The Arcades' Lab / Fiction

Stories for strange little fires.

Read independent short fiction online, with downloadable editions where available.

Black ink emblem of an android face and cart wheel on cloth-white paper.

Featured short-story collection

Seven stories about labor, transformation, grief, queer survival, and the strange lives we build together.

Seven stories · Read online · PDF editions available

Explore the collectionBegin with Carl
A sheltered open-air virtual bar overlooks a rainy neon city. A low-poly fox and painterly mouse, rabbit, cat, and human share drinks beneath the roof.

Featured novel-in-stories

A novel-in-stories about escaping the hypercapitalist grind.

6 chapters · Read online · PDFs available by chapter or as one complete edition

Explore the collectionBegin with Cold BootGet the complete PDF

Portfolio fiction

Selected fiction outside the collection, preserved as web and PDF editions.

  1. Gallery View

    An isolated artist builds a hidden virtual gallery around a portrait of Jamie while their Zoo community turns an uncertain gift into an act of trust.

    Read onlineDownload PDF

  1. It Takes a Zoo

    A novel-in-stories about found family, queerness, and surviving a hypercapitalist world through the power of love.

    View series

    1. May 3, 2026

      It Takes a Zoo to Raise the Child

      An introductory poem for the It Takes a Zoo series, by Jumpin’ Jackrabbit (1973–2040).