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ALBEDO ONE REVIEWS |
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Albedo One's issue 38 |
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Science fiction and fantasy print magazine Interzone has been around for more than 25 years, and has launched the careers of many well-known authors of the genre writing today. Originally edited by David Pringle from 1982 to 2004, editorship then passed to Andy Cox (who is also editor of Black Static). Andy has produced approximately thirty issues of Interzone thus far and has kept the magazine going strong, achieving accolades from authors such as Greg Egan, Michael Moorcock, Arthur C. Clarke, Terry Pratchett and Christopher Fowler. I’ve never read or seen a copy of David Pringle’s Interzone, so I have no sense of comparison to determine what Andy Cox has changed in the format, but reading reprints from the old days in reprint collections and anthologies, I suspect that Cox made the magazine more literary focused with a lesser emphasis on big concept sci-fi ideas and technology/science driven plotlines. The first thing that always strikes me about each issue of Interzone is how beautifully presented it is. Asimov’s, Anolog and Fantasy & Science Fiction, which can match Interzone on story content, have nothing on it in terms of style, layout and artwork. I’m not just talking about the illustrations, both on the cover and internally, for Interzone’s design and brand is up there with the best magazines on any subject. Issue 233, released in March 2011, presents a wonderful semi-abstract sci-fi cover illustration by Richard Wagner that certainly captures the themes of the stories within, and is a little reminiscent of a young Luke Skywalker at home on Tattooine. Interior art, produced in glossy full-colour, is by Ben Baldwin, Russell Morgan and one of my favourite sci-fi artists operating today, Paul Drummond. There are four stories in issue 233, and considering Interzone’s 64 page format, this doesn’t seem like a lot for the length. However, I think Cox is onto something, where the length of the story is not as important as having a great story to tell. The four stories presented are all worth the effort, meeting the first requirement of all fiction; to be entertaining. The novella “The Silver Wind”, by Nina Allan, opens the issue. This is a tale of an alternate or future London where a dictatorial government is in power and the secret police roam the streets and investigate everyone. The British are great at doing totalitarian regime speculative fiction, and Nina Allan presents a perfect example of the genre. Her writing style is also exceptional, and I can see why Andy Cox promoted her as enthusiastically as he did in his introduction. Unfortunately, I found the story to be a little slow to begin with, then it picked up in the middle and got really exciting, only to lose its momentum with an unsatisfactory conclusion. Allan’s ideas of time travel have all been done before (but what hasn’t been done with time travel already?), and I felt that the speculative elements of the story weren’t as well thought through as they should have been. Still, there is enough in the story for me to want to read more of her work. “Tell Me Everything” by Chris Butler is the tightest written and structurally the best story in the issue. I liked it because at first I thought I was reading an Eighteenth Century fantasy piece, with stage coaches, cobbled streets and the like, but there is a physiological characteristic to all the characters that made me wonder if I was not really reading a story about alien bugs on another world, very similar to Earth two hundred years ago. This tale is very clever. A hard sci-fi piece follows, with Ray Cluley’s “Tethered to the Cold and Dying” concerning two survivors of a decimated Earth. They hate each other but stick together because there is no-one else. Characters were great in this one, the dialogue tight and skilled in revealing personalities without needing there to be much said. I particularly liked the descriptions of the space elevator, which is central to the story. I had two downsides; the first was that I felt it to be a little underwritten where more explanation and backstory would have been good, and that the ‘concept ideas’ that are the basis (for me) of any good sci-fi writing were missing. The four stories conclude with “Crosstown Traffic” by Tim Lees, who presents a bizarre New York that reads like a blend of a Martin Scorsese film, a William S. Burroughs novel and Conan Doyle’s The Lost World. A small time criminal courier, who isn’t particularly bright, but thinks he is, gets himself into all kinds of trouble in his attempt to courier a package from one side of Manhattan to the other. This story features alien snot, talking dogs, sirens and dinosaurs, and it is as bizarre as it sounds. Well written and pacey, this was a great piece to end the issue with. The magazine features some very entertaining columns from regular contributors. “Ansible Link” by David Langford provides industry news and obituaries. “Book Zone” collates some rather good reviews, and an interview by Jim Steel with the upcoming and incredibly successful ‘new kid on the block’ sci-fi author, Paolo Bacigalupi (author of the Hugo, Nebula and Locus Award winning The Windup Girl). “Mutant Popcorn” by Nick Lowe covers film reviews while “Laser Folder” by Tony Lee covers DVD and Blu-ray releases. Reading Interzone, I was reminded that science fiction has come a long way from the 1980s when I first discovered the genre. Sci-fi is more literary in the Twenty First Century (let’s face it, a lot of sci-fi, even when the ideas were cool, was badly written), with a stronger emphasis on character and emotion, and better story telling in terms of style and language. I feel Interzone played a significant role in influencing the genre in this direction. This can only be a good thing, as it gives the genre greater credibility and appeal to the wider reading market. I suspect the next thing sci-fi needs is an influx of authors who can do literary and big concept sci-fi. When that happens on a broad scale, it will be exciting times indeed. One of the best speculative fiction magazines on the market today, Interzone is more than worth the investment. Interzone - Issue 233 - 64 pages (March 2011) Review by David Conyers. |
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