Read a story
Fiction transports us into the lives of others. Places we’ve never been, things we’ve never done, can become part of our experience and shape our way of thinking. Pick a story to read – and let it change you.
Coming Soon: Gaze
by Matt Boothman, after Yanahn
The Tower of Art contains all that is art, and nothing that is not art. Willis Winter is in the tower, and that means his work, his product, has to be art, and he an artist. Nothing else makes sense. Then again, it is not always, not even that often, necessary for art to make sense.
Story generated by Tower of Art, a single-player journalling game by Yanahn, published by Twelve Pins Press. Writing and graphics by Matt Boothman.
Serialised here on the Foggy Outline website, March 2026–
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Camera Obscura
by Matt Boothman, after Samantha Leigh
Curzon Labs would test even the most seasoned researcher’s objectivity. The copier is haunted, the consent form has to state that participants won’t eat the researchers, and a seething portal to the lidless eye of Institutional Review Board scrutiny could open at any moment.
Story generated by Outliers, a single-player journalling game by Samantha Leigh, based on The Wretched by Chris Bissette, and published by the Far Horizons Co-Op. Writing and graphics by Matt Boothman.
Serialised here on the Foggy Outline website, March 2025–February 2026.
Lobster Pots
by Matt Boothman
The jaws of the Salt Court are closing around the pirate port of Elausha. Which side is Mimi on?
Serialised on Bluesky, August 2025.
A Net Too Wide to Break His Fall
by Matt Boothman
Callum struggles not to fall through the cracks – easier said than done when no one can see or hear him without a personal introduction.
Serialised in the Foggy Outline newsletter, July 2023–February 2025.
Driving the Point Home
by Matt Boothman
A spellsmith forges a trick sword to teach a friend a lesson.
Originally published in Of The Sword, a micro-fiction anthology podcast that released a short story about a unique sword every day in September 2023.
1k words. Audio version available.
When a Crossroads is a corner
by Matt Boothman, writing as M. J. Starling
A prisoner faces off with a guard dog.
Apex Magazine Steal the Spotlight contest winner, November 2014.
250 words.
Dead Without Dying
by Matt Boothman, writing as M. J. Starling
A woman with a seriously long-term ambition seeks out the secret of longevity.
Originally published in AE: The Canadian Science Fiction Review, April 2012.
2k words.
Thorndyke’s Folly
by Matt Boothman, writing as M. J. Starling
A man dreams himself into his past to save his – maybe everyone’s – future.
Originally published in Reflection’s Edge, September 2009.
5.5k words.