Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine

Issue 30

Andromeda Spaceways Publishing Co-Op (2007)
ISSN: 1-4467-81-X
$8.95
Buy this issue
Go back to the Reviews page
Reviewed by Alexandra Pierce, October 2007

Thirty issues! I have to admit that ASIM is my first love of Aussie small press. I’m not completely pie-eyed, but I think it is regularly a good thing. So here are my reasons for liking this issue:

1. Rayguns! A non-fiction piece written by Dirk Flinthart! It’s just a little bit naughty to read about real-world lasers (everyone together: laaaasers…) and particle beam weapons. Is it wrong that I am sad to hear that these things are completely implausible in real life? (Although it’s at the back, the title is just so intriguing…)

2. Stuart Barrow is not dead. Yet. He should also still be in this time-stream, despite being convinced that he is a time-traveller (or will be).

3. David Tallerman writing as a seven year old girl (“My Friend Fishfinger, by Daisy, Age 7”), because a grown man getting that tone right is quite a marvel.

4. The family relationships, and family politics, in Aliette de Bodard’s “Autumn’s Country”. Also, the facing picture to this story.

5. “The Fairytale Coookbook” (by Amanda Sichter) - the whole lot - because this is one of the more clever takes on an old fairytale that I’ve read in quite a while.

6. I love dragons. Kevin G Maclean’s “Fendraaken” has a really cool dragon character; something of a bastard, and quite canny. I also really liked his hero: pragmatic heroes are so rare.

7. Being reminded that yes, I am something of a sap, courtesy of “Finding Each Other Again” (Kieran Morgan). This is a lovely story. A bit predictable, but Cassandra is delightful.

8. I always liked the Hare having it stuck to him by the Tortoise. The Hare wants a rematch? Ha! Bring it on! (See “Hare Redux”, by Simon Petrie).

9. Evil teddy bears. And the groan-worthy tool of the title: “The Thyme Machine”, by Darren Goossens.

10. The last two lines of Marcie Tenchoff’s “The Reluctant Orc Maid to her Swain”.

11. A very clever use of ancient Egypt in “Collecting Whispers”, by Bren MacDibble, that didn’t try to recreate the place in entirety, but used aspects - like the gods - to great effect.

12. A second piece by Dirk Flinthart! This one fiction! Set in rural Queensland, the characters really make this story. The atmosphere is fantastic.