Enarraré #14
A Space: Above And Beyond Special
Take a look at the 
The Parameters of Peace : Parts IV and V
The Fox's Wedding and Utsuroi
The ephemeral dappling of light under trees, the shadow's leaping lack of substance, the fugitive emptiness between one state and another: all these reflect the Japanese concept of 'Utsuroi', wherein beauty is essentially located at its moment of alteration. That which gives the highest pleasure is not the loveliness of the cherry blossom itself, but the knowledge of its fleeting, evanescent nature. 'Utsuroi' is intrinsic to the ideal of sacrificial heroism.
"Who's responsible?" Ross asked in the final episode. Well, it may not be entirely clear who is responsible, but it's perfectly obvious who's going to be held responsible. Which only goes to show that McQueen should have given Ross that Humphrey Bogart movie while there was still time. McQueen himself is, of course, recovering in hospital after having his leg blown off by the Chig ambassador who killed the CEO of Aerotech. Recovering? Perhaps that's not the best word. He's assailed by a constant barrage of thoughts -- images of suicide and visions of self-destruction, all accompanied by an incessant drumbeat and one word in every language known to humankind. The word? Honour. Yes, the Chig know where their communications receiver is, they want it destroyed, and they know exactly what psychological buttons to press.
Meantime, back at the Saratoga, it's a simple case of: McQueen? -- who you talkin' about, then? It might only have been twenty days since the peace negotiations with the Chig broke down, but it might as well be twenty years. Major Nilsson, the new C.O. of the Wild Cards, has cut such a swathe through their affections that the Colonel is fast receding to a distant memory. Ross, preparing to face a court-martial, sets up his own investigation into how the Chig ambassador was able to smuggle a bomb aboard the Saratoga. The visual record of the negotiations reveals an interesting anomaly -- the only person to survive the blast had a gun in the Chig envoy's face at the moment the explosion occurred. Which means - yes, at that range, there shouldn't have been enough left of McQueen to identify, let alone pack off to hospital. Changing? Oh yes, enormously, but perhaps of everyone, McQueen's is the least seismic change of all. Damphousse is recovering from a head injury, West is thinking seriously about getting married, Hawkes is learning a few things about true love, Vansen about the nature of truth and Arkie about consequences. Speaking of consequences, down outside the headquarters of Aerotech in New York, Elroy-EL arrives at a fateful decision.
The Parameters of Peace series continues with the short story, The Fox's Wedding (Part IV), and the novel, Utsuroi (Part V). Parts I - III (An Inauspicious Beginning, 265 Different Kinds of Cheese, and Icarus Walking) are still available, though in quite short supply. Poems for Enarraré 14 (some of them award-winning) have been contributed by Katie Jennings, Kellie Matthews-Simmons, Kathryn Andersen and Annie Hamilton. Enarraré 14 is illustrated throughout with full-page colour inserts, a glossy A4 colour cover and coil-binding. It is edited by Linda Mitchell and produced with the assistance of Jenny Dodd, Carol Burgess and Karen McDonald.
Out of print.