Antipodean SF, #146 (August 2010) (magazine, free): Annotated table of contents & review

I've only read the 7 science fiction stories from this issue; none particularly remarkable, nor totally crappy.
Caution: The link above is not permanent, & will be overwritten when next month's issue is posted. AntiSF's new issues get a permanent URL at their archive several days after the issue is posted - there is none at present. Individual story links below will, I think, continue working.

Note this is a flash fiction magazine - 10 pieces of flash fiction every month. Includes some fantasy or horror too that I've not read.

I personally found stories early in the list below better reads than ones that come later.

Links on authors fetch more fiction by authors.

1. Jamie Richter's "Switch"; download: Description of a specific debugging session of computer programmer, with an ethnic joke about Frenchmen thrown in near end.
2. David Kernot's "Starry Eyed Trio: Herschel"; download: A galactic-scale intelligence has discovered another intelligent species.
3. Pavelle Wesser's "Second Hand"; download; humor: A man is having an extra-marital relationship.
4. Wes Parish's "The Previously Unknown Kingdom Of The North Saxons"; download: A previously unknown kingdom in British history was very short lived because...
5. Robert N Stephenson's "iWorld"; download: A parody of Apple's habit of putting "i" before their products: a whole society that puts "i" before common words!
6. Shaun A Saunders' "Right Of Way"; download; dystopia: A city where crossing the road on foot is a criminal offense because it can lead to "unlawful interruption of the progression of a motor vehicle, driver of which was engaged in promotion of commerce"!
7. Susan Partridge's "A Civil Servant's Diary"; download: A society where those long dead can be brought back alive, & regularly are.

* Wes Parish's "An Unexpected Solution To An Unexpected Problem" (flash fiction, science fiction)

An English time traveler to past lands in Paris at a time where he tells locals "that the citizens of Paris killed their King and Queen before his time — and after ours." Local church authorities imprison him, in spite of believing his story, because what he says is dangerous. The names of characters - D'Artagnan, Athos, Porthos, Aramis, Morloques, Eloi, Oui-na, & Cardinal Mazarin - may mean something to those familiar with French history of relevant period; to me they didn't mean anything.

According to Rusty, some of the names mentioned are from Alexendre Dumas' "The Three Musketeers". I haven't read that.

Fact sheet.

First published: AntipodeanSF magazine, #112 (September/October 2007).
Rating: B
Download full text.

Note: Why is this post so short?

AntipodeanSF magazine, #112 (September/October 2007): Annotated table of contents & review

10 tiny stories. See opening remarks of #116 for any non-obvious conventions in the listing below. Full issue #112 is available here.

Story list (best first).

1. Augusto Corvalan's "Space Drinks Are Really Cheap" (A); download; science fiction, humor: A first contact story. Humans know aliens are arriving. There is a welcome committee & crowd when their ship touches down, & the first alien statement is so human...
2. Wes Parish's "An Unexpected Solution To An Unexpected Problem" (B); download; science fiction: An English time traveler to past lands in Paris at a time where he tells locals "that the citizens of Paris killed their King and Queen before his time — and after ours." Local church authorities imprison him, in spite of believing his story, because what he says is dangerous. The names of characters - D'Artagnan, Athos, Porthos, Aramis, Morloques, Eloi, Oui-na, & Cardinal Mazarin - may mean something to those familiar with French history of relevant period; to me they didn't mean anything.
3. David McVeigh's "Susan" (C); download; science fiction: Beautifully written, but I cannot really figure out the punch line. A woman's conversations with a ghost, AI, or something that is supposed to lead to her self-discovery...
4. Miles Hurt's "The Colossal War" (C); download; non-genre: It didn't quite work for me, but appears to be a rip off one of the novels (I think "The Autumn of the Patriarch", but am not sure) of Gabriel Garcia Marquez. An insane king is being humored by the 3 lovers of his queen.
5. Shaun A Saunders' "Scarcity" (C); download; non-genre: Teachers of this business school are so badly paid they have to fight in faculty lunch room over a single biscuit!! Hey - even Indian business schools pay far better than that.
6. Mark Tremble's "Access" (C); download; science fiction: Equivalent of a Roman gladiator, in a society so insecure it requires (electronic) proof of identity everywhere & lives in a closed habitat, has reached the day that will likely be the last of his life - only doors that will open to his id are the ones that lead to arena with the crowds waiting in the stalls.
7. Adrian Gibb's "The Blood Choice" (C); download; fantasy: A vampire who has long since given up his instinctive love of human blood & has been living an ordinary human life is rediscovering his inherited instincts.
8. Marcelo Rinesi's "Love Story" (C); download; non-genre: A woman kills her husband who's trying to fix their marriage that is falling apart.
9. Neil Cladingboel's "Deathmask" (C); download; fantasy: A ghost story. A high school boy wanting to win the "Best Halloween Mask" competition decides to physically remove the actual decaying face of a recently buried man by digging up his grave - who can beat the realism? But...
10. Steve Duffy's "Waiting For The Silence" (C); download; religion: Incomprehensible religious mumbo-jumbo. The "greater" half-brother of Jesus Christ is awaiting the powerful locals to come & crucify him for knowledge he possess. We are not told what knowledge he possess, but it has something to do with the "world to come crashing down".

Related: All AntiSF stories.