Aurealis #83

By Stephen Higgins (Editor)

Aurealis #83 contains the best new speculative fiction from exciting new authors. This issue has fantastic new fiction as well as reviews and articles, stunning artwork and even a bit of light-hearted fun. Aurealis is Australia's premier speculative magazine. It has consistently discovered new writing talent and showcased some of the world's most acclaimed authors. Aurealis is published 10 times a year. Visit the website at aurealis.com.au for details on subscriptions, submissions plus lots of news and articles.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Chimaera Publications
• Release date: Aug 11, 2015
• ISBN: 9781922031396

Book preview

AUREALIS #83

Australian Fantasy & Science Fiction

Edited by Stephen Higgins

Published by Chimaera Publications at Smashwords

Copyright of this compilation Chimaera Publications 2015

Copyright on each story remains with the contributor.

EPUB version ISBN 978-1-922031-39-6

ISSN 2200-307X (electronic)

CHIMAERA PUBLICATIONS

Smashwords Edition License Notes

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Hard copy back issues of Aurealis can be obtained from the Aurealis website:

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Contents

From the Cloud—Stephen Higgins

Unicorns on Mars—Tracy Washington

Perfect Kills—Chris Large

The Inherent Fridge Logic of Time Travel Stories—Daniel Thompson

Secret History of Australia—Pamela Juice—Researched by Stephen Higgins

Peter F. Hamilton: a Perspective—Terry Wood

Reviews

Next Issue

Credits

From the Cloud

Stephen Higgins

It has been a big couple of weeks for space fanatics. We have had the Pluto fly-by, which got everyone excited, and then the announcement of more funds for the SETI project. Both of these things got me a little nostalgic. I was in Grade 6 in July 1969 when the lunar landing took place and all of this Pluto talk made me remember the grainy overexposed images that came back live from the moon. And I loved the crystal clear images that were released a little later. So it was nice to start off with very clear images from the New Horizons craft with the promise of much better to come.

I suppose it was this experience that added to the announcement of more funding for the SETI project. New worlds inevitably lead to thoughts of new civilisations… to boldly… No I best not go there. The lunar landing does not seem all that long ago. But time is weird and it really does get weirder as you get older. Many of you know that I am a High School teacher. I recently showed a film to my Year 10 students. It was made in 1998. Now I don’t think of that as long ago at all, but one of the students remarked that the film was older than her. I thought that was scary. The film was a made for TV version of Brave New World, and the bright lights and cool futuristic trappings of that world have not aged well. The novel of course was full of fantastic ideas and challenging concepts… back when it was written. But its challenging ideas have been done to death and the students did not think it was very interesting at all.

That’s why I like reading the stories that we present here in Aurealis. They keep on reimagining the futures. There are lots of Brave New Worlds with marvellous people in them published all the time within the genre. It is a privilege to bring you more of them.

PS. I can’t really recommend the filmed version of Brave New World. It is pretty ordinary. Although it is interesting to see Leonard Nimoy in another role. You will notice I said interesting, not ‘good.’ However, I did notice that Steven Spielberg might have been looking into making a new version. Time will tell.

Back to Contents

Unicorns on Mars

Tracy Washington

‘Do you ever wonder, Doctor, if all the birds were gone, and there were just one left, would that last bird have any reason to sing? If there were no more point to her song, would she know how to finish? Does a bird know about beginnings and endings? What’s a beginning anyway? Or an ending, for that matter? How can anything ‘end’ while the universe exists?’

He's thrown by the suddenly confident tone in the girl's voice.

‘Is this something you think about a lot?’ the doctor asks.

They sit in the underground light of the growing twilight, in a room surrounded by trees. Birds call and sing and scrabble in the branches. The light outside the room slowly changes. It changes the light inside the room until a fire burns a long orange scar across the ceiling, and the eyes of the occupants dilate as though they're cats lying still and silent in the long yellow grass of desire.

‘I think, Doctor, that when a bird dies, it leaves its song unfinished. Just hanging… Is that how death occurs? Is that how we die?’

He’s really pushed for time, he’s gone all day without a break, but he feels that he’ll need to let her speak until he discovers the clues he needs. At the same time he finds this girl interesting: her manner of speech has changed, not in such a way as to indicate disorganised thoughts, but with something he can’t quite put his finger on, yet.

The white-walled room sports a dark brown carpet and a large black telephone with a heavy silver dial and bulky handset tucked away in the corner like a dormant insect from the Eocene. There is a water jug on a small peeling coffee table in the centre of the room. The doctor wears flared jeans and a plain cotton shirt. He has sideburns. He seems too young for his profession in this moment of bourgeois conservatism battling an almost worldwide revolution