We are delighted to announce a new call for entries to the Quantum Shorts flash fiction competition! We seek stories up to 1000 words long that take inspiration from the mind-blowing world of quantum physics.
“In these days of quantum computers and quantum satellites, even the news can read like sci-fi. We invite writers to explore behind the headlines and tell stories with emotion and imagination,” says judge and quantum physicist Artur Ekert.
To add a further challenge: stories must include the phrase “things used to be so simple”, taken from the winning story of our previous fiction call. Check the competition's full rules, get inspiration from our resources, then submit your stories here. The competition is free to enter and offers prizes up to US$1500.
Michael, who holds a PhD in quantum physics, is an author, journalist and broadcaster. He is a consultant at New Scientist and the author of numerous books including The Quantum Astrologer’s Handbook, Hollywood Wants to Kill You and the bestselling non-fiction title 13 Things That Don't Make Sense. He co-hosts the award-winning podcast Science(ish), which delves into the science behind popular culture.
Artur is the Director of the Centre for Quantum Technologies and Lee Kong Chian Centennial Professor at the National University of Singapore. He is also a Professor of Quantum Physics at the Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford, UK. His main research interest is information processing in quantum systems. Artur is a co-inventor of quantum cryptography, which uses the fundamental laws of physics to guarantee perfectly secure communication. He has worked, communicated with and advised several companies and government agencies.
Yvonne is an experimental physicist in Singapore developing state-of-the-art hardware for quantum information processing. She has been named in MIT Technology Review’s TR35 Innovators Under 35 Asia list for 2020 and awarded the Singapore National Research Foundation Fellowship (Class of 2020). Yvonne earned her doctorate at Yale University, where she worked on constructing the crucial building blocks of quantum computers using superconducting microwave circuits.
Mariia is a software engineer on the Microsoft Quantum Systems team. Microsoft Quantum is building a full-stack open cloud quantum ecosystem, bringing together experts and learners around the world.
Ingrid Jendrzejewski serves as Co-director of National Flash Fiction Day (UK), Editor in Chief of FlashBack Fiction and Flash Flood, and a flash editor at JMWW. She studied creative writing and English literature at the University of Evansville, then physics at the University of Cambridge. Her work has been published in places like Best Small Fictions, Passages North, The Los Angeles Review, Flash: The International Short-Short Story Magazine. She has won various flash competitions such as the Bath Flash Fiction Award, the A Room Of Her Own Fo
Chad is an Associate Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Union College, and he writes books about science for non-scientists. He has a BA in physics from Williams College and a Ph.D. in Chemical Physics from the University of Maryland, College Park (studying laser cooling at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in the lab of Bill Phillips, who shared the 1997 Nobel in Physics). He was a post-doc at Yale, and has been at Union since 2001.
George Musser is a contributing editor for Scientific American magazine and author of two books on fundamental physics, Spooky Action at a Distance and The Complete Idiot’s Guide to String Theory. He was a writer-in-residence at the Centre for Quantum Technologies in 2011. He has won numerous awards, including the 2011 Science Writing Award from the American Institute of Physics and, with his Scientific American colleagues, U.S.
Lindy is a senior lecturer in science communication at the Centre for the Public Awareness of Science (CPAS), the Australian National University. She has published extensively on representations of science in fiction, including in Springer’s Encyclopedia of Science Education and international journals such as Sex Roles, Public Understanding of Science, and Journal of Popular Television.
