Breach: Issue #04: Science Fiction and Horror

By Breach

Jessica Nelson-Tyers kicks off our fourth issue with "Estuarine Species", a dark tale of a fishing trip gone wrong. We also feature another gut-punch story from Australia's body horror specialist Claire Fitzpatrick, and "Fritz", Brad McNaughton's ode to true love and the South Australian delicacy. Abigail Simpson's "The Girl, the Cat and the Goblins" provided inspiration for Oliver Hayes' linotype cover art, and the prolific Eugen Bacon teams up with E. Don Harpe to give us "Alice", their story of sex, jealousy and robots.

Breach is a bi-monthly digital magazine with a focus on new and emerging Australian and New Zealand writers and artists. Thank you for supporting independent publishing!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Breach
• Release date: Sep 26, 2018
• ISBN: 9780463598122

Breach

Breach is bi-monthly online zine showcasing Australian and NZ writers and artists, with a lean to sci-fi and horror. Our focus is on new and emerging Australian and New Zealand writers and artists, and helping them get their work out into the world. Publishers of Alfie Simpson's "Sub-Urban" (Breach #07), winner of the Best Horror Short Story at the 2018 Aurealis Awards. Our stories have been shortlisted for numerous awards, including the Aurealis, Australian Shadows and the Sir Julius Vogel Awards. We only publish what we love and believe in and we champion our authors every way we can.

Book preview

Issue #04

Science Fiction, Horror and Dark Fantasy from Australia and New Zealand.

ISSN 2209-2196

Copyright © 2017 by each individual author as noted.

All rights reserved.

Find us online at:

breachzine.com

facebook.com/breachzine

twitter.com/BartholemewFord

instagram.com/breach_magazine

Cover Art by Oliver Hayes

Layout and Design by Peter Kirk

Edited by Peter Kirk

Published by Breach

Thank you for supporting independent publishers, writers and artists.

Contents

Jessica Nelson-Tyers – Estuarine Species

Claire Fitzpatrick – Synthetic

Brad McNaughton – Fritz

Abigail Simpson – The Girl, the Cat and the Goblins

Eugen Bacon and E. Don Harpe – Alice

Estuarine Species

Jessica Nelson-Tyers

Jessica Nelson-Tyers has a Graduate Diploma in Professional Writing and is an Andromeda Spaceways Association member. She lives in Eden with an assortment of wildlife (including snakes and apple trees) and two little mites. You’ll find Jessica on Twitter @JessNelsonTyers.

You need to wait for the pitch-black of the new moon. If it’s too bright, the prawns hunker down under the sand like children under their covers, hoping the monsters won’t find them. Your weapons are a net and bucket, plus a torch to shine in their eyes. Wear waders, unless you like the squash of estuarine mud between your toes and have no fear of being bitten by something hidden in the black waters.

* * *

It’s my daughter Ava’s first expedition, her first time out so late. She’s giggling as she locates prawns by the light of their eyes, chasing and scooping. I grin at her antics and remember the fun of my own first time, when my dad helped me to swipe and scoop.

We end the night early when Dave trips on a submerged branch and falls in. He rises, laughing and spluttering, covered in weed like a swamp creature. We throw on towels to keep off the wind that’s blown up, but I still feel a chill.

At a glance we have a few dozen prawns in our bucket. That should be enough for the three of us. They hover, then dart about as if they have some place to go. We load them into the tray and drive home to get Dave into a warm shower.

I put a pot on the stove to cook the prawns while Ava watches telly—the cooking needs to be done right away, since we don’t have an aerated aquarium. They smother if you leave them in the bucket. As always, I try not to think of what they’ll go through when they’re boiled. I start to