Nilay Kumar Sarker

Nilay Kumar Sarker (he/them) is a scientist and speculative fiction writer whose work bridges environmental biotechnology and the mythic imagination. He loves folklore that hides unease beneath beauty—tales where devotion curdles into transformation, and the natural world quietly rearranges its laws. His stories explore identity, memory, and the thin, luminous border between what is seen and what insists on being seen. When not writing, he researches algal biotechnology and sustainable systems.

*

*

Read Sarker’s short story “The Reflection’s Strike” in Horrific Scribes.

Description: When mirrors across the world go blank, a reclusive artist finds her reflection has returned—alive, reversed, and speaking. As society loses its image and faith in symmetry, she must confront the version of herself she once abandoned, discovering that the mirror remembers everything she tried to erase.

“The Reflection’s Strike” unfolds as modern folklore of identity and recognition, where horror emerges not from monsters but from meeting one’s own echo too late.