Speculative Flash Fiction
Greetings and salutations. Thanks for visiting AntipodeanSF. You are about to launch into an adventure with Australia's longest running online speculative fiction magazine. That's right, almost 300 issues and we're still 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 possibly invoke your sense of wonder — yet won't take hours to read.
Please assimilate all of this month's stories, and you can listen to them again in audio a few months on the AntiSF Radio Show...
...Nuke.
Maurice
By Salvatore Difalco
Maintenance received a call from one of the bio-labs to come and replace a panel of flickering fluorescent lights. They were upsetting the mouse. “The mouse?” I asked Jerry, the shift boss. I’d only been working at the Polytechnic Institute for two weeks and barely knew my way around its brutalist, labyrinthine layout, let alone familiarised myself with its machinations. One thing was certain, they’d spared no concrete — if not architectural cruelty — constructing the joint.
Daddy's Always Right
By Chuck McKenzie
Lucy presses her face up against the window, looking out at the planes as they trundle back and forth across the tarmac beyond. The plane Daddy says they’ll be flying in sits still, just a few metres away.
‘When can we get on, Daddy?’ she asks impatiently.
Fido, the Cat, and the Capsule
By KJ Hannah Greenberg
Fido Penelope Svetlana Hudson was your “typical” Dandie Dinmont Terrier. She was ten inches high, weighed twenty-one pounds, and had a medium long double coat. As well, she rarely drooled but had a surprisingly loud bark.
Her adopters, The Hudson Family, had brought her home since she was, allegedly, a hypoallergenic breed. Their only child, David, suffered from eczema and had been on antihistamines from the time he was weaned.
An Irregular Ode to the Loch Ness Monster
By Michael Leach
I once wondered whether
you’re there —
locked
amidst the land
of my ancestors, Scotland.
Review - Not Death VR (Version 3.1.007)
By Rodney Sykes - Artwork by Aron Milligan
They say that in the last moments before death, your life flashes before your eyes. At the time, I didn’t know if it was true, as I had never died before, at least not like this.
Well I had one minute, or so I was told — one minute is too much time. One minute is never enough time.
Swimcamp
By Greg Foyster
Yoni shuffled to the grocery store, wincing with every step. His shoes were too small and his toes always swelled up when the temperature was over 35 degrees. Every fucking day was over 35 degrees here in Mildura. He should just wear thongs or sandals like all the Aussies did, but then people would notice his webbed toes. He could picture himself in the grocery line, making small talk with someone, and then they would look down at his feet and freeze mid-sentence. “Well well,” they’d say, “You’re a dark horse, Yoni. Kept that one quiet, didn’t ya?” This someone, who was probably a man now he thought about it, a member of the local football team, would grab Yoni by the shoulders. The police would arrive so fast — it would feel like only seconds. Yoni would still be standing there, rigid with shock, while they checked his hands too, spreading the fingers apart. No webbing, but the toes would be enough. They’d take him away and lock him up.
Tantalise
By Jared Bernard
A ping on my phone reminds me that I still have a phone. At the sound, a vagrant glances over his shoulder, interrupted from burrowing through trash. Odds are low that he’ll kill me for my phone, but there’ve been reports. Something about the man’s oily coat is disturbing — the heat is almost unbearable during the day; I don’t know how he stands it. Without missing a beat, I carry on toward home, if you can call it that. The sunset casts a warm glow on the red-roofed apartment buildings poking up several blocks away behind a wall of desiccated trees. People who have everything figured out must live there. Maybe those apartments aren’t as fancy as the ones down in Tongzilin, but they’re still palaces compared to my sad hole. And soon I won’t even have that.
The Hideous Deed
By Fulvio Gatti
The energy stream flickers as Green’s attention is requested above ninety percent in the Parlour. That’s something they usually won’t agree to do — too many fascinating phenomenons going on in the universe in a single unit, too much to observe and study — but the call had a bossy edge and they could recognise Blue’s stamp even inside a super flare.
Three Eight Two
By Andrew Dunn
Part One:
Climb on board. Find a comfortable spot. Settle in, sling a line hard off the reel, and then wait for the thump. It was one of Ehsan’s favourite pastimes when he was back home in Marjand.
The old trawler still heeled over hard to one side, the way she had before Ehsan’s last trip, and not much different than the way she’d been left there long before graffiti and rust took hold. The trawler had been left there for fate to have its way; its master’s fate had been to ply far-flung cities for work building monolithic steel and glass skyscrapers that gleamed in the sun and glittered in neon and strobe kaleidoscopes at night. Abandoned without a master, the trawler would have gradually taken on water and slipped beneath the surface, forgotten in her grave — if they hadn’t drained the lake.
Blue Moon
By Harris Tobias
The marquee outside the hotel reads “Lucy and the Jazztones”. I’m Lucy. I’m a lounge singer, or rather I was a lounge singer. I’m an old lady now, sick, dying. But when I was younger, I sang at one of the new temporal hotels. One of the fancy ones right on the strip. Time travellers dropped in and stayed a while until they faded back to their own time. It was a big business visiting the past, still is from what I hear.
In The Next Issue...
Coming In Issue 289
Company Man
By James R. Coffey
Dusk Patrol
By Kevin J. Phyland
Martian Food
By Robbie Sheerin
Sociology 101, Lesson Six
By KJ Hannah Greenberg
Superman
By Elizabeth Broadbent
The Eternity Library
By Chris Gladstone
The Sparrow Maker
By Tee Linden
Three Eight Two (Part Two)
By Andrew Dunn
Turning on the Light
By John Bohr
What I have to say about the supersize oceans of the exoplanet C59034
By Ranju Mamachan
Winter's Sky
By Callan J Mulligan
Scifaiku
By PS Cottier
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.
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AntiSF & The ASFF
AntipodeanSF supports the ASFF
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AntipodeanSF September 2022
ISSUE 288
Speculative Fiction
Downside-Up
ISSN 1442-0686
Online Since Feb 1998
SF Quote
The advance of civilization is nothing but an exercise in the limiting of privacy.
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AntiSF's Narration Team
Tim Borella is an Australian author, mainly of short speculative fiction published in anthologies, online and in podcasts.
He’s also a songwriter, and has been fortunate enough to have spent most of his working life doing something else he loves, flying.
Tim lives with his wife Georgie in beautiful Far North Queensland. For more information, visit his Tim Borella – Author Facebook page.
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.
Alistair Lloyd is a Melbourne based writer and narrator who has been consuming good quality science fiction and fantasy most of his life.
You may find him on Twitter as <@mr_al> and online at <alistairlloyd.com>.
Geraldine Borella writes adult short stories and stories for children and has been published in anthologies for both. In 2018, one of her children’s short stories placed second in The Buzz Words Short Story Prize and she won an ASA Emerging Writer’s Mentorship. She currently works part-time as a hospital pharmacist and as an online creative writing tutor.
She’s fascinated by stories that expand upon today’s technology, addressing the moral and ethical issues that might arise. Equally, she enjoys the creative freedom that writing for children allows. Right now, she’s writing a young adult novel, reworking a middle grade novel and writing adult short stories when inspiration strikes. She lives with her husband, Tim, in Yungaburra, Far North Queensland and dreams of one day taking a European gap year.
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>.
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)
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.
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>
Sarah Pratt is an avid fiction writer and a Marketing Consultant.
She is currently working on her first novel but loves diving into short stories to bring a little lightness, intrigue or humour to the day.
Her work has appeared in Sponge Magazine and The Commuting Book.
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 and The Tiger's Eye (YA/Fantasy) White Fire (Sci-Fi) and The Good, the Bad and the Undecided (a unique collection of short stories set during the events of White Fire/Sci-Fi).
You can read more of her work on her blog <www.solothefirst.wordpress.com> Look for her on Facebook <www.facebook.com/WriterLaurieBell/> or Twitter: <@LaurienotLori>
Rambles, writing and amusing musings
Smile! laugh out loud! enjoy the following
<www.solothefirst.wordpress.com>
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
Most Read Stories
The Contributors
Rodney grew up in country South Australia and later in Adelaide but now lives and works in Melbourne.
He works principally as an IT consultant and dabbles in creative writing in his spare time.
He enjoys writing poetry as well flash fiction and often reads his work at the Melbourne Writers Group meetings.
Rodney is currently unpublished but hopes to change that in the near future.
Jared Bernard’s fiction has appeared in Morpheus Tales, and his non-fiction has appeared in The Conversation, Natural History, History Today, and American Forests among others. As a PhD candidate studying insects, he has also published in scientific journals.
Jared’s debut literary/speculative fiction novel, Killing Juggernaut <https://www.killingjuggernaut.com>, predicts a dire future in which the fates of an ecologist, a teenager, and an astronomer are linked by humanity’s last-ditch effort to save itself from environmental devastation.
“Tantalise” is a mini companion story to Killing Juggernaut.
Fulvio Gatti is an Italian speculative fiction writer been writing and publishing in his native tongue for 25 years.
He has been writing in English for the global market since 2018, and his stories can be found in pro magazines, like Galaxy’s Edge, magazines and anthologies published in US, UK, Italy, and Australia.
He’s been a student of Kevin J. Anderson and Rebecca Moesta’s Superstars Writing Seminars and he is part of David Farland’s Apex Writing Group. He’s also been a panelist at Worlcon/Discon III, among other international events.
He lives with his wife on the wine hills of the Northwestern Italy, where he works as a local reporter and event organizer.
Website: <https://www.fulviogatti.it>
Chuck McKenzie was born in 1970, and still spends much of his time there.
He also runs the YouTube channel 'A Touch of the Terrors', where — as 'Uncle Charles' — he performs readings of his favourite horror tales in a manner that makes most ham actors look like Gielgud.
Michael J. Leach <@m_jleach> is a writer and academic who lives in Bendigo on unceded Dja Dja Wurrung Country.
Michael enjoys writing about science. His science poems reside in Meniscus, Rabbit, Cordite, Consilience, Science Write Now, the 2021 Hippocrates Prize Anthology (The Hippocrates Press, 2021), and elsewhere.
He has published a sci-fi short story in Painted Words 2017 (Bendigo TAFE, 2017) and penned two science-themed plays performed by Bendigo Theatre Company.
Michael’s poetry collections include Chronicity (Melbourne Poets Union, 2020) and Natural Philosophies (Recent Work Press, forthcoming in November 2022).
You can read more about Michael’s work on his website: <https://mleach11.wixsite.com/writing>
Greg Foyster is a writer, illustrator and author of the memoir Changing Gears, currently living on Wadawurrung country at Geelong.
His stories and cartoons have appeared in The Age, The Saturday Paper, ABC, Meanjin, Eureka Street and others.
His fiction has appeared in Overland, The Big Issue, Aurealis and AntipodeanSF.
Website: <www.gregfoyster.com>
Andrew writes science-fiction and fantasy from the state of Maryland on the eastern coast of the United States, often drawing ideas from jogs through forest trails at sunrise or a tasty beer at sunset.
Andrew writes each story with the goal of giving readers something they will enjoy, without relying on the typical, predictable, or cliche'. His work has previously appeared in AntipodeanSF, 365 Tomorrows, and soon Daily Science Fiction.
When Andrew isn't writing chances are he's playing guitar or bass, exploring abandoned places, or spending quality time with a bulldog. Andrew hopes you enjoy this story, and he will continue to try and write stories that you'll love to read!
Salvatore Difalco is the author of two story collections, Black Rabbit (Anvil) and The Mountie At Niagara Falls (Anvil).
He currently lives in Toronto Canada.
Harris Tobias lives and writes in Charlottesville, Virginia. He is the author of two novels: The Greer Agency & A Felony of Birds. He has written dozens of short stories many of which are available on line at <quantummuse.com>. He is the author of many children’s books including At The Robot Zoo, MoonRivet Saves His Skin and An Alphabet Book of Bugs available in print from CreateSpace and as ebooks for Nook & Kindle. You can find links to his writings here: <harristobias-fiction.blogspot.com>
PS Cottier is a poet who lives in Canberra, with a particular interest in speculative poetry.
She has been published widely at home and in Canada, England, New Zealand and the USA.
Two of her horror poems were finalists in the Australian Shadows Awards for 2020. Her latest books are Monstrous, which is a volume of speculative poems, and Utterly, which is non-genre.
PS Cottier is the Poetry Editor at The Canberra Times and blogs at <https://pscottier.com>
KJ Hannah Greenberg has been playing with words for an awfully long time. Initially a rhetoric professor and a National Endowment for the Humanities Scholar, she shed her academic laurels to romp around with a prickle of imaginary hedgehogs.
Thereafter, she's been nominated once for The Best of the Net in poetry, three times for the Pushcart Prize in Literature for poetry, once for the Pushcart Prize in Literature for fiction, once for the Million Writers Award for fiction, and once for the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay. To boot, Hannah’s had more than three dozen books published and has served as an editor for several literary journals.
Find out more at her website: <http://kjhannahgreenberg.net/>.