The May/June issue of Interzone features the usual stunning internal art, book reviews, and reviews of films and DVDs such as Avatar and The Lovely Bones , and two stories, either of which alone would be worth the magazine's cover price.
Stories:
The fiction section opens with 'The Untied States of America by Mario Milosevic,' which has a great concept but is let down by a lack of rigour. Seventy years after seperatists have used rock-eating pellets to chew down through the earth to set the continental USA adrift, Susie maintains a lonely vigil on the edge of Washington State for potential collisions with other drifting states. It's a lovely conceit that works less and less the more thought the reader gives it. Disappointing, although the illustration by Dave Senecal is marvellous.
Much better is 'Iron Monk,' which marks the debut of Melissa Yuan-Innes. A doomed mission to meet a group of aliens who may or may not exist is made more problematic when the crew begin to exhibit signs of radiation sickness. It's an effective piece of traditional SF re-energized by flashes of Chinese culture. Recommended, as is the illustration by Jim Burns
David D. Levine
David D. Levine returns after a nine-year absence with 'A Passion For Art,' the latest exhibit in the mysterious-goings-on-in-the-museum sub-genre which regularly surface in various media. Parts of artworks are disappearing without trace and a failing security consultant is given one last chance to turn his life around.
It's opening, Tuesday is Free Day at the Art Institute of Chicago, and the revolving door never stops turning. The old black rubber seals on the door thump with a steady rhythm, like a giant heart, and each beat pumps more people into the dark and cool of the marble-floored lobby conjures memories of Zelazny's classic 'A Museum Piece,' but it's far darker, and lingers nicely in the mind. Highly Recommended.
Jason Sanford
After the below-average 'Into the Depths of Illuminated Seas, ' Jason Sanford returns with his fourth appearance in five issues with the outstanding 'Plague Birds,' a novelette that's breath-taking in its audacity. Millennia after humanity changed almost out of recognition, groups of AIs have been created to guide pockets of humanity back to its original ungened state. Vengeful AIs, humans still at war with their animal instincts, and plague-carrying warriors are still secondary to sympathetic charcaters with tough decisions to make. It's a story to remind jaded reviewers why they fell in love with SF in the first place.
Finally, 'Over Water' by Jon Ingold takes us to a drowned world, in which iron towers rise from the sea, and the intrepid traveller may enter The Library of Future Knowledge. Hovering beautifully on the cusp of fantasy and SF until the final few revelatory pages, Ingold's marvellous use of language delights more and more with each page. Outstanding, as is the art of Richard Wagner
Features:
There are the usual contributions from David Langford, the Readers' Poll results which are supplied by Martin McGrath, and the usual reviews.
In the BookZone Jim Steel's team review Norman Spinrad's He Walked Among Us and other titles, while Paul Kincaid interviews Gene Wolfe and reviews his latest novel The Sorcerer's House. Tony Lee's Laser Fodder has DVD/Blu-Ray reviews of Avatar, Sherlock Holmes and The Prisoner, among others.
Finally, BSFA Award-winner Nick Lowe's Mutant Popcorn features reviews of new film releases including Kick-Ass, Alice in Wonderland, Clash of the Titans, How to Train Your Dragon and The Lovely Bones.
Interzone 228 gets better and better as the magazine progresses, and a slightly weak opening is more than compensated for by the two best stories at the end.
Colin Harvey - Author six novels, and editor of four anthologies; professional reviewer since 2003, including six years at Strange Horizons. Member of ...
