Me again! Catching up also on my favourite stories by Aussie writers from the last couple of months.

Lucy Sussex - Mist and Murder - New Ceres 2 (webzine)
I can't be remotely unbiased about this story, so I won't even try. This is Lucy Sussex, one of the best short story writers in the country, with her own take on *my* characters from New Ceres 1. But leaving that aside (squee!), it's also a fantastic Sussex story, as it uses her deep expertise in pre-20th century detective fiction to tell a story that feels historically authentic and basically does the "female version of Sherlock Holmes" premise better than I ever could.

Cat Sparks - The Bride Price - New Ceres 2
Another favourite from the new issue of New Ceres. Again, I'm totally biased, here. I love this zine, and have been intimately involved with it for more than a year. I edited this story. (also the above one) Etc. Etc. But... I agree with GJ that this is Cat's best story yet, and really marks her coming into her own as a short story writer. It's about two young men travelling across space to buy wives for themselves, and ends up as a very sweet not-quite romance with a dark edge to it.

Paul Haines - Inducing - Orb 7 (small press print magazine)
Can I just say, this issue of Orb totally rocked? Orb has always been good - a rare treasure that pops up every few years at Aussie conventions. But this one was just awesome, feeling in many ways like the brilliant Convergence II souvenir book we didn't get. Orb 7 pulled off the trick that Aurealis somehow never manages - it felt like it reflected the *now* of Australian SF instead of the six months ago, especially with the editorial, NF and reviews.

Ahem. But anyway. This is one of the usual brilliant Paul Haines stories. I have no doubt it will be his Ditmar-nominated story next year, unless he comes up with another in the next six months. It has the usual Hainesisms of screwed up guys in grotty, grotty conditions, being kind of disgusting. In this case, it's a mishmash of drug use and potential alien contact, and general weirdness, and pyramid schemes. And, you know, it's pitch perfect.

Bren MacDibble - A Complete Refabrication - Orb 7
MacDibble is another one of those rising Australian writers who is really starting to hit her stride in short story land. This one really stunned me with its originality and brilliance - it's about online "afterlife" communities for the recently-deceased, and the struggles of a wife and mother to hang on to a some kind of a relationship with her loved ones through a computer screen. It's sad and weird and funny, and made me want to both cry and cheer.

Jason Nahrung - Kadimakara and Curlew - Daikaiju 2 (small press anthology)
Sadly, Daikaiju 2 just didn't do it for me like the original anthology did. Partly this is because there weren't so many mad, startling highlight stories as there were in the original, but mostly because so many of the stories (particularly those from o/s writers, I have to say) had a samey feel to them, and nothing all that interesting to say. Plus, there just wasn't enough giant monster going on there.

Anyway. I'm not sure how much short fiction Nahrung has published until now, because I've never really noticed him as a short story writer. But this is a very nice, sophisticated story about science and nature (and yes, giant monster!) with characters I could really relate to. It's the absolute gem of the anthology, and the only one that really leapt out at me as something special.

Garth Nix - Holly and Iron - Dark Alchemy (anthology)
A "traditional" medieval fantasy about love and magic and the greenwood. This one started out feeling very ordinary, but grew on me with the building of a very evocative not-quite-familiar historical feel to it, and a gutsy heroine who is forced to learn compromise in the face of the enemy. The final set piece is quite soaring and magnificent, so it's worth sticking through the early action to get there.