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Interzone 258
May-June 2015’s Interzone, # 258, has new science fiction and fantasy by T.R. Napper, Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam, Julie C. Day, Christien Gholson, and Malcolm Devlin, with colour illustrations by Jim Burns, Warwick Fraser-Coombe, Vince Haig, and Richard Wagner. The cover art is Dorian Gray, the latest in the 2015 series by Martin Hanford. The issue contains the regular columns by David Langford, Nina Allan, Jonathan McCalmont, Nick Lowe, Tony Lee, and in Book Zone Maureen Kincaid Speller interviews E.J. Swift about the Osiris Project. Guest editorial is 'Freak Zone' by Christopher Fowler. Martin McGrath presents the reader poll results and lists the stories they voted as favourites of 2014.
Interzone is essentially a fiction magazine containing short science fiction and fantasy stories. But it covers other aspects of the genre via comment, news, reviews of books, movies, DVDs and TV.
Fiction this issue
a shout is a prayer / for the waiting centuries by T.R. Napper
The Re'em Song by Julie C. Day
Doors by Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam
Angel Fire by Christien Gholson
Her First Harvest by Malcolm Devlin
Artists this issue
Martin Hanford
Warwick Fraser-Coombe
Jim Burns
Richard Wagner
Vince Haig
Books reviewed this issue
Book Zone, edited by Jim Steel, has Tamaruq (and the Osiris Project) by E.J. Swift, plus an author interview conducted by Maureen Kincaid Speller, Touch by Claire North, The Silence by Tim Lebbon, The Galaxy Game by Karen Lord, Those Above by Daniel Polansky, The Alchemy Press Book of Urban Mythic 2 edited by Jan Edwards & Jenny Barber, Where by Kit Reed, Impulse by Dave Bara, The Whispering Swarm by Michael Moorcock
Nick Lowe's Mutant Popcorn movie reviews this issue include: Avengers: Age of Ultron, Chappie, Robot Overlords, Home, Cinderella, The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, Seventh Son, Insurgent, Hot Tub Time Machine 2
Tony Lee's Laser Fodder, TV/DVD, reviews this issue include: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1, Paddington, Rollerball, Interstellar, Frequen-cies, Mankind's Last Stand, Fellini Satyricon, Harlock Space Pirate, The House at the End of Time, Northmen, Moondial, The Last Survivors, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, Exodus, RZ-9
Other non-fiction this issue
David Langford - Ansible Link
Nina Allan - Time Pieces column Election Special: the Hugos, the Puppies, and the Big Pile of Poo
Jonathan McCalmont - Future Interrupted column Yesterday's Plays For Today
Readers' Poll - Results Martin McGrath, The stories you voted as your favourites of 2014.
Editorial - Freak Zone by Christopher Fowler
Author interview –
E.J. Swift interviewed by Maureen Kincaid Speller
Interzone is essentially a fiction magazine containing short science fiction and fantasy stories. But it covers other aspects of the genre via comment, news, reviews of books, movies, DVDs and TV.
Fiction this issue
a shout is a prayer / for the waiting centuries by T.R. Napper
The Re'em Song by Julie C. Day
Doors by Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam
Angel Fire by Christien Gholson
Her First Harvest by Malcolm Devlin
Artists this issue
Martin Hanford
Warwick Fraser-Coombe
Jim Burns
Richard Wagner
Vince Haig
Books reviewed this issue
Book Zone, edited by Jim Steel, has Tamaruq (and the Osiris Project) by E.J. Swift, plus an author interview conducted by Maureen Kincaid Speller, Touch by Claire North, The Silence by Tim Lebbon, The Galaxy Game by Karen Lord, Those Above by Daniel Polansky, The Alchemy Press Book of Urban Mythic 2 edited by Jan Edwards & Jenny Barber, Where by Kit Reed, Impulse by Dave Bara, The Whispering Swarm by Michael Moorcock
Nick Lowe's Mutant Popcorn movie reviews this issue include: Avengers: Age of Ultron, Chappie, Robot Overlords, Home, Cinderella, The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, Seventh Son, Insurgent, Hot Tub Time Machine 2
Tony Lee's Laser Fodder, TV/DVD, reviews this issue include: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1, Paddington, Rollerball, Interstellar, Frequen-cies, Mankind's Last Stand, Fellini Satyricon, Harlock Space Pirate, The House at the End of Time, Northmen, Moondial, The Last Survivors, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, Exodus, RZ-9
Other non-fiction this issue
David Langford - Ansible Link
Nina Allan - Time Pieces column Election Special: the Hugos, the Puppies, and the Big Pile of Poo
Jonathan McCalmont - Future Interrupted column Yesterday's Plays For Today
Readers' Poll - Results Martin McGrath, The stories you voted as your favourites of 2014.
Editorial - Freak Zone by Christopher Fowler
Author interview –
E.J. Swift interviewed by Maureen Kincaid Speller
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First published May 7, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
November 9, 2015
A Shout Is A Prayer, T. R. Napper: Uma história sobre desigualdades extremas num mundo hiperliberal, com um ex-lutador obrigado a entrar num contrato de servidão para assegurar a liberdade de dívidas da sua família. No fundo, uma projecção do mundo contemporâneo, precarizado, dominado por interesses económicos que pulverizam a ordem social, num futuro proximo.
The Re'em Song, Julie Day: uma aventura de fantasia pura, num mundo fantástico onde a carne e os ossos de unicórnios selvagens são um bem precioso. As paisagens ficcionais deste conto serão fascinantes para fãs de fantasia, mas confesso este texto foi lido em diagonal.
Doors, Bonnie Stufflebeam: Um conto mais inserido no realismo mágico do que na FC, nesta história onde uma jovem leva o seu irmão com síndrome de down a um parque de diversões e encontra uma estranha atracção que lhe abre as portas de outras realidades possíveis. Narrativa sólida, vinda de um nome já habitual na Interzone.
Angel Fire, Christien Gholson: Conto que não se percebe muito bem o que anda a fazer nesta revista. As menções a anjos dão-lhe uma aura de fantástico, mas o ser uma longa ruminância mental sobre hipocrisia e enriquecimento tornam-o o tipo de texto cuja inclusão numa revista de ficção científica, por lata que seja na sua abordagem, é de difícil compreensão.
Her First Harvest, Malcolm Devlin: Para encerrar, um toque de FC com uma dose simpática de fantasia estética. O primeiro embate de uma jovem debutante com a alta sociedade planetária é a faísca que nos acompanha no desenrolar da colonização de um planeta rico em minerais mas agreste, que obrigou os colonos a adaptar os métodos agrícolas para sobreviver. Vivendo num solo estéril, plantam as sementeiras nos próprios corpos.
The Re'em Song, Julie Day: uma aventura de fantasia pura, num mundo fantástico onde a carne e os ossos de unicórnios selvagens são um bem precioso. As paisagens ficcionais deste conto serão fascinantes para fãs de fantasia, mas confesso este texto foi lido em diagonal.
Doors, Bonnie Stufflebeam: Um conto mais inserido no realismo mágico do que na FC, nesta história onde uma jovem leva o seu irmão com síndrome de down a um parque de diversões e encontra uma estranha atracção que lhe abre as portas de outras realidades possíveis. Narrativa sólida, vinda de um nome já habitual na Interzone.
Angel Fire, Christien Gholson: Conto que não se percebe muito bem o que anda a fazer nesta revista. As menções a anjos dão-lhe uma aura de fantástico, mas o ser uma longa ruminância mental sobre hipocrisia e enriquecimento tornam-o o tipo de texto cuja inclusão numa revista de ficção científica, por lata que seja na sua abordagem, é de difícil compreensão.
Her First Harvest, Malcolm Devlin: Para encerrar, um toque de FC com uma dose simpática de fantasia estética. O primeiro embate de uma jovem debutante com a alta sociedade planetária é a faísca que nos acompanha no desenrolar da colonização de um planeta rico em minerais mas agreste, que obrigou os colonos a adaptar os métodos agrícolas para sobreviver. Vivendo num solo estéril, plantam as sementeiras nos próprios corpos.
December 4, 2015
Interesting selection as ever but the runaway highlight is The Re'em Song by Julie C Day. Honourable mention goes to Angel Fire by Christien Gholson.
January 23, 2021
HER FIRST HARVEST by Malcolm Devlin
“…but together, the movement, the colours and the music combined to bleach such process from her mind. She felt herself existing solely in the present…”
This process is the dance at the debutantes’ ball as if straight from Jane Austen as filtered through the story’s quote from Katherine Mansfield. But much more than that, the story is an exquisitely enthralling treatment of sowing and harvesting one’s own bodies. The descriptions of the fungal growths involved are wonderfully evocative. And the sense of this Interzone fiction’s eternal present moment, as a gestalt, is transcendent, serendipitously reflecting, inter alia, Stufflebeam’s lady protagonist’s sense of conflux. I read this Devlin today in difficult waiting-room circumstances (the waiting centuries passing by in a trice?); it held my attention all the way and lifted my spirits as a potential classic to remember.
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.
“…but together, the movement, the colours and the music combined to bleach such process from her mind. She felt herself existing solely in the present…”
This process is the dance at the debutantes’ ball as if straight from Jane Austen as filtered through the story’s quote from Katherine Mansfield. But much more than that, the story is an exquisitely enthralling treatment of sowing and harvesting one’s own bodies. The descriptions of the fungal growths involved are wonderfully evocative. And the sense of this Interzone fiction’s eternal present moment, as a gestalt, is transcendent, serendipitously reflecting, inter alia, Stufflebeam’s lady protagonist’s sense of conflux. I read this Devlin today in difficult waiting-room circumstances (the waiting centuries passing by in a trice?); it held my attention all the way and lifted my spirits as a potential classic to remember.
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.
June 11, 2015
An above average issue with interesting tales from T.R. Napper and Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam. Malcolm Devlin's tale was intriguing but I find the biology behind it to be implausible.
- "a shout is a prayer / for the waiting centuries" by T.R. Napper: an interesting tale about a man struggling to keep him wife and daughter alive in a world with sharp divisions between the haves and have-nots. Told with flashbacks that echo an earlier struggle for survival that is nicely tied up at the ending.
- "The Re'em Song" by Julie C. Day: a fantasy tale about a land where unicorn-like creatures exist; and people harvest their blood for keep the land alive. But one woman has had enough of killing and strives to escape from it.
- "Doors" by Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam: a nice, emotional tale about a woman who struggles to care for his brother, who has Down Syndrome. When they enter a fairground attraction, she discovers that it is a gateway to alternate realities; but dare she choose a reality where her cares are taken away or where her brother does not exist?
- "Angel Fire" by Christien Gholson: an end of the world senario, where a high-flying financial trader gives up on his meaningless life to mingle with ordinary people, who appear to believe that angels are coming for them out of the bonfires they light up. But only he knows for sure what kind of angels are coming for him.
- "Her First Harvest" by Malcolm Devlin: an interesting but, I believe, biologically flawed tale set on a world where plants and fungus grow not from soil but from humans themselves. It follows a girl who is going for her first harvest dance where the fungus growing on her will be harvested and shows the society she lives in. Storywise, a good tale but the idea that people could live just on the plants growing on themselves does not really sound plausible.
- "a shout is a prayer / for the waiting centuries" by T.R. Napper: an interesting tale about a man struggling to keep him wife and daughter alive in a world with sharp divisions between the haves and have-nots. Told with flashbacks that echo an earlier struggle for survival that is nicely tied up at the ending.
- "The Re'em Song" by Julie C. Day: a fantasy tale about a land where unicorn-like creatures exist; and people harvest their blood for keep the land alive. But one woman has had enough of killing and strives to escape from it.
- "Doors" by Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam: a nice, emotional tale about a woman who struggles to care for his brother, who has Down Syndrome. When they enter a fairground attraction, she discovers that it is a gateway to alternate realities; but dare she choose a reality where her cares are taken away or where her brother does not exist?
- "Angel Fire" by Christien Gholson: an end of the world senario, where a high-flying financial trader gives up on his meaningless life to mingle with ordinary people, who appear to believe that angels are coming for them out of the bonfires they light up. But only he knows for sure what kind of angels are coming for him.
- "Her First Harvest" by Malcolm Devlin: an interesting but, I believe, biologically flawed tale set on a world where plants and fungus grow not from soil but from humans themselves. It follows a girl who is going for her first harvest dance where the fungus growing on her will be harvested and shows the society she lives in. Storywise, a good tale but the idea that people could live just on the plants growing on themselves does not really sound plausible.
June 1, 2016
Interesting selection as ever but the runaway highlight is The Re'em Song by Julie C Day. Honourable mention goes to Angel Fire by Christien Gholson.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews