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Interzone #292-293 Double Issue: New Science Fiction and Fantasy
New long and short stories by Rich Larson, Alexander Glass, Jeff Noon, Val Nolan, Tamika Thompson, Cécile Cristofari, Justen Russell, Lucy Zhang, Charles Wilkinson; Alexander Glass interviewed; Climbing Stories by Aliya Whiteley; Ansible Link by David Langford; Mutant Popcorn by Nick Lowe; wraparound cover art by Vincent Sammy and story illustrations by Vince Haig, Richard Wagner, Dave Senecal, Ev Shipard, Ben Baldwin and others; guest editorial by Gareth Jelley.
303 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 21, 2022
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April 3, 2023
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August 21, 2024Die letzte Ausgabe im alten Format und die letzte Ausgabe, die von Andy Cox herausgegeben wurde.
October 24, 2022
Again an Interzone double bill, but this is the last issue under the editorship of Andy Cox. The next will be published by Gareth Jelley - from MYY Press in Wrocław. There were no reviews this time.
In Wet Dreams by Rich Larson a man is asked to look after his (stoner) neighbours’ cat. It begins to glow and, very quickly, develops a growth.
The Pain Barrier by Alexander Glass seems to take inspiration from the tale of Orpheus where the prison/debtor city of New Penitence takes the place of the underworld. Joseph Walker enters it illegally to try to rescue Ariette, whose memories of him have been removed.
The same author’s The Faerie Engine is an odd concoction utilising a fairly standard fantasy representation of Borderlanders slipping between the real and the faerie realms but the mechanism of the title is real, made of cold iron, though in need of repair to preserve the twilight world for a little longer.
The Soul Doctors, again by Alexander Glass, is a story with noir sensibilities about shifters between parallel worlds in some of which souls are important and can be surgically harvested and transplanted from others where they are not.
Thank You, Clicking Person by Jeff Noon is narrated by an AI system learning how to be human by monitoring the clicks on the nine squares of website security verification tests. But it is perhaps too late. (This reminded me of an - unpublished - story of mine with a similar vibe. Damn!)
Subira’s Lattice by Val Nolan is set mostly on a partly terraformed Venus where a creeping crystallisation threatens the inhabitants and deep down in the bedrock evidence of a past civilisation has been found.
Walking in from the West by Charles Wilkinson draws on the author’s Welsh home background in this tale of a deluge-ridden future. A fastidious and narcissistic former businessman’s solitude (apart from a manservant in his own image) has been disturbed by the building by people with a New Age tendency of a family home just down a Welsh hillside from his own. The woman, Sylvia, has the gift of reassembly. The moment we’re told this we know where the story is going. It’s effective enough even so.
Wind, River, Angel Song by Cécile Cristofari is perhaps a reaction to Covid. A plague of some sort, carried by the wind, or rivers, is turning people into trees. But human life goes on.
The Thing About Ants and Astronauts by Justen Russell employs an over-egged metaphor in a tale about humans exploring the Blackheart Nebula.
The well-written and beautifully constructed Bridget Has Disappeared by Tamika Thompson is the story of a journalist who finds his wife literally vanishes from their home without explanation and then reappears later; but she denies all knowledge of this. Does she have some sort of weird ability or is she the tool of aliens bent on removing wasteful things from the universe?
Rusting by Lucy Zhang is the story of a metal sex-worker succumbing to an ailment called rusting, being shunned and then possibly disposed of. It doesn’t conclude so much as just stop.
In Wet Dreams by Rich Larson a man is asked to look after his (stoner) neighbours’ cat. It begins to glow and, very quickly, develops a growth.
The Pain Barrier by Alexander Glass seems to take inspiration from the tale of Orpheus where the prison/debtor city of New Penitence takes the place of the underworld. Joseph Walker enters it illegally to try to rescue Ariette, whose memories of him have been removed.
The same author’s The Faerie Engine is an odd concoction utilising a fairly standard fantasy representation of Borderlanders slipping between the real and the faerie realms but the mechanism of the title is real, made of cold iron, though in need of repair to preserve the twilight world for a little longer.
The Soul Doctors, again by Alexander Glass, is a story with noir sensibilities about shifters between parallel worlds in some of which souls are important and can be surgically harvested and transplanted from others where they are not.
Thank You, Clicking Person by Jeff Noon is narrated by an AI system learning how to be human by monitoring the clicks on the nine squares of website security verification tests. But it is perhaps too late. (This reminded me of an - unpublished - story of mine with a similar vibe. Damn!)
Subira’s Lattice by Val Nolan is set mostly on a partly terraformed Venus where a creeping crystallisation threatens the inhabitants and deep down in the bedrock evidence of a past civilisation has been found.
Walking in from the West by Charles Wilkinson draws on the author’s Welsh home background in this tale of a deluge-ridden future. A fastidious and narcissistic former businessman’s solitude (apart from a manservant in his own image) has been disturbed by the building by people with a New Age tendency of a family home just down a Welsh hillside from his own. The woman, Sylvia, has the gift of reassembly. The moment we’re told this we know where the story is going. It’s effective enough even so.
Wind, River, Angel Song by Cécile Cristofari is perhaps a reaction to Covid. A plague of some sort, carried by the wind, or rivers, is turning people into trees. But human life goes on.
The Thing About Ants and Astronauts by Justen Russell employs an over-egged metaphor in a tale about humans exploring the Blackheart Nebula.
The well-written and beautifully constructed Bridget Has Disappeared by Tamika Thompson is the story of a journalist who finds his wife literally vanishes from their home without explanation and then reappears later; but she denies all knowledge of this. Does she have some sort of weird ability or is she the tool of aliens bent on removing wasteful things from the universe?
Rusting by Lucy Zhang is the story of a metal sex-worker succumbing to an ailment called rusting, being shunned and then possibly disposed of. It doesn’t conclude so much as just stop.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews