The 2025 Cymera Festival/ Shoreline of Infinity Short story competition for Scottish writers
The Winning Story is:
Dark Matter – Caitriana NicNeacail
Runners up:
Bibi’s Sisters – Ailsa Fraser
The Story Collector – R.M. McRitchie
Highly Recommended
Gary’s Massive Head Shouting Forever – Kieran McCaffrey
The fall of the anti-euthanasia collective – Mark Gallacher
Congratulations to all.
Here is the full longlist
Bibi’s Sisters – Ailsa Fraser
Chronicles of the Train Delay – Ian Macartney
Dark Matter – Caitriana NicNeacail
Gary’s Massive Head Shouting Forever – Kieran McCaffrey
Ideology – S.J. Ladds
Little Terror – Jon Reburn
Proceed Under Caution – Allan Tanner
Replaced – Kara Devlin
Sapience Record – Duncan Forgan
Sea Monkees – Sam Morris
The fall of the anti-euthanasia collective – Mark Gallacher
The Second Amen – Nicole Love
The Story Collector – R.M. McRitchie
The Weaver – Meghan Ellis
With grateful thanks to our judges, Simon Spanton and Lorraine Wilson, and Ann Landmann who maintained order.
Here are some of the comments from the judges as we battered our thoughts about.
“A great selection of stories. The common factor of downbeat world views was perhaps inevitable but the stories were all leavened by an awareness of the dramatic demands of the form, by fine description, some real wit and genuine empathy for fellow humans in extremis.”
“What an amazing selection of stories! Thank you for a fabulous few days reading & agonising over these, it’s been a struggle settling on the final 3”
“It was a REALLY good list. Stories and characters negotiating different ways of being human, of being alive and of dying.”
“Genre fiction doing its job properly :)”
Here is what they said about the winning tales.
Dark Matter
This story is a perfect example of the way short fiction can contain universes. It spans, in poetic, delicately searing prose, both centuries and realities, altering our relationship with our world and its histories and leaving us deliciously side-eyeing the realm of quantum physics. A brilliant achievement.
The Story Collector
This had a lovely Ray Bradbury vibe (though with a possibly bleaker post-apocalyptic feel than Bradbury might have gone for). Really enjoyed the vivid descriptive writing, the focus on detail and the POV of the main character. It was the tattered but somehow magical feel of the world and the narrative that won me over. The fact that the story revolved around the importance of story even when everything else is gone was, for me, a powerful draw. Preaching to the converted given the audience for such a tale but no sledgehammer in the dealing.
Bibi’s Sisters
A great bringing together of fairy tale’s warnings about the patriarchy and Blade Runner’s warnings about the dangers of flawed creators. Loved that it undermined the sentimental idea of the eccentric inventor tinkering in their garden shed so thoroughly. The dawning perspective of the POV character was neatly handled and their empathy with their sisters was tied touchingly to their inability to help. Pinnochio as seen through Black Mirror. A very effective story – controlled but with a real emotional punch nevertheless. And I loved the naming conventions of the sisters: the self-serving illusion of personality applied to a production line by the Maker.
Thanks to everyone who sent us a story.
You can read Dark Matter in Shoreline of Infinity 39, available in print and digital formats.