Aussie SF Snapshots takes a quick look at the Australian SF community with a series of incisive interviews. I was fortunate enough to be interviewed by the esteemed Shauna O’Meara for the 2016 Snapshots. Shauna’s widely published and a Writers of the Future winner. I’m honored to be among such great company.
Oh, and while I am actually living back in New Zealand, I hold dual citizenship, and I completed my masters at the University of Queensland in Brisbane.
My little story “Number Man” has just come out in the March issue of the SQ Mag, an Australian Spec Fic Magazine. The story, “charts the difficulties of life after prison, especially when your family got you put in there in the first place” (from Sophie’s introduction). It’s also described as Cyberpunk, but I hadn’t thought of that when I was writing it (did someone once say a writer is the worst judge of his own writing?). Anyway, it was a fun adventure to write, I hope it’s as much fun to read. There are some other cool stories in there too, and I do like that cover.
Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine #59My short story “Alecia in the Mechwurm” has just come out in the latest issue (#59) of Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine. ASIM, along with Aurealis, carries the banner for Australian (and NZ, and well, I guess all of Oceania) Science Fiction. This is my second story with them (following “I am Nano” a couple of years ago). This issue is edited by the inestimable David Kernot, and I’m honored to be included in his issue.
“Alecia…” is another story under the Michael Shone penname (probably the last), and is set in the same universe (i.e. Mechwurms) as last year’s “The Flower Garden” which appeared in the Spring 2013 issue of The Colored Lens. If you’ve read that story, “Alecia…” is a slightly different tone – more hard sci-fi compared to “The Flower Garden’s” more literary leaning.
Interesting side-note: also on the contents page is Australian writer Steve Cameron, with whom I’ve shared a previous contents page, just this year in Outposts of Beyond.
My story “Kernel” has just been published in Aurealis, one of the leading Australian science fiction magazines. It’s complemented with a nice illustration by Matt Bissett-Johnson.
The issue, edited by Stephen Higgins, includes a story by Sophie Masson, an article on Kim Wilkins by Kate Forsyth, Carissa’s Weblog by Carissa Thorp as well as numerous reviews. It available now through the Aurealis website. The magazine is a $2.99 download, or $19.99 for a twelve month subscription.
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Story blurb:
Genn’s stuck in a spaceship with more questions than answers. He remembers an accident, but no one on board is giving him a straight answer. And the kernel that’s supposed to be helping him recover seems helpful, but does more deflecting than anything.
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Opening paragraphs:
They had given Genn the kernel right after the operation, when he was still feeling somewhat woozy and disoriented. This was in April, a month and a half before departure. The kernel was the shape and colour of a single corn seed: deep yellow at the broad end, tapering to a white tip. It was the size of grapefruit, occupying, when he held it—as he often did—the whole of the palm of his hand.
‘It will help you through the transition,’ the medical team had told him.
‘Transition to what?’ he’d asked, but they had just smiled and left him in the post-op room with the sounds of the rattling hospital for company. There might have been an accident. He remembered Janice yelling at him on the freeway. Was it a transition to a life without a
family?
‘Transition,’ the kernel said, ‘through the light barrier.’
My story “I am Nano” has just appeared in Australia’s premier print Sci-Fi magazine Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine. A fun little piece of nano (well, flash) fiction. Thanks to editor David Kernot for his help with working on the story.
ASIM has been gaining a great reputation and a good following. It’ll also be available in eBook formats soon – at a great price.
Here are the opening words:
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“We cannot be self-aware,” LM said. “There are simply insufficient connections for us to realise anything approximating consciousness.” LM inserted his probe through the cell wall to take a sample. He took a sample every 100 milliseconds.
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Aussie SF Snapshots takes a quick look at the Australian SF community with a series of incisive interviews. I was fortunate enough to be interviewed by the esteemed Shauna O’Meara for the 2016 Snapshots. Shauna’s widely published and a Writers of the Future winner. I’m honored to be among such great company.
