The latest issue of Ireland's leading magazine of speculative fiction has one of the Aeon Press award winners, and the latest story in a sequence from Bruce McAllister.
James Gunn
This latest issue is dominated by three Americans; the magazine opens with the first of them, American James Gunn, recipient of the 2006 Damon Knight Grand Master Award from the Science Fiction Writers of America. Gunn has taught for many years at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas, and it's likely that his award was as much for his scholastic endeavours as for his moderate ouevre. The magazine boasts a 9000 word interview with him which touches on these and other things, such as his work with television, and which concludes with the disappointing news that a writer of his stature is unable to find a major publisher for his latest novel, because it's 'too intelligent.' That may be code, but if not it is a distressing indictment of the publishing industry.
Aeon Award
Judged by Ian Watson, the third place prize for this year's Aeon Award has been won by Alison Francisco for her 'The Better To See You With,' which neatly straddles the hinterland between fantasy and horror. It's a well written story about a mystery photographer capturing the essence, soul, aspect (the reader may call it what they will) of children in small town USA. That the author uses only the protagonists surnames initially proves confusing, as children are usually called by their first names, but that's not as damaging to the story's credibility as the idea that a lone adult with a camera could hang around a children's playground for days on end without attracting attention from adults. If the reader can overcome these obstacles, Francisco writes a satisfyingly disturbing narrative.
Another resident of Lawrence, Kansas, Aaron Polson's 'Precious Metal' is arguably the best of the stories, a short-short about an old man in a junkyard building mechanical birds and animals from scrap after an unnamed apocalypse, the gangsters who threaten him, and a clockwork crow which has an odd fairytale quality to it. Brief yet poignant, and outstanding.
Priya Sharma's 'The Nature of Bees' tells of a woman coming into her summer late. She blossomed at the age of thirty-eight, a time when most women are past ripeness, their fruit sampled and discarded. It's a beautifully written fantasy of one woman's visit to a mysterious country estate. Highly Recommended.
DesignA couple of asides about design at this point. It's rare for Albedo One to include author's website addresses in their bios, which is odd given the interest that readers often have in new names. Perhaps authors don't provide them, but maybe the editors might wish to include these in future? But on a more positive note, the scattering of reviews to throughout the magazine is a welcome change.
Two of the lesser pieces follow;
Film director Martin Belderson makes an authorial debut with 'The Hot Chocolate Rocket,' an extended shaggy dog story that has some laugh-out loud moments. Recommended. Meanwhile, American Matthew F. Perry debuts with 'The Child,' a so-so horror story about a possessed child.
Bruce McAllister
Veteran author Bruce McAllister concludes the fiction with 'Heart of Hearts,' another episode from his forthcoming novel The Village That Sang to the Sea: A Memoir of Magic, which has already contributed to both F & SF and Asimovs this year. It's a beautiful, haunting story of teenage love in Italy in 1960, that's as much about the magic of storytelling as witchcraft. Outstanding.
With a cover from American Jacob Probelski, this is another excellent issue from a much under-rated magazine.
Colin Harvey - Author six novels, and editor of four anthologies; professional reviewer since 2003, including six years at Strange Horizons. Member of ...
