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Interzone 249, November-December 2013
INTERZONE 249 15th Nov, 2013
Jim Burns is Interzone's 2013 cover artist. This is Xianth'.
Contents:
Fiction:
Unknown Cities of America by Tim Lees illustrated by Richard Wagner
“He can say ‘bananas’. Go on, boy – say it. Say it, boy.”
“Bananas,” says the dog.
Everyone laughs. Even the dog looks pleased. A big man in a baseball cap says, “Go again?” and cracks a peanut shell between his teeth.
Paprika by Jason Sanford illustrated by Ben Baldwin
“Ah Paprika, you dance so well,” Satoshi exclaimed each bright-sun morning, his praise always pleasing no matter how many times Paprika heard it.
And Paprika could dance, she really could.
Filaments by Lavie Tidhar illustrated by Wayne Haag
“Reality,” said the robo-priest, “is a thin and fragile thing.”
R. Brother Patch-It looked at its small congregation. This node of the Church of Robot sat on the Level Three Concourse of Central Station, in the station’s own multifaith bazaar, besides the wire-head emporiums and games-worlds and flesh pits. R. Patch-It watched its congregation. Few followed the true faith any more. Robots alone, it sometimes seemed to R. Patch-It, still believed. Others, those strange, bodiless digital intelligences, had abandoned belief for worlds of pure mathematics, an infinity of virtual possibilities. While humans needed, sometimes craved, faith, they seldom knew which one to choose, and competition was fierce when one had Judaism alongside Roman Catholicism, Buddhism against Elronism, the Martian Re-Born alongside Islam.
Haunts by Claire Humphrey illustrated by Martin Hanford
The chirurgeon’s knife severs my little finger from my palm, just above the mount of Mercury.
“You are permitted to look away,” the chirurgeon comments.
I shrug the shoulder that isn’t locked down, and keep watching. The knife, obsidian, joints me like I’m a bird.
The Kindest Man in Stormland by John Shirley illustrated by Wayne Haag
Webb peered out through the porthole beside his seat, not able to make out much in the green-gray murk. Was that part of a sunken freight barge? It was just a shadow in the shape of the frame of a long low vessel, half buried in the sand.
Trans-Siberia: An Account of a Journey, with added notes from The Cautious Traveller's Guide to Greater Siberia by L. Girard (Mauriac Publishing, Paris, 1859) by Sarah Brooks illustrated by Richard Wagner
The sole means of passage across the Greater Siberian wastes is by train, for those who can afford the ticket, and the risk.
I left Beijing at seventeen, carrying a box of pencils and a suitcase held together with rope. At the station families sobbed and embraced. I tried not to look. Nor did I let my eyes widen at the size of the train, its wheels as tall as a man’s shoulder, the iron bars over the windows as thick as my arm. The green paint was faded, but the gold lettering on the carriages still stood out: Beijing to Moscow.
Features:
Ansible Link by David Langford; Book Zone by Andy Hedgecock, Maureen Kincaid Speller, Ian Sales, Jo L. Walton, Jack Deighton, Paul Kincaid, Stephen Theaker, Barbara Melville, Peter Loftus, Simon Marshall-Jones, Paul F. Cockburn, Duncan Lunan, Jonathan McCalmont, Lawrence Osborn, Jim Steel. Book reviews including New Taboos by John Shirley (with author interview conducted by Andy Hedgecock), Exit Kingdom by Alden Bell, Swords of Good Men by Snorri Kristjansson, 21st Century SF edited by David G. Hartwell & Patrick Nielsen Hayden, We See A Different Frontier edited by Fabio Fernandes & Djibril al-Ayad, Evening's Empires by Paul McAuley, The Violent Century by Lavie Tidhar, Phoenix by SF Said, The Secret of Abdu El Yezdi by Mark Hodder, The Detainee by Peter Liney, Some Remarks by Neal Stephenson, Shaman by Kim Stanley Robinson, Hide Me Among the Graves by Tim Powers, The Diamond Deep by Brenda Cooper, plus Jonathan McCalmont's Future Interrupted column.
Mutant Popcorn by Nick Lowe, film reviews including Thor: The Dark World, Ender's Game, How I Live Now, Justin and the Knights of Valour, About Time, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2, Riddick, R.I.P.D.
Laser Fodder by Tony Lee, DVD and Blu-ray reviews including Ikarie XB-1, Lifeforce, Grimm Season 2, Dr Mabuse the Gambler, My Amityville Horror, The Night of the Hunter, Pacific Rim, Under the Dome
Jim Burns is Interzone's 2013 cover artist. This is Xianth'.
Contents:
Fiction:
Unknown Cities of America by Tim Lees illustrated by Richard Wagner
“He can say ‘bananas’. Go on, boy – say it. Say it, boy.”
“Bananas,” says the dog.
Everyone laughs. Even the dog looks pleased. A big man in a baseball cap says, “Go again?” and cracks a peanut shell between his teeth.
Paprika by Jason Sanford illustrated by Ben Baldwin
“Ah Paprika, you dance so well,” Satoshi exclaimed each bright-sun morning, his praise always pleasing no matter how many times Paprika heard it.
And Paprika could dance, she really could.
Filaments by Lavie Tidhar illustrated by Wayne Haag
“Reality,” said the robo-priest, “is a thin and fragile thing.”
R. Brother Patch-It looked at its small congregation. This node of the Church of Robot sat on the Level Three Concourse of Central Station, in the station’s own multifaith bazaar, besides the wire-head emporiums and games-worlds and flesh pits. R. Patch-It watched its congregation. Few followed the true faith any more. Robots alone, it sometimes seemed to R. Patch-It, still believed. Others, those strange, bodiless digital intelligences, had abandoned belief for worlds of pure mathematics, an infinity of virtual possibilities. While humans needed, sometimes craved, faith, they seldom knew which one to choose, and competition was fierce when one had Judaism alongside Roman Catholicism, Buddhism against Elronism, the Martian Re-Born alongside Islam.
Haunts by Claire Humphrey illustrated by Martin Hanford
The chirurgeon’s knife severs my little finger from my palm, just above the mount of Mercury.
“You are permitted to look away,” the chirurgeon comments.
I shrug the shoulder that isn’t locked down, and keep watching. The knife, obsidian, joints me like I’m a bird.
The Kindest Man in Stormland by John Shirley illustrated by Wayne Haag
Webb peered out through the porthole beside his seat, not able to make out much in the green-gray murk. Was that part of a sunken freight barge? It was just a shadow in the shape of the frame of a long low vessel, half buried in the sand.
Trans-Siberia: An Account of a Journey, with added notes from The Cautious Traveller's Guide to Greater Siberia by L. Girard (Mauriac Publishing, Paris, 1859) by Sarah Brooks illustrated by Richard Wagner
The sole means of passage across the Greater Siberian wastes is by train, for those who can afford the ticket, and the risk.
I left Beijing at seventeen, carrying a box of pencils and a suitcase held together with rope. At the station families sobbed and embraced. I tried not to look. Nor did I let my eyes widen at the size of the train, its wheels as tall as a man’s shoulder, the iron bars over the windows as thick as my arm. The green paint was faded, but the gold lettering on the carriages still stood out: Beijing to Moscow.
Features:
Ansible Link by David Langford; Book Zone by Andy Hedgecock, Maureen Kincaid Speller, Ian Sales, Jo L. Walton, Jack Deighton, Paul Kincaid, Stephen Theaker, Barbara Melville, Peter Loftus, Simon Marshall-Jones, Paul F. Cockburn, Duncan Lunan, Jonathan McCalmont, Lawrence Osborn, Jim Steel. Book reviews including New Taboos by John Shirley (with author interview conducted by Andy Hedgecock), Exit Kingdom by Alden Bell, Swords of Good Men by Snorri Kristjansson, 21st Century SF edited by David G. Hartwell & Patrick Nielsen Hayden, We See A Different Frontier edited by Fabio Fernandes & Djibril al-Ayad, Evening's Empires by Paul McAuley, The Violent Century by Lavie Tidhar, Phoenix by SF Said, The Secret of Abdu El Yezdi by Mark Hodder, The Detainee by Peter Liney, Some Remarks by Neal Stephenson, Shaman by Kim Stanley Robinson, Hide Me Among the Graves by Tim Powers, The Diamond Deep by Brenda Cooper, plus Jonathan McCalmont's Future Interrupted column.
Mutant Popcorn by Nick Lowe, film reviews including Thor: The Dark World, Ender's Game, How I Live Now, Justin and the Knights of Valour, About Time, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2, Riddick, R.I.P.D.
Laser Fodder by Tony Lee, DVD and Blu-ray reviews including Ikarie XB-1, Lifeforce, Grimm Season 2, Dr Mabuse the Gambler, My Amityville Horror, The Night of the Hunter, Pacific Rim, Under the Dome
96 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 2013
21 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 19, 2021
This story is brilliantly plotted and any clue as to the denouement would spoil it. Just one neat giveaway from me is with the nature of how the sought serial killer’s method of killing his victims returns in another form at the end. And the evocation of the genius loci of what Charleston has become in the future is equally satisfying to the envisioning mind of the reader. My mind boggled at the e-cigarette, though!
The detailed review of this book posted elsewhere under my name is too long or impractical to post here.
Above is one of its observations at the time of the review.
The detailed review of this book posted elsewhere under my name is too long or impractical to post here.
Above is one of its observations at the time of the review.
December 13, 2013
Unknown Cities of America - um início promissor. O título seduz-nos com visões de urbanismo fantástico de contornos borgesianos, com a possibilidade de nos perderemos em mapas para os quais não há territórios. O conto cumpre parcialmente essas promessas, com vislumbres de cidades esquecidas na vastidão das américas, mas o tom dominante é o de perda e busca incessante nesta história onde um homem atravessa recantos desolados na auto-estrada em busca da mulher que ama, raptada pelos seus familiares. A sua origem é difusa e intui-se que por detrás da história de uma rapariga fugitiva do seu meio está algo de sobrenatural com toques místicos, mas o foco narrativo fica-se pelo trauma da perda e tenacidade numa busca pouco esperançosa. Conto de Tim Lees.
Paprika - A premissa é muito interessante. Neste conto de Jason Sanford uma humanidade imortal vai-se extinguindo lentamente pelo puro ennui do tempo ilimitado. Neste futuro difuso onde o tempo pára a nanotecnologia mantém as pessoas e as cidades vivas, mas o espírito vibrante foi-se há muito. Temendo este momento, os imortais criaram seres artificiais, autómatos programados para gravarem as memórias e personalidades dos humanos com que entram em contacto. Paprika, a heroína do conto, é uma dessas criações cujo contacto constante com um criador de brinquedos que vai buscar inspiração às memórias nostálgicas dos seus clientes modifica a sua programação. Mais do que preservar artificialmente as memórias humanas dentro dos universos-bolso que os autómatos carregam, Paprika preserva a sua memória da humanidade, e vai modificando os genes das espécies que sobrevivem ao desvanecer dos imortais que se cansaram do tempo infinito. Apesar da vastidão da premissa o estilo narrativo demasiado elaborado torna a leitura algo penosa. A linguagem distingue-se pelo carácter poético mas, excessivamente trabalhada, trava a fluidez do conto.
Filaments: é um conto de Lavie Tidhar, e aqui devo confessar que sendo fã deste autor a voz crítica não é de todo isenta. O conto em si tem a marca da prosa leve e imaginação intrigante do autor, mas lê-se mais como vinheta de algo maior do que obra autocontida. A ideia em si é fabulosa, com um robot-sacerdote a interpretar o conceito de fé numa perspectiva cibernética. Tradições judaicas e sincretismo digital cruzam-se neste conto passado no curioso universo ficcional de Central Station, mundo futurista em que uma Jerusalem multicultural é o ponto de ancoragem terrestre de um elevador orbital, ponto de confluências dos seres e ideias que vagueiam pelo sistema solar.
Haunts: conto mais a puxar à fantasia do que FC de Claire Humphrey, lidando com um mundo fantástico onde os fantasmas de duelistas mortos em combate assombram a escola onde aprenderam as regras do desporto mais aplaudido da terra. Tudo contado sob o ponto de vista de uma ex-duelista que vai vendendo os dedos para poder manter os edifícios intactos mas acaba por conhecer um fã que lhe revitaliza a escola e a alma.
The Kindest Man in Stormland: o problema deste conto de John Shirley é a sua elevada plausibilidade. A história é directa, num registo policial em que um agente privado da lei vai ao inundado sul dos estados unidos em busca de um assassino em série. A visão distópica de um planeta onde o aquecimento global fez subir drasticamente o nível das águas, deixando sumbersas boa parte das zonas costeiras, com o previsível colapso social daí advindo, conjuga-se com um neoliberalismo alastrante onde tudo tem um preço de venda ou renda. Não é difícil perceber a extrapolação que Shirley faz do momento contemporâneo que vivemos.
Trans-Siberia: An Account of a Journey, with added notes from The Cautious Traveller's Guide to Greater Siberia by L. Girard (Mauriac Publishing, Paris, 1859) - Sarah Brooks a encerrar a revista com uma prosa poética e uma hisrtória curiosa, que desperta o sonho das viagens e faz pensar nas vastidões de território que medeiam entre as costas asiáticas e os centros europeus. Um jovem artista chinês embarca no mítico Trans-siberiano para uma viagem a Paris, onde o espera um futuro enquanto pintor. Mas no mundo difuso deste conto os territórios ocultam ameças obscuras e a viagem tem preços que podem ultrapassar o pagamento do bilhete. Soturnas criaturas assombram o comboio e o jovem artista ficará para sempre marcado pelo seu cruzamento com um destes seres que infestam as longas viagenes sobre os carris.
Paprika - A premissa é muito interessante. Neste conto de Jason Sanford uma humanidade imortal vai-se extinguindo lentamente pelo puro ennui do tempo ilimitado. Neste futuro difuso onde o tempo pára a nanotecnologia mantém as pessoas e as cidades vivas, mas o espírito vibrante foi-se há muito. Temendo este momento, os imortais criaram seres artificiais, autómatos programados para gravarem as memórias e personalidades dos humanos com que entram em contacto. Paprika, a heroína do conto, é uma dessas criações cujo contacto constante com um criador de brinquedos que vai buscar inspiração às memórias nostálgicas dos seus clientes modifica a sua programação. Mais do que preservar artificialmente as memórias humanas dentro dos universos-bolso que os autómatos carregam, Paprika preserva a sua memória da humanidade, e vai modificando os genes das espécies que sobrevivem ao desvanecer dos imortais que se cansaram do tempo infinito. Apesar da vastidão da premissa o estilo narrativo demasiado elaborado torna a leitura algo penosa. A linguagem distingue-se pelo carácter poético mas, excessivamente trabalhada, trava a fluidez do conto.
Filaments: é um conto de Lavie Tidhar, e aqui devo confessar que sendo fã deste autor a voz crítica não é de todo isenta. O conto em si tem a marca da prosa leve e imaginação intrigante do autor, mas lê-se mais como vinheta de algo maior do que obra autocontida. A ideia em si é fabulosa, com um robot-sacerdote a interpretar o conceito de fé numa perspectiva cibernética. Tradições judaicas e sincretismo digital cruzam-se neste conto passado no curioso universo ficcional de Central Station, mundo futurista em que uma Jerusalem multicultural é o ponto de ancoragem terrestre de um elevador orbital, ponto de confluências dos seres e ideias que vagueiam pelo sistema solar.
Haunts: conto mais a puxar à fantasia do que FC de Claire Humphrey, lidando com um mundo fantástico onde os fantasmas de duelistas mortos em combate assombram a escola onde aprenderam as regras do desporto mais aplaudido da terra. Tudo contado sob o ponto de vista de uma ex-duelista que vai vendendo os dedos para poder manter os edifícios intactos mas acaba por conhecer um fã que lhe revitaliza a escola e a alma.
The Kindest Man in Stormland: o problema deste conto de John Shirley é a sua elevada plausibilidade. A história é directa, num registo policial em que um agente privado da lei vai ao inundado sul dos estados unidos em busca de um assassino em série. A visão distópica de um planeta onde o aquecimento global fez subir drasticamente o nível das águas, deixando sumbersas boa parte das zonas costeiras, com o previsível colapso social daí advindo, conjuga-se com um neoliberalismo alastrante onde tudo tem um preço de venda ou renda. Não é difícil perceber a extrapolação que Shirley faz do momento contemporâneo que vivemos.
Trans-Siberia: An Account of a Journey, with added notes from The Cautious Traveller's Guide to Greater Siberia by L. Girard (Mauriac Publishing, Paris, 1859) - Sarah Brooks a encerrar a revista com uma prosa poética e uma hisrtória curiosa, que desperta o sonho das viagens e faz pensar nas vastidões de território que medeiam entre as costas asiáticas e os centros europeus. Um jovem artista chinês embarca no mítico Trans-siberiano para uma viagem a Paris, onde o espera um futuro enquanto pintor. Mas no mundo difuso deste conto os territórios ocultam ameças obscuras e a viagem tem preços que podem ultrapassar o pagamento do bilhete. Soturnas criaturas assombram o comboio e o jovem artista ficará para sempre marcado pelo seu cruzamento com um destes seres que infestam as longas viagenes sobre os carris.
November 3, 2014
Unknown Cities of America - Tim Lees
Paprika - Jason Sanford
Filaments - Lavie Tidhar
Haunts - Claire Humphrey
The Kindest Man in Stormland - John Shirley
Trans-Siberia, an account of a journey - Sarah Brooks
I have returned to Interzone after a period of many years (although I have read many a tale that was anthologised in Annual Best collections)
I am pleased to see that Andy Cox (for whom I once provided illustrations for both The Third Alternative – including the cover of one of the early issues – and his excellent ‘Crimewave’) has assumed the helm and that the quality of content remains strong, varied and of excellent quality.
If you’ve never read a copy of Interzone before, I urge you to do so. It’s available in digital format these days for the Kindle (and no doubt other formats). It was founded and edited for seemingly aeons by David Pringle, author of ‘Science Fiction : The 100 Greatest Novels’ and can be credited to a large degree with creating a British SF renaissance and introducing many authors who have forged successful careers.
I was a subscriber at least twenty-five years ago and am very pleased that it remains at the forefront of the SF short fiction world. It is, I can see, in good hands.
Unknown Cities of America - Tim Lees
This is a well-written piece in which ‘the map is not the territory’. A young man is searching for a girl who lives in one of the US towns that is not on the map. He met her once when she escaped but she was tracked, as she always knew she would be, by a man known as The Turk, who has some kind of psychic gift for hunting down the missing children of these strange hidden communities. It’s power lies in what it doesn’t say, allowing the reader to create their own ideas of what these communities may be.
Paprika - Jason Sanford
‘Paprika’ is a beautiful story of longevity, loss and the artificial creatures that are created to hold the consciousnesses of those who die.
It’s a gorgeously created self-contained world full of colour and detail.
Filaments - Lavie Tidhar
A robot priest-rabbi is infected with a virus by a young boy who seems not quite human. Again, a beautifully detailed tale. It seems that the post-Asimov robot has been reborn of late. the word went out of favour for quite a while, replaced by androids, replicants and other individual creations. The concept seems to have now been revived by various authors in some post-modern act of authorly synchronicity.
Haunts - Claire Humphrey
The Head of a school for duellists has to let go of her actual and metaphorical ghosts in a strikingly-imagined world where old duellists can sell their fingers to be grafted on to younger aspirants. This, they believe, will endow them with luck or skills.
The Kindest Man in Stormland - John Shirley
In a future USA, climate change has wracked the country with endless storms. A law enforcement officer has to traverse the storm to track down a serial killer. Although the weakest story of the bunch, it’s still a winner.
Trans-Siberia, an account of a journey - Sarah Brooks
Noir and Steampunk collide in a personal documentation of a journey from China to Siberia through a dangerous no man’s land where dangerous creatures are abroad, and indeed aboard.
Paprika - Jason Sanford
Filaments - Lavie Tidhar
Haunts - Claire Humphrey
The Kindest Man in Stormland - John Shirley
Trans-Siberia, an account of a journey - Sarah Brooks
I have returned to Interzone after a period of many years (although I have read many a tale that was anthologised in Annual Best collections)
I am pleased to see that Andy Cox (for whom I once provided illustrations for both The Third Alternative – including the cover of one of the early issues – and his excellent ‘Crimewave’) has assumed the helm and that the quality of content remains strong, varied and of excellent quality.
If you’ve never read a copy of Interzone before, I urge you to do so. It’s available in digital format these days for the Kindle (and no doubt other formats). It was founded and edited for seemingly aeons by David Pringle, author of ‘Science Fiction : The 100 Greatest Novels’ and can be credited to a large degree with creating a British SF renaissance and introducing many authors who have forged successful careers.
I was a subscriber at least twenty-five years ago and am very pleased that it remains at the forefront of the SF short fiction world. It is, I can see, in good hands.
Unknown Cities of America - Tim Lees
This is a well-written piece in which ‘the map is not the territory’. A young man is searching for a girl who lives in one of the US towns that is not on the map. He met her once when she escaped but she was tracked, as she always knew she would be, by a man known as The Turk, who has some kind of psychic gift for hunting down the missing children of these strange hidden communities. It’s power lies in what it doesn’t say, allowing the reader to create their own ideas of what these communities may be.
Paprika - Jason Sanford
‘Paprika’ is a beautiful story of longevity, loss and the artificial creatures that are created to hold the consciousnesses of those who die.
It’s a gorgeously created self-contained world full of colour and detail.
Filaments - Lavie Tidhar
A robot priest-rabbi is infected with a virus by a young boy who seems not quite human. Again, a beautifully detailed tale. It seems that the post-Asimov robot has been reborn of late. the word went out of favour for quite a while, replaced by androids, replicants and other individual creations. The concept seems to have now been revived by various authors in some post-modern act of authorly synchronicity.
Haunts - Claire Humphrey
The Head of a school for duellists has to let go of her actual and metaphorical ghosts in a strikingly-imagined world where old duellists can sell their fingers to be grafted on to younger aspirants. This, they believe, will endow them with luck or skills.
The Kindest Man in Stormland - John Shirley
In a future USA, climate change has wracked the country with endless storms. A law enforcement officer has to traverse the storm to track down a serial killer. Although the weakest story of the bunch, it’s still a winner.
Trans-Siberia, an account of a journey - Sarah Brooks
Noir and Steampunk collide in a personal documentation of a journey from China to Siberia through a dangerous no man’s land where dangerous creatures are abroad, and indeed aboard.
March 13, 2014
A good issue with a thoughtful ages long story about the meaning of memory by Jason Sanford, a nice swords-and-possibly-sorcery story by Claire Humphrey and a fantastic story of a journey across a dangerous landscape by Sarah Brooks.
- "Unknown Cities of America" by Tim Lees: an urban fantasy type story about a girl who appears to come from a town that does not exists and a man who is trying to trace her. But the story doesn't ring true in this day and age of electronic navigation devices.
- "Paprika" by Jason Sanford: an impressive thousands of years long story about a time-angels who were created to preserve the memories of the last of the nearly immortal people left on Earth. But one angel is unwilling to obey its programming, leading to a crises and a chase through the ages as it avoids the other angels; and learns that living, changing memories of people are more precious than the ageless preserved memory of people.
- "Filaments" by Lavie Tidhar: another of his Central Station story, this one centres on a robotic priest who begins to wonder about its own existence and what makes a difference between a robot and a human.
- "Haunts" by Claire Humphrey: an interesting story about a swordsperson who, after losing a match, is now forced to sell off her fingers, which gives the person who attaches it to the hand her skills. But a meeting with a man gives her the chance to revive her fortunes but it may mean giving up on strange, haunting creatures that surround her fencing school.
- "The Kindest Man in Stormland" by John Shirley: set in a time when global warming has generated constant storms, a private investigator sets out to find a serial murderer in a ruined city in the heart of a such a storm. Along the way, he meets a gentle man who helps the people around him in the city. But the man may have a secret past and the investigator would have to trust him. The ending was over too fast and didn't really leave enough clues to lead the reader to discover who the murderer is before the reveal.
- "Trans-Siberia: An Account of a Journey, with added notes from The Cautious Traveller's Guide to Greater Siberia by L. Girard (Mauriac Publishing, Paris, 1859)" by Sarah Brooks: a fascinating adventure, telling of the journey of a young artist from China to Moscow on board a train that is travelling across a strangely fantastic and hostile landscape populated by dangerous creatures. On board, he meets an alluring girl; only his sketchings of her show her to be something quite different. Is she on the train to guard him or to lure him into danger? An alternate world story full of interesting detail that begs for more.
- "Unknown Cities of America" by Tim Lees: an urban fantasy type story about a girl who appears to come from a town that does not exists and a man who is trying to trace her. But the story doesn't ring true in this day and age of electronic navigation devices.
- "Paprika" by Jason Sanford: an impressive thousands of years long story about a time-angels who were created to preserve the memories of the last of the nearly immortal people left on Earth. But one angel is unwilling to obey its programming, leading to a crises and a chase through the ages as it avoids the other angels; and learns that living, changing memories of people are more precious than the ageless preserved memory of people.
- "Filaments" by Lavie Tidhar: another of his Central Station story, this one centres on a robotic priest who begins to wonder about its own existence and what makes a difference between a robot and a human.
- "Haunts" by Claire Humphrey: an interesting story about a swordsperson who, after losing a match, is now forced to sell off her fingers, which gives the person who attaches it to the hand her skills. But a meeting with a man gives her the chance to revive her fortunes but it may mean giving up on strange, haunting creatures that surround her fencing school.
- "The Kindest Man in Stormland" by John Shirley: set in a time when global warming has generated constant storms, a private investigator sets out to find a serial murderer in a ruined city in the heart of a such a storm. Along the way, he meets a gentle man who helps the people around him in the city. But the man may have a secret past and the investigator would have to trust him. The ending was over too fast and didn't really leave enough clues to lead the reader to discover who the murderer is before the reveal.
- "Trans-Siberia: An Account of a Journey, with added notes from The Cautious Traveller's Guide to Greater Siberia by L. Girard (Mauriac Publishing, Paris, 1859)" by Sarah Brooks: a fascinating adventure, telling of the journey of a young artist from China to Moscow on board a train that is travelling across a strangely fantastic and hostile landscape populated by dangerous creatures. On board, he meets an alluring girl; only his sketchings of her show her to be something quite different. Is she on the train to guard him or to lure him into danger? An alternate world story full of interesting detail that begs for more.
May 13, 2014
This issue contained the best spec fiction novelette I've read in a long time, Paprika. The entire issue couldn't live up to the quality of the novelette, but I enjoyed some of the other stories and reviews, too.
August 12, 2014
Probably the semi-prozine I got on with least well, although I can't really explain why. Some of the stories I liked a lot. Others I just didn't quite click with.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews