Aurealis #88

By Dirk Strasser (Editor)

Aurealis #88 opens with Dirk Strasser riffing on how works of fiction have a life independent of the writer once they are published. Melanie Rees’ ‘#WhatIsHendersonsCurse’, is a wicked little tale of frenetic tweeting that takes cyberspace bullying to frightening dimensions. In ‘The Planetary Survey’, Tom Dullemond explores what might go wrong with humans trying to understand aliens, robots trying to understand humans, and the implications for advertising campaigns. Jessi Hammond’s ‘Wired’ is a tense near-future thriller combining neuroscience and nanotechnology, proving that big business really does get away with murder.

Jeff Harris gives us a look at the ingenious conundrum that the displacement problem of time travel presents us with, while Claire Fitzpatrick asks the question ‘Why Do People Like Horror Movies?’ Stephen Higgins brings to light the quirks of Canterbury Jones, considered to be the finest sculptor Australia has produced, in another well-researched Secret History of Australia. We also have the usual reviews of the latest releases, plus part 2 of The Year Ahead in Australian Speculative Fiction.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Chimaera Publications
• Release date: Feb 29, 2016
• ISBN: 9781922031440

Dirk Strasser (Editor)

Dirk Strasser has written over 30 books for major publishers in Australia and has been editing magazines and anthologies since 1990. He won a Ditmar for Best Professional Achievement and has been short-listed for the Aurealis and Ditmar Awards a number of times. His fantasy novels – including Zenith and Equinox – were originally published by Pan Macmillan in Australia and Heyne Verlag in Germany. His children’s horror/fantasy novel, Graffiti, was published by Scholastic. His short fiction has been translated into a number of languages, and his most recent publications are “The Jesus Particle” in Cosmos magazine, “Stories of the Sand” in Realms of Fantasy and “The Vigilant” in Fantasy magazine. He founded the Aurealis Awards and has co-published Aurealis magazine for over 20 years.

Book preview

AUREALIS #88

Edited by Dirk Strasser

Published by Chimaera Publications at Smashwords

Copyright of this compilation Chimaera Publications 2016

Copyright on each story remains with the contributor.

EPUB version ISBN 978-1-922031-44-0

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: www.aurealis.com.au

Contents

From the Cloud—Dirk Strasser

#WhatIsHendersonsCurse—Melanie Rees

The Planetary Survey—Tom Dullemond

Wired—Jessi Hammond

The Time Traveller Smiled with Innocent Satyriasis and Joined the Club—Jeff Harris

Why Do People Like Horror Movies?—Claire Fitzpatrick

Secret History of Australia—Canterbury Jones—Researched by Stephen Higgins

Reviews

The Year Ahead in Australian Speculative Fiction—2016—Part 2—Deanne Sheldon-Collins

Next Issue

Credits

From the Cloud

Dirk Strasser

You can’t control a work of fiction after it’s been published. Once it has found a readership, it belongs to the readers as much as it belongs to the writer. I was made profoundly aware of this some time ago in relation to my own writing when I came across an online German article called Lucid Dreaming that featured an interview with a musician called Till Oberbossel. Here’s my translation of the last question and response from the interview.

You’re a widely read fantasy nerd and have read many series in English. So, apart from the well-known ones such as Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, etc, which do you think are good and why?

I enjoy reading and love fantasy, although I also read across many other areas. As far as fantasy is concerned, Tolkien's works and, of course, the Chronicles of Prydain are my favourites. It’s hard coming up with reasons for my preferences. If a novel or series grips me I don’t usually try to work out why. If I feel comfortable in the fantasy world, I stay there like a while. Apart from the ones I’ve mentioned, the others I’ve really enjoyed are: the Conan stories of Robert E Howard, the Books of Ascension trilogy by Dirk Strasser (by the way, there will be a song on the next Elvenpath album based on this), the Death Gate Cycle series by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, and not least the Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett. I love them dearly. Thanks for the interview, for your interest in Lucid Dreaming and allowing me to present my music here… Support the Underground and stay Metal!

Whoa! I did a double take. The words ‘there will be a song on the next Elvenpath album based on this’ really floored me. A song based on my trilogy? Wow! Something I had written had actually inspired a musician to write a song. I knew the Books of Ascension had been published in German in 2001, but for the series to percolate in someone’s mind all this time and to emerge in musical form is mind-boggling.

I contacted Till via his band’s website to wish him luck and saying I would love to hear the song. He seemed almost as surprised to hear from me as I was to see my trilogy mentioned in his interview. He sent me the lyrics and a copy of the Elvenpath CD Pieces of Fate when it was released in 2015.

So, what sort of music is inspired by fantasy fiction? The only music I was aware of was the acoustic, lyrical, floating-through-the-ether sort of melodies. This band’s elvenpath is completely different. Their music is power metal. So for those of you who aren’t familiar with the term (as I wasn’t when I first came across it—AC/DC is about as metal as I’ve ever been): power metal is type of heavy metal with an elevating anthem-like sound. Like the epic fantasies that inspires it, power metal strives for an epic sound. If Elevenpath are typical, then the vocalists can sing in a high register and have a wide range, and the guitarists have a high level of technical proficiency.

And above all their lyrics are in synch with high fantasy sensibility. They are both evocative and powerful. Here’s an example from Mountain of Sorrows, the song based on the Books of Ascension:

When night conquers the daylight and winter calls our names

Our roads will differ, will fate be the same

Storms cross my pathways, pillars of stone

And many a strange sight I see

Puppets and demons, warriors and masks

They reveal the dark side to me

Cloisters of silence, houses of life

The mountain is standing, who knows what’s inside

Amazone warriors attack in the night

The hour has come when steel will shine bright

Mountain of sorrows, grown of fear and lies

I’ll climb you forever though blood be the price

Mountain of sorrows, made of doom and fraud

Beware the ascension of him who’ll be god

The lyrics are potent and poetic. None of these words are mine, yet they have grasped the essence my novels. There’s no doubt Till Oberbossel gets fantasy. And to write this sort of stuff in what isn’t his first language takes impressive skill.

If you had told me all those years ago when I started to write Zenith—The First Book of Ascension, that a power metal band from Frankfurt, Germany, would be opening their new album with a song based on my work, I would have bet my house on it not happening. You just can’t tell what sort of life your fiction will lead once you’ve given birth to it.

If you like epic fantasy, have a listen to Elvenpath’s Mountain of Sorrows, Battlefield of Heaven and Queen Millennia from the Pieces of Fate album. And remember. Stay Metal!

All the best from the cloud.

Dirk Strasser

www.dirkstrasser.com

Back to Contents

#WhatIsHendersonsCurse

Melanie Rees

#WhatIsHendersonsCurse

‘How can that be trending?’ asked Jezminca, peering into her tablet.

I looked at my phone. ‘Odd. There’s only one post.’

Jezminca held up her large tablet in its pink leather case as if she were rubbing her device in our faces. I wanted to tell her that size didn’t matter when it