Alternate Worlds: in which there is more than one human species

It is mostly accepted that several human species lived together at the same time, long in the past. Eventually all the others were killed/died off and we are left with only homo sapiens. But perhaps, in an alternate world, more than one human species survived to the modern world, living alongside us. Would this world …

Alternate Worlds: in which past lives are remembered

Reincarnation is not just a nice idea but a simple fact. Upon birth, or perhaps upon a certain date of mental maturity, the brain is flooded with all past lives of the consciousness inhabiting it. Once reaching that age, the person would be able to enter a special code only they could possibly know, and …

Alternate worlds: in which art is valued

Jane completes her education and decides she wants to be an artist. She practices her craft, while working part time, until she's managed to create something good enough to present to the artists collective, as her petition for entry. They see it's value and her potential, and accept her. From then on her food and …

Alternate worlds: in which a deadly disease also makes the infected extremely beautiful

Jane is infected with a disease that will kill her in a matter of weeks. It is incurable, no matter how hard the medical world has tried, and it kills in all cases, shriveling the internal organs into useless husks, and putting all the energy gained from this atrophy into reconstructing the afflicted's outward appearance. …

Alternate Worlds: in which everyone has to live through every second twice

Two seconds forward, one second back. You move the slice of pizza toward  your mouth, and right before you bite it moves back a bit and you've got to do it again. You bite, chew, start to swallow, then have to swallow again. Would your brain adjust to this kind of existence, or would every …