2006-07-06 · in Books, Interzone · 164 words

The best issue I've read yet of this SF magazine -- at least to my taste. The artwork's especially nice (presumably owing to the John Picacio interview that opens this issue).

"Longing for Langalana" (Mercurio D. Rivera) is an unusually romantic take on the first-contact standard; I can imagine it making a good short film. "The Song" (Tim Akers) is a short, elegant look at obsession with music. I found "Palestina" (Martin J. Gidron) an unobjectionable bit of alternate-history writing; it's not really my genre, but this is competently-written. "The Rising Tide" (C.A.L.) is perhaps what you'd get if William Gibson tried to write a story in the 60s space-opera style. "Summer's End" (Jamie Barras) was my favourite here; a vignette of life after the invasion of Earth. "A Short History of the Dream Library" (Elizabeth Hopkinson) was the winner of a contest for non-professional authors; it's a rather fun Lem-esque comedy, and I'd like to read more of Hopkinson's work.

Available from TTA Press.