ASIM issue 40, released in 2009, contains ten speculative fiction stories by various authors. Two of these stories, 'Once a Month on a Sunday' by Ian McHugh, and 'Jesse's Gift' by Felicity Dowker, were shortlisted for the Aurealis Awards the following year; McHugh's story was joint winner of the Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Short Story.
Creature Feature • short fiction by K. T. McRae Once a Month, on a Sunday • [Bitter Dreams] • short story by Ian McHugh The Future is Now • short fiction by Melissa White TFT • short fiction by Jason Stoddard Lopsided Love • short fiction by Ruskin Drake Kandinsky's Mistakes • short fiction by Darren Goossens The Easy Way • short fiction by Dan McCormick Jesse's Gift • short story by Felicity Dowker Meet Mary Sue • short fiction by K. C. Shaw Zombies from Mars • short fiction by Douglas A. Van Belle Playtime • poem by James R. Cain Melbourne's Full of Vampires • essay by Edwina Harvey
Born on the South Island of New Zealand and now living on the North Island of Australia, Simon Petrie is a Canberra-based research scientist and writer of speculative fiction (SF, fantasy, and occasionally horror). Since 2007, his stories have appeared in various magazines, webzines and anthologies. He has been shortlisted several times for Ditmar, Sir Julius Vogel, and Aurealis Awards, and has won the Sir Julius Vogel Award three times (in 2010 for Best New Talent and in 2013 and 2018 for Best Novella / Novelette).
Simon is a member of the Canberra Speculative Fiction Guild and of SpecFicNZ. He has served on three different judging panels for the Aurealis Awards, in the SF Novel, Anthology & Collection, and Fantasy Short Story categories. He has also edited several issues of Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine, and has co-edited three anthologies.
Ian McHugh's Aurealis-Award-winning story 'Once A Month, On A Sunday' is a highlight of this issue, but the other stories are just as good, in my view.