Many Happy Returns by Adam-Troy Castro (Horror)
Gorman was on foot, crossing a frozen continent. It was not Antarctica. That was light years away, and so over. Nobody went there anymore. This continent he had chosen for his latest adventure was bigger, broader, colder, deadlier, nastier. It was not fun. Every step was an occasion for regret. He was probably going to die. He was glad he came.
One by Nancy Kress (Science Fiction)
“It’s a long way to fall, Zack.” Zack scowled up at Anne, wishing she would go away. Bad enough to be lying on this damn hospital bed in a thin cotton dress that left his ass bare. Bad enough to be going into surgery for something wrong in his brain. Bad enough to not understand what that something was, not even after one of all those doctors had explained it, just the same way he’d never understood that kind of intellectual crap his whole stupid life. But having his sister loom over him, upright when he was down—well, wasn’t that just the icing on this particular shit cake?
The Kings of Mount Golden by Paul Di Filippo (Science Fiction)
“This is the devil’s own bargain you are forcing upon me, Warner Gilead, and you shall come to rue this day!”
Billy by Paul Di Filippo (Fantasy, Science Fiction)
The woman explained about Billy's history, and his amazing post-pubescent changes. At one point she said, "We wish we could show you Billy's empty head and undeveloped brain, but the network standards forbid it, since it is quite repulsive-looking." The Doctor spoke up then, testifying to the minuteness of Billy's brain. His air of authority was very convincing. Billy's innocent looks--his face blank as cheese, his placid green eyes--and his unnatural voice, lent further credence to the miracle of his being.
Devils at Play by Paul Di Filippo (Science Fiction)
End result: nothing “normal” satisfies us, no simple pleasures persist. Everyday living, common rewards, leave us cold. And if we can’t get high, can’t feed the need, we feel like walking corpses. No simple chemical fixes seem to work, just total kinesthetic and proprioceptic stimulation, with a side order of mental jazzing, in the form of flouting all norms, rebellion across the board.
To Jorslem by Robert Silverberg (Science Fiction)
Our world was now truly theirs. All the way across Eyrop I could see that the invaders had taken everything, and we belonged to them as beasts in a barnyard belong to the farmer.