Synkroniciti is thrilled to welcome British writer Tim Collyer, the winner of our “Dreams” short story contest. “Unresolved” is an imaginative tale set in the not-too-distant future. A device called the REMedy is marketed as a way to improve sleep and resolve issues brought up in dreams.
“The REMedy sits like a soft vice around your temples, a cool plastic band with a faint digital hum. Some say it whispers if you listen—tiny clicks when it decides something for you. I wasn’t the first to buy one, but I was the first to admit I needed it. Sleep used to be chaos: I’d dream of my dad chasing me with a rabbit’s face, or lose my house keys forever in an endless car park, or lie awake solving the same problem three times and still wake up sweating.
The adverts promised order: “Wake up solved.” So, when REMedy launched—”the world’s first AI-powered cognitive sorting headband”—I bought early and wore it religiously.”
The device gives clarity, but treads on originality. Worse, it tries to fix waking relationships and advertises to the subconscious mind. Does the human race really want something that “solves” us? Isn’t the quest for answers rather the point of living and of making art?
Tim’s story is set in a community of artists and writers and delves into the impact of AI on creative people. He creates a believable world a few steps ahead of our own, full of people like us who have encountered something straight out of a science fiction nightmare, something quite plausible. Computers and cell phones dominate our waking world now. In the future, they may invade our dreams. Weaving together technological, artistic and human elements, Tim gives us a cautionary tale full of compelling humanity and hope for resistance. The result is intriguing and masterful.
Read “Unresolved” in Synkroniciti’s “Dreams” issue, available for purchase here: https://synkroniciti.com/the-magazine/purchase-individual-issues/. You don’t want to miss this exciting new voice.
Tim Collyer is a Wiltshire-based writer who divides his time between financial planning by day and far less sensible futures by night. His stories wander through speculative fiction, literary drama, and the darkly comic corners of everyday life. Recent honours include winning the New2theScene Flash Fiction Competition and being Runner-Up in both the Pokrass Flash Fiction Award and the DuMaurier Literature Award. He also managed the dubious feat of publishing three consecutive sci-fi stories in Andromeda Magazine, which either proves consistency or a worrying obsession with aliens. When not writing, Tim brews craft beer, grows dangerously hot chillies, and wonders why his characters refuse to do as they’re told.
Visit Tim’s website, www.vermireal.com and his Instagram, @author_tim_collyer. You may also drop him an email: tim_collyer@msn.com.