Next

Next suggests ‘change’, perhaps, but it doesn’t have to invoke change, it can simply be an account of cause-and-effect. Sometimes it’s the absence of change, the sense of inevitability, that gives the story its terrible power and its resonance. Or it might be a rite-of-passage; of invention and exploration; of the testing and transgression of boundaries; or a story laden with doom or hope or just the inevitability of inescapable repetition. Yup, this theme is a theme for all seasons; it’s a cut and come again theme that can mean pretty much whatever people want it to mean.

The selected stories range far and wide across all aspects of the speculative genres, from gentle fantasy to full-blooded dystopian SF to hackle-bristling psychological horror, while also canvassing in its sweep whimsy, adventure, romance, parody, and tragedy.

There are names among the authors that will be familiar to many, as well as some nuggets of newly-emerging talent. It will be an absolutely ripping read.

Table of Contents (in alphabetical order):

Kris Ashton: ‘The Midway Hotel’
Daniel Baker: ‘Stories in the Square’
Alan Baxter: ‘Quantum Echoes’
Adam Browne: ‘Animal the Colour of Waiting’
David Coleman: ‘Gambler’s Blues’
Craig Cormick: ‘Ned Kelly and the Zombies’
Elizabeth Fitzgerald: ‘Phoenix Down’
Ross Hamilton: ‘When Money Talks’
Richard Harland: ‘Here’s Glory For You’
Edwina Harvey: ‘Next, cried the Faun’
Rik Lagarto: ‘The Wild Hunt’
Chris Large: ‘Girl Finds Key’
Martin Livings: ‘Cause and Effect’
Tracie McBride: ‘Wooden Heart’
Chris McGrane: ‘The Cat and his Zombies’
Ian McHugh: ‘Vandiemensland’
Claire McKenna: ‘The Ninety Two’
Shauna O’Meara: ‘The Dream Tracker’
Robert Phillips: ‘A Dream of Something More’
Gillian Polack: ‘Someone’s Daughter’
Angela Rega: ‘Almost Beautiful’
Nicky Rowlands: ‘On the Wall’
Leife Shallcross: ‘A Little Warning’
Daniel Simpson: ‘Those Days’
Steve Simpson: ‘The Electrician and the Circus’
Helen Stubbs: ‘Casino Five’
David Versace: ‘Imported Goods—Aisle Nine’
Janeen Webb: ‘Hell is Where the Heart Is’
Catherine Whittle: ‘The Room’
Suzanne Willis: ‘Of Starfish Tides’