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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
Australia's longest-running and most successful science-fiction/fantasy magazine, Aurealis was founded in 1990 by Stephen Higgins and Dirk Strasser. Undaunted by the continued failure of similar magazines leading up to the end of the 1980s, Higgins and Strasser aimed to provide writers in those genres with the opportunity to have their works published and to help expand the readership of Australian fantasy and science fiction. Aurealis was also established as a vehicle for identifying and promoting emerging talent. The pair were able to get the magazine off the ground through the assistance of grants from the Victorian government, thus enabling them to offer payment to contributors.
Contributors to Aurealis over the years have included significant and influential Australian writers such as George Turner, Michael Pryor, Terry Dowling, Sean Williams, Greg Egan, Sean McMullen, Lucy Sussex, and Stephen Dedman (qq.v.). The reputation of the magazine was consolidated in 1995 with the inaugural Aurealis Awards for Excellence in Australian Speculative Fiction for Writers of Science Fiction and Fantasy.
Higgins and Stresser announced their intention to sell Aurealis in 2001 so that they could concentrate on Chimaera Publications (the company they set up to publish Aurealis) and other projects. However, the sale was postponed indefinitely when Keith Stevenson offered to take over their editorial duties. Since 2005, the magazine has been edited by a various of editorial teams, including the pairings of Ben Payne and Robert Hoge, and of Stephen Higgins and Stuart Mayne.
In October 2011 Dirk Strasser announced in the Editorial for No.45 that Aurealis had become an epublication.
Notes
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Chimaera Publications has produced several anthologies drawing on work published in Aurealis.
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The magazine is distributed by BBR in the UK, and through direct subscription worldwide.
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See Also: Stevenson, Keith. 'Aurealis Australian Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazine.' In Australian Speculative Fiction: A Genre Overview (2005).
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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2023 Magazine Summary
2024
single work
review
— Appears in: Locus , February vol. 92 no. 2 2024; (p. 62)
— Review of Aurealis : Australian Fantasy and Science Fiction 1990 periodical (162 issues); Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine 2002 periodical (90 issues); SF Commentary : The Independent Magazine About Science Fiction 1969 periodical (39 issues) -
What I Wish I’d Known About: Starting a Lit Mag
2023
single work
column
— Appears in: Kill Your Darlings [Online] , July 2023; -
2022 Recommended Reading
2023
single work
review
— Appears in: Locus , February vol. 90 no. 2 2023; (p. 26-49)
— Review of Mage of Fools 2022 single work novel ; Hard Places 2022 selected work short story ; An Earnest Blackness 2022 selected work essay ; Aurealis : Australian Fantasy and Science Fiction 1990 periodical (162 issues); Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine 2002 periodical (90 issues) -
2021 Magazine Summary
2022
single work
column
— Appears in: Locus , March no. 734 2022; (p. 30-37) -
The History and Future of Aurealis : An Interview with Dirk Strasser
2017
single work
interview
— Appears in: Aurealis , no. 100 2017;
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Wide Horizons: Australian Science Fiction
1991
single work
review
— Appears in: Editions , March-April no. 10 1991; (p. 13-14)
— Review of Aurealis : Australian Fantasy and Science Fiction 1990 periodical (162 issues) -
Novelist Takes a Stand on Stepmothers
1992
single work
review
— Appears in: The Saturday Mercury , 18 April 1992; (p. 26)
— Review of Soho Square Four 1991 anthology short story poetry ; Aurealis : Australian Fantasy and Science Fiction 1990 periodical (162 issues) -
2022 Recommended Reading
2023
single work
review
— Appears in: Locus , February vol. 90 no. 2 2023; (p. 26-49)
— Review of Mage of Fools 2022 single work novel ; Hard Places 2022 selected work short story ; An Earnest Blackness 2022 selected work essay ; Aurealis : Australian Fantasy and Science Fiction 1990 periodical (162 issues); Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine 2002 periodical (90 issues) -
2023 Magazine Summary
2024
single work
review
— Appears in: Locus , February vol. 92 no. 2 2024; (p. 62)
— Review of Aurealis : Australian Fantasy and Science Fiction 1990 periodical (162 issues); Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine 2002 periodical (90 issues); SF Commentary : The Independent Magazine About Science Fiction 1969 periodical (39 issues) -
Decisions, Decisions, Decisions
2003
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Aurealis : Australian Fantasy & Science Fiction , no. 32 2003; (p. 4-11) -
SF Files
2004
single work
column
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 23 October 2004; (p. 6) -
Conduit
2004
single work
column
— Appears in: Aurealis : Australian Fantasy and Science Fiction , no. 33/34/35 2004; (p. 275) - y Australian Speculative Fiction : A Genre Overview Murrumbateman : Aust Speculative Fiction , 2005 Z1225302 2005 reference biography review 'A readers guide to the Australian speculative fiction scene.' (Publisher's blurb)
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Aurealis Team Interview
Stuart Mayne
(interviewer),
Stephen Higgins
(interviewer),
2007
single work
interview
— Appears in: Aurealis : Australian Fantasy and Science Fiction , no. 38/39 2007; (p. 21-31) The Aurealis editing team respond to questions about themselves, their reading preferences and speculative fiction.
PeriodicalNewspaper Details
Quarterly (1990-1992); bi-annual (from 1993).
Monthly epublication from October 2011.
Awards
- 1999 shortlisted Ditmar Awards — Australian Magazine or Anthology
- 1993 shortlisted Ditmar Awards — Best Fan Website/Zine
Has serialised
- Conquist, single work novel historical fiction fantasy