Interzone

"Interzone", issue 251

2014-04-30 · in Books, Interzone · 79 words

John Grant's Ghost Story is the standout here — very good indeed. Karl Bunker's Ashes is a smart take on the Singularity, and I'd love to have the illustration for it (by Jim Burns) as a poster. Trace Welser's A Doll Is Not A Dumpling has some nice ideas, although I wish it hadn't followed the general trend of ending with the death of its protagonist (at least Gareth L. Powell's This Is How You Die is upfront about it).

"Interzone", issue 250

2014-04-26 · in Books, Interzone · 36 words

Again, the illustrations in this issue were great. A pretty abstract set of stories this time — I liked Greg Kurzawa's Predvestniki, and thought Georgina Bruce's Wake Up, Phil was splendidly weird, hitting exactly the intended note.

"Interzone", issue 249

2014-01-27 · in Books, Interzone · 32 words

A good set of stories — I liked all of these, particularly Tim Lees' Unknown Cities of America, which feels like it ought to be a Dave Carter song. Some lovely illustrations too.

"Interzone", issue 248

2014-01-19 · in Books, Interzone · 77 words

It's been several years since I last had an Interzone subscription. I like the new format: smaller overall, with less glossy paper. Some excellent illustrations in this issue.

My clear favourite here was The Hareton K-12 County School and Adult Extension by James van Pelt; I'm a sucker for interesting worldbuilding, and this story was essentially all worldbuilding. I also liked Sean McMullen's Technarion — bigger-picture not-quite-steampunk without the padding — and Ken Altabef's short, elegant Il Teatro Oscuro.

"Interzone", issue 206

2010-04-25 · in Books, Interzone · 59 words

I liked: "The Beekeper" by Jamie Barras, "The New Chinese Wives" by Will McIntosh, "Karel's Prayer" by Chris Beckett, "The Ship" by Robert Davies and "The Nature of the Beast" by Jae Brim. I thought some of this issue's stories could have done with some more heavy-handed editing, though — some distinctly wacky grammar and punctuation.

Available from TTA Press.

"Interzone", issue 205

2010-04-13 · in Books, Interzone · 60 words

I stopped subscribing to Interzone a few years ago, but I still had a couple of issues sitting around that I'd not read...

I liked Sean McMullen's "The Measure of Eternity", Justin Stanchfield's "In the River", and Rudy Rucker/Terry Bisson's "2+2=5". The other two stories and the non-fiction articles didn't especially grab me this time round.

Available from TTA Press.

"Interzone", issue 204

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.

"Interzone", issue 203

2006-05-15 · in Books, Interzone · 142 words

April 2006 issue of this SF magazine, tending somewhat more toward the macabre than the last couple of issues. "The Furthest Schorr" (Paul Di Fillipo) had a neat conceit -- a collection of 32 shorts based on paintings -- but didn't really take itself seriously enough. "Among The Living" (Karen D. Fishler) was excellent, as was the final part to "After The Party" (Richard Calder). "Ten With A Flag" (Joseph Paul Haines) was very Philip K. Dick, and probably the strongest story here. I didn't care much for "The American Dead" (Jay Lake), and thought "Wane" (Elizabeth Bear) significantly weaker than the previous mystery in the series; perhaps I would have enjoyed it more as part of a book with a bit more background. Once again, the next issue has arrived just as I've got around to reading this one...

Available from TTA Press.

"Interzone" issue 202

2006-04-08 · in Books, Interzone · 166 words

Another issue of the SF magazine. I liked "The Unsolvable Deathtrap" (Jack Mangan) and the continuation of "After the Party" (Richard Calder; which really ought to be a full novel), and thought "The Last Reef" (Gareth Lyn Powell) was pretty good if a bit short on proper ending. "Sundowner Sheila" (F. Gwynplaine MacIntyre) was interesting but didn't feel polished enough; "The Macrobe Conservation Project" (Carlos Hernandez) was just downright creepy, if at least competently so.

The other content's a bit of a mixed bag: the book, film and manga reviews are good -- not least for a not-very-positive review of "Serenity", with which I largely agree -- but the Terry Pratchett article is a great example of how not to do an interview. I do wonder why they chose large format and glossy paper for the magazine; it does make the text rather hard to read (particularly when it's 11pt, in fully-justified columns six inches wide, set in purple on a dark brown background).

Available from TTA Press.

"Interzone" issue 201

2006-01-15 · in Books, Interzone · 67 words

This was a Christmas present -- thanks Sarah, Ian, Hannah and Bethan! I'd read SF magazines before, but for some reason I'd never previously encountered Interzone. While the subject matter's perhaps a bit less varied than I'd like, there were a number of interesting stories here, and I'm looking forward to reading the next issue (which, happily, arrived just as I finished this one).

Available from TTA Press.