Issue #54 is the September 2012 issue of the Aurealis magazine, a monthly magazine showcasing Australian speculative fiction and with an emphasis on Australian content and news. This edition was edited by Michael Pryor.
Pryor’s editorial focuses on the passing of Neil Armstrong and the interaction between space exploration and science fiction.
The first story in this month’s edition is Anvil of the Sun by Karen Maric. A tale of bloody revenge set in a fantasy setting, the world building behind this short piece was very good. It felt like an introduction to a universe that Maric intends to do more work in. The writing was very good, with a strong sensory immersion into the harsh landscape the characters inhabit.
Running Wild by Jack Nicholls tells the tale of a suburban prank that takes a turn into the surreal. I loved the point of view character’s perspective in this story, and the description of the backyard world of suburbia was excellent (while simultaneously reminding me why I prefer a more urban existence).
This month’s edition also contains a very interesting interview with Trudi Canavan, by Crisetta Macleod. The interview covers everything from the rise of eBooks, to the exploration of social issues in Canavan’s books and the combination of creative endeavours that Canavan involves herself in.
There are the normal array of reviews of books (including Canavan’s latest The Traitor Queen). Rob Parnell’s Surfing the Dark Side explores why horror fans can love a truly bad horror movie, and Robert Jenkins reviews one of my favourite TV series at the moment Grimm in his The Couch Potato Speaks segment.
As always Carissa’s Weblog provides a round up of some of the more interesting articles around on the web in the area of Australian speculative fiction, mostly in the form of audio interviews and video.
Well worth the read.
This work by Mark Webb is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Australia License.
