Your theme for 2023 Close to the Edge Hmmm…what stirrings are those in your imagination, we wonder? Prizes £50 for the winning story, plus 1-year digital subscription to Shoreline of Infinity. Two runners-up will each receive a 1-year digital subscription to Shoreline of Infinity. The top three stories will be published in the December release […]
Perched atop the highest vantage on Craig Street, webbed feet splayed upon a rain slick roof, I survey my territory. A wide thoroughfare of mixed domiciles: four-in-a-block roughcast flats and a cluster of new builds. North, lies a T-junction leading to a busy dual carriageway. To the south; a large supermarket with deep and luscious industrial bins.
They say her teeth are carved from fallen stars, strong like diamonds.
They say her skin is formed of the sun, glittering silver and gold.
They say her eyes are powered by the moon, jewelled beacons in the deep.
They say she has lived for thousands of years.
They say she’s the last of her kind.
It doesn’t matter how this begins.
I’ve had three glasses of what passes for gin in Eight to the Bar, and something that the bartender called rum but tasted like motor oil and gunpowder.
I’m not drunk. I’m just talking out loud to myself.
It doesn’t matter how many times you’ve died and died and died again, and rolled and rolled and rerolled yourself together.
I was watching the three-dee with Kelly when the programme was interrupted.
“Uh-oh,” she said.
I gripped her hand. “Don’t worry.”
She turned and stared at me, the hologram pulsing on her forehead.
I stared at the three-dee in the corner. The frame was empty; then a tall man in a black suit appeared.
Arrivals was a nightmare, queuing for decontamination. But there was such a warmth to the wooden panels lining the walls. I had to lean in to smell them: printed. In between that thought and the long inhale, I imagined the ‘ponics needed to grow pine, bamboo, thick enough to create a veneer.
At the Pleasance Cabaret Bar, Edinburgh EH8 9TJ tickets £8 /£5 concession www.cymerafestival.co.uk A stunning night of sumptuous science fictional words and music. Music: Andrew Ferguson Prose & Poetry: Callum McSorley Pippa Goldschmidt Ely Percy Gavin Inglis Featuring the Cymera/Shoreline winning story, read by the author MC: Andrew J Wilson Plus the launch […]
We’re delighted to announce that The Last Robot, our chapbook collection of Jane Yolen’s science fiction poetry, has been nominated for the Elgin Awards. Many congratulations to Jane Yolen, and to Russell Jones who edited the collection. The Last Robot is amongst some fine company, as you can see in the List of Nominations for […]
Ready to send? Head to the Submissions page. Guest Editor: Lyndsey Croal I’m honoured and excited to be editing the special Climate Change issue for Shoreline of Infinity. As an author, science fiction fan, and climate change policy professional in the day job, this is a dream project to edit! Fiction is a powerful tool […]
It is such sad news to hear that Eric Brown passed away yesterday, at the early age of 62. Eric was a vastly underrated British science fiction science fiction, whose name deserves to be in the chain from HG Wells through to John Wyndham, Arthur C Clarke, Iain M Banks, Charles Stross and Ken MacLeod, […]