AntipodeanSF Issue 313

By James Callan

It was prime real estate, coveted ground. The stairwell was a perfect place to go up or down, with doors at every landing, no dead ends. It was a good place to crash, to lie in a corner and allow the foot traffic to pass by and offer up whatever it may: a broken umbrella, one shoe, something dead and covered in fur, canned fruit (probably) — no label, so who knows. Sometimes you’d get a song, a sermon, a blowjob. But it wasn’t all sunshine. It wasn’t uncommon to receive a threat, and if you lipped off, maybe a beating. It was a fine place to stake a claim. Everyone wanted their own little slice of turf on the stairwell.

It was a room with a view, a little rectangle of anaemic light that moved in an arc across the littered steps, the food-splattered, blood-stained walls. There was a window that a full-grown man might just be able to squeeze through if it hadn’t been for its bent, broken bars that angled inward like the sinister maw of some ugly deep sea fish. There was this one time, I’ll never forget: I saw a man pull himself up, aching for sunshine, for sky, for air that didn’t make him choke, a view of a broken world where humanity once thrived. But what do I know? Maybe he just wanted to get out, to fall free to the courtyard below, ribs poking out at impossible angles, elbows and knees twisted backwards, wading on his belly among the detritus of man, broken televisions and gutted teddy bears, poison ivy and weeds as tall as Abe Lincoln, stovepipe hat and all. It’s all conjecture, anyhow. His motives. He never made it through. Those bent, broken bars took a bite out of his guts and he lay there, half in the window, half out, moaning for hours while the foot traffic went up and down with its wares, its offers, its goods and bads and uglies.

The stairwell is a designated fire escape, but there is no escape from this brick and concrete husk that rises 30-odd storeys up, each one its own nuanced, broken community, each one equally tainted, each one with its own broken culture and warped sense of how to cope with what little is left. The stairwell is a designated fire escape, or so the sign says that is only just legible among the bullet holes and divots from shattered glass. And in a sense, is really is a fire escape, or an escape to the fire, the rhythmic, orange glow in the nights that keeps you warm, cooks your rat or pigeon, boils the water that cleanses your clothes and brews strange drinks that make you sick but also make you numb, make you smile even though you are sick, cheerful even while numb, because you are no longer wired or scared or bored. Those fires are beacons, where stories are shared, where strange, mysterious meat is passed from hand to hand among its searing rim. Among the fires on every landing there is an opportunity: a brand to the thigh or forehead that will designate you a certified clan member. Floor 13, 32, pick a number, any number. It’s all the same, really. In exchange for your service during endless, mindless turf wars, in combat, in recon missions out into the world where you will risk your life for canned peaches or a box of matches, playing cards, cigarettes; in exchange for hard labour, for sexual favours, for pledges or fealty, you may be honoured with a brand. You are now one of them. You belong.

A crack in the wall affords a view when you press your eye close. The current of cold air is refreshing and terrifying. This is my hovel and this is my makeshift window. I watch the fuzzy hologram flickering a sleazy, sexy lady in the rain where old, burned carcasses of trucks lay large and inert like dinosaur fossils or the remains of mythical monsters. This isn’t a zombie apocalypse. I remember those on TV. The survivors were beautiful, well-spoken, well-fed, and always banded together. They fought, too. But there were good guys among the bad. Pure fiction.

This is not a zombie apocalypse. This is 30-odd floors, 30-odd small worlds, 30-odd blights radiating like cancer around a long fall to a courtyard of bones and filth. This is a hollow tombstone where despot leaders vie for dominion. But this, this right here, this is a stairwell that bores among the myriad of clans, a neutral zone where violence is indiscriminate, where commerce and horror thrives.

This is prime real estate, coveted ground. This is where I live.

And outside, beyond: that is where you go when living gets old, becomes too much to bear. Out there, it’s wild. Not lions and tigers wild, but man wild. The worst kind of wild. War torn and bare, each scrap worth fighting for, killing for, dying for. I haven't seen a child in years and I never hope to again. It’s not the place for them. In here or out there.

But I am one of the lucky ones. I remind myself of this as I drift off to sleep to a peppering of gunfire under moon-laced fog, the muted light seeping through a broken window draped with the skeleton of a man who had lived longer than he cared to, its dull shine bathing me in soft glow, the sheen of its silver light on the black fur of something dead that keeps me warm and alive. A black cloud eclipses the moon and I am left in a dark stairwell. I smile, unseen. I am one of the lucky ones.

rocket crux 2 75

About the Author

James Callan For Web 12

James Callan is the author of the novels Anthophile (Alien Buddha Press, 2024) and A Transcendental Habit (Queer Space, 2023).

His fiction has appeared in Bridge Eight, BULL, Hawaii Pacific Review, Mystery Tribune, and elsewhere.

He lives on the Kāpiti Coast, Aotearoa New Zealand.

Find him at <jamescallanauthor.com>

E-Book Issues

Epub for all e-readers:

Download for Kindle, Kobo, tablet or PC for offline reading

aus25grn

Issue Contributors

The AntiSF Radio Show

antipod-show-50Our weekly podcast features the stories from recently published issues, often 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 Sunday evening at 7:00pm.

You can find every broadcast episode online here: http://antisf.libsyn.com 

Meet the Narrators

  • Ed Errington

    ed erringtonEd lives with his wife plus a magical assortment of native animals in tropical North Queensland.

    His efforts at wallaby wrangling are without parallel — at least in this universe.

    He enjoys reading and writing science-fiction stories set within intriguing, yet plausible contexts, and invite readers’ “willing suspension of

    ...
  • Laurie Bell

    lauriebell 2 200

    Laurie Bell lives in Melbourne, Australia and is the author of "The Stones of Power Series" via Wyvern's Peak Publishing: "The Butterfly Stone", "The Tiger's Eye" and "The Crow's Heart" (YA/Fantasy).

    She is also the author of "White Fire" (Sci-Fi) and "The Good, the Bad and the Undecided" (a

    ...
  • Mark English

    mark english 100Mark 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

    ...
  • Merri Andrew

    merri andrew 200Merri Andrew writes poetry and short fiction, some of which has appeared in Cordite, Be:longing, Baby Teeth and Islet, among other places.

    She has been a featured artist for the Noted festival, won a Red Room #30in30 daily poetry challenge and was shortlisted for the

    ...
  • Carolyn Eccles

    carolyn eccles 100

    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 —

    ...
  • Chuck McKenzie

    chuck mckenzie 200Chuck McKenzie was born in 1970, and still spends much of his time there.

    He also runs the YouTube channel 'A Touch of the Terrors', where — as 'Uncle Charles' — he performs readings of his favourite horror tales in a manner that makes most ham actors

    ...
  • Marg Essex

    marg essex 200Margaret 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.

    ...

  • Geraldine Borella

    geraldine borella 200Geraldine Borella writes fiction for children, young adults and adults. Her work has been published by Deadset Press, IFWG Publishing, Wombat Books/Rhiza Edge, AHWA/Midnight Echo, Antipodean SF, Shacklebound Books, Black Ink Fiction, Paramour Ink Fiction, House of Loki and Raven & Drake

    ...
  • Tim Borella

    tim borellaTim Borella is an Australian author, mainly of short speculative fiction published in anthologies, online and in podcasts.

    He’s also a songwriter, and has been fortunate enough to have spent most of his working life doing something else he loves, flying.

    Tim lives with his wife Georgie in beautiful Far

    ...
  • Emma Gill

    Emma Louise GillEmma Louise Gill (she/her) is a British-Australian spec fic writer and consumer of vast amounts of coffee. Brought up on a diet of English lit, she rebelled and now spends her time writing explosive space opera and other fantastical things in

    ...
  • Michelle Walker

    michelle walker32My time at Nambucca Valley Community Radio began back in 2016 after moving into the area from Sydney.

    As a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, I recognised it was definitely God who opened up the pathways for my husband and I to settle in the Valley.

    Within

    ...
  • Sarah Jane Justice

    Sarah Jane Justice 200Sarah Jane Justice is an Adelaide-based fiction writer, poet, musician and spoken word artist.

    Among other achievements, she has performed in the National Finals of the Australian Poetry Slam, released two albums of her original music and seen her poetry

    ...
  • Barry Yedvobnick

    barry yedvobnick 200Barry Yedvobnick is a recently retired Biology Professor. He performed molecular biology and genetic research, and taught, at Emory University in Atlanta for 34 years. He is new to fiction writing, and enjoys taking real science a step or two beyond its known boundaries in his

    ...
  • Sarah Pratt

    sarah pratt 200Sarah Pratt is an avid fiction writer and a Marketing Consultant.

    She is currently working on her first novel but loves diving into short stories to bring a little lightness, intrigue or humour to the day.

    Her work has appeared in Sponge Magazine and The Commuting

    ...
  • Alistair Lloyd

    alistair lloyd 200Alistair Lloyd is a Melbourne based writer and narrator who has been consuming good quality science fiction and fantasy most of his life.

    You may find him on Twitter as <@mr_al> and online at <...