Thanks for all the support during 2012.  Our office is now closed for the summer holidays here in Australia.  Please don't send us any emails during this time (although you can still order subscriptions, back issues and books).  We will reopen on 1 February 2013.  The first Aurealis issue for 2013 will be published shortly after.

Aurealis is on it's annual break and is closed to submissions until 1 February 2013.  Stories submitted during this time will disappear into cyberspace.  The start of the non-reading period was 6 December 2012.  (It's still possible to subscribe and buy back issues during this time.)

Handy with html?  Crafty with Cascading Style Sheets?  Wonderful with web design?  Do you love science fiction, fantasy and/or horror?  Aurealis is looking for a Webmaster to revamp the Aurealis website.  Here’s your chance to make your mark on Australian SF.  If you are interested, contact us on editors@aurealis.com.au by 30 November 2012, and tell us about your experience, ideas for Aurealis, and links to websites you’ve put together.  This is an unpaid position.

Aurealis needs your help. We want Aurealis to be officially recognised as a professional market by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA). We have done our sums and worked out that if we can get 1000 subscribers by the end of 2013, we will be able to increase our payment for short stories to a minimum of 5 cents a word. This will then mean we have met all the conditions to be viewed as a professional market by the SFWA. If we can achieve this, we will be the only Australian fiction magazine with this status. (Cosmos qualifies and it’s a great publication, but it’s primarily a science magazine, not a fiction magazine.)

Why is it important to you for Aurealis to be officially recognised as a professional market? If you are a writer or would-be writer of fantasy or science fiction, then it is extremely important. Recognition means that authors published in Aurealis can use these sales towards qualification for Active Membership of the SFWA (the short fiction criterion is to have 3 short stories published in professional markets).

The SFWA’s mission is to “inform, support, promote, defend and advocate for our member writers”. It is an organization strongly recommended to anyone interested in writing fantasy and science fiction. Despite the name, it has many international members, including a number of Australians. What’s in it for you? For a start, being able to write “Active member SFWA” on your submissions often gets you out of the slush pile. Active members (as opposed to Associate and Affiliate members) are also able to talk with agents, other writers, editors and industry professionals about the business and craft of science fiction and fantasy through private discussion forums. Plus they receive a complimentary copy of the SFWA Member Directory, get insider information in the bi-monthly Bulletin, and vote in the Nebula Awards.

Submitters to Aurealis who are subscribers also get their stories placed at the front of the Readers’ queue and fast-tracked. Even if you simply love reading fantasy and science fiction without any desire to write it, increasing our payment rates to professional level will mean many writers will send their very best work to Aurealis first, and you’ll have even higher quality stories to read each month.

In short, everyone benefits. So please, if you have ever thought about subscribing to Aurealis (or once subscribed to the print publication), now is the time to take out a 2013 Aurealis subscription for $19.99.

This is it. Our big chance to have an Australian SF magazine officially recognised as a professional market. Please join us for 2013.

Aurealis subscriptions for 2013 are now available for $19.99.  Each Aurealis issue will be available for all eReaders/devices (Kindles, iPads, Kobos, Nooks, Android tablets, PCs etc) and e-reading apps/formats, and you can choose which versions you want to download.

This subscription gives you all ten monthly issues for next year: Aurealis #57 (Feb) to Aurealis #66 (Nov). That's over 33% discount on the full price. And if you subscribe before 30 October 2012, you will receive Aurealis #56, this year's last issue, for free. Please join us for 2013. It's going to be a big year!

Aurealis is looking to expand its team of Readers.  If you love science fiction, fantasy and/or horror, feel you have a discerning eye for a good story, and would like to read and assess short story submissions to Aurealis, please contact our Submissions Manager at  submissions@aurealis.com.au with your expression of interest by 30 November 2012.  Please include the titles of the three novels you last read, plus the titles of your favourite novel and your favourite short story and why they are your favourites in 50-100 words.

We have just published our first ever Aurealis Award Winners issue. It features two of the winning stories from this year's Aurealis Awards.  'Rains of la Strange' by Robert N Stephenson, an action-packed story set in a richly-realised milieu, won Best Science Fiction Short Story. The story was published in a brilliant anthology Anywhere but Earth (Couer de Lion), edited by former Aurealis editor, Keith Stevenson. The second story in this issue is 'The Short Go: a Future in Eight Seconds' by Lisa L Hannett which was a joint winner in the Horror Short Story Category. It appeared in her collection, Bluegrass Symphony (Ticonderoga Publications), which has been short-listed for the 2012 World Fantasy Awards.  To download your copy of Aurealis #55 Award Winners go to the Smashwords site or use this link http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/241771.

Aurealis is pleased to announce that Sari Webb has been appointed the magazine's new Submissions Manager.  There is a small backlog that has accumulated over the last few weeks which will now be cleared.  It shouldn't be too long before we return to the fast turn-around times that we've had over the last year or so.

The hits just keep on coming! Aurealis #53 is now out. Another monthly dose of of new fiction, reviews, articles and news. Edited by Scott Vandervalk and Stephen Higgins with an absolutely brilliant cover by Mike Worral, this is a winner. (Sorry, a bit of Olympic enthusiasm there). Buy it.

 Aurealis #52, the July issue, is now available. It's edited by Scott Vandervalk and Stephen Higgins and has a great mix of fiction, news and reviews. Keep up to date with all the latest in the publishing world and be entertained at the same time! (Presuming you can multi task in that way.) Unmissable!

All current subscribers will receive an email from us telling them how they can get their copy of Aurealis for free. (Subscribers please check your spam filters before you query us if you haven't received your email by mid-month.) To download your copy go to the Smashwords site or use this link https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/204338