Interzone 220 breaks cover

[Roy1]

Cover image

Stories:

Monetized by Jason Stoddard illustrated by Paul Drummond

Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast by Eugie Foster illustrated by Geoffrey Grisso

After Everything Woke Up by Rudy Rucker illustrated by Rudy Rucker

Spy vs Spy by Neil Williamson

Miles to Isengard by Leah Bobet illustrated by Warwick Fraser-Coombe

Memory Dust by Gareth L. Powell illiustrated by Daniel Bristow-Bailey

Features:
Ansible Link by David Langford news, obituaries
Readers’ Poll vote for your favourite stories of 2008
Book Zone book reviews from Jim Steel and the team, including Jeffrey Ford interviewed by Rick Kleffel
Laser Fodder by Tony Lee DVD reviews
Mutant Popcorn by Nick Lowe's film reviews

Out January 2009

 

[Anthony G Williams]

The interview in the latest issue of Interzone is with Jeffrey Ford, author of the Well-Built City trilogy (The Physiognomy, Memoranda, and The Beyond). I've not heard of him or his books before, but they sound very unusual (the books, that is) and worth a look. There's also an interesting article analysing the work of Christopher Priest, whose intriguing alternative World War 2 novel The Separation was reviewed on this blog a while back. And of course the usual news, chat, and book and screen reviews, plus a cover illustration by Adam Tredowski. Now to the six stories:

Monetized by Jason Stoddard (illustrated by Paul Drummond): a future in which everyone is constantly bombarded by exhortations to feature and promote particular products or services, thereby earning money. And the higher their Attention Index (= celebrity), the more money they can earn. A son rebels against the wealthy mother who thought up the whole idea.

Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast by Eugie Foster (illustrated by Geoffrey Grisso): a fantasy in which everyone wears a mask in public – a mask which determines their personalities and the events they are involved in. It is illegal to be seen in public without one, so every morning people have to choose which identity to adopt from their varied collections of masks. But there are some who reject the idea and try to develop their own independent personalities.

After Everything Woke Up by Rudy Rucker (illustrated by himself): in this world, everything has a personality and can be communicated with: each tree, stone, stretch of stream. This is an extract from a forthcoming novel, Hylozoic. Amusing enough in a short story, but I hope there's more to the novel than that.

Spy vs Spy by Neil Williamson: a future in which extreme paranoia is encouraged by companies selling security devices and worse…

Miles to Isengard by Leah Bobet (illustrated by Warwick Fraser-Coombe): a small group hijack the last bomb and drive it to a volcanic crater for disposal, in this LOTR-inspired tale; lots of atmosphere, not much explanation.

Memory Dust by Gareth L Powell (illustrated by Daniel Bristow-Bailey): a strange alien, the last survivor of its race, and a planet which is covered with a black dust with bizarre properties.

A very varied bunch in content and style, but I wouldn't say that I had a particular favourite this time.

(An extract from my SFF blog)

 

[Patrick Mahon]

Anthony, Roy

Thanks for the update and the review. I was in London today for a meeting, and popped into Borders on Oxford Street. They had lots of copies of Interzone 220, so I've now got a copy to read on the train tomorrow.

It's my first look at Interzone - on a quick flick through, it looks really interesting. Looking forward to getting stuck in.

 

[Roy1]

Thanks Patrick, let us know what you think.
I checked Borders in Cambridge this week and thay had a dozen or so copies.
Borders are very good with magazines.

 

[Patrick Mahon]

Roy,
Thanks. I really enjoyed Interzone 220. As Anthony said below, the stories are very varied, both in style and content. I think my favourite was Memory Dust, by Gareth L Powell, for the storyline and for the characterisation of the protagonist, Caesar, who projects an image of a selfish pig, but is motivated by more honourable thoughts underneath.

I also found the Jeffrey Ford interview and commentary very interesting - I'll definitely keep an eye out for his books now.

All in all, very impressive - I'm a convert!

 

[Roy1]

Thanks Patrick there's also a review here if you want to compare impressions. We are glad you liked it.

Out of interest (market research) what made you pick up that issue? Had you seen the magazine before?

 

[Patrick Mahon]

Roy,
No, I'd not seen Interzone before. The reasons for picking it up were two-fold. The main one is that I'm focusing on writing short stories this year (having spent most of the last two years on two novels), and wanted to read some contemporary short sf. Looking around generally, Interzone came up as a key UK outlet for short sf.

And the second point was this discussion thread on Chronicles - I read some of the previous posts, and it encouraged me to have a look at Interzone, particularly when I found out from here that you can buy a single issue from Borders, before deciding whether to subscribe.

 

[Roy1]

Thanks Patrick. TTA also publish a volume of short crime fiction roughly yearly, Crimewave, plus the horror magazine Black Static. see http://ttapress.com/
Plus we review short fiction publications on the Fix, see my earlier post.
Roy