Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine: Australia's PULPIEST Science Fiction And Fantasy Magazine # 6 - April/May 2003
01/11/2003 . Source: Joules Taylor 
pub: Andromeda Spaceways Publishing Co-Op Ltd. 128 page A5 magazine. Price: $ 6.95 (Aust) ISSN: 1446-781X. check
out website: www.andromedaspaceways.com
It's sub-titled 'Australia's PULPIEST
Science Fiction and Fantasy Magazine'. I looked at the cover - hmmm,
tasty naked young male manacled to a stout wooden pillar, skeletal
hand erupting from the ground nearby...Uhuh!
'Pulp' covers that
nicely. I read the list of names of the authors, none of which I recognised -
though that isn't unusual - and opened the magazine with some trepidation...
 Let
me say at the outset the quality of the contents are somewhat variable,
ranging from Kevin Maclean's wonderfully daft but nevertheless conceivable
'A Plea For Help', which had me chortling, through the quietly chilling
'Blindsided By Venus In The House of Mars' (Nancy Jane Moore) to
the unsatisfying 'Blossoming Under Sable Skies' (Ralan Conley) and
the rather grim 'Beware The Werecanary' by Bruce Boston (poetry
needs to be exceptionally good to work in the SF or Fantasy genres
and this simply isn't, unfortunately).
That being said, in the main
it's a very good read.
There's an extensive mix of styles and subjects
here, pretty much something for everyone. 'Space And Time Books', for example,
deals with magic and living books and the dangers of not considering consequences.
'Your Mother Likes Monkeys' is a strange and amusing short, a first person monologue
on a particular rite of passage. 'The Kaladashi Covenant' is an interesting take
on human/alien politics. 'The Stars Like Candles' (Dirk Flinthart) starts off
beautifully but has a disappointing end - much, I think, as the sort of encounter
it describes might have. 'The Sincerest Form Of Flattery' (Kate Eltham)
is simply wonderful, an excellent example of what a talented writer can produce
in less than three pages. Then there's 'The Desolator' (Simon Haynes), which at
first sight appeared to be a 'Lord Of The Rings' spoof but which on reading, turned
out to be something completely other and very funny...
All in all,
as in-flight magazines go, this has a great deal to recommend it. A friendly,
jokey overall style and a refusal to take itself too seriously makes a wonderfully
refreshing change from the ponderous self-importance of so many SF magazines these
days and while some of the talent is obviously untried, everyone showcased here
has considerable potential.
I even managed to refrain from any Steve
Irwin impersonations!
Joules Taylor www.wordwrights.co.uk
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