Simon Petrie

It had been known since the early 1950s that high levels of radiation could induce gigantism in certain species. But since most of the early cases had involved arthropods and poisonous lizards of, it has to be said, a rather aggressive disposition, the commercial implications of this line of research were not as obvious as they might otherwise have been.

“Nuclear Physics for Market Gardeners,” p. 126, by Hank Bremsstrahlung

(more…)

Trent Jamieson

The Prosperity Act needed good people. Not everyone could handle the work. Not everyone could kill children.

*     *     *
(more…)

Patrick Hew

Hell to a violinist is the ticking of a metronome, the robotic, relentless and remorseless tick, beating out the time, beating the soul out of the music. And in every tick of the metronome, you can hear The Devil. Practising.

(more…)

Kieran Morgan

1

A child’s foot stepped hesitantly onto the quicksand, and began to sink, ever-so-slowly.

“Howie… you’re sinkin’,” a small voice piped up.

The foot spread its small toes as wide as it could, and moved just a little bit sideways, and the sinking slowed. It didn’t completely stop, but it was unhurried now, as imperceptible as one of those slow bubbles that form on the surface, taking hours to pop in a sloppy belch.

(more…)

Rachel Holkner

Briony chose the room. There were three similar upstairs, but this was the smallest and did not even come with a decent view. Her mother had intended it for storage. The room was slightly longer than it was wide, with wooden floorboards, pale yellow walls, one small square window and a cupboard built in to one wall.

“Briony,” her mother said, “You’ll never fit anything in that tiny cupboard. It doesn’t even have shelves.”

(more…)

Kyla Ward

“[Zdrastvuitye]! Salām and hello! And welcome everyone aboard our Scorpion Tour Bus! My name is Zenka and I will be your guide on today’s tour of New Alamut or, as it is more colourfully known, the City of Assassins.

(more…)

Patty Jansen

Dust.

There was a taste of dust in Nick’s mouth.

Dust that coloured his hand orange-red and dulled the surface of the silver ring on his finger.

The ring. Kylie.

(more…)

Matthew Tighe

Smith stuck his head around the corner of the cubicle. “Where the hell is Zac? I need him to sign off on this invoice.”

Jensen looked up, but after a moment his gaze skittered away to the left. He shook his head, looking slightly uneasy. “Haven’t you heard?”

Smith felt his stomach do a slow loop. His throat went dry. He could guess what he hadn’t heard, but he asked anyway.

“What?”

(more…)

Sue Isle

Maria Alvarez, the alien, moved into the path of the family of three who had just made it through customs. She flailed around in the one-sixth lunar gravity but the ship-dwellers weren’t too graceful either. As the man, woman and girl focused on her in surprise, Maria marshalled the proper words in her mind. Get them wrong and these traders were under no obligation to talk to her.

“Maria Alvarez, Earth,” she said. “Examiner with the Education Board. May I book some time with you?”

(more…)

Autumn 2007 (#11). Fiction by Carol Ryles, Jarrah Moore, Ben Payne and Simon Brown. Interviews with Angela Challis and Alisa Krasnostein. Non-fiction by Cory Doctorow. Reviews of latest books by Martin Livings, Terry Brooks, K.A. Bedford and others.