IZ219 will be on its way to subscribers and on sale in some UK shops (the rest to follow) by the 13th November.

Cover art is a digital, colorized version of an original painting by Kenn Brown of Mondolithic Studio called The Traveler.

Stories:

Everything That Matters by Jeff Spock
illustrated by Kenn Brown

When Thorns Are The Tips Of Trees by Jason Sanford
illustrated by Vincent Chong

The Shenu by Alexander Marsh Freed

The Fifth Zhi by Mercurio D. Rivera
illustrated by Paul Drummond

The Country Of The Young by Gord Sellar
illustrated by Daniel Bristow-Bailey

Butterfly, Falling At Dawn by Aliette de Bodard
illustrated by Paul Drummond

Features:

Editorial: Hope Springs Eternal

Ansible Link by David Langford
news, obituaries

Book Zone by Various
book reviews, Tim Lebbon interview, competitions

Laser Fodder by Tony Lee
DVD reviews and competitions

Mutant Popcorn by Nick Lowe
film reviews

More details to follow. Meanwhile, subscribe now!

Tags: Alexander Marsh Freed • Aliette de Bodard • Ansible • Book Reviews • Daniel Bristow-Bailey • David Langford • DVD reviews • film reviews • Gord Sellar • INTERZONE • Jason Sanford • Jeff Spock • Kenn Brown • Mercurio D Rivera • Mondolithic • Nick Lowe • Paul Drummond • Tim Lebbon • Tony Lee • Vincent Chong

A few days behind schedule (not our fault – illness at the printing factory) Black Static 7 is now on its way to subscribers and contributors. We hope you enjoy it. Register for the forum and let us know!

Cover and all original art is by David Gentry (click the image to see it bigger) and it is full of dark and troubling things:

Stories by Bruce Holland Rogers, Trent Hergenrader, Eric Gregory, Daniel Kaysen, Tony Richards, Alison J. Littlewood, David Sakmyster.

Regular editorial by Stephen Volk, Christopher Fowler, Mike O’Driscoll.

White Noise news compiled by Peter Tennant.

Blood Spectrum by Tony Lee: DVD reviews covering Who Saw Her Die?, Lost Boys 2: The Tribe, The Wizard of Gore, Shutter (2008), BTK, Dante 01, Chemical Wedding, Day of the Dead (2008), Dead Space: Downfall, Vexille, The Happening, Tin Man, The Flock, P2, The Vanguard, Outpost, Solstice, The Short Films of David Lynch, Eraserhead, Caligula Imperial Edition, Days of Darkness, Bone Dry, Timber Falls, Reservoir Dogs Collector’s Edition, The Guard Post, The Dead Girl, Salò (reissue), plus easy to enter competitions to win a lot of these. NB: you don’t have to wait till your copy arrives to enter: the competitions are on the forum already. (Open to active subscribers only.)

Case Notes by Peter Tennant: book reviews, featurettes and interviews covering new titles by Gary Braunbeck, Sarah Pinborough, Gord Rollo, Brian Keene, John Everson, Edward Lee, Thomas Ligotti, Stephen Gregory, Suzy McKee Charnas, Nicholas Pekearo, Tim Lebbon. Interviews with Leisure’s Don D’Auria and Tim Lebbon.

Subscribe now!

Tags: Alison J Littlewood • Black Static • books • Brian Keene • Bruce Holland Rogers • Christopher Fowler • Daniel Kaysen • David Gentry • David Sakmyster • Don D'Auria • DVD • Edward Lee • Eric Gregory • Gary Braunbeck • Gord Rollo • Horror • Interviews • John Everson • Mike O'Driscoll • Nicholas Pekearo • Peter Tennant • reviews • Sarah Pinborough • Stephen Gregory • Stephen Volk • stories • Suzy McKee Charnas • Thomas Ligotti • Tim Lebbon • Tony Lee • Tony Richards • Trent Hergenrader

We are expecting delivery of Paul Meloy’s much anticipated story collection Islington Crocodiles on the 11th September. Copies that have been pre-ordered, particularly those overseas copies, will be despatched immediately unless you want to pick up your copy at FantasyCon, where I’m sure author and other contributors will be happy to sign the book for you.

Paul Meloy published his first story in The Third Alternative (now Black Static – thanks Paul!). ‘The Last Great Paladin of Idle Conceit’ was a truly remarkable debut, and he followed it with stories like ‘Raiders’, ‘Don’t Touch the Blackouts’, ‘Dying in the Arms of Jean Harlow’ and the British Fantasy Award winning ‘Black Static’. We decided to publish a later story, ‘Islington Crocodiles’, in Interzone, which gained Paul a lot of new fans (as well as, it’s fair to say, leaving some IZ readers slack-jawed!).

All these stories are collected here, along with several others published elsewhere, including ‘The Vague’ (published outside Britain in the British Invasion anthology) and two previously unpublished stories ‘The Last Place on Earth for Snow’ and ‘An Ocean by Handfuls’.

Paul can also count amongst his fans writers like Joe Hill, Charlie Williams, Tim Lebbon, and Graham Joyce who provides a wonderful introduction to this collection. As does Paul’s long time friend and first reader, and my Interzone colleague David Mathew.

Award winning artist Vincent Chong also made his debut in The Third Alternative, and illustrated many of Paul Meloy’s stories there, plus ‘Islington Crocodiles’ in Interzone. It’s only right, then, that some of Vinny’s work on those stories graces this book’s cover. The main image (tinted red for this book) is The Toyceivers (illustration originally for ‘Islington Crocodiles’) and the smaller image on the back cover is The Coleopterist (illustration originally for ‘Dying in the Arms of Jean Harlow’). I hope you’re intrigued and want to find out more about Toyceivers, The Coleopterist, and even more intrigued when I mention that you can also meet characters like Nurse Melt and Doctor Mocking…

(click the image for a larger view)

Here are a few nice things said by nice people:

“Paul Meloy is unique. No other writer plumbs the dream pool to such depths and sculpts addictive fiction from the awful things he finds there. He is the comedian that Hieronymous Bosch never was, the philosopher that Tommy Cooper failed to be. Make no mistake: Meloy is one of the most relevant writers in the world today. And these stories are pure gold. Treasure them” Charlie Williams

“Meloy’s voice is startlingly original, his stories both shocking and beautiful, and this book is destined to become a classic” Tim Lebbon

“In the stories of Paul Meloy – where walk the living dead, genetically modified pandas, and the mad and terrible Nurse Melt, among others – raw, tell-it-like-it-is comedy brawls with trippy horror in a cage match for the human soul. Take a front row seat. Try not to get any blood on you” Joe Hill

“Crisp and inventive, fresh and distinctive. Really, an unmissable gig!” Graham Joyce

Tim Lebbon also said recently that Islington Crocodiles is “the one book you must buy this year,” causing another flurry of orders. You might want to get in quickly. Buy it here. And enjoy!

Tags: Black Static • Charlie Williams • David Mathew • Graham Joyce • INTERZONE • Islington Crocodiles • Joe Hill • Paul Meloy • The Third Akternative • Tim Lebbon • Vincent Chong