Aurealis #147

By Stephen Higgins (Editor)

Aurealis has been continuously published for over thirty years and is a reliable source of quality speculative fiction. Each issue contains superb new fiction, provocative articles and honest reviews. Aurealis also has stunning artwork and each issue delivers something special.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Chimaera Publications
• Release date: Feb 4, 2022
• ISBN: 9781922471130

Book preview

AUREALIS #147

Edited by Stephen Higgins

Published by Chimaera Publications at Smashwords

Copyright of this compilation Chimaera Publications 2022

Copyright on each story remains with the contributor

EPUB version ISBN 978-1-922471-13-0

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—Stephen Higgins

The Meeting of Two Riders—James Rowland

The Body—Greg Foyster

The Allocution of Bob Hayward—Floris M Kleijne

Pioneering SF Women: Leigh Bracket–Queen of the Space Opera—Lynne Lumsden Green

Fear Street Trilogy: Beyond the Nostalgia of ‘Gay Gory Goosebumps’—Ani White

Africa: Men and Gods—Eugen Bacon

Reviews

Next Issue

Submissions to Aurealis

Credits

From the Cloud

Stephen Higgins

This is how I started this editorial a few weeks ago…

Welcome back to a new year of fantastic fiction from Aurealis. After the dystopic tendencies of the last couple of years it will be nice to have an uninterrupted year free of infection, lockdowns, masks and all the other accoutrements of the pandemic. I have to admit that I am little bit glass half empty when it comes to this topic. I feel there are still some twists in the tale as it were. I hope I am wrong.

In the short time since I wrote this beginning, we have had the Omicron strain of COVID, plus vaccination for children under 12 being approved and, here in Melbourne, we have had demonstrations and protests. It is almost like disruption has become the norm. I mean, let’s face it, if two years ago I had predicted all of this strife in 2020/21 people would have said I have been reading too much science fiction. It isn’t as if I am even any good at predicting the future. My predictive powers have been 100 percent totally wrong so far. I am a high school teacher. I have so far predicted; no school closures, shorter school closures (they were extended), no interruption to the football season, no second lockdown, no third lockdown, etc etc. It got to the point where my year ten students told me to shut up whenever I was about to predict what would happen.

It has seemed like a long year. Last year I took over the editing chair at Aurealis for the first three issues, just like this year. I was recovering from a knee replacement and it was good to have something to occupy my mind while I was pretty much immobilised. I have read a lot of new SF and have even branched out into other genres as well. The lockdowns and my recovery were useful in that regard. I hope that we are over the lockdowns generated by COVID. I fear that there might still be some more hurdles to jump but we shall see.

I tend to always enjoy the start of a new year of Aurealis. Lots of new stories, new authors and new people joining the team that brings you this magazine each month. Plus it has been some time since I last got stuck into all of the software/publication processes that actually allow you to read these words and I always worry that I will have forgotten some important aspect of the process and I will break the magazine.

I am also writing this editorial early as I will probably be having another knee replacement. So that means it is all looking a bit like the start to 2021. But I am sure that the similarity will end with my knee surgery. I can confidently predict that we won’t have any COVID nonsense in 2022. Sorry about that.

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 has been creating a lot of music. His latest album is ‘Architectural Fragments’. 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 with Andromeda Spaceways Magazine. He can be found at terrywood.com.au.

Back to Contents

The Meeting of Two Riders

James Rowland

The storms of Somati tell stories to each other. Out in the Bay, where we cannot hear, the Tufani trade tales through the intricacies of thunder and the subtleties of lightning. There are tragedies and there are comedies, or what passes for these things for great storm clouds. They have as many stories as we have words, for they have seen so much more.

In the jungles of Somati, and in the walls of the Four Cities, and on the Sekefua, where only the hardiest of people live, we have stories as well. We weave narratives and messages, lessons and interest. Some tales are of people, normal women and men trying to live in this world. Some are of the Boka Ene, our great hunters who stop the fires from claiming all the earth. We have stories from the Golden Age, and we have broken lies from the Cleaving War. Some of them are true, and some of them are not.

But there is only one story that is shared by both the Tufani and the people of Somati. There is only one story of Molufua, the Lord of Storms, and the Boka Ene who fought him.

* * *

The storm stole morning from the village. The Tufani can steal many things, but nothing more than light itself.

Huso laid in bed, listening to the rain patter against the roof. Every so often, the melody would be punctuated by a larger drop, some daring soldier that had slipped through the cracks of the ceiling and onto the floor. The sound was the price for living in a ruined town. Huso shifted, stretching out his limbs into a part of the bed that was not his. There was no one there. He looked over at the bags packed, nestled within the corner of the room. He supposed it was time to confront the emptiness in his stomach.

The rest of the village, hidden across the sprawl of a dead city, went about their ways. Children played in the streets, running and laughing through the rain as their parents kept eyes locked on the sky. There was no lightning yet. For now, it was safe. Huso walked through the city. His eyes flicked to some of the empty houses, wondering which building his future home might be when the time was ready to move on. His mind turned back to the packed bags. Maybe he needed more than a change of house. Out in the Sekefua, there were plenty of farms and homesteads who would welcome another pair of hands.

Marka was waiting outside the city, leaning on her nkunipepe, the wooden staff like a walking stick. As always, Huso’s chest suddenly felt too small to contain his heart. Every morning they awoke together and he would be struck by her beauty, and every night she stole his breath. Even in this moment, as she faced down the storm above them, he did not see her as a warrior or hunter. He only saw his love. Love makes fools of all, but even Huso knew that he could not face another departure. It would rob him of what she left of his life.

When they had first met, he hated to stand next to her. She towered over him, nearly five feet of dark skin and sturdy limbs. It was unusual for a Boka Ene to be so tall. The old stories said they should be small and sure of foot, to avoid the lightning bolts of the storms they hunted. Marka made adjustments where she could. Her hair, as black as night, was braided and ran down her back, rather than cursing her with another few inches of height. She never walked upright. Instead, she moved as if all the