Aurealis #154
$3.99
Take your time tasting the 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’. Then savour the articles, illustrations and reviews.
- From the Cloud — Dirk Strasser
- Sword, Salmon, Castle — Aidan Doyle
About Aidan Doyle
Aidan Doyle is a Melbourne-based writer, editor, and computer programmer. His short stories have been published in Aurealis, Lightspeed, Strange Horizons, and other places. He is the co-editor of the World Fantasy Award-nominated Sword and Sonnet. - World Made Whole Again — John Kinsella
About John Kinsella
John Kinsella is the author of over fifty books across many genres, including the eco-speculative novel Hollow Earth (Transit Lounge), the experimental Lucida Intervalla (University of Western Australian Press). - The Sculptor — Chris Butler
About Chris Butler
Chris Butler’s published fiction includes the novel Any Time Now, the novella The Flight of the Ravens, and short stories in Asimov’s Science Fiction and Interzone. - Pioneering SF Women - Alice Sheldon: What’s in a Name? — Lynne Lumsden Green
About Lynne Lumsden Green
Lynne Lumsden Green lives in Subtropical Eastern Australia, with two pet humans and two and a half pet cats. Her short stories have been published in over a score of anthologies and online magazines, and currently she has a contract with Brain Jar Press. You can find her stories online with Daily Science Fiction & Antipodean SF, and articles in Aurealis magazine & Writing Queensland. - Thinking About the Void — Gillian Polack
About Gillian Polack
Gillian Polack is a writer, editor and historian. Several of her novels and her short story collection have been shortlisted for Ditmar or Aurealis awards. Her novel, The Year of the Fruit Cake won the 2020 Ditmar for best novel. She was awarded the 2020 A Bertram Chandler Award. Gillian’s most recent novel is The Green Children Help Out.
- Staying up After Dark with Alan Baxter — Chris Foster
About Chris Foster
Claire Fitzpatrick is the 2020 recipient of the Rocky Wood Memorial scholarship fund for her upcoming anthology A Vindication of Monsters—Essays on Mary Shelley and Mary Wollstonecraft and the winner of the 2017 Rocky Wood Award for Non-Fiction and Criticism for The Body Horror Book. Her fiction collection Metamorphosis was received with praise. Visit her at www.clairefitzpatrick.com.au. - Rural Apocalypses and Outback Ends-of-the-World — Lachlan Walter
About Lachlan Walter
Lachlan Walter loves all things music-related, the Australian environment, overlooked genres and playing in the garden, and he hopes you’re having a nice day. For more information, check out www.lachlanwalter.com.
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
From Sword, Salmon, Castle by Aidan DoyleAbout Aidan Doyle
Aidan Doyle is a Melbourne-based writer, editor, and computer programmer. His short stories have been published in Aurealis, Lightspeed, Strange Horizons, and other places. He is the co-editor of the World Fantasy Award-nominated Sword and Sonnet.:
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 fiberglass tourist boats on the river, giving them the appearance of sparks drifting across the water.
From World Made Whole Again by John KinsellaAbout John Kinsella
John Kinsella is the author of over fifty books across many genres, including the eco-speculative novel Hollow Earth (Transit Lounge), the experimental Lucida Intervalla (University of Western Australian Press).:
Ophelia and Ophelia found each other because they were both called Ophelia on their separate half-worlds and now call themselves Ophelia because it makes them feel more certain about things.
From The Sculptor by Chris ButlerAbout Chris Butler
Chris Butler’s published fiction includes the novel Any Time Now, the novella The Flight of the Ravens, and short stories in Asimov’s Science Fiction and Interzone.:
Moon stared at the sign. She could just make out the words in the meagre light of the phosphorescent vines climbing the walls: DO NOT ENTER BEYOND THIS POINT.
From Pioneering SF Women - Alice Sheldon: What’s in a Name? by Lynne Lumsden GreenAbout Lynne Lumsden Green
Lynne Lumsden Green lives in Subtropical Eastern Australia, with two pet humans and two and a half pet cats. Her short stories have been published in over a score of anthologies and online magazines, and currently she has a contract with Brain Jar Press. You can find her stories online with Daily Science Fiction & Antipodean SF, and articles in Aurealis magazine & Writing Queensland.:
James Tiptree Jr roared into the stratosphere of the SF community in the late 1960s, penning intricate stories exploring gender, identity, and death, or humorous tales poking fun at bureaucracy or traditions. It was soon obvious that his name was a pseudonym.
From Thinking About the Void by Gillian PolackAbout Gillian Polack
Gillian Polack is a writer, editor and historian. Several of her novels and her short story collection have been shortlisted for Ditmar or Aurealis awards. Her novel, The Year of the Fruit Cake won the 2020 Ditmar for best novel. She was awarded the 2020 A Bertram Chandler Award. Gillian’s most recent novel is The Green Children Help Out.
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Vandals of the Void matches its title. James Morgan Walsh’s 1931 novel is straight up science fiction of its time: there are invaders and they are destructive and much of the action happens in the space between planets.
From Staying up After Dark with Alan Baxter by Chris FosterAbout Chris Foster
Claire Fitzpatrick is the 2020 recipient of the Rocky Wood Memorial scholarship fund for her upcoming anthology A Vindication of Monsters—Essays on Mary Shelley and Mary Wollstonecraft and the winner of the 2017 Rocky Wood Award for Non-Fiction and Criticism for The Body Horror Book. Her fiction collection Metamorphosis was received with praise. Visit her at www.clairefitzpatrick.com.au.:
Masterful crafter of over 100 supernatural thrillers, urban horror & dark fantasy tales from short stories to full novels, Alan Baxter’s resume is nothing short of prolific.
From Rural Apocalypses and Outback Ends-of-the-World by Lachlan WalterAbout Lachlan Walter
Lachlan Walter loves all things music-related, the Australian environment, overlooked genres and playing in the garden, and he hopes you’re having a nice day. For more information, check out www.lachlanwalter.com.
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While writers from the US are the primary producers of post-apocalyptic fiction, and have historically set the template for the genre, here in Australia we have our distinctive take on it, which is perhaps best described as ‘rural apocalypses and outback ends-of-the-world’.
