INTERZONE #222 (2009)

Behind the gorgeous Adam Tredowski cover of Britain's best science fiction/fantasy magazine lurk six new short stories, covering pretty much the full spectrum of the genres.

‘Johnny and Emmie-Lou Get Married’ by Kim Lakin-Smith is the age old story of two youths from rival gangs getting married, complete with attendant car chase. A familiar but vividly written tale, it’s just a shame the SF trappings aren’t more integral to the story, which with only minor tweaks might as well been set in the 1950’s.

‘Unexpected Outcomes’ by Tim Pratt opens with the familiar territory of the ‘9/11’ attack on of the Twin Towers, then spins it into offbeat SF territory as the entirety of human existence is revealed to be a scientific experiment. Smoothly written, with a brilliant twist that takes the intriguing premise to the next level, this is a wonderful little tale, and highly recommended.

‘Lady of the White-Spired City’ by Sarah L. Edwards is pleasant but rather less spectacular fare, with a moody but ultimately rather minor tale of a diplomats return home, and the dislocation from her past she suffers due to the effects of relativistic space travel.

‘Microcosmos’ by Nina Allan is an incredibly subtle piece, with a family trip to visit an isolated relative disturbing hidden undercurrents. As the title suggests, all the action here is beneath the surface, and mostly unspoken. It’s arguable whether this qualifies as science fiction at all, with this feeling more like a tale from Interzone’s sister magazine Black Static, but regardless of what label you slap on it, it’s effective stuff.

‘Ys’ by Aliette De Bodard is an enjoyable and effective modern fantasy, in which a woman finds herself carrying the child of an underwater goddess.

Finally ‘Mother of Champions’ by Sean McMullen is a quirky SF industrial thriller, with conservationists’ attempts to improve upon the ‘perfection’ of Cheetahs leading to disastrous consequences. On its own terms this story works well enough, with a satisfying dénouement unfolding from the given premise, though this reader found the central idea of super intelligent cats ruling the world is a little difficult to take seriously.

All in all another enjoyable issue, with some interesting and enjoyable stories, and recommended for anyone with an interest in reading modern science fiction and fantasy.
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MARY SHELLEY – ‘FRANKENSTEIN, OR THE MODERN PROMETHEUS’ (1818)

Whilst perhaps the most famous horror story of all time, it is nonetheless more often than not the Hollywood retelling of Mary Shelley’s tale that looms largest in the public mind. As such it is refreshing to discover just how different this original version is to the various filmic adaptations, with a distinct lack of Gothic castles, hunchbacked henchmen, torch-bearing villagers and bolt-necked monsters brought to life by bolts of lightening. Indeed, it is in Frankenstein’s creature that the differences are most felt, as instead of the silent or monosyballic movie monster Shelley presents a thoughtful, lucid and highly intelligent creature, fully capable of arguing its case and presenting its own side of the story. Whilst the sections describing the creature’s growth from ignorant animal to educated individual are among the novel’s weakest, stretching credulity beyond any reasonable bounds, the result is crucial in giving the creature enough depth to evoke the reader’s sympathies. Indeed, in spite of the numerous cold blooded murders committed by Frankenstein’s creature, it is difficult not to lay the bulk of the blame at the hand’s of the scientist himself, not for having created a monster, but in having failed to take responsibility for his creation. As much as the novel provides a warning against the results of man overreaching himself, it just as strongly presents an argument against the practice of judging by appearances, with the monster’s failure to find acceptance leading both himself and his creator into a downward spiral of entwined tragedy.

As a novel, ‘Frankenstein’ can occasionally suffer from a slightly languid pace, but the assured prose and interesting epistolary construction make this an engaging read, and one would have to have a heart of stone not to be moved by the emotional dénouement.

OSCAR WILDE – ‘THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY’ (1891)

Oscar Wilde’s only novel holds an intriguing relationship with the author himself, in many ways echoing the mirrored existence of Dorian Gray and his all-too revealing portrait. Despite the author’s protestations that ‘To reveal art and conceal the artist is art’s aim’ it is impossible to read this tale of a man destroyed by his secret desires without musing on Wilde’s own downfall. Whilst the revised text of the full-length novel version downplays the more overt homosexual references of the original magazine publication, the subtext is nigh on impossible to miss. Dorian is ultimately corrupted during the course of the narrative by a fictional mysterious book, which only adds another layer of irony when considering that ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ was itself presented at Wilde’s trial as a ‘perverted’ book.

Ultimately however, regardless of its background details, what makes this novel so enjoyable is Wilde’s beautiful use of language. Rich in style throughout, the novel shifts smoothly between the more lightweight comedic banter of decadent fop Lord Henry Wotton, and the moody and ultimately horrific downward spiral of Dorian as he tries to indulge his every desire. At times Wotton seems almost to be a caricature of Wilde’s public image, and though his outrageously inverted witticisms can become wearying after a time, the differences between the two leads makes for a delicious contrast.

A strong central supernatural idea, vivid characters, interesting material on the nature of beauty, indulgence and morality, and above all beautiful prose make this a compelling and timeless work of art.

ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE - 'HIS LAST BOW' (1917)

With only eight tales included, this fourth collection of Sherlock Holmes short stories is somewhat slighter than its predecessors, and it's possible to detect signs of tiredness on the part of the author at times. The stronger stories here stand up with the best of the earlier tales, but too many seem to rely upon a certain formula, only varying the details along the way. The short story format doesn't always help, with repeated revelations of 'infamous' villains who have no time to develop beyond a brief outline. On the positive side however, brother Mycroft is developed in 'The Adventure of the Brice-Partington Plans', and for the title story Doyle finally breaks the narrative device of presenting each story as a reminiscence of Doctor Watson, instead telling the final (chronological) Sherlock Holmes tale in the third person.

A little patchy, but enough of the magic still shines to make this worthwhile.

THE MAGAZINE OF FANTASY & SCIENCE FICTION #682 (April/May 2009)

With this issue F&SF changes format to double-size on a bi-monthly schedule. It will be interesting to see how successful this format is for the title in the long term, as I must admit there were moments whilst wading through this epic issue that I wondered if they might as well just abandon the ‘magazine’ format altogether in favour of seeing publication as a regular series of anthologies.

In terms of the fiction, on the fantasy side Sean McMullen’s ‘The Spiral Briar’ combines historical plans for maritime craft with classic (if not downright hoary) fantasy tropes for a battle between the realms of men and Elves. Jack Skillingstead’s ‘The Avenger of Love’ is a bizarre dreamlike piece, in which a man tries to track down the source of his fading memories. In narrative terms it’s all over the place, but it’s a bold and inventive piece of writing, and one of the highlights of the issue for me. Ellen Kushner’s ‘A Wild and Wicked Youth’ is a much more traditional fantasy piece, detailing the rise of a young boy into a great swordsman. Sudden sidetrips into the youth’s awakening sexuality prevent this from becoming too predictable. John C. Wright’s ‘One Bright Star to Guide Them’ features an adult sucked back into his childhood fantasy world. It’s a nice idea, and early indications that the hero might be not entirely sane are interesting, but ultimately the fantasy world in question is just too juvenile for this story to convince. I’m sure younger reader will adore this, but I just found this world of talking cats, magic swords, and pre-ordained destinies too damn cute.

On the science fiction front, S.L. Gilbow’s ‘Adreanna’ details the misadventures of a damaged robot responsible for briefings on the Moon. In terms of the storyline this is fairly familiar artificial intelligence/robot stuff, though it’s very nicely done. Henry Garfield’s ‘Stratosphere’ has people playing baseball in space, and as I know absolutely nothing about this curious American obsession it’s really beyond my scope to comment. Deborah J. Ross’s ‘The Price of Silence’ has a team of astronauts investigating the sudden unexpected death of an entire planet-full of colonists, in a solid if slightly predictable narrative.

This issue also contains two ‘classic’ reprints: the late Thomas M. Disch’s ‘The Brave Little Toaster’ is a child’s fable recasting ‘The Incredible Journey’s narrative with sentient household appliances instead of animals. It’s amiable, if cute stuff, though I’m not entirely sure it’s deserving of quite so many plaudits. It’s far more readable than Edward Jesby’s ‘Sea Wrack’ however. This story of an encounter between humans and their underwater cousins has its moments, including a fine ending, but it also features some very cumbersome prose along the way.

A mixed bag to be sure, but some interesting tales along the way.

INTERZONE #221 (2009)

The March/April 2009 issue of Interzone features a total of six short

SF/fantasy stories, all of which are enjoyable, but one of which really deserves special mention:

In Matthew Kressel’s ‘Saving Diego’ a former drug dealer travels across the galaxy to help wean his old partner off of an addictive drug that allows communication with god-like aliens. Kressel initially keeps the SF elements deceptively light, immersing the reader in characterisation as the drug-fuelled relationship between the two leads is examined. When the SF elements kick in they only serve to strengthen an already strong story, with the metaphor of humans being the equivalent of pet cats to the alien creatures being particularly evocative. Add on a satisfying ending to complete the narrative and the result is a stunning slice of science fiction. Highly recommended.

Will McIntosh’s ‘A Clown Escapes From Circus Town’ evokes the flavour of classic 1973 SF movie ‘Westworld’, as we are introduced to a world divided into segregated camps of genetically engineered character types, including the inhabitants of Circus Town, Superhero Cove and Sextown. This time however our sympathies are not with the attacked humans but their creations, as we follow one clown’s quest to discover the secret of his universe. While it’s ultimately revealed as something of a variation on a theme, McIntosh paints an evocative and entertainingly weird world, and his lead character makes for an excellent guide.

I can’t say I was hugely enamoured of Al Robertson’s ‘Changeling’ (Black Static #9), which made ‘Fishermen’ a pleasant surprise. This tale of a Christian artist who is captured by pirates is short but incredibly dense, filled with rich allusions and imagery as the captive begins to warm to his captors, ultimately finding both them and his God in his art. One could argue that technically this story is neither science fiction or fantasy – but really, who cares?

‘Far & Deep’ by Alaya Dawn Johnson is essentially a fantasy whodunit, as a member of a diving community struggles to come to terms with the murder of her mother. Some good writing here, with the tale focusing more on the heroine’s place in society than any straightforward quest for justice, though the story is perhaps slightly overshadowed by the more exotic tales elsewhere.

Paul M. Berger’s ‘Home Again’ is a very short short story, with the reality warping powers of future space flight leading to a subtle twist when an astronaut returns to his family. This is the third story in the issue to be written by a member of the ‘Altered Fluid’ writing group, so I guess if I want to improve my chances of getting a story accepted by Interzone I’d better start thinking about moving to Manhattan...

The issue ends with something of a coup, with the return of big name author Bruce Sterling. ‘Black Swan’ is an engaging tale of a man jumping through alternate realities, with French President Nicolas Sarkozy a prominent figure. In the accompanying interview Sterling makes much of SF ideation, thought it has to be said that there are precious few new ideas in this latest riff on alternate worlds. Despite this, it remains an enjoyable piece, ensuring that this issue is another strong installment of Interzone, and recommended for anyone interested in new science fiction literature.

http://www.ttapress.com/

BLACK STATIC #’9 (2009)

The ninth issue of Black Static features six new pieces of horror/dark fantasy fiction, and it’s interesting to note how by this point TTA are developing their own stable of writers, with four of the six authors being familiar names from either previous issues or sister magazine Interzone.

Aliette De Bodard is one of those Interzone regulars, though ‘The Lonely Heart’ might be her best tale yet. Apparently based on an 18th Century Chinese ghost story, this is haunting stuff, full of allusion and illusion, as a woman finds her lover stolen from her, and reality breaks down.

‘The Plain’ by Tim Lees exposes the underlying animal nature of University life, while Daniel Kaysen charts the progress of a bullied child to murderer’s accomplice in ‘The Pain of Blue Eyes’. I’m tempted to describe both stories as cute, though that seems entirely the wrong term for what are essentially dark tales. Nevertheless, both are as enjoyable as they are disturbing, with clever central ideas played out in satisfying narratives.

In many ways I think Roz Clarke’s ‘Haunt-Type Experience’ is my favourite story in the issue, a very atmospheric ghost story with some assured and evocative prose. My one quibble is with the interludes of pseudo-scientific rationale that pepper the narrative (courtesy of extracts from an issue of The Journal of Parapsychology), as I’m not really sure that they actually add anything to the story. Nevertheless, this really is just a quibble, as this is a fine piece of writing, and a very strong debut.

It’s in the varied nature of anthology magazines that there is often at least one story that doesn’t quite work for me, and sadly this time that’s the case with Al Robertson’s ‘The Changeling’. The actual storyline of a soldier who loses his wife to faeries is enjoyable enough, but the prose is constructed in very short clipped sentences, with events related in a bald matter-of-fact style. I’m not sure if this is an attempt to capture the down to earth nature of the military hero or Robertson’s usual style, but the result is we get almost no insight into the lead character’s emotions or thoughts, making this a rather distant piece, and as such I found it hard to engage with it on any level.

Finally regular columnist Stephen Volk makes the jump into providing fiction with the small but perfectly formed ‘Fear’. There’s practically no fat on this tale of a Japanese Samurai dispatched to investigate claims of a town being overrun by ghosts, and like a joke leading to a punchline the narrative leads its way assuredly to a satisfyingly nasty finale.

A great end to another good issue, Black Static remains essential reading for fans of literary horror.

THE MAGAZINE OF FANTASY & SCIENCE FICTION #681 (2009)

As the title suggests, Daniel Abraham’s ‘The Curandero and the Swede: A Tale From the 1001 American Nights’ is told in the style of ‘One Thousand and One Nights', as a father spins a series of uncanny ghost/horror stories to his newly engaged son . At times this doesn’t necessarily seem to be a positive thing, as while the individual stories are quite interesting the narrative as a whole is bitty and meandering. However, the reason behind the stylistic choice is made plain at the end with a stunning dénouement where the nature of what stories actually mean becomes the central point, transforming this from a seemingly unfocused and rambling series of campfire tales into a purposeful and well crafted piece. Excellent.

In ‘The Unstrung Zither’ by Yoon Ha Lee a musical composer is brought in to help interrogate five assassins from a series of warring colony worlds. The comparisons between musical motifs and characterisation don’t always convince, but this is still a clever tale with a satisfying dénouement.

Robert Bloch is one of those author’s I’ve always felt guilty about over not having read more of their work, so I’m doubly grateful for the chance to read this issue’s classic reprint of 1959’s ‘That Hell-Bound Train’. It’s a wonderful little fable, with a man making a deal with the devil, and attempting to outwit him. The train itself is a wonderful metaphor for life and how no matter how you enjoy the ride the destination always remains the same, and the satisfying narrative is told with an engaging easy voice. A fantastic yarn.

Marc Laidlaw’s 'Quickstone’ is another in the ongoing series of stories featuring the stone-handed bard Gorlen. In this tale the origin and fate of Gorlen’s stone hand is detailed, meaning that no prior continuity knowledge is needed to enjoy this tale of a character I increasingly find difficulty not thinking of as ‘Hellboy with a harp’. Gorlen travels into the underground lair of gargoyles where he meets his opposite number, with this story featuring some evocative descriptions of the chthonic realm and the religious beliefs of its inhabitants, whilst the relationship between impure human and gargoyle is nicely portrayed. A good imaginative fantasy tale.

Finally we get another recurring character in Robert Reed's 'Shadow-Below'. This tale of the future survival of a native Indian tribe reads easy enough, and has a few interesting points to make regarding adaption of the species for survival, but ultimately the meandering pace means it takes a lot of pages to say its piece.

A THOUSAND FACES - THE QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF SUPERHUMAN FICTION #7 (2009)

A Thousand Faces is a handsomely produced quarterly magazine featuring original superhero fiction in prose form, with this issue featuring a whopping eleven tales. Some feature continuing characters from earlier issues (of which some make sense as stand alone stories and some don't); some of them feature fairly straight-ahead comic book style adventure stories, and some are a little more twisted and satirical in intent.

Now, editor Frank Byrns has been kind enough/mad enough (delete as appropriate) to include one of my own tales in this magazine, so I'm not going to give this the full review treatment, but I would like to take the opportunity to highlight a few favourites amongst the other stories. Frank offers up Jonathan Padua's 'Events in Which Justice is Administered, Certain Certainties Are Met, and Destinies Are Fulfilled' as his pick of the issue, and I'd have to agree. This tale of a supervillain's final showdown with his superhero nemesis is archly written with some gloriously over the top comic style action, but ultimately succeeds thanks to the emotional pull of its first person narrative. Robert Neilson's 'Hail the Conquering Hero' takes what looks to be traditional origin story and spins it on its head with a delightfully nasty twist, while Chanco Cox's 'Pig Boy' stands out in an issue filled with capes, with his story of a boy transformed by the witnessing of farm hog castration into some kind of avenging madman being the most literary in form, and having a distinctive and unique voice.

My tastes tend towards the darker side, hence my appreciation of the above tales, though there's plenty else worth checking out at http://www.thousand-faces.com/

MURKY DEPTHS #7 (2009)

This British quarterly SF/horror magazine features an interesting mix of prose and comic strip stories, and is gorgeously produced in US comicbook size with glossy pages throughout.

On the prose fiction side Jason Palmer presents a pleasantly macabre world in ‘Scratch’, where people are afflicted with a terrible itching disease. The story feels a little disjointed at times, but some strong characterisation keeps this bubbling away merrily.

C.S. MacCath’s ‘The Longest Road in the Universe’ tells the story of an abandoned race of genetically engineered slaves seeking their departed creators. The epistolary format adds some warmth to what is a densely packed SF tale, though the sheer amount of universe building in a relatively low page-count does make this feel a little too overwhelming at times, with the reader having to scrabble to keep up with the constant stream of new information.

By contrast, Bill Ward’s ‘A Healthy Outlook’ is very small at only one page in length, but is perfectly formed. This jaunty tale of a positive thinker is rich in stylish prose, and packs a fantastically punchy twist ending to boot: quite brilliant.

Willie Meikle’s ‘Viewers Choice’ is almost as brief, and very nearly as excellent. This story of a man who finds TV characters communicating with him is giddily hallucinatory, and a subtle allusion to the difference between the bold fictional characters we’d like to be and the weaker people we are in reality is a nice touch. It also made me laugh out loud, twice – no mean achievement.

‘Psong’ by Ian Rogers is the tale of a psychic assassin, and while it’s a little overshadowed by the issue’s stronger tales this is still a readable piece.

Kevin Brown’s ‘Survivalist’ is another very, very short piece, with the accompanying illustration taking twice as much room as the actual prose. I’m not generally a fan of vampire stories, finding the creatures overused and all but worn out (ironically also the theme of an article by Matt Wallace elsewhere in this issue), but Brown packs in some very nice writing in this brief snapshot at a vampire soldier’s existence through the centuries.

When a strange youth’s arrival coincides with that of a sea monster, the resolution of Paul Milliken’s ‘Bait’ is never in doubt, though this is a nicely done horror story, with a decent play on the title word, as the boy himself becomes sexual bait -and more - for a local fisherman.

Finally William Douglas Goodman gives us ‘Haruspex’, a rather ambiguous tale of a young boy’s experience with a death in the family.

On the comic strip side I was slightly less impressed, though tryng to tell complete stories in a very small page count is a difficult task (especially horror where atmosphere can take time to build), and the strips do help to break up the magazine.

‘A Brief History Of Dogfighting’ does what it says on the tin, showing the similarities between aerial warfare from its beginnings to the far future. James Johnson’s script is more of an idea than a story, and the subject itself is hardly revolutionary (‘Star War’s World War 2 inspired dogfights anyone?) , but Leonardo M.Giron produces some gorgeous flowing artwork.

Johnson’s script for ‘Bite the Bullet’ is much stronger, mixing one part ‘eXistenZ’ with one part ‘Tetsuo: The Iron Man’. Sadly however, despite working well as a self-contained story, the artwork only emphasises the too close similarity between the tale’s starting point and the famous ‘gristle gun’ from Cronenberg’s 1999 film.

I don’t know whether or not Luke Cooper’s ‘Flashback’ is part of a continuing story, but it certainly reads like a superhero ‘origin’ tale. Some lovely art and violence, though I have to admit I found this tale of an ‘angel-hearted demon killer’ ultimately a little too cheesy to take that seriously.

All in all, a well produced magazine featuring some fantastic new talent, 'Murky Depths' is well worth checking out for fans of horror and SF.

THE MAGAZINE OF FANTASY & SCIENCE FICTION #680 (2009)

Fred Chappell’s ‘Shadow of the Valley’ features a fantasy quest for some dangerous flora which can kill by taking a man’s shadow. This features some interesting background and some colourful language, though the fact that it’s the sequel to a story I’ve never read means some of the finer details were doubtless lost on me.

Charles Coleman Finlay’s ‘The Texas Bake Sale’ is a satirical look at a post-USA America where the remnants of the Marines are forced to sell cookies at gunpoint. A reasonably diverting if slight piece.

This issues anniversary reprint is Jack Cady’s ‘The Night We Buried Road Dog’ from 1993, the tale of a bizarre graveyard for cars and a man seemingly haunted by the ghost of his brother. There is some atmospheric writing here, but on the whole this novella seemed to waffle on a little too long for me, something no doubt exacerbated by the fact that this is in large part a love letter to the automobile, and I can’t say I’ve ever felt that much interest in cars.

In Mario Milosevic’s ‘Winding Broomcorn’ an elderly widower is visited by a witch who wants a special broom made. It sounds like an overly cute idea, but this dreamy fable is rich in atmosphere, and by some margin my favourite tale of the issue. Recommended.

Finally in Eugene Mirabelli’s ‘Catalog’ a man obsessed with a model in a magazine slips into an alternate universe in search of her. Ultimately this is revealed as little more than an exercise in fantasy wish fulfilment, but the opening pages where the disorientated hero is baffled by the world he finds himself in is glorious stuff.

ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE - 'THE VALLEY OF FEAR' (1915)

The fourth and final Sherlock Holmes novel bears some striking similarities to that of the first, 'A Study in Scarlet', with both featuring a structure where the first half of the novel relates to Holme's investigation of a crime, and the second half consists of a lengthy flashback detailing the backstory behind the motivations of the crime (which, again, is a tale of revenge stretching back to the America's).

The similarity of structure makes this feel a little second hand at times, but both sections of the novel feature entertaining narratives. Holme's investigation of the murder of a country gentleman features a suitably juicy plot twist, and in his absence the character of gang-member McMurdo is compelling enough to drive forward the tale of the 'valley of fear' itself, which again features a delightful last minute twist.

Some may feel a little short-changed by Sherlock Holme's own involvement in the tale (even the initial investigation scenes are somewhat usurped by other police detectives), and the inclusion of Professor Moriarty causes something of a continuity error with his previous appearance, but 'The Valley of Fear' remains an engrossing yarn.

ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE – ‘THE POISON BELT’ (1913)

Following the success of ‘The Lost World’ (1912), Doyle provided a direct sequel the following year in the form of this intriguing novella. The dinosaurs themselves are absent, this time replaced by the apocalyptic threat of a cloud of poisonous ‘ether’ that engulfs the Earth, but all the main characters (Professors Challenger and Summerlee, adventurer Lord John Roxton and journalist Edward Malone) are reunited from the previous novel, whilst the story is once again told using the literary device of Malone’s reportage.

Though an interesting and for the most part effective tale it’s easy to see why ‘The Poison Belt’ remains a rather more obscure curio than its predecessor today, with its startling but rather static narrative not lending itself well to dramatic adaptation. Whereas ‘The Lost World’ was a tale of discovery and exploration, here the exotic comes to familiar domestic surroundings, with a large part of the tale consisting of the four leads (plus Challenger’s wife) eking out a precarious existence in a single room, watching the world around them die whilst waiting for their own supply of oxygen to run out. Whilst the larger than life characters ensure that the tale isn’t entirely devoid of humour, the grim subject matter does ensure that for the most part this is a sombre and moody piece. Doyle’s rendering of the apocalypse is brilliantly done, with some startling images of death on both large and intimate scales, whilst the heroes differing philosophical approaches to their own approaching deaths makes for some interesting debates. Unfortunately a lot of this hard work is at least partially undermined by the ending, which while not exactly ‘happy’ does severely lessen the impact of the material that comes before.

The ending may feel a little out of place, and the science is inevitably somewhat dated, but ‘The Poison Belt’ is still an engrossing science fiction tale, and a far more imaginative follow up than any more literal return to ‘The Lost World’ would have been. The fragility of mankind’s existence on Earth is ably highlighted, and if Doyle’s failure to follow through on the bleak promise of the tale’s narrative has an upside, it’s that at least Professor Challenger lives to fight another day.

Two of those further outings are represented in this printing by the inclusion of the short stories 'When the World Screamed' (1928) and 'The Disintegration Machine' (1929). In the first Professor Challenger decides to test his theory that the Earth is in effect one living organism by drilling deep beneath the crust to awake the sleeping giant, whilst in the latter he is tasked with visiting a foreign agent who is selling a terrible doomsday machine. Both are imaginative premises, and though the actual narratives are fairly predictable, they are both hugely enlivened by the overbearing character of Challenger himself.

ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE - 'THE LOST WORLD' (1912)

The basic narrative for the first of Doyle's 'Professor Challenger' novels is unashamedly a Boy's Own-style adventure romp, with a scientific expedition finding an isolated Amazonian plateau where both dinosaurs and primitive ape-men still survive. What lifts this to another level is Doyle's incredible prose and his vivid cast of characters, with if anything the initial set-up material in London even more entertaining than the actual moments of man verses dinosaur adventure.

Chief amongst the larger than life characters in Professor Challenger himself, a gloriously bad tempered egotist whose combative and pompous nature frequently lead to great moments of humour. Forever ready for a verbal spar is his sceptical opposite Professor Summerlee, whilst rounding out the leads is the dashing adventurer Lord John Roxton (to whom every life and death situation seems a fantastic wheeze) and journalist E.D. Malone, who narrates the story. Malone's presence is due to an attempt to win the hand of a lady with a great act of heroism, and his framing story plays out with a pleasantly unexpected twist.

A fantastically well written ripping yarn, full of adventure and humour.

INTERZONE #220 (2009)

Once you get past the stunning Adam Tredowski cover the February 2009 issue of Interzone offers six new pieces of fiction alongside the usual reviews and articles:

In the broadest possible terms the plot of Jason Stoddard’s ‘Monetized’ is fairly similar to that of William Gibson’s ‘All Tomorrow’s Parties’, with the revolutionary potential of emergent nanotechnology leading to some cut-throat power struggles. What really makes this interesting is the future society Stoddard depicts, where Internet practices of advertising referrals have made the jump into the real world with startling results. An intriguing future setting and some tough edgy prose makes for a winning SF combination.

‘Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest: Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast’ by Eugie Foster has an opening as arrestingly bizarre as its title, showcasing a society where the citizens are forced to don a different mask and personality each day, with lashings of chemically induced sex and violent torture served up on the side. At first this looks as though it’s going to be an outright fantasy tale, but ultimately a science fiction backstory is provided in a series of infodumps in the story's second half. The dream-like world that Foster paints is so beguilingly strange that this tale might have worked just as well even without the explanatory backstory, but regardless this is gloriously strange stuff, and a pleasantly untypical science fiction story.

Rudy Rucker's ‘After Everything Woke Up’ describes a couple building a foundation for their new house in a world where everything has sentience (including inanimate objects and body parts) and humans can utilize a form of quantum telekinesis. There isn’t a huge amount of actual conflict or drama here, but then this is only a short extract from a forthcoming novel, and the world-building is certainly interesting. Unfortunately for this reader however, the effect is somewhat spoiled by the fact that Rucker has already described at length the ideas behind this future setting at in a recent issue of Asimov's Science Fiction ('The Great Awakening', August 2008), meaning there’s little here that’s unexpected for me.

Short but sweet, Neil Williamson’s ‘Spy vs Spy’ is a humorous look at Internet social networking sites paranoia spilling into real world lunacy. Along with ‘Monetized’, Interzone seems to have it in for the Internet this issue, which is fair enough, considering the amount of lunatic ranting out there, (this site being a case in point).

In Leah Bobet's 'Miles to Isengard' a group of protesters steal a nuclear bomb, and drive it up into the mountains where they plan to dump it. I presume by the title that some sort of allusion to 'The Lord of the Rings' is intended here, only with the protesters throwing a bomb into a volcano rather than a magic ring, but I'm sad say that this didn't really work for me on any level. I'm not sure whether it was the essentially repetitive nature of the plot (most of which consists of a travelogue as the bomb is carried by lorry to its destination), or the thickly laid on American-accented first person narrative, but I found this a bit of a struggle. Sorry.

Rounding off the issue is 'Memory Dust' by Gareth L. Powell, in which a pair of astronauts journey to another world to return a previously taken alien inhabitant. Powell displays no real ambitious concepts or stylistic flair here, instead relying on some basic but enjoyable storytelling with short, unflashy sentences doing the work. The resulting piece - complete with streamlined space ships powering through hyperspace - feels curiously old-fashioned, making this the most traditional slice of science fiction amongst the eclectic range of stories on offer this issue.

Interzone is available bi-monthly from TTA Press:
http://ttapress.com/

BLACK STATIC #8 (2008)

The latest issue of the UK's premier horror magazine includes six new short stories amongst the usual host of opinion pieces and book/film reviews:

‘At the Gates’ by Patrick Samphire details the efforts of a young girl to save a dying stray dog, with the girl’s poisonous relationship with her mother’s live-in boyfriend offset by the presence of a kindly (and very mysterious) elderly downstairs lodger. The story slides smoothly from depressing mundane family life into a supernatural finale at (seemingly)the very gates of death, and though the attempt at an positive ending felt a little hollow to me, that’s probably due more to my status as a miserable old git than the actual quality of the writing.

'These Things We Have Always Known' by Lynda E. Rucker explores a number of eerie goings-on in a remote isolated town. The explicitly supernatural is carefully hidden beneath the surface reality of the townsfolk's daily existence, though the story gently builds to a haunting climax, with intimations of vast Lovecraftian otherworldliness at play. Some beautiful language and a disturbing finale make this one a winner.

There is more subtle creepiness on offer in Steve Rasnic Tem's 'Noppero-Bo', where a young immigrant's alienation from Japanese society leads to disturbing 'J-Horror' in the shape of a faceless demonic spirit. The underlying theme of a failure to communicate is expertly underlined by the explicit supernatural horror, with the poetic writing giving this a hallucinatory dreamlike quality. Recommended.

In Steven Pirie's 'The Book of Ruth' a seemingly schizophrenic charity shop worker starts hearing voices from a mysterious second hand book. Her descent into madness is effectively handled, but I found the character of her quietly abusive boss even more compelling, with his secret lust for the heroine leading to a memorable moment of horror. Just don't look in the fridge.

Gary Fry's 'Taking on Life' has a teenage boy haunted by the ghost of his possible future son, in a tale reminiscent of some of Ramsey Campbell's work (by no means a bad thing). Perhaps some of the supernatural manifestations are a little more obvious to the reader than the hero, who seems somewhat slow on the uptake, (though that may just be because the reader is already primed to expect the unexpected), but musings on the nature verses nurture debate add some effective depth to this interesting ghost story.

I've saved mentioning the best till last, as despite the high quality of the preceding stories James Cooper's 'There's Something Wrong With Pappy' is a cut above. This deliciously creepy tale details a family struggling to come to terms with the death of the mother, and is one of the most disturbing horror stories I've ever read. Full of gothic imagery, with a fog-shrouded lonely moor and a creepy old house into which entry is forbidden, this is rich and unsettling stuff. Duality of both the creepy house (thanks to a model constructed by the family daughter) and the characters themselves lead to an unnerving slippage between reality and fantasy, with the climax allowing the story to both keep it's secrets intact whilst seeming complete and satisfying. Somewhere between a nightmare and a metaphor for coping with bereavement, this is highly recommended.

Black Static is available from TTA Press:

http://ttapress.com/

THE MAGAZINE OF FANTASY & SCIENCE FICTION #678 (2008)

'A Foreign Country' by Wayne Wightman details the surprise election of an omnipotent being (God, Satan, alien?) to the post of US President, with people's happiness coming at the expense of the removal of both 'undesirable' members of the population and others' memories of them. Reading almost like a fable, this is an interesting look at the nature of memory, the cost of happiness and what price one is willing to pay to achieve it.

'Falling Angel' by Eugene Mirabelli does what it says on the tin, with a computer programmer finding an angel falling out of the sky and into their love life. This piece features some strong, bold writing, but is curiously matter-of-fact in the telling, being less a story with a beginning, middle and end, than a direct reportage of a single strange incident.

The ever-present Robert Reed returns with 'Leave', telling the tale of a distraught father's desperate attempts to prevent his son from leaving the planet to fight in an alien war. The basic premise of aliens using human children as soldiers is a very hoary old SF conceit, but Reed does well to use this as a mirror against current real world anti-war protesters, and the uncomfortable truth that many young men really do want to leave their homeland and fight.

‘The Alarming Letters From Scottsdale’ by the late Warner Law is actually a reprint from 1973, republished as part of F&SF’s 60th anniversary celebrations. It’s certainly a tale that’s well worth a second outing, with this story of a successful author who is either going mad or has a typewriting pet dog being a fantastically entertaining yarn, whilst the epistolary format ensures that the mystery is kept ambiguous until the final twist revelation.

Albert E. Cowdrey’s ‘A Skeptical Spirit’ finds a would-be haven for ghosts rendered off-limits by the presence of a dead sceptic who refuses to believe in the afterlife. An enjoyable bit of hokum, fairly light-hearted, with a strong focus on its Southern US setting and featuring a good line in similes.

Sadly, the final story of the issue, John Langan’s ‘How the Day Runs Down’ is by far the weakest. Beyond the surface presentation of a post-death stage show, this tale of a zombie outbreak is terribly familiar, being little more than a slight variation on what George Romero achieved decades ago in the cinema. One section detailing a housewife’s misfortune at the hands of the undead perhaps highlights people’s inability to function in a crisis no matter one’s mental preparedness, but as a whole this is an overlong, rambling narrative that has been told far too many times before. Don’t get me wrong, I love zombies as much as the next guy, but if you’ve got nothing new to do with them, why bother?

JOE HILL – ‘GUNPOWDER’ (2008)

Under the guidance of one woman, a group of thirty children set about the task of terraforming an unnamed planet. Gifted with the power to reshape reality at the quantum level, the children are still coming to terms with the extent of their powers, when a sudden intrusion into their isolated existence forces them into action...

Whilst most closely associated with the horror genre, Joe Hill’s short fiction has shown him to be a versatile writer, but ‘Gunpowder’ marks the first time the author has turned his hand to explicit science fiction territory. A short but punchy novella, ‘Gunpowder’ works well enough in narrative terms, but possibly more interesting is in the relationship of the various children with each other and their foster mother. On the cusp of growing up, Hill perfectly catches the adolescences slightly confused state somewhere between being boys and men, with the characters vacillating between acts of great kindness and cruelty in equal measure. Central to the story is Charley, whose malfunctioning powers make him the target of a great deal of bullying, but who also seems to act in some curious way as a necessary binding figure for the group.

‘Gunpowder’ isn’t quite compelling enough to rank alongside the very best of Hill’s short fiction, but this is nevertheless a good solid well-written science fiction tale, and hopefully not the last time the author tackles this genre.

INTERZONE #219 (2008)

The issue opens in arresting form, with the hero in Jeff Spock’s ‘Everything That Matters’ being eaten alive by a giant alien shark, before being reconstructed thanks to futuristic medicine and planning his revenge. A few of the plot points here might not withstand too much close scrutiny, (such as the way the villain of the piece acts as though the hero is the sole capable diver on a planet that is 95% water and where the locals have superior biology adapted for underwater existence), but this works well as a punchy little action thriller.

Jason Sanford’s ‘When Thorns Are The Tips of Trees’ depicts a dystopian future, where a virus that turns people into crystalline trees means that touching another person’s skin has become the equivalent of unsafe sex in the midst of an AIDS epidemic. The imagery of the crystalline trees, which retain a ghostlike echo of the person they used to be, makes for a striking and original piece, and the theme of the necessity of loss for growth adds depth to an expertly crafted story.

I’ve never been particularly keen on magic in fiction, as it too often feels like a cheat that allows an author to circumvent logic and reason at will, where the reader has to take it on blind trust that certain things ‘work’ just because the author says so. Maybe this is the reason that Alexander Marsh Freed’s ‘The Shenu’ left me completely cold, or maybe it’s just the fact that not a lot seems to happen. Three ‘magicians’, one of them seemingly an obsessive compulsive, wander around a city worrying about some nebulous approaching doom. Maybe they do something about it, or maybe the ‘magic’ is all in their heads and they don’t – either way their actions seem fairly inconsequential.

Mercurio D. Rivera presents a tale of alien contact in ‘The Fifth Zhi’, as a succession of clones are dispatched to destroy an immense otherworldly organism that has penetrated the Earth, and is busy giving humanity a bad case of Cthulhu-esque nightmares. Despite the massive scale of an entity that has pierced the planet like a toothpick through an olive, this turns out to be a quite a thoughtful and intimate piece, with issues of identity and individualism coming to the fore in this straightforward but enjoyable yarn.

Gord Sellar’s ‘The Country of the Young’ looks at the impact of a scientific process that retards the appearance of aging, and the plight of a pair of lovers when only one of them has been allowed the treatment. This is a sombre tale rich in detail, and a convincing look at how someone can be driven to the extremes of mass murder. Good stuff.

Finally, Aliette De Bodard’s ‘Butterfly, Falling At Dawn’ is another tale set in the alternate history setting of ‘The Lost Xuyan Bride’, with the death of a Mexica artist leading to a murder investigation. The setting here is pleasantly exotic and colourful, and Bodard does well depicting the confused emotional state of the émigré heroine, but I have to admit that I didn’t find the bulk of the actual ‘whodunit’ investigation quite as interesting.

Nevertheless, another solid issue of Interzone, with only one of the six stories failing to make an impression on me at all.

ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE - ‘THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES’ (1905)

After several years of public pressure, and following the publication of ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’ (which was set some time before Holmes’ apparent death) two years earlier, Doyle finally relents and brings Sherlock Holmes ‘back to life’, with the thirteen tales in this third short story collection all dating from after his miraculous return.

There are no weak stories here, but the most striking is undoubtedly ‘Charles Augustus Milverton’, in which Holmes and Watson pit their wits against a blackmailer and end up as wanted criminals themselves, whilst ‘The Second Stain’ is notable for being of such political import that Watson offers it as the crowning glory of Holmes’ career (and indeed, another supposedly ‘final’ story, despite later events). It’s interesting to note throughout these tales Holmes’ own ambivalent attitude towards the authorities, with his almost paternal manner towards promising members of the police, and his ready willingness to shield the guilty from the law if he feels that justice is better served without recourse to its official agents.

There seems to be some widely held belief that those tales set after the retconning of Holmes’ death are in some way inferior to those which came before, but reading them here it’s difficult to spot any real slippage in quality. Perhaps the nature of the mysteries themselves becomes a little formulaic from the repetition of basic tropes (the pursuit of wealth, characters seeking revenge from the past, etc), but Doyle’s writing style is as strong as ever, and it’s the little flourishes of character and colour that really make these satisfying stories, rather than just a series of intellectual puzzles to be solved.