Aurealis #46

by Dirk Strasser (Editor, Contributor), Andrew J. McKiernan, Greg Mellor

Aurealis is the Australian magazine of fantasy, science fiction and horror. It has been publishing continuously since 1990. This second electronic edition includes an absolute ripper of a hard science fiction story by Greg Mellor and a zombie tale with a difference by Andrew J McKiernan, as well as an interview with Felicity Pulman, news, reviews and more.

64 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 30, 2011

About the author

Dirk Strasser has won multiple Australian Publisher Association Awards and a Ditmar for Best Professional Achievement. His mythic fantasy series, The Books of Ascension, has been republished by Macmillan Momentum, this time including Eclipse – The Lost Book of Ascension for the first time in English. His novels and short stories have been translated into a number of languages. He also founded the Aurealis Awards and has co-edited and co-published Aurealis magazine for over twenty years.

Reviews

[Phillip Berrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second in the new electronic edition of this Australian icon was not as good as the first (i.e. Aurealis 45), in my opinion.

Greg Mellor's story, 'Heaven and Earth', explores the potential outcomes for humanity of the 'Technological Spike' in terms of a quest for a woman to recover her lost lover, who is something like a post-spike Prometheus. I can't help but wonder if this story will be understood by readers who haven't read up on the technological spike.

Andrew McKiernan's story, 'Love Death', is not one of his better ones, in my opinion. I have been a fan of this writer's work for a long time and the care and attention he puts into his stories is readily apparent from the quality of the setting, but I'm afraid this story didn't work for me.

The magazine also contains reviews on speculative fiction books by some notable Australian writers and critiquers.

Worth a read.

[Shannon Gambino · Rating 4 out of 5]

What lengths might you go to if the love of your life died? If you had the opportunity to bring your true love back from death’s firm grip, would you seize it? Andrew J. McKiernan’s short story “Love Death” tugs and twists the heartstrings as Eduardo is determined to have his bride, Catrina, resurrected. The balanced scale between life and death dangles precariously under the weight of the desperate heart.

“Love Death” is the first story I’ve read from Australian fantasy and sci-fi author, McKiernan. For a short magazine-published story, I was impressed. Its emotionally raw ending had me feeling the effects hours later. I plan to seek out more writings from McKiernan.