Interzone

Cover:

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

 

Contents:

 

Fiction:

The Pursuit of the Whole is Called Love by L.S. Johnson
illustrated by Wayne Haag

Today I am to be a boy; Cam, a girl.

She tells me this as she crouches over our sleep-slicked nest, painting her hair brown with her fingers, drawing it out longer and longer until the curls brush the wings of her shoulderblades. Behind her the television speaks in bright voices and static; she turns to it, distracted, her beautiful red eyes turning blue in its glow, her hips swelling in its waves of light and sound. She mimics the woman on the screen, twisting her torso to and fro, pressing her buttocks together. Her fingers are perfectly straight when she picks up the imagined bottle of water and strokes its long sides. Silently she mouths its magical properties, casting the world into a state of thirst.

 

Automatic Diamanté by Philip Suggars
illustrated by Richard Sampson 

I have lots of dreams [sequences of involuntary sleep images]. I’ve told them all to my therapist, Derrida. He is a specialist in withdrawal cases. I am still learning about people. I want to like them. 10024. I want them to like me too, though I worry [anxiety, fear] that Derrida and I are not communicating well.

 

Just As Good by Jacob A. Boyd
illustrated by Richard Wagner

One day, the Exchange wasn’t real. I cake-walked through my Freshman finals, Amy covered the fridge with new drawings of our tabby Rodeo, and Mom started coffee before powering up her work-at-home laptop. Waiting for the coffeemaker’s beep, I lounged in my pajamas at our cluttered kitchen table, coiling the end of my ponytail around a finger and a thought – I would lean back into summer and let it catch me. The next day, Mom and Dad divorced, and the Exchange showed up.

 

The Cloud Cartographer by V.H. Leslie
illustrated by Martin Hanford

The plain stretched boundlessly into the distance, an uninterrupted path of white. Frontier land as untouched as virgin snow. The wind at this height blew unrestrained, buffeting the terrain, shaping it, creating a rolling appearance like the crests of waves ebbing and flowing against the horizon. It looked pure, solid from afar, but when up close, in the midst of it, you could see how insubstantial it was. Not even white but a medley of misty colours, grey or blue or pink. In a certain light, you could almost see the particles, the ground grainy underfoot as if you were seeing it drunk. If you looked at it too hard, at the hazy floor beneath your feet, your body would become conscious of the laws it defied and it was easy to imagine yourself plummeting back to earth. So you kept your eyes level with a point at the horizon and kept on walking. 

 

Futile the Winds by Rebecca Schwarz
illustrated by Daniel Bristow-Bailey

The plant died in her hand, but first it sprouted and grew. Feathery, transparent roots twined around her fingers. A delicate stem rose unsteadily, the cotyledons at the top balled like a pair of tiny fists. The roots thickened, clasping her hand and wrapping around her wrist. The speed of growth was astounding. A breakthrough at last, she thought, her heart pounding. Her head spun and her eyes filled with tears.

 

The Frog King's Daughter by Russ Colson
illustrated by Richard Wagner

Arnie Ashton didn’t remember much from his years as a CEO, although sometimes when he lassoed a fly on his sticky tongue he found the idea of eating insects vaguely repulsive. More than anything else, he remembered his daughter, Amy. Surprising, since he’d paid so little attention to her in the busyness of his former life. But she often came down from the house to toss stones in his little pond, and that kept her in his thoughts.

 

Features:

Ansible Link by David Langford

news and obituaries

 

Book Zone by Jim Steel, Paul Kincaid, Jack Deighton, Jonathan McCalmont, Duncan Lunan, Iain Emsley, Juliet E. McKenna, Ian Sales, Simon Marshall-Jones, Peter Loftus, Ian Hunter, Stephen Theaker, Paul F. Cockburn, Matthew S. Dent, Tony Lee, Lawrence Osborn, Andy Hedgecock

book reviews including Nod by Adrian Barnes, The Peacock Cloak by Chris Beckett, The Science of Discworld IV by Terry Pratchett, Ian Stewart & Jack Cohen, Vurt / Pollen by Jeff Noon, Gemsigns by Stephanie Saulter, Seoul Survivors by Naomi Foyle, The Curve of the Earth by Simon Morden, The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey, Solaris Rising 2 edited by Ian Whates, Shadows of the New Sun: Stories in Honor of Gene Wolfe edited by J.E. Mooney & Bill Fawcett, The Folded Man by Matt Hill, Across the Event Horizon by Mercurio D. Rivera, Slaíne: The Grail War by Pat Mills, Nick Percival & Steve Tappin, The Warring States by Aidan Harte, Burnt Island by Alice Thompson, plus Jonathan McClamont's new regular column Future Interrupted

 

Mutant Popcorn by Nick Lowe

film reviews including Man of Steel, Star Trek Into Darkness, World War Z, After Earth, This is the End, The Purge, Byzantium, Epic, Despicable Me 2, Robosapien

 

Laser Fodder by Tony Lee

DVD and Blu-ray reviews including Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn, Cloud Atlas, Oz the Great and Powerful, Falling Skies Season 2, Robot & Frank, Scream and Scream Again, Devil Girl From Mars, The Invisible Man (TV series), Quest For Fire

 

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, Amazon, iTunes etc.

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 more discounted 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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