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    Aurealis #47
    Aurealis #47
    Aurealis #47
    Ebook88 pages1 hour

    Aurealis #47

    By Dirk Strasser (Editor)

    ()

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    About this ebook

    Aurealis, the Australian magazine of fantasy, science fiction and horror, has been publishing continuously since 1990. Aurealis #47 features an exhilarating voyage into ancient Greek mythology by Jenny Blackford, some unnerving Australian outback horror by Jason Nahrung, and a thought-provoking article from Crisetta MacLeod on why one book is never enough in fantasy, plus news, reviews and more.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherChimaera Publications
    Release dateFeb 16, 2012
    ISBN9781922031013
    Aurealis #47
    Author

    Dirk Strasser (Editor)

    Dirk Strasser has written over 30 books for major publishers in Australia and has been editing magazines and anthologies since 1990. He won a Ditmar for Best Professional Achievement and has been short-listed for the Aurealis and Ditmar Awards a number of times. His fantasy novels – including Zenith and Equinox – were originally published by Pan Macmillan in Australia and Heyne Verlag in Germany. His children’s horror/fantasy novel, Graffiti, was published by Scholastic. His short fiction has been translated into a number of languages, and his most recent publications are “The Jesus Particle” in Cosmos magazine, “Stories of the Sand” in Realms of Fantasy and “The Vigilant” in Fantasy magazine. He founded the Aurealis Awards and has co-published Aurealis magazine for over 20 years.

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      Book preview

      Aurealis #47 - Dirk Strasser (Editor)

      AUREALIS #47

      Australian Fantasy & Science Fiction

      Edited by Dirk Strasser and Carissa Thorp

      Published by Chimaera Publications at Smashwords

      Copyright of this compilation Chimaera Publications 2012

      Copyright on each story remains with the contributor.

      EPUB version ISBN 978-1-922031-01-3

      CHIMAERA PUBLICATIONS

      Smashwords Edition License Notes

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of the author, editors and artists.

      Hard copy back issues of Aurealis can be obtained from the Aurealis website:

      www.aurealis.com.au

      Contents

      From the Cloud – Dirk Strasser

      The Sacrifice – Jenny Blackford

      Breaking the Wire – Jason Nahrung

      Trilogies and More – Crisetta MacLeod

      Reviews

      Carissa's Weblog – Carissa Thorp

      What do you think?

      Next issue

      Credits

      From the Cloud

      Dirk Strasser

      I was asked an interesting question during an interview on the ABC Radio National Book Show recently. The interviewer wanted to know whether the Aurealis readership was more tech-savvy than the general reading public. I think the implication behind the question was whether SF readers were more open to epublications than other types of readers. And the assumption behind this question I feel was that it was fine for an SF magazine like Aurealis to become an epublication, but none of the other magazines could afford to do this because they would risk losing their less tech-savvy readers.

      Firstly, is it true that SF readers are more tech-savvy than the average reader? Maybe. I haven't seen any studies on this, but anecdotal evidence suggests they might be. Of course, the question we really should ask here is what 'tech-savvy' actually mean? Does it mean higher computer use? Does it mean familiarity with a wider range of software? Does it mean programming skills? Does it mean high level use of devices like mobile phones and satellite navigators?

      I'm not sure if the tech-savvy question gets us very far. It would be more valuable to ask the question: do SF readers have greater usage of eReaders than any other category of reader? If so, is it natural that we're leading the way in epublications? My initial inclination is to say that the 'tech level' required to read epublications is so low that even if SF readers were more tech-savvy than general readers, it shouldn't mean that there is greater eReader use among SF readers. Operating an eReader doesn't take a huge amount of technical skill. Kindles, Kobos and tablets like iPads are designed to be un-computer like in a lot of ways. They are generally deliberately book-like and able to be used by even the greatest techno-phobes.

      So what do the statistics say?

      A recent study by the Book Industry Study Group shows that the following three categories of fiction by far dominate all epublication downloads: literary fiction, romance fiction and SF. Each has over 20% share of all e-book purchases—which, in each case, is a much higher share than of print book purchases. Romance fiction outstrips SF. So, are romance readers more tech-savvy than SF readers?

      There’s not a lot of technology in the issue of Aurealis. It features an exhilarating voyage into ancient Greek mythology by Jenny Blackford, some unnerving Australian outback horror by Jason Nahrung, and a thought-provoking article from Crisetta MacLeod on why one book is never enough in fantasy.

      All the best from the cloud.

      Back to Contents

      The Sacrifice

      Jenny Blackford

      After Aietes found out what Medea had dared to do, he set off in pursuit of the ship; but when Medea saw that Aietes was near, she murdered her brother, tore him limb from limb and threw the pieces into the depths.

      —Apollodorus, Library, second century BC

      Medea could feel that something was wrong.

      On the surface, everything seemed under control. The late morning sun glinted off the oiled muscles of the Achaian heroes who were straining at the oars, rowing the Argo away from Kolkhis and her furious father. The square linen sail billowed above the black ship; no human force could catch up with them now. Jason—her beautiful Jason—stood at the prow of the Argo, gazing across the Black Sea towards his home in Thessaly.

      When they'd fled together in the night, with the golden fleece, Jason had put Medea at the stern of his ship, saying she'd be safest there. She was a virgin princess, precious, barely fifteen; it was his duty to see that she was protected. Perhaps she truly was safer there: perhaps. But Jason, at the ship's prow, was so far away from her! Fifty deep-muscled Achaian heroes, swearing and shouting on their benches, divided her from him. It had to be thirty paces, or even more.

      She burned with thwarted desire for Jason. She'd have killed just to have been standing next to him, the other heroes dead or disappeared, the ship silent and still. All it would take, she knew, was a single drop of one of her more dangerous potions

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