Apparently Interzone #193, the final David Pringle edited issue of the long-running British SF semiprozine, has hit the streets. I haven’t seen it yet, but I’ll always have a fond regard for Pringle’s magazine. Why? Well, when I started out doing Eidolon IZ was easily one of the best magazines in the field. The way Pringle & Co blended high quality fiction and non fiction to create a magazine that was both worth reading and clearly had its own personality was an inspiration, and we copied it shamelessly. There had to be fiction and essays and reviews and columns and such. Anything else would be too dull for words. I’m hopeful that Andy and the Third Alternative Crew will do a great job with the magazine in the future (it has become a bit tired), but I’ll also miss the original magazine.
And speaking of magazines, I just received a copy of Peter Crowther’s fine new publication, PostScripts, which has some terrific fiction by Gene Wolfe, Jay Lake and others, and looks to be a really worthy addition to the semiprozine scene. If I have any criticism, and it’s a very mild one, it is that I’d like to have seen more of the kind of editorial personality that I loved in the early IZ in PostScripts. There’s no editorial, no statement of direction and so on. Now, none of those things are necessary, but it seems to me starting a new magazine is a big thing and it would have been nice to hear what the PostScripts team feel about what they’re doing. Regardless, you should subscribe right now. It’s the kind of project that deserves support.
I’m currently dipping into Joanne Harris’ first short story collection, Jigs & Reels, and it’s a real surprise. I’ve only been familiar with Harris as the author of what look like “literary” novels for middle-aged women’s book clubs, like Chocolat and Blackberry Wine, but Harris seems to have a real affection for genre fiction, namechecking a number of sf writers in her intro. The story I read last night, “Waiting for Gandalf”, is an interestingly disturbing piece about a group of role playing gamers who’ve been in the same RPG for 30 years, and who bring in temporary members each week. I’m not sure if it’s fantasy or horror, or just weird mainstream stuff. It doesn’t really matter though. This book is worth checking out.
I know I make connections that no-one else ever gets – I’ll say something is like something else and I just get these weird blank looks – but am I the only person to ever think that the music of Stephen Morrissey is a lot like the music of Stephin Merritt? I mention this after checking out You are the Quarry and i.
…compels me to immediately add that the Birmingham novel DOES pick up. I still think the opening 100 pages contain a lot of Tom Clancy-style hooey (for reference, I thought The Hunt for Red October was unutterably boring), but it then begins to get quite interesting and Birmingham really handles his characters a lot better and exploit some of the ideas the situation opens up for him. Have to see how the last chunk of the book goes, and then will blog more on it.
Pushing on into the past…
Some of you may recall that I posted a link to Paul Di Filippo’s review of John Birmingham’s new novel, Weapons of Choice. It’s one of several good reviews I’ve seen, and it was enough to persuade me – restricted to my sick bed – to check it out. Sigh. I’ve got to say the first 100 pages are about as dumb a pile of hoo-ha as I’ve seen in a long time. Why? Well, it’s basically The Philadelphia Experiment, with a few new whizzbang terms thrown in to update it, and so far it hasn’t gone beyond the obvious. We’ve had the “Gosh, look at my neat technology” bit, following by the endless military conflict bit (confused people running up and down confused corridors doing confused things, all of which end horribly), and I’ve now reached the part where the folk from the future get to say “Gosh, we’re from the future”, the folk from the past say “No!”, the folk from the future say “Yes!”, and am awaiting the moment where the folk from the past say “Wow!”. I’m hoping that Birmingham can add enough of sufficient interest in the next 300 pages to overcome what I’ve seen so far. At this stage, my recommendation would be that this one’s only for people who want to see how Tom Clancy would have done The Philadelphia Experiment – but, we’ll see. Keeping an open mind, and all that. Sniff. Cough.
Apparently Interzone #193, the final David Pringle edited issue of the long-running British SF semiprozine, has hit the streets. I haven’t seen it yet, but I’ll always have a fond regard for Pringle’s magazine. Why? Well, when I started out doing Eidolon IZ was easily one of the best magazines in the field. The way Pringle & Co blended high quality fiction and non fiction to create a magazine that was both worth reading and clearly had its own personality was an inspiration, and we copied it shamelessly. There had to be fiction and essays and reviews and columns and such. Anything else would be too dull for words. I’m hopeful that Andy and the Third Alternative Crew will do a great job with the magazine in the future (it has become a bit tired), but I’ll also miss the original magazine.