Issue 250 Cometh, says Nuke the Younger
You are invited!
That's right, I'm calling out to antipodes-resident previous contributors. Please send me a story for our special coming-of-age issue. I'd love to see you and your work included in the celebrations for Issue 250 and 21 years online.
Join the already stellar line up:
- Cassini Falling - by Cat Sparks
- Beware! The Blab - by Tony Owens
- End of Days - by Ray O'Brien
- Hatch - by Trent Jamieson
- In a Phobos Garden - by Rick Kennett
- In Salt and Starlight - by Pamela Jeffs
- Sandbox - by Kevin J. Phyland
- Slower Than The Speed Of Light - by Kris Ashton
More good news? I am willing to look at longer stories. I still like ‘em short, though — 3000 words maximum, please.
Don’t forget, you must be a previous contributor, you must reside on the southern side of this great star-circling globe, and the deadline for inclusion is March 31 2019.
In the meantime, keep reading and writing downside-up! Nuke the younger is watching you.
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.
Coffee With God
By Col Hellmuth
I awoke to the sound of someone rummaging through my bedside drawers. I looked up and saw God — at least that’s who he said he was when I challenged him/Him. Presently my wife stirred beside me.
“I’ve found God.” I said.
“That’s not like you, dear,” she mumbled, knowing I am not a religious man and promptly fell back to sleep.
Crossing Mercury
By Kevin J. Phyland
Freeze. Cook. Suffocate.
From the cockpit of the motionless surface crawler these seem like the three most likely ways that Milton will meet his demise. Motor fried somehow and the satellite radio gone.
The operational forward floodlights illuminate the dead, sterile surface plain near Mercury's Lugus Planitia. Powdered gray-black rock and distant rills. The horizon is a darkness much too close to Milton, as the smaller radius of the planet foreshortens everything visible.
Only the stars are unchanging.
Hugh's Friend
By Mark Towse
Sometimes we are caught off guard.
My school friends and I were taking a tour of some old buildings on a history class excursion, and as we walked down the concrete steps towards the cellar of one of the houses, the damp and cool air hit me, and I started to sob. It felt familiar.
That was the day I told my friends about Hugh. As a general rule of thumb imaginary friends would come out on request; Hugh didn’t play by the rules.
Some things he said were truths, and others were just fibs.
Jackie
By Natalie J E Potts
She was perfect. Her gaze held mine as if she could see something more.
“Better power her down,” Randle said as he gathered the storm troopers, dinosaurs and chip packets from the console. He put them in a metal box which had been used to transport equipment worth more than both of us would make in a year. Now it was a glorified bin.
Jackie blinked. Her eyes were still on me.
“They’re going to love her,” I said.
Much Needed Boost
By David Scholes
Canberra
Australia
2095
I looked enviously down the line of the exo-skeleton boosted armour in the weapon shop’s levitated display.
I like that one,” I pointed to a blue-grey suit that looked super lightweight.
“It’s a four-cubed model,” said the assistant. “Four by four by four,” it enlightened me. “Four times your normal speed, four times your normal strength, and four times your normal jumping power.”
Painting The Future
By Robin Hillard
I walked into the gallery under a banner that read PAINTING YOUR MEMORY in red letters tipped with gold. A bit pretentious, I thought. I was here because my brother knew one of the artists and wanted me to meet her. I shaped my face into a pleasant smile in case Alec had seen me arrive.
Were I an artist, I wouldn’t be painting from life. I’d fill my canvas with the colour of fantasy, dragons and elves, fairies and unicorns — to carry my viewers into a dream world.
But then, I’m no fan of memory. Especially not my own. Maybe that’s because my memory works both ways, forwards as well as back.
The Final Squeeze
By Zena Shapter
Skyscrapers collapsed into the oceans. Meteors lit the Anderson’s faces. Their neighbour’s escape pod exploded above them.
“We’ll never make it,” Tilly cried, clinging onto her robotic puppy.
The Fire
By Chris Gladstone
I doze, surrounded by thick coolness, cocooned from the searing, dry heat of an afternoon summer sun. It is peaceful and quiet in the darkness.
***
Something prickles at my awareness like the faint jab of a feeding insect. It is vaguely familiar — part of my genetic memory. I rouse myself and send tendrils of awareness upwards. Recognition dawns, and a quiver vibrates down my entire being. Smoke! Even though I strain, I cannot see it but I can sense its direction. The smell is wafting from the west and is close by.
The Prince Scamp — His Wrath
By Wes Parish
Last night I finally found time to have a drink with Prince Gaiyarha.
It is a bit tough, being issued the Invite and all, and finally crossing the Divide between his universe and ours, to discover that he is caught up in a hundred and one other things and can't manage more than an occasional word here and there. He is my oldest friend, after all.
I'd just turned seven when he turned up on Dad's station, up in the MacKenzie Country.
Trajectory
By Roger Ley
‘Hello, Tycho Centre, this is shuttle Nostromo, over.’
‘Yes Nostromo, Tycho here, over.’
‘There was a hell of a judder as we left the rail launcher, and there’s a red light flashing on the front control console, over.’
‘Hold one Nostromo, checking, over.’
‘I’m afraid I have some rather bad news, Martin.’
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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 246
Evolution
by Botond Teklesz
Hairy Story
By Tim Train
Malfunction
By Martin Lochman
Mary Khan Starts A Union
By Benjamin Muir
Mission 11B
By Justin O'Leary
Mistress
By John Brantingham
Second Duty
By Zebuline Carter
Soulmates
By JL Cooper
The Day The President Vanished
By Matthew Lee
Two Sons Two Moons
By Carolyn Eccles
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Most Read Stories
AntipodeanSF December 2018
ISSUE 245
Speculative Fiction
Downside-Up
ISSN 1442-0686
Online Since Feb 1998
AntiSF's Narration Team
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.
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>
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)
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 (available now).
You can read more of her work on her blog Look for her on Facebook <www.facebook.com/WriterLaurieBell/> or Twitter: <@LaurienotLori>
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.
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>
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>.
SF News
Upcoming Cons
INDIE COMIC CON 2018 8 Dec Northcote Town Hall, Melbourne Free event. <http://www.indiecomiccon.com.au/>.
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
Any dogma, primarily based on faith and emotionalism, is a dangerous weapon to use on others, since it is almost impossible to guarantee that the weapon will never be turned on the user.