Aurealis #154

By Dirk Strasser (Editor)

After whetting your appetite with this issue’s editorial where Dirk Strasser compares the premiere episodes of House of the Dragon and The Rings of Power, take your time tasting the other delicacies in Aurealis #154. First feast on the fiction: Aidan Doyle’s original and evocative time loop story, ‘Sword, Salmon, Castle’; John Kinsella’s dreamlike, meandering and lyrical ‘World Made Whole Again’ and Chris Butler’s absorbing mystery ‘The Sculptor’. Lynne Lumsden Green looks at one of SF’s pioneering women: Ann Sheldon, while Gillian Polack is Thinking About the Void and Chris Fosteris Staying up After Dark with Alan Baxter. Among the many books reviewed are Angela Slatter’s The Bone Lantern, Here Goes Nothing by Steve Toltz, Rachel Swirsky’s January Fifteenth, and Dirk Strasser’s serialised historical fantasy novel Conquist.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Chimaera Publications
• Release date: Sep 5, 2022
• ISBN: 9781922471208

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 #154

Edited by Dirk Strasser

Published by Chimaera Publications at Smashwords

Copyright of this compilation Chimaera Publications 2022

Copyright on each story remains with the contributor

EPUB version ISBN 978-1-922471-20-8

ISSN 2200-307X (electronic)

CHIMAERA PUBLICATIONS

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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

Sword, Salmon, Castle—Aidan Doyle

World Made Whole Again—John Kinsella

The Sculptor—Chris Butler

Pioneering SF Women—Alice Sheldon: What’s in a Name?—Lynne Lumsden Green

Thinking About the Void—Gillian Polack

Staying up After Dark with Alan Baxter—Chris Foster

Rural Apocalypses and Outback Ends-of-the-World—Lachlan Walter

Reviews

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From the Cloud

Dirk Strasser

So, we now have the two most highly anticipated series of all time appearing on our screens simultaneously. And they’re both fantasy. Wow! The first episode of HBO’s House of the Dragon was watched by 10 million people, the largest audience for a premiere in HBO’s history, and The Rings of Power had 25 million viewers in its first 24 hours. The first episode of House of the Dragon had an 86% critic score on the Rotten Tomatoes website which was marginally better than The Rings of Power at 84%, so they both are rated highly.

I watched the two premiere episodes one after the other. (I know, not really what you would normally do, but it just worked out that way). I also avoided as much of the pre-release hype that I could and didn’t look at any reviews, so I knew very little about them.

I thought I’d give you my initial thoughts before I watch any more. One of my criteria for fantasy is the awe-metre. To what degree did I feel that sense of awe that the genre famously achieves in its greatest works? Prequels are not usually my first choice. Afterall, by definition, you know what eventually is going to happen (and in fantasy you also already know a lot about the world), so achieving the same level of tension and surprise is almost impossible. In fantasy, the world is often viewed as a character, and finding out about it is one of the joys of entering a fantasy world on screen and in print. Prequels inevitably struggle to reach the same heights on the awe-metre as the original. On the other hand, there’s the pleasure in entering a place that’s familiar to you. The most successful creative works tend to be the ones which successfully balance the interaction between the familiar and the new. Something that’s too familiar can feel dull, which something that’s too different can be jarring to many people. I would say House of the Dragon felt the more familiar of the two, while The Rings of Power registered higher on the awe-scale.

Both are stunning visually with sophisticated imagery and strong storylines. To me the first House of the Dragon episode feels more dour, violent and morally conflicted compared to The Rings of Power, but then that’s what the Game of Thrones franchise is at its essence. Given the classifications, the two are going for different audience demographics, so the difference makes sense. At this early stage (and of course I can easily be proven wrong), the The Rings of Power simply looks like it’s going to be more fun. The writers seem to be playing more with the source material. House of the Dragon so far comes across as even more relentlessly serious than the original series.

Okay, remember these were first impressions of the premiere episodes. I’ll definitely be assiduously watch both series to see where they take us. What a moment we are experiencing in the history of fantasy!

All the best from the cloud!

Dirk Strasser

Editor: Dirk Strasser

Dirk Strasser has won several Australian Publisher Association Awards and a Ditmar for Best Professional Achievement. His short story, ‘The Doppelgänger Effect’, appeared in the World Fantasy Award-winning anthology, Dreaming Down Under (Tor). Dirk’s fantasy trilogy The Books of Ascension (Pan Macmillan) and short stories have been translated into several languages. The serialised version of Conquist was a finalist in the Aurealis Awards Best Fantasy Novel category. His screenplay of Conquist was a Finalist at the 2019 Cinequest Film & Creativity Festival, Richmond International Film Festival, the Fresh Voices Original Screenplay Competition and the Byron Bay Film Festival. He has co-edited Australia’s premiere speculative fiction magazine Aurealis for over 150 issues and founded the Aurealis Awards. www.dirkstrasser.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

Sword, Salmon, Castle

Aidan Doyle

Sword

The tiny clouds resembled fish scales scattered across an endless ocean. Hiroko paused by the river to savour the perfect afternoon. The sun shone through the yellow fibreglass tourist boats on the river, giving them the appearance of sparks drifting across the water.

Her phone buzzed with a message from Takahashi. Classes are finished. He had attached a photo of a dog eating a watermelon.

She still wasn't sure how to interpret their friendship. Or his choice of emoji.

Hiroko's family's restaurant, Nozarashi, occupied a prime position overlooking the river. The restaurant was more than three hundred years old and almost always full, the counter and surrounding tables seating at most seventeen guests. She greeted her grandfather who was in his usual place behind the long wooden counter. The only time she could recall him missing a day of work was when he had attended the funeral of Hiroko's parents and brother.

Hiroko's section of the counter was spotless, but she cleaned it again before setting out her boards and knives. Her father had given her two sets of knives for her twentieth birthday, insisting she should alternate sets to give each a day of rest.

‘The salmon is especially good today,’ her grandfather commented.

Most of the customers preferred getting their fish cut by her grandfather, but she had a few of her own regulars. Her grandfather passed requests along to her, and she waited impatiently for Takahashi to arrive.

At 6:15, Takahashi walked into the restaurant. He was a slender man with shining eyes and a kind smile. He nodded to Hiroko and sat at the stool he reserved for Friday evenings. ‘How are you today?’ he asked.

She took a deep breath. Losing concentration when holding a sharp knife was not a good idea. ‘I'm good, thank you.’ As much as she wanted to ask him out, it would be entirely inappropriate to put such an imposition on a customer. ‘How were your classes?’

Takahashi sighed. ‘Fine, but I'm not sure my contract will be renewed. It's cheaper for the school to hire English teachers in the Philippines and get them to give video chat lessons.’

Hiroko had spent hours agonising over whether to sign up for Takahashi's classes. Would that be creepy stalker behaviour? ‘I'm sure your students want to keep taking your classes.’

‘They like my classes, but many of them want to learn English from a native speaker. My school has two Canadian teachers. They’re more popular than me.’

‘I don't believe that!’ Hiroko replied before thinking. Had she spoken too vehemently? Maybe he would think she was just being polite. She focused her gaze on the painting on the wall behind Takahashi. Hiroko had painted it the week after the funeral, and it depicted her father standing beside an impossibly blue Lake Biwa.

‘I can't answer the students’ questions about what Canada’s like,’ Takahashi said. ‘It can be depressing how much effort I put into improving my English and how effortlessly native speakers use their own language. I'm supposed to be an English teacher, but only understand half of the dialog in a Hollywood movie.’ He pointed to the textbook sticking out of his bag. ‘I study every day. With enough time and persistence, even a snail may climb Mt. Fuji.’

Occasionally a well-meaning friend criticised Hiroko for spending too much time practicing her cutting and neglecting her university studies. Hiroko always replied, ‘If I hadn’t worked so hard, I would be dead. I owe it to my family to do my best.’ The restaurant and memories were all she had left of her parents and brother.

Takahashi smiled at her. ‘I've been looking forward to this all week. What do you recommend today?’

‘The salmon is especially good.’

‘Excellent. Salmon sashimi, please.’

‘What character would you like it carved into?’

Unlike other sushi restaurants, Nozarashi followed the tradition of a houchounin carving fish into elaborate shapes. Her grandfather owned a copy of Secret Writings on Culinary Slicing, a textbook originally published in the 17th century which contained illustrated instructions for forty-seven different ways to cut carp.

Departing for Battle Carp, Moon Viewing Carp, Snow Morning Carp. Hiroko had studied them all. The forms had been adapted for other fish and the most popular customer requests were for fish carved into pieces representing the characters for good luck or long life. As romantic gestures, customers sometimes asked for pieces resembling a love heart.

Takahashi hesitated. ‘A good luck carving,’ he said.

One day Hiroko would serve him a love-shaped carving. She held up her knife to give Takahashi a chance to inspect the blade, then started slicing the salmon fillet. The orange-red flesh looked particularly succulent.

‘I love watching you cut,’ Takahashi said. ‘Your grandfather is a skilled craftsman, but he doesn't show the same joy in his work that you do.’

Hiroko tried not to blush. ‘My grandfather would tell you that you are too sentimental. Love is no match for a precision cut.’

Takahashi laughed. ‘Perhaps.’

Hiroko arranged the pieces of salmon into a shape resembling 吉 and presented them to Takahashi.

‘Thank you. It looks wonderful.’

The two customers sitting next to Takahashi finished their meal and an elderly couple took their vacant stools. ‘Mackerel sashimi please,’ the woman said to Hiroko's grandfather.

‘What character would you like me to carve?’ Hiroko's grandfather asked.

The woman wore a green dress decorated with gold flowers and looked around eighty years old. ‘Eternity.’

The man slowly leaned forward, as though he was about to whisper an important secret. ‘We've been married for fifty-six years,’ he announced.

‘Congratulations,’ Hiroko's grandfather replied. He placed a mackerel fillet on the chopping board and cut it into pieces