When the glass tubes inside the neon lights that keep MegaCity 1 awash in a polychromatic glow crack, the escaped noble gases drift and gather over the unincorporated zone, the suburban remnant of the old city. Here, where life is short and cheap and where any bionic augmentations are done by one’s own hand or via gray-market surgeon, this apocalyptic neon cloud serves as a consolation prize: intermingled with atmospheric metallic particulates, the multihued miasma produces a dazzling aurora surrealis, especially after an acid rainstorm. As a lifelong Zoner, you know that these storms mean more empty houses, so when your flittering holographic emergency alert system says the coast is clear and turns the color of a dead channel, you pick up that weird-looking gun you used to rob a Dollar General next to a cornfield managed by nanobots and get to work. This is life on the
C0PPER_W1RE
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ART
- 11 ARTIFACTS by Robby Day
- DIGITALIA by Jeremiah Suit
- THE TOOLS YOU CARRY WILL MAKE YOU A KILLER by EmptyCollective
ESSAY
- CYBERFREAKS/MUSHPUNK by becoming-insensible
FICTION
- 100% BEEF by Tyler Peterson
- A BRASS KNUCKLES BOURRÉE by Jon Doughboy
- DISTORTED ORGANS by morten ht
- DOOM [INSLAW PROMIS EDITION] by D.T. O’Conaill
- FULL SPECTRAL CANINE by guyliner
- ICE HOUSE by Justin Carter
- METAL HEART by e rathke
- ROOSTER’S RING FINGER by Elijah Cansler
- THE SIERPIŃSKI GASKET by John K. Peck
- WORK RATE by Rob Power
POETRY
- "MY SIGNIFICANCE" by Bernard Cohen
Artwork by Robert Voyvodic