Qntm

Sam Hughes
Hughes in 2025
Born
Sam Hughes

1983 (age 42–43)
Occupations
  • Author
  • programmer
Writing career
Pen nameqntm
GenreScience fiction
Notable works
Websiteqntm.org

Sam Hughes (born 1983), known online as and publishing under the pen name qntm (pronounced "quantum"), is a British programmer and science fiction author. Hughes' short stories include "Lena", about the first digital snapshot of a human brain. His serial novels include Ra and Fine Structure. He has also written for the SCP Foundation wiki; his novel There Is No Antimemetics Division began as an entry on the wiki. In 2024, Del Rey Books acquired UK and Commonwealth rights to the book, while Ballantine Books acquired the US rights.

In 2022, Hughes created Absurdle, a variant of Wordle wherein the word changes with every guess, while still remaining true to previous hints. The Guardian described it as "the Machiavellian version of Wordle", and Hughes described it as an "experiment to find the most difficult [...] variant of Wordle", comparing it to one of his previous projects, the Tetris variant Hatetris.

There Is No Antimemetics Division was nominated for the 2026 Arthur C. Clarke Award.

Selected works

Serial novels

TitleBeganCompletedPublished as a single work
Ed200320052013
Fine Structure200620102018
Ra201120182018
There Is No Antimemetics Division20082020
  • 2020 (original)
  • 2025 (rewrite)

Anthologies

TitleYearRoleNotes
Valuable Humans in Transit and Other Stories2022Author
The Big Book of Cyberpunk2023ContributorContributed the short story "Lena"

Video games

TitleYearPlatform
Hatetris2010Web game
Absurdle2022Web game

References

  1. 1 2 "Summary Bibliography: Sam Hughes". Internet Speculative Fiction Database.
  2. ↑ qntm. "About me". Things of Interest.
  3. 1 2 McCammon, Sarah (23 January 2022). "You've heard of Wordle — now get ready for Sweardle and Absurdle". NPR (Interview). Retrieved 24 October 2022.
  4. ↑ Adee, Sally (9 February 2022). "Mickey7 review: If you want to live forever, read the small print". New Scientist. Retrieved 24 October 2022. A well-meaning neuroscience grad student donates his digital consciousness to science, a decision he may find he "lives" to regret.
  5. ↑ Ritter, Dan (20 June 2018). "SF For Nothing, Stories For Free". Charlie's Diary. Charles Stross. Retrieved 1 December 2022.
  6. ↑ Adee, Sally (6 April 2022). "Sci-fi is starting to exploit the infectious horrors of memes". New Scientist. Retrieved 24 October 2022.
  7. ↑ O'Connor, Alice (2 February 2022). "Iconic Internet monster SCP-173 is losing its look". Rock Paper Shotgun. Retrieved 24 October 2022. I liked the There Is No Antimemetics Division tales by "qntm", who also wrote SCP/Control crossover fanfic. And I've only just realized qntm is also behind Absurdle, a Wordle variant that changes the answer while you play.
  8. ↑ Woods, Heloise (3 July 2024). "Del Rey snaps up high concept sci-fi cosmic horror from Sam Hughes". The Bookseller. Retrieved 4 March 2025.
  9. ↑ Potvin, James (22 September 2022). "What Is The SCP Foundation? 15 Best Pieces Every New Fan Should Read". Screen Rant. Retrieved 1 December 2022.
  10. ↑ Haysom, Sam (20 January 2022). "Hooked on Wordle? You're really going to hate Absurdle". Mashable. Retrieved 24 October 2022.
  11. ↑ Rocha, Paul (8 May 2022). "How and where to play Absurdle". Dot Esports. Retrieved 24 October 2022.
  12. ↑ Winkie, Luke (14 January 2022). "Absurdle: the machiavellian version of Wordle". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 October 2022.
  13. ↑ "Shortlist For 2026 Arthur C. Clarke Award Announced". 5 June 2026. Retrieved 5 June 2026.