Editorial matters

111 Beats per Minute

That’s how fast our unborn child’s heartbeat was when the doctor told us we were in danger of losing it. We were in Brisbane, 3000 miles from home, having a short holiday before making an appearance at this year’s Australian National SF Convention in Canberra. A long way from home, a long way from family, and a long way from comfort.

What we learned was this: Lyn is fine. The baby is fine. But there is a haemorrhage in the lining between them, and because of it, our perfectly healthy child only has a 50% of living to take its first breath. It’s luck, pure and simple, only luck. If we’re lucky, we get to keep the baby we want so much. If we’re not, then one day my beloved partner will experience a period of awful pain, there will be a gout of heavy bleeding that will never seem to stop, and our child will have left us.

We didn’t get to Conflux. We took the first flight home, battling pain and fear all the way. The Conventions are the highlight of our year: as emerging SF writers Lyn and I do a lot of business there, besides catching up with good friends we see very rarely otherwise. You shouldn’t fly with a threatened miscarriage. The differences in air pressure between the pressurised cabin and the natural air at ground level represent a risk. Even so, the doctor at St Andrews hospital in Brisbane declared it necessary, and we went. It cost a lot of money to get the flights changed, and a lot of spiritual stability to sit helpless for almost 13 hours as we hopped from flight to flight across the country so we could get back to friends, family, and familiar medical care. We didn’t hesitate for a single moment to make that decision.

Some things are too important.

This issue was supposed to be Lyn’s, and in fact she had already chosen a story: Trent Jamieson’s “Anabiosis”. But like all things we take joy from, this has proven to be a collaborative effort. The threatened miscarriage has forced Lyn to an extended period of bed rest, and I’ve taken the last few steps to get everything ready. By a strange coincidence, both our authors this month are from Queensland, where our journey to this moment began. That’s what happens in a gonzo world.

So should the worst happen, and luck not be in our side, we’re dedicating this issue to the life inside Lyn, that we refer to by the pet name ‘Nemo’. And should our hopes be answered, and Nemo survives, we’ll be dedicating a future issue as well.

Lee Battersby

back to top