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Interzone #273 (November-December 2017): New Science Fiction & Fantasy
The November–December issue of Britain's longest running science fiction and fantasy magazine contains new long and short stories by Laura Mauro, Rachael Cupp, Dan Grace, Erica L. Satifka, R. Boyczuk, and 2017 James White Award winner Stewart Horn. The cover artist for 2017 is Dave Senecal, and interior colour illustrations are by Richard Wagner, Martin Hanford, and Vincent Sammy. Ansible Link by David Langford (news and obits); Mutant Popcorn by Nick Lowe (film reviews); Book Zone (book reviews); Jonathan McCalmont's Future Interrupted (comment); Nina Allan's Time Pieces (comment); and a guest editorial by Erica Satifka.
Cover 417h3r105 v6 by 2017 cover artist Dave Senecal
Looking for Laika by Laura Mauro
illustrated by Richard Wagner
After the Titans by Rachael Cupp
illustrated by Richard Wagner
Fully Automated Nostalgia Capitalism by Dan Grace
The Big So-So by Erica L. Satifka
illustrated by Vincent Sammy
The Garden of Eating by R. Boyczuk
illustrated by Martin Hanford
2017 James White Award
The Morrigan by Stewart Horn
The James White Award is a short story competition open to non-professional writers and is decided by an international panel of judges made up of professional authors and editors. The winning story receives a cash prize, a handsome trophy and publication in Interzone.
Guest Editorial
Erica L. Satifka
Future Genre Culture from Below
Jonathan McCalmont
Time An Autumn Journey
Nina Allan
Ansible News, obituaries
David Langford
Book Zone
Books reviewed include Gnomon by Nick Harkaway, 2084 edited by George Sandison, Raven Stratagem by Yoon Ha Lee, Sweet Dreams by Tricia Sullivan, A Skinful of Shadows by Frances Hardinge, Provenance by Ann Leckie, Blue Shift by Jane O’Reilly, The Emerald Circus by Jane Yolen, Philip K. Dick’s Electric Volume 1, Under the Pendulum Sun by Jeanette Ng, The Overneath by Peter S. Beagle
Mutant Popcorn
Nick Lowe
Films reviewed include Blade Runner 2049, It, Flatliners, Happy Death Day, mother!, Ragnarok, The Ritual, Geostorm, The Golden Circle, The Lego Ninjago Movie
Cover 417h3r105 v6 by 2017 cover artist Dave Senecal
Looking for Laika by Laura Mauro
illustrated by Richard Wagner
After the Titans by Rachael Cupp
illustrated by Richard Wagner
Fully Automated Nostalgia Capitalism by Dan Grace
The Big So-So by Erica L. Satifka
illustrated by Vincent Sammy
The Garden of Eating by R. Boyczuk
illustrated by Martin Hanford
2017 James White Award
The Morrigan by Stewart Horn
The James White Award is a short story competition open to non-professional writers and is decided by an international panel of judges made up of professional authors and editors. The winning story receives a cash prize, a handsome trophy and publication in Interzone.
Guest Editorial
Erica L. Satifka
Future Genre Culture from Below
Jonathan McCalmont
Time An Autumn Journey
Nina Allan
Ansible News, obituaries
David Langford
Book Zone
Books reviewed include Gnomon by Nick Harkaway, 2084 edited by George Sandison, Raven Stratagem by Yoon Ha Lee, Sweet Dreams by Tricia Sullivan, A Skinful of Shadows by Frances Hardinge, Provenance by Ann Leckie, Blue Shift by Jane O’Reilly, The Emerald Circus by Jane Yolen, Philip K. Dick’s Electric Volume 1, Under the Pendulum Sun by Jeanette Ng, The Overneath by Peter S. Beagle
Mutant Popcorn
Nick Lowe
Films reviewed include Blade Runner 2049, It, Flatliners, Happy Death Day, mother!, Ragnarok, The Ritual, Geostorm, The Golden Circle, The Lego Ninjago Movie
254 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 1, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 4, 2018
A below average issue of Interzone, containing eerie tales not quite to my taste. The ones that I found most interesting are by Laura Mauro and the 2017 James White Award Winner story by Stewart Horn.
- "Looking for Laika" by Laura Mauro: a story about a kid living near a beach with his grandparents and younger sister who has a paranoid fear of nuclear war. He fights the fear by keeping to a routine while keeping his sister occupied with a story of the Soviet space dog, Laika, exploring the universe to find a new place to live. Things come to a head when his sister finds a strange dog tag and a tragic event occurs in London.
- "After the Titans" by Rachael Cupp: in a strange time when titan roam the earth, a girl makes an agreement with a titan to heal her injured brother. But it may force her to sacrifice the object of her desires.
- "Fully Automated Nostalgia Capitalism" by Dan Grace: in a future where nostalgia for things past is regulated, a couple tries to escape their regulated lives.
- "The Big So-So" by Erica L. Satifka: in a future, humanity has been divided into those who pass a 'test' via a pleasurable chemical and are accepted by aliens into 'Paradise' and those who do not. Naturally, civilisation has broken down as people not accepted give up hope. But two people want to change things: one by stealing the chemical and the other by raising civilisation again. Only time will tell who succeeds.
- "The Garden of Eating" by R. Boyczuk: a tale of a boy in a brutal post-war like future, looking for food. He is warned by a mysterious guide who intones UN-like 'resolutions' against working with a woman who apparently represents America.
- "The Morrigan" by Stewart Horn: a tale of gang violence as told by one of the gang members in a town when a mysterious girl appears who offers weapons of violence and slowly begins to incite the gang members to take up arms against other gangs. When he survives the violence that ensues, he sets off to hunt down the girl; but is it to bring her to justice or to join her?
- "Looking for Laika" by Laura Mauro: a story about a kid living near a beach with his grandparents and younger sister who has a paranoid fear of nuclear war. He fights the fear by keeping to a routine while keeping his sister occupied with a story of the Soviet space dog, Laika, exploring the universe to find a new place to live. Things come to a head when his sister finds a strange dog tag and a tragic event occurs in London.
- "After the Titans" by Rachael Cupp: in a strange time when titan roam the earth, a girl makes an agreement with a titan to heal her injured brother. But it may force her to sacrifice the object of her desires.
- "Fully Automated Nostalgia Capitalism" by Dan Grace: in a future where nostalgia for things past is regulated, a couple tries to escape their regulated lives.
- "The Big So-So" by Erica L. Satifka: in a future, humanity has been divided into those who pass a 'test' via a pleasurable chemical and are accepted by aliens into 'Paradise' and those who do not. Naturally, civilisation has broken down as people not accepted give up hope. But two people want to change things: one by stealing the chemical and the other by raising civilisation again. Only time will tell who succeeds.
- "The Garden of Eating" by R. Boyczuk: a tale of a boy in a brutal post-war like future, looking for food. He is warned by a mysterious guide who intones UN-like 'resolutions' against working with a woman who apparently represents America.
- "The Morrigan" by Stewart Horn: a tale of gang violence as told by one of the gang members in a town when a mysterious girl appears who offers weapons of violence and slowly begins to incite the gang members to take up arms against other gangs. When he survives the violence that ensues, he sets off to hunt down the girl; but is it to bring her to justice or to join her?
January 15, 2018
A so-so, below average issue for Interzone. The opening story "looking For Laika" is my favorite of the issue, although the story occurs during an unspecified time where it would benefit more if the author was more specific. It's not clear if it occurs in the aftermath of a future apocalypse or if the narrator is sharing memories from a time in Earth's history when the threat of apocalypse was present (and, there's been plenty of those). I did like the author's mythologizing of the first Soviet dog in space and subheadings taken from popular music.
What seems to be the common theme among the stories this issue: vagueness. The writing is good overall, but too many of the stories just end after describing a scene or event and painting the background. I'm a bit disappointed. Even the inclusion of the James White award winning story "The Morrigan" fails to satisfy. It could just as easily be straight up contemporary fiction -- there is just a vague hint of something out of the ordinary involved in the proceedings of a street gang war in Scotland.
What seems to be the common theme among the stories this issue: vagueness. The writing is good overall, but too many of the stories just end after describing a scene or event and painting the background. I'm a bit disappointed. Even the inclusion of the James White award winning story "The Morrigan" fails to satisfy. It could just as easily be straight up contemporary fiction -- there is just a vague hint of something out of the ordinary involved in the proceedings of a street gang war in Scotland.
August 27, 2020
Looking for Laika by Laura Mauro 4.5*
The highlight of the issue, it follows a main protagonist with anxiety who is certain that London is going to fall because of a nuclear bomb. I loved how the story was written, it managed to pull me in the story very quickly and I loved the relationship between the siblings (especially I loved how the sister manages to calm down her brother when he was having a panick attack, the scene brought tears to my eyes). Very good story though I wished we could have learned a bit more about the world.
After the Titans by Rachael Cupp - DNF
Fully Automated Nostalgia Capitalism by Dan Grace - 3.5*
Interesting concept and good writing but it was a bit too short.
The Big So-So by Erica L. Satifka - 4*
What if aliens managed to solve all of humanity's problem by making everyone addict to a drug and then, took it away?
Cool concept, good writing, I'm not too sure about the bittersweet ending.
The Garden of Eating by R. Boyczuk - 2.5*
The Morrigan by Stewart Horn - 3*
The ideas were there but it was too violent for me.
The highlight of the issue, it follows a main protagonist with anxiety who is certain that London is going to fall because of a nuclear bomb. I loved how the story was written, it managed to pull me in the story very quickly and I loved the relationship between the siblings (especially I loved how the sister manages to calm down her brother when he was having a panick attack, the scene brought tears to my eyes). Very good story though I wished we could have learned a bit more about the world.
After the Titans by Rachael Cupp - DNF
Fully Automated Nostalgia Capitalism by Dan Grace - 3.5*
Interesting concept and good writing but it was a bit too short.
The Big So-So by Erica L. Satifka - 4*
What if aliens managed to solve all of humanity's problem by making everyone addict to a drug and then, took it away?
Cool concept, good writing, I'm not too sure about the bittersweet ending.
The Garden of Eating by R. Boyczuk - 2.5*
The Morrigan by Stewart Horn - 3*
The ideas were there but it was too violent for me.
January 26, 2021
Meanwhile, a strong tale in itself (more subtle and tantalising than I can give justice to here) of Earth invasion by aliens who sift us by various means of brain examination as a guide to our pecking-order of usage to them, and of pleasure-juice leading to an eventual realisation or outcome, all told via the story of feisty Dorcas in rebellion and trying to co-opt the pleasure-juice from the aliens, told by her friend as narrator, a woman who is asked whether she loves Dorcas…. And a dysphonic band that I am glad I did not hear! And ravelling and unravelling, by the way, mean the same thing. Themes from Laika and Titans and Nostalgia Capitalism in telling backdrop.
The detailed review of this book posted elsewhere under my name is too long or impractical to post here.
Above is one of my 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 my observations at the time of the review.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews