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    Aurealis #101
    Aurealis #101
    Aurealis #101
    Ebook112 pages1 hour

    Aurealis #101

    By Dirk Strasser (Editor)

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    About this ebook

    In this issue, Allan Chen returns to the pages of Aurealis with the taut ‘A Cold Heart’ which depicts a brutal order of monster killers who are more hired assassins than mythic heroes, and whose tragic and flawed natures lead to inevitable violent ends. Adam J Limbert’s unsettling ‘Carbon Copy’ taps into classic science fiction and horror themes of doppelgӓngers and manufactured memories, taking the modern-day idea of identity theft and pushing it to its logical end. And in the intriguing ‘Perfect Assassin’, Raluca Balasa puts a literal spin on the idea of love being dangerous, to the point of having the power to kill.

    Lucy Sussex’s ‘The Other Genres of Fergus Hume’ looks at the fantastical novels of the author of The Mystery of a Hansom Cab, set in Marvellous Melbourne, which became the best-selling crime novel of the 1800s. In ‘Dissecting SF: Too Much Gun’, Lachlan Walter examines the role of guns in science fiction. And as usual we feature book reviews of latest releases and the quirky, hard to categorise ‘Secret History of Australia’.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherChimaera Publications
    Release dateJun 13, 2017
    ISBN9781922031587
    Aurealis #101
    Author

    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.

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      Book preview

      Aurealis #101 - Dirk Strasser (Editor)

      AUREALIS #101

      Edited by Dirk Strasser

      Published by Chimaera Publications at Smashwords

      Copyright of this compilation Chimaera Publications 2017

      Copyright on each story remains with the contributor.

      EPUB version ISBN 978-1-922031-58-7

      ISSN 2200-307X (electronic)

      CHIMAERA PUBLICATIONS

      Smashwords Edition License Notes

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of the authors, editors and artists.

      Hard copy back issues of Aurealis can be obtained from the Aurealis website: www.aurealis.com.au

      Contents

      From the Cloud—Dirk Strasser

      A Cold Heart—Allan Chen

      Carbon Copy—Adam J Limbert

      Perfect Assassin—Raluca Balasa

      The Other Genres of Fergus Hume—Lucy Sussex

      Dissecting SF: Too Much Gun—Lachlan Walter

      Secret History of Australia—Sarah McTeeley—Researched by Michael Pryor

      Reviews

      Next Issue

      Credits

      From the Cloud

      Dirk Strasser

      How much does the science fiction and fantasy we experienced as kids affect us as adults? As part of preparation for a panel, I’ve recently looked more closely at how my childhood SF influences have affected both my writing and my life. And the results were fascinating.

      Nowadays the big science fiction divide is whether you’re into Star Trek or Star Wars. When I was a kid, the divide was whether you were into Star Trek or Lost in Space. For me, my brother and my friends, there was no contest. It was Lost in Space. Star Trek seemed too dark, too serious, too scary, too adult. And it tended to be on at a time slot I was rarely allowed to stay up for. Lost in Space on the other hand was spiced with just enough silliness and humour to dilute some of the disturbing bits. When we played planetary explorers in our backyard, it was always based on the Lost in Space template. We weren’t boldly going anywhere with a noble mission; instead we had always crash-landed on a planet or needed to look for fuel.

      Looking back, I think I can credit Lost in Space for my first major science fiction publication. It was a short story called ‘Waiting for the Rain’ which appeared in the Robert Silverberg anthology Universe 2 (Bantam) in 1992 and was subsequently translated and reprinted a number of times. The central idea was of a human identifying so completely with a different sentient species that they sought chemical means to transform themselves into the alien form. I have little doubt that what gave this story its poignancy and depth was my decision to make the alien species plant-like. I was aware at the time that this came from a distant childhood memory I had of a Lost in Space episode called The Great Vegetable Rebellion where Dr Smith slowly turns into a tree. It’s ironic that a story which readers say is extremely sad has as its inspiration arguably the silliest episode (featuring a carrot man) of one of the silliest science fiction TV series ever made. But childhood memories are both wondrous and strange phenomena.

      One of my absolute favourite books as a child was the Tintin graphic novel by Hergé, Prisoners of the Sun, where Tintin, Captain Haddock and Snowy travel through the mountains and rain forests of Peru searching for Professor Calculus, eventually discovering a hidden Inca civilisation. I loved that book and lost count how many times I read it. And each reading took me to Peru. Until, as an adult, I actually trekked the Inca trail through the Andes to Machu Picchu and explored the Peruvian Amazon. And now, obviously not coincidently, my recently completed fantasy novel is set in the Andes and involves a search for a hidden Inca kingdom!

      Then there was a movie called The Monolith Monsters that terrified me for a long time as a child. In it, black rock crystals from a meteor started multiplying and growing to prodigious heights when they came in contact with water, crushing everyone and everything in their path. When people picked up the smaller pieces, the crystals drew the water out of their bodies and turned them to stone. I remember my parents sent me to bed before I saw how the movie ended, so I guess I had no closure. I assume a way of stopping the rocks was found, but I never knew what it was. For months I would lie awake at night praying there were no black crystals under my bed. Anyone who has read my Books of Ascension trilogy set in the mountain world of Zenith where giant pillars erupt from the ground can see which childhood trauma that idea came from.

      And don’t get me started on the cover of this issue of Aurealis and its connection to the Magic Faraway Tree.

      All the best from the cloud.

      Dirk Strasser

      Back to Contents

      A Cold Heart

      Allan Chen

      Emily felt numb walking home from the high school. Cold.

      Sam was not yet home from school, so the house was empty. Emily closed the front door behind her, strode into her study, and sat down at her computer. She glanced at the locked cabinet in the corner, but made herself dispel the thought of it.

      She went online and searched a name: Bretton Hayne. Mr Hayne. The first few results told her nothing of note. Forty-seven, born in London to two siblings, moved into the town over a decade ago—first to teach, then to run the English department, and in the last six years principal of the whole shebang. By all accounts he was doing an excellent job. He had numerous accolades, and the care to meet new parents individually, every single one. Emily's own meeting had been earlier that day.

      She stood up and walked out to the liquor cabinet in the dining room. She poured herself a glass of whiskey, then wandered back into her study. She glanced at the notes she had

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