The useful introduction to The Best Australian Science Fiction and Fantasy 2004 (the first volume in an intended new series) gives an idea of the less than adequate state of genre publishing in Australia. For the moment, it seems that science fiction (SF) authors in particular are mainly confined to semi-professional magazines and small presses, or are obliged to seek international markets for their work. Though the editors understandably do not say so, the fact of a small pond necessarily produces some relaxation of expectations. There is much amateurish writing in this collection, and a more serious lack of urgency: many contributors seem less interested in creating new myths than amusing themselves with borrowed ones, like fans dressing up for a convention.

In truth, the collection suggests that it is no easy task to integrate the received conventions of the SF or fantasy short story – trick endings, projected dystopias and so forth – into a twenty-first-century Australian context. One solution often resorted to is the presentation of essentially naturalistic plots in fantastic terms; the effect can be paradoxically cosy rather than uncanny, with phantoms and vampires looming into view like familiar childhood friends. The liveliest example here is probably Kim Westwood’s ‘Tripping over the Light Fantastic’, where the Goth trappings aren’t allowed to get in the way of the wisecracks about fashion and television.