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, and get you out there, perhaps even over the moon, 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.
Nuke.
Issue 250 Celebration
Issue 250, online in May-June this year celebrates the "coming of age" of AntipodeanSF.
Calling all past antipodes-resident contributors. There is still room for your story, and it can be up to 3000 words long.
Deadline for inclusion is March 31 2019.
Not only will this be a special bumper issue, but it will also be published using dead trees and ink, available on demand online, and any profits will be donated into the ASFF's National Australia Fan Fund.
So, folks, get writing downside-up, and get back into AntiSF!
Nuke.
Wet Paint
By Simon R. Gardner
I sat watching twinkling lights in the smog of dusk circling outside the large open window. Bathed in a glorious heat that reminded me of my childhood in the suburbs of Cairo, I tried to keep still as Abdel positioned the headset and then fastened it under my chin.
"Are you sure you're ready for this?" Abdel said, his voice just a murmur now.
Vocation
By Ishmael Soledad
Abbot Johannes gazed at the twenty-four professed gathered before him, the bitter chill of early February penetrating the bare stone chapel. The taking of vows, the final irrevocable admission of a brother to the community was solemn, a time of thanks. This one was unique, a loss-tinged joy.
Having remained prostrate and naked in penitential reverence these past two days, the supplicant at his feet lifted himself onto one knee, hands clasped in prayer, eyes locked on the Abbot’s sandals.
The Tower
By Mathew Nelson
I shiver, stumbling forward as the rain lashes at my clothes. I can’t feel my nose, or my ears, or the tips of my fingers. I can barely see. Where the hell am I? The sky has grown eerily dark and I’m sure that the sun has now set behind the rain clouds. A brief fragment of light remains on the churning ocean. Violent waves crash against the rocks ahead.
The Last Word
By Roger Ley
We were all staring up at the sky, waiting for the Dawn Treader to light up her Hawking drives and start the journey to Alpha Centauri. There were hundreds of us, all members of the design and construction team, with our partners and children. We were partying at our complex, near the foot of the Kisumu Space Elevator. A fair proportion of the world would be watching, either on-screen or live if they were lucky enough to be in the right hemisphere and time zone.
That Monster Show
By Bart Meehan
Ice Age
All Hollywood stories start with a lunch. And this one started at the Ice Age, a semi fashionable restaurant off the Strip.
I’d been invited by John Hendry, who told me it would be worth my while.
When I arrived, the place was only half full and several people looked up to see if I was anybody. Satisfied I wasn’t, they returned to their meals.
I looked around and saw Hendry sitting in a booth at the back of the room.
Frozen Moments, Stolen Out Of Time
By George Nikolopoulos
As I see the man pull a gun out of his pocket and point it at my son, I feel like my heart just stopped.
Instead, time stops.
I can see the bullet, frozen in place mid-air, sleek and deadly, pointed toward my son. I can see the twisted, delirious face of the gunman.
Forever In Time
By Shane O'Halloran
The old man leans back in his chair and peeks through the window. He lifts a hand to catch the waitress’s attention but she is busy serving a young couple at the far end of the café. No matter, he can wait, there is still time. There’s always plenty of time isn’t there. No more time for you though. He coughs, a dry hack which rips through his lungs, setting his chest on fire. It doesn’t last too long, and he is relieved when nothing comes up. He grabs a bunch of napkins anyway. Lucky this time, maybe not so much the next.
First Choice
By Vanessa Kittle
When Zack sat down Yvette tried to gauge his mood. She knew that she was still not very adept at this process, but even she could see that he was angry. Zack had given her all of her practical experience with emotions: from basic needs and expressions, to flirting and desires, to existential discussions that went on for hours. After an intense 3.55 months their relationship finally defined itself as an analog of a father-daughter bond.
Better Ballers
By Savatore Difalco
Johnny Quanta stared at his shattered prosthetic leg in disbelief. A full bot had speared him in the knee. It was a cheap shot.
“Johnny,” Dr. Fagan said, “we have no replacements left.”
“What are you talking about? There were three good ones last week.”
A Taste For Salt
By Noel Osualdini
Father came, brandishing a box before him like a silver platter.
“Where did you get it?” asked Mother. There was no salt left in her tears: she'd cried it all away.
“I think it best the children don't hear, ” said Father.
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AntiSF & The ASFF
AntipodeanSF supports the ASFF
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 249
A King May Look At A Cat
by Lynne Lumsden Green
Applicants Must Be Able To Cackle
by Nikky Lee
Crash Dummy
by Roger Ley
Invisible Giants And Little Types
by AE Reiff
Infinite Monkeys
by Aiki Flinthart
Kitting Up
by David Scholes
She's Dead
by Mark Towse
Surfing On Neptune
by Eugen M. Bacon
The Forgetful Visitor
by Barry Germansky
The Sin Of Envy
by George Nikolopoulos
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Most Read Stories
AntipodeanSF March 2019
ISSUE 248
Speculative Fiction
Downside-Up
ISSN 1442-0686
Online Since Feb 1998
AntiSF's Narration 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 (YA/ Fantasy — available now) and White Fire (Sci Fi — available now)
You can read more of her work on her blog Look for her on Facebook <www.facebook.com/WriterLaurieBell/> or Twitter: <@LaurienotLori>
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.
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.
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>.
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>
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.
Carolyn's work spans devising, performance, theatre-in-education and a collaborative visual art practice.
She tours children's works to schools nationally with School Performance Tours, is a member of the Bathurst physical theatre ensemble Lingua Franca and one half of darkroom — a visual arts practice with videographer Sean O'Keeffe.
(Photo by Jeremy Belinfante)
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>
SF News
Upcoming Cons
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/>.
Swancon 2019 — 18/04/2019 - 22/04/2019, Esplanade Hotel Fremantle by Rydges 46-54 Marine Terrace, Fremantle WA 6160. Swancon is Australia's longest-running science-fiction, fantasy, and speculative fiction convention, and is the premiere event in Perth for fans of all forms of speculative media. More information: <https://swancon.com.au>.
Continuum 15 Other Worlds (Natcon 58): Continuum 15 is the Australian National SF Convention, to be held in Melbourne on June 7–10. More information and memberships <https://continuum.org.au>. AntipodeanSF will be at Continuum 15 and celebrating Issue 250 of AntiSF!
Worldcon Dublin 2019 — An Irish Worldcon 15/08/2019 till 19/08/2019, The Convention Centre Dublin (CCD). <More info here>
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
SF Quote
If you want to see the true measure of a man, watch how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.