Now we turn to the latest edition of trailblazing Scottish magazine, Shoreline of Infinity. Reduced in frequency to just one issue in 2026, issue 40 contains ten stories, a graphic tale, a poetry section, reviews, articles and an author interview. Let’s take a look at the fiction and see if they’ve maintained the quality since their British Fantasy Award in 2024.
The Perpetual / John J. Kennedy
Opening up for us is John J. Kennedy with ‘The Perpetual.’ Readers will be familiar with the reality-simulation setting, and they may well notice some allusions to the Bluebeard fairy tale, but don’t let that put you off reading what is a well-crafted, rather urgent story about love and the obsessions that can inform it. Corinne’s life (and seemingly everyone else’s) is going swimmingly thanks to a new drug that literally eradicates all neurodiverse conditions. That is, until the unforeseen side effects kick in and society begins to crumble. Thankfully, she has her faithful partner, Dave, by her side – but then she meets a strange woman on a train who tells her a disturbing story, and the nature of her reality, and her understanding of Dave, begins to fray. Kennedy is a well-regarded writer of crime thrillers, and his skills shine through here.
Tall Tales at Vent Camp / Scott Payne
Second up is a flash piece by Scott Payne, which gives us a rather unexpected evolutionary future for us humans. A fun story with an intriguing theme- very short but entertaining.
Ferin and Balgorg / T. Lucas Earle
Whatever you do, don’t give up on this story at the beginning. What starts as a seemingly formulaic sword and sorcery tale of a warrior fated to fight a demon lord, develops into something quite different. After the thrilling opening, it becomes a fantasy groundhog day, where Ferin and Balgorg face each other every thousand years in an endless, prophesied battle, hero against demon. Every millennium Ferin is reborn into a new civilisation, a new level of technology, until eventually they are fighting between the stars. But then they grow tired of this life, and what comes next is unique and quite beautiful. One of my favourites in this issue.
Peace is the Absence of Error / Franki Halliwell
Being wired to the collective seems the only way to be. To be free from error, constant updates and corrections helping to shape your psyche, even change who you are. For the better? But then our nameless protagonist receives a taste of what it’s like outside where the collective have no sway. Will they escape? Won’t they? Do they even need to? The reader gets to decide. Topical and neatly done.
Roads and Woods / Timothy Quinn
Unusual, hard SF story about a space scavenger working in orbit. Meave is sent to find Mac, a fellow scavenger gone missing after investigating an unusual rock, which Maeve herself ends up examining. The story is open-ended and ripe for a sequel; it hints at mysteries but keeps them close to its chest. Very good characterisation and sense of the claustrophobic dangers of life in orbit, as well as the rituals and superstitions of any kind of blue-collar job. One you will be thinking about afterwards for sure. My favourite story in this issue, even though I’m not quite sure why.
Artifice Box: Experiment 101 / Chloie Piveral
Abe is locked away for a minor crime. His punishment, to lead an experiment into possible sentience, empathy, consciousness – he’s never quite sure. All he knows is that to complete the experiment is to secure his freedom. Using sparrows and a creature called Tama, who is large and dangerous but needs to be tamed, humanised, given understanding. Only, when the supply of birds runs out (including Abe’s favourite companion, Pip), there’s only one subject left to put in the line of fire – Abe himself! A fast-paced and mysterious rollercoaster, and I really ended up caring about the poor sparrows…
Eternal Armistice / Jadie Bea
The hero with a thousand faces and his enemy come to an understanding. Old habits are broken, nations and economies must recalibrate, and the cafe of peace where it all happened persists into eternity. Confused? Then read this very short story and find out what it all means. It’s liminal, it’s philosophical, and it will give you pause for thought. This is another flash and its only weakness is that the word limit prevents there ever being any conflict that hasn’t already been overcome.
“PREPRINT: Novel ‘quantum’ waveforms in a 48-year-old woman treated for a brain lesion: a case report” / Hiron Ennes
This story is written as a medical research paper about a new treatment called quantum ablation, which causes side effects that are in themselves contagious, inducing seizures, symbiotic relationships, parallels in brain activity and biological functions between patient and any observer. The author is a medical doctor, and PREPRINT is a glimpse into the medical mind, but hopefully not one into the future. Experimental and eyebrow raising, I wish it had gone further. Perhaps there’ll be a follow-up paper, an academic spat about the initial findings.
Grown Up Handwriting / Joyce Bingham
Winner of the 2026 Cymera Festival/Shoreline of Infinity story competition for Scottish writers – set in a future where humans have migrated underground to escape harsh surface conditions. But conditions have now changed and the women of the colony can see a new future in the sun. Meanwhile the dominant males seek to burrow further down. Intergenerational wisdom, ancestral memory, what mothers pass to daughters and the inheritance of tradition are central to this powerful story.
So there we have it, a particularly fine edition of Shoreline of Infinity with stories that will linger in your mind. Maybe you’ll remember them for award season? I know I will.
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