Aurealis #177

Don’t miss Aurealis #177 which welcomes you to the first of our 10 issues for 2025. This year is the thirtieth anniversary of the Aurealis Awards, and Dirk Strasser takes us back to 1995 to show us how it all started. Baden M Chant’s ‘Dying Mountain’ gives us a unique world where being a mage has the mundane downside of magical illnesses. In Scott Steensma’s ‘Full Term’ an ordinary setting takes an enjoyable abrupt left turn into science fiction, rapidly increasing the stakes towards a beautifully ambiguous ending. Eric Del Carlo’s ‘Macaws in the Yukon’ showcases some gruesomely realistic world-building where there is no villain, only a cruel system which the main character is subjected to. Story illustrations in this issue are by Lynette Watters, Andrew Saltmarsh and Emma Weakley. Lynne Lumsden Green shows us how feminism, science, and science fiction interconnect, Steve Davidson looks at A Bertram Chandler’s faster-than-light drives, and Peter Court explores your creative hero’s journey. And, as always, we have a cavalcade of SFF book reviews with recommendations for the year ahead.