young girl, orphaned by the shipwreck they caused.

CORRECTIONAL MEMORY
DERRICK BODEN
When a young detective claims Malik was set up for a crime he doesn’t remember committing and offers him a chance to clear his name, he has to decide whether it’s worth risking everything he has left, including his last remaining memory of his daughter.

THE DREAM AND THE WEAVER
KITTY-LYDIA DYE
Determined to find her wife, Ayumi enters a dream world where she must confront her past trauma and grief with the help of Mashoka, a faulty Weaver.

LEGACIES IN LIGHT AND DARK
BRIAN TRENT
Colonists building a peaceful, compassionate society on a tidally locked planet wracked with vicious electrical storms are afraid there might be traitors on their planet after a bombing nearly kills a recently widowed father.