Interzone 12, Summer 1985

by David Pringle (Editor)

52 pages, Unknown Binding

Published June 1, 1985

Reviews

[Kevin Phyland · Rating 3 out of 5]

Michael Bishop regales us with the tale of what Bob Dylan might have done next after finding God (again) in Slow Train Coming. Surprisingly he turns to software writing, specifically religious software for achieving enlightenment. While “The Bob Dylan Tambourine & Satori Support Services Consortium Ltd.” is entertaining enough, I’m not sure what higher level of consciousness the reader is supposed to achieve. Paul J. McAuley takes us to a spaceport where the young Ilya, deliberately kept young by a narcissistic mother, is trying to flee to Luna. She enlists the aid of a loner spacer called Spider and with the help of her portable AI, Box, she seeks a life of her own in “Little Ilya, Spider And Box”. Preston, known as “The Fire Catcher” for his locking out of all the Soviet nuclear missiles, has been plagued by his deeds and is heavily self-medicating, which leads to some fractured atonement in Richard Kadrey’s debut tale. “A Young Man’s Journey To Viriconium” is sort of self-explanatory, except he doesn’t go there despite finding the entrance that Dr. Petromax found. M. John Harrison’s Viriconium is a city which seems to exist either in future Earth or an alternate current one and is reminiscent of Jack Vance and even Lewis Carroll. “Instructions For Exiting This Building In Case Of Fire” by Pamela Zoline is a stream-of-consciousness tale of Cold War shenanigans involving swapping children of enemies as a peace tactic. It plays heavily on the motherhood theme which I think we all wish was plausible. What progressive rock is to music, Interzone is to SF.