BOOK TITLE: The Australia Times - Fiction magazine. Volume 3, issue 6
COMPANY NAME: THE AUSTRALIA TIMES
COMPANY URL: HTTP://WWW.THEAUSTRALIATIMES.COM
EMAIL: INFO@THEAUSTRALIATIMES.COM
Vol. 3 No. 6
June 2015
THE
AUSTR
ALIA
TIMES
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FICTION
FICTION
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e team
The team behind the TAT Fiction
12
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What’s on
Upcoming festivals and events in the
writing world.
14
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Editor’s Top 5 Editions
Our Editor looks back at some
TAT Fiction highlights from the
past two years.
18
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e day the
Internet died
‘Only then was it realised how much
had been gained the day Internet died...’
25
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Better
“We never stood a chance.
Whoever’s manufacturing them
played God better than God. No
mistakes. They knew their purpose.
They were made to be better.”
46
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e Forest Guardians
‘Granny has divined that there is only
one way we can be saved. A gift must
be given to the Forest Guardians...’
52
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A Soldier’s Life
‘As Jock McMaster watched his son
board the HMAS Sydney, he knew
Angus would not return...’
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Summer’s Lease
‘It struck her she must have been
blind her whole life to have missed
the beauty jostling for attention all
around her...’
68
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Dry Argument
‘The stranger entered the bar – the
shade offering welcome relief to the
40 degrees outside...’
25
18
52
68
46
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T
he beauty of fiction is its ability to open unexplored
doors for its readers. We are given the ability to slip
into other skins, inhabit different worlds, and gain in-
sight into things we have never before experienced. With the
turn of each page, we are faced with obstacles we hope we
never have to face in reality, but also the kinds of moments
and places that we can only dream of.
Through fiction, we become limitless.
Enjoy, and happy reading!
The Editor,
Meg Hellyer
DEPUTY EDITOR:
TRISTYN HARRISON
ALEXIA DERBAS
JAMES NOONAN
SUB-EDITORS:
MEG HELLYER
BORIS GLIKMAN
A.J. GREGORY
TRISTYN HARRISON
PAUL CARR
JULIE DAVIES
MAUREEN CLIFFORD
CONTRIBUTORS:
Party by Eric McGregor
(Flickr Commons)
COVER IMAGE ATTRIBUTION:
EDITOR:
MEG HELLYER
Vol. 3 No. 6
June 2015
THE
AUSTR
ALIA
TIMES
®
FICTION
We offer both veteran and undiscovered writers the opportunity to get published.
Have something to communicate, or an opinion to state, we are your voice!
Want to join a like minded community in a great project
SUBMISSIONS
We are always on the lookout for new writers and stories.
Please send your submissions by the 1st of July for inclusion in the
magazine.
Stories can be sent directly to the Editor at
Meg.Hellyer@theaustraliatimes.com.au
ARCHIVES
For a look back at our past issues, click here.
http://www.theaustraliatimes.com/ction/
DID YOU KNOW?
e Australia Times Fiction Magazines
are now also on Facebook.
You can follow us
here.
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Independent Media Inspiring Minds
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FICTION
EDITOR’S NOTE
MEG HELLYER
‘And now we are 2!’
I
t is with great pride that I welcome you to
our Second Birthday edition.
Two years on – I can hardly believe it! TAT
continues to grow and grow, with many exciting
things going on behind the scenes as we head
into our third year of publishing.
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Independent Media Inspiring Minds
THE
AUSTRALIA
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is month we celebrate by taking a look
back at some of our favourite stories from
over the past two years, re-featuring the
very best of TAT Fiction.
To our brilliant team of writers, sub-editors
and designers, I say thank you. It’s been an
amazing journey so far, and our magazine
wouldn’t be what it is today without you.
To our fantastic senior TAT team: thank
you for all that you do – TAT Fiction
would not exist without your tireless hard
work and support.
To our readers: we have absolutely loved
sharing our stories with you, and look
forward to continuing to showcase quality
Australian ction.
We do hope you enjoy this issue.
As ever, happy reading!
Meg
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Independent Media Inspiring Minds
FICTION
Meg Hellyer is a freelance writer and editor
living in Melbourne. She has sub-edited for a
range of publications that include ArtsHub,
Ferntree GullyNews, and e Pun, and is also
the author of several short stories.
Growing up surrounded by books, Meg has
always had a love of literature. When she is
not editing for e Australia Times, she often
nds herself writing about the people she
sees on trains.
You can nd out more about Meg at her
website, www.meghellyer.com.
THE EDITOR
MEG HELLYER
Tristyn Harrison is a freelance writer and
amateur blogger with an interest in all things
out of the ordinary. She writes for herself
rst, shaping the raw mass of creation and
inspiration into stories that reach in and pluck
the heart-strings. She shares her ideas and her
work with her writing groups, both online at
e Writer’s Café, and at the NSW Writer’s
Centre in Sydney, and alternates between
working on her rst novel, perfecting her
craft, and revisiting the work of professional
authors who have shaped her life’s journey.
DEPUTY EDITOR
TRISTYN HARRISON
The team behind
TAT FICTION MAGAZINE
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Alexia Derbas studied Writing and Cultural
Studies at the University of Technology,
Sydney. She writes all sorts of things and
doesn’t do much else, though a great deal of
her time is spent bush walking. is occurs
under the guise of scouting out perfect
writing locations. Her work has appeared
in various publications including Seizure,
Voiceworks and the Spineless Wonders
Writing to the Edge anthology. She tweets
with regret @lexderbas.
SUB-EDITORS
ALEXIA DERBAS
SUB-EDITORS
JAMES NOONAN
James Noonan is a Melbourne-based writer
and editor who has held a number of
publishing roles locally as well as in New York.
He was the recipient of the Victorian Young
Writers’ Award in 2014, and his ction has
also appeared in Grith University’s creative
writing anthology, Talent Implied. James
is currently working on his rst novel, and
at this rate will have it nished by the year
2030. By then he also hopes to have gotten a
match on Tinder.
TAT FICTION MAGAZINE
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FICTION
www.tatpublishing.com
www.tatpublishing.com
11
IF YOU HAVE AN EVENT,
DEADLINE OR COMPETITION THAT
YOU WOULD LIKE TO ADVERTISE,
PLEASE EMAIL
meg.hellyer@theaustraliatimes.com.au
5-8
JUNE
CONTINUUM
MELBOURNE, VIC
JUNE
BATEMANS BAY
WRITERS FESTIVAL
BATEMANS BAY, NSW
6-8
JUNE
Upcoming
festivals
and events in
the writing
world.
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AUSTRALIA
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Inspiring MindsIndependent Media
WOODEND
WINTER ARTS
FESTIVAL
WOODEND, VIC
26
JUNE
ARTSHUB CONFERENCE
SYDNEY, NSW
19-21
JUNE
SUPANOVA
SYDNEY, NSW
6-9
JUNE
BELLINGEN
WRITERS FESTIVAL
BELLINGEN, NSW
BATEMANS BAY
WRITERS FESTIVAL
BATEMANS BAY, NSW
13-14
JUNE
WILLIAMSTOWN
LITERARY FESTIVAL
WILLIAMSTOWN, VIC
27-28
JUNE
OZ COMIC-CON
MELBOURNE, VIC
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FICTION
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Inspiring MindsIndependent Media
by MEG HELLYER
Our Editor looks back
at some TAT Fiction
highlights from the past two years.
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EDITOR'S TOP 5 EDITIONS
Welcome to the Machine
(March 2015)
Inspired by a story from Boris Glikman, ‘Welcome to the Machine’
featured a fantastic collection of stories which explored themes of
dystopia, fate, lost dreams, greed… and even time travel!
Well done to our writers for a stand-out edition.
Remembrance Day
(Nov 2014)
is special edition commemorated the 100th Anniversary of the
First World War, exploring themes of remembrance. Writers paid
tribute to the sacrices made by our diggers, examining the eects
of war from many dierent angles. Very proud of this edition.
A big thank you to all the writers whose works have appeared in TAT Fiction over the
last year:
A huge thank you as well to our fantastic designers, who do a beautiful job in bringing
our stories together.
TAT Fiction wouldn’t be what it is today without your hard work!
Danielle Shelley Carr
Paul Carr
Maureen Cliord
Julie Davies
Sandra Fitzgerald
Boris Glikman
Adam Gregory
Margaret Gregory
Tristyn Harrison
Kurt Heath
Michael King
Marilyn Linn
Bozena Helena Mazur-Nowak
Laura Money
Beverley Prosser
Jonathan Robb
Barbara Scott
Justin Sheedy
Max Voice
Barnaby Wilde
THANK YOU
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FICTION
Reflections
(Dec 2013)
We marked the end of 2013 with our very rst themed edition,
‘Reections’. In life, it is always healthy to look back and see how
far you’ve come! e edition featured some wonderful, introspective
stories from TAT Fiction stalwarts Boris Glikman, Margaret
Gregory, Barnaby Wilde and Purnima Nandy.
First Birthday
edition
(June 2014)
With great excitement, we celebrated TAT’s rst birthday in June
2014 – complete with some cracking reworks on the cover!
Tis the Season
(Dec 2014)
To get in the festive spirit, TAT Fiction’s December 2014 edition
featured stories of letters to the North Pole, Christmas lights, snow
and travelling home for the season. I really felt this edition captured
the magic of the season – and our designers really did a beautiful
job to boot.
And let’s not forget our rst ever edition, where it all
began. Originally dubbed ‘Wunderkind’, our rst edition
launched in June 2013. We sure have come a long way
from our early editions!
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17
:
Illustration by Andy Paciorek
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I
t was widely known that Internet had been ailing for
some time. Its poor health had made it rather slipshod
in the execution of its duties. Some people had to
endure days of frustration until an online connection was
established, while for others the connection kept going
on and o every second, like a ickering light globe.
For a while Internet hovered in a half-dead condition,
with one foot in the grave, and mankind held its breath,
fearing Internet would continue to deteriorate and then
give up the ghost altogether.
And then the day came when Internet breathed its last
and nobody could believe their ill fortune. It was hard to
grasp that Internet no longer dwelled in the world, and
that the burden of living would never again be lightened
with the ever-present alternative of escaping into an
online existence. No one would be privileged any more
with the luxury of having two worlds to live in.
e most eminent computer technicians of the land
were assigned the task of performing the autopsy. eir
unanimous conclusion was that the Internet died of
virtual causes. What nobody had suspected was that the
Internet possessed a nite life span. Everyone had always
assumed it would be around forever, yet it too carried
within itself the lethal seeds of eternal oine-ness.
INTERNET
THE DAY THE
BORIS GLIKMAN
, .
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FICTION
e next most pressing issue was the burial. Issues never
considered before needed to be addressed urgently, for the
sight of lifeless Internet lying prostrate on the ground was too
heartbreaking for the world to take. Where should the funeral
ceremony be held? In which language or computer code should
the memorial service be conducted? Who should give the
eulogy? Where to entomb it?
e matter of whom to invite to the service proved to be the
most intractable issue of all. A certain number of tickets were
reserved for those most deeply aected by Internet’s death -
online pornography addicts, social mists, ingrained introverts,
Twitter-obsessed celebrities, Nigerian scammers and long-term
residents in Second Life’s virtual world. Otherwise, it was nearly
impossible to determine who was genuinely grief-stricken and
who only wanted to attend the ceremony so as to be a part of
this historic occasion.
Eventually, all of these matters were resolved, although not to
everyone’s satisfaction, and the world gave Internet the sending
o it deserved. Straight after the funeral, the world went into
a shutdown, mourning Internet’s passing and remembering
wistfully how it could answer any question; satisfy all
emotional, mental and bodily needs; thrill the mind and the
senses; provide instantaneous information, entertainment,
relaxation and titillation; and even cure loneliness. Tragically,
given the magnitude and depth of the loss, some could not
bear to continue living in a world without Internet and logged
out permanently from this world.
Once the unbridled, hysterical wave of grief nally subsided,
people sobered up and gradually realised how the Internet had
debased and disgured their lives.
ey recalled with horror and consternation the way Internet
enabled people to dawdle their lives away in the endless morass
of net world, leaving vital tasks undone and crucial issues
unresolved; how googling had supplanted the wisdom that
comes with age, experience, learning and, with instantaneous
information always at one’s ngertips, the value of knowledge
was lost; the way online reality became the only world and
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real reality was jilted and forgotten, just like the plain sister
of a gorgeous girl; how Internet robbed life of its multifarious
richness and beauty and reduced the world to a small,
rectangular screen; the way online reality became a prison
in which humanity willingly immured itself and then threw
awaythe key.
Mankind recognised how fundamentally Internet had altered
the nature of social relations and the nature of one’s relationship
with oneself. Invented to facilitate communication and for
bringing the world together, the Internet instead became
the perfect tool for dissimulation, distorting the truth and
separating oneself from the world, thus allowing people to
not only misrepresent their true thoughts and feelings, but to
falsify their entire lives and the very essence of their being, to
themselves as well as to others.
People discovered that ngers were not just for typing and
shifting mouses but had other uses too; that out of their
torsos extended a pair of lower limbs which could be used for
perambulating across the spatial dimension; that Evolution had
equipped their bodies with tools perfect for conveying thoughts
and feelings; that their faces possessed well-developed muscles
which could be employed to signal emotions such as (amongst
many others) surprise, annoyance, happiness, and frustration.
Consequently, successful communication could be achieved
without intermediary electronic devices. Most startling of all
was the revelation that other people were not identical to their
icons - at and forever stuck in the same pose with the same
smile on their faces - rather they were three dimensional beings,
moving about and changing their facial expressions.
Having friends and partners in the physical world meant
that you were free from the precariousness, uncertainty and
unreliability of online friendships and relationships, and no
longer subject to the capricious actions and decisions of your
web pals, to whom, after all, you were just an ethereal, abstract
entity that could easily be deleted permanently from their life
with just a click of a mouse. Consequently, the constant threat
of online friends and lovers inexplicably ceasing all contact and
disappearing forever was gone for good.
Independent Media Inspiring Minds
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FICTION
“Back to Reality” tutorials proved to be very popular and
helpful, covering such topics as “Learning How to Single-
Task”; “Becoming Acquainted with the Sun and the Sky”, and
“How to Survive in a World that Cannot be Photoshopped”.
Life slowly regained its meaning as mankind clambered, one
small step at a time, out of the online abyss it had dug for itself.
Without the Internet, no one had to grapple any more with the
problem of how to balance one’s life between the two worlds.
Time started to ow more slowly; instant gratication was no
longer craved; contemplation and patience revealed their true
worth. It was now clearly seen that online reality provided only
eeting pseudo-meaning; that emotions felt in the web world
were only ephemeral ersatz feelings; and that real self-esteem
came not from social media popularity, but from within.
Each human being now experienced life directly, rather than
through the distorting, diminishing and vicarious lens of a
computer screen; facing the good and not so-good things in
their lives without escaping into the net world and evading the
reality of their existence; and being true to their inner selves,
instead of hiding behind their icons and online identities. Only
then was it realised how inextricably Internet had woven its
fateful thread into every aspect of man’s existence and how
much had been gained the day Internet died.
BORIS GLIKMAN
Boris Glikman is a writer, poet and philosopher. e biggest inuences on his writing are dreams,
Kafka, Borges and Dali. His stories, poems and non-ction articles have been published in various
e-zines and print publications. Boris has appeared a number of times on the radio, including Australian
national radio, performing his poems and stories and discussing the meaning of his work.
He says: “Writing for me is a spiritual activity of the highest degree. Writing gives me the conduit to
a world that is unreachable by any other means, a world that is populated by Eternal Truths, Ineable
Questions and Innite Beauty. It is my hope that these stories of mine will allow the reader to also
catch a glimpse of this universe.”
Boris welcomes feedback and can be contacted by email at bozlich@yahoo.com.au
You can nd more of his writings in his blog: http://bozlich.gather.com/
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