What a year for the Cymera Prize for Speculative Short Fiction!
Over 100 entries (109 in fact) showcased the incredibly diversity and quality of Scottish short fiction writers, and our judges had a hard time narrowing down their shortlist.
Congratulations to
Paul McQuade with his story Forgetting is Their Word for Death
Paul is a
What our judges said
“Forgetting is Their Word for Death is a Ballardian tale set in the far off future, the awakening of someone, sleeping beauty style, who gradually remembers they volunteered to be preserved for future use. The author’s love of and skill with language is evident, and I took great delight in such lovely lines as “Largely shapeless, bald, the nose, ears, and eyes worn down by time to a protean mass. A homunculoid people. My descendants.” Camilla Grudova
“Forgetting is Their Word for Death is a beautifully written sad and elegiac tale on the importance of language in navigating the natural world, and a warning of what might happen to humanity if we allow that world to disappear.” Pippa Goldschmidt
Congratulations to our two runners-up
Eagles by Iain Bain
Notes from our judges
“In Eagles, rare wildlife has ‘invaded’ Glasgow and eagles are dismissed with the same annoyance we give to seagulls. It is a topical and dark-humoured story.” Camilla Grudova
“Eagles was a deserved runner-up with its depiction of wild animals invading Partick, providing a surreal backdrop to everyday life.” Pippa Goldschmid
The End of the Lines by R/L Monroe
Notes from our judges
“The End of the Line, mixing workplace commentary with science fiction depicts the hilarious effect of a rude, high maintenance restaurant customer undoing a whole society with her demanding requests, a story I could relate to having worked in many customer service jobs. “ Camilla Grudova
T”he End of the Line was a humorous example of the butterfly effect – a restaurant order going awry might spark the end of civilisation.” Pippa Goldschmidt
Congratulations also to our longlist
A Hive Is a Family of Bees by Anja Hendrikse Liu
A Kindness by Sam Healy
Body Clock by Anna Rickards
In Spite of Darkness by Katya Bacica
Monday/Vial #4602 by May Bird
Points of Light by Casey Peterson
Sit Still by Laura Borrowdale
Some Big Something by Cal Rosie
The Bobbing Thing Inside My Head by Ian Hunter
Winter Tale by Anne McClure
We can’t wait to read more of your work!
Prize for Speculative Short Fiction
Cymera, Scotland’s Festival of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Writing and Shoreline of Infinity, Scotland’s award-winning science fiction magazine are teaming up again to host our short story competition in our quest to discover the best new stories by Scottish writers.
Our 2024 competition has no theme, so let your creative juices flow unhindered!
Remember, we are looking for a speculative story. Explore this future world through the eyes of your character, tell us their story.
Speculative (ADJECTIVE)
Engaged in, expressing, or based on conjecture rather than knowledge.
The Awards
The Cymera Prize for Speculative Short Fiction is open to any writer living in Scotland or Scottish by birth or inclination, aged at least 14 years.
Submissions are open from 15th January 2024 until 6pm GMT on Sunday 31st March 2024.
The winning writer will be awarded £150.
The winner in will be published in Shoreline of Infinity Magazine, and the author will receive a complimentary copy.
New for 2024: The winning story will also be published in the SF Caledonia Paper, released at Cymera Festival. SF Caledonia is a Shoreline of Infinity project created to showcase Scottish SF writing. Find out more at SF Caledonia.
They will also receive a complimentary weekend pass to our 2024 festival.
The two runner-ups will receive a weekend pass to our 2024 festival.
We will also celebrate our competition and its winners in a special event, where the winning story will be read out by professional actors.
Am I Scottish enough?
The Cymera Prize for Speculative Short Fiction is open to anyone who is Scottish by birth or inclination. In more details, you can enter if ONE of the following criteria applies to you.
You were born in Scotland
You currently live in Scotland.
One or both or your parents were born in Scotland
One or both of your grandparents were born in Scotland
You are married to a person who was born in Scotland
You were resident in Scotland for at least six months at some point prior to entering our competition.
If you have any further questions or concerns, please just get in touch on info@cymerafestival.co.uk
Need some inspiration? Check out our #Cymera21 event.
Watch our event where our judges Noel Chidwick, Cat Hellisen and Oliver K. Langmead discuss the competition, the shortlist and reveal the winner. Includes a reading from the winning story The Microwave Library by David Tam McDonald, read by Debbie Cannon.
(Contains some tips for writing a good short story)