Dark Matter
A standalone sci-fi short story.
Dark Matter is one of my favourite stories. It was prompted by
’s post about glia and their function in the human nervous system, with the accompanying challenge to write a sci-fi story inspired by that concept. I decided to lean into my background in particle physics for this one, transferring the “glia" idea into a very different domain.I was both surprised and delighted when it won the 2025 Cymera Festival / Shoreline of Infinity science fiction short story competition for Scottish writers! It has now been published in Shoreline of Infinity 39 (Summer 2025) and is available there exclusively until January 2026. Do head over to Shoreline of Infinity for a copy of the magazine (digital or paperback) — you’ll find a wealth of great stories in there!
By the way, if you haven’t yet read Dark Matter and want to avoid spoilers, steer clear of the comments section on this post!
Meanwhile, enjoy this cool image from a simulation of dark matter distribution in the universe, from the Uchuu virtual universe developed by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan. I love the visual similarity between what we see here and the structure of the nervous system.
And if you’re looking for a similar genre of story, you might enjoy this one!
Endangered Species
The genesis of this story came from a prompt by Scoot (“Write about the sea”). The sea comes into my stories quite a lot, I think; something that comes from living on an island. But this one went through a series of tangential leaps and meanderings unt…
First. I remember the wonderful article by L.L. Ford on glia, it was great.
Second. The graphic layout of your story is fantastic, I loved it and it makes the reading more intense.
Third. The historical jump from one period to another, the way you made DEMI, SUSY and history interact.
Fourth. The ending, absolutely perfect.
What can I say? I had a blast!
Absolutely brilliantly done. the poetic dialogue between the entities was a joy to read. i dont really understand all the physics stuff but im guessing its all correct as per current science if I know your writing at all... and until the dark matter delves again... if only it would... who would I like to be unwoven... hmmm