Aurealis #138

By Stephen Higgins (Editor)

Aurealis #138 has new fiction from Maddison Stoff, David Harris and Joanne Rixon. Plus there is a plethora of non fiction articles and reviews, art and more. Tons of Autumn/Spring reading depending on your hemisphere.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Chimaera Publications
• Release date: Mar 7, 2021
• ISBN: 9781922471031

Book preview

AUREALIS #138

Edited by Stephen Higgins

Published by Chimaera Publications at Smashwords

Copyright of this compilation Chimaera Publications 2021

Copyright on each story remains with the contributor

EPUB version ISBN 978-1-922471-03-1

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—Stephen Higgins

Doing the Right Thing—Maddison Stoff

Next Door to Gallipoli—David Harris

Like We Practiced—Joanne Rixon

Star Trek Discovery: Reviving Utopia—Ani White

Built Environments: Architectural Considerations for Speculative Fiction—Pamela Jeffs

Chilling Out with Andrew Hook—Eugen Bacon

Reviews

Next Issue

Submissions to Aurealis

Credits

From the Cloud

Stephen Higgins

In the last ‘From the Cloud’ I mentioned the artwork that appears in Aurealis. We feel that the art that accompanies the stories in Aurealis adds a lot to the story. The visual arts side of genre publishing has always held an important place in the industry. One only has to look at the art shows that are a feature of any WorldCon to see the role that art plays in science fiction, fantasy and horror publishing.

Less obvious is the influence of science fictional and fantasy themes in music. This is a subject close to my own heart. I listen to a lot of music with strong science fiction influences. Those of you familiar with the term ‘Space Rock’ will no doubt have heard of bands like ‘Hawkwind’, early Pink Floyd and Gong. Similarly, Progressive Rock reflects the musician’s interests in science fiction as well as fantasy. Many ‘Prog rock’ albums from the 70s were homages to major fantasy and science fiction novels. Indeed, a quick glance at a list of progressive rock acts reveals the strong links between fantasy and the progressive rock genre. The Lord of the Rings alone provided the inspiration for many rock outfits of the seventies.

There is, of course, an ongoing debate about what makes a science fiction novel, science fiction? What qualities place a novel into that particular genre? And the same thought has occurred to me regarding music. An example: Tubular Bells by Mike Oldfield is generally regarded as a classic ‘progressive’ rock album. It is mostly instrumental, has some interesting time signatures and uses some little-known instruments. And, of course, it is comprised of two long pieces of music, even though those two long pieces are simply a patchwork of shorter pieces. Anyway, a classic of the genre. Some years later Mike Oldfield decided to release an album called Tubular Bells II… (he has also released Tubular Bells III, Tubular Beats, Tubular Bells 2003 and the Millennium Bell but I digress…). Tubular Bells II is related to its predecessor in many ways. It is mostly instrumental, has a range of unusual instrumentation and has distinct sections making up the whole. But many regard it as a ‘New Age’ album, rather than a progressive rock album. I can see where these people are coming from. You know that music you hear when you enter a crystal shop that sells dream catchers and bits of quartz? That is New Age music. It is odd that this album should be consigned to one genre when its predecessor is assigned to another. What is the difference? Often it is hard to tell. If an album has a woman ululating to a vaguely Celtic sounding melody you can bet that it is New Age music. Tubular Bells II has that woman. Tubular Bells (the original) does not. There is also a sort of cheesy production to the whole thing, and it is all very slick and smooth.

So how can we apply this to the science fiction genre? People who do not read science fiction but who do write it, often claim their work is not genre-based simply because it does not have aliens and flying saucers. The fact that the work contains tropes and themes that are definitely science fictional seems to be ignored. I was discussing the very, very excellent ‘Fargo’ series with my co-editors. It is a quirky comedy drama and each series is set in a different time with different characters. Anyway, in one show, during a shootout, a flying saucer dramatically appears. It is not pre-empted in any way. It does not really impact the plot, and it is never mentioned again. So, how much of the flying saucer do we need to have to push ‘Fargo’ from ‘comedy/drama to science fiction? How much Celtic wailing moves music from progressive to New Age? The definition of science fiction has been a topic for debate for ages and I am beginning to think that the genre is experiencing some bracket creep lately. With the success of science fictional and fantasy-based TV shows, the genre is beginning to acquire a critical acceptance (though grudgingly to some) that is seeing it broaden its base. One result of this is the fracturing of the genre into many sub genres. Just as Space Rock music devolved into Post Punk, and shoegaze, fantasy and science fiction titles are now being re-badged as alternate histories, space opera, science fictional police procedural etc etc. And I daresay there is some cheese and ululating women in there as well.

All the best from the cloud!

Stephen Higgins

Editor: Stephen Higgins

Stephen has been interested in science fiction for ages and has written a few stories for Aurealis in the past. Lately, he’s been creating a lot of music. You can hear his music on Spotify, iTunes, Bandcamp and Soundcloud and all of the other usual places you get your music. You can find out more at www.stephenhigginsmusic.com.

Associate Editor: Terry Wood

Terry Wood is a political consultant, writer and editor from Brisbane, and has been an Associate Editor and Non-fiction Coordinator for Aurealis since 2015. He has also been involved previously with Andromeda Spaceways Magazine. He can be found at terrywood.com.au.

Back to Contents

Doing the Right Thing

Maddison Stoff

Your eyes open to pulsing lights and screaming klaxons. You gasp as she wrenches you from your cocoon. Uterine fluid gushes out around you then fades into the plush carpeted floor.

‘Come on,’ she says. ‘Come on…’

Her eyes are wild and shine like diamonds. The shadows play across her face as you hear a guttural murmur that sounds like words but not in any language you can understand. You shake your head, then slap it.

‘Stupid,’ you hear yourself say, ‘stop.’

‘Hurry!’ she yells, with real fear in her eyes. ‘The monsters come. They come!’

You allow yourself to be pulled along, from your bedroom to the empty visualiser-corridors, the emergency lights shifting into veins along the walls. A woman from security is lying in the middle of the hallway, a stasis rifle in her hands and blood pooling around her neck. Your new friend holds a scalpel, and it glitters in the dark. Suddenly you find that you mistrust her.

‘Not this way,’ you say. ‘The monsters…’

You’re not sure what you’re saying but you need to get away. She’s a murderer, the voice inside you says. You don’t know if it’s telling you the truth or taunting you, as you never do without your handler. You ping her with your patient-issue brain chip, but she doesn’t answer. You don’t know how her absence makes you feel. It’s been a long time since you’ve truly been alone.

Your new friend sends you a garbled stream of images, an unfiltered mix of memories and hallucinations, the best that any telepath can do without a trusted neurotypical to help them differentiate between the things that they’re experiencing and their actual, material reality. She sends an image of a small group of security attempting to restrain her on the bridge, she hates being restrained. She watches as their skin bursts into tar-like lesions, and they transform into death-black living shadows, mindless beasts that howl and scream that they will drag her down to hell.

She squirrels out of their grasp then she’s running down a hallway. She sees the woman from security ahead of her, facing away. She scans her mind, notices she’s young and scared, but your new friend isn’t taking any chances. She can’t afford to give her time to turn into another of those beasts, like the ones