You drive into the high school parking lot, your wipers slashing at the heavy rain. It’s the first day of spring and students run from their cars and the school buses, into the dry halls of the high school. You’re heading for the faculty lot when you see them. At the far end of the student...

One brilliant kid grows up and cures AIDS. Another brilliant kid grows up and becomes the Unabomber. Why? You know why. You teach standard mainstream fourth grade. And your favorite student comes in without the homework again. “Actually,” he says, “I forgot. Really, I should...

FIRST-IN UNITS REPORT HEAVY FIRE CONDITIONS. POOR WATER SUPPLY AND FAST FIRE. SINGLE HOME. INHABITANTS TRAPPED, POSSIBLE CHILDREN. ALL UNITS RESPOND! You don’t feel like a hero. It’s what you do. Going into Hell is part of the job. You’ve been fighting fires for a couple of years...

This is your world. Exceptional students. The disabled and the gifted. You were always drawn to that side, the disabled kids. There are so many more of them than the gifted. Their needs seem so desperate, their gratitude so overwhelming. You’d always wanted to teach. You’d grown up...

Your dream— high school star, college starter, NFL draft. Six years ago on a snow-blown college football field, halfway into that dream, you used your stunning speed in a tight end pattern, cutting hard, and WHAM! You took a blindside hit that felt like you’d stepped in front of a bus....

YOU’VE SEEN HIS FACE ON THE COVER OF TIME MAGAZINE, THIS BILLIONAIRE CEO, who says, “A hundred billion dollars are at stake. There has to be a bug in the conference room. We’re fighting a hostile takeover, and they made some sketchy inside moves that hurt us. Somehow they scored...

“If the soldiers force their way inside my home, I must try to kill them.” The man on his knees says this desperately. He is literally begging, explaining the price of honor. He speaks a language you understand. But only you. The rest of the squad hears only his stress. He talks so...

The US has no remaining grain reserves. That’s right. Nothing is left in our emergency food pantry. It’s bare. This is not some catchy fiction to catch your attention. I wish it were. It’s even worse than that. There is no cheese, no butter, no dry milk powder, no grains or anything...

You are a Werewolf. Fangs fill your mouth. Long razor-sharp claws hang like knives from each hairy finger. Your massive shoulders roll as you walk in a surly crouch, ready to attack and rip apart anything, or anyone foolish enough to dare stand in your way. It feels incredibly liberating— so...

You’ve inherited this used planet. It belongs to you now. Lots of luck. Our world is heating up, choking to death. We live on the thin crust of a rock, spinning in space. The only thing protecting us, from the deep cold abyss, is the fragile coating of air a few miles above us. The same...