Issue 250 Celebration
Issue 250, online in May-June this year celebrates the "coming of age" of AntipodeanSF.
Calling all past antipodes-resident contributors. There is still room for your story, and it can be up to 3000 words long.
Deadline for inclusion is March 31 2019.
Not only will this be a special bumper issue, but it will also be published using dead trees and ink, available on demand online, and any profits will be donated into the ASFF's National Australia Fan Fund.
So, folks, get writing downside-up, and get back into AntiSF!
Nuke.
Speculative Flash Fiction
G'day flash loving folks, you're about to launch into an adventure at AntipodeanSF, the online magazine that's devoted to the regular monthly publication of fabulous and original science-fiction, fantasy, or horror mini-stories of about 500–1000 words each, with occasional feature stories of 2000 words and beyond.
AntipodeanSF will entertain you, and get you out there, perhaps even over the moon, yet won't take hours to read.
Please spend a few moments to read this month's stories. Alternatively, listen to all of them on the AntipodeanSF Radio Show, weekly, as per the schedule.
Nuke.
My Dream Girl
By Tim Train
She walked in the shop in a polka dot dress,
And a hat made of twenty house bricks;
She ordered a coffee, with sugar, I said?
And she stunned me with several kicks —
My dream girl.
What's So Funny(?)
By Ed Errington
In a far distant galaxy on the colony of New Australia, a scientific research project that took years to complete finally matures, thanks to the concerted efforts of its eminent scientists. On Sydnember the fifty-first, capsules of black, dark, bright and funky humour are transported to secret warehouses in large, sealed containers. Such is the degree of government secrecy that heavy loads of refined humour are despatched under the cover of darkness. The drivers are sworn to secrecy on pains of harsh punishment should they tell anyone, particularly the media, about their deliveries. The threat proves unnecessary as the drivers do not know what they are carrying.
The Alien Nutcracker
By Brenda Anderson
Four droplets glided into The Alien Nutcracker. Proprietor Navi bowed low.
They quivered. “Sir, we seek your help. We’re battling a lifelong instability.”
Navi sighed. He always got the weird ones. “Guys, I import exotic nuts.”
“Of course. Our problem is exotic, even existential.”
Stop Copying Me
By Jefferson Retallack
Mum makes me promise to never go to Dad’s during the week. “He’s a busy man,” she says.
Him? Yeah right. He can never tell me what he’s been up to when I ask. We see him every second Friday.
“You know the drill,” Mum always says. “You and your brother get home from school, take the bags I pack for you — nothing else — and get on the bus that I tell you to.
Statement to the Generation Ship Walkabout's Coroner Court
By Wes Parish
The beginning of this tragedy is simple. About ten years ago my husband Rodrigo was killed while repairing some elements of the forward shield array. His body was never recovered. My friend Louise's husband Sam was also killed a few days later in the tokamak shielding refractor when the magnetic shielding bent for a few seconds. He was vaporised.
So Louise was widowed with a young son, Kenneth, and I was left widowed with a young daughter, Cher.
Read more: Statement to the Generation Ship Walkabout's Coroner Court
Left Overs
By Monica Carroll
Depot
I wrap the cold toast in a piece of fresh paper. They can do a drawing on the packaging after they’ve eaten. Sometimes I dream of getting a card in the mail. A home-made job with a scratchy zebra drawn in charcoal on the front. I don’t know how much Australian they’ve got, but a thank you inside couldn’t be too hard to muster.
— Truck’s in Dave, says the intercom.
Cleanse
By Mark Tremble
‘Joe, have you brought your crystal?’ she asked.
‘Uh, no, I didn’t know we had to. I signed up late,’ he replied.
‘Perfectly acceptable. We’ll just have you re-enter the forest. You can select one from the provider there.’
‘Will I have to pay anything because I already —’
Best Thing Since Sliced Bread
By Andy McGee
Suzi loved working at the isolation laboratories at Davenport on the south coast of Yorke Peninsula. It was a designated location for one of Australia’s intended nuclear-fusion power plants, but to date was simply a series of laboratories and housing for research scientists. Currently power was provided by a solar farm and batteries — and water came from a local desal station.
Suzi worked as a geochemist, studying the biodegradation of oils in situ.
Beneficence
By David Scholes
Canberra
Australia
2075
The first inkling was an announcement on the Citizen Communication channel — the only free-to-air channel left for people like me: the government urging us to check bank account balances. I guessed it was yet another Russo-Chinese mass scam, maybe infiltrating the Citizen Channel as they had infiltrated everything else. Still I checked it out.
As Time Ticks On
By Elizabeth Kovacs
They come after dark.
Only when my waking eyes flicker shut do they open theirs — smiles stretching their lips taut as their limbs elongate and their forms bubble up to size.
Only then do they gaze down at my sleeping form, wonderment blossoming on their faces. They are the good ones; wispy white forms that hang onto the edge of my dreamstate vision. They dance around the room, handling objects with grace — making them float and fly through the air.
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AntiSF & The ASFF
AntipodeanSF supports the ASFF
Please visit the ASFF website and consider joining for up-to-date info about Australian SF cons, awards, competitions, and to receive the Foundation's newsletter, Instrumentality, and more.
AntiSF's Production Crew
Ion Newcombe is the editor and publisher of AntipodeanSF, Australia’s longest running online speculative fiction magazine, regularly issued since January 1998, and conceived back around November 2007. He has been a zealous reader and occasional writer of SF since his childhood in the 1960s, and even sold a few stories here and there back in the '90s.
“Nuke”, who it turns out loves editing more than writing, lives in the New South Wales North Coast holiday destination of Nambucca Heads, where he is self-employed in IT training, computer support, desktop publishing, editing, writing, and website implementation. He is also the resident tech-head, skeptic, and board member of community radio station 2NVR, where he produces a number of shows including The AntipodeanSF Radio Show.
Mark Webb's midlife crisis came in the form of attempting to write speculative fiction at a very slow pace. His wife maintains this is a good outcome considering the more expensive and cliched alternatives. Evidence of Mark's attempts to procrastinate in his writing, including general musings and reviews of books he has been reading, can be found at www.markwebb.name.
One of Mark’s very best forms of writing procrastination is to produce the eBook series for AntipodeanSF, which he has been doing since issue 175.
Main Menu
In The Next Issue...
Coming In Issue 248
A Taste For Salt
by Noel Osualdini
Better Ballers
by Salvatore Difalco
First Choice
by Vanessa Kittle
Forever In Time
by Shane O'Halloran
Frozen Moments, Stolen Out Of Time
by George Nikolopoulos
That Monster Show
by Bart Meehan
The Last Word
by Roger Ley
The Tower
by Mathew Nelson
Vocation
by Ishmael A Soledad
Wet Paint
by Simon R. Gardner
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(Rob Hood)
Most Read Stories
AntipodeanSF February 2019
ISSUE 247
Speculative Fiction
Downside-Up
ISSN 1442-0686
Online Since Feb 1998
AntiSF's Narration Team
Timothy Gwyn is a professional pilot in Canada, where he flies to remote communities. During a lull in his flying career, he was a radio announcer for three years, and he is also an author.
In addition to short stories at AntipodeanSF and NewMyths.com, his SF novel is available internationally in print and ebook formats. "Avians" draws on his love of alternative aviation to tell the tale of a girl who runs away from home to join a cadre of glider pilots on a world without metal or fossil fuels.
On Twitter, he is @timothygwyn, and his blogs are at <timothygwyn.com>.
Laurie Bell lives in Melbourne, Australia. She was that girl you found with her nose always buried in a book. She has been writing ever since she was a little girl and first picked up a pen. From books to short stories, radio plays to snippets of ideas and reading them aloud to anyone who will listen.
She is the author of The Butterfly Stone (YA/ Fantasy — available now) and White Fire (Sci Fi — available now)
You can read more of her work on her blog Look for her on Facebook <www.facebook.com/WriterLaurieBell/> or Twitter: <@LaurienotLori>
Pixie is a voice actor, cabaret performer & slam poet From the Blue Mountains in NSW.
She enjoys writing short fiction, plays for radio and stage as well as her own brand of weird poetry.
She hosts the 'Off-Beet Poetry Slam' held bi-monthly in Katoomba,
And is a theatre reviewer for 2SER FM in Sydney.
Margaret lives the good life on a small piece of rural New South Wales Australia, with an amazing man, a couple of pets, and several rambunctious wombats.
She feels so lucky to be a part of the AntiSF team.
Mark is an astrophysicist and space scientist who worked on the Cassini/Huygens mission to Saturn. Following this he worked in computer consultancy, engineering, and high energy research (with a stint at the JET Fusion Torus).
All this science hasn't damped his love of fantasy and science fiction. It has, however, ruined his enjoyment of rainbows, colourful flames on romantic log fires, and rings around the moon. He has previously been published in Stupefying Stories Showcase, Everyday Fiction, Escape Pod, Perihelion and also on AntipodeanSF where he is part of the narration team.
David Whitaker is originally from the UK though has travelled around a bit and now resides in India. He has a degree in Journalism, however decided that as he’s always preferred making things up it should ultimately become a resource rather than a profession.
His stories, covering everything from sci-fi to philosophy, have been published across the globe and links to each can be found at <wordsbydavid.com>
Garry Dean lives on the Mid Coast of New South Wales Australia, and has been a fan of SF for most of his natural life. Being vision impaired, he makes good use of voice recognition and text to speech in order to write. Many of his stories have appeared in AntipodeanSF over the years, and his love of all things audio led him to join the narration team in 2017.
You can read examples of Garry's fiction on his website <https://garrydean.wordpress.com>
Carolyn's work spans devising, performance, theatre-in-education and a collaborative visual art practice.
She tours children's works to schools nationally with School Performance Tours, is a member of the Bathurst physical theatre ensemble Lingua Franca and one half of darkroom — a visual arts practice with videographer Sean O'Keeffe.
(Photo by Jeremy Belinfante)
SF News
SF News
"White Fire" by Laurie Bell Published
That's right, AntiSF author and narrator, Laurie Bell, is the author of "White Fire" available for your reading pleasure now at booksellers online in paperback and ebook. <Booktopia> or <Amazon>.
Upcoming Cons
Nullus Anxietas VII: The Australian Discworld Convention — will be held in Melbourne on April 12-14, 2019, and is themed on Going Postal. More information: <https://ausdwcon.org/>.
Swancon 2019 — 18/04/2019 - 22/04/2019, Esplanade Hotel Fremantle by Rydges 46-54 Marine Terrace, Fremantle WA 6160. Swancon is Australia's longest-running science-fiction, fantasy, and speculative fiction convention, and is the premiere event in Perth for fans of all forms of speculative media. More information: <https://swancon.com.au>.
Continuum 15 Other Worlds (Natcon 58): Continuum 15 is the Australian National SF Convention, to be held in Melbourne on June 7–10. More information and memberships <https://continuum.org.au>. AntipodeanSF will be at Continuum 15 and celebrating Issue 250 of AntiSF!
Worldcon Dublin 2019 — An Irish Worldcon 15/08/2019 till 19/08/2019, The Convention Centre Dublin (CCD). <More info here>
For more up-to-date Aussie SF info join the ASFF: <asff.org.au>.
The AntipodeanSF Radio Show
AntiSF Radio Show
The AntipodeanSF Radio Show delivers audio from the pages of this magazine.
The weekly program features the stories from recently published issues, usually narrated by the authors themselves.
Listen to the latest episode now:
The AntipodeanSF Radio Show is also broadcast on community radio, 2NVR, 105.9FM every Saturday evening at 8:30pm.
You can find every broadcast episode online here: http://antisf.libsyn.com
SF Quote
Politicians should read science fiction, not westerns and detective stories.