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    Aurealis #120
    Aurealis #120
    Aurealis #120
    Ebook170 pages2 hours

    Aurealis #120

    By Stephen Higgins (Editor)

    ()

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    About this ebook

    Aurealis has been published continuously for over 25 years. It brings together some of the world's best speculative fiction, reviews and news. Aurealis #120 has stories, articles and superb artwork from around the world.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherChimaera Publications
    Release dateMay 3, 2019
    ISBN9781922031778
    Aurealis #120

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      Book preview

      Aurealis #120 - Stephen Higgins (Editor)

      AUREALIS #120

      Edited by Stephen Higgins

      Published by Chimaera Publications at Smashwords

      Copyright of this compilation Chimaera Publications 2019

      Copyright on each story remains with the contributor

      EPUB version ISBN 978-1-922031-77-8

      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—Stephen Higgins

      Of Roses and Electric Shock—Joshua Caleb Wilson

      To Hell and Back—Michael Pryor

      Timbuktu—Gerri Brightwell

      Where Do Writers Get Their Ideas From? —Mr Cole and His Funny Picture Books—Gillian Polack

      Writing and Reading Speculative Fiction—Eugen Bacon

      Lovecraft, Audiobooks, and the Evolution of Storytelling—Claire Fitzpatrick

      Reviews

      Next Issue

      Credits

      From the Cloud

      Stephen Higgins

      Welcome to the May issue of Aurealis. I have been away from the editor’s chair for a while. There are a few new bits and pieces to get used to, so I hope I don’t push the wrong button or pull the wrong lever.

      As has been my wont, I have been seeking out new authors to read and, at the same time, I have been exploring new music to listen to as well. I struck that phenomenon of diminishing returns when researching new writers and musicians. All of the really new artists don’t seem to have prolonged careers (in music anyway) and all of the really old artists seem to be disappearing.

      The audience for a band that had its heyday back in the 70s is shrinking (often literally) and they don’t seem to be acquiring new audience members. And the same seems to be true of ‘classic’ speculative writers. Obviously, if you log onto the iBook’s store, you are going to see new releases. You do, occasionally, see classics like Dune and the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov but only because those texts are being filmed.

      Anyway, the casual reader has to search out the classics in ways that they have not previously had to search. When there were a lot of physical bookstores, they had to stock different books in order to attract custom. This meant that you could visit three different shops and find a variety of writers and novels in each. There was a lot of crossover when it came to bestsellers, and as support to these bestsellers, there were a plethora of different texts.

      You don’t get that with ebooks. Or rather, you get too much. At first glance there are the new releases and bestsellers, then come the newish releases and second-bestsellers, and then there is the back catalogue of millions of titles. The sheer volume of texts available makes it hard to choose. You have to research. There are sites like Goodreads that direct you towards other authors you may like and, of course, the major online sellers provide the same service—it’s a bit hit and miss.

      I used to find books by second-tier writers simply by looking at them on the shelves. They were there in front of the customer. Similarly, I found new music by browsing the record racks or CD racks and just choosing music by ‘the vibe’ or by having a quick listen. And now I find myself getting numerous samples of new novels, and I read an awful lot of samples. Maybe I just have to work harder or maybe I’m approaching an age where it takes a lot to engage my sense of wonder. I’ll try harder, I think.

      Fortunately, I get to read a lot of new fiction by new authors via this magazine. I hope you enjoy the issue!

      All the best from the cloud.

      Stephen Higgins

      Back to Contents

      Of Roses and Electric Shock

      Joshua Caleb Wilson

      Jerry woke up around 1:30 and rolled over to see the silhouette of his wife standing in the bathroom door. He laid back down and sighed loudly so she would know he thought she was making too much noise. She’d recently taken some minor reconstructive surgery, and she’d promised it was for him as much as it was for her.

      He jerked his head up to see the light wrapping around her body. It was the same perfect body she’d had when they met in college, the one she hated at the time.

      ‘You feeling okay?’ he asked. ‘All healed up?’

      She flipped off the bathroom light.

      ‘Amanda?’

      She crawled under the blanket.

      ‘Did you get all your work done?’

      They both laid still in the dark and absorbed the silence.

      ‘I just had to see you,’ she finally said.

      ‘Well, here I am,’ he said, smiling.

      He couldn’t wait to be satisfied by the miracle of science, and he did not wait long. He was almost immediately back to sleep as she stepped into the bathroom. He thought she came back to bed, but maybe she went back to work.

      * * *

      Amanda had been waiting three years to be promoted to Chief Operating Officer, and everyone at the office told her it was her job to lose. She knew on paper, that was true. She also knew that middle-aged men with mediocre résumés got these jobs all the time. She didn’t want the board to have any reason to pass her over this time, so she’d been putting in double—sometimes triple—the normal amount of work.

      She kept a small rose garden in the backyard, and often said it was her only break from working and sleeping. Sometimes, though, after an extra glass of wine, she would jokingly say that it was her penance for buying out her grandfather’s farm. She had told him then that the sale would help her to get a promotion because she thought her career arc would only be based on the quality of her work.

      She’d learned in college that the feminists had conquered the final frontier at the start of the last century, just after the first African American president had been elected.

      But when the last COO retired, they brought in Larry as an interim, just to keep things stable until they could make a long-term decision. ‘We just want to be sure you’re committed to the company,’ they’d said. The same men who always let their eyes follow her legs across the room. ‘Make sure you’re not having any more babies.’ Then they’d all laugh like they were joking.

      By now her children were mostly grown, and off to college. She knew this was her last window for the promotion. She didn’t have ball games to go to, or dance recitals. She could make it to the ‘social functions’, instead of staying home for movie night. She’d be too old the next time it came around, even if Larry only stayed for ten or twelve more years. The only thing worse than being a female candidate, was being an older female candidate.

      * * *

      Jerry had gotten in the habit of sleeping in when their oldest daughter was big enough to ride in the car with the other kids to school.

      He stumbled into the kitchen and spoke out loud to the room. ‘Jane, what’s the weather like today?’

      The house computer spoke into the headphones implanted behind his ears. His MagicEye contacts showed him a display of the forecast for the day. He made himself breakfast, and heard a noise in the direction of the laundry room. He picked up his plate and found his wife in the storage closet packing up some boxes. He leaned against the doorframe and took a bite of his scrambled eggs.

      ‘Amanda, listen. Last night was… almost, too much.’

      ‘What?’ She stacked one box onto another and looked at him. He lifted his eyebrows and grinned. ‘Ohh, right,’ she said.

      ‘I’m not kidding. The best. Ever.’

      She rolled her eyes and kept working.

      ‘You getting rid of your grandpa’s old 3D printing stuff?’ he asked, chomping on his eggs.

      She worked a little louder and ignored his question.

      ‘Sucks we never used all this leftover plastic,’ he said. ‘It’s just not as good as the sand printers, though. Most orders don’t even show an option to print on this anymore.’

      She smiled. ‘Are you going to help me?’ He sat down his plate and started shuffling boxes around.

      ‘I do feel bad for your grandpa though. He set up that whole recycling plant when you bought out his farm and had to shut it all down like two years later.’

      Amanda sighed. ‘Can you please take all this out to the car?’

      ‘Are we moving the new printer in here?’

      ‘No, I want it cleaned out. It’s ginormous and we don’t use it for anything except junk.’

      ‘Yeah, but then I have to walk out to the shed every time you order new Tupperware.’

      ‘I just want it clean in here.’ She tapped his cheek and gave him a kiss. ‘I did order a new desk set though, can you get that off the printer for me after you take this to the car?’

      Her contacts flashed a calendar reminder. ‘I have to go to a meeting.’

      * * *

      She sat down at her desk and touched her screen to activate the appointment with Sarah McClain. She confirmed it was okay to have a meeting with someone outside the company. Her contact lenses prompted her to Please select an open chair and she focused on the empty seat across her desk. The cameras in the contacts captured the chair, and she gradually saw an image of Sarah sitting there wearing a lab coat. The cameras around the office scanned the room, and Sarah began to see it in her own MagicEyes, as if she were

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