My latest short story is now live! I was privileged to participate in Proxima Kosmos, an initiative by the Berggruen Institute that teams up some of the world’s leading scientists with science fiction authors. The scientist is asked to imagine a planet where a form of life different from our own might have evolved, and to write an essay about it. Then the science fiction writer expands the scientist’s vision into a short story.
I was teamed up with Dr. Lee Cronin, a brilliant chemistry professor from the University of Glasgow, who imagined light based life. Instead of carbon chains, its building blocks are optical structures composed of light and matter that function as both living cells and data processors.
For my story “Light Bringer” I posited that these optical structures, or “grains,” form “rings,” complex biological computers capable of intelligent thought. Welcome to the world of Nousterra.
You can read the story here. The website is fully interactive and you will need to scroll all the way down through the introduction before Dr. Cronin’s essay and my story are displayed toward the bottom of the page.
I’m confident this is the best non-humor short story I’ve written in the last few years, and I hope that you will enjoy it!
https://proxima-kosmos.com/planets/nousterra/
There are also stories by Caroline M. Yoachim, Mary Robinette Kowal, John Murphy, and S.B. Divya, with several more planets that are still being explored.
Alex Shvartsman's Speculative Fiction 