Aurealis #85 features Peter Hickman's "Dreamscribe", a terse evocative world-creation with complex character motivations in a tightly woven story, and "The Events at Callan Park", a creepy asylum-set historical tale from Erol Engin which has unnerving implications for today.

Dirk Strasser laments the dearth of exotic aliens in recent science fiction, and takes another look at the Robert Silverberg classic Downward to the Earth. Lachlan Walter dissects intimacy at the end of the world and Gillian Polack looks at the most famous end-of the world book set in Australia, Nevil Shute's On the Beach. The Secret History of Australia series, researched by Michael Pryor and Stephen Higgins, continues with the enigmatic Warren Nephron, son of the failed vulcanologist Harvey Lundquist and famous cross-country pole-vaulter, Petula Schiaperelli.

Reviews include latest releases from Justin Woolley, China Miéville, Brian Catling, Joe Abercrombie, John Birmingham and Letters to Tiptree (edited by Alexandra Pierce and Alisa Krasnostein).

Two of Australia's top speculative fiction artists, John Banitsiotis and Peter Allert, provide illustrations in this issue.