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    Interzone 232 Jan: Feb 2011
    Interzone 232 Jan: Feb 2011
    Interzone 232 Jan: Feb 2011
    Ebook219 pages3 hours

    Interzone 232 Jan: Feb 2011

    By TTA Press

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    About this ebook

    Interzone was founded in 1982 by David Pringle, John Clute, Alan Dorey, Malcolm Edwards, Colin Greenland, Graham Jones, Roz Kaveney and Simon Ounsley.
    Founding editor David Pringle stepped down in 2004 and the magazine has been published by TTA Press since then, from issue 194 onwards. Interzone celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2007 and is still going strong on a bimonthly schedule.
    The illustrations, graphics and advertisements were omitted from this issue to speed our updating of e editions as we are several issues behind and trying to catch up. Interzone 236 was published in print this month. Also please tell us if you notice any formatting or layout errors. Post comments on the TTA website forum or TTA's Facebook page (TTA Press) or Twitter. (TTApress) or E mail. - roy (at) ttapress (dot) com
    The magazine is regularly shortlisted for prestigious awards, and is a winner of the Hugo and British Fantasy Awards. Many of its stories have also won awards and/or reprints in various Year’s Best anthologies.
    Interzone has helped launch the careers of many important science fiction and fantasy authors, and continues to publish some of the world's best known writers. Amongst those to have graced its pages are Brian Aldiss, Sarah Ash, Michael Moorcock, Bruce Sterling, William Gibson, M. John Harrison, Stephen Baxter, Iain M. Banks, J.G. Ballard, Kim Newman, Alastair Reynolds, Harlan Ellison, Greg Egan, Gwyneth Jones, Jonathan Lethem, Geoff Ryman, Rachel Pollack, Charles Stross, Jon Courtenay Grimwood, John Brunner, Paul McAuley, Ian R. MacLeod, Christopher Priest, Thomas M. Disch, Ian Watson, John Sladek, Paul Di Filippo, Rudy Rucker, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Eric Brown, Chris Beckett, Dominic Green, Jay Lake, Chris Roberson, Elizabeth Bear, Hal Duncan, Steve Rasnic Tem...
    We’re still discovering more than our fair share of exciting new talents and publishing some of the brightest new stars around: Aliette de Bodard, Tim Akers, Will McIntosh, Jason Stoddard, Jason Sanford, Hannu Rajaniemi, Leah Bobet, Kim Lakin-Smith, Tim Lees, Karen Fishler, Nina Allan, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Gareth L. Powell, Mercurio D. Rivera, Jamie Barras, Suzanne Palmer, Carlos Hernandez, Daniel Kaysen, Grace Dugan, Rachel Swirsky, Benjamin Rosenbaum, M.K. Hobson, Gord Sellar, Al Robertson, Neil Williamson, Tim Pratt, Matthew Kressel, Sara King and many others.
    The majority of stories are illustrated by artists such as Paul Drummond (who also designed and built this website), Vincent Chong, David Gentry, Warwick Fraser-Coombe, Jim Burns, Christopher Nurse, Richard Marchand, Lisa Konrad, Dave Senecal, Geoffrey Grisso, Kenn Brown, Daniel Bristow-Bailey...
    Interzone is also the home for a number of popular regular columns such as David Langford’s Ansible Link (news and gossip) and Nick Lowe’s Mutant Popcorn (film reviews). More recently we’ve added Tony Lee’s Laser Fodder (DVD reviews). Every issue contains several pages of book reviews and in-depth interviews. Once a year readers vote for their favourite stories and illustrations. Occasionally we dedicate an issue to a specific theme (eg Mundane-SF, issue 216, the fiction of which was guest edited by Geoff Ryman, Julian Todd and Trent Walters) or a specific author (eg Brian Aldiss in issue 38, Chris Beckett in issue 218).
    There’s still so much more to Interzone though, and even though it’s been around for years now, it’s still breaking new ground, still causing controversy— in print (subscribe direct with us), e-book and podcast (Transmissions From Beyond).

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTTA Press
    Release dateOct 22, 2011
    ISBN9781465837622
    Interzone 232 Jan: Feb 2011
    Author

    TTA Press

    TTA Press is the publisher of the magazines Interzone (science fiction/fantasy) and Black Static (horror/dark fantasy), the Crimewave anthology series, TTA Novellas, plus the occasional story collection and novel.

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      Book preview

      Interzone 232 Jan - TTA Press

      232

      TTA Press

      SMASHWORDS EDITION

      * * * * *

      INTERZONE

      SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY

      JAN - FEB 2011 > ISSUE 232

      Cover Art

      '55 Bel Air by Richard Wagner

      * * * * *

      PUBLISHED BY:

      TTA Press on Smashwords (EPUB) ISBN: 978-1-4658-3762-2

      * * * * *

      First draft v2 Roy Gray

      * * * * *

      Print edition ISSN 0264-3596 Published bimonthly by TTA Press, 5 Martins Lane, Witcham, Ely, Cambs CB6 2LB, UK (t: ++44 (0)1353 777931)

      Copyright > © 2011 Interzone and its contributors

      Worldwide Print Distribution > Pineapple Media (t: 02392 787970) Central Books (t: ++44 (0)20 8986 4854) > WWMD (t: ++44 (0)121 7883112)

      Fiction Editors › Andy Cox, Andy Hedgecock (andy@ttapress.com) Book Reviews Editor › Jim Steel (jim@ttapress.com) Story Proofreader › Peter Tennant (whitenoise@ttapress.com) E-edition + Publicity › Roy Gray (roy@ttapress.com) Podcast › Pete Bullock (pete@ttapress.com) Twitter + Facebook › Marc-Anthony Taylor Website › ttapress.com Email interzone@ttapress.com Forum › ttapress.com/forum Subscriptions › Not available on Smashwords. Submissions › Unsolicited submissions of short stories are always welcome. Please follow the contributors’ guidelines on the website.

      Note we have some illustrations in this edition and you can see these in colour at http://ttapress.com/1006/interzone-232-jan-feb-out-now/

      * * * * *

      Smashwords Edition License Notes

      This emagazine is licensed for your personal use/enjoyment only. It may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this magazine with others please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this magazine and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please go to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of the contributors and editors

      INTERZONE 232

      CONTENTS

      INTERFACE

      2010 JAMES WHITE AWARD WINNING SHORT STORY

      ANSIBLE LINK > David Langford's News, Gossip & Obituaries

      READERS' POLL – Readers' opportunity to vote on 2010 stories and art.

      ENDNOTES > Links etc. > last 'pages'.

      FICTION

      NOAM CHOMSKY AND THE TIME BOX by Douglas Lain

      ...illustrated by Richard Wagner > wagnerenon@aol.com (email)

      INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY by Michael R. Fletcher

      ...illustrated by Mark Pexton > markofthedead.deviantart.com

      BY PLUCKING HER PETALS by Sarah L. Edwards

      ...illustrated by Mark Pexton > markofthedead.deviantart.com

      HEALTHY, WEALTHY, AND WISE by Sue Burke

      ...illustrated by Ben Baldwin > benbaldwin.co.uk

      FLOCK, SHOAL, HERD by James Bloomer

      ...sponsored by Interzone see jameswhiteaward.com

      REVIEWS

      BOOK ZONE > edited by Jim Steel

      books: Corvus, Lightborn, The Flying Saucer, One, Limbo, The Immersion Book of SF, Vampire Empire Book One: The Greyfriar, The Buntline Special, The Demi-Monde Part One: Winter, Version 43, The Horns of Ruin

      MUTANT POPCORN > Nick Lowe's Film Reviews

      films: Tron: Legacy, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I, Megamind, Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’hoole, Monsters, Skyline, Let Me In

      LASER FODDER > Tony Lee's DVD/BD Reviews

      discs: Metropolis, The Avengers Series Six, Ultramarines: A Warhammer 40,000 Movie, K-20: The Legend of The Black Mask, The Hole, Dead Space: Aftermath, The Shock Labyrinth, Mindflesh

      * * * * *

      2010 JAMES WHITE AWARD WINNING SHORT STORY

      Return to Contents

      The James White Award is a short story competition open to non-professional writers and is decided by an international panel of judges made up of professional authors and editors. Previous winners have gone on to either win other awards or get published regularly, which is exactly why the award was set up.

      The winning story each year receives a cash prize, a handsome trophy and publication in Interzone. Entries are received from all over the world, and a shortlist is drawn up for the judges. The judges for the 2010 award included Award administrator Martin McGrath and novelist/editor Ian Whates.

      The James White Award was instituted to honour the memory of one of Ireland’s most successful science fiction authors, James White. To learn more about James White and his writing please visit SectorGeneral.com, and to learn more about the Award itself visit jameswhiteaward.com.

      The 2010 winner is James Bloomer with Flock, Shoal, Herd. Well done James.

      * * * * *

      ANSIBLE LINK

      David Langford

      News, Gossip & Obituaries

      Return to Contents

      As Others See Us. Sarah Baskerville, the UK civil servant in trouble for uninhibited political comments on Twitter, became the subject of a typical Daily Mail witch-hunt – surprisingly picked up by The Independent, whose political hack drove the knife home by calling her ‘The self-confessed Doctor Who fan…’

      Jo Fletcher moved from Gollancz to Quercus in January to launch her very own sf/fantasy/horror imprint, catchily named Jo Fletcher Books.

      Awards. Galaxy National Book Awards for ‘unrivalled contribution to the [UK] publishing industry’, i.e. selling shedloads of books: Martin Amis, Terry Pratchett. • Hans Christian Andersen children’s literature prize: J.K. Rowling. This is a new award, not the established Andersen medal which last went to David Almond. • World Fantasy Award for best novel: China Miéville, The City & The City.

      Iain M. Banks committed an epigram at the Cheltenham Literature Festival: ‘You don’t write space opera in a vacuum!’ Later, at Novacon: ‘I could write hard SF, but I wouldn’t be writing on all cylinders. I’d have to shut off my stupidity cylinders.’ He promises a new middle initial if he ever moves into hard porn: ‘Iain X. Banks.’

      Greg & Astrid Bear challenged Project Gutenberg on copyright, arguing that US case law contradicts Gutenberg’s assumption that so many stories published in pulp sf magazines (particularly by Astrid’s father the late Poul Anderson) are public domain: ‘Project Gutenberg is doing a tremendous service by making available texts that have truly long since fallen out of copyright, but they are clearly overstepping their original mandate. They are not merely exploiting orphan works, but practicing a wholesale kidnapping of works that are under copyright protection. Authors and estates need to aggressively take back what belongs to them.’ (Ereads.com)

      A.A. Gill ran true to form when assessing the achievement of H.G. Wells: ‘Virtually single-handed, he invented that vast alien planet of nerdy literature read exclusively by unwashed young men with a full spectrum of social incapacity.’ (Sunday Times)

      Joss Whedon admitted to ‘strong, mixed emotions’ on hearing that Warner Bros plans a Buffy the Vampire Slayer film ‘reboot’ without involving him: ‘I always hoped that Buffy would live on even after my death. But, you know, AFTER.’ (E!online)

      As Others See Us II. Sam Parker (who?) of Celebrity Channel/Eleven (what?) has unprejudiced views: ‘Eleven have never attended a sci-fi convention (honest), but if we ever did, we’d imagine it to be a rather tame affair. / You know – lots of geeks dressed as Wookies and Dr. Who, mingling around quietly with one hand on their inhaler and the other in their Mum or Dad’s palm.’

      The Weakest Link. Anne Robinson: ‘In libraries, which hyphenated term includes all books, except novels or works inspired by the imagination?’ Contestant: ‘Science fiction.’ AR: ‘In which 1968 science fiction film did Charlton Heston utter the line, Take your stinking paws off me?’ Another contestant: ‘2001: A Space Odyssey.’

      Sir Terry Pratchett’s coat of arms appeared in the College of Arms Newsletter. ‘The Arms are blazoned: Sable an ankh between four Roundels in saltire each issuing Argent. / The Crest is Upon a Helm with a Wreath Argent and Sable On Water Barry wavy Sable Argent and Sable an Owl [presumably a morpork] affronty wings displayed and inverted Or supporting thereby two closed Books erect Gules.’ His armorial motto, familiar to Discworld readers in a somewhat doggier Latin version, is NOLI TIMERE MESSOREM.

      The Brown Lands. More uproar from NZ Hobbit filming after a small woman of Pakistani ancestry was rejected as a bit-part player: ‘We are looking for light-skinned people. I’m not trying to be…whatever. It’s just the brief. You’ve got to look like a hobbit.’ Canonically, some hobbits are browner than others, but this casting agent – since fired – had his own ideas. (Independent)

      Clinching Argument. Jonathan Myerson, best known for denouncing adult Harry Potter readers, discussed his position with children’s novelist and Hollywood screenwriter Charlie Fletcher. JM: ‘There’s a truth which fiction can portray which non-fiction can’t reach. It’s a different form of truth.’ CF: ‘That doesn’t argue against Harry Potter. That, in fact, reinforces the reason why people should read Harry Potter.’ JM: ‘No it doesn’t, because there aren’t wizards!’ (BBC Radio 5Live) Out goes The Tempest with the bathwater…

      Thog’s Masterclass. Untimely Dept. ‘By Set, the enemy knew not the hour when he might awake at midnight to feel the taloned fingers…’ (Robert E. Howard, ‘The Phoenix on the Sword’, Weird Tales, 1932) • Dept of Yes, But What Shape Was It? ‘…near the bottom of the floor was a rectangular-sized hole…’ (Chris Mooney, The Missing, 2007) • Eyeballs in the Sky. ‘You think you can pull the wool over everyone’s eyes…but mine, you’ll find, are in the back of my head.’ (Martin Russell, Mr T aka The Man Without a Name, 1977) • Dept of Workshop Romance. ‘Her climax was a nail he was hammering repeatedly.’ (Emma Holly, Angel at Dawn, 2011) • Back-Story Dept. Chronicler to action hero, on the latter’s previous adventures: ‘People believe I wrote them cynically for one reason or another – but we know that I did not, that you are real, that your exploits actually happened. One day they will realize this, when governments are prepared to release the information that confirms what you have told me. They will realize that you are no liar and that I am no crackpot – or worse, a commercial writer trying to write a science fiction novel.’ (Edward P. Bradbury [Michael Moorcock], Barbarians of Mars, 1965)

      * * * * *

      R.I.P.

      Bernard Davies (1923–2010), noted UK Sherlockologist and founding president in 1973 of the Dracula Society, died on 21 September aged 86.

      Bob Guccione (1930–2010), US publisher best known for Penthouse, and of sf relevance for launching its glossy sister magazine Omni (1978–1995; web only to 1998), died on 20 October aged 79.

      Mervyn Haisman (1928–2010), UK TV/film scriptwriter who with Henry Lincoln wrote the 1960s Doctor Who storylines ‘The Abominable Snowmen’, ‘The Web of Fear’ (introducing the popular Brigadier character) and ‘The Dominators’, died on 29 October.

      Eva Ibbotson (1925–2010), US author of The Great Ghost Rescue (1975), Which Witch? (1979) and other children’s fantasies, died on 20 October. [paul di filippo] She was a 2001 Smarties gold award winner.

      Harry Mulisch (1927–2010), eminent mainstream Dutch author who explored sf/fantasy themes in De toekomst van gisteren (Yesterday’s Future, 1972), De ontdekking van de hemel (The Discovery of Heaven, 1992, filmed 2001) and De Procedure (1998), died on 30 October aged 83.

      Maurice Murphy (1935–2010), principal trumpeter of the London Symphony Orchestra 1977–2007, whose playing can be heard in all six Star Wars films, died on 28 October.

      Rebecca Neason (1954–2010), US author of the ST:TNG tie-in Guises of the Mind (1993), two Highlander spinoffs and three original fantasy novels, died on 31 August; she was 55.

      Ruth Park (1917–2010), New Zealand-born Australian novelist best known for mainstream work, whose children’s books include the fine time-travel fantasy Playing Beatie Bow (1980), died on 16 December aged 93.

      Johnny Sheffield (1931–2010), US actor whose best-known part was Boy in Johnny Weissmuller’s 1930s and 1940s Tarzan films, died on 15 October after falling off a ladder while pruning a palm tree; he was 79.

      Takeshi Shudo (1949–2010), Japanese anime scriptwriter and novelist who worked on some of the best-known modern anime and won the first Anime Grand Prix screenwriting award in 1983, died on 28 October.

      John Steakley (1951–2010), US sf/horror author of Armor (1984) and Vampire$ (1990, filmed by John Carpenter as Vampires), died on 27 November aged 59.

      Brian Williams (?1956–2010), UK illustrator of many Lone Wolf and other gamebooks by Joe Dever, and of spinoff novels by John Grant, died unexpectedly on 4 October; he was 54.

      *****

      Copyright © 2010 David Langford

      *****

      NOAM CHOMSKY AND THE TIME BOX

      by Douglas Lain

      Return to Contents

      * * * * *

      Douglas Lain is the author of dozens of short stories and two novels. His work has regularly appeared in literary magazines and journals since 1999, and his first book, Last Week’s Apocalypse, was a collection of these stories published by Night Shade Books. His first novel, Billy Moon: 1968, tells the story of Christopher Robin Milne’s fictional involvement with the French general strike in May of 1968, and is due out from Tor Books this year. His second novel, The Brainwash Brand, is currently under option at Tor.

      * * * * *

      Art for Noam Chomsky and the Time Box by Richard Wagner > wagnerenon@aol. com (email)

      * * * * *

      NOAM CHOMSKY AND THE TIME BOX

      CRAWDADDY ONLINE

      Jeff Morris

      December 22nd, 2013 – 3:30 pm | 6,815 views | 2 recommendations | 75 comments

      Stuck in History: My Time Box 3.0 Frustration

      It’s still amazing what can fit in your pocket these days, but while standard computing and gaming devices like iPhones and Mini-Wii systems continue to dominate the market, the most expensive and advanced personal computing device, the Time Box, has had a rough couple of months. Both the recent problems with the marketing and introduction of Box 3.0 which met with less than the projected demand, and the chorus of consumer complaints – the Time Box version of history is too self-contained and static (one example would be the thousands of complaints to the company that visits and revisits to the Grand Banks of Newfoundland always conclude with the Titanic sinking) – has led to a downturn in the company’s stock. While educators, science fiction fans, and historical hook-up artists are still purchasing the Box, the company must do something to increase sales beyond these niches, and the company is pinning its future to the hope that version 3.0 will reinvigorate sales. The new Box includes many features consumers have come to expect with hand held computational devices. Partnering with Sprint and Dell, the new Box will allow customers to make cellular calls from the past, to maintain an internet connection as long as one is within the last thousand years of history, and to photograph and take video of both past events and encounters with what everyone agrees is an ever expanding present.

      – The WSJ, December 20th, 2013

      If anyone needed more proof that the gadget driven marketing scam that was the American Empire is now completely dead, the utter failure to adequately create demand for the world’s first personal time machine should suffice as proof. Nintendo, Time Warner, and Apple computers have all backed off their various offers to buy out Time Box incorporated, and while last year it seemed impossible that the product might suffer the same fate as Betamax and electric cars, a year later it’s becoming obvious that people without a history or a future are uninterested in the kind of time travel the Box offers. The public seems content to leave history to the necrophiliacs and Civil War Buffs.

      A year ago the device came onto the market like a revelation. The consensus in December of 2012 was that a personal time machine would alter everything. Tech Review at MIT loved Time Box, Doctorow at Boing Boing was beside himself, and historians and political pundits couldn’t contain themselves either. The first month out the door people lined up to buy. There was a mad rush, but when consumers found the disclaimer word of mouth put the kibosh to the whole pseudo-event.

      It’s the first thing you find when you take a Time Box home. The warning is printed on the front page of the instruction manual, plainly and in 36 point Helvetica: time box is paradox free. do not alter factory settings.

      If you mess with the Box, adjust the settings, you risk voiding the warranty, and yet it comes equipped with an interface to allow such alterations. I imagine that somebody in marketing thought that this interface might stave off realizations of the obvious. As long as people were under the impression that raising or lowering the probability level and flux could have some impact on their overall experience they could be kept from realizing the obvious.

      Time travel is boring as fuck.

      It is impossible to impact the past. That’s why the Box is underperforming sticky Elmo as a stocking stuffer.

      Believe me, I’ve tried it. A year

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