Speculative Flash Fiction
G'day flash loving folks, you're about to launch into an adventure at AntipodeanSF, the online magazine that's 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, yet won't take hours to read.
Please spend a few moments to read this month's stories. Alternatively, listen to all of them on the AntipodeanSF Radio Show, weekly, as per the schedule.
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Nuke.
Tinker's Curse
By Garry Dean
Richard “Tinker” Jones was an inventor. For the most part, he kept to himself, in a garage furnished with the sort of equipment any mainstream lab would envy. In the small Australian town of Jindawalla, he was something of a mystery. The less open-minded thought he was a weirdo, someone with more money than sense. Those who knew him thought otherwise. To them he was Tinker, a slightly quirky guy, whose garage was an Aladdin’s cave of wonders.
The Outsiders
By Ed Errington
We are told everything will be fine. That is the last thing we are told. We are ready and waiting with our one overnight bag as instructed. At precisely two am in the morning, the coach collects us.
The driver shepherds us into the coach — ticking off our names. She gives us a rough blanket to hide our faces if necessary. Not that anyone is awake to witness our nocturnal departure.
Terminating Train
By D.A. Cairns
Click, clack! Click, clack! The train sliced through the dense green scrub of the Royal National Park, its rhythmic clatter combining with warm sunshine on the window to smother Shawn with drowsiness. His head lolled, and his heavy eyelids closed him off from the world.
Murmuring, and an angry voice disturbed his sleep. Someone was speaking loudly, wanting everyone to hear, swearing…about…it was hard to focus. Shawn blinked, dazed. Dark windows. They had stopped inside a tunnel.
Star Sign
By Roger Ley
‘So, what’s your star sign?’ Mary asked, and took a sip from her glass. She watched him closely over the rim. It was one of her stock questions on first dates. You could tell a lot about a man, depending on how he reacted. His actual star sign was irrelevant. She didn’t believe in astrology.
She liked to meet new prospects in the pub, on the way home from work. It was easy to make a hasty exit after one polite drink if the ‘Perfect Match’ was less than perfect. And, let’s face it, most of them were, it was just a matter of degree.
Serum 66
By Laurie Bell
They called it Serum 66. I overheard many of the discussions, arguments, and justifications, and I dunno what it was but figured it was pretty important given how testy everyone got about it.
My trolley rattled forward. Its simple electronic brain knew only two commands. Go and Stop. The right rear wheel squeaked as it travelled forward.
Screams Mean Fear Or Pain
By Kyra Thomsen
There’s blood on the floor of the lab, but I know how to clean it up. I use the mop. Using the mop is written in my program. I wring out the mop and the water in the bucket turns cloudy and pink like the sky at sunset. I’ve seen sunsets, outside. Sometimes I see the sun setting when I ‘get rid of’ the empty bodies. Sometimes I see nothing but the trees at night. Whether it’s dark, or light, or somewhere in between, I see Sir looking over me from the door of the laboratory. But not today. Today I’m looking over Sir. Or, at least, I’m looking over what Sir used to be. I mop up the blood.
Prison
By Botond Teklesz
Day one.
Pavlovian conditioning. Get up. Bathroom. Wash your hands after toilet. Breakfast sunny-side up. Neuronic implant of the left temporal lobe connected and activated. Time for the Chinese lesson. The implant is connected to eyeglasses for comfort issues. If you break them, the punishment is a week in in the sensory deprivation unit. You don’t wanna try that, believe me. One can learn any language in three days but I choose the most difficult one for the reward — which is a big slice of cherry pie. Of course, the pie is also a memory implant.
Mars Hence
By Ishmael Soledad
The desert sleeps, afternoon shadows reaching from low dunes to embrace a russet red landscape of sand and stone that stretches to infinity. Can’t see anything moving out there, roos, birds, nothing from horizon to horizon. If it doesn’t rain soon Dad will have to truck water in, more trouble and money poured down this wreck of a farm.
Mars just isn’t the place it used to be but that’s the gig and I’m living it. Paige casts a weary glance around the hab, across patched and rigged shelving back to the floor, back to the to the boots she’s struggling to clip onto her suit.
Infiltration
By Estelle Owen
“Well that’s that then.” I sat deflated and stared at the single sock.
The design was spectacular.
It could be mistaken for a spider web.
It was also large and peculiar smelling.
Hit Parade
by Kevin J. Phyland
It was a hit much like all the others. Careful $100k rate put into an anonymous numbered account.
Payment: half up front and rest on delivery.
The usual thing. Anonymous parcel with a Care Bear...inside was a photo, address, and a brief bio.
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Please visit the ASFF website and consider joining for up-to-date info about Australian SF cons, awards, competitions, and to receive the Foundation's newsletter, Instrumentality, and more.
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.
Main Menu
In The Next Issue...
Coming In Issue 241
A Fairy Tale
by Susan Cornford
Fat Of The Land
by Bob Carlton
Freckle Face
by Kris Ashton
Getting To Know You
by George Nikolopoulos
Poem For Fa And Jed Who Sailed The Ocean Red
by Chris Kelso
Salvage Rights
by Kevin J. Phyland
Stranded
by Martin Lochman
The Way Things Went
by A. Katherine Black
Whats App
by Edwina Harvey
Zap!
by Matthew Harrison
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Most Read Stories
AntipodeanSF July 2018
ISSUE 240
Speculative Fiction
Downside-Up
ISSN 1442-0686
Online Since Feb 1998
AntiSF's Narration Team
Margaret lives the good life on a small piece of rural New South Wales Australia, with an amazing man, a couple of pets, and several rambunctious wombats.
She feels so lucky to be a part of the AntiSF team.
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 (available now).
You can read more of her work on her blog Look for her on Facebook <www.facebook.com/WriterLaurieBell/> or Twitter: <@LaurienotLori>
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.
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,
And is a theatre reviewer for 2SER FM in Sydney.
David Whitaker is originally from the UK though has travelled around a bit and now resides in India. He has a degree in Journalism, however decided that as he’s always preferred making things up it should ultimately become a resource rather than a profession.
His stories, covering everything from sci-fi to philosophy, have been published across the globe and links to each can be found at <wordsbydavid.com>
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>
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>.
SF News
SF News
Get Roger Ley's Novel "Chronscape" Free
AntiSF contributor Roger Ley tells us that his novel "Chronoscape" is free for a limited time at Amazon this weekend, July 14 and July 15. Get it now!
Lillicat Releases "A Betrayal and Other Stories" by Brian Biswas
Lillicat Publications has relased AntiSF contributor Brian Biswas's new story collection "A Betrayal And Other Stories", now available at Smashwords and Amazon. <Find Out More>
Meerkat To Publish Eugen M. Bacon's "A Woman's Choice"
Meerkat Press has acquired AntiSF contributor Eugen M. Bacon's literary speculative novel "A Woman's Choice" for publication in 2019. Go Eugen! <Read More>
Aussie Awards News
2018 Aurealis Awards Open
2018 Aurealis Awards overseers the Continuum Foundation (ConFound) announces that the 2018 Aurealis Awards are now open for entries.
The Aurealis Awards, Australia’s premier awards for speculative fiction, are for works created by an Australian citizen or permanent resident, and published for the first time between 1 January 2018 and 31 December 2018.
Full guidelines and FAQ can be found on the Aurealis Awards website: <https://aurealisawards.org/rules/>
Upcoming Aussie Cons
Oz Comic-Con Brisbane — Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre, Merivale St and Glenelg St, South Brisbane, 22/09/2018 - 30/09/2018.
Conflux 14 - The Unconventional Hero — Vibe Hotel, 1 Rogan Street, Canberra Airport ACT 2609. 29/09/2018 - 01/10/2018. More Information: <https//conflux.org.au>. AntipodeanSF will be at Conflux 14!
Oz Comic-Con Sydney — ICC Sydney, 14 Darling Dr, Sydney NSW 2000, Australia, 29-30/09/2018
Nullus Anxietas VII: The Australian Discworld Convention – will be held in Melbourne on April 12-14, 2019, and is themed on Going Postal. More information: <https://ausdwcon.org/>
For more up-to-date Aussie SF info join the ASFF: <asff.org.au>
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
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SF Quote
There’s no real objection to escapism, in the right places… We all want to escape occasionally. But science fiction is often very far from escapism, in fact you might say that science fiction is escape into reality… It’s a fiction which does concern itself with real issues: the origin of man; our future. In fact I can’t think of any form of literature which is more concerned with real issues, reality.