“Boy Leaves Girl Inside a Giant Octopus” by Cameron Semmens
“Form a Shape, Besides Yourself” by C.H. Pearce
“The Vineman of Nancy” by Benjamin George Coles
Reviewed by Eric Kimminau
Aurealis is shaped by an eleven-time Aurealis Award-shortlisted author with over 35 published novels and an associate editor with 14 years of global experience across fiction and non-fiction. I have very much enjoyed and reviewed several past issues. I am looking forward to another.
In “Boy Leaves Girl Inside a Giant Octopus” by Cameron Semmens, a wild cosmic backdrop mirrors the internal chaos of severe heartbreak and trauma. Broadly, the narrative unfolds inside a colossal octopus (which is never mentioned again after the opening paragraph). It follows a numb professional caregiver reeling from the collapse of her marriage. As the plot shifts between her fractured reality, surreal dreams, and alternate universes, it steadily builds toward the sudden act of violence that shattered her relationship. Ultimately, the protagonist’s reliance on invented terminology and shifting realities highlights her deep emotional instability and desperate attempt to regain control. However, this hyper-fixation on idiosyncratic naming and disjointed alternate realities creates a jarring experience, making it difficult to engage with her journey or root for her character. This is not a story I would recommend.
In “Form a Shape, Besides Yourself” by C.H. Pearce, following an unforeseen teleportation malfunction aboard the deep-space freighter Urizen, an overworked quartermaster named Martha returns from planetary leave to find an exact duplicate of herself already living among her family. To avoid corporate liability, the vessel’s stern captain enforces strict secrecy while forcing Martha’s husband to choose which version of his wife to keep, throwing Martha into a surreal, cramped co-existence with her double as they quietly divide domestic and administrative duties. This psychological science fiction story serves as a poignant character study of burnout, chronic pain, and self-effacement, capturing the existential dread of feeling completely replaceable within one’s own life. This compelling narrative delivers a deeply thought-provoking exploration of identity that forces the reader into a harrowing confrontation with the hypothetical. By placing its protagonist in an impossibly surreal circumstance, the story naturally prompts profound reflection, compelling one to continuously ask “what if” and grapple with how they would personally navigate such emotionally taxing decisions.
In “The Vineman of Nancy” by Benjamin George Coles, the protagonist was born with a strange cluster of vines emerging from his back, Jean-Baptiste Avers leads a normal childhood until an emotional farewell to his dying grandmother triggers an extraordinary mechanism: a vine instinctively pierces her neck, completely restoring her health but permanently tethering the two together. As Jean-Baptiste grows older, subsequent life-or-death emergencies compel his vines to bond with an expanding roster of individuals, from an ill-tempered bystander to an elusive philosopher, each connection irrevocably binding another life to his own. What begins as a miracle of survival swiftly devolves into a complex social apparatus, as the ever-growing collective is forced to navigate lost independence, clashing personalities, and the overwhelming psychological burden of an inseparable shared existence. The protagonist ultimately cuts through the escalating absurdity of his situation by taking a drastic, decisive action to reclaim his individual autonomy. This shocking resolution abruptly dissolves the surreal, suffocating collective he was forced to sustain, effectively grounding his life back in a quiet, singular reality. However, the story intentionally stops short of exploring the inevitable public outrage and moral reckoning, leaving the reader to wonder how a bewildered society will ultimately judge his ultimate choice.
Overall, this issue of Aurealis presents a stark study in contrasts, balancing an emotionally jarring misfire against two deeply resonant explorations of identity and autonomy. While Cameron Semmens’s “Boy Leaves Girl Inside a Giant Octopus” struggles under the weight of disjointed realities and alienation, C.H. Pearce’s “Form a Shape, Besides Yourself” and Benjamin George Coles’s “The Vineman of Nancy” shine as brilliant character studies that utilize surreal science fiction premises to interrogate burnout, codependency, and the desperate quest for self-preservation. Ultimately, despite a weak opening piece, the issue remains a worthwhile read anchored by thought-provoking narratives that linger long after the final page.
Eric Kimminau is a BBS geek turned IT professional seeking the next Great Adventure. Let’s Go!