Stories and fiction
A large proportion of TBD is taken up with fiction. Although this won't be reprinted in full on this website, excerpts will be available as tasters.
In this section, you can also find hints and guidance on writing fiction from the TBD team.
Guidance
- Tips and guidance on writing
- An article by Joanna McKenzie with tips and guidance on how to write a good short story.
Submissions to TBD
See our submissions guidelines page for information on submitting stories and other fiction to TBD.
Stories
Here you can find an archive of stories that have appeared in TBD. The stories are not reproduced in full, but only excerpts are available. If these little snippets intrigue you enough to find the originals, TBD offers a back issue service.
Issue 73
- Displaced
- A portrait of a near-future Scotland
- Breeding Pea Monsters
- One man attempts to resurrect a dead species
- Fortune
- A couple win a holiday to an exotic planet
Issue 72
- Encounter
- One man's encounter with the Fey
- Helioshock
- Mankind reaches for the stars
- Slack Capital
- Acts of magical terrorism denied
Issue 71
- A Job Just Like Any Other
- A bounty hunter tries to avoid becoming the hunted
- The Display
- A cautionary tale of a research project that goes horribly wrong
- Where Heroes Fear to Tread
- Villainy unbounded
Issue 70
- Thief
- A Thief undertakes a very special mission
- A Dull Morning
- Just another Saturday morning
- The Island of Doctor Morose
- Industrial espionage to try and gain a valuable prize
Issue 69
- The Cat of Dreams
- A phantom cat comes to the aid of imagination
- Snow
- A man falls apart in the snow
- Dance of Fate
- A group of soldiers take a wrong turning
Issue 68
- Immemorial
- A queen is exiled to a tower by the sea
- Empty City
- Secret agents and secret societies
- Ever the Optimist
- Of murder and haunting
Issue 67
- Famous Last Stands
- The consequences of medical advance
- By What Shall I be Redeemed?
- The darker side to superpowers
- Ahead of the Storm
- A desperate group try to outrace a storm
Issue 66
- By the Riverside
- A lost dog leads to a spooky chain of events
- Memory Lane
- What happens if false memories make you want to kill?
- Black Painted Hammer
- Taking law enforcement to a new level
Issue 65
- Dreaming of Incentives pt 2
- The theft and return of dreams
- The Flute and the Glen
- A horror lurks in the glens of 18th century Scotland
- Surrender
- The end of the world as we know it
Issue 64
- Dreaming of Incentives pt 1
- The theft of dreams
- Harvest of Sorrows
- Earth's plantlife takes its revenge
- Running Heartless
- A warrior hunts
Issue 63
- Running Eyeless
- Totems and familiars
- I Don't Dream of Anyone Except Myself
- Facing up to your mirror image
- Brown Eyed Girl
- Some people really love their pets
Issue 62
- Come Out and Play
- A boy faces up to bullies
- Reaction Coupling
- Human-robot relations to go the next level
- The Bright Place
- The poor and disposessed are drawn out of the darkness by a dancer
Issue 61
- Volley Panicminuses
- A group of amnesiac soldiers fights a war against an unknown enemy
- Sharpening the Knife
- A child follows in her mother's footsteps searching for her godess
- Existencia
- A poem
Issue 60
- Ghost Whispers
- A little boy discovers a long-hidden secret in an attic
- For I Have Seen the Heavens
- A story of paranoia
- Ripples in Time and Space
- The final part of our serial
Issue 59
- My Little Girl
- A father tries to find a present for his daughter's birthday.
- Your Call is Important to Us
- A call centre tale
- Ripples in Time and Space
- Part four of our serial
Issue 58
- A Game of You
- A vampire's tale
- Investigator Extraordinary: Part Two
- Gentleman investigator Simon Holst investigates a chilling murder
- Ripples in Time and Space
- Part three of our serial
Issue 57
- The Blueblade Warriors
- Why bluegrass is dangerous stuff
- Beyond the Storm
- The tale of a child living in a flooded world
- Investigator Extraordinary: Part One
- Gentleman investigator Simon Holst investigates a chilling murder
- Ripples in Time and Space
- Part two of our serial
Issue 56
- Dark Red
- A psychic visitation
- What Came First?
- A tale of genetic manipulation. And chickens.
- Ripples in Time and Space
- Part one of our serial
- Data Entry of 1874
- A poem
Issue 55
- A Good Deal Better
- A mother’s grief
- Eye of the Dragon
- A zen assassin
- Land Piracy is a Crime
- A pirate tells a tall tale
- A.I.
- A poem
Issue 54
- Everybody says it’s just like rock n’ roll
- What happens when the grid starts going down
- Dr. Donovan’s Eternity: Part 5
- The fifth and final part of our current serial
Issue 53
- Magic’s End
- How magic died in the world
- Diabolist’s Catch
- Fishing for demons
- Dr. Donovan’s Eternity: Part 4
- The fourth part of our current serial
Issue 52
- Black Hole Son
- How not to invade a planet
- Ah! Dionysys: Part, the Fourth
- The Mount-Lord finally meets his end
- Dr. Donovan’s Eternity: Part 3
- The third part of our current serial
Issue 51
- Christmas Yet to Come
- Mr. Scrooge sees the future
- In a Country with No Uncles
- How the Warriors must defend their country
- Ah! Dionysys: Part, the Third
- A tale of slumbering puzzles, parties and causing pain to narrators
- Dr. Donovan’s Eternity: Part 2
- The second part of our current serial
Issue 50
- The Piper and the Princess
- A forest piper and a princess fall in love
- All These Worlds are Yours
- A warning to future colonists
- Ah! Dionysys: Part, the Second
- A tale of protagonists, narrators and self-reflexivity
- Dr. Donovan’s Eternity: Part 1
- The first part of our current serial
Issue 49
- Too Many Demons: Part 2
- A thief with some interesting accomplices launches a daring raid
- Tharg Escapes
- The great barbarian hero Tharg escapes from his prison and sets about reclaiming his kingdom
- Ah! Dionysius
- Fighting evil over nine days
- Betray: Part 5
- The final part of our fantasy serial
Issue 48
- Too Many Demons: Part 1
- A thief with some interesting accomplices launches a daring raid
- I, Zombie
- A glimse into the dreadful world of the corporate zombie
- I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with it, but it isn’t natural, is it?
- A young man tries to come to terms with himself
- Betray: Part 4
- Part three of our fantasy serial
Issue 47
- T-Bomb
- A devestating new weapon is to be tested in space, where it can’t hurt anyone. Can it?
- The War of the Runes of Doom
- A brief history of an epic tale of a fantasy world of a... (you get the idea)
- Betray: Part 3
- Part three of our fantasy serial
Issue 46
- Beyond these Mean Streets we Know: Part 2
- The conclusion to last issue’s tale of a private eye who goes to extraordinary lengths to find a lost child
- Click
- A tense story that questions reality and the validity of our senses
- Betray: Part 2
- Part two of our fantasy serial
Issue 45
- Beyond these mean streets we know: Part 1
- A fantasy-tinged detective story in which a mother enlists the hero to find her lost daughter
- A book at bedtime
- An interesting tale about the power of literature (literally!)
- Betray: Part 1
- Our new serial concerns a young Magus caught in a war
Issue 44
- Of the Blackest Night
- A near-future story of a disasterous first contact situation with an extra-terrestrial object.
- The Four Points Inn
- The owner of a tavern at a crossroads talks about the strange travellers that come to her inn.
- Severina
- A poem of love and loss