Interzone

Cover:

Jim Burns is Interzone's 2013 cover artist. This is 'Gorgónavis'.

 

Contents:

 

Fiction:

The Machinehouse Worker's Song by Steven J. Dines
illustrated by Wayne Haag

 

Back in the days when we were virtually elbow to elbow in the machinehouse, jagged edges were more numerous but more easily taken care of. If you stepped out of line, you were taken out of the shift. If you were taken out of the shift, you did not eat for two days and you did not drink for one. You did not get a bunk to sleep in either; you slept standing up. Jagged edges in the machinehouse did not stay jagged for long.

 

Triolet by Jess Hyslop
illustrated by David Gentry 

An elderly lady lives at the end of our street. She has hair puffed out like a small white cloud and an air of dwindled grace. She wears bangles round her skinny wrists, floral skirts that reach to her ankles, shoes with Velcro fastenings. Her name is Mrs Entwistle. She grows poems.

 

Sentry Duty by Nigel Brown
illustrated by Wayne Haag

Something approached the human’s skycart. Ssthra held to her sentry post, ears fanned forward. For the moment, her hunger was forgotten: she took guarding the skycart seriously.

 

The Angel at the Heart of the Rain by Aliette de Bodard
illustrated by Richard Wagner 

At first, you believe it is only a matter of time until your aunt joins you. You huddle in a small flat with your younger sister Huong and two other refugees, washing rice that smells only faintly of jasmine, cutting ginger that has grown hard and tasteless in the cupboards where it was hoarded like treasure – and you think of a home so far out of your reach it might be on another planet.

 

Thesea and Astaurius by Priya Sharma
illustrated by Martin Hanford

“Daddy, you’re telling it wrong.”
“Am I?”
Thesea looks up at her husband and daughter.
“You tell it then,” he says to the child.
“King Minos prayed to Poseidon, who sent him a magic bull but Minos didn’t sacrifice it like he was supposed to, so Aphrodite made Minos’ wife fall in love with it.”
Only the gods inflict love as a punishment, Thesea thinks.

 

The Core by Lavie Tidhar
illustrated by Vincent Sammy

In the dark of night, Achimwene awakened. The faint light of Central Station crept into the room through the blinds. It cast a faint glow over the pillow cases and the white crumpled sheet and over the book placed face down on the table beside Achimwene’s side of the bed, a Bill Glimmung mystery, much worn and stained with age.

 

Cat World by Georgina Bruce
illustrated by Richard Wagner 

My sister Oh and I go to the corner shop and buy a packet of Doctor Rain’s Travel Gum. Oh wants Cinnamon Sour, and I want Spearmint Buzz, but Oh wins because she’s older and it’s her money. We run out to the back of the yard. Oh runs with her hands in her pockets, one hand curled around the gum. I am never allowed to carry it because she says I might drop it, but I definitely wouldn’t. We go to the railway line, where the trains used to come down. There’s an overturned crate to sit on and a bit of plastic tarpaulin to haul over our heads. I say, let’s do it at the same time, don’t start without me. And Oh laughs and says everything with you is like that, you never want to do anything by yourself. But some people are just like that, so what are you going to do?

 

2012 James White Award Winner:
You First Meet the Devil at a Church Fete by Shannon Fay 

 

 

Features:

Ansible Link by David Langford

news and obituaries

 

Readers' Poll Results by Martin McGrath

the most popular Interzone stories of 2012 plus readers' comments

 

Book Zone by Jack Deighton, Mathew S. Dent, Maureen Kincaid Speller, Duncan Lunan, Peter Loftus, Barbara Melville, Ian Sales, Peter Tennant, Jonathan McCalmont, Paul Graham Raven, Lawrence Osborn, Ian Hunter, Simon Marshall-Jones

book reviews including The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes (plus author interview by Maureen Kincaid Speller), Planesrunner by Ian McDonald, The Explorer by James Smythe, The Emperor of All Things by Paul Witcover, Herald of the Storm by Richard Ford, The Mad Scientist's Guide to World Domination edited by John Joseph Adams, Wool by Hugh Howey, Abarat: Absolute Midnight + Weaveworld: 25th Anniversary Edition by Clive Barker, The Best of All Possible Worlds by Karen Lord, Adam Robots by Adam Roberts, Dangerous Gifts by Gaie Sebold, Judge Dredd: Day of Chaos: The Fourth Faction by John Wagner/Ben Willsher/Staz Johnson/Colin MacNeil/Henry Flint, Osiris by E.J. Swift, and the start of Jonathan McClamont's new regular column Future Interrupted

 

Mutant Popcorn by Nick Lowe

film reviews including Upstream Color, The Host, Oblivion, Robot & Frank, Iron Man 3, GI Joe: Retaliation, Jack the Giant Slayer, Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters, Oz the Great and Powerful, The Odd Life of Timothy Green, Dark Skies, The Bay

 

Laser Fodder by Tony Lee

DVD and Blu-ray reviews including Journeyman, Life of Pi, Fringe, Dr Who and the Daleks, Daleks' Invasion Earth: 2150AD

 

How To Buy Interzone:

Interzone is available in good shops in the UK, USA and many other countries around the world. If your local shop (in any country) doesn't stock the magazine they should be able to easily order it in for you so please don't hesitate to ask them. You can also buy the magazine from a variety of online retailers, or a version for e-readers from places like Smashwords and Amazon.

The best thing though – for you and for us – is to follow any of the Shop/Buy Now/Subscribe links on this page and take out a subscription direct with us. You'll receive issues much cheaper and faster that way, and the magazine will receive a much higher percentage of the revenue.

 

Flux:

 

Flux is a forthcoming fiction supplement containing exciting stories that we're unable to place in Interzone, Black Static or Crimewave. This will be sent out occasionally to subscribers of both Interzone and Black Static, totally free of charge. You can buy dual subscriptions to Interzone and Black Static securely from the online shop.

 

Lifetime Subscriptions:

The amount you pay is equivalent to ten years’ subscription at the previous rate (ie £210 in the UK), and a lifetime is defined as one which lasts either the lifetime of the subscriber or the lifetime of the magazine. This also applies to sister magazine Black Static, and there is an option to take out a slightly cheaper joint lifetime subscription to both.

These lifetime subscriptions can be found on this website's shop. It goes without saying that such long term subscriptions are of great benefit and support to the magazines, so many thanks to those of you who are taking up the offer.

 

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