Aphelion Science Fiction Magazine emerged in early 1986, and lasted for five issues: a year of publication. Edited by Peter McNamara (assisted by Dianne DeBellis), it featured some very fine fiction and comment, full-colour airbrushed cover art (by Steve Altman and John Beswick) and payed professional rates for fiction. The Table of Contents for its sixth--unpublished--issue reads like a who's who of Australia's genre writers, featuring Damien Broderick, Frank Bryning, Greg Egan, George Turner and Terry Dowling, as well as Geffrey Maloney, Paul Enever, Wendy Frew, Noel Burns, L F Cairncross, Eric Harries-Harris and Jeff Harris. Who knows what might have happened had Aphelion lasted? Issue length hovered around 96 pages, and its A4 format allowed for a lot of material. Aphelion included fiction, review, comment, comic strips and black-and-white illustration.
Aphelion's annual subscription rate was $20, and its cover price was $4.95 until Issue #5 added a dollar.

Issue #1	Issue #2
NONFICTION Jeff Harris, Michael Tolley FICTION Chris Simmons, Eric Harries-Harris, George Turner, Terry Dowling, Patrick Urth	NONFICTION Jeff Harris, Margaret Winch, Michael Tolley, Merv Binns FICTION Paul Collins & Sean McMullen, Jai S Russell, Terry Dowling, Patrick Urth

Issue #3	Issue #4	Issue #5
NONFICTION Colin Robinson, Margaret Winch, Michael Tolley, Guilia De Cesare, Mervyn R Binns FICTION Chris Simmons, Chie-Hoon Lee, Stephen Dedman, Terry Dowling, Patrick Urth	NONFICTION Peter Nicholls, Michael Tolley, Patrick McNamara FICTION Ron Ferguson, George Turner, Jai S Russell, Stephen Dedman, Jean West Penna, Terry Dowling, Patrick Urth	NONFICTION Michael Tolley, Mervyn Binns FICTION Greg Egan, George Turner, Bill Dodds, D T White, Paul Collins & Trevor Donahue, Ingrid Whitehorn, Rosaleen Love, Bill Congreve, Gail Neville, Terry Dowling