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Journeys
15 Stories. 15 Australian authors. One theme: Journeys.
What games do the dead play?
Can the ambassador negotiate peace with a hostile alien race?
Why is Rae so terrified of a letter from the 'Next Chapter' Department of Lebensqualitat?
Read about living mannequins, prison ships, pandemics and more in the second anthology from Aussie Speculative Fiction.
What games do the dead play?
Can the ambassador negotiate peace with a hostile alien race?
Why is Rae so terrified of a letter from the 'Next Chapter' Department of Lebensqualitat?
Read about living mannequins, prison ships, pandemics and more in the second anthology from Aussie Speculative Fiction.
246 pages, Paperback
Published December 7, 2019
3 people are currently reading
18 people want to read
About the author
Alanah Andrews
22 books56 followersAlanah is an English teacher in Australia. She writes because her imagination overflows onto paper.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
December 7, 2019
JOURNEYS, the second anthology by Aussie Speculative Fiction, is a wonderful collection.
It follows their 2018 anthology BEGINNINGS, and is just as diverse and compelling.
There are some familiar names; Alanah Andrews, Chris Foley, Stephen Hergzeg, Jocelyn Spark, who all return in JOURNEYS with their beautiful prose, humour, horror and fun.
This collection features some wonderful authors in their first collaboration with ASF, including Gerry Huntman and Kevin Klehr, whose stories 'The Body Parts Room' and 'The Game' are absolute delights.
If I had to pick a favourite from this anthology, I would have a hard time choosing between Lebensqualität by Alice Lam, Pilgrimage to Earth by Nick Marone and The Fury by Faran Silverton.
Each story in this collection is memorable, and like it's predecessor, JOURNEYS delivers the goods on diversity, with science fiction, horror, dystopian, and both fantasy and urban fantasy featuring.
It follows their 2018 anthology BEGINNINGS, and is just as diverse and compelling.
There are some familiar names; Alanah Andrews, Chris Foley, Stephen Hergzeg, Jocelyn Spark, who all return in JOURNEYS with their beautiful prose, humour, horror and fun.
This collection features some wonderful authors in their first collaboration with ASF, including Gerry Huntman and Kevin Klehr, whose stories 'The Body Parts Room' and 'The Game' are absolute delights.
If I had to pick a favourite from this anthology, I would have a hard time choosing between Lebensqualität by Alice Lam, Pilgrimage to Earth by Nick Marone and The Fury by Faran Silverton.
Each story in this collection is memorable, and like it's predecessor, JOURNEYS delivers the goods on diversity, with science fiction, horror, dystopian, and both fantasy and urban fantasy featuring.
June 15, 2022
DISCLAIMER - Contributing Author
This is an excellent anthology of Australian speculative fiction writing. I enjoyed all the stories, with the ones that stuck with me the most after reading being:
The Body Parts Room by Gerry Huntman
The Game by Kevin Klehr
Fields of Green by Tee Linden
Deportation by Austin Sheehan
Chasing the Wind by TC Phillips
This is an excellent anthology of Australian speculative fiction writing. I enjoyed all the stories, with the ones that stuck with me the most after reading being:
The Body Parts Room by Gerry Huntman
The Game by Kevin Klehr
Fields of Green by Tee Linden
Deportation by Austin Sheehan
Chasing the Wind by TC Phillips
February 1, 2020
Showcasing Australian authors each with fresh ideas
A fantastic collection of stories by Australian authors, each of them taking us on their own version of a journey from here up into the stars. Highly recommend.
A fantastic collection of stories by Australian authors, each of them taking us on their own version of a journey from here up into the stars. Highly recommend.
December 7, 2019
This is an amazing collection of fifteen stories with one theme, the end of life. Many of these Aussie authors are new to me; all are excellent. Stories range from touching to the macabre and everything in between. If you have a taste for the unusual, this is your book! Below are brief reviews of just three of these fantastic stories.
Lebensqualität - Alice Lam
Imagine a government where retirement has a totally different meaning. In Lebensqualität one retires at sixty, no exceptions. It is Rae’s sixtieth birthday, time for her to move on. Her beloved husband moved on five years ago, and Rae is lonely. He promised to be waiting. She hopes they will be united at last.
In the meantime, she will spend the evening with their two sons. She prepared their favorite meal with her husband’s favorite cake for dessert. They won’t discuss her leaving, of course they won’t, despite the whispers between them.
Come share the family’s last meal.
Into the Sea - Fallacious Rose
Imagine a future where science has banished death. All body parts are replaceable though some may now be plastic and metal. What could you accomplish with eternal life? If you could choose to live forever, would you?
In Philippe and Portia’s time mankind has a cure for everything, except bad dreams! Lately when Philippe does sleep, his dreams grant him no rest. The dream is always the same, a beautiful choir of voices calling him to the sea, to at last lay down his long life. It haunts him during his waking hours. Philippe had no desire to die, of course not, but he can’t help returning again and again to that choir and its song. Portia’s solution is sleeping tablets, but Philippe can’t refuse the dream.
When instead of the address he had planned to give at the United Nations, he describes his dreams, there is an uproar. God was banished; replaced with science long ago. Where can the dream originate? Will others head the call? Will Philippe?
Come to the sea! Lay your weary soul to rest!
Chasing the Wind – T. C. Phillips
Do you believe in an afterlife? What happens when you die? Can you still be tied to the living?
Michael is an explosives expert. Funny then that his death comes at the hands of a sniper. Dying, his last thoughts are of his wife, Sarah, and their unborn daughter. His regrets? That he will never have the chance to know her.
As Michael is dying, Sarah is giving birth. There is such a severe storm, the birthing room shakes, losing power for a moment. What she sees at the foot of her bed in that flash is the bomb dog who had been Michael’s partner until a land mine took his life.
When Michael awakens after death, it is his dog that greets him. At the dog’s urging, Michael begins the journey forward to his new reality. Oddly, his daughter, Michelle also seems connected to this dog she never met. She draws him and her father together when she is just a child. She sees the dog at pivotal points in her life.
Is there a connection between Michael and Michelle through this ghostly creature?
I was gifted a copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Lebensqualität - Alice Lam
Imagine a government where retirement has a totally different meaning. In Lebensqualität one retires at sixty, no exceptions. It is Rae’s sixtieth birthday, time for her to move on. Her beloved husband moved on five years ago, and Rae is lonely. He promised to be waiting. She hopes they will be united at last.
In the meantime, she will spend the evening with their two sons. She prepared their favorite meal with her husband’s favorite cake for dessert. They won’t discuss her leaving, of course they won’t, despite the whispers between them.
Come share the family’s last meal.
Into the Sea - Fallacious Rose
Imagine a future where science has banished death. All body parts are replaceable though some may now be plastic and metal. What could you accomplish with eternal life? If you could choose to live forever, would you?
In Philippe and Portia’s time mankind has a cure for everything, except bad dreams! Lately when Philippe does sleep, his dreams grant him no rest. The dream is always the same, a beautiful choir of voices calling him to the sea, to at last lay down his long life. It haunts him during his waking hours. Philippe had no desire to die, of course not, but he can’t help returning again and again to that choir and its song. Portia’s solution is sleeping tablets, but Philippe can’t refuse the dream.
When instead of the address he had planned to give at the United Nations, he describes his dreams, there is an uproar. God was banished; replaced with science long ago. Where can the dream originate? Will others head the call? Will Philippe?
Come to the sea! Lay your weary soul to rest!
Chasing the Wind – T. C. Phillips
Do you believe in an afterlife? What happens when you die? Can you still be tied to the living?
Michael is an explosives expert. Funny then that his death comes at the hands of a sniper. Dying, his last thoughts are of his wife, Sarah, and their unborn daughter. His regrets? That he will never have the chance to know her.
As Michael is dying, Sarah is giving birth. There is such a severe storm, the birthing room shakes, losing power for a moment. What she sees at the foot of her bed in that flash is the bomb dog who had been Michael’s partner until a land mine took his life.
When Michael awakens after death, it is his dog that greets him. At the dog’s urging, Michael begins the journey forward to his new reality. Oddly, his daughter, Michelle also seems connected to this dog she never met. She draws him and her father together when she is just a child. She sees the dog at pivotal points in her life.
Is there a connection between Michael and Michelle through this ghostly creature?
I was gifted a copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.
February 3, 2020
DISCLAIMER - Contributing Author
This is the second anthology from the Australian Speculative Fiction Group, which was formed a couple of years ago.
The group was put together by a handful of emerging authors as a way of pooling their talents and creating a way of giving voice to other writers and authors of a similar mindset.
The stories in this collection are an eclectic mix of genres and styles all surrounding the concept of a "Journey". Some are explicit, some less so.
All are unique in their own ways, crossing the bounds of SciFi, Fantasy and Horror.
The reader should find at least one story that suits their own tastes. The appeal of each is very subjective and some will doubtless not click with every reader, but some will stick in their mind and have them seeking out other material by the same author.
Luckily, there is a wealth of anthologies coming out from the ASFG in the near future.
The group has jumped into the deep end and is releasing a series of Zodiac inspired anthologies, each of which will feature new and emerging authors. On top of that they are releasing a series of eight novellas all on the theme of "A drowned Earth."
That being said, some of the stories in Journeys could easily be extended beyond their current length into novellas and even novels, such is the richness of the world painted by their respective authors.
Check out this and the other anthologies from the ASFG through Deadset Press, they started at the Beginning and are now well on their Journey.
This is the second anthology from the Australian Speculative Fiction Group, which was formed a couple of years ago.
The group was put together by a handful of emerging authors as a way of pooling their talents and creating a way of giving voice to other writers and authors of a similar mindset.
The stories in this collection are an eclectic mix of genres and styles all surrounding the concept of a "Journey". Some are explicit, some less so.
All are unique in their own ways, crossing the bounds of SciFi, Fantasy and Horror.
The reader should find at least one story that suits their own tastes. The appeal of each is very subjective and some will doubtless not click with every reader, but some will stick in their mind and have them seeking out other material by the same author.
Luckily, there is a wealth of anthologies coming out from the ASFG in the near future.
The group has jumped into the deep end and is releasing a series of Zodiac inspired anthologies, each of which will feature new and emerging authors. On top of that they are releasing a series of eight novellas all on the theme of "A drowned Earth."
That being said, some of the stories in Journeys could easily be extended beyond their current length into novellas and even novels, such is the richness of the world painted by their respective authors.
Check out this and the other anthologies from the ASFG through Deadset Press, they started at the Beginning and are now well on their Journey.
December 24, 2019
A fantastic collection of stories by Australian authors, each of them taking us on their own version of a journey from here up into the stars. Highly recommend.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews