The Observer
by Dan Goodman
January 09, 2024
Hal was grumpy that day, anchoring himself in the universe he was observing
Winner
Of the latest flash fiction shortlist, shortlisting judge Michael Brooks said, “The stories were truly engaging: sometimes touching, sometimes funny, sometimes ingenious, sometimes just hilariously crazy! I had great difficulty choosing my favourites, as all of them had something to offer a curious reader.”
by Dan Goodman
January 09, 2024
Hal was grumpy that day, anchoring himself in the universe he was observing
Winner
by Acadia Reynolds
January 09, 2024
Ezra is born with a red line of probability wrapped around her fingers like the string of a balloon
Winner
by Tony Tsoi
January 08, 2024
“Find Wei-ling. Tell her I love her.”
Winner
by Ioana Burtea
January 07, 2024
Mark always thought that entanglement theory was a bit romantic
Shortlisted
by Pippa Storey
January 06, 2024
The history of physics contains ’til this day A little-known secret surrounding Solvay.
Shortlisted
by Kathryn Aldridge-Morris
January 02, 2024
In a week my eighteen-year-old daughter will have left home
Shortlisted
by S.A. McNaughton
January 02, 2024
If my plan is going to work, then they have to believe I’m asleep
Shortlisted
by Janel Comeau
January 09, 2024
The machine needed only two small drops of blood, one taken from each of them
Shortlisted
by Mahnoor Fatima
January 09, 2024
It looked like a fever dream, just like he had mentioned
Shortlisted
by Dave Chua
January 08, 2024
The dollhouse had a message for Melissa
Shortlisted
by Max Gallagher
January 01, 2024
There was once a nightclub called The Solvay where everyone was on the same wavelength
Honorable Mention
by Liam Hogan
January 01, 2024
It was a job delivering qubits
Honorable Mention
by Lily Turaski
January 09, 2024
Equantum, Inc. is seeking a skilled horse rider and trained physicist to assist in testing an exciting new breakthrough
Honorable Mention
by Natasha Irving
January 03, 2024
Lucille stood in front of her open refrigerator wondering how her life had become such an incredible waste
Honorable Mention
by Cadence Mandybura
January 09, 2024
My wife Gemma has another life, and I’m not in it
Honorable Mention
by Cora Valderas
December 02, 2021
Do Not Put Hand Into or Under Quantum Machinery
Winner
by Álvaro Buendía
December 16, 2021
A conversation between a computers: classical vs quantum
Winner
by Sabrina Patsch
December 16, 2021
In the arena, do you have what it takes to get to the other side coherent?
Winner
by Charmaine Smith
December 03, 2021
“Observer wanted”, the ad read
Shortlisted
by S.G. Phillips
December 16, 2021
Your life was laid out for you, every step, every action. But even the best-laid plans go awry…
Shortlisted
by Michael Haiden
December 16, 2021
Cynthia and Aaron were feeding Lewis’ cat(s?)
Shortlisted
by Brian Wells
December 16, 2021
Captain Brinks had expected a hero’s welcome
Shortlisted
by Giancarla Aritao
December 16, 2021
Ana did not know where all those socks were coming from
Shortlisted
by Colm O’Shea
December 14, 2021
In the chamber of the quantum computer, there was a fly
Shortlisted
by Connie Chen
December 04, 2021
Evan only wanted to find a cure
Shortlisted
by Ariadne Blayde
February 29, 2020
Shinichi pedals as fast as he could on his tricycle. He is four years old but wants to be older
Winner
by Meg Sipos
February 24, 2020
As the rips multiplied, Lea never knew what version of her husband would come home
Winner
by C.R. Long
February 09, 2020
The flat black box can solve almost any problem. Just make sure you read the contract.
Winner
by Lewis Freer
February 11, 2020
They were only meant to be simulations of the war…
Shortlisted
by Gunnar De Winter
January 25, 2020
It’s complicated and confusing. It’s life and death. But really it’s just the different energy states of a system, so why not give it a go?
Shortlisted
by Thomas M. Brooks
March 01, 2020
It’s hard to relax once you know about the working conditions of your entanglement partners
Shortlisted
by Annie Tupek
March 01, 2020
Fortuna had caused a sensation when six months after its inauguration each of the thousands of couples it matched were still together…But it had never found a match for Sandra
Shortlisted
by Griffin Ayaz Tyree
March 01, 2020
They call it Selective Decoherence Insufficiency: a person senses themselves existing like a wave; uncollapsed, present across all places where they had any probability of being
Shortlisted
by Emma Marcos
February 29, 2020
A quantum processor can watch more than just particle collisions
Shortlisted
by Anjelica Grey
February 27, 2020
Jason was dead. But right on time, Lucy’s device pinged
Shortlisted
by Krati Shukla
March 01, 2020
This is one circulation list you don’t mind being left off
Honorable Mention
by D. A. Quiñones
February 04, 2020
Carl and Bob had a plan. Robbing the bank was going to be easy
Honorable Mention
by Medardo M. Manrique, Jr.
March 01, 2020
Nowadays, you have to make sure that your date is not an alt-person – fraternising with a fugitive from another universe can land you in a lot of trouble
Honorable Mention
by Przemyslaw Zanko
December 01, 2017
The portals to those other worlds allowed people to run away from their problems. It’s time for this to end…
Winner
Open
by Nick Maslov
November 26, 2017
Here at the end of things, time has lost its meaning
Winner
Youth
by Lily Turaski
December 01, 2017
Online dating brings a girl and her granny together
Winner
Youth
by Morgan Long
December 01, 2017
Terry’s Commodore Quantum Supercomputer has arrived…
Winner
Youth
by Andrew Neil Gray
November 24, 2017
Speculation abounds. From where comes the noise in the quantum machines
Winner
Open
by J M Kinnear
November 30, 2017
There’s a whiff of something new at the labs today
Shortlisted
Open
by Brian
December 01, 2017
He would risk it all to see her again…
Shortlisted
Youth
by Joey
October 20, 2017
Luna is done with living in the dark
Shortlisted
Youth
by D. Archer
November 29, 2017
There may be more to these strange blossoms than meets the eye…
Shortlisted
Open
by Jenni Juvonen
November 30, 2017
When Andreus said “We need to talk”, Lizzie broke into a thousand pieces
Shortlisted
Open
by D. Archer
December 01, 2017
The first discovery at the HEV supercollider is entirely unexpected
Shortlisted
Open
by Khadija Niazi
November 30, 2017
When a particle loves a wave, nothing should come between them
Shortlisted
Youth
December 01, 2017
Rule number one for Elise and Esile: never tell anyone about the bond they share
Shortlisted
Youth
by Judy Helfrich
November 26, 2017
The perfect life is just a collapsed wavefunction away
Shortlisted
Open
December 01, 2017
Arya matters. She mustn’t be allowed to disappear
Shortlisted
Youth
by Laura Campbell
November 27, 2017
Sometimes reality is hard to face
Shortllisted
Open
by Peter Childs
December 01, 2017
The neural lace is just part of marriage these days – if the bride and groom can survive the consequences
Shortlisted
Open
by Ricky Nathvani
December 01, 2017
It’s so cruel that all they can do is give me probabilities, fatal wagers on my son’s life
Shortlisted
Open
by Liam Hogan
November 02, 2015
More than most children, Ana has good reason to worry about what’s under her bed
Winner
Open
by Tara Abrishami
November 29, 2015
The time has finally arrived – we can look for an alternate reality
Winner
Youth
by Andrew Neil Gray
September 23, 2015
What message would you want to send through a wormhole?
Winner
Open
by Lily Turaski
November 24, 2015
It is not the envelopes that decide Lily’s fate; it is her choice to observe their contents
Winner
Youth
by Khadija Niazi
November 27, 2015
Vincent Reese is having a near death experience, and it isn’t anything like they said it would be
Shortlisted
Youth
by Jesus Chua
November 30, 2015
Despite the possibility of losing Eyla, despite the stigma, despite the threat of war, their first child was going to survive…
Shortlisted
Open
December 01, 2015
There’s always a universe where things work out
Shortlisted
Youth
by Aaric Tan Xiang Yeow
November 29, 2015
What is a life but a clump of tangled knots, a journey with no definite beginning and no traceable end?
Shortlisted
Open
October 13, 2015
Some people will do anything to be your friend. And that’s ok.
Shortlisted
Youth
by Stewart C. Baker
October 07, 2015
Welcome to the only user manual you’ll ever need – in this part of the multiverse, at least
Shortlisted
Open
by Lee Yang Peng
November 29, 2015
The top secret military facility in CERN explores frontiers that even science fiction fears to imagine
Shortlisted
Youth
by Jack Ellert-Beck
November 26, 2015
Her phone beeps. Is this the message from the future Eloise has been waiting for?
Shortlisted
Youth
by J. E. Bates
November 11, 2015
Tamm might be critically ill, but he has a friend that can get him through
Shortlisted
Open
by Ritika
November 29, 2015
When he first laid eyes on her he knew they had an undeniable attraction…
Shortlisted
Youth
December 01, 2015
Fighting back a shiver, she flicked off the lights. In that instant, she could almost have sworn to seeing a pair of eyes, staring back at her in the darkness…
Shortlisted
Youth
by Daniel Swindlehurst
November 28, 2015
Once you’re in the simulation, there’s only one way to check whether it’s the real world
Shortlisted
Youth
by Judy Helfrich
December 01, 2015
The nanotherapy goes in. Neural connections come alive, snapping together like impatient fingers. I try to scream…
Shortlisted
Open
by .
November 30, 2015
“This, my dear, is how we govern. This is how we rule the world.”
Shortlisted
Youth
by Przemysław Zańko
December 01, 2015
All things considered, The End wasn’t that bad
Shortlisted
Open
by Gunnar De Winter
November 29, 2015
A fugitive for as long as she can remember, Lisa finally has some luck
Shortlisted
Open
by Aaron Rosario Jeyaraj
November 29, 2013
And so, I stepped into the machine, and it closed around me…
Winner
Youth
by Claire Cheong U-Er
December 01, 2013
Linden has a different way of seeing things…
Winner
Youth
by Betony Adams
November 12, 2013
The casino lights are as relentless as a headache, but God lingers anyway. These days, he can barely remember what it felt like to be lucky…
Winner
Open
by Brian Crawford
October 22, 2013
Rider Quinn has set up the ultimate physics stunt, and Q-Day is almost here
Winner
Open
by Rebecca Baron
November 30, 2013
It wasn’t that Juana wanted her experiment to fail. She just wanted to have a soul
Winner
Youth
by Abel James Tilda
December 01, 2013
Gran died on a Wednesday, but lucky for us she was back within a week
Winner
Youth
November 24, 2013
With every choice made comes a dozen others unmade…
Shortlisted
Youth
by Charles Dittell
September 06, 2013
A radioactive atom seeks answers to life’s fundamental questions
Shortlisted
Open
November 27, 2013
With his wife in a seven-month coma, Tom has a difficult choice to make
Shortlisted
Youth
by Andrew J. Manera
November 16, 2013
If you just wait a while and stare, the light will tell you what to do…
Shortlisted
Open
December 02, 2013
Over 6 million QubitCoins have gone missing from the Southeast Asian Online Bank. CEO John Wong faces the press
Shortlisted
Youth
by Sumit Dam
December 02, 2013
Will he jump? Quanting requires a steady mind when the network, the viewers and the agents are all crying out for you to outdo yourself.
Shortlisted
Open
by Kenton K. Yee
November 30, 2013
When your father contracts wave particle duality, you know things are going to get messy…
Shortlisted
Open
by Vina Jie-Min Prasad
December 01, 2013
If Anna and Henry can make it through their 720-hour entanglement, their relationship can withstand anything
Shortlisted
Open
by Joseph Miles
September 20, 2013
Raff thinks he will destroy the tattered volume in his hands. The book knows better…
Shortlisted
Youth
by Rebecca Montange
December 01, 2013
Meow. I really need out now
Shortlisted
Open
November 22, 2013
It happened every time Michael’s birthday came around…
Shortlisted
Youth
by Yuen Xiang Hao
November 30, 2013
Commuting is easy. Connecting? Much harder…
Shortlisted
Open
by Shadab Hafiz Choudhury
November 15, 2013
Sitting on a cliff edge, two figures are watching the world’s end
Shortlisted
Youth
by Clifton Rumsey
December 02, 2013
Gravity Girl is up to her usual tricks – can Quantum Man and his trusty feline sidekick save the day?
Shortlisted
Open