Happy New Year from Supernova! The landmark 300th issue of Interzone has been out for a while, so as you can see I’m still playing catch-up with the reviews.
This issue has the regular excellent features such as an extra-long edition of Nick Lowe’s movie reviews, another instalment of Alexander Glass on Zelazny, and some thoughtful and comprehensive reviews. Now to the fiction!
‘Hate: A Genealogy’ by Fábio Fernandes
To read ‘Hate: A Genealogy’ is to gawp in awe as Fábio Fernandes pours in more and more elements to the story. It seems to be a secret history of time and the “Long Game”, which is a kind of cold war through time. Add to this immortal beings, dream travellers, layered factions and agents, parallel worlds and the land of death. We see glimpses of actual events – blowing up the moon, for example, or Homo neanderthalensis shamans discovering a secret underground cave network. Each section of the story throws in a new development and lurches away from what has gone before, which is quite confusing, but I think maybe the sprawling nature of the narrative is the point. It’s loosely similar to Roby Davies’ piece in the previous issue, which similarly smashed together genres and tropes to make something bonkers and new.
‘Joanie from Rupture to Rapture (Once Again Under the Spotlight)’ by Carlos Norcia
Another story from a Brazilian author, Carlos Norcia, this weaves the classic format of the longform rock essay (think Rolling Stone) into a science fiction setting that includes longevity, climate collapse and a global exodus and return. I wasn’t quite sure about the jumps between the different narrative strands but Norcia has another story coming up in IZ and I’m excited to see it, as it appears to be part of the same future history of Brazil.
‘Fables’ by Rachel Cupp
After wondering where Rachael Cupp was going with her ‘Year of Blue’ series of post-apocalyptic missives last time I reviewed Interzone, this time I can proclaim this the best story in the issue, and I’m now firmly along for wherever the ride will take us.
After the bombs drop, a father retells fables for his newborn son, and as he writes he has to explain the world that has gone, and talk about his own past, and so the fables become stories about how he met the child’s mother. All of this framed by the need to choose a name for the child. I don’t want to say more because you just need to read it, but this story has charm and pathos, and it earns that pathos. Wonderful
‘Swim With the Space Whales’ by Lyle Hopwood
Lyle Hopwood’s story is a fun twisty-turny future noir, and it has talking whales. Don’t you want to buy this issue immediately? It strikes just the right note of absurdity, and sticks to the rules of the genre except when it chooses to break them in entertaining ways.
‘The Complete Expiration Records of Nebu Inc. Colony KE-4-01’ by Noah Lemelson
Each scene in Noah Lemelson’s story gives us a glimpse of the life and death of one of the titular Nebu Inc’s colony employees, along with the cause of death and the cost to the corporation. It is gruesome and charming, particularly the voice of the narrating AI, even as it descends into chaos and madness. Each vignette is individually charming, although an absolutely minor quibble is that maybe for me it outstays its welcome – there are a lot of people at the colony, a lot of deaths, and even though the narrating Intelligence takes over it does become a bit overwhelming and difficult to distinguish them.
This is another solid issue of Gareth Jelley’s run of Interzone, and I particularly recommend Rachael Cupp’s story. I can’t help hoping it hasn’t already been snapped up for a collection of the entire sequence.
I wish – we all wish – there was still a market for print magazines, but that ship has sailed, alas. We have the next best thing in the electronic version, so subscribe and don’t lose it!
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